09/30/2026
On National Indigenous People’s Day we want to talk a bit about Indigenous spirituality and ways to respectfully honour that in our organizations and communities.
Religious expression and practices vary within the many Indigenous communities across Turtle Island. The most recent Canadian census revealed that many people of Indigenous heritage identify with non-Indigenous religions such as Christianity, Judaism and others. It’s not uncommon for Indigenous people to integrate their Indigenous spiritual beliefs within their expression of other religions like Christianity for example.
For those who practice traditional Indigenous spirituality, it is integrated into all aspects of their lives and culture: from music and stories to clothing and adornment.
We teach in our programs that religions are internally diverse, and for Indigenous spirituality there is diversity within and between the Nations. There are also commonalities and so it is best to be careful of making assumptions or generalizations.
There are not set dates for spiritual celebrations in most Indigenous communities, unlike many other religions. If your organization chooses to honour National Indigenous People’s Day consider deepening your collective understanding of the many ways spirituality is integrated into Indigenous identity.
What To Think About
In North America, religion is often thought about as something one believes. For non-Western religions, and for Indigenous religions in particular, religion is often fully integrated into all aspects of life and may be expressed externally in clothing or adornments, in food or medicine choices, and in a life of ritual.
In his book Columbus and other Cannibals, author Jack Forbes offers this quote from Ohíye S'a whose English name was Charles Eastman.
“Every act of the native American’s life is in a very real sense a religions act.
Religion is in reality, living. Our religion is not what we profess or what we say or what we proclaim. Our religion is what we do, what we desire, what we seek, what we dream about, what we fantasize, what we think.
All of these things 24 hours a day. One’s religion then is one’s life. Not merely the ideal life but the life as it is actually lived.
Religion is not prayer, it is not a church, it is not theistic or atheistic, it is our every act. All that we do and are, is our religion.”
For more information about Indigenous spirituality you can:
Read our recent blog: https://religionsgeek.com/index.php/2024/06/20/indigenous-spirituality/
Listen to Thomas King’s Massey Lectures "The Truth about Stories: A Native Narrative" https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-2003-cbc-massey-lectures-the-truth-about-stories-a-native-narrative-1.2946870
Read the National Film Board's information offered as part of their Faith Projecthttps://thefaithproject.nfb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/TFP_Aboriginal_Dec2014.pdf
