The spiritual practices of Native Americans in the United States are known as Native American Religions. Different nations, tribes, and bands have varying histories and worldviews, which are reflected in their diverse ceremonial practices.
Individual Native American tribes and even small bands are described by early European explorers as having their own religious rituals.
There are many different types of theology, including monotheistic, polytheistic, henotheistic, animistic, shamanistic, pantheistic, and combinations of these. Ordinarily, oral histories, myths, and guiding principles serve as the primary means of transmitting traditional beliefs.
Beginning in the 1600s, Catholic and Protestant European Christians began conversion efforts among Native American tribes.
After America gained its independence in the 1700s, its government continued to suppress racial practices and encourage forcible conversion.. Government officials and religious organizations often cooperated in these conversion efforts. In many cases, violence was used as a means of coercion.
This federal harassment and litigation, which passed federal laws prohibiting traditional native practices such as feasting, sun dance ceremonies, and the use of sweat lodges, officially continued until passage of the Religious Freedom Act of 1978.
Another important policy of religious suppression was the removal of Native American children from their families to government-funded and church-run American Indian schools (also known as boarding schools).
Through violence and bullying, native children in these schools were forced to learn European and Christian beliefs, mainstream white culture and English language values, and were forbidden to speak their language and practice their own cultural beliefs.
Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity, an all-supreme being that is universally referred to as God. A distinction may be made between exclusive monotheism, in which the one God is a singular existence, and both inclusive and pluriform monotheism, in which multiple gods or godly forms are recognized, but each are postulated as extensions of the same God.
Polytheism is the belief in multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religious sects and rituals. The different gods and goddesses may be representations of forces of nature or ancestral principles which manifest in nature.
Polytheists do not always worship all the gods equally. They can be henotheists, specializing in the worship of one particular deity, or kathenotheists, worshiping different deities at different times.
Animism is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork, and in some cases words—as animated and alive. Animism focuses on the metaphysical universe; specifically, on the concept of the immaterial soul.
Shamanism or samanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman or saman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into the physical world for the purpose of healing, divination, or to aid human beings in some other way.
Pantheism is the philosophical religious belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical to divinity and a supreme being or entity. The physical universe is thus understood as an immanent deity, still expanding and creating, which has existed since the beginning of time.
All astronomical objects are thence viewed as parts of a sole deity.
It is estimated that the Aztecs had over 1,700 gods and goddesses, many of whom required human sacrifices. Based on the number of sacred temples located, scientists have estimated approximately a quarter million humans were sacrificed every year, roughly equivalent to 1% of the population. Here is a partial list of the Aztec gods and goddesses.
At the age of nine, Nicholas Black Elk, a holy man of the Oglala Sioux, had a great vision. This vision was the primary subject of his interview with writer John Neihardt and Neihardt's subsequent 1932 novel, Black Elk Speaks. As the title suggests, Neihardt's novel is the medium through which Black Elk shares his life narrative. Through the novel, in addition to the recounting of his great vision and other significant events in his personal history, Black Elk voices significant events and figures in Sioux history.
AUTHOR: Corey Wicks In the brilliant 1988 film Powwow Highway, at one moment Red Bow looks down and makes a cynical remark about a powwow: “Look at these people dancing around a basketball court. You’d think a few feathers and…