|
Native American Religions
Native American religions, Native American faith or American Indian religions are the indigenous religion, indigenous spiritual practices of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Ceremonial ways can vary widely and are based on the differing histories and beliefs of individual nations, tribes and bands. Early European explorers describe individual tribe (Native American), Native American tribes and even small bands as each having their own religious practices. Theology may be Monotheism, monotheistic, Polytheism, polytheistic, Henotheism, henotheistic, Animism, animistic, shamanism, shamanistic, pantheism, pantheistic or any combination thereof, among others. Traditional beliefs are usually passed down in the oral tradition forms of mythologies of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, myths, oral history, oral histories, stories, allegories, and principles. Nowadays, as scholars note, many American Natives are having a renewed interest in their own traditions. Overview ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Navajo
The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (108,305). More than three-quarters of the Diné population resides in these two states.American Factfinder The overwhelming majority of Diné are enrolled in the . Some Diné are enrolled in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oral Tradition
Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985), reported statements from present generation which "specifies that the message must be oral statements spoken, sung or called out on musical instruments only"; "There must be transmission by word of mouth over at least a generation". He points out, "Our definition is a working definition for the use of historians. Sociologists, linguists or scholars of the verbal arts propose their own, which in, e.g., sociology, stresses common knowledge. In linguistics, features that distinguish the language from common dialogue (linguists), and in the verbal arts features of form and content that define art (folklorists)."Ki-Zerbo, Joseph: "Methodology and African Pre-history", 1990, ''UNESCO International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Spirit
The Great Spirit is an omnipresent supreme life force, generally conceptualized as a supreme being or god, in the traditional religious beliefs of many, but not all, indigenous cultures in Canada and the United States. Interpretations of it vary between cultures. In the Lakota tradition, the Great Spirit is known as '' Wakan Tanka''.Ostler, Jeffry. ''The Plains Sioux and U.S. Colonialism from Lewis and Clark to Wounded Knee''. Cambridge University Press, July 5, 2004. , pg 26. According to Lakota activist Russell Means, a more semantically accurate translation of ''Wakan Tanka'' is the Great Mystery.Means, Robert. ''Where White Men Fear to Tread: The Autobiography of Russell Means''. Macmillan, 1995. pg 241. Often, Lakota language prayers begin with the phrase "Tunkasila", which translates to "grandfather, Great Spirit." In the Haudenosaunee tradition, the Great Spirit is known as "the Creator". Haudenosaunee men's lacrosse team captain Lyle Thompson, characterized it as " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wakan Tanka
In Lakota spirituality, ''Wakan Tanka'' ( Standard Lakota Orthography: ''Wakȟáŋ Tȟáŋka'') is the term for the sacred or the divine. This is usually translated as the "Great Spirit" and occasionally as "Great Mystery". ''Wakȟáŋ Tȟáŋka'' can be interpreted as the power or the sacredness that resides in everything, resembling some animistic and pantheistic beliefs. This term describes every creature and object as ''wakȟáŋ'' ("holy") or having aspects that are ''wakȟáŋ''. The element ''Tanka'' or ''Tȟáŋka'' corresponds to "Great" or "large". Before contact with European Christian missionaries, the Lakota used ''Wakȟáŋ Tȟáŋka'' to refer to an organization or group of sacred entities whose ways were mysterious: thus, "The Great Mystery".Helen Wheeler Bassett, Frederick Starr. The International Folk-lore Congress of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, July, 1893. Charles H. Sergel Company, 1898p221226 Activist Russell Means also promoted the translat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lakota People
The Lakota (; or ) are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people. Also known as the Teton Sioux (from ), they are one of the three prominent subcultures of the Sioux people, with the Eastern Dakota (Santee) and Western Dakota (). Their current lands are in North Dakota, North and South Dakota. They speak — the Lakota language, the westernmost of three closely related languages that belong to the Siouan languages, Siouan language family. The seven bands or "sub-tribes" of the Lakota are: * (, Burned Thighs) * ("They Scatter Their Own") * (, Without Bows) * (Hunkpapa, "End Village", Camps at the End of the Camp Circle) * (Miniconjou, "Plant Near Water", Planters by the Water) * ("Blackfeet" or "Blackfoot") * (Two Kettles) Notable Lakota persons include (Sitting Bull) from the , (Touch the Clouds) from the Miniconjou; (Black Elk), (Red Cloud), and (Billy Mills), all ; (Crazy Horse) from the and Miniconjou, and (Spotted Tail) from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manitou
