(For art and craft work made by Heather based on the Native American traditions, please see  indiancraftandartwork.htm)

You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles. Everything tries to be round.

The sky is round and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball and so are all the stars. The wind, in its great power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.

Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is in a circle from childhood to childhood and so it is in everything where power moves. 

Black Elk  (Oglala Sioux holy man)

It is quite difficult to write in brief about the Native American Indians of the past as there is so much to say about them. I have a long held interest in them, their culture and religions, their way of life, but I am no expert. Being of English blood myself rather than of Indian blood, all that I have learned over the years has been gleaned from books, documentaries and from the stories told to me by two American friends. One very good friend resides in Alaska where he lives with a large population of modern day Indians. My other friend is part Indian and lived for many years in the mountains of the Rockies in Colorado. The Indians he knew in his area had their own name for him, Wayasni "He who talks until the fire burns out".

There is so much to write about the Native Indian tribes as they numbered in their thousands and they stretched from the Arctic, Alaska in the very tip of the north, right down to Mexico in the far south. Their tribes and lands were vast, covering thousands of miles. The Indians of the far north were as different from those of the far south as I am from peoples living in Africa.

 Running Rabbit of the Blackfeet Tribe

When the American continent was discovered by the Whiteman, they came from the east in their strange and large wooden ships, they went to the lands of the Indians who called them "Awaunageesck" – strangers, but they treated these strange white people as friends and welcomed them on to their land…why should they not, they had plenty of land and good hunting to share. The Indians traded with the New World immigrants bartering skins and beads for simple metal worked pots and pans and other new simple everyday living equipment. At first the two peoples were friendly with each other but then more and more immigrants came in their wooden ships and they wanted more and more land, they became greedy. They spurned the friendship of the Native Indians and gradually and decisively they took over the land, taking what was not given freely, eventually taking over the whole of America, pushing the Indians onto small areas of land called Reservations. By 1800 the frontier had expanded rapidly, a vast process of migration occurred, it brought manifest disaster to the Indians.

The Native American Indians of the past, comprised of hundreds of nations, speaking hundreds of languages – each tribe had it’s own skills and ritual ceremonies, some were nomads, others lived out their lives on the same lands their grandfathers had hunted and lived. The Indians were skilled as hunters, farmers, gatherers, fishermen and artisans. Their skills and religions, spirituality along with their myths and legends were handed down from generation to generation in oral tradition. There were many differences between the tribes but one thing united them all, their general respect for the land, nature, their kinship, spirituality, and courage. Sadly, due to the "Conquest" and the taking of their land by the Whiteman and through illnesses brought by them, the Indian numbers rapidly dwindled. By the mid 1800’s the Indians had already been herded into reservations. Under nourishment and diseases such as TB and chicken pox decimated the Indian tribes. In the winter of 1864, the Cheyenne and the Piegan lost 1,780 of it’s people to measles. An Indian Agent reported "that the braves alone left standing in their plague stricken camp, five hundred death lodges as silent monuments of the winter’s devastation." It was through wars, hunger, disease, persecution and the debilitating passage of time they dwindled in numbers to 250,000 and a great Nation of people who had a society to be envied, finally came to a virtual end. Today their numbers have again risen and now total two million.

  Jicarrilla man of the Apache's (from southeastern Colorado

Back to the beginning….

The indigenous Indians came to be classed as dirty savages by the Whiteman (men who washed very little and changed their clothes as often)– nothing could have been further from the truth. In fact, it was the Whiteman’s savagery and greed which helped destroy many Indian nations. The Indians were skilled artisans and were generally of a peaceful nature, although, in some tribes the taking of slaves was normal custom and in the arctic circles, so was cannibalism. Some Indians took scalps which was a way of proving a kill of enemy; they kept these trophies as a sign of triumph over an enemy and it also meant that the enemy became their subordinate in the next life. Sometimes these scalps were taken from a living enemy. The scalps were the braided, decorated lock of hair at the top of the skull, once taken these scalps were used as decorations. But to continue, it was quite usual for a young brave to prove himself and earn his membership into society by going into the next tribe’s camp to perform an act of bravery by stealing a pony, or they would make a sort of game of it "Counting coup" creeping up on an enemy and touching them with their body or lance. Many of the small wars between tribes were just small skirmishes, shows of courage. I have read of stories where an unwitting young brave would go into a Whiteman’s settlement or town and try "counting coup" with them or would try and steal a horse and would die in astonishment when the Whiteman retaliated by shooting them dead for their crime. The Indians didn’t understand the ways of their new neighbours and unfortunately the `new neighbours` didn’t have the time or want, to understand them and the simple and natural way they lived.

