SSO-17

Native American

According to the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs, among Native Americans the word tribe originally meant a body of persons bound together by blood ties who were socially, politically, and religiously organized and who lived together, occupying a definite territory, and spoke a common language or dialect. But with the organizing of reservations, the word tribe developed a number of different meanings. Today it can be a distinct group within a village or community, the entire community, a large number of communities, several different groups or villages speaking different languages but sharing a common government, or a widely scattered number of villages with a common language but no common government. The Bureau of Indian Affairs counts 263 tribes, bands, villages, pueblos, and groups in states other than Alaska, and approximately 300 Native Alaskan communities.

In the east, from the Great Lakes south to the Gulf of Mexico, there were the woodsmen of the eastern forests, who traveled by foot or canoe, living mostly by hunting, fishing, and berry-picking. In the central United States were the hunters of the plain. They lived west of the Mississippi and east of the Rockies, extending from Montana and the Dakotas south to Texas. Acquiring horses from the Spaniards, they hunted buffalo over great areas of the West. In the rest of the country were several smaller groups such as the northern fishermen of the forest and river valleys of Washington and Oregon; the seed gatherers of California, Nevada, and Utah; the Navaho shepherds of Arizona; the Pueblo farmers of New Mexico; and the desert dwellers of southern Arizona and New Mexico. In Alaska are the woodsmen of the North and the Point Barrow, Bering Strait, and Pacific Eskimo.

There are eight major linguistic groups: the Algonquian, Iroquian, Cadoean, Muskhogean, Siouan, Penutian, Athapascan, and the Uto-Aztecan.

Native American religions were expressed in dances, ceremonials, and through storytelling of myths and legends. Except among the Southwest pueblos, visions and dreams were sought as sources of power. Prayers were addressed to natural factors such as the sun, the winds, thunder, and the earth. These were all symbols of supernatural power, and deities appeared and were shown in sculpture and paintings.

Pictures were painted on the sides of tepees, on drums, and on clothing such as shirts, breech clouts, armbands, legging strips, vests, and the like. Designs were incorporated into pottery, baskets, and beadwork. Many design figures were common to several tribes while other figures were peculiar to a specific area. The Blackfoot, for example, mainly used geometric shapes, while the Crow used a lot of floral designs.

Although there was no written language before contact with non-natives, in the sense of symbols for letters and full alphabets, there were early records in the form of pictographs. Some of these showed objects such as birds, animals, mountains, and the sun, while others showed abstract concepts such as death, famine, ancestors, and directions.

Across North America there was belief in many different deities. There were also many different beliefs about life, death, the afterlife, and the origins of humankind. All Native Americans, however, held to the tenet that every living thing—humans, animals, and plants—had a soul and should be respected.

Mother Earth (Hopi)

Swastika (Hopi) (i) Earth (ii) Sun

Horned Serpent

Butterfly (Hopi)

Sacred Fire (Desena)

Esoteric Aspects of the Sacred Fire (Anasazi)

Medicine Shield—the Universe (Sioux)

Medicine Path (Pueblo)

Sweat Lodge (Sioux)

Thunderbird—Rain Bridge (Dakota)

Bear Clan (Hopi)

Horse

Coyote

Spider (Osage and Omaha)

Deer

Head of Brown Bear (Chilkat)

Bear’s Paws and Forelegs (Chilkat)

Man

Woman

Friendship

Clouds

Frog Head (Chilkat)

Turtle

Kókopilau, the Hunchback Flute Player (Hopi)

Wa-Hun-De-Dan

Mana-Bozho—God of Fire, —Goddess of War Dawn, and Air

Manito, the Great Spirit

Athenesic—Moon Goddess

Unkatah— Goddess Against Disease

Taknokwumu—Spirit Who Rules Weather (Hopi Fire Clan)

Bad Spirit of the Dark Sky

Good Spirit of the Blue Sky

Pálulukang—Feathered (Water) Snake (Hopi)

Yo-He-Wah—Spirit of the Grass

Haokah the Giant (Sioux)

Animiki—God of Storm and Thunder

Spirit of Evil

Life-Giving Rain

Path of Learning

Healing

Sky Coyote

Sandpaintings are done by the Navajo. While most other tribes would treat sickness with herbal cures, the Navajo believe that most illnesses are caused by evil spirits and bewitchment. They therefore attempt to exorcise the afflicted person in elaborate ceremonies utilizing dry “paintings.” These are constructed of ground minerals, such as sandstone, charcoal, gypsum, and ocher, placed on a bed of sand. Bright colors of black, white, red, yellow, and blue are produced. Some of the designs are so intricate that it can take up to fifteen men a full day to complete the painting. There are literally hundreds of different designs, depending upon what is thought to be the cause of the malady. The ritual of making the painting is led by a shaman. When the painting is finished, the afflicted person will stand, kneel, or lie on it so that its power may penetrate. The shaman, meanwhile, will pray, chant, and shake his rattle to bring about the cure. The painting is destroyed immediately after use, though everyone in the hogan where the ritual took place may take a small pinch of the magical powder.

Healing Painting—The four female figures represent the four elements and the four cardinal points.

Archeological evidence indicates that a new religious cult began to flourish in a number of Mississippian centers around 1200 c.e. Known as the Buzzard, or Southern, Cult, its origins are not known, yet many of its symbols are similar to those of Mesoamerica. There are many variations on the main figures, which are shown here:

Cross

Sun Circle

Bilobed Arrow

Forked Eye

Open Eye

Hand and Eye

Death (i)

Death (ii)

Kachinas are benevolent spirits who live among the Hopi for six months out of every year. The first ones begin to arrive in December. Many more then arrive in February, during the Powamuya season. At this time there is a ceremony with the Hopi ritually acting out the final stages of the creation of the world. In this, they call upon the kachina spirits to bring growth and maturity to all humankind. Some months later, after the July Niman ceremony, the kachinas return to their spirit world. Kachina dolls, therefore, are not just carved fig-urines; they have important meaning to the Hopi people who believe they are personifications of the kachina spirits.

There are several hundred kachinas. Here are just a few representative ones.