Term paper

In the Light of Reverence

In the Light of Reverence – Christopher McLeod and Malinda Maynor – Behind the Lens – POV | PBS

Vine Deloria Jr. – “Time of its Own” – Clashing Worldviews at Devils Tower

Hopi Messenger – Thomas Banyacya, Sr. (1909-1999)

Caleen Sisk on Winnemem Wintu Mountain Spirits

Winnemem vs. New Agers on Mt. Shasta

See the attachments below, and watch videos, then write about what you have learned.

“American Indian Religion”

I’d like to begin by saying it would be hard to announce an American Indian religion for the same argument as stated above. To suggest there is a religion that is the same or at least very common between the over 560 tribes in the U.S. would be misleading. Some elders I speak with have said, “we don’t have a religion, we have a “Way of Life”. Before I go further, please take a look at that statement and consider what that might mean. Is there a difference between the two?

– Religion and way of life –

· What are your first thoughts? Do you think they might be the same? Different? How? Does this statement perhaps make you feel like one is posing as being better than the other?

I believe the consideration to be made is very similar to the argument about how to define the terms. When a language has a word that best describes what is being mentioned, it is limited to the cultural understanding. In other words, each culture has a way of understanding. The way a culture understands the world may differ than the way another culture understands theirs. This is often because of the differences in their environment and history. The term ontology may be a word to use when referring to the way a culture understands their world. By the way, when I say culture, I mean it as any group that has similarities in the way they as a whole practice their way of life (ethnic, religious, or social). So, all this being said, when looking back at the religion and way of life statement, here’s what has been said by a Native elder. The way of life is that prayer is all day, every day. From the time we are born to the time we die, from the time we wake, to the time we sleep, everything is prayer. I think what they are trying to describe is a daily practice of recognizing everything as being part of what has been created by a Creator. Each tribe/nation has a different understanding of what this means. It usually doesn’t mean something or someone that can be described physically. Sometimes the term “Great Mystery” has been used after translation sometime in history, and then became a popular notion for all Indians. The Creator is better to be understood as a supernatural phenomenon that cannot be fathomed as something we can describe with physical features. It is that which cannot be described or labeled.

The idea of animism comes to mind. Animism is often considered to be the first idea of spirituality around the world. This comes from places like anthropology.

Getting back to our statement, should we think that religion cannot do the same as what is described by the way of life notion? Perhaps, anyone can be filled with a commitment to the practice of prayer or something similar such as respecting everything and everyone as a creation from a Creator. If so, then a person can possibly believe in something or someone great, and have the same sense of that way of life where prayer is all day, everyday. So then, what is prayer?

– What is prayer? –

· How do you choose to define or describe prayer? I would like to ask to consider prayer for Native people (I know I am generalizing here), not as saying or reciting words. What then could prayer mean for Native people?

What if prayer for a group of people simply means a thought and feeling that is in conscious recognition and reflection of the world. Perhaps a thought and feeling that has the best intentions for themselves and more importantly for the world. Maybe prayer for a group of people begins as positivity and reflexivity in relation to their environment. Some elders, Native and non-Native, have said prayer may not only include the recital of words, but more so the celebration of all that exists. This can include those things that make us happy and those things that bring challenges to our being. Maybe a form of prayer can be like the saying, “attitudes are contagious”; share your best and the most positive, and the world will be better.

Of course, there is the need to answer to those challenges. This may include natural disaster, birth, death, seasons, hunger, and so on. A community comes together to build emotional and maybe a spiritual strength. A ceremony may be designed to assure the community that all be fine and that these may occur again and again. But again I’ll ask a question, what then can be a ceremony?

– What is ceremony? –

· How specific does a ceremony have to be? How old does a ceremony have to be? Who can design or conduct a ceremony?

These questions can have various answers for the many cultures that exist around the world. Sometimes these have very simple or complex answers. Sometimes they come from a long existing practice that has come to be a tradition. Once a ceremony becomes tradition, can changes be made? I imagine it depends.

—-

As we go through this semester, being introduced to the American Indian world of religion/philosophy, we can explore the content with questions, find some answers, and take a closer look at the various tribal perspectives. My aim is to guide us to know what it is that some tribes or nations have created as their understanding of their world. With this knowledge and understanding my goal is to give you an opportunity to apply this knowledge to how you view the world.

Native American Legends

The Creation Story

An Iroquois Legend

In the beginning, the world was not as we know it now. It was a water world inhabited only by animals and creatures of the air who could survive without land.

Up above, the Sky World was quite different. Human-type beings lived there with infinite types of plants and animals to enjoy.

In the Sky World, there was a Tree of Life that was very special to the people of the Sky World. They knew that it grew at the entrance to the world below and forbade anyone to tamper with the Tree. One woman who was soon to give birth was curious about the Tree and convinced her brother to uproot the Tree.

