Native Americans

[Badger_Reiki]

Native Americans worshipped the Earth and the Sun and all elements of the earth. So would they, in a sense, worship the Earth itself? Can the Earth be considered a deity?

[coyoger]

No. They depending on the tribe, they had things that represented the things found in nature. Mother bear as the earth in one tribe while simply the woman in another.

[Toby Stimpson]

I know of a few Native Canadians who worship the earth...I mean there are the elements of metaphor and personification but essentially they say they worship the earth, especially since the earth is our home and we are a by product of the planet.

Namaste

Tobias

[Cerulean_damselfly]

Lupita, a woman whose family was from Canyon de Chelly in Arizona --known as Navaho--translated a "Way of Beauty" prayer and spoke of "Father Sky" and "Mother Earth" as personifications as she would to a group gathered for storytelling.

Other people who've heard her have written in the website below and perhaps that will help you in your question. The link below mentions how Lupita spoke of "Mother Earth" and "Father Sky" as if they were ancestral grandparents she knew of affectionately--at least that is what I gathered when I heard Lupita speak...:

http://www.footpathjourneys.com/mem_louise.htm

I have one book of Pacific Northwest translated stories that reminded me of a similar nomenclature or personification, but I don't know if that is true from the people from region to region (Pacific Northwest, Southwest America, Coastal Plains, etc.) The closest parallel I could remember would be perhaps the personification of earth as "Gaia" from an earlier Greek mythology...

http://www.paleothea.com/SortaSingles/Gaia.html

If I find a more widespread website of different Native American creation and other personification stories, I'll post. Hope the links above help a little.

Cerulean_Damselfly
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Native Americans worshipped the Earth and the Sun and all elements of the earth. So would they, in a sense, worship the Earth itself? Can the Earth be considered a deity?

[morningstar2651]

Native Americans worshipped the Earth and the Sun and all elements of the earth. So would they, in a sense, worship the Earth itself? Can the Earth be considered a deity?
Umm...please don't lump all tribes into the group "Native Americans" -- the tribes had different religious beliefs.

And, to answer your question, yes - it can.

[David19]

Like morningstar2651 said, i think Native American's had a wide variety of religious beliefs (ranging from tribe to tribe, i think), i think Mother nature was a part of a lot of the tribes (although i'm not sure if she/he/it's a part of all of them).

For some good information on Native American deities, i think these sites are good, A Lakota pantheon, (http://my.raex.com/~obsidian/LakoPan.html) and A Haudenosaunee Pantheon (http://my.raex.com/~obsidian/HaudPan.html).

I don't know too much about the others, maybe someone else does, also, i think i've read that you're not considered 'part' of the tribe unless someone invites you or initates you, i think.

Anyway, hope this helps :).

[morningstar2651]

Like morningstar2651 said, i think Native American's had a wide variety of religious beliefs (ranging from tribe to tribe, i think), i think Mother nature was a part of a lot of the tribes (although i'm not sure if she/he/it's a part of all of them).

For some good information on Native American deities, i think these sites are good, A Lakota pantheon, (http://my.raex.com/~obsidian/LakoPan.html) and A Haudenosaunee Pantheon (http://my.raex.com/~obsidian/HaudPan.html).

I don't know too much about the others, maybe someone else does, also, i think i've read that you're not considered 'part' of the tribe unless someone invites you or initates you, i think.

Anyway, hope this helps :).I believe that most of the tribes are, for the most part, hereditary. I'm not sure on that though.

Check this out (http://puffin.creighton.edu/lakota/war.html).

[Agaliha]

...there are different types of NA religions.

First there's the popular "NA Spirituality" which has a New Age vibe and lumps tons of Tribes' traditions and beliefs into one path. Totems, Vision Quests, mandalas, lore etc. (for an article go HERE (http://www.religioustolerance.org/nataspir.htm) and HERE (http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/naspirit.html)). It's generic in that it isn't based on one Tribe and Tradition, but many common themes and such.

Then there's the Traditions and Religions of specific NA Tribes (like a Recon path). They aren't all the same-- there's different Gods/Goddesses, Stories, Rites of Passage, Songs, Festival, Taboos, etc. Sure there are common themes in some--such as the archetypical "Grain Goddess", but that doesn't mean you can call all the Tribes' religions the same and treat them as such. Each tribe has a different view and outlook on nature, the heavens, earth, time, the Gods, etc.

Anyway, your best bet is to find a Tribe or region at least that you are interested in and research, research and research.

I'm half Cherokee and when I was looking into Cherokee religion it was hard. There's hardly any sites that really explain the Gods, Festivals, lore and everything else. I've been trying to find ways to honor Grandmother Spider for a long time now, heh.

Native Americans worshipped the Earth and the Sun and all elements of the earth. So would they, in a sense, worship the Earth itself? Can the Earth be considered a deity?

To answer the question-- yes there are many that do. Those at times the Sun is not a Diety, but is part of a diety or a creation of theirs or something like that. But then again, there are some that don't.

Hope that helps.

There's also a NA sharing thread on MW too. Just do a search for it here.

[omar]

The NA pray to father sky & mother earth because they was created by the Great Spirit or Great Mystery, in Lakota that ia Wakan Tanka or in Shawnee it is Weshe Manitou. The sun represents the creator & so does the Medicine Wheel. They pray to the Seven Powers,north,south, east,west,sky,earth, & centering of the universe (God). Some times the stand in the center of the Med. Wheel or build a fire there, Redman Fire. You always walk it sunwise.

