Squamish Shaker Church

History

The Indian Shaker Church was inspired by the spiritual visions and experiences of husband and wife John and Mary Slocum, of the  Skokomish, people. In the fall of 1882, John Slocum, who worked as a logger, suddenly became ill and appeared to die in his home on the shores of a remote inlet in southern Puget Sound known as Big Skookum. (Skookum is a Chinook Jargon term meaning “strong, brave or impressive.”) His relatives sent for a coffin. To their great surprise, John came back to life and explained that he had left his body, travelled to heaven and had been told by God to instruct Indigenous people to stop smoking tobacco, gambling and drinking alcohol. As he recovered, John preached abstinence from these behaviours and made prophecies.

About a year after John’s first spiritual experience, he once again became seriously ill. John had not abstained from alcohol, tobacco and gambling, as he had urged his followers to do. John’s father called in an Indian Doctor to give him medical attention. Indian Doctors were established medical practitioners in Coast Salish societies. However, John’s wife, Mary, believed that the Indian Doctor was causing his illness. Upset, she left the house where John was lying ill and went to the shores of Big Skookum, where she began to shake and tremble. Shakers believe that Mary received the power of Jesus to cure disease on the shores of Big Skookum. Returning to the room where John lay, she ordered the Indian Doctor to leave, and made John’s family members light candles and ring bells. She made the sign of the cross and shook her body over John until he revived to full health.

The spiritual experiences and visions of John and Mary Slocum in the 1880s inspired the Indian Shaker Church. In the decades immediately following John and Mary’s spiritual experiences, churches were constructed in Indigenous communities throughout the Pacific Northwest. The religion spread south to Oregon and northern California, east no further than the Cascade Mountains and north to southern British Columbia. Many adherents of the Church in Canada became Shakers through family and economic ties that spanned the border between Washington and British Columbia. One activity that led to the spread of the religion to Canada was seasonal labour on White-owned hop farms in Washington State by Indigenous people from southern British Columbia. Communities of Shakers could be found on Southern Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia beginning in the 20th century, particularly amongst communities of Cowichan, Musqueam, Chemainus and Squamish.

Beliefs and Practices

Members of the Indian Shaker Church adopted elements of Christianity into longstanding concepts of Coast Salish spirituality. The resulting mix of Christianity and Coast Salish spirituality produced a hybrid religion, with its own unique set of beliefs and practices.

A central aspect of Shaker Church services is the healing ritual, in which Church members channel the power of Jesus into healing the sick. This healing ritual was inspired by Mary Slocum’s healing of her husband in the foundational story of the Church. During church ceremonies, Shakers in need of healing sit in chairs while others who have the “Power” (the power of Jesus) work to heal them. Healers make hand gestures upwards and sing to obtain the Power. Once the Power is obtained, they perform several rituals over the sick person including touch healing, hand clapping and candle waving. Shakers believe that candles have the power to reveal the diseased areas of the body. Shakers also believe that illness can be burned away over a candle once it is removed from the body. Onlookers ring bells incessantly throughout the healing ritual, which causes temporary partial deafness. Bell ringing is believed to aid in the healing process. Those being healed sometimes shake or vomit during the healing, which is a sign that disease is leaving the body.

Related to the central belief of Jesus’ power to heal in the church is one of abstinence from tobacco, alcohol, drugs and gambling. Shakers believe that using these substances or partaking in gambling causes illness in the body. They also believe that the body cannot receive the Power unless it is free from substances. Often, those who join the Church first arrive in what Shakers call a “backslid” state, in which these substances or behaviours have been partaken of. Once healers have helped backsliders obtain bodily purity through the healing ritual, backsliders often become healers in their own right and integral members of the Church.

For more information on the Squamish Shaker Church contact Donna Billy  sisolia545@hotmail.com