Rituals, Beliefs and Customs of Native American Culture NATIVE AMERICAN VIEW OF LAND OWNERSHIP Many of the native inhabitants of America had no such concept of land ownership. Native belief essentially held that the land was a gift from the creator, to be used in common by all of the society for survival and sustenance. In many native societies, no single individual owned the land and no legal institution existed to exclude certain classes of persons from the land. Land ownership, then, was a fluid concept, especially among the nomadic tribes who moved from area to area with the seasons of the year. The native peoples lived off the land. They did not practice wholesale extraction of resources such as timber, fish, and wildlife as did their European contemporaries. In part this was because the land could sustain their small populations and because their needs were relatively simple by European standards of their day. By contrast, the European settlers wanted the creature comforts to which they had been accustomed in Europe. These comforts included commercially manufactured food, clothing, furniture, and so on. Additionally, the new settlers needed to transfer as much wealth as possible, and as quickly as possible, from the New World to their mother countries. SPIRITUAL BELIEFS Many native peoples nourished their spiritual sides by belief in one or more deities, who served them in many ways. Each Native American culture had its own system of religious beliefs. The European settlers, like all human beings, viewed the religious practices of others through the lens of their own experiences. Unfortunately, this, like the land-tenure issue, had dire consequences for the American Indians, consequences that exist to this day. As part of the acculturation process, Europeans tried to stamp out native religious practices in America. HEALING AND RITUAL MEDICINE Health and healing are among the most important concerns of Native American ritual. It is essential to understand the concept of health other than in the terms of Western medicine. Many Native American cultures understand illness not as the result of some biochemical, physiological, or psychological malady, but as a sign of disorder in society or the world, which is then reflected in the illness of an individual. Diagnosis thus consists of discerning the status of the community or the world. Healing requires repairing or restructuring these environmental concerns. Lakota Plains Indians Healing Bear Dreamer Society is composed of Lakota medicine people whose specialty is curing the severely wounded. Anyone cured by these medicine people becomes a member of the Bear Dreamer Society. The leader of the society is one who has had a dream about the bear and knows the use of the bear medicines. Bear Dreamer Society healing takes place in a tipi whose floor is covered with sage. Society members sing and beat round drums, while members who may have different types of medicine dance about the wounded patient. Suddenly the leader comes growling through the tipi entrance. He is painted red except for his hands, which are painted white. He carries a knife, and if a dog is present during the ceremony he may kill it and eat it raw. The leader faces all four directions as the other members move the wounded person to the place of honor at the rear of the tipi and apply healing roots to his body. The Ghost Dance was actually a religious revitalization movement started by the powerful healing medicine person Wovoka (Jack Wilson) among the Paviotso in Nevada. While experiencing a high fever, Wovoka saw the Christian God and was told to carry the message of end times to his people: the dead would soon return, and the intruding White people would be annihilated. The 1890 Ghost Dance spread primarily to tribes who lived east of those influenced by the Ghost Dance of 1870, never reaching western Oregon. Among the Plains tribes, the Ghost Dance of 1890 was a factor in the last clash with the U.S. Army at Wounded Knee, where hundreds of Lakota men, women, and children were massacred. The Wounded Knee Massacre effectively ended the millennial expectations of the movement, although Ghost Dancing has persisted to the present as a dance form among some tribes. Eastern Woodlands Healing Eastern Woodlands Native Americans used herbs instead of ritual to heal their sick. The medicine man carried herbs in a bag, much like early doctors did. An anthropologist described the contents of one such bag: which contained a stone the size of a nut, a bark figure in the shape of a wolverine decorated with black and white beadwork, a little 1-foot bow, and a 1-foot stick decorated with red and white porcupine quills that had two dozen dewclaws of moose attached to the end (most likely a rattle). Most common are power objects made from animal bones, which can be acquired in two ways. One way is for a person to take the bones from the desired animal and throw them into a stream. The bones that travel upstream have sufficient power to aid the shaman in his activities. The other way is for the likeness of the selected animal to be carved into the bone. The making and using of bone figures by shamans has not been reported for any other Algonquin people. The shaman sends forth his ntiómel to do his bidding. From such descriptions, one can assume that these objects are representations of