Indigenous Religion in NA

Indigenous Religions in North America
Draft from Religions of the World: A Critical Introduction by Leslie Dorrough Smith and
Steven Ramey (Equinox Publishing, forthcoming)
Introduction
The Indigenous peoples of North America have a diverse set of histories, narratives, practices,
and communities. The term “indigenous” is generally used to describe people who trace their
heritage to a particular physical space as opposed to those who migrated from other places.
Many are familiar with the more colloquial term “Indians” (a name given by Christopher
Columbus to describe the people living in what he erroneously thought was India), but more
common terms today are Native Americans (especially in the United States, American Indians,
or First Nations peoples (especially in Canadian contexts). This final label reflects their presence
and organization into nations in North America, which occurred millennia before Europeans
began to settle on the continent. While most theories suggest Indigenous groups migrated from
Asia as much as 20,000 years ago, that migration occurred so very far in the past that the term
indigenous is commonly applied.
This migration history includes a variety of groups crossing to the Americas over tens of
thousands of years, and in this process many communities developed across the continent, all
of which had diverse ideas and practices. Further complicating their histories, these groups
have not remained static; they have formed, combined, and separated, changing with each
interaction. These communities have different languages and have been identified through
various labels, including Inuit, Algonquin, Aztec, Lakota, Sioux, Creek, Cherokee, to name just a
few. While we will discuss several of these groups in this chapter, we limit the representations
to Indigenous groups in North America (generally Mexico, United States, and Canada) rather
than the Americas as a whole, in part because the variety in North America alone is well beyond
what we can adequately convey here. Of course, what is included in North America is
somewhat arbitrary. For example, Mexico is often included in North America in contemporary
economic and geopolitical discussions, but Mexico is often labeled as Mesoamerica in
discussions of ancient civilizations. While we could follow either common usage, we chose to
include Mexico because of its contemporary ties. As always, our selections, and the
geographical boundaries that inform this chapter’s regional approach, will never tell the whole
story. Moreover, the innumerable perspectives that people have had about their traditions
across time guarantee that these stories will never be exhausted.
As we discuss in the other regionally-focused chapters in this book, lumping together
diverse groups under an umbrella term like Indigenous religion is a continuing problem because
it can hide important differences that exist between the groups that are placed under this label.
The frequent result is generalized descriptions of these groups that are so vague that they could
describe any number of religious traditions. For example, one description of Native American
religions is that they involve spirits and ancestors alongside a high god or “Great Spirit.” That
generalization is so broad, however, that it could include other religions that are not commonly
labeled as indigenous (e.g., Daoism, Hinduism). On the other hand, there are, at times, a series
Draft for Religions of the World by Smith and Ramey
Indigenous Religions - 2
of shared practices and concepts that are relevant to many of these groups. Navigating
between the broad and the narrow, then, is an important challenge, as is maintaining an
awareness of the politics that often inform which portrayals are presented (and which are not).
For instance, one particular element that is sometimes used to distinguish Indigenous
practices from those traditions that are often called “world religions” is the fact that many of
the former are oral traditions – that is, they lack a written text. However simple this
observation may appear to be, there is an unspoken definition of religion featured here that is
characterized by certain types of biased assumptions – namely, that “proper” religions have
texts, and those that don’t are somehow less organized, important, or culturally impactful. But
isolating this particular feature of certain traditions that we group under the indigenous label
ignores the way that oral stories can form their own type of text for a group. Also, the written
texts important to many religious communities today were once oral traditions that were only
later physically recorded. In short, we should always carefully analyze the features that we
think distinguish Indigenous traditions from world religions, for it is often the case that the
dividing lines are the result of ethnocentric biases and other types of arbitrary distinctions
rather than truly different qualities.
This example shows us that it’s important to think critically about why a particular
feature is significant enough to be seen as a defining marker of a group. Any description of a
religious group involves a process of selecting which elements to emphasize and whether to
focus on commonalities or distinctions. The interests of the person making the representation
are important to consider, as it influences those choices. Outsiders have often constructed
exotic and romantic images of Indigenous communities that not only emphasize generalities
but also reflect the concerns of those outsiders constructing the image. Consider the ways that
certain environmental groups have portrayed Native Americans in the recent past: a famous
anti-litter ad campaign in the 1970s United States featured a person, dressed in a way
commonly associated with Native Americans, shedding a tear as he gazed across a landscape
riddled with litter. In addition to being portrayed as paragons of environmentalism, more
contemporary representations of Native Americans construct them as the keepers of an
ancient, pure wisdom (a concept capitalized upon by the New Age movement). Still other
representations have focused on Native Americans as aggressive warriors, as perhaps most
famously depicted in the mascots used by schools and sports teams.
Many early scholars of religion, such as Emile Durkheim, assumed that “primitive
religions” (as Indigenous religions often were called at that time) were unchanged over
millennia and thus reflected the origin of religion. Thus, he assumed that studying Indigenous
communities was like a window to the past, providing a glimpse into ancient traditions
untouched by modern corrupting (non-indigenous) influences. However romantic this idea may
be, it is false; it ignores the ways communities have adapted, changed, borrowed, and
developed throughout their histories. It also ignores the interactions with other communities,
particularly non-indigenous peoples and governments who have often taken land from
Indigenous groups and settled in the area (referred to here as settlers or people of European
heritage). Finally, the idea that some groups do not change with time forces us to consider why
the normal adaptations that communities undergo as they interact with each other should
automatically be seen as a negative sort of corruption, when such change is a normal and vital
part of the history of any group.
These particular dynamics influence the following four representations. The first
representation focuses on differences between Indigenous groups in North America, using a
few example communities to highlight ways that their practices, in part, reflect elements of
their local environments. The second representation presents and then analyzes romanticized
representations of Indigenous religions in North America as containing unique wisdom or
knowledge. The third representation concentrates on contemporary manifestations of
Indigenous religions in North America, including interactions with settlers and missionaries. The
fourth representation, which examines how Indigenous religions have had political influence,
emphasizes interactions with non-Indigenous peoples. It considers the ways various
descriptions of Indigenous traditions have been used to increase (or decrease) the political
influence of both Indigenous and non-indigenous groups.
Timeline
Prior to 9,000 BCE
Humans move into present day North America from Asia (timing debated)
1325
Aztec settlement at Tenochtitlán (insert large temple complex there)
1521
Hernando Cortez conquers Aztecs
1607
Settlement at Jamestown brings English and Powhatan communities into contact
1830
Indian Removal Act passed, leading to Trail of Tears
1837
Small pox epidemic devastates Mandan and other Native American communities
1851
First Treaty of Fort Laramie recognizing certain lands as reserved for specific communities
1868
Second Treaty of Fort Laramie concerning lands reserved for specific communities
1877
US Congress legislates control of lands in the Dakotas, breaking Treaties of Fort Laramie
1884
Potlatch banned by Canadian government
December 29, 1890

Massacre at Wounded Knee, as the US government attempted to stop the Ghost Dance
1913
Original charter for Native American Church filed in Oklahoma
1951
Ban on potlatch lifted by Canadian government
1978
American Indian Religious Freedom Act passed, legalizing practices of the Native American
Church and other groups
1980
US Supreme Court sides with Lakota in dispute over land, but Lakota refuse payment for land
that they claim should be returned
2018
Lakota group buys portion of Black Hills in South Dakota known as Pe’Sla for ritualized
practices
Representation 1: Indigenous Religions as Local Traditions

