Religion, Traditions And Beliefs Of American Indians

In Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, the book highlights some interesting parts about indigenous religions of North America and Africa. For starters, in the indigenous religions, they have some interesting beliefs about how the world was created. Many of the beliefs they hold about the origin of the creation of man, is from ancient myths of North America. The belief that North America is the motherland for all creation. However, each native religion has different t how they describe their superman being.

The Plains Indians religious beliefs were quite similar and interesting. The Plains Indians believed in Animism. Animism is the belief that everything possesses a spirit. Besides Animism, the Plains Indians only worshiped one other “god.” That was the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit was the mother of all things. They would perform ceremonies for her. Sacred items were also important to the people of the Plains. They would have items that they believed had spiritual or talismanic powers. The items would be located in a pouch at the person’s side. The Medicine Man would also carry around multiple pouches with different talisman. This could come in the form of a peace pipe or a calumet or something that they

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

Due to the wide range of habitats in North America, different native religions evolved to match the needs and lifestyles of the individual tribe. Religious traditions of aboriginal peoples around the world tend to be heavily influenced by their methods of acquiring food, whether by hunting wild animals or by agriculture. Native American spirituality is no exception. Traditional Lakota spirituality is a form of religious belief that each thing, plant and animal has a spirit. The Native American spirituality has an inseparable connection between the spirituality and the culture. One cannot exist without the other.

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,

For Native Americans, protecting their sacred ways was and is a matter of survival, but it is also a matter of respect for the power that is involved. Across the United States, there are more than 558 federally recognized and several hundred state recognized Native American nations (Russell, 1998). Given the wide-ranging diversity of this population consisting of 2.3 million people, it is essential to understand that the term Native American spirituality encompasses the vastness of more than 500 different tribal traditions represented by these hundreds of Indian nations. Being particularly interested in the spirituality as well as the spiritual philosophies and practices of Native Americans, I have decided to approach this very

Believed the supernatural powers can be manipulated by “medicine men or women” who would cure and advise other tribe members and act as a medium between our world and the spirit world. Shamans were believed to predict the future and use medicine and magic to heal the sick.

A large part of the formation of our country and Western society involved interaction with tribes of Native Americans that inhabited North America well before Europeans settled it. It started with Spanish conquistadors and explorers, then British colonies which would mold and change into the revolutionized American Colonists. Along this succession, the Indian tribes on the east coast experienced extreme prejudice, regime changes and war. Among these tribes are the Cherokee. The Cherokee were at the forefront of Indian-European relations. They remained strong in the southeast, despite war and epidemic. The Cherokee underwent significant culture changes yet not always by choice. War and disease tore apart the Cherokee as well other tribes but

Thirty-Five Native American tribes exist in Washington State. The Tulalip tribe resides in Marysville, Washington bordering the town that I live in. The Tulalip Tribes are the state’s second largest tribal group. In the past Cascade Midwives & Birth center, where I plan to practice my skills, has conducted mini prenatal clinics for expectant Tulalip mothers. While, in recent years it has not been as prevalent. Midwives have been integral for many underprivileged women to get quality healthcare throughout pregnancy. These women are typically marginalized in society but can be well served by midwives. Midwives are less threatening and believe in informal consent, they allow people to make their own decisions. This helps avoid the stigma of a

The religion of Native Americans varied depending on the tribe they were affiliated with so it is difficult to generalize the religion to a specific doctrine. However, when Europeans first began colonizing in the west, the religious systems of the culture included cosmologies, the idea of an all-knowing and powerful creator, as well as the immortality of the human soul. These ideas made relating Christianity to the Natives easier for evangelists at the time. There were many factors that made evangelizing difficult as well. For example, the belief that even non-human specimens had souls and needed to be accounted for was not understood nor explained in Christianity. Also, the language barrier could make conversion challenging due to the fact

The North American community in today’s worlds has embraced Christianity, Muslim and other popular religious beliefs. Finding the ancient religious practices in action is rare, but not impossible. The communities had their own believes concerning gods and philosophies of good and evil before they were colonized. The communities have lost most of their beliefs and practices as they took place in the earlier community to popular religions which were introduced during and after the colonialism periods (Bonvillain and Porter 23-43).

I decided to research about Native Americans, specifically the Cherokee tribe. This culture interests me because they were the first people to cultivate America. I have limited knowledge about Native Americans other than what I learned in grade school around Thanksgiving.

The nature of spirituality may be difficult for someone outside of their culture to understand. Many Native Americans are visionary, dreamers, and mystic in animated worlds of spirits. Indians have encouraged the seeking of visions and dreams through various practices and beliefs. The Iroquois Nation of the eastern woodlands was one of the most highly organized civilizations that developed among Native American tribes in North America. Their religion was based off on an all power known as “The Great Spirit” or Ha-wen-ne-yu. “The Great Spirit” ruled and administered the world and its affairs. His power was administered to the material world through a class of inferior spiritual existences, which were given names and identified by the object they were classified as. For example, He-no, which is the most important spirits, was given the thunderbolt and controlled the weather. The Iroquois Nation also had an evil spirit, known as the “Evil Minded” or “Ha-ne-go-ate-geh”.

To understand why they celebrate, you have to look into their past to see who they are, where they've been. To see what it's like dancing in moccasins. Each nation has a different story, but you might find that collectively, they celebrate the preservation of a way of life as much as life itself. To make sense of that, Channel Nine, Harmony Alliance, KCP&L, the Anti-Defamation League, McDonald's, and IBM went to the Kickapoo Reservation to talk to Paul Guiseppe, a tribal elder who is well respected because he has seen a lot. Stated, “at one time, this whole continent, the United States, was our country. It was taken away from us. We was forced to go on. Like my people, they had come from round the Great Lakes. And when we were one nation, one tongue