in the deep snow. He ended their suffering, then dismembered and covered their unusable carcasses, lest he offend their spirits by killing without at least symbolic utilization. “We’ll come back for this later,” he told his companion, a placating remark that he knew he would not abide by.
Treatment of Killed Game
The rules for showing respect to killed animals and harvested plants are myriad. I will give some general principles and a few illustrations here.
Today I was told about a man who had once jokingly stuffed debris into the opened jaws of a dried pike head nailed on a cabin door to ward off bad spirits. His companions were horrified that he would open himself to retaliation from the animal’s spirit. “When you do something like that – when you don’t show respect for animals – it’s just like making fun of the Bible.”
[Huslia journal, March 1977]
The remains of animals and plants are treated with the deference owed to something sacred. For example, when fur animals (such as mink, beaver, or wolf) are brought inside the house for skinning, their names should not be mentioned, nothing should be burned lest the smell offend their spirits, metallic noises should be avoided, and even if it is unfrozen and skinned the carcass should be kept indoors overnight. One way to prevent difficulties is to plug the nostrils of smell-sensitive animals like mink by smearing lard on them. Cloth may also be wrapped around an animal’s head to protect it from offensive noises.
I had bad luck with fox this year. Come to think of it, I was using noisy power tools while I had a fox in the house. Guess that’s why … it’s got really sensitive ears. When you get bad luck like this you just have to let it wear off. There’s nothing else you can do.
There are also rules for proper butchering of game – for example, certain cuts that should be made or avoided for a particular species. There are rules for proper care of meat, such as keeping all meat covered when it is outside, protecting it from scavengers or from any insinuation that it is not respected. And a multitude of rules govern who eats an animal or parts of it. Young adults and especially women of childbearing age are subject to a wide array of these ….
Finally, there are regulations to ensure that unusable parts of animals are respectfully disposed of. For example, bones of water animals such as beaver, muskrat, and mink should be cast into a lake or river. Bones of large land animals should be put in a dry place away from the village or completely burned in a remote spot. And the remains of small animals ought to be hung in bushes or burned …. Adherence has declined today, but many people scrupulously avoid leaving animal remains to rot on the ground (especially where someone might walkover them) or mixing them with household trash.
Punishment for ignoring or violating these regulations depends on the power of the living thing and the gravity of the offense. Spirit vengeance can be as severe as death or decades of bad luck in catching a species. Disregarding the prohibitions against eating certain foods usually causes clumsiness or other physical problems. Only old people who no longer hunt can eat red-necked grebe, for instance, because this bird is awkward on land. A young person who ate it would become slow and clumsy or would have children with these shortcomings. I never understood whether animal spirits cause such “contagious” reactions, but the innumerable food taboos are generally respected as an important way of protecting health and well-being.
Many of the rules apply to everyone, regardless of age or sex. But a large number of special restrictions apply to women between puberty and menopause. Koyukon women are skilled and active providers – they hunt, fish, trap, and gather on their own or along with men. Although they are competent and productive, they are somewhat limited by their possession of special power that can easily alienate or offend natural spirits.
The menses (hutlaa) has its own spirit that contains the essence of femininity, and it can bring bad luck with animals, feminize men and alienate animals from them, or even cause sickness or death. To avoid these dangers, Koyukon women were traditionally secluded during menstruation (some pubescent girls are still briefly sequestered at the first menstruation), and they continue to follow a multitude of special taboos regulating their use of animals and their behavior toward them.
Spirits of the Physical World
Elements of the earth and sky are imbued with spirits and consciousness, much in the way of living things, and there are codes of proper behavior toward them. Certain landforms have special powers that must be placated or shown deference, for example. Even the weather is aware: if a man brags that storms or cold cannot stop him from doing something, “the weather will take care of him good!” It will humble him with its power, “because it knows.”
In falltime you’ll hear the lakes make loud cracking noises after they freeze. It means they’re asking for snow to cover them up, to protect them from the cold. When my father told me this, he said everything has life in it. He always used to tell us that.
The earth itself is the source of a preeminent spiritual power called sinh taala’ in Koyukon. This is the foundation of medicine power once used by shamans, and because of it the earth must be shown utmost respect. One person who was cured by medicine power years ago, for example, still abides by the shaman’s instructions to avoid digging in the earth. Berry plants have special power because they are nurtured directly from the earth. “People are careful about things that grow close to the ground,” I was told, “because the earth is so great.”
The Manifestations of Luck
Luck is the powerful force that binds humanity to the nature spirits and their moral imperatives. For the Koyukon people, luck is a nearly tangible essence, an aura or condition that is “with” someone in certain circumstances or for particular purposes. Luck can be held permanently or it can be fleeting and elusive. It is an essential qualification for success – regardless of a person’s skill, in the absence of luck there is no destiny except failure.
The source of luck is not clearly explained, but most people are apparently born with a certain measure of it. The difficulty is not so much in getting it as in keeping it. Luck is sustained by strictly following the rules of conduct toward natural things. People who lose their luck have clearly been punished by an offended spirit; people who possess luck are the beneficiaries of some force that creates it. Koyukon people express luck in the hunt by saying bik’uhnaatltonh – literally, “he has been taken care of.”
If a person has good luck, catches game, it is because something created the world, and that is helping him to get what he needs.
Luck, or the absence of it, is specific to particular animals or even certain activities. A woman who violates tanning taboos may fail in preparing hides. Each person is possessed (or dispossessed) of luck for all the entities he or she interacts with. Thus a man told me that he had always been lucky hunting bears until he inadvertently treated one the wrong way. For many years afterward his luck was gone – he never took a single bear. Finally the effect wore off and since regaining his luck he has killed at least one bear each season.
Luck can be passed along to others, but it is a lot like money. The one who gives it up may be left with nothing. To illustrate, when beaver snaring was made legal years ago, it was very hard for young people to learn how to do it. The older men knew but were reluctant to reveal their ways, because telling someone how to make a trapping set also gives him your luck. Eventually people reach an age of inactivity, when their measure of luck becomes superfluous. Then they can confer their luck on others by simply wishing it so. This is why children often present their first-killed game to elders, and
