I am glad you brought that up, because that is a distinction I didn't really make in the context of my old joke about ghosts. It's a bit semantic but I consider "ghosts" to be more Western/Colonial and "spirits" or "ancestor spirits" to be more in line with the indigenous mindset. My great-uncle was a practitioner of what's called Midewiwin, and those secrets died with him as he didn't pass them on for whatever reason and our 'clan' hasn't truly had a medicine man in over 60 years. Very secretive indeed.
Yeah the indigenous people here are the same way. Western ideas of ghosts seem to be these evil demons that must be exorcised while spiritis tend to be more ambiguous.
I am glad you brought that up, because that is a distinction I didn't really make in the context of my old joke about ghosts. It's a bit semantic but I consider "ghosts" to be more Western/Colonial and "spirits" or "ancestor spirits" to be more in line with the indigenous mindset. My great-uncle was a practitioner of what's called Midewiwin, and those secrets died with him as he didn't pass them on for whatever reason and our 'clan' hasn't truly had a medicine man in over 60 years. Very secretive indeed.
It's only a ghost if it's from the ghost region of New England, otherwise it's a sparkling spirit.
Yeah the indigenous people here are the same way. Western ideas of ghosts seem to be these evil demons that must be exorcised while spiritis tend to be more ambiguous.