With regards to the Indian society and arts of the past, they were far from the ragged scruffy savages they had been labelled. They produced and wore not just the functional and practical every day wear, they also had beautifully designed and decorated ceremonial clothes. The bead and weave wear of these clothes must have taken their women many hundreds of hours to create. Their dresses and tunics were not the only things to be decorated, they also decorated their moccasins, their belts, head-dresses, babies wraps, their tents, the harnesses of their horses and dogs and of course their shields. The Indian men would usually have two shields, one for the practical purpose of hunting and defence, this would be carefully painted to depict a kill or hunt scene, superstition or charms that would help to obtain a good days hunting. The second war shield was ceremonial and was often decorated by the owner with symbols and pictures to depict his own prowess, character and life. It was a pictorial of who he was.

Despite the diversity between cultural areas, the elements that bound them together was the importance of their spirituality together with the great recognition of the forces of nature and the universe. These were interwoven in a mysticism which put importance on dreams, shamans and animal powers. On a practical level there was much inter tribal trading. Arts and crafts were also a prime concern, great ingenuity and skill being shown in the production of clothing, habitations, utensils, weapons, religious and ceremonial objects and devices for transportation.

Most cultural areas were very democratic, the power of the tribe leaders being limited by council and the views of the Elders. The leaders often excelled in speech-making and knew the effectiveness of good communication skills and therefore they were clever negotiators.

The environment played a big part in the lifestyle of the Indian. In some areas of the Southwest and particularly along the Northwest coast lands, the Indians depended on the sea and rivers for their subsistence. These natives lived a relatively settled way of life. In the fertile lands to the East and Midwest, the mainstay of life was mainly based on agriculture, they also led a settled life, but for the Plains Indians life was different, they were nomadic and many different tribes walked and lived the Plains lands. The domain of the Plains Indians could be a harsh terrain but it was also a land of sun, wind and grass, with regions of great beauty and richness. The tipi villages were generally found in these areas. The Tipi was not the only type of shelter used by the Plains Indians. Tribes such as the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Pawnee and Omaha lived in semi-permanent villages in dome shaped earth covered lodges. The buffalo was an honoured animal by the Plains Indians as being the wisest and most powerful of all the Great Spirits animals. It figured greatly in mythology and as a religious symbol of long life, plenty and leadership. The white buffalo was the most revered of all creatures. White buffalo are extremely rare and was said to only be born every fourth generation, their calves being born at times of great turmoil, famine and sickness.

The Indians generally had great respect for nature and the land with reverence being given to the animals they hunted and killed but having said that it was through the generations of deforestation and cutting back of shrubs for hunting purposes by some tribes that caused the plains of the Mid South West. When some tribes upped camp and moved on it wasn’t only for better hunting, it was also because they had fouled the area by their own living.

  Elaborate dress of a Wishham Bride   (of the Chinookan)

Spirituality  

The Native American Indians believed there was no division between the living world and the spirit world. It was their belief that the two worlds were connected and were interactive. They believed they could contact the spirits of their ancestors, animal spirits and other spirits. These spirits could interact with the everyday life of the Indians. The spirits could take possession of them during sacred rituals and dances. Many of the Indian dance rituals were not just for entertainment or as precursors to hunts or wars, they were also for bringing forth the spirits and to do this, they wore elaborate costumes and wore masks representing the spirits they wished to contact. Spirits were often asked for guidance and wisdom. Not all the dead became spirit beings, for instance the Hopi had the belief that some came back reincarnated in another form, in another world, while others became spirit beings and as mentioned before, not all spirit beings were of the dead, some were of animals, plants and natural forces…stars and the winds. The spirit world for the Indians was interwoven in with the living world and they were there to be of aid.

The Kachinos of the Hopi peoples are the inner forms, the spiritual components of the outer physical forms of life. These Kachinos could be called upon to manifest their benign powers to enable a person to continue his never-ending spiritual journey. The Kachinos are the invisible forces of life; they were not thought of as gods but as intermediaries. Their function was to bring rain and ensure an abundance of crops and good hunting for the continuation of life.

If a warrior died in battle his comrades would dance for fifteen days in front of his tipi, proclaiming all the great deeds of his life and to celebrate his courageous death.

Soul purification was found amongst the Sioux. It was one of their seven holy rites. They kept a soul in order to allow its purification after death, so that it could return to the Great Spirit rather than wander in the after world. A keeper of a soul must be a very holy man and the rites he kept were for the good of the people as well as for that individual soul.

Recognising spirits was not and is not a form of demon worshipping; it derives from a profound awareness of the interpenetrations of the spirit world, the after life, nature and the traditional human world.

