Native American Culture

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

Native Americans do not explain their supernatural elements the same way other cultures do. Most other cultures try to talk about gods, or ghosts, or supernatural elements. Native Americans use nature and spirits to explain the supernatural elements. Native American myths instead rely on nature and spirits to tell the story, which reflects on their culture’s belief system. The Native Americans have many myths and folktales, and most of them share many common themes and archetypes with other cultures, myths ,and legends. Almost every Native American myth or piece of folklore revolves around nature and its power; while spirits are used mainly to explain the unexplainable parts. This characteristic is shown with spirits being important characters,

The Southwest Native American and their culture is very unique.There art contained their symbols and signs to show what they believe in.This is important because it is a big part of their daily life and practices.They had dolls that represented the Kachina spirits.This is important because this is an important part of their culture and history.In our exhibit the little girl is holding one.They wore turquoise jewelry because it promotes wealth,happiness and fortune.In our exhibit the people are wearing the jewelry.The South West native american culture is very unique because they used dolls to represent spirits.

Religious beliefs varied between tribes, but there was a widespread belief in a Great Spirit who created the earth, and who pervaded everything. The constitution of the Iroquois stated every time assembly is held, “ they shall make an address and offer thanks to the earth, to the streams of water, to the animals”. Native American believe everything on earth was given by the Mother Earth, so they must pay respect to their surroundings. In Natives’ culture, there is no such thing of I am first because I am this because they are all relying on one another to sustain life. According to the Digital History, Native American lifestyle was “ free from all the traditional constraints of civilized life-- such as private property or family bonds” . The natives had never of a thought of themselves as owners. They believed that everything on earth was gifted by the Mother Earth, which explains why Indians have a great respect for nature. This concept has proven to us that these Native American were not self- centered. They don’t take everything for granted. They appreciated every little thing around

The Native American’s way of living was different from the Europeans. They believed that man is ruled by respect and reverence for nature and that nature is an

Native Americans lost their culture once the Spanish made them a part of the mission system. Before European arrival, they were predominantly pagan and had multiple gods or spirits which they worshipped as part of their rituals for successful harvest or hunt. Through the mission system, they underwent baptism through Catholicism and learned to worship only one supreme being and

“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 Native Americans had settled in the land years before the arrival of the Euro-Americans. Hundreds of Native American groups occupied the land, each tribe with its separate culture, language, and spiritual way-of-life. Despite the many differences, “there was also considerable interaction and dialogue among tribes about spiritual concepts. Through the common language of sign-talk, ideas could be shared and compared among Indian tribes including the spiritual concepts that are an intricate part of the Indian’s everyday experience” (Treat). The Native American culture was primarily oral. Almost all tribes believed in a cosmology or creation myth regarding how this world and the things inhabiting it came to be. Most native peoples worshiped an all-powerful, all-knowing “Master Spirit.” They also revered and placated a host of lesser spirits in hopes of receiving assistance in their daily interactions with the world around them. Often times shamans, who were believed to have supernatural powers through visions, were called upon to communicate and implore the spirits to ensure a good harvest, or victory in warfare, or healing, or interpreting dreams, or other matters of great

Every country and nation has they own special festivals and music, and Native American is no exception. First, the native music related many aspects such as ritual, life and work. They like to combine music with dance, and the Native American music always created rich percussion instruments. For example, the hand drum, log drum, water drum and rattle, etc. Powwow is an important festival and ritual for the Native American, and it is a symbol for the tradition culture of Native Indians. Powwow, is a social gathering by the Native American tribes, and they singing and dancing. Powwow is not only a method that the Native American expresses the enthusiasm of the life and peace, but also enhances the sense of identity and cohesion. Hence,

Native American lives were much different before the arrival of Europeans. Due to the fact that there was a multitude of tribes, cultures differ greatly amongst different groups. Native Americans hiked over the land bridge, the Bering Strait, more than 12.000 years ago. Among this group of people, scientist divided them into 10 different culture areas: the Arctic, California, the Great Basin, the Northeast, the Northeast Coast, the Southeast, the Southwest, the Subarctic, the Plains and the Plateau.

Native Americans hold a type of esoteric concept that comes from their philosophy of preserving their environment as well as their kinship that ties them together (Access Genealogy, 2009). They not only have social ties, they are politically and religiously organized through their rituals, government, and other institutions (Access Genealogy, 2009). They work together to reside in a territorial area, and speak a common language (Access Genealogy, 2009). They are not characterized by any one certain structure (Access Genealogy, 2009). However, the society agrees on fundamental principles that bond together a certain social fabric (Access Genealogy, 2009). Different Native American tribes throughout the years have had different ideas, opinions, philosophies, which are not always predetermined by their past ancestors.

Some common features of North American Indian culture are the food eaten, the clothes worn, the ideas worshipped and the outlook on life. Native American’s from this time period hunted for their food, so, they wouldn’t have varied too much in their diets. Also, in this time period, the Native Americans were considered family to each other, so the style of clothes they wore would’ve been similar to one another. Another thing that made their culture similar was their outlook on life. When researching their culture, I was brought to a handful of websites that told about their beliefs and how they celebrated their Gods.

I had not given much thought to Indigenous connections to Country or how past events have shaped Indigenous culture today. I was shocked to learn past Indigenous education policies developed by colonial and subsequent governments, despite many declined proposals by Indigenous people to change, sought to assimilate, or civilise Indigenous people (Groome & Garner, 1993: Miller, 2012). Through this, I have become increasingly aware of the injustices within these documents and cultural events. Knowledge of these events and past policy decisions and how they have and continue to impact on Indigenous Australians is essential for inclusive curriculum development.