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Indigenous peoples of Latin America
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It was late June in the year of 1981. A man named Travis and his dog Marshall travel through the thick rain forests of Peru, on a nice vacation. Marshall, walks at a cheerful, fast pace… Mostly keeping his nose on the ground the whole time, just letting his sniffer guide the way. Travis pets Marshall periodically, and gazes at the amazing scenery of the Peru rainforest. They come upon a breathtaking waterfall in an opening. It was just then when Travis notices a man standing near the waterfall, also gazing it. Travis and Marshall walk up to the man, and he now notices them. He smiles at them kind of creepily, but Travis just puts that away and decides not to judge the man. “Just beautiful, isn’t it?” Travis asks. “Yes, but not as beautiful …show more content…
But they had to leave absolutely everything behind to praise their gods. What they had a hard time leaving behind though, is all of their gold. Not that it gave them money, but they needed it for marriage. Our, um, diamonds are like their gold. They supposedly melt it with that waterfall’s,” he points, “water. That waterfall’s name is Matsigenka Falls. So anyways, they would melt the gold, and use it. But one day, a man named Chief Watagashi went to the waterfall praying for good luck, after the tribe got a nasty sickness. He puts the gold into the water, and the waterfall crafts a harp, with deer fur braided strings. The Chief got confused and just left it by the side of the river. Then, the Chief threw the three red, blue, and yellow feathers from his headdress into the river. This shows respect to the legendary Matsigenka Falls. After the Chief left it, it started to play by itself. Then, no more sickness. See, it brings good luck to everyone in the Matsigenka tribe. So when they wanted to go to the different universe, they had to keep the harp protected. So to this day, a man, or ghost, wanders the forest keeping this harp safe and protected. But he can’t move it, otherwise the good luck will be spoiled and the tribe’s, and the harp’s, magical powers could end. And whoever tries to get the harp, will be absolutely butchered by the ghost.” “Good thing it’s not true, that’s kind of
Further, prayer and medicine interplay to paint a classical image of the Native’s creed, yet, for many obsolete or preposterous existences of the shaman. To re-install beliefs present in the world for thousands of years, but have been disappearing, writers such as Neidhardt introduce the element of the
In ceremonial practices, scared objects were often placed into baskets. The ceremonial baskets were made especially for different ceremonies and were never used for every day purposes. Sacred objects were sometimes single fetishes and sometimes collections of objects brought together though the years and kept in a ceremonial basket (Underhill 24). The proper way to keep fetishes was in an oblong basket of twilled yucca (Underhill 24). This oblong basket was called a waca, not to be confused with the ordinary coiled basket, which was called a hoa. It was very important to the tribe not to keep scared objects in regular baskets. People who owned a fetish kept their basket packed with eagle down, deertails and periodically “fed” the scared object with cane cigarettes and even food (Underhill 24-25). They could not move the baskets with out a ritual, which was part of the ceremony for food or purification. If anyone who was not authorized to move the basket touched it, the tribe believed a flood would come. The ceremonial baskets are very important to the Tohono O’odham tribe for a lot of their religious ceremonies.
This sacred space is enclosed with a corridor of stones leading away which represents a Bora. The Bora was a traditional meeting ground of Aboriginals which in this ritual is another connection to their ancestry and spirituality. Connecting with the land has been a vital part of Aboriginal spirituality despite the catholic prominence. Source 1 also ties in with Christian beliefs as well as Aboriginal spirituality with it’s references to “God the creator” and the recollection of Jesus being the light of the world. A candle is placed to acknowledge the light Jesus brought into the world which shows the deep connection to Jesus and Christmas which celebrates Jesus birth. At the centre of the Murri people’s worship place a coolamon which is an area a baby could be placed is created to symbolism Jesus’s Manger. Through source 1 it is shown that religion and spirituality can go side by side in contemporary society by
To explain the unexplained the Kiowas had myths, and Momaday tells these myths of their journeys in a historical voice. One of their myths explained how they came into this world and why their numbers are so small: “the Kiowas came one by one into the world through a hollow log. They were many more than now, but not all of them got out. There was a woman whose body was swollen up with child, and she got stuck in the log. After that, no one could get through, and that is why the Kiowas are a small tribe in number”(16). The few of them that managed to come out of the log saw so many things that it made them glad to which they decided to call themselves Kwuda, and later Tepda, both of which mean “coming out”(17). The Kiowa saw an amazing new world as they came out of the hollow log; Another of the unexplained that they explain through the myths is the story of how the big dipper came to be, “Eight children were there at play, seven sisters and their brother. Suddenly the boy was struck dumb; he trembled and began to run upon his hands and feet. His fingers became claws, and his body was covered with fur. Directly there was a bear where the boy had been . . .The seven sisters were borne into the sky, and they became the stars of the Big Dipper”(8). This story shows how they explain the unknown of nature through stories. With this story Momaday uses a great deal of
In January 1889, a Paiute Indian from Nevada named Wovoka, who was a shepherd, became terribly sick during a solar eclipse on New Year's Day and had divine visions of the Indian’s lands returned to them and all the American settlers disappearing. Soon, his teachings of prayers and special dances spread to all the plains tribes. In the article Ghost Dance found on Elibrary, an online educational database, the unlisted author writes that, “Wovoka had a vision that the old ways would be restored, the buffalo herds would return, white people would disappear, and the Indians would be reunited with friends and relatives in the ghos...
