Spiritual Power and Everyday Lives: James Bay Cree Shaking Tent Performers and Their Audiences

I focus on the discourses and messages conveyed to the attendees at two shaking tent ceremonies among James Bay Cree in the 1960s. I explore some of the meanings such ceremonies convey through oral dialogue, through ritual symbols, and through the social relationships which are created and acknowledged by the ceremony. Often the dialogues of those who speak in the ceremony are about the spiritual powers they have. They also explore if and how …