According to Native American spirituality, everything is imbued with spirit. Furthermore, there is a constant dialogue between all of these manifestations of creation.. In order to survive, human beings must understand this dialogue, and they must be careful not to insult the spirits of the wind, or the earth. Everything is seen to have its own volition, and spirit. Consciousness is also not just the province of human beings in this world view.

Winona LaDuke articulates this belief when she writes:

Although within the indigenous cosmology everything is endowed with spirit, it is also recognized that certain landscapes, land formations, and types of matter embody a special quality of sacredness. Native American cultures are full of stories about the particular significance of certain rocks or hills, and these are often used in key rituals and rites of passage. These places, especially mountaintops or isolated areas of wilderness, are where, in indigenous cultures, initiation ceremonies take place, people go to fast and pray, and visionary dreams are revealed. Unfortunately, this kind of sensibility is lost on modern peoples, who consider such beliefs to be nothing more than ‘superstitions’.
Arthur Versluis, in his book, Sacred Earth, challenges us ‘moderns’ to think again, when he tells the story of a huge water tank being built in the Shunganunga Bluff, overlooking Topeka, Kansas,

Which brings us full-circle, back to the basis of Native American spirituality, which is the relationship between human beings, the land, and all of Creation. Weatenatenamy, Young Chief of the Cayuse nation, offers this quote, which seems to encapsulate this feeling which is at the heart of Native American spirituality:

I wonder if the ground has anything to say: I wonder if the ground is listening to what is said…the earth says, God has placed me here. The Earth says, that God tells me to take care of the Indians on the earth; the Earth says to the Indians that stop on the Earth feed them right. God named the roots that he should feed the Indians on; the water speaks the same way…the grass says the same thing… The Earth and water and grass say God has given our names and we are told those names; neither the Indians nor the Whites have a right to change those names, the Earth says, God has placed me here to produce all that grows upon me, the trees, fruit, etc. The same way the Earth says, it was from her man was made. God, on placing them on the Earth, desired them to take good care of the earth do each other no harm. God said.

This is a subtitled movie, spoken in Francaise….interesting!

In his quest to reconnect with the spiritual values of his people, Burkinabe director Hyacinthe Combary creates a dialogue between the Gourmantche of Burkina Faso and the Atikamekw of northern Quebec, realizing that soul-searching is universal. Combary notices a similarity between their two cultures in regards to the importance of working in the woods and being connected with Nature as a way to foster fundamental ancestral human values in the young.

http://www.nfb.ca/enclasse/doclens/visau/index.php?mode=view&language=english&filmId=52874

Ancestry in the Land

From the sixteenth century on, six nations have allied themselves to form the Iroquois Confederacy. Originally, they lived in the Eastern Woodlands, in an area that extended from the land south of Lake Ontario, along the Mohawk River, and westward to the Finger Lakes and Genessee River, in what is now New York State.
Though known as the Iroquois, they call themselves Haudenosaunee, the People of the Longhouse. The Mohawk nation has historically stood guard at the easternmost door of a symbolic longhouse. The Seneca watch over the western door, while the other nations, the Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and the Tuscarora, are spread in between.
Skilled in warfare and gifted in peace, the six nations established a peace treaty which led to the formation of one of the world’s earliest democracies. This society gave rise to great orators, like the Onondaga, Hiawatha, and noble leaders, such as the Seneca, Cornplanter, who was rewarded with a tract of land along Pennsylvania’s Allegheny River for his diplomatic efforts with the fledgling government of the American Colonies.
The Iroquois people were rooted in the land, which designated each person an important function as the seasons changed. Men were hunters and warriors, providers and protectors of the community. Women owned the houses, gathered wild foods, cooked, made baskets and clothing, and cared for the children.

We can learn much from the Native American tradition of the potlatch.

It is a tradition that values generosity above all else, and a potlatch,which is a very grand ceremony, is an exercise in giving away materialpossessions, food, and money. It is not uncommon for the host of a potlatch to give away so much of his own resources to his guests that he ends up with nothing. However, he can regain his wealth by attending potlatches at which he is a guest. In this way, a potlatch validates generosity and encourages the flow of resources in a community,while at the same time continually reaffirming the importance of community ties.