The many Indigenous religious groups of North America followed a wide range of distinctive
localized traditions that reflect the geography of specific places that are part of their history.
Local resources and conditions like food, climate, plants and animals, and building materials
informed not just their ways of life (settled agriculture, semi-nomadic hunting, fishing, etc.) but
also contributed to various other distinctions, such as their stories, revered figures, ceremonies,
and ritual specialists (elements that we commonly identify with religion). In this representation,
three examples of local practices and beliefs illustrate connections to certain places and ways of
life. The three communities considered here are the Kwakiutl (also known as the
Kwakwaka’wakw) of the Pacific Northwest (specifically the coast of British Columbia), the
Mandan of the Upper Missouri River Valley, and the Cherokee of the southern Appalachian
Mountains.
Living on the Pacific coast of British Columbia, the lives of the Kwakiutl centered
primarily on the ocean. Salmon were an especially important food source for the community,
with berries and other edibles collected from the forest and meat from hunted animals
supplementing the fish. The Kwakiutl commonly traveled along the coast in smaller canoes and
used large sea-going canoes for long-distance trade. These communities also moved seasonally,
depending on the needs and resources of the environment.
Traditionally, they built cedar plank homes that were quite large and could house an
entire clan of perhaps 50 people. They spent much of the winter in these permanent structures,
conducting most of their ceremonies during that time. Each clan also marked their area with a
totem pole, a large, carved vertical structure that displayed animals and other symbols
associated with the ancestors of the clan. Descent and clan membership was bilineal, meaning
it could pass through both the mother and father’s lines. The various clans each contained
multiple classes of people, in the most basic form referred to as nobility, commoners, and
captives. The rationale for their class placement was based on how close each group’s
ancestors were to a respected clan ancestor. In some groups, these basic classes further
subdivided into additional hierarchical groups.
The Kwakiutl maintained a variety of stories about the formation of their community
and the world that reflects their geographic surroundings. In one set of stories, a raven created
land by dropping pebbles into the waters, and eventually created plants, animals, and humans.
Beyond the raven as creator, a variety of other spirits or powers inhabit the world, including the
Thunderbird whose beating wings generate thunder; Kumugwe, the sea god, who provides
wealth and blessings to families; and Bakwas, the god of the ghosts (often people who died by
drowning) who tries to entice the living to join the dead. Clans also associated themselves with
a particular animal (depicted on the totem); this included describing their ancestors as those
animals who later took on human form.
The most discussed ceremony of the Kwakiutl is the potlatch (called pasa in Kwakiutl,
meaning “to flatten,” often interpreted as flattening one’s rivals). This ceremony
commemorated a variety of occasions, including life events (marriage, birth, death, etc.) within
noble families. They were also occasions for legal and political negotiations. The stories and
performances presented at a potlatch helped maintain the lore of the community, passing
down to younger generations the stories of the Raven and the Thunderbird, among other
figures. A part of the storytelling involved performers wearing traditional masks; those masks,
along with other objects used in the potlatch, were so revered in the community that many
considered them to be sacred. These potlatches also promoted interactions within the group as
well as between the group and the spirits.
Only noble families were allowed to sponsor a potlatch; this was, in part, because of the
extensive resources needed to host, including seemingly endless gifts for attendees. Thus,
potlatches became an occasion for people to represent or reinforce their status as leading
families among the Kwakiutl or their local clan. The extravagant gift-giving in a potlatch was
especially noted by outsiders and became the dominant feature of the ceremony in their
descriptions. Some outsiders critical of the practice suggested that hosting a potlatch often led
a family to financial ruin, presenting the outsider’s desire to “save” the “irrational” Indigenous
peoples from their own follies. Among the Kwakiutl, though the act of hosting became
attractive for those with resources who wanted to emphasize and enhance their standing in the
community. Today, Kwakiutl organize potlatches, even as their livelihood and aspects of their
lifestyle have changed.
The Mandan, who lived in the Upper Missouri River Valley (in the region of present-day
North and South Dakota), were another Indigenous group whose name was likely a European
construct from the eighteenth century. The Mandan created permanent communities where
they grew corn and hunted bison. Their practices, therefore, combined a reverence for both
corn and bison and involved an interchange of the two, with elements of the bison used in
rituals to promote the fertility of the corn, and elements of corn in rituals intended to create a
successful bison hunt.
In one creation narrative told in Mandan groups, figures known as the Lone Man and
the First Creator together created animals out of mud from a great lake (or an ocean, in some
versions). They also created a fertile earth by spreading the remaining mud over the existing
sandy terrain, and in this process they created hills, plains, and lakes. The bison was a major
component of the First Creator’s creation, including setting apart a white bison in every herd. In
some tellings, the Lone Man created the animals and lakes north of the Missouri River, while
the First Creator made the hills, valleys, bison, and other animals south of the Missouri River.
The stories also describe the Mandan people as originally living underground (or in a cave),
bringing corn and squash with them when they emerged to live on the land. Other stories also
mention another figure, the Old Woman Who Never Dies, who taught the people in the region
proper ways to harvest corn. She became significant in the cycle of agricultural festivals.
Multiple annual rituals revolved around both corn and bison. In some rituals, a woman
who is respected in the group responded to a vision calling her to be the lead sponsor of the
ritual, and in others it was the role of a male leader to hold such responsibilities. In the case of a
bison hunt, the male leader wore a bison skin and did not bathe until the hunt had concluded.
Each of these rituals used bundles of common items such as ears of corn or parts from a
specially selected bison that were set apart for ritual use. These bundles were thought to make
the power of the corn and bison accessible to the Mandan people. In preparation for and
during the ceremonies, elements were sometimes added to and taken from the bundles. Those
who owned the bundles had a unique status, holding specific roles as ritual leaders and healers.
For many ceremonies, Mandan leaders also donned impressive feathered headdresses,
sometimes with feathers going all the way down their backs.
Tradition indicates that the Lone Man established the rules for the annual Okipa (aka,
Thirst Dance or Sun Dance), in which the community built an earthen longhouse with a center
pole leading to an opening in the center of the roof. During the four-day ceremony, the men
were typically in the longhouse and the women outside; most everyone would fast during this
time. Dancers and drummers performed roles reenacting the Lone Man and various other
figures and animals from Mandan stories. Some young men hooked themselves to skewers
attached to the center pole, and they were lifted into the air until the skewers tore their flesh.
Communities placed great importance on the ability of participants to resist showing signs of
pain. In addition to displaying their willingness to engage in self-sacrifice, the rite confirmed the
strength and stamina of the young warriors. This bravery proved them worthy in the eyes of
the ancestors, which in turn enhanced their social status and that of their families. This
ceremony evoked similar practices in other groups in the region and drew significant attention
from outsiders. The descriptions of outsiders often used spectacular terms, sometimes using it
to suggest the barbaric nature of Native American culture generally.
In the southern Appalachians, the name Cherokee designates a sizeable community of
Native Americans whose Cherokee language belongs in the Iroquoian language family, although
there is debate about whether they migrated south to their home region from the area of
northern Iroquois or if the language spread from these southern regions north. These
communities of Cherokee lived primarily in settled villages in which lineage passed through the
mother (called matrilineal descent). During the 18th and early 19th centuries, the Cherokee
typically farmed the land, hunted and gathered foods, and some developed significant wealth
and trade businesses. In the nineteenth century, some leaders began earning degrees at the
universities of English-speaking settlers, but the relationships that they developed, including
marriages with settlers of European heritage, were not enough to save the community from
being forcibly relocated to Oklahoma by the U.S. government. Many Cherokee and neighboring
groups were corralled in Alabama beginning in 1830 then forced to walk to Oklahoma on what
became known as the Trail of Tears. In addition to being separated from their homeland, the
Cherokee in Oklahoma also lost a significant portion of their population during the Civil War,
and portions of their Oklahoma lands were taken for other Indigenous communities after the
war. The Cherokee now have three main recognized nations: two in Oklahoma, and one in
North Carolina that comprises those Cherokee who remained in the southern Appalachians
despite the attempt to remove all Native Americans from that region.
According to Cherokee origin stories, animals originally inhabited the sky, while the
earth was completely covered in water. During this time, a water bug brought mud up from
below the waters to create the land. The earth was connected to the sky realm by four cords,
with one positioned at each cardinal direction. Because the sky was getting crowded with
animals, some wanted to move to the land, so a buzzard flew down to check if it was
inhabitable. His wings touched the wet mud because he was tired from flying so far, and this act
created the mountains and valleys across the land of the Cherokee.
Other stories among the Cherokee include the development of hunting and agriculture
as a means of sustenance. The most prominent family in the original Cherokee village in the
Appalachian mountains, in one story, was a couple called Kanati and Selu. Kanati provided the
meat for the whole village by going to a particular spot on the mountain, lifting away a stone
that covered an opening in the earth, and allowing one deer (or whatever game was desired)
out. He would then kill the animal and bring it back to feed the village. Selu produced from her
body corn and beans. Their two sons became curious about the source of food and eventually
discovered the location on the mountain that provided their meat. When they opened the
cover to investigate the spot, they failed to close it properly, allowing the deer, bear, rabbit,
and all of the other animals to escape. They also discovered their mother’s secret source for
corn and beans, which led to her death. Before she died, though, she gave them instructions
about how to use her body to begin harvesting corn and beans from the ground. Thus, the
mischievous curiosity of the sons ended the easy source of food for the Cherokee and began
the work of hunting wild game and cultivating corn and beans.
Due to the agricultural basis for the society, festivals followed the seasonal and lunar
cycles. The first new moon of the spring was a time of renewal, and the new moon nearest the
autumnal equinox marked the new year. Two other festivals celebrated the harvest of green
corn and later mature corn, and the bounding bush ceremony marked the beginning of the
winter season. In each of the festivals, dancing, storytelling, and feasting played an important
role. Participants often had to fast, and various community rules limited activities, such as the
rule that no green corn should be eaten prior to the green corn ceremony. Many of these
festivals also connected people to the spirits of the land and the animals that were important in
their environment.
Beyond these main festivals, some Cherokee emphasized daily and individualized
practices. Reverence for rivers and daily bathing in the rivers were important for many. Even
today a river flows through the center of Cherokee, North Carolina. This is the central point of
the Qualla Boundary, the land designation for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and the
community there maintains practices that they associate with their ancestors. Details about
many of these practices are not openly discussed among some Cherokee in an effort to keep
these practices exclusively for their own community. Asserting control over this information
helps build solidarity and pride while preventing their practices from being trafficked by
outsiders. Some also practice healing rituals and natural remedies, drawing on the knowledge
and authority within the Cherokee traditions.
Using the Kwakiutl, Mandan, and Cherokee as examples, this representation focuses on
Indigenous religions of North America as localized traditions, with narratives and ceremonies
that connect to the terrain and resources that shape the lives of each community. While
communities have changed, including their livelihoods and even the regions where they live,
these stories and practices continue to have importance today.
Analysis of Indigenous Religions as Local Traditions