The ceremony of the sweat lodge was practised by the Plains Tribes. The lodge represents a rebirth or purification for the individual, a microcosm, or image of the cosmos. A sweat lodge is an enclosed space, sometimes half sunk into the earth, but always directionally oriented, into which the medicine man brings heated rocks representing primordial creation. Holy water is added to the heated rocks so that the interior of the lodge becomes hot and steamy. Those who go into the lodge purify themselves by entering into this primordial microcosm, composed of the primal elements: earth, fire, air and water.

Ceremonies were an important part of life for the tribesman, ceremonies were carried out for many different occasions, some for the want of rain, good harvests or for hunting, others for marriages, courage and acceptance as warriors and for victory in wars.

The Sun Dance was an annual summer ritual of great courage and endured pain. Warriors had to learn to suffer hardship and pain with fortitude and stoicism. To do this they would regularly test their courage with self induced torture. In the Sun Dance ceremony, a central pole is erected representing the world axis, atop which is attached a buffalo skull. The ceremony is based on the concept of sacrifice. The warriors drove skewers through their chest muscles, skewers tied to the central pole, physically manifesting the linking of the heart to the cosmioc axis. Dancers would dance, linked thus until their skewers pulled free from their chests. This cruel ceremony has now been discontinued but indians can still go through a representational of the ceremony by fasting from food or water.

  Placating the spirit of a slain eagle - Assiniboin

Mythology and religion

The Plateau and Basin peoples put great emphasis on the sacredness of life and had great reverence for the earth. There were extensive myths and legends which explained the origins of their staple foods salmon in the north, pinon in the south and coyotte both as creator and trickster, dominated in tales relating to the origins of the earth, fire, the scattering of the tribes, even the escapades with the women. The most powerful spirits were the awesome forces of nature, dominated almost universally by recognition of a supreme deity variously described as Our Father, The Great Spirit or Great Chief. Throughout the Plateau and Great Basin, there was great emphasis on the acquisition of spirit power through a vision or dream, the latter being more typical of the Basin tribes. In the Plateau region girls and boys were encouraged to retreat to a remote place and seek out a vision or have a vision quest. Some individuals who had vivid and unusual dreams became shamans, using their powers to help the tribe by controlling the weather or predicting the location of game for hunting. It was equally acceptable for men and women to be shamans. Shamans were the medicine men/women of the groups and had knowledge of herbal remedies, cures and healing. In some cases healing was a spiritual way, with ritual provoking faith healing.

 Wife of Jack Red Cloud  Oglala Sioux

Physical Appearances 

Everyday tribal dress, costume and hairstyles were not the only differences between the Indian groups. There were some physical differences. The Eskimo and Inuit (meaning person) tribes, were of short, stocky stature with long skulls but short faces and with mongolian eye folds. The faces of the Lower Northern tribes such as the blackfeet, Cree and Assinibion were rounded and almost delicate of feature. Those of the Pawnee and Omaha were large and heavy set. The Sioux and Cheyenne had long faces with clear cut and defined features, an eagle nose and prominent cheek bones. Stature varied too – the male Cheyenne was the tallest of the Plains Indians being on average 68.7 inches tall, the Blackfeet next at 67.5 inches and the Akara being 66.5 inches tall. The Plains Indians were a tall peoples compared to other Indians and mankind in general.

There was no formal written language. History, religion and other events were recorded using pictographs or handed down orally. Because of the diversity of languages amongst the hundreds of tribes a sign language was developed in order to make it easier to barter and trade, and of course for communications between the tribal network.

The `Winter Count` was one such way of recording in symbols and pictograms the important events of the year. The symbols were painted onto the backs of small tanned animal skins. The symbols themselves representing a calendar or progression of events. Usually these representative symbols were put down in a spiral pattern.

Glossary

Acbadadea – Crow word for `God`, corresponds to the Lakota word Wokan-Tanka, often translated as `Great Spirit`.

Algonquin – The language group of tribes such as the Ojibway, Chippewa and Ottawa whose traditional land is near to the Great Lakes region.

Chief. An elected political official who exercises power over matters of tribal government and justice and helps carry out his people's wishes.

Emergence – Myths, including the Hopi – according to which people emerged from a dying world into another new world.

Hau De No Sau Nee – Traditional name of the six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, including tribes such as the Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga and Oneida.

Holy man or medicine man - A tribe's physician and priest. The medicine man used medicinal plants and religious ceremonies to cure illnesses. He was bieleved to have supernatural abilities of communication with spirits.

Jossakid – Algonquin term for shaman.

