NATIVE AMERICAN

SPIRITUALITY

Quotation:

Disclaimer

Many followers of Native American Spirituality, do not regard their spiritual beliefs and practices as a "religion" in the way in which many Christians do. Their beliefs and practices form a integral and seamless part of their very being.

Introduction

A quote from Native American Religions by Arlene Hirschfelder and Paulette Molin (Facts on File, New York, 1992, ISBN 0-8160-2017-5) is instructive:

".....the North American public remains ignorant about Native American religions. And this, despite the fact that hundreds of books and articles have been published by anthropologists, religionists and others about native beliefs......Little of this scholarly literature has found its way into popular books about Native American religion..."

Yet Natives culture and religion should be valued. They have made many contributions to North American society:

It is ironic that the wine that is the Christians' most sacred substance, used in the Mass to represent the blood of their God, has caused such a trail of devastation within Native populations. And the Natives' most sacred substance, tobacco, has caused major health problems for so many Christians.

According to the Canadian 1991 census, there were 1,002,945 Canadians with North American Indian, Métis and/or Inuit ancestry. 10,840 are recorded as following an aboriginal spiritual path. The latter is believed to be greatly under-reported.

From where did Native Americans originate?

There was, until recently, a consensus among scientists that prior to perhaps 11,200 years ago, the Western Hemisphere was completely devoid of humans. Much of the world's water was frozen in gigantic ice sheets. The floor of the Bering Strait between Siberia and Alaska was exposed. Big-game hunters were able to walk to Alaska. They turned south, spreading out through the Great Plains and into what is now the American Southwest. Within a few thousand years, they had made it all the way to the tip of South America. Recent archeological discoveries have shown that people may have arrived far earlier "in many waves of migration and by a number of routes" -- perhaps even from Australia, South Asia or Europe. _13,9 Some native tribes contest these theories, believing that their ancestors have always been in the Americas or that they emerged into the present world from beneath the earth. ₁

Native Religious Development

Because of the wide range of habitats in North America, different native religions evolved to match the needs and lifestyles of the individual tribe.

Religious traditions of aboriginal peoples around the world tend to be heavily influenced by their methods of acquiring food, whether by hunting wild animals or by agriculture. Native American spirituality is no exception. Their rituals and belief show a blending of interest in promoting and preserving their hunting and horticulture.

The arrival of Europeans marked a major change in Native society. Tens of millions died due to sickness, and programs of slavery and extermination.₂ Europeans and their missionaries looked upon Native Spirituality as worthless superstition inspired by the Christian devil, Satan. Many of the survivors were forcibly converted to Christianity. The US and Canadian governments instituted policies to force Natives onto reservations and to encourage them to become assimilated into the majority culture. ₃ During the middle decades of the 20^th century, whole generations of children were kidnapped, forcibly confined in residential schools, and abused physically, sexually and emotionally. In Canada, these schools were operated on behalf of the Federal Government by the Roman Catholic, Anglican, United and Presbyterian churches. Both the government and these religious institutions have been hit by a multi-billion dollar class-action lawsuit. The Anglican Church expects to be forced into bankruptcy by legal costs during 2001.

Native spirituality was suppressed by the U.S. and Canadian governments. Spritual leaders ran the risk of jail sentences of up to 30 years for simply practicing their rituals. This came to an end in the U.S. in 1978 when the Freedom of Religion Act was passed.

Some suicidologists believe that the extremely high suicide rate among Natives is due to the suppression of their religion and culture by the Federal Governments. This suppression is still seen in the prison administrations; Canadian prisons have only recently allowed Native sweat lodge ceremonies; most American prisons routinely deny permission.

Natives today follow many spiritual traditions:

The Inuit

The traditional Inuit (Eskimo) culture is similar to those found in other circumpolar regions: Northern Russia and the Northern Scandinavian countries. Life has been precarious; there are the double challenges of the cold, and the continual threat of starvation. (The popular name for the Inuit, "Eskimo", is not used by the Inuit.).

