Native American Symbols

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Native American Symbols
We are often asked by customers about the meaning of designs used in American Indian arts and crafts, particularly on jewelry and pottery. 

While it is true that many design symbols represent specific ideas or things taken from a Native American cultural context, it is also true that many are only peripherally related to the culture or religious beliefs of a particular tribe.

What is significant to one tribe may or may not be meaningful to another tribe, or it may be interpreted in a different way. Many symbols are just an artist’s interpretation of a pleasing pattern or patterns that look good together.

In this section, we shall discuss some of the most common symbols found in native american art, crafts, and cultures.

Native American symbolism, culture and ceremony

There are many Native American symbols, practices and customs, some of which are well-known to many people and some which are known only to a few. The following is a list with brief explanations about each. To achieve full understanding of some of these symbols and practices, one must personally experience them or be led to enlightenment through traditional teachings of an elder. The explanations for the items are therefore brief and are intended to provide a broad overview of…

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Ojibwe eagle symbolism

The graceful bird of the skies, the eagle, is the prayer carrier and messenger of the Anishinabe people. As the eagle soars across the skies, one knows he is carrying the prayers to the Creator.The eagle has great significance for the Anishinabe and all native american people when it comes to healing ceremonies and ceremonies honouring and respecting other people. Although people of different cultures may have different beliefs, respecting others' beliefs is part of the growing process in the Anishinabe way of life.Continue to Ojibwe eagle symbolism →

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Reading the rocks: Hopi history in petroglyphs

Whitefeather - Petroglyph I

Joe Ben Sanders has spent 27 years looking at the Wind Mountain Hopi petroglyphs at Three Rivers, N.M. He has made controversial connections with the Hopi tribes of New Mexico and Arizona and the ancient site of Casas Grandes in Mexico. Sanders believes that the ancient Mogollon and the Hopi share the same story, that they are indeed the same people. He believes that the ancestors of the Hopi gradually migrated through southern New Mexico on the way to sacred…

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