Kachino – Spirit of the invisible forces life forces or powers.

Medicine man – Shaman or holy man, healer.

Medicine bundle – Collection of sacred, symbolic artefacts kept together in a sacred pouch or bundle containing the actual presence of a spiritual power.

Nagual – Mesoamerican term for one’s guardian spirit.

Orenda – A mysterious psychic or subtle force manifesting itself in various degrees in certain beings or objects.

Paho - Painted and carved prayer stick approximately six inches long. Attached to a bag of scared corn meal, it was used by the Hopi Indians in ceremonies to appease their gods.

Petroglyphs – The carved images or symbols found on sandstone bluffs.

Peyote – A hallicinogenic cactus used in certain rites.

Renewal – Ceremonies central to many N.A. traditions, in which the renewal of cosmic forces is celebrated as part of a seasonal or temporal cycle. Cosmic rejuvenation was very important for Aztec and other southern cultures but was found in various forms across the U.S.

Terraglyph – Image carved onto the very earth itself.

Tirawa - the Pawneetribe's "Father" spirit. The tribe believes his messengers include the wind, thunder, lightning and the rain.

Theriomorphic – Having the form of an animal.

Wakan-tanka - The great Spirit of the Dakota tribe.

Totem – An archetypal animal, such as the otter or the deer, symbolic of a particular clan; traditionally in many tribes it is forbidden to marry someone in the same clan.

A brief list of tribes and their customs.

The Arctic…….Inuit.    c.1928  (Nunivak Islanders)

Off the South-western coast of Alaska in the bearing Sea, the Inuit peoples on Nunivak Island evolved ceremonial dances around the spirits of animals with which they were familiar. The men hunted seals, whales and caribou for food and clothing. The Nunivak natives wore parkas made from caribou skins, They also wore ceremonial headgear called maskette. These were commonly fashioned to represent the heads of animals, birds, fish and probably the spirit powers of their owners.

Alaska…Noatak.       c.1928

Summer parkas were made of squirrel skins and trimmed with wolverine fur. Eskimo women made clothing from untanned skins which were sewn together with caribou sinew. The Noatak moved down river in their skin boats in late spring when the ice broke up and they pitched tents on Sheshalik Peninsula across the strait from the Kotzebue Inuit. There the women processed the carcasses of beluga, seal and fish brought in by the hunters and traded with various local tribes.

Northwest Coast……Hesquiat (Nootka)    Hesquat maiden

The Hesquiat people were a small branch of the Nootka family, who resided around Hesquiat Harbour, near Vancouver Island. The young girls of the tribe were required to undergo an elaborate and rather gruelling puberty ceremony, on the fifth morning of their hair was adorned with cedar bark ornaments . Their spiritual and mythology pantheons included such beings as the salmon people, thunderbird and the sky codfish, who caused eclipses by swallowing the sun.

The Wishram. (Tlakluit)  

These Chinookan people were primarily fishermen and their lands along the northern bank of the Colombian river embraced some of the continents richest concentrations of salmon. Through trading they made contact with many different Indian nations and the resultant wide exposure had it’s effects on their wardrobe.

Kwakiutl of the western coast of Canada.

One tradition of the Kwakiutl’s was the tradition of head binding. This was done on the fourth day of birth by a woman who was skilled in such procedures. The infants head would be bound to padded boards for four months. This was to promote an elongated skull, which denoted higher social status. It was the habit of these tribesmen to wear the family totem upon his head in the form of an elaborately carved mask called a Tlu Wulahu. During times of dance ceremonies, these totems invited the spirit being it represented into it’s wearer. These masks could represent legendary beavers, eagles, wolves, frogs, bears and birds. These people devised an intricate system of ceremonies, secret societies and inherited social orders which reflected the spiritual aspects of their world.

California Chemehuevi     Young boy

The Chemehuevi were a small nomadic tribe, an off shoot of the Paiute’s, who roamed between southern Nevada and the Mojave Desert areas. They lived on small game, nuts, seeds and dates. Their language derived from the Shoshonean branch of the Uto-Aztekan. Many of these people were wiped out in the mid 1800’s by smallpox.

Pomo     Mixed-blood Coast Pomo

The Pomo were one of the best known tribes of Northern California. They lived on the coast along an eighty mile strip of land. The minimal clothing worn by Pomo men was made from skins, tule, or shredded redwood bark. Their hair hung loose or was pulled up in to topknots. The Pomo women wore skirts made of the same bark material. Their homes were built low conical winter houses in which the men took daily sweat baths. The craft of these peoples were basketry, being crafted out of beads and feathers by the women. The men fashioned utensils for trapping fish and game.