WORLD RELIGIONS: Native American Spirituality

Native American religions are widely diverse due to being isolated from each other.

Most include:
1. An omnipresent force
2. An emphasis on the three life crises of birth, puberty, and death
3. Spirits
4. Visions
5. A shaman
6. Communal Ceremonies

A form of Panetheism - God is in everything; not an exact being separated from his subjects, but within every part of nature, life, and the universe itself. He is everywhere and in everything, not just watching from above.

Their God is often known as the "Great Spirit"
Strong emphasis on personal spirituality and one's inter-connectedness with the life around them.

Is not very "organized" or institutionalized, but is more personal and locally based. It's similar to Buddhism with a Creator. It is more the progression of a relationship between the Creator and the created; the "Great Spirit" and the peoples worshipping.

Religion is ever-present but never present in their lives. It is not something constantly discussed, there are no buildings to represent it, and there are no reserved days for worship.

They are constantly observing their religion and it is represented in every piece of nature from a rock to a single blade of grass to humans and animals. An excellent, generalized, example would be the Disney song "Colors of the Wind". Within the song, Pocahantas sings about how everything in life has a spirit and how John Smith needs to connect with nature. These are common beliefs of Native peoples.

There is no distinction between "God's realm", life, death,past, present, earth, the supernatural and the living. Everything exists on the same plane together in constant balance. However, there is the "spirit world" which can be interpreted as seeing the invisible that co-exists with the living.

Europeans attempted to squash Native American Spirituality upon their arrival and today many Native American traditions are blended versions of the traditions and Christianity.
Some of the religions managed to "rebirth" their culture, even while taking some aspects of Christianity.
One example is the "Dreamer Faith" or Waashat Religion, which came after the prophet Smohalla visited the spirit world and was sent back to urge his people to return to the old ways. The belief was that by casting off violence, materialism, white-American culture, and to stop disrespecting the earth would lead to the return of a pre-European environment where White-man was no longer present. The religion is based on the belief of dancing and worshipping. The Waashat Dance involves seven drummers, a salmon feast, eagle and swan feathers, and a sacred song sung every seventh day. The importance of the 7th day is a reflection of the Christian influence, though largely this religion made it difficult for the US government to assimilate the

Natives as they once again longed to be proper Indians and nothing else. This dancing was not the same as the ghost dances.

Similar was the Drum Religion of the Santee Sioux who played sacred drums as an important part of the rituals.

Ghost dances were an important part of several religions before they became a religion on their own. They were a way to honor the dead and predict their resurrections. It was a ritual that was part of religions such as the Earth Lodge, which used the dances as a means of prediction.

The Ghost Dance Religion came about from another "spirit world" visit, this time by Wovoka, who claimed he saw the world rid of the white man and restored to a pure state with the presence of the messiah. The influence by the Christian-Judaic tradition is obvious there. The dancing was seen as a way to connect with the dead and prepare for their resurrection upon the world's rebirth.

PMS:
1. Interaction: Probably the most important aspect of their religion is in fact a PMS. They interact respectfully with all things in nature as part of their culture. Hall said "to interact with the environment is to be alive, and to fail to do so is to be dead" which reflects the overarching belief that the Great Spirit is in everything and everything is to be respected as such.

2. Association: There are prophets and shamans who are religious leaders, but there is no real sense of "hierarchy" within the religion, anyone can connect with the Great Spirit, which is actually encouraged.

3. Subsistence: They respect the Earth and don't take advantage of what's given to them, taking only what they need and making sure to replenish what they can. They survive on the bare essentials.

4. Bisexuality: Originally, woman had equal power as men. In modernization and Western-influence, they've lost almost all of their previous respect and prestige.

5. Territoriality: They don't believe in owning the Earth, it is a gift from the Great Spirit and part of the Great Spirit himself. They were, traditionally, nomadic people, and never truly settled in one specific place, but always on the move. Territory is irrelevant to them, though many of their peoples were slaughter over it.

6. Temporality: They experience life in three stages, birth, puberty, and death. Day to day isn't so important as the stages of their lives.

7. Learning: Many of the religions that exist today are revitalizations of the old ways, to teach their peoples what it meant to be "Indians" again. Their traditions were passed on by mouth, dance, song, and other similar traditions.

8. Play: Their form of worship can be seen as a type of play. They would dance, play drums, and sing are their way of honoring and connecting to their spirits and the Great Spirit.

9. Defense: They didn't believe in owning territory so there isn't much for them to defend. They defended their ways of life by revitalizing their old ways, incorporated in their culture which is also their religion. Ghost dancing can be seen as a means of defense as it was a way for them to predict what would happen; they believed that the Great Spirit would rid the world of white man as long the Natives were deserving.

10. Exploitation: They take only what they need. They adapted to a hunter-gather life style in their roots because they believed in not taking advantage of the earth and ruining it. They took what they needed and left the rest for the other animals.