Representing Indigenous religions as localized traditions highlights the diversity among
Indigenous peoples and connects that diversity to specific places. It also serves many other
social functions. The creation and emergence narratives tie the group with the land through
their ancestors and identifies that area as sacred. Their practices also create a unified
community from sometimes disparate clans or family groups. Describing these ceremonies and
stories as part of a noble heritage that, in many cases, continues today also generates collective
pride in the community, while that language empowers those with the knowledge of these
traditions to assume an authority that is then granted a sacred or divine status. As the stories
justify hierarchies in the larger group, they highlight the subgroups and individuals (nobles,
warriors, etc.) that help organize the society and their power structures.
The focus on the traditional narratives and practices also associates these communities
with certain stereotypes. For example, let’s start with might seem like a minor note – the
mention (without further elaboration) of the feathered headdress of the Mandan people. This
provides us with a good example of how something that is stereotypically associated with
Native American groups (and that often is depicted in exotic, one-dimensional ways) is actually
a very complex artifact with its own history. Various groups on the Great Plains, not just the
Mandan, displayed feathered headdresses. While some people recognize them as sacred items
in relation to particular spirits or rituals, others note that they have also had a social function
demonstrating the status of leaders and impressing opponents with the length of feathers
flowing behind them as they moved. Artistic depictions of Native Americans emphasized the
headdress so much that it became a standard image of a Native American, regardless of
whether it was traditionally worn by that specific group. In fact, other groups outside of the
Great Plains have more recently adopted the Mandan-style headdress for their own use
because of its status as a recognizable image of Native American identity.
It is common to think about the stories and practices of Indigenous communities as
things that happened primarily in the past (which is the primary perspective of the previous
representation) but many of these groups remain vibrant today. In many cases, they retain
some of these past practices of their ancestors even though they may look different or be
modified for contemporary conditions. While some might regard these shifts as the corruption
of a pure and unchanging Native culture by other groups or Western influence, in reality change
is part of the lifecycle of all groups. Representations that tend to idealize the past of Native
groups as somehow untarnished are often outsider depictions that depend on the stereotype
of the exotic, primitive Other. For example, while the Mandan community (discussed above)
credit the Lone Man with establishing the structure of the Okipa, according to some scholars,
this story did not exist in Mandan villages until the 1700s. Another example is the use of cedar
among the Kwakiutl, particularly for constructing houses, canoes, and ceremonial items. Since
cedar is less readily available because of commercial logging, ongoing changes in available
resources influence the ways that these traditional practices take place today.
Some changes occurred within Indigenous communities through the processes of trade,
competition, and cooperation, and these interactions produced commonalities between the
groups that the preceding representation downplays. Many of the First Nations in the Pacific
Northwest, including groups who do not speak Wakashan, hold potlatches, though the stories
told and specifics of the dances during potlatches vary. Similarly, both the Okipa and the Green
Corn Ceremony occur among many Plains and Southeastern Woodland groups, beyond the
Mandan and Cherokee. It can be difficult to discern the exact transfer of practices and who
borrowed which ritual from another, but it is clear that communities shared knowledge or were
united and then subdivided over time. Beyond these shared practices, people sometimes
identify common tropes across Indigenous communities, including the creation of humans by
animals, the involvement of a bodily sacrifice to grow crops (as in the story of Selu), and the
appearance of an important figure from an underground home. Even then, some of these
tropes are not unique to Indigenous groups in North America.
Other changes, often imposed by outsiders, have been more devastating. The
community that identifies as Mandan is significantly reduced today, primarily due to the 1837
epidemic of smallpox brought by Europeans to their lands. The government then confiscated
portions of their land, among other atrocities. Remaining Mandan populations united with
neighboring Arikara and Hidatsa nations (also decimated by these events), and in 1862, they
formed the Three Affiliated Tribes, as they are now officially recognized. This new entity was
able to wield greater political influence, although that influence has remained limited, as seen
in the fact that they lost additional lands in treaties and other governmental actions. For
example, the US Corps of Engineers dammed the Missouri River to create Lake Sakakawea in
1953 (located in North Dakota), creating further losses of towns and fertile farmlands owned by
members of the Three Affiliated Tribes.
Reductions in population, land, and resources, combined with the consolidation of
Indigenous groups, has resulted in the loss of some traditional practices (such as the bison
hunt) and the modification of others. We have already mentioned the Kwakiutl’s response to
dwindling supplies of cedar; other examples involve intermarriage with non-native peoples. For
instance, as some Cherokee men pursued an education in schools in the early nineteenth
century and began to marry non-Cherokee women, this dynamic led to an eventual change in
the practice of recognizing one’s Cherokee identity as coming from the mother (matrilineal
descent) alone, so that the children of Cherokee fathers and non-Cherokee mothers were
recognized as Cherokee. These changes occurred even before the tremendous loss of territory
incurred by the Cherokee in the 1830s and their restriction to reservations
The potlatch among the Kwakiutl also shifted at various historical points due to non-
indigenous forces. The government of Canada outlawed the practice in 1884 as a part of efforts
to force First Nations to assimilate to Canadian society. In some cases, the authorities later
enforced the prohibition and, in return for suspended sentences, required communities to give
the authorities the masks and other objects considered sacred for the potlatch. After the
prohibition ended, the Kwakiutl revived the practices and petitioned for the return of these
items, many of which ended up in museums in the US and Canada. Even after the return of
some items, the ceremonies have changed as the broader community circumstances have
changed. These ceremonies and community practices undoubtedly had shifted many times
before.
The previous representation also places most of its focus on large-scale ceremonies to
the exclusion of personal practices, attire, ethics, and other activities that many identify with
Indigenous religions. The World Religions Paradigm (WRP; see Introduction) tends to emphasize
major myths and rituals, even when other elements of life may be more significant for people in
the community. While the daily practices of the Cherokee were mentioned, the description
ignores other ongoing practices, such as the Kwakiutl Band Council’s school, which emphasizes
“Kwakiutl teachings.” These include being respectful to yourself and others, listening, and
“carrying a good heart,” among others. Other possibly important topics not mentioned here
include traditional healing practices, which are sometimes described as the gifts of supernatural
beings, as well as more holistic practices that combine physical and supernatural remedies.
In light of the various changes in these communities across time, the ceremonies and
stories of Indigenous groups are much more dynamic than the above representation may
suggest. One could argue that the idealized view in this representation risks portraying
Indigenous peoples as an exotic Other, trapped in time.
Case Study – Green Corn Ceremony

A particular festival that occurs in the summer in multiple Indigenous communities, known as
the Green Corn Ceremony, illustrates the complexity of the Indigenous religions of North
America. Across the southeast United States, this event commemorated the first harvest of
green corn in the early summer. These ceremonies became occasions for renewal within the
communities and were associated with the Corn Mother (Selu in the Cherokee story above)
who provided food for her children. Despite these commonalities uniting various groups,
variations between groups and within local practices are significant.
Most accounts of the ceremony date to the late nineteenth century, when the
government removal of Native Americans to reservations had already happened. Town squares
and stomp grounds on reservations commonly served as the primary location for the multi-day
event, and they were made into a restricted space during the festival, setting it apart as
something sacred. Participants generally feasted on the first day then observed a partial or
complete fast (depending on the individual and the community) for several days following, and
no one was supposed to eat the newly harvested corn until the feast at the conclusion of the
festival.
The notion of renewal developed in a variety of ways. One focus, especially among the
Cherokee, emphasized forgiveness for wrongs that people may have committed against each
other over the past year; in this context, the ceremony for some became a way of maintaining
community relationships. Another focus was physical renewal, where community members
often rebuilt parts of the community structures in the town. As a part of the festival, sometimes
people also destroyed or removed worn-out possessions, such as old pottery, as a lead up to
the ceremony emphasizing renewal; at other times this task involved cleaning and repairing
possessions rather than destroying and replacing them. In Chickasaw communities, male
participants at the end of the period of fasting consumed a plant-based drink that caused
vomiting, signifying purity by purging the negative from the body. As a part of the ceremony,
the Seminole renewed their medicine bundles, which contain a variety of objects (stones,
herbs, animal bones, etc.) and have special powers to heal and maintain the world. This notion
of purity and renewal also connected to the yearly rekindling of a fire that the community
considered to be sacred and kept burning all year as a representation of the sun. One
explanation is that the fire over the previous year had become increasingly contaminated, thus
necessitating a new fire being started and maintained for the next year.
The performance of the festival also included dances, and this component is often
central in contemporary practices. The Seminole Tribe in Florida, as one example, holds a Green
Corn Dance in the spring. They do not advertise its location publicly so that it is restricted to
tribal members. In contrast, the Institute for American Indian Studies in Connecticut holds a
Green Corn Festival in August that is a ticketed, public event, with food vendors and Native
American dancers. As the geographical location of many Native American peoples has changed
(particularly as many moved to reservations), the physical contexts and performances have had
to change. The reservations have a different topography and agricultural base. Some members
of these communities have also migrated to areas where they are an ethnic minority, meaning
that the rituals will not take place in the town center, for example, or include the renewal of a
ceremonial fire.
The similarity and particularity of different expressions of the Green Corn Ceremony is
an important indicator of the complexity of Indigenous religions in North America. Many
communities shared similar festivals and the importance of corn in their diets. Yet, no singular
tradition exists, as the exact form of the ceremony, the dances performed, the stories
recounted, and the types of renewal emphasized varied between different nations and across
time. Yet the commonalities demonstrate that viewing each nation or language group as
isolated and distinct also fails to recognize the complex interactions between groups that we
label as different nations. These interactions also involved strategic decisions to alter practices
and traditions as needed to adjust to changing interests and needs.
Representation 2: Indigenous Religions as Source of Wisdom and Harmony with Spirits

