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Fr. Jacques Marquette, S.J., a contemporary of Fr. Le Jeune quoted here, at work saving souls of Ojibwas in the western Great Lakes. (Wikipedia Photo)
[This is one of a series of meditations on what we might have learned, and might still learn, from the history of Native Americans about how to live without modern technology and industry, which we may have to do in the near future.]
During the same time that the unfortunate Montagnais people of what is now Quebec were being economically transformed and then ravaged by the juggernaut fur trade, in what we could call the Beaver Bubble, they were also being spiritually ransacked by the Catholic Church. In both cases the outcome was ugly, but offers lessons in what must not be sold, or lost, or given away if a people is to persevere.
You don’t have to look very far into the records that exist pertaining to Native North Americans before you realize that the writings consist in the main of the writings of Catholic missionaries, most of them Jesuit. You can’t help but wonder; how did it happen that there were so many Catholic missionaries in the New World wilderness?
Funny story. When the fur trade was ramping up, one of its biggest problems was financing. As huge as the profits were for each successful voyage, the costs were almost all up-front and the payoff was long delayed. The usual sources of that kind of capital were soon tapped out, at which point all eyes swivelled to the richest entity in Europe — the Church of Rome. As eager as the traders were to harvest furs, the Church was to harvest souls, and on hearing eyewitness accounts of the existence of thousands of unsaved savages ripe, as it were, for the picking, the Church opened its purses to finance expeditions in search of the skins of the beaver and the souls of the people.
It was harder for the priests to bring in their harvest than for the fur traders to gather theirs. Father Paul Le Jeune, who in the mid-17th Century was the father superior of all Jesuit missionaries in New France, identified two problems that nearly crippled the mission to the Montagnais at first. These roadblocks were virtually unprecedented in the Jesuits’ experience: first, the people were content, and thus not much excited by offers to improve their lot; and they were not in the habit of taking (or giving) orders, and so did not react well to instruction.
Most white people were oblivious to these basic facts about Native Americans, and remain so after 400 years. But Father Le Jeune got it at once: The Montagnais were “harmonious among themselves” he wrote, “rendering no homage to anyone whomsoever except when they like.” Such people were never going to do well in a Catholic school.
The fact is that among Native North Americans, there never was anything remotely resembling what white people call an “Indian Chief.” No person in their society (except designated war chiefs, temporarily) had either the responsibility or the power to tell other people what to do. No one gave orders either in the household or in the tribe, no one enunciated or enforced rules of behavior even among the children. Everyone participated fully in the life and the decisions of the community.
Moreover, the Jesuit lamented, “as they are contented with a mere living, not one of them gives himself to the devil to acquire wealth.” Certainly we can sympathize with the good Father; how do you save from the devil someone who is not remotely interested in the devil? Or to put it another way, where there is no interest in acquiring wealth, there does not seem to be much sin.
This would never do, Father LeJeune lamented: “Alas! If someone could stop the wanderings of the savages and give authority to one of them to rule the others we would see them converted and civilized in a short time.”
And soon indeed it was so, with the help of alcohol and trade goods and the accumulation of wealth, the conversion of the Montagnais people to Christianity and servitude was soon accomplished. Before long one convert proclaimed to his new overlords “We have burned all our songs, all our dances, all our superstitions, and everything that the devil has taught our forefathers.” (But wait, wasn’t the problem that your forefathers weren’t even interested in the devil?)
According to a tourist brochure from the area, remnants of the Montagnais can be found today, in Quebec. They are said to be a peaceable people, although they drink a lot.
***The fact is that among Native North Americans, there never was anything remotely resembling what white people call an “Indian Chief.” No person in their society (except designated war chiefs, temporarily) had either the responsibility or the power to tell other people what to do. No one gave orders either in the household or in the tribe, no one enunciated or enforced rules of behavior even among the children. Everyone participated fully in the life and the decisions of the community.***
This is absolutely fascinating (alongside the fact that many of them were contented with their lives and felt no need to improve their lot). Where did you get it from?