When we are held in a web of trust and connection, we can give
generously, knowing that when it is our turn we will be supported. In this way, our whole sense of ownership becomes less individualistic and more communal. Resources are in an acceptable state of flux, moving within the community through the vehicle of the potlatch, which serves the additional function of strengthening community ties. This seems clearly preferable to isolating ourselves from one another and hoarding our resources.

Perhaps we can find ways in our own lives to create a community in which a flow of resources happens in this way, in which we support one another to be generous. We might begin by celebrating our own type of potlatch, having a dinner party and giving each guest an object that is dear to us. Or we could give everyone a little bit of money in an envelope to spend on themselves just for fun. Someone might get inspired to throw their own potlatch, and before we know it we might have a tradition that supports and validates generosity even as it creates a safety net for leaner times. In the most profound sense, that is what a community,a tribe, and family do best.

The Mi’kmaq spoke a language which was a member of the Algonkian family. It was closely related to that spoken by their neighbours the Malecite and Passamaquoddy, and distantly related to other Algonkian-speakers such as the Beothuk and the Innu. In the early historic period, the fundamental unit of Mi’kmaq society was the extended family, which could consist of a leader (sagamaw) of a group of related people including the sagamaw’s immediate family, his married children and their families, and other relatives who lived with him. At times and places where food was plentiful, a number of these local groups could form bands which in the summer could range up to two to three hundred people. On occasion, the sagamaws came together in a kind of council to discuss important matters, especially those having to do with peace and war. A traditional account of the Mi’kmaq people also holds that their land was divided into seven regions and that each region was led by a chief. The Cape Breton regional chief was considered a Grand Chief. It is not clear if this arrangement existed in prehistoric times, and most authorities believe that Mi’kmaq society was essentially an egalitarian one whose leaders were chosen because of the prestige and status that they had earned. Their leadership, it is argued, largely consisted of being able to create agreement within a band about what to do. Such leadership was particularly important in resolving conflicts within a group, negotiating alliances with other people, going to war with enemies, and making decisions about when and where to hunt and fish.

Since the Mi’kmaq lived a bit too far north to be able to depend upon aboriginal crops such as corn, beans, and squash, they relied upon the resources of the forests and the sea. To do so, Mi’kmaq groups had to follow precisely-timed schedules. According to Father Biard, in January they hunted seals on the coasts and off-shore islands, while the period from February to the middle of March was spent inland hunting moose, caribou, beaver and bear. In the last half of March, the people moved out to the coasts and estuaries to catch smelt, and by the end of April herring were available. The spring also brought migratory sea birds and salmon. From May to the middle of September the Mi’kmaq fished and gathered shellfish. Then they moved to the tributaries of the larger rivers to take eel, and in October and November groups moved inland to hunt moose, caribou and beaver. In December, young cod were taken under the ice.

The Mi’kmaq did not make a distinction, as Europeans did, between
what was natural and what was supernatural or spiritual. On the contrary,
not only people, but animals, the sun, rivers, or even rocks, could have a
spirit–could be a person. The sun had special significance, but the
Mi’kmaq believed that all of the universe was filled with a spirit called
mntu or manitou. The universe had become understandable
to the Mi’kmaq in part because of Glooscap or Klu’skap,
who taught the people how the world had come into being and how it
worked now. In the 19th century, a Nova Scotia Baptist missionary
named Silas Rand collected many of the oral traditions of the Mi’kmaq,
including a number of tales recounting Glooskap’s exploits.

Like most hunter-gatherer peoples, the Mi’kmaq had shamans,
religious specialists, who lived among them. These individuals,
called puoin, had the power to cure ills (and to cause them),
and they were relied upon to interpret the spiritual world to the
people. Although Christian missionaries tried to discredit the
puoin and the world-view that they represented, many traditional
beliefs and practices persisted, some down to the present day.