the shaman's helping spirits. Northwest Coastal Indian Healing A shamanic healing ritual that has become part of the annual Spirit Dance ceremonial in the Upper Stalo region. The ritual "is a vestige of the ancient psychodramatic enactment of a collective shamanic boat journey to the land of the dead". This ceremony includes a group psychotherapeutic approach in which the shaman asks the participants to "render active assistance through mental concentration on the patient in order to 'help him." The ceremony includes the use of two power boards, called skudilitc, or power sticks that have the capacity to heal. The power sticks are loop-shaped pieces of naturally twisted cedar branches or bark, wrapped with scarlet cloth. The power boards are rectangular cedar boards, approximately 30 by 45 centimeters (12 by 18 inches), with slots cut into them by which they are held. Sometimes they are carved or painted with a face or a skeletal figure. When painted, they are usually black and white or black and red. Southeastern Native American Healing- Cherokee Indians Most Cherokee healers are men, although women doctors do exist. When healing a patient, the first activity of a medicine man is to diagnose the cause of the ailment—the "seat of the pain." To this end, the medicine man questions the patient regarding his or her dreams and possible taboo violations. The diagnosis is very thorough and often investigates dreams from two or three years earlier. Diagnosis is an individual matter, and some medicine men rely more on physical symptoms, such as headaches or rings around the eyes, than on the patient's dreams. In any event, it is most important to discover the real cause of the disease so that the medicine man can work against it and force it to release its hold on the patient. Almost all diseases are caused by human ghosts, animal spirits, or witches. If there is a problem making the diagnosis, the medicine man resorts to a divination method known as "examining the beads." To do this, "the medicine man holds a black bead (called adälön), between thumb and index finger of the left hand, a white or red bead between forefinger and thumb of the right hand, and, reciting an appropriate formula, examines what are the chances of the sick man. The brisk movements of the righthand bead gives an affirmative answer; its sluggish movements, or its remaining motionless, a negative answer". These beads were considered the preeminent instrument for determining a true diagnosis and prognosis. Once the diagnosis is complete, the medicine man prescribes the proper formula. Each ailment has its own formula that outlines a specific healing ritual, and different medicine men own different formulas. If the medicine man making the diagnosis does not own the particular formula needed, the owner of the proper formula is called for. These formulas have been recorded bv the Cherokee shamans in various ways over the years. For instance, the Swimmer manuscript contains 137 formulas written in Sequoyan syllabary. Each formula usually involves the use of plants, spirits, and message techniques, coupled with certain taboo observations. There are also prescribed songs or recitations to be given by the medicine man at specific points in the healing ceremony. Although specific plants are called for in each formula, what is most important in determining their efficacy is the plant's physical appearance. For instance, the formula might call for the plant to have only one stem, or inverted roots, or branches that incline in a certain way. The time of collecting, such as during a rainstorm, and the place, such as bark obtained from the sunny side of a tree, are also all part of the formula. Furthermore, plants are not considered to be efficacious unless they are used in a prescribed number—usually four or seven, the two most sacred numbers to the Cherokee. Once gathered, the plants are generally either pounded and steeped in water, or boiled before use. Navajo Indian Religion and Healing Among the Navaho of the Southwest, healing rites culminate with the preparation of a picture made of sand. Through ritual, it is “brought to life,” and then the person seeking healing sits within. The sweat lodge, in which, along with a sweat bath, religious teachings, prayer, and intimate communion are shared, has spread from the plains people like the Lakota, Crow, and Ojibwa throughout the Native American world. Navajo healing is based on the premise that a person's illness is caused by the individual's being out of harmony with life, and sprinkling a person with corn pollen helps reestablish that harmony. In their ceremonies, corn pollen is said to be pure and immaculate. As such, this substance has the power to drive off the forces that produce disharmony. In fact, it is so powerful that it is often carried by individuals simply for good luck. Within the context of healing, many Navajo shamans claim that corn pollen is their most powerful medicine—not in the sense of a plant used for healing, but in the sense of its ritualistic power. For example, during the Blessingway Ceremony, the application of corn pollen to the hogan being used for the ritual transforms that structure into the original hogan in which Changing Woman first experienced Blessingway. All the beauty (blessing) that comes into the hogan during the ceremony is attributed to