Daoists would have loved them. :)
From my books West from Shenandoah and For King and Country, of course. Seriously, one has to look hard to see what was and remains invisible to white people. We have Lord Commanders, and so must they. We find it almost impossible to get our heads around the idea of no one giving orders, and so we just don’t see that it’s not there. In colonial times the British got so frustrated by not having anyone in particular who could negotiate for the Lenni Lanape. or as the English called them, the Delawares (yes, for a British aristocrat, Lord de la War), they held a full scale coronation to enthrone one Tamaqui as King of the Delawares. They dressed him in a fine red officers coat and has a stirring ceremony. Later they found out that Tamaqui had wandered off somewhere and they had mistakenly installed his cousin, who looked a little like him. Not that the Delawares gave a damn….
There are other things about these people that we never saw because we are not equipped to see. Major things. Stay tuned….
The Hawaiians were the culmination of thousands of years of agrarian culture. The bananas, mangoes, breadfruit and pigs that they brought with them to the islands were the best of the best varieties. With sufficient planting there was not much left to do while enjoying the harvests except make love and surf. Early missionaries to the islands couldn’t make a dent in them because their life was so work free. So they started chopping down the breadfruit trees so that the natives would have to work harder for their rations. It’s no wonder so many missionaries ended up in the stew pot. Prime Directive anyone?
My better sense is to avoid comment here, so why am I ignoring such sagacious advice?
Simply because it is past time for America to leave behind it’s childish fixation of Christianity. The simplistic and shallow conflation of the Christian religion with all things divine is at the root of obscuring the essential question of “who am I?”
Christianity was never the native faith of the European people, from whom America takes it’s blueprint, and in characteristic fashion, Europe has rejected Christianity. It is time for America to follow this example.
Despite the endless efforts to excuse Christianity of its obvious role as oppressor, for its continuous attacks on mysticism, for its promotion of a psychopathic Jewish God to the detriment of humanity and planet, the record is quite clear.
Jefferson distrusted Christianity, rejected theocracy, and dreamt of a land populated by strong, independent small farms. I believe a model similar to this is quite possible, once the institutions promoting degeneration give way, and chief amongst them is organized religion.
I so get your impatience to see this beast be done with us. I was deeply in Christianity till 10 years ago. I was heartened to see some recent writing exposing the myth of Christianity – The Pagan Christ, by Tom Harpur; Christ’s Ventriloquist’s – The Event That Created Christianity – by Eric Zuesse.
My more spacious/patient sense towards Christianity is that we needed to take this journey collectively to really go into the ‘who am I?’ question as you say, to cross off the list who we are not. I know I needed what I needed.
The truth is we created Christianity and I’m feeling we are about to uncreate it. Hopefully, what new religions we create we will own the fact that we made them up and no more of that ‘psychopathic God to the detriment of humanity and planet’ type of projections of own internal punisher shadow.
The notion that Christianity is a necessary phase for human evolution cannot be proven or disproved, however as an article of faith it carries with it an absolution of the punishing totalitarianism found in all three abrahamic ideologies, including Christianity.
The Christian world view is directly responsible for reducing the vision of our living planet to a dead machine, for depopulating our cosmos and murdering our faculty of imagination. One cannot enjoy a vibrant Mythopoesis whence all myth is equated to lies, nor can one embrace a healthy perspective when the religious myth is denied to be a myth. The damage to humanity has been severe, and in a far wider context than is possible to delineate here.
Therefore, I view the Christian era as an imposition by a truly sinister source, one which today remains potent, and continues to infect and destroy with new methods, new forms. Take, for example that subset of scientism, transhumanism. It’s difficult to imagine a healthy mind conceiving, much less believing that the desired future state would be this bleak.
In rejecting Christianity, it’s sinister source, and all its ill begotten progeny, humanity takes a great step towards freedom.
While I think your description is a valid one for Native North Americans of the Northeast it seems wrong to make broad statements about all NN Americans. Pre-contact there were many cultures across the Americas with assorted levels of if hierarchy, it was not a homogenous culture. There were even empires pre-contact.