Indigenous North Americans have often been portrayed in ways that highlight aggression, as in
the many movies featuring “cowboys and Indians,” as well as episodes of US history painting
Native Americans as a threat to settlers. However, the Indigenous religions of North America
are an important source of ancient wisdom about society-building that can present valuable
alternatives to other ways of life.
One of the core principles in many Indigenous communities is the connection of all
beings. This is seen, in part, in the belief in the importance of balance within the ecosystem
(long before the modern environmentalist movement), as well as the related notion that the
animals that are hunted for food have something we might call a spirit. Thus, Indigenous
traditions have become an important cultural source for those concerned with caring for the
environment. The previously discussed 1970’s American public service ad campaign, for
example, draws on images of idealized Native Americans to spur individual responsibility for
environmental issues. The example of the bison similarly illustrates the wisdom of Indigenous
environmental ethics. European-American settlers hunted bison nearly to the point of
extinction by killing them indiscriminately, and they also plundered what they thought was only
the most valuable portions of the animal while leaving the rest to rot. This contrasts to Native
American communities that hunted the bison with respect, not just for the life of the animal
but also out of concern that all of its body would be put to constructive use without
overhunting. Other resources of the earth, such as salmon and the river itself, receive respect
from Indigenous traditions as living partners, not resources to be exploited. As the destructive
consequences of exploiting natural resources become more apparent across the globe, the
example of Indigenous environmental ethics becomes important for others to follow.
This wisdom extends well beyond the management of environmental resources to
emphasize relationship with the elements of the natural world. Many Indigenous communities
recognize spirits enlivening much of nature and have practices that help people connect with
what they claim are the spirits of the surrounding ecosystem. Numerous festivals encourage
communion with the spirits of geographical features or important food sources that surround a
community. Clans in some communities identify a special connection with a particular animal or
another element of nature, which becomes the symbol for that clan. Frequently, they depicted
the symbol on totem poles for the Kwakiutl (described above) or in artwork, as among the
Navajo. Many clans treat that animal or element of nature with special reverence and respect
and recognize a special relationship with it. Promoting relationships with spirits in nature
promotes environmental ethics through a deeper, community connection that encourages
harmonious living.
A variety of plants used within Indigenous groups also provide healing and purifying
powers, with sage and tobacco perhaps the most common. Sometimes participants burn these
in a practice called smudging, which can involve using a feather to waft the smoke in different
directions to purify a person and / or the surrounding area. Certain pipes may be set aside as
sacred and used to smoke tobacco in ritualized practices as a community. The term “peace
pipe” reflects the significance of tobacco smoke for building not only connections with the
spirits of the environment but also to foster peaceful cooperation between different leaders
and groups.
Purification and healing rituals draw on the traditional wisdom to enhance connections
to the spiritual world. One common practice, sometimes called a purification lodge or sweat
lodge, involves a healer guiding the person seeking assistance to build a domed lodge from
willow branches covered with hides or fabrics. Lit pipes and burning herbs, with their smoke
often sent in the cardinal directions in a ritualized fashion, help to consecrate and purify the
space. Water and herbs are poured over heated stones to create a purifying steam. After
staying in the lodge for a set time, the person initiating the ritual provides food as offerings to
the healer, the community (for a feast), and the spirits that assisted in the ceremony. The ritual
provides an occasion for reflection and communion with others in the community and the spirit
world and sometimes produces spiritual visions in participants.
Individuals also take time to discover their own connections to the spirits through rituals
such as a vision quest. Sometimes these quests take the form of an ordeal, or an individualized
test of strength and stamina that provides opportunity for reflection and development of their
connection with a particular spirit. At other times, this connection also comes from a ritual such
as the purification lodge. Whatever form the experience takes, an elder is necessary to help the
individual interpret the vision. When a group recognizes that an individual has a particularly
strong spiritual connection, that person often become a leader or healer to assist others in the
community. Sometimes these experiences and understandings lead to new practices, such as
the Ghost Dance. In the late nineteenth century, Wovoka, a leader of the Paiute tribe,
described a vision that involved the removal of the European settlers. These ancestors would
return to help them restore their past way of life, which had been increasingly threatened
throughout the nineteenth century. His vision became the basis for promoting the Ghost Dance
(described more fully in the fourth representation). Tragically, after the government outlawed
the ritual, the Ghost Dance movement ended in a massacre of about two hundred Lakota
participants at Wounded Knee in 1890.
These practices also reinforce the commitment of individuals to the group, often seen as
connected through a relation to a common spirit or ancestor. That community identity also
incorporates a common commitment to the wellbeing of all in the community. This collective
support contrasts to the more individualistic focus common in contemporary society and
illustrates the value of the wisdom and harmony taught within Indigenous communities.
The above representation highlights a few of the practices and ideas that constitute the
spiritual wisdom of Indigenous communities. This description is by no means exhaustive, but it
illustrates a few of the ways that Indigenous ideas have helped not only their own communities
but others, as well.
Analysis of Indigenous Religions as Source of Wisdom and Harmony with Spirits

The idea that Indigenous traditions involve an ancient, untouched authority that can effectively
critique modern society has been used in various ways, and by a number of groups. Our role as
functionalist scholars is not to “prove” this idea true or false (something we’re unable to do,
regardless, since it involves a certain measure of subjectivity). Rather, our interest is to think
through the ways that this concept has been used, and by whom.
This concept has certainly been used by Indigenous groups to affirm the worth of their
ways of living. However, it is also a discourse that reflects the concerns of those non-indigenous
individuals who are interested in using these (fairly romanticized) representations in ways that
match their own interests. This is accomplished, in part, by speaking positively about the
tradition in the very vague and generalized manner mentioned above, removing specific
practices from their contexts and ignoring details of the practices that they may find less
amenable. For example, the language of spirits is often intentionally vague, as it obscures
different understandings of what a spirit is or how it operates. As another example, the
discussion of communion with the spirits in a purification lodge is highlighted in very general
terms in the preceding representation. That general description ignores less attractive accounts
such as the self-disfiguring by dancers in the Okipa (mentioned above).
Concerns about cultural appropriation are also an issue here. While observers could
rightly point out that virtually all cultures that interact with each other both give and take
various cultural elements as a byproduct of their interactions, concerns about appropriation
usually emerge when one culture uses elements or symbols often associated with another
culture in ways that may undermine the power of the latter or that objectify or reduce the
latter’s importance or agency. For example, the idea of smudging to purify a space is popular
among some non-indigenous people who seldom understand how the practice fits into the
larger cultural contexts of many Native peoples. A prominent related concern are the methods
used by certain businesses that sell plants for smudging (particularly regarding overharvesting
the plants or destroying their habitats for profit), without consultation with Indigenous
communities and promoting the use of these items in ways that may run contrary to what are
often considered Indigenous values. It is ironic that some Native American practices (including
ceremonies at particular sacred sites and consumption of peyote) were prohibited in the US as
recently as the 1970s, but now many non-indigenous people embrace Indigenous practices,
without any awareness or acknowledgement of that history of cultural oppression. Still yet, we
should consider that many Native groups actively seek to keep certain elements of their
practices secret precisely due to these (and other) concerns.
Beyond these things, the idealized representation generates a contrast (sometimes
explicit) with the consumerism, environmental exploitation, and disenchantment often
associated with broader society. In other words, the representation compares extremes by
selecting one perception of ideal Indigenous practices and contrasting them with some of the
worst non-Indigenous practices. This representation excludes conflict between Indigenous
communities, individuals who do not live up to these ideals, and practices that involved
violence or actions that most people would critique today as unethical. For example, some
Native American communities enslaved captured members of enemy groups, forcing them to
provide the menial labor for the victorious group. Such actions do not live up to this ideal of
peaceful interconnection.
The notion that Indigenous groups always embody a positive, communal ideal when
compared with the broader society has parallels with racist representations of the Indigenous
nations of North America as savage, dangerous, and uncivilized. While one view is positive (and
the other is clearly negative), both perspectives are oversimplified portrayals. Even the
“positive” portrayal can have negative ramifications, as real people cannot live up to these
idealized images. For instance, some criticize those Native American tribes that own and
operate casinos, claiming that such institutions do not align with Native values and that they
profit off of Native heritage. Others point to the poverty and drug use common to many
reservations and claim it is the result of the decline of traditional principles without considering
the role that racism, loss of land, and other types of oppression have played in creating these
scenarios.
The negative extreme is the emphasis on derogatory, “savage” representations. One
example of this is a focus on human sacrifices among the Aztec, whose region is now a part of
Mexico. Spanish colonizers in the sixteenth century described thousands of human sacrifices,
suggesting that the practice was an intrinsic or essential component of Aztec civilization and
religion. Other representations of Aztec practices, however, suggest that the history is more
complicated. Evidence confirms ritualized killings probably occurred in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries, though the extent of the sacrifices is less clear. Some scholars have
suggested that the sacrifices were limited to a specific era of Aztec civilization and connected to
political issues at the time, rather than being an essential or pervasive practice across the span
of Aztec civilization. Others argue that the Spanish wished to emphasize what they saw as the
ritualized nature of Aztec human sacrifices (as well as the involvement of the Aztec gods in this
ritual) so as to distinguish that type of killing from the one that the Spanish performed when
they killed Indigenous peoples as part of their imperial conquest. In other words, the Spanish
commentators accepted some forms of human bloodshed as normal (warfare, law and order,
controlling the non-Europeans) while describing the killings by the Aztecs as exceptionally
barbaric because they involved a sacrifice to a divine being.
It’s not only extreme portrayals that present Indigenous people as different. The use of
Indigenous names and figures as athletic team mascots are neither as romanticized nor
negative as the emphasis on harmony or human sacrifice, but it still operates in ways that set
Indigenous people apart. Doing the “Tomahawk Chop” at the Atlanta Braves Major League
Baseball game is a sign of support for the team, for example, and those doing it may not intend
to demean Native American communities and cultures. Yet one cultural outcome of such acts is
to represent these communities as an Other in ways that serve the interests (marketing and
entertainment) of institutions and communities that are primarily non-indigenous. Some
studies suggest that exposure to Native-themed sports mascots has a damaging effect on the
mental health of Native American teens, decreasing their self-esteem and increasing rates of
depression and suicidal ideation.
Whether a person chooses to represent Indigenous practices as romantic, dangerous, or
sources of entertainment, such representations exclude or deemphasize similarities with the
experiences of people in Indigenous communities. While the romanticized representation
above may feel more comfortable because it simply seems more respectful, the “othering”
involved reinforces selected differences that serve the interests of those making the
representations.
Case Study – Interpreting the Mayan Calendar

