Native Americans have an interesting backstory and culture. No matter what the Caucasians did to them, they never lost their unique culture. There were many different organisms and objects that are included in that culture. A great amount of them centered around nature and the Earth. Three major influences on the Native American culture would be the plants, animals, and the spirits they worshipped. The first major influence on the Native Americans and their culture would be the plants surrounding them. “The Iroquois Constitution” included a tree that was significant to their life. The tree was planted as a symbol of peace and every time the Iroquois chiefs gathered together for meetings, the meetings would be under the tree. The roots spread peace and strength throughout the land. In “The Navajo Origin Legend,” the spirits came down from the heavens and did a ritual to bring about the first man and woman. To do this, they used two ears of corn, and the man and woman are produced from those ears of corn. Another …show more content…
In the poem “Song of the Sky Loom,” the author refers to the earth as a mother to them and the sky as a father to them, and to these indigenous people, those things were their gods. These things were personified and they then worshipped them. The same logic applies to the other poem “Sun, My Relative.” Another appearance of spirits or gods can be found in “The Navajo Origin Legend.” The gods or spirits came down from the heavens to create human beings. They set up the objects to make human beings and set the whole thing into action. “When Grizzlies Walked Upright” centers around the story of the daughter of the Chief of the Sky Spirits. A huge influence on the outcome is when she pokes her head out of the top of the mountain and the wind spirit blows her away. Then, she marries a grizzly bear and creates the first human beings with their
Many Native American civilizations are well known. However, many stereotypes are created based on the belief that all Native Americans were similar. There is one native tribe that has the most controversy revolving around it. That was the culture of the Karankawas. Until just recently most known information came from words of mouth, and there were many distorted views on this great nation.
The Pueblo culture contended many fragments to their culture that varied from the Spaniards Culture. The Native Americans were nature reliant they received all their necessities from the earth. They not only used the land but also thanked the earth. They included over three hundred spirit or gods that the pueblos prayed to for various different reasons, they called them Kachinas. Some of the spirits were Sun god, the rain god, star gods, the wind god and many other divinities. The Natives adore the Kachinas with praise for good crops, good health, family, homes, protection and various other things every day. Customs for the pueblos included rituals to heal problems such as disease in people who are sick, women who are not infertile and many other issues in the tribe. They contained Kivas; kivas were an underground compartment custom for secretive ceremonial practices. The purposes for Kivas were for the Pueblos to get closer to the spirit world. They thought that everything living came from the inferior part of the land. Pu...
The Native American’s way of living was different from the Europeans. They believed that man is ruled by respect and reverence for nature and that nature is an ancestor or relative. The Native American’s strongly belie...
The Native American culture revolved around a circle, or what black Elk referrers to as their nation’s hoop. The flowering tree is the center of the hoop. The flowering tree is symbolic of growth and prosperity for all the people in the tribe. It is equally shared between all the members of the tribe. “Everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the power of the world always works in circles, and everything tries to be round” (APT 315). The flowering tree at the center of the circle was nourished by the seasons, which also occur in a circular pattern. Black Elk also makes reference to the sky and the earth being round, the moon and the sun setting in a circle as well as both being round. The wind blows in circular whirls. A person’s life from childhood to death is circular (APT 315). The reference to a circle of how Indian’s lived is symbolic because in a circle, everything that goes around comes around. Everything is shared amongst the citizens. Even thought there were members of the tribe that were regarded as chiefs or held high ranks, they still slept in tepees just like every other person. Rank was not granted by how much a person had; it was granted by the ability to help other members of ...
The environment hugely affected the Native American Indians in many different ways. This is because of the way in which the Indians used the environment and the surrounding land. The Indians were very close to nature, and so that meant that any changes in nature would be changes in the Indians.
... many setbacks and problems for the Natives, including poverty, alcoholism, and underperformance in education. With better acceptance of the Native culture, and aid from America as a whole, the Native American idea of freedom to self govern, roam freely, and preserve the Native culture can greater be aligned with that of American Freedom.
