Totem Poles
A totem pole is a well-known native artifact that was used by the Native Indians. Coastal Indians used giant cedar trees for carving totem poles. Totem poles were used for telling stories about a family, a clan or a person’s history. Therefore, totem poles were very similar to storybooks. Totem poles are very important to me because I enjoy the fact that they were used for telling the history of a family, a clan or a person, which taught younger generations the traditions of a family and all of their past history. Totem poles were also an important part of a traditional ceremony. Totem poles were not only an exciting way to tell stories but were also a beautiful form of native art because of the beautiful symbols and the bright colours that were used. Totem poles still are a huge impact on story telling to this day.
Totem poles were meant to be used for specific special ceremonies. Though, the natives decided to use them for telling stories about important events that occurred in family, a clan or a person’s history. Totem poles were raised for several reasons. For ...
Oral History and Oral Tradition was incredibly important for both tribes. They passed legends and historical stories on through speech, each story holding its own important moral or message. For example,
The role of the longhouse in Iroquois society goes beyond the physical structure of the household. To understand the affects and underlying causes of longhouse structural change, one must understand the societal and cultural significance of the built environment in Iroquois everyday life. The longhouse was a category of material culture with which one’s role in the society was produced (Birch 2012). The structure of everyday life, including kin relationships, inheritance, prestige, and even political power were symbolically embodied in the longhouse (O’Gorman 2010). Some postulate that the significance of the longhouse was so integral to structuring Iroquois society that it was essential to the interactions and boundary-forming practices that
the native cultural practices of the use of the pipe. Herb than was able to find true
The main reason why the Indians carved Totem Poles was to tell others about their ancestors and History in their family.
In Native American culture, the ceremonies and performed in kivas. One ceremony is the Whirling Log Sand Painting. In the Navajo tradition, healing requires the ritual restoration of hozo, or the beat of the harmony of the world. Following the sand, painting is destroyed. Another ceremony found in Native American cultures is the corn dance. The intention is for the rain to come down from the sky and nourish the sprouting of the corn. In African ceremonies the use of drums is common. The drums evoke the passion of the different dancers by the spirits and their ancestors. Masks are used to represent the ancestors that are called by the drum into the bodies of
2) There are many rituals carried out by the Indigenous people but in particular there is one called
Holism is present and the importance of nature and the maintenance of a traditional life-style (stick four). Through McLeod’s (2007) work we see a bond between landscape and other beings. “Through ceremonies, prayers, and songs, the Nehiyawak were able to communicate with other beings and the powers of the land around them, the Atayohkanak, the spiritual grandfathers and grandmothers” (p. 26). McLeod goes on to state that the power of ceremonies in a relationship is not limited to a human-to-human relationship. For example, “[t]he pipe stem is significant for the Nehiiyawak, the Dene and other Indigenous nations as a way of concluding arrangements… [it] was more than… a way of sealing political arrangements… it was a way of making and affirming relationships with the land, of honouring the spiritual powers who dwelt where the people were living.” (McLeod, 2007, p. 27) As well, language is a reoccurring theme. McLeod (2007) attributes much of the continuity of the Cree people to maintaining language which is often through the elders (in his instance, his
The indigenous Australian culture is one of the world’s oldest living cultures. Despite the negligence and the misunderstanding from the Europeans, Aboriginals were able to keep their culture alive by passing their knowledge by arts, rituals, performances and stories from one generation to another. Each tribe has its own language and way of using certain tools; however the sharing of knowledge with other tribes helps them survive with a bit easier with the usage of efficient yet primitive tools which helps a culture stay alive. Speaking and teaching the language as well as the protection of sacred sites and objects helps the culture stay...
The significance of oral tradition is stories that are told in which people formulate, pick up, and carry along as part of their cultural freight and these stories are told by people through folklore which is a form of oral tradition. Oral tradition helped shape our culture because we continue to do what we have been told orally by our ancestors as they passed it down through the generations. Culture shaped folklore by using
Gods. Earth. Animals. These three things make are sacred in the Native American culture. Whether it's in "When Grizzlies Walked Upright" (Source A) showing that god should not be messed with because the grizzly never told him about his daughter. Or in the story "The Earth on the Turtle's Back" (Source B) when the animals helped the woman live because they cared about her. These things have a symbolic meaning to them because in each of the stories it uses all three of these things . Even in the "Navajo Origin Myth" (Source C) it shows these symbols because the gods made the first people shelter and had plants and animals there too. These stories show us symbolism because of the interactions of the gods, animals, and the earth.
In Thomas King’s “Totem”, he uses all kinds of objects to satirize that the Canadian Government is not treating First Nations fairly and all they do is to push them aside. The story starts with a paradox. The author combines “Prairie Museum” with “Seaviews” show- terms that are totally unrelated- in order to satirize the staffs which symbol the Canadian government not knowing the history. In addition, the totem poles make different sounds which refer to the different languages First Nations speak and which also are causes of misunderstandings between the First Nations and the Canadian government. However, the government never tries to solve the misunderstandings by negotiating with the First Nations just like the staffs never try to understand the sounds that the totem poles make.
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.”
The Tohono O’odham tribe has been weaving baskets for at least 2000 years. Although the reason for weaving has changed through the years the Tohono O’odham are still using the same weaving styles as their ancestors. Basket weaving for the Tohono O’odham has gone from an everyday essential to a prestigious art form. Basket weaving for the Tohono O’odham represents an active way of preserving their culture, valuing traditions, and creating bonding ties within the tribe; consequently weaving has transcended into an economic resource.
The pole begins as a way to express his enjoyment of holidays and other events, and eventually
Indigenous Knowledge (IK) can be broadly defined as the knowledge and skills that an indigenous (local) community accumulates over generations of living in a particular environment. IK is unique to given cultures, localities and societies and is acquired through daily experience. It is embedded in community practices, institutions, relationships and rituals. Because IK is based on, and is deeply embedded in local experience and historic reality, it is therefore unique to that specific culture; it also plays an important role in defining the identity of the community. Similarly, since IK has developed over the centuries of experimentation on how to adapt to local conditions. That is Indigenous ways of knowing informs their ways of being. Accordingly IK is integrated and driven from multiple sources; traditional teachings, empirical observations and revelations handed down generations. Under IK, language, gestures and cultural codes are in harmony. Similarly, language, symbols and family structure are interrelated. For example, First Nation had a