Introducing
Your new presentation assistant.
Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.
Trending searches
Origins of the Indigenous North American Peoples and Traditions
The ancestral line of indigenous Native American peoples can be traced back as far as 20,000 years ago. The ancestors of Indigenous people throughout North America were thought to have arrived around 13,000 years ago from Siberia during the Late Pleistocene Period. This was following the melting of ice caps that once covered North America, opening up new lands to settle on (Lipovac, 270-1).
There were estimated to be anywhere from 40 to 50 million Indigenous people when Columbus first arrived in the 15th Century (Vaughn, 35). Prior to Columbus’s arrival in the Americas, the traditions of indigenous Native Americans remained unexposed to other continents and societies around the world. After Europeans began colonizing much of the Americas, the traditions and customs practiced by Native Americans became threatened by colonizers who viewed their traditions as “pagan”. Throughout the next five centuries, Native Americans would lose a great number of their peoples, ancestral lands, and traditions (Perdue, 28-35).
The map depicts the main Indigenous groups and where their communities were located during the fifthteeth century. Despite the generational abuses many of these groups faced for hundreds of years, people belonging to these groups can still be found and are recognized today.
Indigenous Native American peoples could be found in their own different tribal communities. These communities had their own distinct traditions and stories but shared fundamental principles that united their understanding of the world. Some of these principles include honoring ancestral lands, sacred powers of spirits, and inherited wisdom. This aspect is important to know as there is not one set doctrine or tradition that all indigenous communities ascribe to. Rather, they are united by shared principles that developed from their relationship with nature (Wright, 33).
World Influence on Traditions
Indigenous North American traditions had many different movements that formed over the past centuries. Numerous traditions were developed and influenced in opposition to the colonial presence. Native American communities faced disease, death, and displacement. A historic example of this is the Indian Removal Act of 1830, also known as the Trail of Tears, in which the Cherokee people were forced to leave their lands by the Mississippi River and migrate their communities to Oklahoma. This tragic journey which natives were not prepared or equipped for ended in thousands dying. As Europeans attempted to desecrate the North American peoples traditions, movements were formed as a way to preserve cultural heritage (Krebs, 25-29).
The Native Shaker movement was another tradition that was formed out of colonial influence in the 1920s. Many indigenous peoples adopted Christianity as their religion due to European presence and missionaries in North America. Although Christian beliefs were adopted by many Indigenous people, they were still excluded from church settings. This resulted in the formation of their own church after a tribe member said he received a revelation from God that natives should turn away from various fleshly addictions in order to receive God’s blessings. The official religion combined many aspects from both Christian and Native American traditions (Buckley).
Modern Day Shaker Church on the Talalip Reservation
As forced assimilation and oppression from colonizers began to make its way throughout indigenous societies in the Americas, many religious movements formed as a way to preserve the cultural heritage among Native North Americans. An example of one of these movements was known as the Ghost Dance which took place during the late nineteenth century. The movement expressed a backlash against European colonization that was first presented when a native man began prophesying that the white settlers would soon leave their lands (Kracht, 454-6). The tradition would involve Native communities gathering to dance and sing to the beat of a drum. This was performed to help connect the indigenous people to the earth and release the emotions they were facing. (Reuther).
As indigenous communities had their own respective practices and beliefs, there are no universally recognized scriptures that were written across the Indigenous North American Traditions. Scriptures in this tradition were presented in the form of oral tradition, dance, song, and ritual. It wasn’t until the 20th century that stories passed down through oral traditions were recorded in their written form. The common stories that were passed down through generations were typically developed with the theme of Animism.
Animism is a belief that views objects and elements of the natural world as having a consciousness or spiritual nature. Stories that were developed around the belief of Animism reflected a reverence for Earth and all its creation. These stories would often provide people with an understanding of their relationship with the world and direct people how to live their lives correctly. (Vaughn, 33)
Most native peoples worshiped an all-powerful, all-knowing Creator or “Master Spirit”. They also venerated or placated a host of lesser supernatural entities, including an evil god who dealt out disaster, suffering, and death. Storytelling and writing in localized communities was the main method of preserving the various narratives natives would pass down through generations. Tribes and communities had common themes but each tribe and community had some variation in their teachings (Vaughn, 34).
Prophet-like figures also play an important part in the traditions of native peoples. Throughout their history, indigenous North American communities would often have people who were believed to receive messages from the Creator and have spiritual insights that would help them relay messages to the community. Often these figures are referred to as shamans and are thought to have the ability of seeing spirits. During the late eighteenth century many native shamans emerged in Delaware, spreading messages to preserve their peoples heritage (Nichols).
There is no single sciptural text for North American Indigenous traditions. (Mythology & Oral Traditions) However, they have a rich tradition of sharing stores orally. Most North American Indigenous stories and beliefs varied from tribe to tribe and from one location to another.
The structural composition of different religious stories in North American Indigenous traditions vary from story to story. Some were told through storytelling, some by song, and some by performance.
The oral traditions were made up of mostly short stories and narritives. A few of the most common types of stories are categorized as creation myths, hero tales, cautionary warnings, family histories, and educational stories. (NLS)
The religious stories told by North American Indigenous peoples played a large role in their culture and community. Stories were told in the home among singular families, as well as publicly at rituals or ceremonies. These stories were shared to pass down traditions, legends, history, and customs. (2018)
Globalization has created many issues for Indigenous North American religions, due to the European conquest and colonization of their lands. Many of the natives were driven out, including their religions. Through this, it has also provided the space for other Native people to connect and help get their stories out.
The conflict that happened between prominent tribes normally was not due to religious beliefs. Though when it would erupt religion played a part in it, many plains Native Americans wouldn't have written scripture, but they would have war dances or "powwows." This was one of the few ceremonial gatherings tribes would have. A good way to look at them is "The War Dance was used not only when men went to war, but also when meeting with other nations for diplomacy and peace" (The Museum of the Cherokee Indian). Showing it was also a place for resolving those same conflicts.
The role that religon played in Indigenous North American religons varied from tribe to tribe. In the most advanced civilizations (Iroquois, Mayan, Aztec) they played a large role. Spesifically in Mayan civilization the rulers, we're thought to be chosen by gods or "the rulers of the various maya city-states were thought to be a kind of human-god hybrid" (Gomez). While there isn't any survivving religous texts depicting this, they do have stonework and painitngs.
In the Native North American religions, the role of public life and religious practice go hand in hand. "There is little evidence of a separation between the natural and the supernatural in any of the religions" (Ruvolo) (talking about Native American cultures). While there may not be any written doctrine or sacred texts the drawings/depictions and stories show the belief that the natural world is just an extension of the spirit or sacred one.