corn pollen. Corn pollen also serves as a bridge between humans and spirits; it is spoken of as "the door path of Talking God." Finally, it is seen as a food for spirits and as a healing food for humans. In his classic study on Navajo witchcraft, Clyde Kluckhohn [1944] described the practice by creating four technical terms: witchery, sorcery, wizardry, and frenzy witchcraft. Witchery includes all phenomena that the Navajo call ánti. For example, ántizi means "Witcheryway." "The classic Witchery Way technique is that mentioned in the emergence legend. A preparation (usually called 'poison' by English-speaking informants) is made of the flesh of corpses. The flesh of children and especially of twin children is preferred, and the bones at the back of the head and skin whorls are the prized ingredients. When this 'corpse poison' is ground into powder it 'looks like pollen.' It may be dropped into a hogan from the smokehole, placed in the nose or mouth of a sleeping victim or blown from furrowed sticks into the face of someone in a large crowd. 'Corpse poison' is occasionally stated to have been administered in a cigarette. Fainting, lockjaw, a tongue black and swollen, immediate unconsciousness or some similar dramatic symptom is usually said to result promptly. Sometimes, however, the effects are less obvious. The victim gradually wastes away, and the usual ceremonial treatments are unavailing". Sorcery is one aspect of those activities that the Navajo refer to by the -ndzin stem. Sorcery, called inzid, is essentially an enchantment by spell. Most informants regard it as a branch of witchery way, but unlike witcheryway, the sorcerer need not personally encounter his victim. Instead, the sorcerer obtains a personal item from the intended victim such as a piece of clothing, a fingernail, or a lock of hair. This is "buried with flesh or other material from a grave or buried in a grave or under a lightning- struck tree". The sorcerer then recites the proper incantation, which consists of a prayer, a song, or both. There are also rare instances of sorcerers making images of their victims from clay or carving them from wood and then killing or torturing the victims by sticking pins into the effigies or shooting projectiles into them. Wizardry refers to those practices that the Navajo call adagash. "The central concept here is that of injecting a foreign particle (stone, bone, quill, ashes, charcoal) into the victim. The projectiles are often described as 'arrows.' English-speaking Navajos will occasionally refer to this kind of witchcraft as 'bean-shooting,' but the majority of informants stated that actual beans were never used.... The shooting was apparently believed by a few informants to be carried out through a tube, but the majority opinion was that the objects were placed in a special sort of red basket or on a cloth or buckskin and made to rise through the air by incantation. According to some informants, shooters removed their clothes and rubbed ashes on their body before shooting". Cornmeal is used in many different ritual ways in these corn-centered, agricultural cultures, including (1) to draw lines that represent paths along which spirits travel or paths that lead people to places where the presence of the spirits is actualized, (2) to draw lines on the ground to demarcate sacred spaces, (3) to accompany prayers to the rising sun, (4) as a reinforcement for prayers in general, (5) to consecrate sacred objects such as prayer sticks and kachina masks, and (6) to place it in the mouth of a corpse before burial BURIAL CUSTOMS When a death occurs among the Shawnee, the relatives of the deceased are responsible for the costs of the funeral and appointing a funeral director. The body is left alone for a few hours and then bathed and dressed in new clothes and moccasins provided by relatives. The hair of the deceased is combed and his or her face painted, a man’s variously and a deceased woman’s with a round red spot on each cheek. The arms of the body are crossed over the chest, and the body is covered with a robe. If death occurred during the day, family members gather in the home and keep a vigil beside the corpse all night. If death occurred at night, the vigil is kept through the rest of the night. When the time comes for burial, the body is removed from the home feet first. Many native peoples around the world break a new exit through the home in order to remove the corpse (presumably to confuse the spirit if it should try to return), but the Shawnee remove the corpse through the ordinary doorway, sweeping the ground or scattering ashes behind the corpse as they go—which appears to serve the same purpose. The body is laid on the ground near the home, head pointed west and feet east, while the grave is dug and the initial funeral ceremonies are held. The gravediggers (which must include a woman) should not be related to the dead person. Wearing a special necklace for the occasion, the diggers prepare a plot 3 to 4 feet deep, and when it is ready, the grave is temporarily “closed” with a shovel or stick laid across it while funeral ceremonies proceed. A speech is directed at the deceased, praising his or her heroic deeds and personal attributes, and then the body is carried to the grave. It is laid extended on its back, head west and feet east, with a pillow underneath the head. (Many