CHAPTER 1: Tradition & Change among

Native Americans

• combined ordinary & extraordinary

Native American Diversity

• 550 different societies

• 6 language groups

• organized or loosely knit

• patrilineal or matrilineal

Common Figures in Religion

• sacred kinship networkso animalso spiritso sacred beings

• shamans

• trickster figures

Common Beliefs in Religion

• dreams & visions

• correspondence

• sacred matter

• cyclical time

Differences in Traditions: Oglala

• Sioux society of the Plains

• hunter-gatherers

• centrality of buffalo

• origin storyo White Buffalo Calf Womano gift of sacred pipe & rituals

Differences in Traditions: Hopi

• Pueblo society of the SW

• agricultural

• centrality of watero ceremonies for rain

• Kachinas

Religious Combinations

1) traditional religions + Christian elements

2) Christian conversions + cultural elementso Kateri Tekakwitha Conferences

3) new religious movements

New Religious Movements

• Ghost Dance

• Gaiwiio

• Peyote Wayo Native American Church

Law & Religious Practice

• American Indian Religious Freedom Act

• “G-O Road” case

• Oregon vs. Smith

• Religious Freedom Restoration Act o later repealed

Reclaiming Traditions

• NAGPRA

• National Museum of the American Indian

• Reclamation Movement

• Indian Rights Activism

OVERVIEW

• continuity with sacred world

• inner world of dreams

• transformations

• harmony with natural world

• religious combination & innovation