Essay on Sun Chief

In his essay “Of Christians and Indian Loggers” author Tom Swift Bird uses rich imagery and figures of speech to detail the cultural and religious differences between the Indian people and American Christians, as well as state his views on modern Christianity. He speaks to the people who live outside of Reservations in a strong attempt to get them to understand the importance of culture in his life and the lives of his fellow Native Americans. He uses a narrative focused on the tale of three Indian loggers, hired by Christian men, in order to convey his message of cultural erasure.

Another important part of the Hopi culture, is the idea that time is circular and ongoing. Hopis emerged from the spirit world to take on their role in life as part of nature. They believe that their connection with the land, animals, and spirits is a part of their Hopivotskowani. Therefore, they respect the natural and cyclical tendency of life. Just as the seasons of the year bring life and death to many plants and animals, the Hopi people accept life and death as part of the human existence. While alive, a Hopi must do his/her part to learn about the culture and how to do things the “Hopi way”, in order to prepare one’s self for the spirit world. (Ferrero 1983) Then, as one enters the spiritual world, his/her spirit becomes a force of life-giving nature and serves as a guide for young Hopis. The circular motion of time allows the Hopis to accept occurrences as part of a larger plan than one can see for one’s self.

In many indigenous traditions, the relationship that the people have with their environment plays a highly influential role in their lives. As John Bowker tells us, very often “native religions find their inspiration in the natural world” (Bowker 2006, 198). In the novel Black Elk Speaks, we see this particularly within the Oglala Lakota Sioux’s strong ties to nature through the flowering stick, thunder spirits, wildlife, and more. Similarly, the film Avatar presents us with the Omaticaya clan of the Na’vi people, and their deity Ey’wa, rooted both figuratively and literally in the “Tree of Souls”, as well as their connection to the “Home Tree” and creatures both big and small on their planet. In this paper I intend to explore the meaning

Gill’s article starts off with an explanation of what shamanism is. Gill stated, “North American shamans are individuals with extraordinary access to spiritual power” (8287). The article further explores the different characteristics of a shaman and the different functions of what a shaman does. The text also discusses how a member of a tribe gets shamanic powers (8288). Furthermore, into the article, Gill includes a “brief review” of tribes in North America that have shamanism or rituals that is like it. Gill’s brief description of the tribes, show the commonalities that the tribes share. In his research, he found that healing/curing is the most common use for the rituals (8288-8289). In most tribes’ males are the shamans, but in tribes around

Sundiata was written in Africa. Gilgamesh was the oldest one written. Other works include the Iliad and the Odyssey, which were written by the blind prophet Homer. What do all these works of literature have in common with each other? The similarity that all these works of literature have is that they are all epics. What does this mean? What is an epic? The definition of an epic is that an epic is a long, narrative poem with a hero that goes on a quest. What is the hero? Well, the characteristics of a hero is that they all go on a quest, which is a long, arduous journey, he usually descends to the underworld, and many other traits are possessed that determine if a hero is an epic hero.

Pat Ferraro, the director of “Hopi: Songs of the Fourth World”, brilliantly plunged into the heart of Hopi’s culture and illustrated the richness of Hopi’s life. Instead of concentrating on the negative features of Hopi’s lives, Ferraro focused on the harmony that the Hopi induced via the customs and culture they continue to uphold. Cultural farming was one of the Hopi’s everyday activities. In illustrating this, Ferraro presents the theme of living in balance and harmony with nature. As Ferraro captures this theme, he also captures Hopi’s traditional ceremonial life that helped disclose the harmony of Hopi’s life.

In order for society to exist, the people of that society must universally be compliant with the culture normative and traditions. This same can be said about the Chinook people, a people of the Northwest coast, who reside along the Columbian river basin. “The Sun Myth” is an oral tradition, which purpose is to rely the importance of cultural compliance, especially by those in leadership, and power positions. When important cultural aspects are forgotten, the society in which they exist is eradicated. Thus, culture does not exist without society; however, society cannot exist without culture.

Vine Deloria, author of The World We Used to Live In, not only introduces his readers to indigenous Native American spirituality and traditional practices including ceremonies but also brings several important ideas of native spirituality to the forefront. He discusses the importance of having and maintaining a relationship with mother earth and all living beings; an interconnectedness with nature in all forms that is crucial to the understanding and practice of Native American spirituality. Dreams and visions were discussed as an important form of communication in indigenous spirituality. The important relationships with animal and plant spirits are discussed. The concept of power and what is considered power in Native Spirituality.

Birthday Boy and Empire of the Sun present similarities and differences in the way children respond when facing difficult circumstances. Resilience is demonstrated through the children's resourceful thinking, perseverance and their ability to thrive and adapt against setbacks brought about by their world. The difficult circumstances presented to the children in the two texts share common themes of war, destruction of the environment, the absence of adult supervision and the transition from innocence to experience as a result of exposure to war. The first text, Birthday Boy is a short, animated film directed by Sejong

One of the challenges identified in this chapter for scholars of religion is how a lot of the indigenous were or are somewhat exclusionist and practice in secret their beliefs as described on page 34. This creates the problem for any outsider to either participate or be part of their ritual, ceremonies or make an attempt to understand their ways and beliefs. My understanding is we know now what we know because of globalization and how new global traditions are blending with the older ways as described on Page 35.

Indigenous religions have a strong connection with nature. The people are surrounded around plants, animals, and land or, the "spirits". The world has a unique

What stood up for me the most about indigenous religious expressions was their ability to tap into the spirit world. Their belief that there is a being (spirit) that has the ability of not only know what is a person’s ailment or problem, but also how to remedy it.

Indigenous Religions are not always indigenous or ‘native to the land’ (Oxtoby, p.33). Scholars labeled these religions as only local organizations. While these cultures are somewhat regionally oriented, they are not all found in sub-Saharan Africa. Diasporas and the slave trade forced thousands of tribes apart to other continents around the world. By believing these groups of people are located in small regions and only concentrated in one part of the world leads people to belief they are smaller and less pertinent to society.

It is my contention that Ba 's observation is consistent within the context of the African religious traditions. Within the framework of a discussion, and explanation of the presence of the sacred in all aspects of African life, it is my intent to reveal the actuality of Ba 's claim that, “there is little or no room for a profane life...”.5 Moreover, I intend to broaden the discussion by asserting that Ba 's claim has equal validity in other cultural religious traditions viz., those of the Native North Americans. Using the example of Native North Americans, will also illuminate a further contention that, hierophanies are present in the natural world, and as a manifestation of the sacred, provide further evidence for

The Mbaino tribe in Things Fall Apart practice many traditions that the Western culture would deem superstitious. The Western religion allows for the Christian ideals to prove many of the native traditions superfluous when infiltrating the native’s land during colonization. This disassembling of traditions is introduced by Christianity’s unshakeable stance that native deities have no power because they are mythical. However, the new practices and dismantling of tradition the missionaries prove can never be revoked or forgotten from the native lands.