Tipatshimuna 
Description:
Model tent, patshuianitshuap, with miniature snowshoes and model shaking tent
References:
Lucien M. Turner. 1979[1894]. Indians and Eskimos in the Quebec-Labrador Peninsula. Quebec: Presses COMEDITEX. Father Le Jeune. 1637. The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents. Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France, 1610-1791. Edited by Reuben Gold Thwaites. Cleveland: The Burrows Brothers Company. Vol. XII, p.17.
Innu Narrative:
“The shaking tent is like the news, like a weather forecast. It tells us if we’re going to find food. It’s not the shaman that tells us all this, it’s his Mishtapeu [attending spirit]. We would also hear Kanipinikassikueu (the caribou master), Missinakᵘ (Fish Master), and Uapishtanapeu (Marten Master) in the shaking tent.” Philip Michel Jr.
“It is the same as the television, that shaking tent. If you could witness it, you would really like it. You would have a great time. I certainly laughed, because it was a great time. People would sing inside the shaking tent sometimes. Like yourself, the way you are, you could be brought into the shaking tent. When someone is brought in there, they sound so close, so clear. The late Mary told us once that our father (Pien Gregoire) was brought into a shaking tent. We weren’t there at the time. We were living in a different area. The late Uashaunnu was the late Mary’s father. She said that a shaking tent was being performed by her father. She told me that my father was brought in there. He sounded very clear/close. She said that he was singing. The shaking tent would tell you exactly where the animals being hunted are. For example, if you wanted to kill caribou, it would tell you exactly where the caribou are. It’s as clear as we are talking to each other now. The one who is called Mishtapeu, and the Animal Masters who own the animals, they are heard through the shaking tent. And when the Mishtapeut sing, it is really good to listen to them. Songs of the shaman. It’s only a person’s Mishtapeu that is brought into the shaking tent, not all of his physical being. Only his Mishtapeu. You would hear the person very clearly. It’s like the way someone speaks to you. That’s the way he sounds. And when stories are being told, it would be like watching a television.” Mani-Matinen (Gregoire) Nuna (23 September 1993)
“A long time ago, I saw the shaking tent at Kashakashkueats. Meshkana was the shaman there. A shaman from Sheshatshit named Uashaunnu performed the shaking tent ceremonies at Shipiskan Lake and Snegamook Lake. Kashakashkueats is not far from Davis Inlet.” Leon Rich (17 July 1995)
“You want to know about the shaking tent. I saw the shaking tent once. Game was very scarce, so the shaman was asked to set up the shaking tent. He wanted to find out where the animals were located. These animals have their own Masters (bosses). There is one Master who is the first one to enter the shaking tent. The shaman will ask this Master where he can find the animals on the land.” Mani-Shushet (Noah) Mistenapeo (26 July 1995)
Other Info:
This diorama presents models of an Innu patshuianitshuap (canvas, prospector tent) and a kushapatshikan (shaking tent). Innu elder, Pien Penashue, has explained the manner in which the shaking tent was made and how it operated in a videotape available at the Labrador Interpretation Centre. Peter Armitage note.
In the post-contact period, Innu have erected several types of tents as dwellings and for ritual and curative purposes. These include kushapatshikan (shaking tent), matishan (steam tent), patshuianitshuap (canvas, prospector tent), shaputuan (tent with two entrances), tashtuaikanitshuap (teepee, conical tent), natuakaikanitshuap (bell-tent, round tent), and uishkatshanitshuap (flat-topped tent). Today, the patshuianitshuap is used predominately by Labrador and Quebec Innu as a dwelling, although the shaputuan and uishkatshanitshuap are also used on rare occasions. The tashtuaikanitshuap (teepee, conical tent), with its central hearth, was replaced by the patshuianitshuap after WWII. Numerous cobblestone and raised earthen tent rings can be found in many places throughout the northern Innu territory, which point to the frequent use of the earlier structure. Peter Armitage note.
The shaking tent was one of the most important rituals in the yearly cycle of travel and harvesting of the Innu people of Quebec and Labrador. It was not only an important method of direct communication with the caribou and other Animal Masters, as well as with Mishtapeu, it was also a source of amusement. The shaman used the tent to look into the hidden world of Animal Spirits, and to make contact with Innu in distant groups. On occasion, he waged terrible battles there with other shamans and cannibal creatures such as Atshen. Peter Armitage note.
Sheshatshiu Innu who have seen the shaking tent say that it was a small, conically-shaped tent, with caribou hide or canvas covering, and four, six, or eight poles depending on the power (manitushiun) of the shaman (the shaman is called the Kakushapatak, officient, in the context of the ritual). It would be set up inside another tent on a floor of freshly picked fir boughs. Younger men would act as assistants (apprentices?) to the Kakushapatak in setting up the tent. Peter Armitage note.
As soon as the Kakushapatak stuck his head in the tent, it would start to shake violently, indicating that the officient had been joined by a helper, usually Mishtapeu who helped him communicate with the other spirits. The more important the Animal Master or more powerful the spirit, the more power the Kakushapatak needed in order to be able to communicate. Especially powerful people are reputed to have been able to speak immediately with the Caribou Master, without having to work their way through Masters of lesser importance. Peter Armitage note.
Generally, Innu who witnessed the shaking tent ceremony, or who have learned about it from actual witnesses, are of the opinion that the tent itself was a very powerful but dangerous device. It could kill people who entered into it unless they had a substantial accumulation of manitushiun (power). This in turn could only be accumulated by hunting; throughout a hunter’s lifetime, manitushiun accumulated in direct proportion to the number of animals he killed (or was given by the Animal Masters). Peter Armitage note..
When talking about the shaking tent in English or French, younger Innu borrow para-psychological and technological vocabulary from Euro-Canadian society to describe it. For example, one Innu youth from La Romaine said the shaking tent “was as powerful as an atomic bomb”, that there “was a kind of electricity in the air when it operated”, and that “the shaman could communicate with people ‘telepathically’ while in the tent”. Sebastien Penunsi from Sheshatshiu, who witnessed the shaking tent, said “it’s very similar to a radio…If there were people in George River, or people in St.Augustin, and you wanted to communicate with them, then you could do the shaking tent.” Peter Armitage note.