|
|
Kevin Baber 12/02/2003 David Machres Intro To Cultural Anthropology Anth.135 9:30-10:45 Native American Culture Native American culture is one of the many different types of cultures in the United States today. I feel it is one of the most well known cultures throughout America, because it has been around for so long. There are many different aspects of the culture that can be examined. I will be going through just a few. I will be looking at how Native American culture is affected by th United States government today. I will also be going through how they have had to struggle with many different aspects of life such as ownership of their land and of the us of peyote. Native Americans’ religion and spirituality was central to their lives. Most native Americans, regardless of tribe shared many of the same beliefs, including the existence of unseen powers or spirits, sacred traditions that teach morals and ethics, the teaching of how to pass on sacred practices, and a form of worship that reinforces someone’s commitment to the source of life.(Celi,2002) Some Native Americans believe in one God or creator. Others believed that there are many Gods or creators who created humans as well as everything else on Earth. No matter how many Gods the Native Americans believed in, all of them thought that everything from insects to mountains were spiritual and sacred. In other words, there is nothing that can be labeled as nonreligious. Therefore, most Native Americans maintained a spiritual relationship with every natural object. (Celi, 2002) 2 Native Americans preformed many types of ceremonies. Many of these focused on the stages of the human life cycle. Some ceremonies focused on what is known as the rites of passage which is part of the human cycle. In Native American ceremonies they use many types of things to enhance their beliefs. Peyote being one of them. Peyote is a hallucinogenic plant that the Native Americans use in there ceremonies. Peyote like tobacco was used to help the Native Americans to get closer to the Great Spirits. Peyote was first used around the 1800's, and by 1918 a peyote religion was formally accepted as part of the Native American church. Peyote was normally ingested by eating the “buttons” or the top of the cactus.
|
