Introduction
Culture refers to people way of life and it entails among other things people beliefs system which are meant to help people adapt to their environment. Belief system can be described as interrelated values which are mutually independent and are held to be true in society and they are passed on from one generation to the next. Belief system also qualifies to be an ideology which is shared by a society. Beliefs help human beings to organize their reality and identify with it.
Religion is part of the complex whole and it forms the core of beliefs and practices in a society. This paper discusses how Native American Indians religion is based on spirit and the belief of a super natural being in relation to the environment that people stays in. I am also going to highlight the major fundamental principles of the native’s belief system which makes them stand out in comparison with other traditional belief systems.
Discussion
Religion help people to satisfy their curiosity about natural phenomena whose understanding is beyond human wisdom and knowledge. It is also used to explain what human beings cannot explain as well as enforcing social order in the society. It is generally claimed, that American Indian tribes have complex religious customs. But from the American perspective religion is challenging in two ways.
First, any Indian tribe has a word equivalent to English “religion” in their languages. Religion is not represented as a separate type of activity or experience; but it is invasive and interconnected with all the aspects of tribal life. Second, there is absolutely no single religious custom or theology, but rather a wide range of customs, convictions, practices and cultural form.
In spite of this variety there are particular principles essential to most Native American tribes which are essential to realize as their religion is studied. First of all it should be stated, that in Native traditions, there is a particular feature and intensity of interrelations with the shapes and powers of the natural background. Thorough studies of all components of their instant habitat, makes Native People amass lore that integrates the practical with the spiritual. Second, in Native customs, time is not regarded as something linear, but is viewed as cyclical and equal. The cycles and the span of life are realized as a circle and are expressed again and again in ceremonial shapes and actions. Ceremonies entail rite of road ceremonies, sacrifices, dances etc.
Third, for American Indians words have a unique strength that is essential to their sounds, and consequently anything that is named is regarded to be present. Thus, recital of myth is realized to be a reacting out of prehistoric events. Lastly, “arts and crafts” are permeated with holy meaning and supremacy. Similar to the power of breath and words, the natural substances and the completed forms made by these peoples are realized to be manifestations, rather than representations, of holy supremacy.
Going back to the spirit world the natives believes in a supernatural being. Hultkrantz (1979), reports that the natives separate natural from the supernatural. According to him ‘the continuous expected process of every day is disrupted by the supernatural reality with its discontinuous, unexpected, and above all incomprehensible course of events. ‘ American Indians believe that there are spirits in their surroundings such as rivers and mountains, movements of things such as stars and that this spirits can be felt and that is why they carry out various ceremonies and rituals in order to appease the spirits. This is because the natives see everyday nature as a manifestation of the supernatural.
Each and every tribe has a name for its super natural being which represents its powers. For example, Iroquois term Orenda represents an omnipresent being. According to Hultkrantz (1979) the religions of Dakota and Winnebago has a similar word wakan which signifies a mysterious being who can carry out miraculous activities.
Indian Tribes also have spirits and totems that defend them. A guardian spirit, which is generally represented in an animal form, protects persons, tribes, families, or offers some sort of magical shamanic power. The power owned by the animal is believed to symbolize the collective power of the entire species or type, providing the animal magical capabilities to execute unusual feats, such as, for example, the wolf with the power to fight.
Totem guardian spirits are well known among the Indian American Tribes, particularly among the tribes along the Northwest Coast. These totem spirits can defend an entire tribe or clan with communal power or the personal power of the animal. The totem animal is holy and sacred to that particular tribe. If, for instance, a tribe’s totem animal is a bear, anyone of that tribe is allowed to kill a bear, but the tribe may eat flesh of a bear killed by another tribe.
Among the Yuchi, which is a tribal group, they have an elaborate clan totemism. The people of the bear clan, for example, cannot kill bear but they may use meat and hide if someone from another clan shoots one. This therefore means that if one plays around with the totem object s/he becomes unclean and s/he has to be purified before s/he can come in contact with other members of the society. Any totem object is believed to be contagious. It’s paramount to note that totems are treated differently. This is because people totemistic conceptualization and rites within the system of the group varies with the importance of the totem.
For instance, if a totem spirit is a reality, is seen as a protector of the clan, he may become the center of religious or a magical activity. This case applies to the Yuchi who dances to honor the masters of animals and the totem spirit at the New Year ceremony. In return the Yuchi expect to receive a lot of blessings in returns and thus the society benefits positively from the totem.
Belief in spirits has a relationship with shamanism. Shamanism is a regarded to be the variety of American Indian traditions and customs associated with communication with the world of spirits. A practitioner of shamanism is known as a shaman and is a specialized type of a holy person. A shaman interacts with idols and spirits not only with prayer, ritual and sacrifices, but also by the means of direct contact with the spirits themselves. Majority of the native north American tribes have shamans who performs various function such as healing whereby they retrieve the soul of a sick person, leading religious ceremonies as well as foretelling events that are yet to happen and some of these events may be unacceptable.
Shamans do play a very critical role when it comes to management of the environment/ecosystem. As the original representative of tribal symbolism, the shaman has a primary role in this ecological management, aggressively limiting hunting and fishing. The shaman is capable to “release” game animals (their souls if to be more precise) from their concealed bodes. The Desana shaman has to negotiate with a legendary being for souls of game.
Not only Tucanos, but also some other tropical forest Indians have such ecological anxieties associated with their shamanism – Piaroa, for instance, Besides Tukanos and Piaroa, there are also many Eskimo groups consider that the shaman is capable to obtain souls of creatures from remote places or undertake a soul travel to promote hunting luck, e.g. by asking for game from mythological creatures. This is gives us an explanation of the hunters visit to the shaman who conducts a ceremony before the hunters goes out on a hunting mission. If they hunters do not do so then their hunting trip may be unsuccessful.
Conclusion
In conclusion the North American tribal groups have very distinct and explicit traditional belief systems. This is due to the fact that they belief in the existence of spirits world which determines their well being as well as their survival. The Supreme Being is the most highly respected being and is accorded a special place in these peoples live. In addition, there is a presence of totems and guardian spirits whose sole function is to protect the well being of the whole group. Finally we have individuals who serve as the link between the ordinary and the spirit world.
Apart from that North Americans Indians religion also serves as a way of adapting to their hostile environment. Without their beliefs the natives can easily deplete their environment and this would result in a survival crisis because without enough food for everyone then some people may be forced to migrate to other regions.
Work Cited
Hultkrantz, A. The Religions of American Indians, University of California press: Berkeley. 1979.