Their religious belief is grounded in the belief that anua (souls) exist in all people and animals. Individuals, families and the tribe must follow a complex system of taboos to assure that animals will continue to make themselves available to the hunters. Many rituals and ceremonies are performed before and after hunting expeditions to assure hunting success.

An underwater Goddess Sedna or Takanaluk is in charge of the sea mammals. She is part human and part fish. She observes how closely the tribe obeys the taboos and releases her animals to the hunters accordingly. There is an corresponding array of deities who release land mammals; these are Keepers or Masters, one for each species.

The Angakut or Shaman is the spiritual leader of each tribe. He is able to interpret the causes of sickness or lack of hunting success; he can determine the individual or family responsible and isolate the broken taboo. In a manner similar to Shamans in may other cultures, he enters a trance with the aid of drum beating and chanting. This allows his soul to leave his body and traverse great distances to determine the causes of sickness and other community problems.

Eastern Subarctic, Eastern Woodlands, Plains and Southwest Cultures

Native religions in these areas share some similarities, and differ significantly from Inuit culture described above. Tribes also differ greatly from each other. Spiritual elements found in some (but not all) non-Inuit native religions are:

Absorption of Native beliefs and practices into other spiritual paths:

Many Native people (some would say all traditional Natives) object to others incorporating Aboriginal beliefs, practices, rituals, tools, and traditions into their own spiritual paths. They find this assimilation to be particularly offensive when it is motivated by a desire for profit. It is seen as a horrendous desecration. 

In a "Declaration of war against exploiters of Lakota Spirituality," three traditional Lakota spiritual leaders condemned:

An appeal:

On 2000-JUL-27, a bill was introduced to Congress, called the "Thomasina E. Jordon Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2000." If passed, certain Natives tribes in Virginia would be formally recognized for the first time by the U.S. government. This would help these tribes with support for education, housing, etc. They are appealing for support. See: "Weeping Willow's Home" at: http://community-2.webtv.net/VA-BORN246/

References

1. Vine Deloria, "Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact," Fulcrum Pub (1997). You can read reviews and/or order this book from Amazon.com on-line bookstore
2. Ward Churchill, "A Little Matter of Genocide: Holocaust and Denial in the Americas, 1492 to the Present," City Lights Books, (1998). Read reviews and/or order this book
3. Ward Churchill et. al., "Agents of Repression: the FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement." South End Press, (1988). You can order this book
4. Native American Sites contains an index of Native sites, media, powwows, Native enterprises, etc. See: http://info.pitt.edu/~lmitten/indians.html
5. Native Web contains links dealing with Native news, events, enterprises etc. See: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/nativeweb/
6. The Index of Native American Resources on the Internet has an immense number of links to Native resources on culture, history, education, language, health, indigenous knowledge, government programs, art and much more. See: http://hanksville.phast.umass.edu/misc/NAresources.html
7. Native American Tribes: Information Virtually Everywhere has links to tribal information, media, Native studies etc. See: http://www.afn.org/~native/
8. The National Indian Policy Center has links to maps, native events, grant sources, museums etc. See: http://gwis.circ.gwu.edu/~nipc/
9. T.D. Dillehay, "Monte Verde: A late Pleistocene settlement in Chile: The archeological context and interpretation," Smithsonian Institution Press, (1997). Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store. This is not an inexpensive book!
10. American Comments is a Web magazine dealing with Aboriginal issues. See: http://www.iwchildren.org/
11. Picaro Press ™ is a "publisher of mainstream fiction and poetry; Native American Cultural themes." See: http://www.picaro.com/
12. The Native American Embassy  and Native American Holocaust Museum share a web site at: www.nativeamericanembassy.net
13. J.N. Wilford, "New answers to an old question: Who got here first?" New York Times, 1999-NOV-9
14. Wilmer Stampede Mesteth, et al., "Declaration of war against exploiters of Lakota Spirituality," at: http://puffin.creighton.edu/lakota/war.html 
15. "Responses to the Declaration: War against exploiters of Lakota Spirituality," at: http://puffin.creighton.edu/lakota/war_resp.html 

Copyright © 1995 to 2001 incl. by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2001-JAN-14
Author: B.A. Robinson