Native American Tribe Essay

The Native American tribe called the Mandan, self-named Numakiki, or “tattooed people,” lived in North Dakota, where it still lives. The Mandan lived along the Missouri River in towns with 12-100 earth lodges which could hold several families. For food the Mandan hunted and farmed. Their history was an interesting time. The religion of the Mandan was similar to many Native American tribes at the time.
The Mandan ate the animals and crops that were around them. They ate animals such as deer, elk, bear, antelope, mussel, crayfish, and the seasonal Bison. Their society was, “centred on raising corn (maize), beans, pumpkins, sunflowers, and tobacco, and on hunting buffalo, fishing, and trading with nomadic Plains tribes” (Source C). Some of the Mandan’s food crop would be sold with the other crops to get things of importance.

Animism was a belief that many Native Americans shared. One way of showing belief was the Sun Dance Ceremony which was a four day trial for young men. They were first “cleansed” in a sweat lodge then put in a solitary place exposed to the heat of the day and cold of the night. After that, the men entered a special lodge where they were slashed and “hung up by ropes attached to skewers in the shape of sharp animal claws, that were embedded in their flesh” (Source B). The last Sun Dance Ceremony was performed in 1889. The Mandan had, in their opinion, three important purposes with religion. To “commemorate” the tribe’s survival from an ancient flood, to communicate with creatures through spirits, and to provide something to complete vows to the gods. The Mandan’s main gods were the Lone Man, “Old Woman Who Never Dies, the Sun, the Moon, Black Medicine, and Sweet Medicine”(Source D). Though Animism is not really used anymore, it is still an interesting thing to look back