Manitou () is the fundamental life force in the theologies of Algonquian peoples. It is said to be omnipresent and manifests everywhere: organisms, the environment, events, etc. ''Aashaa monetoo'' means "good spirit", while ''otshee monetoo'' means "bad spirit". When Turtle Island was created, the Great Spirit, ''Aasha Monetoo'', gave the land to the indigenous peoples. Overview Manitou was widely used during early European contact. In 1585, when Thomas Harriot recorded the first glossary of an Algonquian language, Roanoke (Pamlico), he included the word ''mantóac'', meaning "gods and goddesses". Similar terms are found in nearly all Algonquian languages. In some Algonquian traditions, '' Gitche Manitou'' refers to a supreme being. The term has analogues dating to before European contact, and the word uses of ''gitche'' and ''manitou'' existed before contact. After contact, however, Gitche Manitou was adopted by some Anishinaabe, such as the Ojibwe, to refer to the su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Algonquian Peoples
The Algonquians are one of the most populous and widespread North American indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous American groups, consisting of the peoples who speak Algonquian languages. They historically were prominent along the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and in the interior regions along St. Lawrence River and around the Great Lakes. Before contact with Europeans, most Algonquian settlements lived by hunting and fishing, with many of them supplementing their diet by cultivating maize, corn, beans and Cucurbita, squash (the "Three Sisters (agriculture), Three Sisters"). The Ojibwe cultivated wild rice. Colonial period At the time of European arrival in North America, Algonquian peoples resided in present-day Canada east of the Rocky Mountains, New England, New Jersey, southeastern New York (state), New York, Delaware, and down the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast to the Upper South, and around the Great Lakes in present-day Illino ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deity
A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater than those of ordinary humans, but who interacts with humans, positively or negatively, in ways that carry humans to new Higher consciousness, levels of consciousness, beyond the grounded preoccupations of ordinary life". Religions can be categorized by how many deities they worship. Monotheism, Monotheistic religions accept only one deity (predominantly referred to as "God"), whereas Polytheism, polytheistic religions accept multiple deities. Henotheism, Henotheistic religions accept one God, supreme deity without denying other deities, considering them as aspects of the same divine principle. Nontheistic religions deny any supreme eter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supernatural
Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanings since the ancient world, the term "supernatural" emerged in the Middle Ages and did not exist in the ancient world. The supernatural is featured in folklore and religious contexts, but can also feature as an explanation in more secular contexts, as in the cases of superstitions or belief in the paranormal. The term is attributed to non-physical entity, non-physical entities, such as angels, demons, gods and ghost, spirits. It also includes claimed abilities embodied in or provided by such beings, including Magic (supernatural), magic, telekinesis, levitation (paranormal), levitation, precognition and extrasensory perception. The supernatural is hypernymic to religion. Religions are standardized supernaturalist worldviews, or at least m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pre-Columbian Era
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European colonization of the Americas, European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage in 1492. This era encompasses the history of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous cultures prior to significant European influence, which in some cases did not occur until decades or even centuries after Columbus's arrival. During the pre-Columbian era, many civilizations developed permanent settlements, cities, agricultural practices, civic and monumental architecture, major Earthworks (archaeology), earthworks, and Complex society, complex societal hierarchies. Some of these civilizations had declined by the time of the establishment of the first permanent European colonies, around the late 16th to early 17th centuries, and are know ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, and parts of Honduras, Nicaragua and northwestern part of Costa Rica. As a cultural area, Mesoamerica is defined by a mosaic of cultural traits developed and shared by its indigenous cultures. In the pre-Columbian era, many Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous societies flourished in Mesoamerica for more than 3,000 years before the Spanish colonization of the Americas began on Hispaniola in 1493. In world history, Mesoamerica was the site of two historical transformations: (i) primary urban generation, and (ii) the formation of New World cultures from the mixtures of the indigenous Mesoamerican peoples with the European, African, and Asian peoples who were introduced by the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Mesoameri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