Beginning about 4000 years ago, the Mayan peoples of Central America, residing in the region
from present-day Guatemala to Mexico, developed a complex system of calendars that have
become a point of fascination for some in the twenty-first century. While some regard this as a
sophisticated alternative dating system, others find prophetic knowledge and apocalyptic
warning in the calendar that have often been granted a type of supernatural significance. This
discourse about the Mayan calendar, as with other practices, illustrates how the interests of
whomever is interpreting information influences the representation.
The Mayan system, which was related to other communities’ calendar systems in the
region, demonstrates their advanced society with multiple ways of measuring the year. One
calendar, used for timing certain ritual practices, comprised 13 months, with 20 days in each
month, making the year 260 days long. The second calendar was based on the sun and had 365
days in a year. Every 52 years, these calendars converged, thus generating a concept of a 52-
year cycle.
In addition to these two calendars, Mayans also developed their own dating system
separate from the multiple calendars described above. This calendar system counts the days
(not years) since an origin point, using a modified mathematical base-20. i Each subsequent digit
has a different term in the Mayan system. Scholars have attempted to correlate the Mayan
dating system to the Gregorian calendar commonly used in Christian-dominated communities,
and the most common answer is that the start of the Mayan calendar was 11 August 3114 BCE.
Just like some considered the year 2000 to be a significant date simply because the
base-10 system of counting turns to all zeroes (except for the leading digit), the Mayan dating
system of days turned to all zeroes (except the leading digit) on 21 December 2012 (written as
13.0.0.0.0). Even though a date with all 0’s such as this occurs in the Mayan dating system every
144,000 days, some people placed great significance on the December 21st date, in particular,
as it approached. Two ancient inscriptions referenced that date, although people interpret its
significance differently.
For instance, some have argued that this date must be significant because the Mayans
had a wisdom or supernatural connection to the universe that is absent in other cultures; the
thinking here is that the Mayans, to put it simply, knew something that we don’t. Even with
that concept, people have interpreted this significance in different directions. Some understood
that date to signify doom -- the cataclysmic end of the world. Others asserted that, on that
date, an invisible planet or enormous black hole would collide with the earth, without any
support in contemporary astronomical observations. Nevertheless, proponents of these
theories of Mayan culture suggested that the Mayans predicted the cataclysm based on their
advanced knowledge and wisdom that modern science cannot match. Others, with their own
critiques of modern society, suggested that 21 December 2012 would be an occasion for world
renewal, rather than destruction. In this view, the date would be the start of a new period that
related to either spiritual renewal or the results of the spiritual evolution of humanity.
From the position of hindsight, most people do not recognize any significance to the
passing of 21 December 2012. What this case study illustrates, however, is that the discussion
of the religious or apocalyptic significance of the Mayan calendar and that date had little to do
with Mayan civilization or traditional interpretations. Later people (including several
contemporary observers) interpreted the date and the inscriptions referencing it according to
their own interests, concerns, and hopes. In this way, Mayan civilization has become an object
to promote a contemporary viewpoint or address desires for change today, whether that
features a tone of hope or a sense of doom.
Representation 3: Indigenous Religions as Contemporary Practices

A different way to describe Indigenous religions of North America emphasizes the
contemporary practices of people identifying with these communities. As with any of these
representations, this description cannot include everything; here, however, we will focus on
two main areas: contemporary forms of Indigenous traditions and practices associated with
Christianity.
After centuries of conflict and loss of land, traditional practices have become an
important source of pride and identification for Indigenous people. As mentioned earlier, these
practices have changed to accommodate different challenges and limitations. For example, the
loss of access to places that Native Americans consider sacred, such as the Black Hills for the
Lakota, has necessitated a change, often both in ceremonial form and location. Moreover, the
shifting landscape and natural resources, such as the almost complete annihilation of the
American Bison, means that the ways of life and the associated practices are no longer possible.
In that context, some Native Americans have worked strenuously to maintain particular
aspects of their religious traditions. Among the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy) who
live in Ontario and New York state, most in the community no longer live in the traditional
longhouses, but the community maintains longhouses for some of their contemporary
ceremonies. In Akwesasne, New York, near the U.S. border with Canada, the Mohawk Nation
has established a longhouse where they conduct a variety of ceremonies, including 13 seasonal
rituals (one in each lunar month in the year, such as the Maple, Strawberry, and Corn
Ceremonies) plus occasional rituals such as funerals. Members of the community, holding titles
of Chief, Clan Mothers, and Faith Keepers, lead the regular ceremonies. These events include
teachings, dances, prayers, singing, and meals.
The longhouse also has to be ritually prepared for the ceremonies. In some
Haudenosaunee communities, members hunt in preparation for festivals, such as the
Midwinter Ceremony, which has, at times, put them in opposition to some animal rights groups
over the proper management and regulation of wildlife and hunting. The condolence ceremony
is a different practice that people employ to recognize periods of grieving for a family member
or community leader, but some have revised the ceremony to try to assist younger members of
the community struggling with other types of distress, particularly negotiating their position
between Indigenous identity and modern society.
Among the Pueblo communities in Arizona, different circumstances have created new
opportunities. While most people associate the Puebloans with large multi-family cliff
dwellings, few Puebloans continue to reside in such structures. Those historic sites now serve
as locations for contemporary practices, which visitors are sometimes allowed to observe (with
some restrictions). Following the efforts of Spanish Catholics in the region, many Puebloans
identify as Catholic, and their main ceremonies, including traditional dances such as the Corn
Dance, occur on Feast Days that celebrate particular saints recognized within Catholicism. Yet
the practices on these Feast Days maintain many of the dances from Puebloan culture,
alongside feasting and visiting family. Some, at least, view these dances as important
ceremonial occasions, not simply performances for entertainment. In this manner, Puebloans
today incorporate elements of Catholicism with Indigenous religious rituals.
Another movement among contemporary Native Americans that spans many different
nations is the Native American Church. This movement combines particular Christian and
traditionally Indigenous ideas and practices. Various Christian groups have focused on the
conversion of Indigenous people to Christianity over the centuries, and many Indigenous
peoples have adopted aspects of Christianity, sometimes in addition to their Indigenous
traditions and sometimes replacing them.
Participants in the Native American Church often identify the singular divine being as
the Great Spirit but associate that title with both the creator and Jesus. They claim that the
Great Spirit created, among other things, various plants that assist people, and one of those
plants, peyote, provides a central element used in the ritual practices of the Native American
Church. Peyote is a cactus from which one can extract a hallucinogenic substance. For some,
using peyote generates feelings of connection with others and the Great Spirit and, for others,
provides visions. Thus, some in the community recognize these experiences as connecting them
with the spirit world.
While the U.S. government classifies peyote as an illicit drug, the Native American
Church has won the right to use it in some ritualized settings. In the context of court decisions
regarding the use of peyote, there are specific restrictions and ritual forms employed to
differentiate the use of peyote in the Native American Church as religious and thus
appropriately legal, unlike the recreational use of peyote by others. To achieve this religious
status, traditionally trained ritual leaders are required to lead these occasions, usually in an all-
night ritual, typically beginning on a Saturday evening. The ceremony includes two traditional
feasts, a fire altar maintained by ritual specialists, and various other rituals (readings from the
Bible, singing, praying, and drumming) during which people consume peyote. These ceremonies
do not occur each week but are occasional, based on community needs. Someone who has a
special circumstance or celebration (serious illness, birthday, graduation, etc.) can sponsor the
ceremony, which the larger community attends.
Even though it is common to find a blending of Native and Christian practices among
certain Native groups, that does not mean that Christianity is the only other tradition
influencing Native practice. In Montana, a Tibetan Buddhist lama (leader of Buddhist monks)
has built a Buddhist garden in the reservation of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai (which
allows non-Indians to purchase land). The monk and some local leaders recognize similar
understandings of the sacredness of particular lands. The Buddhists also participated in
traditional Native American practices, such as bringing prayer scarves, tobacco, and other gifts
that demonstrated respect for the tribal authorities. While this site was initiated by non-
Indigenous people, some Native Americans have also generated their own combination of
Buddhist and Native practices, often centering on the respect for the land and combining
Indigenous rituals with meditation practices associated with Buddhism
Through these four examples (Mohawk, Pueblo, Native American Church, and Buddhist),
it is clear that the contemporary religious practices among Indigenous nations in North America
can take a range of forms that do not conform precisely to the historical practices or the
common separation of Indigenous Religion from other religions. Such examples illustrate
different strategies that individuals and communities have developed in the context of changes
in location and lifestyle, as well as relation to non-indigenous populations.
Analysis of Indigenous Religions as Contemporary Practices

