Native American Power Animals Research Paper

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,

Native Americans have great respect for the natural world. They believe that each creature has its own power by which it maintains itself and affects others. Each Native American culture has its own name for this power, but many Native American cultures recognize a Great Spirit- an invisible power that is the source of life and good for humans. Many of the animals that helped feed and clothe the Native Americans are also highly revered. Native American folklore, much of which portrays animals, reflects this great respect.

“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,

Black Elk plays a major role in retelling the history of the Lakota Native Americans. Having witnessed the Battle of Little Bighorn and living through the transfer of Native Americans to the Pine Ridge Reservation, Black Elk can attest to the treatment endured by Native Americans. Black Elk tells the story of a people injured in war and subject to sufferings for the years to follow.

Florida State University’s mascot, the Seminole, was modeled after the Seminole Indian tribe of Florida. The NCAA feels that this mascot is racist and oppressive to the Seminole tribe. At first, The NCAA was not in favor of Florida State University having a Seminole as their mascot, but later on they discovered that the Seminole tribe of Florida was actually in favor of this mascot because it accurately represented their culture and traditions and they felt it was a tribute to them. After gaining that knowledge, the NCAA removed Florida State University from their list of colleges with racist Native American Mascots. The Seminole Tribe’s chief said it is an honor for them to be identified with a university. Meanwhile, the Seminole Tribe of Oklahoma appeared highly offended of this mascot. A leader from that tribe felt that Florida State University was exhibiting extreme levels of stereotypical racism upon them. Florida State University always has been seen under a controversial light due to their mascot, but an important thing recognize is that the Seminole chief of Florida felt honored that this University was paying this tribute to them.

The Pawnee indians had many different reasons and ways of art. They made things like pottery and Dream Catchers. There were many different types of Pawnee art. Art was mostly made by the women and young girls of the village. The woman of the village worked hard on the art used for many different things. Things such as bead and feathers were used to decorate art and clothing.

“As the nation’s oldest, largest, and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native advocacy organization, NCAI has long held a clear position against derogatory and harmful stereotypes of Native people—including sports mascots—in media and popular culture” (“Ending the Era of Harmful ’Indian’ Mascots” 1). Native Americans have been used as mascots and names for several high school, college, and professional teams such as the Washington Redskins with their Native American mascot. The term “Redskins” or any other term about Native Americans should not be used for any sports teams at any level, because it implies a snide nature, that it damages how people perceive their culture, and how Native American children perceive themselves.

“Whenever the white man treats the Indian as they treat each other, then we will have no more wars. We shall all be alike-brothers of one father and one mother, with one sky above us, and one country around us.” Chief Joseph. Whether or not to use Native American names as sports teams mascots has recently been debated. The supporters of keeping Native American mascots believe they should keep them due to the honor that the sports teams bring the tribe. However, opponents believe that the teams should do away with the names due to the insulting and racist stereotypes. This is why we need to abolish the use of Native American mascots.

Through American history prejudice, racial discrimination, and other forms of racism have been constant in the mistreatment of Native Americans. Through the actions of genocide, displacement, slavery, and other heinous acts, Native Americans still are being racially profiled as savages and being seen as primitive people. Several professional sports teams use Native American people or icons as their mascots. By doing this they are misrepresenting the indigenous people. Having a Native American mascot is dishonorable to Native Americans, and translates to other racial actions, and also degrades religious attire.

In 1992, St. Bonaventure’s mascot was changed from the Brown Indian to the Wolfpack. The Brown Indian was the mascot during a time of racial tensions between the Native people and those who immigrated. The changing of the mascot was a good idea because having a Native American mascot negatively affects that group of people.

Have you ever wondered why there are so many native American team names? You might think it’s because they are brave or have the warrior spirit, but many Native Americans think it is a disparagement. Many people think they should be allowed, but it is a big debate. Native American team mascots can be cool; however, it can be insulting, propagate stereotypes, and trivialize injustices.

They believed that animal ancestors such as Wolf, Coyote, Rabbit, Bear and Mountain Lion lived before the human age. During that period they were able to speak and act as humans do. They created the world and were responsible for the landscape and food resources. Great Basin peoples also believed in powerful spirits. These were animals, birds, or natural or supernatural phenomena, each thought to have a specific power.

Sacred power (pg 16): Native Americans believed in spiritual powers and the natural world. Spiritual power for men were hunting and war.

Symbolically, the wolf has been known to represent leadership and loyalty. Leadership for its ability to provide and protect a pack, and loyalty for guiding a pack (“Peterson, Rolf O” n.pag). There are many well-known people that portray leadership and loyalty like the wolf, Katherine Graham is one of them. Through family challenges, political scandals, and pressmen strikes Graham pushed the societal standards and expectations of women. She proved her ability to lead through her position at the Washington Post and showed loyalty by upholding the platform she created for it (“Katherine Graham, Ben Bradlee” n.pag)