Native American religions

Summary from last time: Aboriginal Australians Concepts: Orality, Sacred Place, Eternal Now,, etc.

Introductory Questions Have you ever met any Native Americans? What do you know about their ways of life? (How) can we avoid falling into stereotypes when we talk about Native Americans?

Origins Native Americans are descendants of people who arrived in the New World more than 12,000 years ago. By the time of Columbus, there were over 200 (!) cultural groups, speaking different languages and following different tribal religions.

A Map of Native American Tribes Today, at least 566 tribes are recognized by the United States.

Roughly 50,000 Natives, African, and others removed from what is now the deep South. Passage of bill in 1830, run through congress by Andrew Jackson.

Population data At the time of Columbus: between 1 mil and 10 mil. Today: ca. 2.9 mil. Los Angeles has the largest city population and Oklahoma the largest state population. Significant population reduction can be attributed to genocide and its aftermath: warfare, malnutrition, disease, and massacre.

Main groups Tribes have been classified and divided into the following cultural areas: Arctic, Far North, Great Basin, Plateau, California, Northwest, Southwest, Southeast, Northeast, and Plains.

Beliefs Traditionally, Native Americans believe that the natural world is alive and that human beings are one part of it. Reflection: What does this mean for us humans? How should we treat the earth, according to Native American belief? Is this different from Christianity?

The Spirituality of Nature Since nature and humans interact in mutually influential ways, humans should pay careful attention to nature and show respect toward it. A major fact about nature: It constantly changes! From day to night, young to old age, seed to plant, human to animal, material to immaterial, etc. Humans have the power to both help the world’s stability and to disrupt it. Reflection: do you think human beings are good or bad for this planet?

Two important religious positions Shamans = medicine men and women; they usually have a spirit animal (a sacred helper); cure illnesses, locate game; retrieve lost souls Priests = typically wear masks and dance as gods in rituals that benefit humans and enable changes to occur

Nature Inhabited by the divine. People offer prayers or sacrifice to divine beings. Other sorts of beings, both helpful and dangerous, dwell in the forests, lakes, streams, oceans, air, and under the ground.

The aims of religious Native American practice: To establish and maintain good and just relationships with other human beings and with nature and all its inhabitants. To maintain personal and communal health. To live a long and successful life.

Sacred Books and Scriptures Native Americans originally had no writing. They remembered their sacred histories and myths through singing, dancing, storytelling, carving, drawing. They teach Native Americans how to live and what will happen to them after this life.

Group Work: Storytelling

Storytelling By enacting their histories and myths in rituals, ceremonies and art, Native Americans make the events of the stories tangible in their own lives. One of the most common and widespread stories is about a shape- shifting “trickster” who upsets the normal order of things but also brings about positive changes! The “trickster” is a common figure in many pagan religions. Some of you might know Loki from Germanic mythology...

Practices All tribes have one or more religious leaders. Some Native Americans use amulets, charms, and songs to contact the sacred world. Others rely on visions and guardian spirits. All Native American religions incorporate dancing, singing, and drumming or rattling in their ceremonies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7qjARTW4jI

The Sacred Pipe Tobacco is used to communicate with sacred beings and to heal. The pipe symbolizes the cosmos and its creation, as well as the proper relationships between humans and sacred beings. Sitting in a circle, each participant smokes the pipe and extends it in six directions—north, south, east, west, up, down—thereby summoning the attention of the natural world in all its dimensions.

The Sweat Lodge Also symbolic: its domed shape represents the world. Participants pour water on heated stones and the steam purifies them spiritually and physically.

Main Subgroups Although each tribe has its own religious traditions, some practices cross tribal borders. Native Americans have been hunters, fishers, gatherers, and/or farmers. Because of restrictions imposed by the reservation system, few Native Americans have opportunities to follow a hunting life, but some of the ceremonies and beliefs of hunters, such as the vision quest, are still practiced.

Poverty Unfortunately, many Native Americans live in poverty, with limited opportunities for employment. The recent popularity of Indian gambling casinos has brought new income to many reservations, with the hope of improved conditions.

Misunderstandings and Stereotypes Native American traditions represent a way of life that contrasts sharply with the dominant value orientations of modern America. At the same time, they are the first people of this land, the foundation of our history. Their religious values must be taken into account if we are to paint a more complete, honest picture of the history and experience of all Americans. In many ways, Native Americans are changing to meet the challenges of living in the modern United States, yet they remain Native American.

Creation Stories

Types of Creation Stories Cosmogonies: Explain the beginning of the cosmos. How it came to be from a previous state. Origin Stories: Stories about where animals, humans, tribes, society, etc. come from.

Cosmogonies Supreme Beings Often Present Various Images of Precreation: Void, chaos, sea, egg, darkness Creation Process: Supreme Being as creator, Emergence from lower worlds, Gods as parents (offspring overcome parents), divers (animals or humans), sacrifice, struggles between supernatural powers, elements ordered, divine words, self-fertilization Golden Age of perfection (earliest time best)

Origin Stories or Myths Humans born from parts of earth, born from Gods mating, part of a God, made in the image of God, made by supreme being, children of supreme being. Do you think evolution is a myth of origin?

Origin Stories or Myths, cont. Suffering: People create suffering, God creates suffering. The problem of evil: If the Supreme Being is all loving, and all powerful, he should have ended suffering out of love (He had the love and the power to do so). Why does evil exist?