Myth of the Disappearing Indian
In the Myth of the Disappearing Indian, focus is on a brave and novel Indian who sacrificed both his land and freedom to ensure that America existed. The article explains that the nature of the character of the last of the Mohicans, the tribe that lived in the land that is presently called America, makes people wonder if ‘real Indians’ still exist. However, some people believe that the vanishing Indian myth is facilitated by the fact that the expansion of America was done on stolen land from the ‘real Indians.’ Despite the feeling that there is a lost tribe that was sacrificed because of the expansion of America, most Native American people still believe that the roots of nativity still exist in present-day America.
Religion as a Way of Life
In Religion as a Way of Life, the author explains the reason why there are similarities in the diversity of Native traditions regarding religion. The author argues that the aspect of all dimensions having an integrated social life dimensions is one of the common denominators of diversity in Native traditions’ religious beliefs. Given this situation, the article explains that ‘life-way’ is often used as opposed to ‘religion’ in describing the Native peoples’ traditions. In legitimizing the article’s claim, the author provides examples that includes the six Iroquois nations, the Yuroks, Cherokees, and Hopis, and the Tlingit people.
Millenia of Religious Diversity
The article explains that religious diversity, including pluralism, can be traced for thousands of years, and therefore not strange to American soil. Expressly, the article examines how native traditions have passed down their religious beliefs and how there have been shifts to the nature of religion passed. One of the reasons for changing style of religion, according to the article, is the formation and reformation of alliance between Native American communities, which contributed to the existence of pluralism in religion. Other reasons for pluralism are shared traditions across communities and shared language families.
Many Local Traditions
The article discusses the nature of local traditions and religion. One of the areas that is discussed is the concept of oral traditions as opposed to written traditions, and how it impacts the spread of religion. According to the article, oral traditions allow for varied interpretations over time, depending on circumstances and seasons. This explains why it is difficult to ascertain the religious values of a specific native tradition.
The three things that I learned about native traditions are:
- 1. They used oral forms of expressions as opposed to written materials that would provide synchronicity of values and beliefs.
- They are not significantly different in how they assimilated religion in their cultures.
- Native religious traditions are focused on living well and making a living that depends on existing landscapes
Of the two ceremonies, Pow wows and Sweat lodge, I would like to attend the Pow wows because of their requirement of a get together. Sweat lodge on the other hand insist on singularity or having not more than two people, which would limit the fun and the scope of knowledge that I would get from the ceremony.
One of the unexpected discoveries that I had in completing this assignment is the changing narratives that native religious traditions have that seems to primarily focus on the landscape of a region. I did not also expect to find that native religious traditions considered how to improve the living conditions and welfare of people in society as opposed to singularly focusing on the aspect of divine and spiritual guidance.