There are consistent patterns or themes regarding Native American world views and the differentiation of cultural elements and society. Native Americans retained control of institutional and cultural orders against the assimilation effort because all aspects of Native American societies are interrelated, guided by the broader cultural world views. Each cultural or institutional element is, in fact, overlapped with other elements, so change in one element inevitably affects the broader cultural and social complex. While adopting to a new environment and small changes was possible in the West, where social and cultural elements are separate from each other, Native Americans were faced with conflicts and a potential, large disruption of the existing social orders.
Native Americans, sometimes referred to as American Indians, have continually faced hardships. Native Americans history is Often overlooked and misunderstood which can lead to stereotyping or discrimination They have fought for many years to be accepted and given their rights to continuities practicing the beliefs that were practiced long before the Europeans came upon the Americas long ago. Throughout history, Native Americans have been presented with many obstacles and even now they continue to fight to over these hardships. hey still are continuing to fight to overcome their hardships.
Native Americans were being educated in European languages, which helped blend culture between the old and the new world significantly (See text 2, par. 2). Also, the arrival of Columbus marks the beginning of recorded history in the Americas (See text 3, par.1-2), Native Americans didn’t have any books to record their past. Things such as medicine, art, philosophy and science were also brought to the Americas.
For the Native Americans to explain their existence, they created stories that described how things came to be. These stories are much like the ones that you would find in the Bible, and are very insightful in getting a better understanding of the Native Americans religious viewings. The Native Americans strongly believed in spirits and beings of another world. In the Iroquois Creation Story, these believes are strongly represented by telling the story of two brothers. This story is a representation of how the world was created. There is a good minded brother and a bad minded brother, which are not just brothers but twins. These unborn brothers and their mother were sent to the back of a turtle that in order to secure them from the dangers of the dark world she fell to. In a hurry to be born, the bad minded brother murders
The Native American culture revolved around a circle, or what Black Elk called the "sacred hoop". The flowering tree was the center of the hoop. The flowering tree was symbolic of growth and prosperity for all people in the tribe. It is equally shared between all members of the tribe. "Everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the power of the world always works in circles, and everything tries to be round" (pg. 150). The flowering tree at the center of the circle was nourished by the seasons, which also occurred in a circular pattern. Black Elk also made references to the sky and the earth being round, the moon and the sun setting in a circle as well as both being round. "The wind blows in circular whirls. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood" (pg. 150).
biggest issues that the people have to deal with and solve. Many cultures, Indian culture is one of the examples, were affected by the persecution of the people who were though to be “superior” to others. Indian culture was persecuted by whites, which wanted to wipe off the Indian civilization from the face of the world. The Native Americans wanted the same as anyone would, peace and freedom for their people. The Native Americans did not consider “white way of living righteous” for them, they were spiritual and had a different outlook on life, and did not want interference from outside world.
Native Americans chose to live off the land such as animals and the trees for houses from the time of early civilization in the Americas to when Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic. In Thomas Morton’s writing he said “they gather poles in the woods and put eh great end of them in the ground, placing them in form of a circle.”
People have been living in America for countless years, even before Europeans had discovered and populated it. These people, named Native Americans or American Indians, have a unique and singular culture and lifestyle unlike any other. Native Americans were divided into several groups or tribes. Each one tribe developed an own language, housing, clothing, and other cultural aspects. As we take a look into their society’s customs we can learn additional information about the lives of these indigenous people of the United States.
The primary similarities amongst these very different cultures, was two would face off against the Europeans. The Native Americans as well as the Africans established unique languages, domestic connections, community bonds, song and dance customs. Native Americans established more than three hundred separate languages before the European migration. Because the Native Americans established remote communities. They settled in various diverse ethnic and social lifestyles replicating the precise limits of their indigenous natural balance.