The Wihkohtowin: Ritual Feasting among Cree and Métis Peoples in Northern Alberta

Authors

  • Clinton N. Westman University of Saskatchewan

Keywords:

Cree, Alberta, wihkoktowin, ritual, shamanism

Abstract

I provide new data and interpretations on the wihkohtowin, a key ritual feast of Cree and Métis peoples in northern Alberta. I draw on my own interviews and ethnographic research, archived interviews, other archival data and published accounts of the wihkohtowin. As a historically important shamanic ritual practised in the contemporary context, the wihkohtowin is relevant to relations with animals and non-human nature, including spirits and the dead, as well as relations within human society. Taking an approach adapted from Don Handelman and my informants, I suggest that the wihkohtowin merits deeper analysis in its own right: historically, linguistically, phenomenologically and emotionally.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2015-04-30

How to Cite

Westman, C. N. (2015). The Wihkohtowin: Ritual Feasting among Cree and Métis Peoples in Northern Alberta. Anthropologica, 57(2), 299–314. Retrieved from https://cas-sca.journals.uvic.ca/index.php/anthropologica/article/view/399

Issue

Vol. 57 No. 2 (2015): Shamanism, Religious Renewal and Empowerment in Indigenous Societies / Consent, Collaboration, Treaty: Toward Anti-Colonial Praxis in Indigenous Settler Research Relations

Section

Shamanism, Religious Renewal and Empowerment in Indigenous Societies

License

Copyright (c) 2021 Clinton N. Westman

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Authors contributing to Anthropologica agree to release their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 Unported license. This licence allows anyone to share their work (copy, distribute, transmit) and to adapt it for non-commercial purposes provided that appropriate attribution is given, and that in the event of reuse or distribution, the terms of this license are made clear.

Authors retain copyright of their work and grant the journal right of first publication.

Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.