Page 105 [105]
OCR
THE IMPACT OF LANDSCAPE AND CLIMATE ON THE DENESULINE RELIGION AS DESCRIBED BY SAMUEL HEARNE (1745-1792) ——o— LAURA SUSZTA Abstract Samuel Hearne (1745-1792) is credited with exploring the Coppermine River region. He captured the experiences of his travels in his work Journeys from Prince of Wales’s Fort in Hudson’s Bay to the Northern Ocean in the Years 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 (1795), where he elaborates not only on the circumstances of his exploratory travels, but also on the natural phenomena and lifestyles ofthe Denesuline.' In the boreal and arctic regions of Canada, where the Dene live from October to May, temperatures do not rise above the freezing point and the soil is constantly frozen (permafrost) for most of the year. In the coldest period, the average temperatures can range from -25 to -30°C; in the milder months, it is between +8 and 10°C. The Dene nation must find the modus vivendi in such circumstances. But how did the climate affect their daily lives, beliefs and religion in Hearne’s time? Could these harsh conditions have been the cause of some religious phenomena observable among the Dene? The explorer himself does not go into details regarding this question, but his descriptions provide a perfect starting point of exploration, beginning with the Dene rites for the dead and their complex and diverse taboo system. In my paper, I will argue that the landscape and the climate played a significant role in the formation of the 18th-century religious picture recorded by Hearne. It is not only the Dene’s daily practice of religion that the landscape and the climate affected, but also their worldview, universal thinking, and their relationship with their religion. Keywords: explorations, Samuel Hearne, indigenous nations, the Denesuline religion, climatic effects Résumé C’est Samuel Hearne (1745-1792) quia fait la premiére exploration de la riviére Coppermine et de ses environs. Il a consigné ses expériences de voyage dans son ouvrage intitulé Journeys from Prince of Wales’s Fort in Hudson’s Bay to the Northern Ocean in the years 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 (1795), dans lequel il 1 The term Dene is also used to refer to the Denesuline. + 103 +
