Native Americans

America’s Earliest Civilizations

Common Features

The AbsoluteThe WorldHumansThe Problem for

HumansThe Solution for

Humans

Community and Ethics

An Interpretation of History

Rituals and Symbols

Life After DeathRelationship with

Other Religions

The Absolute

The names of deities varied. However, since most American Indians believed in many spirits and yet in a supreme God their belief systems is better classified as one of henotheism. This is where there is one great God among many. Indians believed that everything inhabited a spirit and that these spirits could be angered or satisfied; one could also communicate with spirits.

http://www.franklinmint.com/tfmweb/images/11739_sh.jpg

The World

The world is "a manifestation of active spirits ever involved in its changes." The natural occurrences such as winds, clouds, etc. participate in the changeness of the earth. The Earth itself is alive; it is an animated spirit that changes.

http://www.trigono.com/Tarocchi/ita/world/images/native-american.jpg

Humans

Humans and animals have a close kinship and therefore are interdependent. Since both have spirits both can be contacted in the spirit realm.

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The Problem for Humans

The American Indians realized that the world could have been made differently. Humans sometime cause their own suffering. Problems will arise because of foolishness and ignorance. Sometimes Indians use the character called the trickster to illustrate the foolishness of humans.

Iktomi the trickster - http://www.johnsibbick.com/images/fantasy-im/iktomi.jpg

The Solution for Humans

Because survival depended on a host of factors their "societies were highly traditional, governing all lives with customs and regulations." People who violated codes and taboos were punished sometimes to the point of death.

Vision quests were very important for some communities.

Vision Quest

http://nativevisionquest.tripod.com/950deerhide.jpg

Healing

Healing is also very much part of community life because diseases and sicknesses translated to spiritual disorder. One needed assistance from benevolent spirits and to appease angry ones.

Sweat Lodge - http://www.thewildrose.net/images/sweatlodge.jpg

Community and Ethics

Everyone in the community had shared responsibilities. The community was interdependent. Men and women had specified roles to play. It was during adolescence when women were formerly introduced to the appropriate relationship with men. Sex outside of marriage was condemned.

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An Interpretation of History

Everything is in cycles; time is not linear but circular.

http://www.native-american-star-quilts.com/QuiltBargains/SacredCircle2.jpg

Ceremonies and Rituals

Passages such as birth, puberty, marriage, and death have ceremonies and rituals to ensure good lives and the longevity of the tribe. In this particular ceremony, performed in Mexico, has been combined with the Catholic feast of the of the Sacrament.

http://www.lam.mus.ca.us/cats/P03/

Symbols

Symbols are very important for American Indian cultures. To understand a symbol one would have to understand the context in which the symbol occurs. Rites of passages were integrated with symbols and rituals.

More on symbols

Symbolic of transformation - http://ariustile.com/ariuscatalog/it020017.jpg

Other Relationships

Marriage was a very important custom with monogamy being preferred. Husbands and wives had different roles. In traditional families men hunted and women dressed the game, preserved the meat etc.

Life After Death

Many Indian cultures believed in reincarnation. The soul could come back in another person or on rare occasion as an animal. Death to many Indians was a mystery because scholars could not understand some of their thinking.

http://www.michaelmatherly.com/artimages/dp-1-peaceful-spirits-jw.jpg

Relationships With Other Religions

American Indians expected others to differ from them. They did not necessarily proselytize.

Sources