Native American Religions

The indigenous tribes of North America have much in common with the indigenous religions of Africa but there are also many differences in the belief of an afterlife, supreme deity, and the daily practices of each. Today many of these lesser known religions are hardly ever studied but they exist and are still practiced all over North America and Africa. We will discuss how these religions differ in their main beliefs and practices, and we will also discuss how they correlate with one another on smaller aspects.

Have you ever wonder how the world was created from another culture’s perspective? Native Americans used creation myths to explained to their people how the world was developed overtime. Creation myths are a big part of the Native American culture. they have been passed down from generation to generation. In the creation myths, harmony with nature, rituals, and strong social values are shown in each myths. The purpose of having strong social value in these myths is to teach younger Native Americans valuable lesson if they ever do something bad. These myths reveals how the rituals were created and their intentions for doing it. Creation myths has harmony with nature in it to show a very close kinship between them

To begin, the differences between popular culture and indigenous culture can be seen through the evidence that the indigenous culture is content with the very few materials and items that they own. While in civilized cultures, people are constantly wanting more. When an item of the popular culture was introduced to the Bushmen people, they had to face the difficulties that many encounter in today’s modern societies. Instead, the simplicities of life that the indigenous held, came hand in hand with simple emotions and simple problems. This is why they were able to remain happy and at peace within their life. In phenomenology, people would give an object its meaning. The Coke glass, for example, within popular culture this would be seen as something to drink or to enjoy with a cheeseburger. Many from popular culture would not have made this connection to the glass bottle without knowing its exact meaning. Like the Bushmen people, they had not given what civilized people would consider the “correct” purpose

“One general truth that threads throughout the Native American spiritual beliefs is the belief of the Mother Earth spirituality” (Coll). They often called earth their mother and called father the air. The earth to the Natives is very sacred to them and is the most important thing to them. Most of the ceremonies were in some way revolving around the earth and they called earth “home.” Most of the ceremonies were practiced for many years and were passed down through generation to generation. The Native Americans didn’t have a book like the bible or any language that was written. One big thing they had was Totems. These were everywhere in their tribes and it was supposed to represent people and the animals that represented them. The Indians were supposed to have 7 spiritual animals and the many animals on the totems were supposed to represent all the person’s spiritual

There are three key patterns seen in most Native American religions they are the human relationship with nature, framing of time and space and respect for gods/ancestors. The human relationship with nature known as animism, everything is seen as part of the same reality and every object has a spirt, is a practice where there is little distinction between humans and animals. Time and space is sacred, cyclical,

Culture, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary is stated as “The integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief and behavior that dpends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations. The customary beliefs, social forms and material traits of a racial, religious or social group. The set shared attitudes, values, goals and practices that characterizes an institution or organization. The set of values, conventions or social practices associated with a particular field, activity or societal characteristic.” Of these four definitions, I shall be focusing on the second one to discuss what makes up the culture of American Indians.The culture of the various tribes that made up the Native Americans is one of close knit families, highlyspiritual peoples and living together as one with the land they lived on. They believed in spirits, worshiping and honoring them. Some settled into single locations while others were nomadic, but all had a focus on working with the land around them. Because there are so many varying tribes that make up Native

The handling of human remains and sacred sites of prehistoric people still remains as a hunge controversial subject in the field of Anthropology. Archaeology are bounded by all kinds of laws and regulations, guidelines are strictly followed by archaeologists to ensure a legal, ethical, and professional conduct of archaeological research. Complex ethical issues arise when an archaeologist tries to excavate a prehistoric site. Archaeologists must be careful when handling Native American remains as they might violate laws if they mishandle the human remains. All these laws existed to protect the basic human rights for the Native Americans. In this paper, perspectives from both Native Americans and archaeological researchers would be discussed.

Ceremonies and rituals are critical to the Native American culture. This culture also considers these rituals as a part of their religion. When referring to religion it’s not the same as the way

Peyote is a narcotic cactus plant that has been used in both religious and healing ceremonies of Native Americans for thousands of years. Peyote is considered safe by a majority of Native Americans, but also vastly important to their religious heritage. Not only is it considered historically important but the use of peyote is central to many beliefs of modern Pan-Indianism. Interestingly, the more popular peyote became among Native American tribes, the more of a concern it became to the US Government and this strange correlation of tribe use vs. government concern forces us to ask why peyote has become such a central point of conflict. This essay will attempt to answer that question and show why the

Native Americans are always struggling with identification with their tribes traditions compared to Euro-American traditions. Counselors need to recognize that many Native Americans feel uncomfortable when talking about things outside of their context.

Tsai & Alanis (2004), states relation is symbolized by the Circle of life, represented through different tribal traditions and consist of the elements of life: fire, water, earth and air. Life is also represented through four circles, the first representing our spirit, the second representing your family or clan, the third represents our natural environment and relations, the fourth and last circle represents the spirit world. Harmony and balance for native Americans, shows an emphasis on Unity; Through community, sharing, and extended family. Harmony with nature and living in the present is important as well as a deep respect for their elders. Wellness shows an emphasis on harmony with yourself, environment, and others. Native American's use the term "Did you take your medicine?" Which is more than physical wellness. "Medicine" is everything. It is described as an inner strength. What i found most interesting about this article was how it pointed out that there is no clear word for "religion" in many of the Native American languages, but spirituality is an integral part of every day life because it is necessary for balance and harmony, wellness of the person and family, tribe or community. I think I closely relate to their value of family and unity. To me it is the most positive and most important value to have.

The theme of spirituality takes place in many novels that we have read this semester. Natives has used spiritual guidance as a means of connecting with their past and honoring their ancestors. To Natives, spirits have always played an important role in their culture and everyday lives. When Natives were forced to convert to Christianity and over time have their beliefs sucked out of them, the spiritual connection was broken as generations passed. One novel that particularly spoke to me on this subject was Monkey Beach, by Eden Robinson. The main character, Lisa, is struggling to fins herself after being blessed with the gift of being a shaman. In this novel, the author exploits how the European or western “white” culture has destroyed the

When Europeans first set foot upon the shores of what is now the United States they brought with them a social structure which was fundamentally based around their concept and understanding of Western European Christianity. That the indigenous peoples might already have a thriving civilization, including religious beliefs and practices, that closely paralleled the beliefs and practices of European civilization, was a concept not considered by these early explorers and settlers. This European lack of cultural understanding created tensions, between Native Americans and Europeans, and later between Native Americans and Euro-Americans, that eventually erupted into open warfare and resulted in great bloodshed between cultures. For the Lakota

Another characteristic of an indigenous religion deals with the emphasis placed on the spiritual specialists. The general consensus is that anyone can have personal or direct access to spirits or that which is unseen, yet felt (democratized shamanism). There is no special requirement in most indigenous systems that stipulate ‘who’ can commune or interact with spirits, however, as a general rule, many feel that it is best to leave interactions with spirits to those that have been taught or trained through ritual or purification of some sort. Most indigenous religions are not written down, but based on oral

Indigenous religions exist in every climate around the world and exhibit a wide range of differences in their stories, language, customs, and views of the afterlife. Within indigenous communities, religion, social behavior, art, and music are so intertwined that their religion is a significant part of their culture and virtually inseparable from it. These religions originally developed and thrived in isolation from one another and are some of the earliest examples of religious practice and belief. The modern world; however, has taken its toll on these groups and many of their stories, customs, and beliefs have been lost to, or replaced by, those brought in as a result of popular culture and the missionary work of Christians and Muslims.