Native Peoples: Learning About The Extensive Native American Culture

Identity in Native America is directly associated with culture and language. As a result, some of the issues today which are important in shaping the identity of modern Native Americans include: representations of native people by the media in sports and popular culture; how indigenous languages are being revitalized and maintained; and identity reclamation. The Native American lifestyle has changed significantly during the last half of the 20th century and that is because views on the Native people have drastically changed over time. They have had many hardships that have greatly impacted their culture over the past few centuries leading up to today.

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 American art is a profoundly expressive culture that has been a way of life for so many Native Americans. Native American art history has advanced over thousands of years and is composed of several idiosyncratic styles from the differentiating cultures of diverse Indian tribes. From Navajo to Hopi, each tribe has a particular history, which consists of many types of Native American arts including beadwork, jewelry, weaving, pottery, carvings, kachinas, masks, totem poles, and more. To truly understand Native American art, we will explore Native American art history, its subjects, and if Native American art has a spiritual connection to it.

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

Native American culture originated in some parts North America. These countries are known as the United States of America and some parts of Canada. In the United States, there are 6.6 million Native Americans, which form about 2.0 percent of the population (Bureau, 2016). Europe had realized there were about 50 million people already living the “new world” and these people were called Native Americans. Native Americans were originally called Indians, but later through history they formed a new name. These people were called this because of them being native to the “new world” and the American part came after the colonist named the United States. Throughout history, Native Americans believed that using raw material in nature was the best way to provide for their people. Their culture thought no part of an animal should go to waste. They would eat the meat, use the skin for clothing, and make jewelry from the bones. Over the years a lot of their culture and customs were lost due to conforming with society. Their languages were referred to as “Indigenous Languages” because of them being extremely complicated and diverse. Some important factors that help understand the foundation of Native American culture are their rituals/practices, death ceremonies, holidays, family, and stereotypes.

There is great respect through the Navajo Culture with regards to their kinship system. They are very traditional towards they religion and

“Newberry Library: Lewis and Clark Exhibit.” Newberry Library: Lewis and Clark Exhibit, publications.newberry.org/lewisandclark/brilliantplan/gifts/weyekin.html. Accessed 1 Apr. 2017.

I am going to write a short text about the newspaper article “Native American Heritage Month”. In this text I am going to focus about how power full names can be when it comes to heritage and identity. However, I am also going to give examples from the text “Native American Heritage Month” to illustrated my thoughts. Nevertheless, I am going to connect this text with to other texts I have read in “Perspectives Magazine”.

Native American, or American Indians, have a rich culture comprised of struggle, strife and success. For this paper, i will discuss the Native American Culture and it's history.

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,

This book shows pictures of babies from different American Indian tribes on their cradle boards. It illustrates babies doing baby things while showing attributes of the American Indian culture.

Culture is one of the most important parts of the life as spirituality. Native American, people practice many different ceremonies as a ritual, which represent their culture, such as, Sun Dance, healing ceremony, and Gallup ceremony, etc. The first ceremony that Native American celebrates the Sun Dance, which is also known as thanksgiving ceremony. This ceremony is like a vision dance. It is a ritual in which people stare at the sun, until everything blackout or spirit break in (Lecture notes). The other ceremony is Gallup ceremony, which is one of the major celebrations that Indian-Tribe celebrates. According to the text, “The Gallup Ceremonial had been an annual event for a long time. It was good for the tourist, they liked to see Indians and Indian dances; they wanted a chance to buy Indian Jewelry and Navajo rugs. Every year it was organized by the white men there” (111). It demonstrates that, how the Native people celebrate their ceremonies every year, with all the respect to their culture. The last ceremony is healing ceremony. Healing ceremony is the ritual that a female Pomo Shaman conducts a ritual healing ceremony over the man’s body. She is performing the ancient doctoring to heal the man spiritually, in which she was dancing with a two sticks, chanting and rubbing her hand on the body (Lecture notes). As we compare, ancient and recent Native American cultures were almost the same because in the past, people celebrate the cultures with a very good sight to enjoy their rituals. Even though, now society has developed a lot, but values of traditions are not changed

Keillor, Elaine, et al. Encyclopedia of Native American Music of North America 1st Edition. Greenwood, 2013. North American people’s musical practices are written down. This encyclopedia addresses how ethnomusicologists show how Native American’s heritage influences music. This encyclopedia also provides a summary of the contributions and influence of Native American people that may be appreciated by everyone. Elaine Keillor’s main qualification is that she was the first woman to receive a degree in ethnomusicology. I think that it’s beneficial because you can actually see how Native Americans approached their culture.

During my visit to the National Museum of American Indian I witnessed a large amount of historical items used in traditional American Indian life. The first items presented were replicas of a variety of different canoes essential to American Indian daily life including the native Hawaiian Canoe and Central Artic Kayak. I also saw a large variety of traditional clothing which was displayed with vivid colors and intricate designs that are handed down from generation to generation. In addition a vivid and unique display of American Indian hats were also presented along with a very large detailed tunic made of alpaca or vicuna wools that only exalted members of Inca society could wear. Different utensils used by the American Indians were also

Native American literatures embrace the memories of creation stories, the tragic wisdom of native ceremonies, trickster narratives, and the outcome of chance and other occurrences in the most diverse cultures in the world. These distinctive literatures, eminent in both oral performances and in the imagination of written narratives, cannot be discovered in reductive social science translations or altogether understood in the historical constructions of culture in one common name. (Vizenor 1)