This legend story her grandfather had read to her as a child had always been something she had always been aware of, and as she continues to experience events that have remarkable similarities to the story causes her to question who she really is. The narrator does suggest though that one person would believe these events from the past could happen in the future, that person would be her grandfather. This is seen in the text by the narrator saying “ but if old Grandpa weren’t dead, he would tell them what happened— he would laugh and say, “ stolen by a ka’tsina, a mountain spirit”” (Silko 576). This line really adds to the readers understanding of how this event happened in the past. The narrator’s grandfather had lived in a time where these stories likely had occurred and woman had gone missing for several days and came back. For the narrator, though, she had been accustomed to today’s society where if a woman went missing people were less likely to think she was taken by a mountain spirit. Not only people wouldn’t believe she was taken from a mountain spirit, many people would not believe her story as it had been something that occurred in the
In 1785, a Christ Child was said to have appeared. A shepherd boy from the village of Tayankani played with the child, but the child disappeared. The child was believed to have disappeared into a rock that was left with his imprint. This is the story behind the pilgrimage to the rock, but those of our community don’t pay much attention to it. Their purpose in the event is to ‘honor’ their supernatural beings. They pay homage to Rit’i (the snow), Taytakuna (Fathers), and the great Apus (Lord Mountains).
The Hopi have a highly developed belief system which contains many gods and spirits. Ceremonies, rituals, dances, songs, and prayers are celebrated in year-round. The Hopi believed they were led to the arid southwestern region of America by their creator, because he knew they had the power to evoke rain with power and prayer. Consequently, the Hopi are connected to their land, its agricultural cycles and the constant quest for rainfall, in a religious way. The religious center of the community is the kiva, which is an underground room with a ladder protruding above the roof. The kiva is very important for several reasons. From the kiva, a connection is made with the center of the earth. Also, the kiva is symbolic for the emergence to this world. The room would represent the underworld and the ladder would represent the way to the upper world. In fact, a room is kept in the house to store ceremonial objects. A sacred ear of corn protects the room and symbolizes the ancestry of the family members. Kachinas are also a focal point of the religion. For a Hopi, they signify spirits of ancestors, dieties of the natural world, or intermediaries between man and gods. The Hopi believe that they are the earth's caretakers, and with the successful performance of their ceremonial cycle, the world will remain in balance, the gods will be happy and rain will come. Because they think of their crops as gifts, the Hopi Indians live in harmony with the environment.
Indians who danced the Ghost Dance would rise up into the sky while God covered the white man with a new earth. Then the Ghost Dancers would join their ancestors in a land filled with buffalo and game. The water would be sweet, the grass would be green, and there would be no white men. (“The Ghost Dance” par. 5)
This is explained by a story they tell about a race between a bird and a snake. Because of these unlucky ghosts, the Dani and other surrounding tribes are at a constant state o...
Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke is a development of Japanese animation that can be seen as a romantic fable of two characters that were brought together through one cause; however, Miyazaki’s film can be seen as a Japanese cultural production. It is seen as a cultural production because it shows elements of Shinto through the Kami and the use of water for purification, as well as the female stereotype reversal that was quite dominant in the time of the Heian period. The characters in Princess Mononoke interact with the kami (gods or spirits) when they are in sacred sites or areas that assist in the contact. In Princess Mononoke, the mountain is the place where the characters make contact with the kami, which is their Shinto shrine because “originally there was no shrine building; rather, a shrine was simply a sacred precinct set apart in a certain area or around a sacred object such as a tree or stone” (Earhart, 1982, 34-35).
Navajo people believe that there was a group of beings on the earth before man existed here. They are referred to as the “Holy People” also known as “Dineh”. The names given to these divine beings are “First Man”, “Changing Woman”, “Spider Woman”, “Monster Slayer”, “Born of/for Water” and many others. It is believed that these holy people had many designs that where sacred and kept on spider webs, buckskin, and clouds as well as sections of the sky. Navajo legend states that when “First Man” guided the “First People” to this world they had the permission of the other “dineh” to copy these sacred images so that they would have a means to enlist the aid of the Holy people when needed. The only stipulation that was placed was that they could only be made with sand on the g...
The smoke floats through the air and surrounds the village people. The eyes of everyone is on the village elder and no one speaks a word. This is a time for sharing the great history that the new generation must learn. Without written langue history and important lessons are spoken to the children of Native American villages. These stories’ hold a special meaning to the children as they are all they know about their ancestors. Often these stories have elements of mystical beings that help the Native people. In this way the people not only get a history lesson, but also a way of practicing religion. Each story is unique to the village and tribe that it was developed; however similar concerts can be seen as the
Vine Deloria, author of The World We Used to Live In, not only introduces his readers to indigenous Native American spirituality and traditional practices including ceremonies but also brings several important ideas of native spirituality to the forefront. He discusses the importance of having and maintaining a relationship with mother earth and all living beings; an interconnectedness with nature in all forms that is crucial to the understanding and practice of Native American spirituality. Dreams and visions were discussed as an important form of communication in indigenous spirituality. The important relationships with animal and plant spirits are discussed. The concept of power and what is considered power in Native Spirituality. Deloria talks about the importance of place in indigenous spirituality. It is believed that power and wisdom rests in places. The landscape holds memories of all that has ever happened. Through all the aspects Deloria discusses in his book, readers get a clear view and better understanding of Native American spirituality through various accounts of different tribal activities and interviews from both emic and etic perspectives of culture. By using a wide range of research, Deloria does a fairly good job of remaining unbiased which is a difficult thing for anyone to do.
In “The Beach of Falesa,” the protagonist Wiltshire asserts that the native Kanakas have a natural predisposition for superstitious beliefs. As he explores Case’s “devil’s bush,” Wiltshire tells the reader, “Any poor Kanaka brought up here in the dark, with the harp...