Within these landscapes, we feel the sacred, something like the spirit of the place. It comes to get us, it starts from the feet and it vibrates, then we feel accompanied. We name the spirit of the places MANITU ASSI (innu aimun) /MANITO ASKI (atikamekw nehiromowin). For us, all entities have a spirit: the earth, the trees, the water, the fire, the wind, the animals, the stones, the plants; all are part of creation and are of equal importance. Many people have gone to these places for prayers, puberty ceremonies or to train to become a medicine man or woman. These sacred places are marked on the territory by traces of camps, burials, places where the placentas of our women were buried. In front of certain stones, we pray for a smooth journey; in other places we blacken our faces as a sign of humility before the power of the spirit of the place, KIGÈ INNU, an entity with a supreme force that has generated us all.
