Native American Geographic Groups Prior to the arrival of European settlers, many groups of Native Americans existed in America.  Northeast: forest dwellers; primarily hunter/gatherers, also farmers and fishers  Northeast Coast: Coastal dwellers; fishers; developed complex culture  Plateau: River valley dwellers; primarily fishers; relatively small population  Great Plains: grassland dwellers; nomadic buffalo hunters after introduction to the horse

Geographic Groups Cont.  Great Basin: Desert basin dwellers; primarily gatherers because of barren surroundings; small population  California: Desert, mountain, river, or coastal dwellers depending on location; primarily gatherers and fishers  Southwest: Canyon, mountain, and desert dwellers; either farmers or nomadic hunters  Southeast: River valley dwellers; primarily farmers, but also hunter-gatherers and fishers

Native American Commonalities  At the time of European contact, nearly all indigenous cultures in North America had developed coherent religious systems that included creation myths  Most native peoples worshiped an all-powerful, all- knowing Creator or "Master Spirit" as well as numerous lesser supernatural entities, including an evil god  The members of most tribes believed in the immortality of the human soul and an afterlife  Sought assistance of their deity with prayers and offerings  Called upon specially trained clergy, such as a Shaman, to assist them, particularly during times of crisis

Native American Mythology “A myth is a narrative projection of a given cultural group’s sense of its sacred past and its significant relationship with the deeper powers of the surrounding world and universe. A myth is a projection of an aspect of a culture’s soul. In its complex but revealing symbolism, a myth is to a culture what a dream is to an individual.”

Native American Literature  Native Americans did not use written language  Stories were passed from generation to generation through story and song  Stories centered around a particular character, event, or element  Most common stories center around the trickster, the gambler, the creation, abduction, and migration

The Oral Tradition These stories were reliant upon repetition – Used in ceremonial situations – Repetition aided in memorization – Provided narrative cohesion – Participatory – Powerful and unifying

Creation Stories  Similar to the account in The Bible  Similar from tribe to tribe  Used to explain how the world/universe was created  Explained the origin of man – Sometimes had animal characteristics – Sometimes non-gender, or only one gender (usually female—mother earth)  Contained what the tribe generally believed the relationships between people and nature  Contained origins of tribal customs and structures

Creation Stories, cont.  Creation occurs primarily in one of five ways: – From chaos or nothingness – From a cosmic egg or primal maternal mound – From world parents who are separated – From the process of earth diving – From several stages of emergence from other worlds, or states of being  In every case, there is a sense of birth—both of the world and humans

Characteristics of Creation Stories  A Creator, and the medium for creation, such as clay, fluids, and a supernatural power  The trickster, sometimes a negative force, sometimes a cultural hero who dives to the depths of nothingness to find form  The first man and woman whose job it is to continue to create both offspring, and plants and animals  The flood hero who saves mankind from the great waters and begins again

Works Cited  “Native Voices” unit, American Passages website Unit Overview  Authors: Stories of the Beginning of the World  Divining America: Religion and the National Culture Native American Religion in Early America m