Native American Religious Beliefs Essay Example For Students

Native American Religious Beliefs Essay Through out history, historians have had the ability to pass on the knowledge of the past because of written documents and other forms of evidence that acknowledge the existence of past civilizations and cultures. When there are no written documents, whether lost or never created, it can be more difficult for historians to explain past civilizations. The Native Americans were a group that kept no written records. The information that we know today was passed down from generation to generation through oral traditions. Despite the information we have, there is much more that researchers dont know about because a considerable amount of information has either been lost or has been impossible to obtain. But from what we already know, historians can conclude there are common characteristics that seem to be shared by all of the Native Americans. I will also include the creation myth of the Osage Indians and the afterlife beliefs of the Lakota Sioux. Once, the Osage Indians lived in the sky. Wanting to know their origin, theywent to the sun. The sun told them that they were his children. Then theywandered about until they came to the moon. She told them that she had givenbirth to that and that the sun was the father. Then she told them to go settleon the earth. When they came to the earth, they found it covered with water. Sothey wept, because no on would answer them, and they couldnt return to theirformer place. While floating around in the air, they searched for help from agod but with no avail. The animals were there, too, and they appealed to theelk, the most finely and most stately. The elk then jumps into the water andcalls for the wind, which then lifted up the water like a mist. The elk thenprovides land and food. As for the concept of an afterlife, it seems that NativeAmericans were not as concerned with the hereafter as they were with theirimmediate life. However, an afterlife was a common belief that varied with thedif ferent tribes. Here is an example, the afterlife belief of the Lakota Sioux. .ucc2b114ae46c28aa141d044cac223264 , .ucc2b114ae46c28aa141d044cac223264 .postImageUrl , .ucc2b114ae46c28aa141d044cac223264 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ucc2b114ae46c28aa141d044cac223264 , .ucc2b114ae46c28aa141d044cac223264:hover , .ucc2b114ae46c28aa141d044cac223264:visited , .ucc2b114ae46c28aa141d044cac223264:active { border:0!important; } .ucc2b114ae46c28aa141d044cac223264 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ucc2b114ae46c28aa141d044cac223264 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ucc2b114ae46c28aa141d044cac223264:active , .ucc2b114ae46c28aa141d044cac223264:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ucc2b114ae46c28aa141d044cac223264 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ucc2b114ae46c28aa141d044cac223264 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ucc2b114ae46c28aa141d044cac223264 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ucc2b114ae46c28aa141d044cac223264 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ucc2b114ae46c28aa141d044cac223264:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ucc2b114ae46c28aa141d044cac223264 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ucc2b114ae46c28aa141d044cac223264 .ucc2b114ae46c28aa141d044cac223264-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ucc2b114ae46c28aa141d044cac223264:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: SOUTHERN VOTING BEHAVIOR EssayThe Lakota Sioux Indians have beliefs that are unique to their heritage. Theybelieve in a reincarnate religion with certain ideas about the afterlife. It isbelieved that a person lives through four stages of life, or generations. Thesegenerations are childhood, adolescence, maturity, and old age. When a persondies, one of the four souls from the generations travels along theWanagi Tacanku Southward, where the soul meets with an old woman who judges thesouls earthly virtues. She then directs it either to the spirit world, a hazyanalog of earthly life where there is an unending supply of buffalo and wherepeople rejoin their kin, or back to earth . If sent back to earth, the soul livesas a ghost in order to haunt others and to entice them to join the soul inhaunting the living. Parts of the soul being sent back to earth illustrate thereincarnate idea of this religion in that other aspects of the four souls areinvested into unborn fetuses. This receiving of the souls is what gives thefetuses life (http://www.creighton.edu/~amd/afterlife.html). The NativeAmericans were a very diverse peoples that many different aspects of religionthat varied from tribe to tribe. Interestingly, the Native Americans did nothave a concept of individual sin and salvation. If they did, it would have beenpossible that they would have had an entirely different set of beliefs. However,they did have strong similarities that were equally important to each tribe. Itwas very apparent that they loved the earth and that played a key role in termsof creation and an afterlife.