Spirituality
"Daka," began the young girl, his niece "How do you know where the Herd is going to travel next? They change their path so often it’s like magic that you can follow them."
The man paused for a moment "Do you know what a soul is? A Spirit?"
"It’s that part of us that goes on after we die, isn’t it?"
"Yes, but now take that meaning and expand on it. Every living thing has a spirit. It is to that spirit of the Herd that I call to find their travel way. It is to the spirit of the animals I talk when it is time to take their lives for our food."
While their conversation dwindled, the man - the Shaman of the People of the Herd thought about his people; The Sami - those that the people of the northern countries call "Laplanders" in disdain. He knew them by their spirit as well as their face; and the caribou and even to the fleas that clung to the hairs of the dogs that slept at the doors of their homes.
How could he explain to her the complexity of the spirit? What words could he use to open her eyes to the spirits of the world, and perhaps even the spirits that he has known from other worlds? How could he introduce her to the layers upon layers upon layers that make the spirit world so complex?
"Daka," she spoke again "Magera in town says that we shouldn’t eat meat, because we should respect the lives of the animals."
"I have heard of this before, to that I simply say that I honor and ask the spirit of the caribou to nourish my spirit as his flesh nourishes my flesh. But that doesn’t make Magera wrong, just different."
The puzzled look remained on her face; Milkel picked up a pinecone and began the lessons once again. He laughed inside, though, as he realized she wouldn’t let him not teach her. Oh! What a lively spirit she had.
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