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The third source of indigenous knowledge Castelleno writes about is revealed
knowledge. And in this category are things like
dreams and visions. So the dreams that one receives while
sleeping, or visions one receives while fasting or engaging in ceremony of, of one
sort or another, are part of the knowledge basis from which one understands their
place in the world, their relation to other things.
One of the important ceremonies to think about is coming-of-age ceremonies for, for
the young men and women in different first nations would, would undertake undergo a,
a fast, which would bring on visions that would tell them something about purpose.
So they would they might not know right away what their purpose was meant to be,
but they would receive that knowledge. They would receive that vision and over
time come to understand what it what role it was to play in understanding their
identity visa vi others in the world around them.
What role and responsibility were they to take up?
Other kind of sources that reveal knowledge like dreams, Castellano talks
about. But you know, an, an example that's really
good is the work of Hugh Brody. And his work Maps and Dreams, where he
talks about going on the hunt and how the hunters would dream their prey.
And they would understand the prey would give themselves over to them and that
knowledge would come in a dream that would, they would receive and know when to
meet the prey, when to go out and where to meet the prey.
So this becomes very important knowledge because you're, you're looking at the food
source and survival for that community, for that family.
So to have that knowledge come in dreams, and how to bring about that, that
knowledge was a very important practice in, in those societies.
And it's also important to acknowledge, when we're talking about worldview and
knowledge how that knowledge informs the worldview.
There is a reciprocal relationship between the material world and the spiritual world
that so much of this revealed knowledge crosses that border.
So when the, when the spirit is gifted and returns that gift by, by providing
knowledge that comes in these forms, dreams and visions and so forth it, it
entails the necessity of, of engaging in those spiritual practices of leaving gifts
and offerings when something is taken. For instance, for people who are picking
medicines, it's so necessary to, to provide that gift of tobacco and a prayer
before harvesting the medicines. And there's certain protocols and
practices that go around the harvesting of food and medicines.
There's protocols for how to dispose of the body of animals that are given for
food. And all of this is a relationship that's
enacted between the material world and the spiritual world, so that, that part of the
indigenous worldview is enacted by acknowledging that source, that, that
knowledge is coming from the spirit world and it's coming to inform and influence
people in this material reality. Knowing where the, the prey is going to be
is something they need to know in the material world, but the knowledge is
something that is revealed and comes from spirit world to help them do that.
And so understanding the significance of this source of indigenous knowledge goes a
long way for helping us understand indigenous world view.
Jean-Paul RestouleAssociate Professor