The preceding representation selects four different examples of practices that reflect only a
small portion of the range of contemporary practices among people who identify as Indigenous.
While the logic of this representation counts as Indigenous Religion whatever religious activities
people who identify as Indigenous perform, the selections here exclude anyone who has left
the practices associated with their ancestors completely. Efforts to convert Indigenous
populations to Christianity, at times, used force and demanded the rejection of all Indigenous
traditions as heathen. For example, the capture and placement of Indigenous children in
residential boarding schools (as described in the final representation) combined government
power and church interests in both converting children and forcing the assimilation of
Indigenous peoples (meaning, rejecting all Indigenous traditions). In present day contexts, some
people who identify as Indigenous are non-religious, and others take part in a local church,
temple, or mosque that has no specific ties to Indigenous history or communities but is
predominately people of European or other non-native heritages. In fact, about two-thirds of
people who identify as Indigenous also identify as Christian. In that sense, this representation
tends to define indigeneity as the continuation of distinct practices and pride in that heritage,
which is narrower than defining indigeneity as any activity of a person who identifies as
Indigenous. The WRP tends to see the former perspective as synonymous with Indigenous
religion.
It is also the case that many of those who participate in practices like those outlined
above may not consider these practices to be religious. While the preceding representation
emphasized the religious nature of these ceremonies in the sense that they believe it involves
supernatural entities (which for some generates greater authority or significance for the
practice), some may participate because they want to be a part of a larger community or
maintain practices that they associate with their ancestors. Of course, the members of the
groups described in this book can have varied understandings of what they are doing; it is not
necessary that everyone agrees on the same rationale. Assuming that if one participates in a
ritual or ceremony that they automatically believe in something religious reflects a
Christocentric assumption about religions (as discussed in the Introduction).
Christian concepts like monotheism have also become influential ways of talking about
Indigenous religion, particularly in the Native American Church but also Indigenous religions
more generally. The result is that many Native groups have had to fit their own concepts into a
monotheistic framework shaped by Christian ideas. For instance, in Lakota discourse, the being
that people often personify as the “Great Spirit” is referred to as Wakan Tanka. Wakan Tanka is
variously described as the power in everything, implying that all are divine (a concept known as
pantheism), or as present within sixteen different elements of creation, including the sun, the
sky, the wind, four-legged creatures, and humans, among other things. Neither of those
descriptions fit traditional Christian ideas of monotheism, and such variations tend not to be
emphasized in representations like the preceding. The preceding representation also
emphasizes the larger, more formal ceremonies over the everyday practices and life forms.
The functions of the practices outlined in the representation above center on
identification and community. Participation in ritualized activities in many groups, including
Native American communities, reinforces common bonds through experiences like consuming
peyote in the all-night gathering or sharing a common meal. The rituals also construct particular
identifications for people who join them. Describing certain practices as part of a longer
tradition, tracing back to ancestors, provides a connection beyond the current, local group.
Those connections, for some, generate pride in their collective and individual identities, and
such pride in an Indigenous heritage is especially important for a group that has been
repeatedly marginalized, oppressed, and dehumanized.
The preceding representation can also be understood as emphasizing the challenges
that changes in the past two hundred years have generated for the maintenance of Indigenous
practices. Some could read this as implying that such changes diminish the power or
authenticity of these practices. Such a reading, though, is problematic, as changing
circumstances and alterations to ceremonies are not unique to the past two hundred years, as
we’ve earlier discussed. While idealized discussions of the past assume a certain continuity to
the practices of the ancestors, the detailed analyses of past practices suggest continual
changes. For example, as communities interact with each other and as people have new visions,
ceremonies shift and new practices develop, just to name two ways “traditions” change.
Implying that change is problematic implies that there was an idealized past where traditions
could take shape without barriers or hindrances from outside sources.
Even if we can show that change is a constant part of group social life, the idea that
change did not happen in the past can still be very useful. This is often the case in legal
proceedings, where those representing Native interests sometimes argue that changes forced
by the loss of land or governmental restrictions are damaging an “authentic tradition.”
However, in the US, “legitimate” religion in legal contexts often has been defined as beliefs,
with little conception of belief tied to a particular place. Part of the reason that Native
Americans have been overwhelmingly unsuccessful in many of their free exercise and other first
amendment claims is that the US government does not recognize religious practice as having
claims over land. Even when Native American groups can make the case that they were unfairly
forced to change their traditions, they still battle the presumption that their religion is not
“mainstream” or “traditional” enough to warrant legal protection
Case Study – The Lumbee Nation

The Lumbee of southeastern North Carolina illustrate both the complexity of the interaction of
Native Americans and Europeans and the challenge of creating contemporary communities and
practices. Although the Lumbee are a recognized Native American tribe in the state of North
Carolina, they do not have the full benefits afforded to federally-recognized Native American
nations (which is a political issue of significance for the community). Many Native American
nations describe their long history in a particular location, and yet the home region for the
Lumbee (and even the name Lumbee) is more recent.
Their cultural ancestry is also a point of speculation. One theory is that the Lumbee
descended from the absorption of members of the Roanoke Lost Colony (a group of 16th
century European settlers on Roanoke Island, NC, who disappeared from history) into an
Algonquin community that moved inland from the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Others
suggest that they come from the Cheraw people, who were a part of the Siouan language
family. It is also possible that they connect to the Tuscarora language (in the Iroquoian family).
This uncertainty has been incorporated into the ways that they tell their own history. The
narratives suggest that the swampy region around the Lumber River in southeastern North
Carolina provided space for one or more marginalized groups to survive during periods of
Indian removal. Some narratives, though, suggest that Lumbee ancestors received land grants
in the mid 1700s in the area. Thus, precise claims relating to their presence in the region are
debated.
However they arrived in the region, the narratives describe a period of assimilation,
intermarrying with both European-Americans and African-Americans, and perhaps combining
multiple Native American groups. In this process they also transitioned to speaking English
almost exclusively. This development generates questions about their linguistic descent from
other recognized Native Americans, as evidence of their association with prior languages has
been lost with the adoption of English. This process of assimilation included conversion to
Christianity among the Lumbee generally and a suppression of traditional Indigenous practices.
This conversion process, however, did not follow the more negative images of Christian
boarding schools and missionaries that used harsh tactics to secure conversions, but was
instead a long process of assimilation and intermarriage.
From the late 19th century, the Native Americans in the region pursued formal
recognition from both the state of North Carolina and the US government, with partial success.
The community has also had to defend itself from harassment from Confederates and the
Home Guards during and after the Civil War and then from the Ku Klux Klan (which the Lumbee
attest that they defeated in a violent conflict in the 1950s). During the period of racial
segregation, this region of North Carolina often had three sets of public facilities: one for
European-Americans, one for African-Americans, and one for the Lumbee.
The community has worked to construct and reclaim aspects of their Native American
heritage, although there is debate about whether they are conducting older practices or
reinventing them in a more contemporary context. Some people argue that the public
performance of Lumbee culture draw on what were once private practices among the Lumbee
that have simply become more public since the 1970’s. Others describe the creation of
practices based on the Lumbee observing and connecting to other Native American
communities. Whatever the source of these ceremonies, the community, for example, has
gatherings, often termed pow-wows, where they meet, socialize, dance, and drum throughout
a long weekend. Perhaps the biggest gathering of the year is the Dance of the Spring Moon
Powwow, which draws thousands of Lumbee and visitors. Representatives of numerous
Indigenous nations attend and participate in the prayers, rituals, food, arts and crafts, and
history exhibits. The grand entry is a particularly significant element: Representatives of other
Native American nations enter the pow-wow in a formal procession, alongside US veterans
from among the Lumbee, with an emcee announcing each group. In some years, dramatic
performances relating the story of the community are also a component of the activities. The
biggest element, however, is the drumming and dancing. The pow-wow includes a dance
competition with hundreds of participants from different Indigenous nations.
The question can arise to what extent such events are religious. The dance competition
and drumming reflect practices that different Indigenous communities have used to engage
spirits, honor vital elements of the natural world, and call for supernatural assistance or
blessing. Other elements of the program, especially the formal prayers offered, express a
Christian format, reflecting the Christian identification of many in the community. Unlike the
description in the first representation (Indigenous Religions as Localized Practices) earlier in this
chapter, these dances and drumming draw on traditions from a variety of different nations
from across North America. Thus, they reflect the effort to construct practices because
traditions appear to have been lost or at least diminished among the Lumbee after decades of
assimilation. The complexities of this should be readily apparent, as no one knows fully which
forms the practices took among the ancestors of the Lumbee.
Powwows show how the Lumbee have created traditions from the midst of change.
Even Earth Day has been celebrated among some Lumbee with a powwow, connecting the
occasion to values in the community, including the importance of the earth for the Lumbee as
well as a belief in God. Such gatherings include speeches exhorting community members to
care for the earth, tree planting ceremonies, prayer, and drumming and dancing. Like any
contemporary community, the Lumbee connect contemporary issues, community involvement,
and practices that they associate with their ancestors in ways that change as the contemporary
needs and opportunities change. In this sense, they illustrate the complex factors influencing
the maintenance and, at times, construction of tradition.
Representation 4: Indigenous Religions as Political Influence

