Native American religion

By Chris O’Brien

Trying to talk about Native American religion is about as easy as narrowing down European cuisine. With 532 registered tribes in the continental United States, diversity abounds and specific discussion would take volumes. However, using a broader brush, we can paint a general picture of Native American religion and look at its place and context in modern America.

First, let’s change the word religion to spirituality, meaning that for most Native Americans, traditional religious practices are more a way of life and being than a separate, cognitive process. Typically present in most Native American beliefs are key relationships with the earth, animals, nature and spirits. And these elements play a role in all activities in daily life, offering companionship, guidance and insight into both the physical and spiritual worlds. For practicing Native Americans, their spirituality is their world, not a weekend adjunct that offers moral principles to bring to the office on Monday.

Second, the best way to understand Native American spirituality is by reviewing the history of Native American people, or “Indians.”

Anthropologists say Native Americans migrated from Asia and first populated what is now North America almost 60,000 years ago (though many tribal myths say the people emerged from below the earth’s surface about 10,000 year ago). This people’s dependency on hunting, gathering and natural forces probably plays a part in the earth- and animal-centered parts of their spirituality.

Fast-forward to 500 years ago, and you’ll find about 15 million Native Americans living on the North American continent practicing different brands of what could objectively be called an earth-based shamanism. Specifically, reverence for the earth and animals, unique rituals and ceremonies, medicine men and magical powers were the spiritual tools for explaining and living in the world.

Enter Columbus and the Europeans, and things changed quickly. Though this article is not about the dramatic genocide that took place on the continent, it is important to note that those 15 million Indians were whittled down to a mere 250,000 by the end of the 1800s. This is a key point in understanding their spiritual practices of today, because many of their original beliefs and religious ways were lost with the people who died and the changes on the land.

For example, the Lakota, also known as the Sioux, were a nomadic tribe whose spirituality and sustenance was based on the migrating buffalo. The original herd of millions of buffalo that roamed the Great Plains was shot down to 25 animals by the early 1900s; at one point, only 8,000 Lakota remained, most living on reservations removed from their original habitat. These dramatic changes arrested the development and passing on of Native American spiritual practices, and many traditional beliefs were preserved only in story telling and sacred songs.

Also with the Europeans arrived a tremendous and forceful influx of Christianity. Early Christians spent about 100 years trying to convert the “savages” to “civilized” religious and social behavior. In fact, it wasn’t until 1978 and the Freedom of Religion Act—only 27 years ago—that Native Americans were legally allowed to practice their traditional spirituality. Prior to that, Native American ceremonies were against the law, and punishable as crimes.

Today’s Native American spirituality is really about these last 27 years and the revitalization of traditional beliefs and ceremonies. Take, for example, the Lakota reservations, such as Rose Bud in South Dakota. Twenty-five years ago, only about one percent of the population practiced traditional ways. Today, approximately 20 percent are engaged in their traditional beliefs. Some are also practicing Christians, Mormons or atheists. And the Native American Church, established in 1918, blends traditional beliefs, Christian values, New Age concepts and often the sacred use of peyote.

In traditional circles today, elders and those still connected to the verbal and story-telling lineage of Native American spirituality are leading the charge to re-educate and indoctrinate today’s indigenous youth. Part of this movement has been a coming together of tribes in ceremonies. One of the trends has been the resurrection of Lakota ceremonies. With widespread participation by tribes from Canada to South America, the Lakota ways have become the most widely practiced and respected brand of Native American spirituality today.

The Lakota Way

Back in the days before Buffalo Bill, the Lakota practiced a spiritual regimen of seven sacred rites: sweat lodge, vision quest, ghost keeping, sun dance, making relatives, puberty ceremony and throwing the ball. The core purpose of these ceremonies and rites was to appease supernatural powers and call on the help of passed relatives in order to insure a successful hunt, battle or healing. These were also rites of passage into adulthood, family and other social institutions, as well as rituals for spiritual daily living.

Today’s traditional Lakota practices still incluide the seven rites, though throwing the ball has essentially been replace with yuwipi, a sacred healing ceremony. Of the seven rites, the sweat lodge and sun dance are most prevalent. These involve challenging physical rituals, deep prayer or communion with the Creator, and the singing of sacred songs that have been verbally passed down through the centuries.

It is these songs—the last remaining elements of the pre-European Native Americans—that carry the message of the traditional spirituality: where it came from, how it’s practiced, what it’s for. The songs also contain the stories of the ancestors, the original Native Americans. The songs are like treasure maps for the reawaking traditionals, giving them one of the only remaining links to their heritage and the foundation for a system of belief.

An indigenous bonding and rebuilding is currently under way, and a genetic pride and genealogical support structure is being built from the inside out among Native Americans today. “Traditional ways are just starting to be revitalized,” says Paul Soderman, executive director of The World Hope Foundation, a non-profit organization engaged in reservation Indian education. “And their survival is still tenuous, especially with outside influences such as non-Indians running to the reservations every summer to participate in ceremonies. More than one Lakota is telling me that they need at least another generation to re-establish their ways and their spirituality.”

The true brand of Native American religion or spirituality is yet to be defined. Today is just the beginning of a revival movement among the indigenous people of North America, as they strive to sow traditional roots in modern soil. They can’t return to nomadic buffalo hunting, but they’re not drawn to Western churches. Perhaps in the generations to come, a new Native American religion will find its place in the modern world.

Understanding Native American religion is a complex study with tremendous amounts of unsubstantiated information available. From one source to the next, stories and facts change. Yet the exploration of traditional beliefs is a fascinating process of discovering our predecessors on this continent who, even in our lifetime, were still being exterminated. Explore this domain with an open, curious and respectful mind, beginning with the resources listed with this article.

Resources, local and beyond

• www.religioustolerance.org/nataspir.html: Key concepts and ideas about Native American spirituality
• www.dickshovel.com/www.html: Modern commentary from Native American leaders, bibliography and other info.
• www.hanksville.org/NAresources: Index of Native American resources on the web.
• www.nativeweb.org: Resources and references with search function.
• Native Religions and Cultures of North America: Anthology of the Sacred, by Lawrence E. Sullivan (Continuum International Publishing Group, 2003)
• Black Elk Speaks, by John G. Neihardt (First Pocket Books, 1972)
• Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, by Carl Waldman (Checkmark Books, 1999)
• Indians of North America, by Harold E. Driver (University of Chicago Press, 1969)
• This Land Was Theirs: A Study of the North American Indian, by Wendell H. Oswalt (Oxford University Press, 2001)

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