[Rainlily]

The NA pray to father sky & mother earth because they was created by the Great Spirit or Great Mystery, in Lakota that ia Wakan Tanka or in Shawnee it is Weshe Manitou. The sun represents the creator & so does the Medicine Wheel. They pray to the Seven Powers,north,south, east,west,sky,earth, & centering of the universe (God). Some times the stand in the center of the Med. Wheel or build a fire there, Redman Fire. You always walk it sunwise.

Not all NA tribes pray to father sky or have medicine wheels, all tribes have differant beliefs....

[Garm]

Native Americans worshipped the Earth and the Sun and all elements of the earth. So would they, in a sense, worship the Earth itself? Can the Earth be considered a deity?

Yes this does describe the belief system of the geat tribe of the Wannabee, not so sure about any of the others

[cheddarsox]

Yes this does describe the belief system of the geat tribe of the Wannabee, not so sure about any of the others

Great answer!

It seems that many people want to believe whatever they want, but want to find some label to validify it. If someone wants to worship sun, earth, sky...go for it, but dont' try to pass off your new system as someone elses old system. Have the cahones to take responsibility for yourself and your beliefs.

cheddar

[omar]

The NA pray to father sky & mother earth because they was created by the Great Spirit or Great Mystery, in Lakota that ia Wakan Tanka or in Shawnee it is Weshe Manitou. The sun represents the creator & so does the Medicine Wheel. They pray to the Seven Powers,north,south, east,west,sky,earth, & centering of the universe (God). Some times the stand in the center of the Med. Wheel or build a fire there, Redman Fire. You always walk it sunwise.
My above statement is pretty close to most NA religions,according to my "Encyclopedia of Native American Religions". The eastern tribes have there Corn Dance the plains there Buffalo Dance, they each have a little god of there own but the Great Spirit or Great Mystery is still predomant.

[Psycmoe]

You know... there are still plenty of NAs around... why don't you ask one?

Canoe dance! WEEEEEEEEEE! And Ribbon shirts! And frybread!

~D, wants to visit her mom.

[fangedeshana]

Yes this does describe the belief system of the geat tribe of the Wannabee, not so sure about any of the others

I think perhaps this answer was a little harsh. The original post sounded a little unsure in general to me. I think the posts in this thread explaining that different NA tribes hold different beliefs, as well as the 'generic NA new age' information was much more helpful than a post equivilant to a, "Haha, look at the ignorant fluffy bunny' post.

And saying this, not everyone who reads this would pick this up as sarcasm. Some people who know nothing about Native American and wishing to know more might actually take this as a true statement - and start trying to find out more about this tribe of the Wannabee. It has happened before.

[Garm]

Fang,

I've been trying to recall where I picked up the tribe of Wannabee expression, I think it was from a part native artist I used to go out with way back when. She was at a loss as to understanding why the Euros would want to purloin articles of faith from her mothers ancestry after they had taken everything else.

A few years back a tribe, whose name escapes me right now, attempted to get a court injuction to stop the publication of a book dealing with their myths and legends. They were content to discuss them with the author personally but they felt the printed word would rip their stories out the apropriate and nescessary context.

The bookworm in me thinks logically and at first reaction I can not sympathise with the suppresion of knowledge of any sort for any reason. But the part of me that has developed with sorcery realizes that context is every thing to a given set of ideas, even feeding them to a different audience can change the way they function.


I don't know if the notion of cultural expropriation has gained any currency in your part of the world but it has a toehold here.

[omar]

A couple of years ago Ed Magaa( Eagle Man) on his book tour of Europe gave a speach to several hundred Germans that was learning to speak " Lakota". I think it was the Hopi that tride to prevent the printing of the book,The Hopi Survival Kit.

[Garm]

A couple of years ago Ed Magaa( Eagle Man) on his book tour of Europe gave a speach to several hundred Germans that was learning to speak " Lakota". I think it was the Hopi that tride to prevent the printing of the book,The Hopi Survival Kit.

Even before I made that last post I have been trying to track the news reports I heard back about 5 or so years ago, and I think I made a mistake about the court challenge, some native spokesman might have mentioned it as a possible course of action, but I can't find any reference to it having happened.

But the work they were upset by was "The Raven Steals The Light" written by Robert Bringhurst and published by, who else, Shambala.

And this is the Haida tribe, not the Hopi. That evidently was another episode of this ongoing saga.

Also I used the phrase "cultural expropriation" when I should have said cultural appropriation.

If you do google search starting with "cultural appropriation indian" you will eventually come across direct reference to the wannabes.

What is said about them is not especially kind.

[Garm]

OMT

I hope I don't give the appearance of going to all this effort to justify my being mean to badger.

I'm not.

I'm a misanthropic crank who is more interested in ideas than personalities.

Analysing the reasons for my own off the cuff response opened up a new line of inquiry for me.

[Teresa]

I think it would depend on whom you ask as many different tribes had different beliefs and forms of worship .

[omar]

My book lists 500 NA tribes in it & no Wanabees. I have been on the Cherokee & Shawnee webs in Kanasa & never saw it. In Ohio the only reconized tribe is the Ohio Shawnee Reminet Nation,600 members. I cannot join because you have to be 1/16 NA. I'm about 1/64th.