other Native American tribes tie the bent legs up to the chest and bury the corpse in a seated fetal position.) Some Shawnee place items in the grave with the dead, whereas others do not, but in any case many of the personal items of the dead are given to the gravediggers, cooks, and funeral director after the interment. The funeral director hands each relative a small amount of tobacco, which is thrown into the grave as they circumambulate it slowly in single file. After the funeral the mourners head directly to the home where death occurred, forbidden to look behind as they go. There they wash themselves with a mixture of water and plant juices for purification and enjoy a large feast provided by the blood relatives. The funeral director and gravediggers initially remain behind with the dead. The director delivers another address to the dead, and then the gravediggers fill up the grave and build a “grave house” over the spot. The diggers and anyone who touched the corpse acquire a “death pollution” and are subject to special purificatory rites, including swimming, bathing, and taking a special tea. They are then fed by the relatives of the deceased, but separately from the feast for the mourners because of the temporary pollution they have acquired. After the feast most mourners leave, but a few close relatives stay with the surviving spouse. One relative lights a fire at the gravesite each night for three nights after death. The sticks for the fire are laid parallel on an east-west line, and are meant to guide the spirit of the dead on its journey. HOPI KACHINAS Kachinas are masked figure among the Pueblo peoples and even among other southwestern cultures. Even when restricted to a single culture, such as Hopi, its meaning is far from simple. It may refer to anthropomorphic spirit beings who mediate between the human and spiritual worlds, to masked dancers who personify these spirit beings, or to elaborately carved and decorated dolls of these beings. Kachinas may be understood as spirits of the dead. The Hopi believe that, upon death, those who have lived the proper Hopi life go to the west, where they become kachinas, returning to Hopi villages as clouds. Yet there is no clearly direct link between specific deceased Hopi people and specific kachina appearances. Hopi kachinas have designated homes in the San Francisco Mountains near Flagstaff, Arizona, at the spring Kisiwu northeast of Hopi, and other places. The kachinas live in their homes half the year. During the other half, they live around Hopi villages where they dance and sing for the people. Two distinct kinds of Hopi kachinas are recognized: the chief (mon) kachina and the ordinary kachina. Mon kachinas never dance in groups; ordinary kachinas do. The masks of ordinary kachinas are made by their owners and redecorated for each performance. Mon kachina masks are permanent and never duplicated. These masks, considered to be ancestors and objects possessing great power, are handled with care by the lineage to which they belong. Mon kachinas may compare to the Ones Who Hold Our Roads (honaawonaawillapona) of the Zuni. The mask, ku?itu, is the basis for all kachina impersonations. Most masks are shaped like a bell jar and fit over the head and face of the wearer down to the neck. Each mask is elaborately painted in designs distinctive to the particular kachina, often incorporating common motifs representing corn, clouds, lightning, and falling rain. Commonly, feathers and other significant objects are attached to the masks. When a Hopi man places the mask over his head and wears the appropriate costume, he becomes the kachina he is representing. Every kachina is identified by name and recognized by distinctive features of mask and costume. There are several hundred different Hopi kachinas. New kachinas of the ordinary kind have been added from time to time. The kachina dance is the most common setting for kachina appearances. By dancing in the villages, the kachinas summon their "cloud fathers" to come from the six directions and bring rain, the very symbol of life. This suggests that the kachinas, rather than being literally clouds, are the spirits standing in close relation to clouds and to the deities that control rain and give life. In the secrecy of the kiva, from 25 to 60 men belonging to a common society create, learn, and rehearse songs and dances in preparation for the public kachina dance. The dances are performed from daybreak to sunset, with intervals of rest. Each performer wears a kilt woven of white cotton and embroidered along the edge, a woven sash, and buckskin moccasins. Most wear fox skins hanging from the back of the waist with the tail barely touching the ground. Exposed skin is covered with paint. Each dancer wears a turtleshell rattle tied to the calf of his right leg; often a band of sleigh bells is attached to the left calf. A gourd rattle held in the right hand is also used to accompany the singing. In line dances all the figures appear identical or with slight individual distinctions. The dancers hold their bodies erect, with arms close to the sides and hands forward. The dancing is primarily a rhythmic stepping with occasional synchronized changes in rhythm executed with changes in the step. The songs and dances performed by the various kachinas are distinctive to the specific kachinas. |