The Indigenous groups of North America have often been at the center of numerous legal and
political conversations that cross both time and place. This representation emphasizes two
sides of this political influence by looking at the ways that both Indigenous and non-indigenous
communities have represented Indigenous practices.
Many of the representations of Native ideas and practices by outsiders have justified
and promoted disparagement and even genocide against Indigenous communities. By
portraying them as savage, pagan, or primitive, people (largely European-Americans) attempted
to justify a range of practices that promoted non-indigenous communities, maintaining their
dominance and dehumanizing Indigenous peoples. For example, various groups in the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the United States and Canada, operated Indian
residential schools whose purpose was to convert Indigenous children from Native cultural
ways of life. These were often coordinated efforts on the part of both the governments and
Christian churches. Non-indigenous officials removed children, often by force, from their
homes, separating them from the lifeways and languages of their communities and, more
importantly, their families. One concept associated with the residential schools was “Kill the
Indian to save the man.” Representing Indigenous religions and lifestyle as uncivilized, even
dangerous, functioned to justify the mission to Christianize Indigenous nations and force them
to assimilate. Beyond the trauma of separating children from their parents, Indian residential
schools often involved physical and emotional abuse, as well as death, in the name of
promoting the rejection of Native American traditions. Across the past several decades, the
discovery of unmarked graves of thousands of children who died at these schools have further
revealed the horrors that developed from the negative representation of Indigenous people.
The description of Indigenous religions and people as dangerous also influenced Indian
removal policies, which many consider a form of genocide. In these contexts, competition for
resources, specifically the land of the Indigenous nations, propelled government policy to
relocate American Indians. Most famously, the United States government corralled Native
Americans in the southeastern United States and forced them to leave their homes for
reservations in Oklahoma (as described above). Treaties in Canada similarly restricted Native
Americans to land designated as reserves. While chiefs of various Indigenous nations signed the
treaties, other reports from the negotiations suggest that the oral agreements made were not
the same as the written treaties, making it unclear what the chiefs understood that they were
agreeing to do. Of course, these treaties and forced removals were unending, and would occur
time and time again whenever new settlers wanted the land where the Native Americans lived.
There were certain moments, though, when government officials found the language of
a common religion with Native peoples politically convenient. During the 1877 signing of Treaty
7 (concerning land in present-day Alberta, Canada), Lt. Governor David Laird led the
negotiations, including determining the reserves and payments, with the Blackfoot and other
Plains nations. At the signing, he declared “It is by the Great White Spirit that the Queen
[meaning the Queen of England who was Canada’s head of state] rules over this great country
and other great countries. ... The Great Mother loves all her children, white man and red man
alike; she wishes to do them all good.”
Within the US context, some government treaties took land from Native Americans and
then recognized rights for certain tribal nations to have legal sovereignty on reservations,
meaning that, in some areas, Indigenous people could operate as an independent country
distinct from the United States. They also were afforded specific benefits and supports under
the control of the US Department of the Interior. Today, being a member of a federally
recognized nation in both the US and Canada can entail access to certain resources, including
government benefits such as health care and tax exemptions in Canada and certain social
services from the US Bureau of Indian Affairs. Some communities have been more successful
than others at gaining this recognition, which makes community self-representation of their
Native language and ritualized practices especially powerful to promote federal recognition.
This reveals yet another way that Indigenous identity has had a political impact.
The history of interactions with settlers has also changed the ways Indigenous
communities organize themselves. Like the Mandan, who joined others to form the Three
Affiliated Tribes (described above), various of the 574 tribes recognized in the US are
combinations of groups, many of which were previously distinct. In contrast to the Mandan,
whose alliances were more voluntary, some of these groups were combined for the
convenience of the US government and reservations system, such as the Confederated Tribes
of Colville Reservation in Washington state. When the US military defeated one band of the Nez
Perce tribe (known as the Wal-lam-wat-kain band), originally from northeast Oregon, the
conditions of surrender required them to migrate to the Colville Reservation in eastern
Washington, which then forced them to become one of the twelve tribes recognized as part of
the Confederated Tribe of Colville Reservation. As another example, the Nooksack community,
also in the Pacific Northwest, straddled the border dividing the US and Canada. Since the tribe
is recognized and organized in the US, the status of some Nooksack descendants who remained
in Canada have generated debate, with some officials disenrolling them from the US Nooksack
tribe because of the side of the border on which they live.
The history of interactions has also generated contests over control of particular
practices, sites, and artifacts. Some artifacts have been stolen from archeological sites and
unauthorized excavations, and some items on the market have reportedly been sold (perhaps
without authorization) by individual Native Americans to dealers. Dealers in both situations
have faced law enforcement investigations for illegal trade. Indigenous communities have
emphasized a long tradition of religious practices. That longevity, combined with the assertion
by Native groups of the sacredness of particular sites and implements for their group, have
caused them to argue for the return of community property. Beyond ceremonies and ritual
implements, some communities have argued for the return of the remains of ancestors that
had been excavated in archaeological studies and taken for either research or display in
museums.
In some specific cases, the US government actively prohibited certain practices. As
mentioned earlier, in the late 1800s, the Ghost Dance was a movement that spread among
various Native American communities, beginning in the western United States. The movement
presented a ritualized way to gain the intervention of the spirits to save Native Americans from
the continued incursions of white settlers. It began among the Northern Paiute in present-day
Nevada in 1869 and spread two decades later through the teachings of Wovoka. Wovoka
described his vision of a renewed earth and the presence of deceased ancestors, which he said
would be brought about by Native American communities following the principles of love and
cooperation and dancing a particular circle dance. The name “Ghost Dance” comes from an
English translation of “Spirit Dance,” which is what the movement was called among the Lakota.
The circle dance was a common practice for some communities, who often described it as
portraying the movement of the sun and planets. Different interpretations of the visions of
Wovoka and the movement developed, including connecting the coming of a figure to renew
the world as the coming of Jesus.
One of the most famous aspects of the movement included the blessing of shirts in the
ceremony which many claimed made them bullet proof through the powers of the spirits.
Military figures from the US government also saw these dances, at times, as dangerous. The
military feared that the dances could foment unity among Native Americans at a time that the
government attempted to subjugate them and thus wanted to limit their unity and subsequent
influence. As a result, the government banned the practice of the Ghost Dance. When some
Lakota resisted the ban in 1890, government forces attacked them, leading to the massacre at
Wounded Knee (during which the protection of the blessed shirts and the ancestral spirits in
general failed to save the Lakota resisters). In the early 1970s, the site of the Wounded Knee
massacre became the location of an American Indian resistance movement that took hostages
and held the area for more than two months, intentionally drawing on the symbolism of the
Ghost Dance and the massacre.
Through examples such as these, the significance of political influence in relation to
Indigenous religions of North America becomes clear. Representations of Indigenous peoples,
from both the settlers and the Indigenous themselves, have bolstered policy and legal findings
and determined access to resources. As settlers stole the land and Indigenous communities
worked to maintain what remained theirs (or regain some of what settlers took), Indigenous
religions were used as a political tool in ways that both helped and hindered Indigenous
nations. While claims to the sacredness of land and the necessity of community management of
those places are seldom recognized in legal contexts, especially in the United States (as
described above), in other settings, US legal practices recognize Native American practices as
“traditional” when it seems to promote popular ideas today such as cultural diversity. This
becomes another way that non-indigenous people gain and maintain political influence through
their interaction and representation of Indigenous religions.
Analysis of Indigenous Religions as Political Influence

