Native American Religion

12 Pages 3006 Words

to believe
that the spirits they had for different aspects of nature and their environment
were the primary deities they worshipped or venerated. “By and large, however, [Native Americans] believed that the aid of the high god may be propitiated by ritual action (p.62 Nigosian).” And in spite of disparities among regions, the majority of the Native Americans believed in the active roles of both good and evil spirits. Amid the good spirits are mythical such as “thunderbirds, as well as mountains, rivers, minerals, flint, and arrowheads.”
The evil spirits were “giant monsters, water serpents, tiny creatures that haunt
woods and ponds, and the spirits of the dead that come to inflict pain,
sorrow, or death (p.62 Nigosian).” Each tribe also had a “culture hero,”
whose job was to socialize the tribe. In opposition or contrast was the
“antihero,” or better known as the trickster. Another common feature of
Native American traditions is creation myths. “In these imaginative stories, no
distinctions are made among gods, spirits, the universe, nature, animals, and
human beings. On the contrary, the stories imply a close mystical relationship
binding each element (p.64 Nigosian).” Although the Native Americans had
several types of creation stories, “the two most common themes are those of
creation emerging out of chaos” and creation as a result of conflict between
good and evil forces (p.64 Nigosian). The following is a basic gist of the
Osage Indians’creation story. Once, the Osage Indians lived in the sky.
Wanting to know their origin, they went to the sun. The sun told them that
they were his children. Then they wandered about until they came to the
moon. She told them that she had given birth to that and that the sun was the
father. Then she told them to go settle on the earth. When they came to the
earth, they found it covered with wat...