Beneath the Tree was a great hole. The woman peered from the edge into the hole and suddenly fell off the edge. As she was falling she grasped at the edge and clutched in her hand some of the earth from the Sky World. As she fell, the birds of the world below were disturbed and alerted to her distress. The birds responded and gathered a great many of their kind to break her fall and cradle her to the back of a great sea turtle. The creatures of the water believed that she needed land to live on, so they set about to collect some for her. They dove to the great depths of the world’s oceans to gather earth to make her a place to live. Many of the animals tried to gather the earth from the ocean floor, only the muskrat was successful. With only a small bit of earth brought onto turtle’s back from his small paws, Turtle Island began to grow.

The Sky Woman soon gave birth to a daughter on Turtle Island. The daughter grew fast. There were no man-beings on Turtle Island, but a being known as the West Wind married the daughter of Sky Woman.

Soon the daughter of Sky Woman gave birth to Twins. One was born the natural way, and he was called the Right-Handed Twin. The other was born in a way that caused the death of the mother. He was called the Left-Handed Twin. When their mother died, their grandmother, Sky Woman, placed the fistful of earth that she grasped from the edge of the Sky World, and placed it on her daughter’s grave. The earth carried special seeds from the Sky World that were nourished by the earth over her daughter. So from the body of her daughter came the Sacred Tobacco, Strawberry and Sweetgrass. We call these Kionhekwa. The Life Givers.

The Right and Left-Handed Twins were endowed with special creative powers. The Right-Handed Twin created gentle hills, beautiful smelling flowers, quiet brooks, butterflies and numerous creatures, plants and earth formations. His brother the Left-Handed Twin made snakes, thorns on rose bushes, thunder and lightning and other more disturbing attributes of today’s world. Together, they created man and his many attributes. The Right-Handed Twin believed in diplomacy and conflict resolution. The Left-Handed Twin believed in conflict as resolution. They were very different, but all that they created is an integral part of this Earth’s Creation.

Their Grandmother, Sky Woman, now came to the end of her life. When she died, the Twins fought over her body and pulled it apart, throwing her head into the sky. As part of the Sky World, there her head remained to shine upon the world as Grandmother Moon. The Twins could not live together without fighting. They agreed to dwell in different realms of the earth. The Right-Handed Twin continued to live in the daylight and the Left-Handed Twin became a dweller of the night. Both of them continue their special duties to their Mother the Earth.

Native American Legends

Creation of Man

A Miwok Legend

After Coyote had completed making the world, he began to think about creating man. He called a council of all the animals. The animals sat in a circle, just as the Indians do, with Lion at the head, in an open space in the forest.

On Lion’s right was Grizzly Bear; next Cinnamon Bear; and so on to Mouse, who sat at Lion’s left.

Lion spoke first. Lion said he wished man to have a terrible voice, like himself, so that he could frighten all animals. He wanted man also to be well covered with hair, with fangs in his claws, and very strong teeth.

Grizzly Bear laughed. He said it was ridiculous for any one to have such a voice as Lion, because when he roared he frightened away the very prey for which he was searching. But he said man should have very great strength; that he should move silently, but very swiftly; and he should be able to seize his prey without noise.

Buck said man would look foolish without antlers. And a terrible voice was absurd, but man should have ears like a spider’s web, and eyes like fire.

Mountain Sheep said the branching antlers would bother man if he got caught in a thicket. If man had horns rolled up, so that they were like a stone on each side of his head, it would give his head weight enough to butt very hard.

When it came Coyote’s turn, he said the other animals were foolish because they each wanted man to be just like themselves. Coyote was sure he could make a man who would look better than Coyote himself, or any other animal. Of course he would have to have four legs, with five fingers. Man should have a strong voice, but he need not roar all the time with it.

And he should have feet nearly like Grizzly Bear’s, because he could then stand erect when he needed to. Grizzly Bear had no tail, and man should not have any. The eyes and ears of Buck were good, and perhaps man should have those.

Then there was Fish, which had no hair, and hair was a burden much of the year. So Coyote thought man should not wear fur. And his claws should be as long as the Eagle’s, so that he could hold things in them. But no animal was as cunning and crafty as Coyote, so man should have the wit of Coyote.

Then Beaver talked. Beaver said man would have to have a tail, but it should be broad and flat, so he could haul mud and sand on it. Not a furry tail, because they were troublesome on account of fleas.

Owl said man would be useless without wings.

But Mole said wings would be folly. Man would be sure to bump against the sky. Besides, if he had wings and eyes both, he would get his eyes burned out by flying too near the sun. But without eyes, he could burrow in the soft, cool earth where he could be happy.

Mouse said man needed eyes so he could see what he was eating. And nobody wanted to burrow in the damp earth. So the council broke up in a quarrel.

Then every animal set to work to make a man according to his own ideas. Each one took a lump of earth and modeled it just like himself. All but Coyote, for Coyote began to make the kind of man he had talked of in the council.

It was late when the animals stopped work and fell asleep. All but Coyote, for Coyote was the most cunning of all the animals, and he stayed awake until he had finished his model. He worked hard all night. When the other animals were fast asleep he threw water on the lumps of earth, and so spoiled the models of the other animals. But in the morning he finished his own and gave it life long before the others could finish theirs. Thus man was made by Coyote.