The preceding representation focuses on the interactions in the period of immigrant settlement
and the disruptions that those interactions caused for Indigenous people. While this was a
significant period in the history of these groups, such an emphasis can lead to a romanticization
of pre-contact Native communities. The simplification of the preceding representation, in both
its narrow historical period and its generalization about both Indigenous communities and
settler populations is itself problematic. The critique of governmental policy towards
Indigenous communities and the related representation of those communities in a negative
light is absolutely warranted, yet as critical scholars it is vital to recognize the further
complexities that such a representation leaves out.
Cooperation and competitions over influence were a significant part of Indigenous
practices in earlier periods as well, both within local communities and between different, often
competing Indigenous nations. These interactions between different nations in the period
before European contact also involved religion as political influence. In what is now the
provinces of Ontario and Quebec, various First Nations (primarily speaking Algonquin) gathered
in the summers, prior to the expansion of European settlements, sharing access to major
interior fishing sites, exchanging goods and ideas, and creating alliances. In the winter, these
groups dispersed into smaller hunting groups organized by kinship. The sharing of ceremonies
that spread among communities in these earlier periods allowed opportunities for creating or
strengthening some of these alliances. Such alliances, of course, often meant conflicts occurred
with non-allied nations. Different nations competed, at times, for particular resources.
For example, in the Pacific Northwest, some leaders organized raids on other groups,
using that wealth to sponsor a potlatch with its gift-giving expenses. In this way, conflict
connected to ceremonies that generated status for particular families. Some ceremonies also
provided legitimacy to rulers, whose power was connected to their role in specific ritualized
practices that we often classify as religious. Controlling a particular site considered important
for ritual practices or even burial, such as the Mississippian site now known as Moundville in
Alabama gave a community and its leaders status and power, but shifts in expectations or
understandings of what is sacred, as well as shifts in the resources available in the region,
meant such status and control was never static. The ways alliances, control of regions, and
management of resources (including sites considered sacred) shifted across time produced the
complexity of related linguistic groups and different ways of categorizing communities. In a
similar vein, we should also point out that not all people of European heritage in the United
States at this time opposed Native Americans or thought they were inferior. It can be easy to
lose sight of complicated social networks if we focus only on generalized examples of political
influence (and particularly when we focus on only one period).
The selections in the preceding representation also imply that Indigenous actions in
relation to political influence were generally reactionary to the dominant power of the settler
states. Like the romanticized representations, such selections risk constructing an image of
Indigenous groups as unable to operate with the agency of independent humans. As
demonstrated in the paragraphs above, Native people, like any group, compete for positions of
power and resources within their local community and in broader contests. They have
historically done more than simply react to an invader.
For example, the American Indian Movement became very visible in the United States
and Canada in the late 1960’s and has been described by some as a reaction to the oppression
of these groups by law enforcement, government policy, and public discrimination. However,
the movement could also be described in more proactive terms, working not only on
sovereignty for Indigenous nations and respect from the government, but also to encourage
pride and participation in Indigenous traditions. Beyond the American Indian Movement,
people in various communities, such as the Lakota, have worked to serve and encourage their
community, particularly on reservations where unemployment and the general lack of
opportunities significantly hamper the lives of many Native Americans.
Consider also the work of those legal activists who act on behalf of Native peoples in
matters of religious freedom in the United States. Although the First Amendment guarantees
the right to freely exercise one’s religion, Native Americans have repeatedly been denied this
ability because their religious practice involves certain ritual interactions with (and restrictions
regarding) land, and land is not typically seen as something religious in the legal precedents
used in the United States. Scholar Michael McNally has shown that while Native Americans
have consistently often lost religious freedom cases for this reason, they have employed a
number of other proactive legal tactics to maintain control over their culture and land.
Sometimes national sovereignty arguments have been more legally effective in protecting their
lands and practices, and in other cases cultural preservation policies and laws have done this
legal work where religious freedom arguments failed. Regardless of the strategy involved,
Native Americans have been extremely diligent, creative, and powerful agents in advocating for
their own rights.
Case Study – The Black Hills of South Dakota

The Black Hills, which are predominately in South Dakota, are a site that various Native
American nations, most notably the Lakota (who are a part of the broader Sioux nation), claim
as significant for their culture. Particular sites in the Black Hills have a long history as the main
site for specific practices, and archaeological findings suggest their use in some cases extends
well before the intersection of European settlers and Native Americans. One of the creation
stories of the Lakota emphasizes the emergence of the ancestors from their life underground
through an opening within the Black Hills, now known as Wind Cave National Park. This specific
entrance is also described by some as the breath of the Mother Earth because of the air
currents flowing in and out of the cave.
The argument that the area is sacred to Native Americans has become a component of a
legal battle over ownership of the region. Two Treaties of Fort Laramie recognized specific
claims to the region. The 1851 treaty between eight Native American groups and the US
recognized the region as Native American territory, confirmed boundaries separating the
different communities, and granted settlers on the Oregon trail permission to travel through
the region, including the building of forts. The second treaty in 1868, made with groups of both
the Arapaho and the Sioux along with the United States, recognized the Black Hills as Sioux land
and established other boundaries. With the discovery of gold in the Black Hills in the 1870s, an
influx of miners of European heritage generated a series of conflicts known collectively as the
Black Hills War; these battles (which included the famous Battle of Little Big Horn) was between
the Sioux and Cheyenne on one side and the US on the other. The US ignored the terms of the
1868 Treaty and forcibly removed the Lakota Sioux residents of the Black Hills, sending them to
reservations through a unilateral 1877 Act of Congress. Various national parks and monuments,
including Mount Rushmore, today exist on land that the Lakota claim as their land based on the
1868 treaty.
The Lakota eventually sued the US over the negation of the treaty, a case that the US
Supreme Court in 1980 decided in favor of the Sioux. However, the resolution decided by the
Supreme Court was payment with interest, which amounts now to close to one billion dollars.
The Sioux have refused to accept the payment because their objective was to receive control of
their land rather than payment for the land that they never agreed to sell. The Great Sioux
Nation succeeded in purchasing one area of the Black Hills, known as Pe’Sla, in 2018, with plans
to reserve it for traditional ceremonies.
Arguments over the Black Hills extend beyond the legal issues of the treaties that the
United States broke. Issues of specific beliefs add to the argument. The Lakota often claim that
their view of the world recognizes these land formations as living spirits whom recreational
climbers and other tourists actively injure. They also assert that specific locations were central
to their ancestors and that those particular sites are the only places where ceremonies can be
properly conducted. Despite the fact that Indigenous groups consistently see themselves as
having a relationship with a specific locale (as mentioned in the first representation), opponents
of the Lakota’s claim to the land argue that this cannot be absolutely true, since they conducted
ceremonies in other places when they were earlier prohibited from portions of the Black Hills.
What this debate shows us is that the ways that different groups represent Indigenous
practices have very real, political effects. Emphases on the unique nature and centrality of the
land bolster Native American’s demands to have the land returned to them, emphases that
their opponents attempt to undermine.
Conclusion
The discussion surrounding Indigenous communities and their rights in North America play a
significant role in the preceding representations, and as we have seen, there are many different
groups (with just as many interests) who play a role in these conversations. Describing
Indigenous practices in romanticized ways that portrays them as a source of pure, untainted
wisdom or as an exotic practice that is dangerous, pagan, or inferior not only generates
different social and political impacts but also reflects the specific interests and assumptions of
those promoting that image. If a representation emphasizes localized practices and distinctions
between different communities, it functions to recognize and thus maintain the idea that
Native identity is the product of separate groups. In contrast, focusing on the sharing of
practices presents a competing construction that emphasizes a type of unity among Indigenous
nations. Similarly, emphasizing the sacredness of an object or a place supports arguments to
return ownership to the community that traditionally used it, while dismissing the sacredness
or tradition as corrupted or flexible provides an opposing argument. The interactions with non-
Indigenous peoples influence contemporary practices in both the ways that Indigenous
communities present themselves and how they negotiate their relation to a dominant religion
(Christianity) and a dominant way of life (modern consumerist society). In this sense, it is nearly
impossible to separate the discourse about Indigenous religions from their larger relationship to
non-indigenous government and society, as they both have developed interdependently.
Thinking critically about how these conversations take place is an important exercise that goes
beyond the academic study of religion.
Discussion Questions
1. Which representation is the most familiar to you? Where have you encountered that
representation before?
2. Indigenous religions are often treated as exotic and Native Americans as different. What
similarities to other religions and communities can you identify from these representations?
3. The representations “Indigenous Religions as Local Traditions” and “Indigenous Religions as

Source of Wisdom and Harmony” have very different emphases. What similarities can you
identify in these two representations, in addition to their differences?
4. Which representations are advantageous to Native Americans, and which Native Americans
benefit from the representation?
5. Which sections of this chapter highlight change, and which presume a static tradition?
6. How does the case study of the Lumbee Nation highlight some of the complexities of
Indigenous Religions of North America and communities of the First Nations?
REFERENCES
McNally, Michael D. Defend the Sacred: Native American Religious Freedom Beyond the First
Amendment. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2020.
Morris, Alexander. The Treaties of Canada with the Indians of Manitoba and the North-West
Territories. Toronto, 1880; reprinted Coles Canadiana, 1971.
Stanton, Zac. “How Native American Team Names Distort Your Psychology.” Politico Magazine
16 July 2020. Accessible at
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/07/16/native-american-team-names-
psychology-effect-redskins-indians-sports-logos-366409.
i
Base 20 means the right-most digits go up to 20, then the next digit goes to 1 and the right most digits start over
at 0, with each unit progressively going up when the unit before it reaches 20. Because the dominant digit notation
in North America and Europe is base-10, this alternate system takes some getting used to. To write twenty-one,
thirty-one, and forty in base 20 would be 1.1, 1.11, and 2.0 respectively.

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Indigenous Religions in North America

December 29, 1890

Representation 1: Indigenous Religions as Local Traditions

Analysis of Indigenous Religions as Local Traditions

Case Study – Green Corn Ceremony

Representation 2: Indigenous Religions as Source of Wisdom and Harmony with Spirits

Analysis of Indigenous Religions as Source of Wisdom and Harmony with Spirits

Case Study – Interpreting the Mayan Calendar

Representation 3: Indigenous Religions as Contemporary Practices

Analysis of Indigenous Religions as Contemporary Practices

Case Study – The Lumbee Nation

Representation 4: Indigenous Religions as Political Influence

Analysis of Indigenous Religions as Political Influence

Case Study – The Black Hills of South Dakota

3. The representations “Indigenous Religions as Local Traditions” and “Indigenous Religions as

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