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Native American culture
Native Americans the story of their culture
Native Americans the story of their culture
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The Native American people have great respect and reverence for nature, in fact the animal spirits and other elemental spirits represent important roles in their daily life (Taylor). They view the world as an interconnected fabric of harmonious and inharmonious interaction between people and nature. One tribe in particular, the Miwok, consider the Coyote as an ancestor and creator of man; additionally, they consider Coyote as a trickster god (Godchecker). A Miwok myth recount a story from long ago in which animals were like people. In this tale, the Coyote and Falcon decided to create man. Coyote pretended to be dead, and permitted the buzzards and crows to eat his posterior (Bastian and Mitchell). As they dug in, he trapped them inside, and
then had Falcon extract them and plucked their feathers. Their feathers were lanted in four directions which transformed into people. Coyote and Falcon decided to transform themselves into animals due to the similarities in features they shared with the new people (Bastian and Mitchell). In another myth, Coyote juggled his eyes to impress the girls but ended up tossing an eyeball so high it affixed itself in the sky and became the star Arcturus; thus enabling Coyote to keep an eye on everyone (Godchecker). According to mythology, the Coyote spirit is so mischievous and so involved in his tricks that he tricks himself, which explains why there are so many mistakes in how the way things are in the world (“Coyote Symbol”). The Coyote is a spiritual animal that plays a prominent part in the Miwok history and culture. He is honored as their wisest, funniest, and trickiest forefather. Coyote legends, and other animal spirit legends, are passed down from generations to generations. The Miwok are deeply spiritual people, who according to their mythology, believe in animal and human spirit, and claim the Animal spirits as their ancestor (Coyote Symbol). Consequently, they treat nature with respect and reverence, only taking what they need from the land, striving to never be wasteful (“Miwok”). This belief is evident in their ceremonies, which give prayers and thanks to the spirits. Dancing is very important to the Miwok, which is used to express their thanks for a successful harvest, for good weather, for celebration of happy unions and for many other reasons (“Miwok”).
Chandler Cook November 5th, 2015 HIST3417 Book Review Embodying agriculture in Gender Systems Dreaming of Sheep in Navajo Country gives readers a look into the federal government’s failed policy to preserve grazing lands by slaughtering hundreds of thousands of livestock with a particular focus on women. Centering around women because they are the primary owners and caretakers of livestock in Navajo reservations. Weisiger’s narrative explains the relationship of “livestock grazing, environmental change, cultural identity, gender, and memory during the New Deal era of the 1930s and its aftermath” (p xv). Weisiger relies on oral histories, environmental science, and government documents.
Modern day Native American are widely known as stewards of the environment who fight for conservation and environmental issues. The position of the many Native American as environmentalists and conservationists is justified based on the perception that before European colonists arrived in the Americas, Native Americans had little to no effect on their environment as they lived in harmony with nature. This idea is challenged by Shepard Krech III in his work, The Ecological Indian. In The Ecological Indian, Krech argues that this image of the noble savage was an invented tradition that began in the early 1970’s, and that attempts to humanize Native Americans by attempting to portray them as they really were. Krech’s arguments are criticized by Darren J Ranco who in his response, claims that Krech fails to analyze the current state of Native American affairs, falls into the ‘trap’ of invented tradition, and accuses Krech of diminishing the power and influence of Native Americans in politics. This essay examines both arguments, but ultimately finds Krech to be more convincing as Krech’s
Comparing The Earth on Turtle's Back, When Grizzlies Walked Upright, And the Navajo Origin Legend
Black Elk plays a major role in retelling the history of the Lakota Native Americans. Having witnessed the Battle of Little Bighorn and living through the transfer of Native Americans to the Pine Ridge Reservation, Black Elk can attest to the treatment endured by Native Americans. Black Elk tells the story of a people injured in war and subject to sufferings for the years to follow.
Hence, the image of the trickster Coyote is the focal point in these two cultures, because of his/her never-ending desire to start the next story for the creation of the world and have everything right. Native American culture has a lot of dialogic perspectives in it; in the form of stories and conversations in which all humans and non-humans communicate (Irwin,2000, p39) and writers often highlight the importance of the oral cultural inheritance both as the notion of their being and as method for their writing. Coyote in traditional oral culture reminds us the semiotic component of sufferings of
The Native American’s way of living was different from the Europeans. They believed that man is ruled by respect and reverence for nature and that nature is an ancestor or relative. The Native American’s strongly belie...
