Sitting around a campfire one cold autumn evening, we heard a story about a legendary Dreamer, a prophet, who had lived among the subarctic people known as the Dunne-za, the Beaver nation. The term Dunne-za means “The People with Whom One Could Establish a Kinship Connection.” At the time this Dreamer, Makenunatane, walked the earth, the lives of the Dunne-za were very hard. They moved from place to place, hunting, fishing, and gathering natural resources. Since the Dunne-za believed that animals only allowed themselves to be killed when human beings were generous and kind to each other, establishing kinship connections was absolutely essential. If you were related, you had family obligations to care for one another, and such obligations put you right with animals and the rest of the universe. One of Makenunatane’s goals was to make certain people understood that natural order. You see, Dreamers do not dream for themselves, but to help their people. Makenunatane helped his community by “grabbing hold” of a song; it was the song that carried him on a “songtrail” to heaven, where he could consult with the blessed ancestors and bring back that ancient wisdom to help guide his people.
Arctic and subarctic peoples had beautiful traditions about the nature of reality, the soul, and the interconnectedness of all life. But for the purposes of this short article, the most important thing is that they believed heaven could be reached, and the earth could be a paradise if people lived properly.
In a very powerful way, this single fact connected their ancestors to the Europeans they would meet around A.D. 1000. Both were concerned with an earthly paradise.
So, the heart of this article is about concepts of “songtrails”—trails that lead to heaven. They take many forms throughout history, but let’s begin by discussing Norse and Celtic versions of the “songtrail.”