American indians or Eskimos (or the French name "esquimaux") in the (USA and Canada) what was or is their deity ? how much do we know it
Native Americans and First Nations peoples in the US and Canada are a hugely diverse set of ethnic groups and tribes. They did not, and do not, have one single religion. It's impossible to characterise them all under a particular set of practices or theological views. It's too varied for that.
I like the theory of the archetypes of collective unconscious by Carl Jung. The archetypes are analogous to personality firmware of the brain. These firmware programs are common to all humans and define humans as a species. For example, falling in love is not something you can will to happen any time you want. It is connected to the firmware of love becoming activated b only certain triggers. This firmware can cause the highest highs and the lowest lows and are often feared by the ego. The ancients were far more conscious of the firmware and would recognize that the ego or conscious mind was not controlling this. These dynamics became attributed to the gods or goddess. Aphrodite was the goddess of love and romance. She personified the firmware of love. With their awareness of this and how this worked, they would create rituals that allowed them to active the firmware. This could make the priestess irresistible to men, since she could trigger their firmware and then direct them to their wives. Mars was the god of war. If you could get this firmware to become active before battle, you would have animal energy and drive. The indians would perform war dances around the fire, all night, hoping the god of war would awaken. The personality firmware are empty at birth, but contain genetic potential for their development. The analogy is firmware seeds. The seed is small and simple yet contains the genes needed to form a full grown plant that has flowers and fruit. Besides their internal generic potential, these firmware seed sees external potentials like water, sun, nutrients, soil, pH, bugs, virus, weeds, etc. The net effect is the collective firmware seeds, common to all humans, will grow in different social gardens and will thereby develop characteristics of a given culture. Each tribes may have their own goddess of love with her attributes coming from the soil in that social garden. Because these are collective human, there is commonality to all such goddesses. The tomato plant is tomato plant, whether one has a black thumb person and green thumb, but with each will have an impact on the final look of the plant.
The 23-dimensional archetype model of the human spirit allowed everyone to be proud of who they were and what they did, so long as they endeavored to do the things they were born to do and be the people they were born to be, without going off the rails too often. But then the monotheism came along, with its pathetic one-dimensional model of the complex human spirit, and the world started going to shit. Everything anyone did, thought, or was was constrained to a point on a line with "good" at one end and "bad" at the other. Moreover, polytheism was a catalyst for harmony. When two tribes discovered that they had the same gods, only with different names, that was a powerful incentive to seek peace. (Look at the pantheons of the Romans, Greeks and Egyptians, for example.)
The Native Americans often had religions that resembled Christianity, being monotheistic, which is why they took to Christianity under various circumstances.
I watch from time to time some paw waw of American tribes and at same time I have visited some pow waw . To me they seem to worship a great spirit , were it is not a visible entity . I wonder if some other person have more input, with out been critical . I tend to believe their believe their religion would be the oldest believe of our time and I think It would good to understand the beginning of feith .
Many, if not all, North American natives had mythologies based in animism: they understood the human presence as part of a system that includes other kinds of consciousness: animals, birds, trees, water, clouds, spirits. The creation stories are various, but have some concepts in common. They generally considered the human to be not quite so special as he likes to think. They accepted that man is intensely concerned with himself, but the stories often put man at a disadvantage, make him the butt of a cosmic joke, or chastise him for hubris. In this, NA native mythology is very like Greek mythology: it is candid, insightful and unsentimental about human psychology. And it has a great deal more humour and whimsy than the middle-eastern religious traditions. My very favourite native writer is Thomas King, whose very best novel is Green Grass, Running Water , which transmits something of the flavour of native attitudes.. and it's also one good story, that one.
I think it would be a mistake to think that Native American beliefs didn't change over time. They didn't live in isolation.
Ah, reliable as ever. I should have expected unfounded accusations - after all they're easier than actually reading the article and rebutting it.
Native American Prayer Oh, Great Spirit Whose voice I hear in the winds, And whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me, I am small and weak, I need your strength and wisdom. Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice. Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people. Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock. I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy - myself. Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes. So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my Spirit may come to you without shame. (translated by Lakota Sioux Chief Yellow Lark in 1887) Lakota Instructions for Living Friend do it this way - that is, whatever you do in life, do the very best you can with both your heart and mind. And if you do it that way, the Power Of The Universe will come to your assistance, if your heart and mind are in Unity. When one sits in the Hoop Of The People, one must be responsible because All of Creation is related. And the hurt of one is the hurt of all. And the honor of one is the honor of all. And whatever we do effects everything in the universe. If you do it that way - that is, if you truly join your heart and mind as One - whatever you ask for, that's the Way It's Going To Be. passed down from White Buffalo Calf Woman You have noticed that everything an Indian does in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything and everything tries to be round. In the old days all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation and so long as the hoop was unbroken the people flourished. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop, and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain and the north with its cold and mighty wind gave strength and endurance. This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion. Everything the power of the world does is done in a circle. The sky is round and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. Our teepees were round like the nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation's hoop, a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children. Black Elk, Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux 1863-1950
COSMOCTRAVELER : IS THAT REAL WHAT YOU HAVE PRINTED ? If it is real it is beautiful . No image gods . it seems earlier they did not have anthropomorphic gods. I am assuming the early American are continuing their traditional customs and ( religion ) of people who crossed the Bering straight which is over about 20000 years.
That's what I mean too, there were thousands of tribes, some of who's lifestyles and religions changed over time. For a better look at primitive beliefs I would look to some stone age tribe in Borneo or New Guinea.
