native americans america’s earliest civilizations
TRANSCRIPT
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.
http://www.p4a.com/item_images/medium/13/96/93-01.jpg
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.
http://www.gatheringofnations.com/archives/arch.jpg
http://www.lanl.gov/orgs/pa/News/Students080699.jpeg
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