Beliefs

Like other Alaskan Natives, the Inupiaq, Yupik, and Aluttiiq practiced animism, the belief that animals and people had spirits that were active and powerful. Animal spirits were very important in religious practices. They believed that success in hunting depended on a positive relationship between people and the spirits of the animals they hunted. Ritual practices and amulets were designed to maintain a positive relationship by showing respect to animal spirits.

They believed that spirits reincarnated or were recycled from one life to the next. After an animal died, its spirit needed to be released for the animal to regenerate and return for future harvest. Because of this, they had elaborate rituals around the killing of animals (e.g., the Yupik Bladder Festival). They also believed in the recycling of human spirits. They would give newborn babies the name of someone who recently died to reincarnate their human spirit.

Communities had shamans, who were individuals believed to have special access and influence on the spirit world. Shamans would heal, search out animal spirits for the hunters, ask spirits for survival necessities such as driftwood and good weather, and predict future events.