For the Native Americans to explain their existence, they created stories that described how things came to be. These stories are much like the ones that you would find in the Bible, and are very insightful in getting a better understanding of the Native Americans religious viewings. The Native Americans strongly believed in spirits and beings of another world. In the Iroquois Creation Story, these believes are strongly represented by telling the story of two brothers. This story is a representation of how the world was created. There is a good minded brother and a bad minded brother, which are not just brothers but twins. These unborn brothers and their mother were sent to the back of a turtle that in order to secure them from the dangers of the dark world she fell to. In a hurry to be born, the bad minded brother murders
There was a period of time, before the appearance of Europeans on the continent, that the Nephilim did not have this “rule” or “compulsion” to keep their existence hidden from humans. The Bigfoot were known to the Native Americans by many names. Legends and lore sprang up from the Native American’s interaction with the Bigfoot. The Native Americans always considered them to be a “society” or “tribe.” The relationship the Bigfoot tribes had with the Native Americans was precarious at best. Many Native American tribes described the Bigfoot as cannibals, mountain devils, kidnappers, rapist, and thieves.
Wheelwright, M. (1942). Navajo Creation Myth. Navajo Religion Series, Vol. 1. Santa Fe: Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Art.
“It is my absolute belief that Indians have unlimited talent. I have no doubt about our capabilities.” --Narendra Modi. Native Americans love life and nature, they often celebrate it. In the stories “The Coyote”, “The Buffalo and the Corn”, and “The First False Face” each of these stories has many similarities, all include nature, and have many differences.
There were other taboo's in the Indian culture other then not naming the dead, such as you were never to kill snakes. It was thought that if one were to snake, it would make the snakes mad and more snakes will come and kill a friend or relative. Snakes, spiders, and scorpions were all seen as bad creatures and they were supposed to avoid them. The only time when you are allowed or only safe time to kill one of these was if they bit you or caused you harm. The Indians also believed that if a fox comes near your home and makes noise, that would be the indication that one of your relatives was going to die. The Owl and coyote were messengers to tell you that the person that was supposed to die is already dead. The Indians believed in magic or healers and witches. The way a person comes to gain super natural powers were through dreams and after that the person becomes empowered with special abilities. They believed that certain springs were cursed and you were not supposed to drink from them. The causes of bad springs would be from a witch that would put a special stone in the water and if you drank from it, you would start hearing voices and seeing things. If the person lingered too long around the spring, you would eventually not be able to think any more and would lose your mind essentially. If a person had a bad dream, it could give you bad powers that would make people sick. The Indians were very scared of witches because of the bad things they could do to you. They would not have to touch you to curse you. The good healers when first having their power would go off and dance by himself and start healing people. Witches were not able to harm good people such as healers. If you were cursed by a witch, it would require a healer tha...
Oral history and native folklore is still alive and well in most tribes, and has been scholarly documented for generations. By tapping into the origins and lore surrounding Two-Spirit people I believe we will find a diverse set of stories that can illuminate the traditional Native perspective on Two-Spirit people. Furthermore, by comparing the similarities and differences in tribal legends, we may be able to further our understanding of tribal diffusion as well as better understand the perceptions of any spiritual resonance a Two-Spirit person may have.
Kind and selfish, deep and shallow, male and female, and foolish and wise aren’t always words that are associated with each other, quite the opposite in fact. However, when it comes to the trickster tales of Native Americans, each word is associated with the other and describes more or less the same person or animal. To Native American people a trickster affects the world for an infinite number of reasons, including instruction and enjoyment. A trickster, like the name implies, is a cunning deception. A trickster can be a hero. However, at the same time he could introduce death. How is that heroic? Why would a group of people want to remember a person that brings punishments such as death? The function the trickster tales have/ had on Native American communities is still powerful today quite possibly because of their context, the lessons they reap, and the concerns they address. As the tales are told, the stories unravel showing the importance of a trickster and the eye-opening experiences they bring.
The religious beliefs and the rituals of the Indians of southern New England were in many ways how the Puritans thought the devil and witches to act. English observers Edward Winslow, Roger Williams, and other Puritans found out that the Indians believed that spirits would speak directly to mortals through dreams and visions. William Simmons stated, “A powerful spirit known as Hobbamock was said to enter certain persons and to remain in their bodies as a guardian and familiar.” Hobbamock was the Native American creator. The spirit of Hobbamock was the “souls of the dead” that would take the shape of the human body and animals.
Native American assigned identities and chosen identities varied significantly from each other. Native Americans saw themselves as very spiritual and moral beings, represented in their traditions and way of life. Analyzing Native American culture allows observers to identify the identity chosen by the Native Americans. Morality was, and likely still is, a primary component of Native American identity. In Coyote Finishes His Work, retold by Barry Lopez, the Nez Perce tell the story of both the beginning of the world, but also covers greed as being a tragic flaw; as Coyote, the main character, abuses his power for his own personal gain and is