Essay On Native American Religion

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Recommended: Native Americans and the colonization of America

You’ve heard of Native American Indians right? Well do you really know what it what their lives were like before us Americans took their land? Let’s take a trip to the past and learn about their religion, beliefs, totems and how they live now. First we should start with who they were. Native American Indians were human beings that lived off the land in North America. They had to of migrated from Siberia. In order to do that, they would have had to cross the Bering Land Bridge. A bridge existing during the ice age that connected today’s Alaska and Russia. Before Europeans reached North America, Natives had the prefect life, they had complete freedom. They lived in peace and harmony. Just like everyone today, the Natives had religion too. It complicated because it was passed down verbally from generation to generation. Way back when Native American wasn’t considered a religion. All Native Americans tribes had their own beliefs, although a majority of them shared the same beliefs. They all have their traditions and ceremonies. Ceremonies generally consist of lots of motion, like dancing and loud music. They would have ceremonies to gain greater insight or communicate with their gods. To communicate with the gods they would have special people to do it, which would be the Shaman and the Medicine man. Besides communicating with their gods through ceremonies, nature as in plants, animals and other environmental elements has a great impact on Native American religion. “Native American isn’t blood; it is what it is in the heart. The love for the land. The respect for it, those who inhabit it; and respect and acknowledgement of the spirits and the elders. That is what it is to be Indian.” (Native American Beliefs) Native American Indians all lived in tribes, many tribes believed in different things but most of them believed in similar aspects. Almost all Indians believed that everything on Earth was sacred. Everything from Mount Everest to a speck of sand on a beach. They praise honor, love and respect. Indians also believe elders hold the answers, and they keep the culture alive. They worship Mother Earth and their Creator Wakan

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