© 1997, Ralph T. Pastore
Archaeology Unit & History Department
Memorial University of Newfoundland

This is an excerpt from a speech made by
MARGE ANDERSON, Chief Executive, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe to the first Friday Club of St Thomas Church in St. Paul Minnesota.  She speaks to the oneness and value of Indian culture and why it is so…

*******

And when you understand this, then you will understand that our fight

for treaty rights is not just about hunting deer or catching fish. It

is about teaching our children to honor Mother Earth and Father Sun.

It is about teaching them to respectfully receive the gifts these

loving parents offer us in return for the care we give them. And it is

about teaching this generation and the generations yet to come about

their place in the web of life. Our culture and the fish, our values

and the deer, the lessons we learn and the rice we harvest- everything

is tied together. You can no more separate one from the other than you

can divide a person’s spirit from his body

                                                 
The Medicine Wheel is representative of American Indian Spirituality. The Medicine Wheel
symbolizes the individual journey we each must take to find our own path. Within the Medicine
Wheel are The Four Cardinal Directions and the Four Sacred Colors. The Circle represents the
Circle of Life and the Center of the Circle, the Eternal Fire.

Attributes, are associated with each cardinal
direction. These attributes are said to influence or even to govern certain
emotions, features, ideas or intellect, passions and even personality traits
in receptive individuals. The effectiveness or force of each direction
on an individual varies greatly and depends on the interaction of the influencing
factors from the other three directions. Each attribute has an equal but
opposing partner in another direction.

The North largely governs or influences physical aspects of an individual
person’s life–courage, strength, patience, and endurance. To endure with
a purpose, leads to patience. Strength is nothing more than patience exercised
for a specific purpose. Courage is built on strength–a strength that is
nothing more than courage exercised with a purpose to accomplish a specific
goal.

In short, the cold winds of winter teach the whole person about her
or his physical aspects and abilities. The North brings about physical
balance and harmony for the individual in the same manner the South brings
about those same aspects for the community as a whole entity.

East governs mind–learning. It is the direction from which light awakens
each morning: life, light, wisdom and knowledge. One must have life to
endure. Patience is endurance coupled with knowledge. Wisdom, following
this model, is knowledge exercised for a good purpose, usually one of service
and sharing or problem solving. Each eastern attribute is a sibling to
a northern attribute.

The South, from which warming breezes come, brings rains and warmth
to grow and nourish our crops. It governs our interconnected sense of community,
family, growing and working together as one body–community as a body.
Called environment and ecology today, it is characterized by harmony and
balance, like the three sisters in a garden–corn, beans and squash. Each
puts into soil what the other needs. Harmony, balance, relationship and
interdependence are all associated with the South. Both South and West
govern, influence and teach the idea of community body and mind–family,
in the same manner North and East teach development of an individual’s
body and mind. Earth is a living world with many nations such as bird,
deer, grass and the star nations; desert, forest, mountain, plains and
other regions are like clan camps–each with it own particular citizens.
Each with its own four-fold path : infancy, youth, maturity and old age.

The West is associated with humility, reverence, holiness, and the origins
of love. When the sun wakes up, it doesn’t come roaring like a beast. It
gently nudges its brothers and sisters from the sky–the moon and stars–telling
them they may rest now. This is devotion–humility originates love. The
sun ends its journey with quiet humility. It doesn’t brag that it is bigger
or has more light than its brothers and sisters. We learn the origins of
love through this example of true humility. It is the direction where life
ends. The sun is powerful. It does not have to rest, but each evening it
leaves quietly to make room for brothers and sisters that they may have
their season, too. This is the visible example of love–the Sun, perfect
symbol for perfect Creator. It is One Above made visible in symbolic form

East = Red = success; triumph
North = Blue = defeat; trouble
West = Black = death
South = White = peace; happiness

There are three additional sacred directions:
Up Above = Yellow
Down Below = Brown
Here in the Center = Green

You ask me to plow the ground. Shall I take a knife and tear my mother’s bosom?
Then when I die she will not take me to her bosom to rest. “You ask me to
dig for stones! Shall I dig under her skin for bones? Then when I die I cannot
enter her body to be born again. “You ask me to cut grass and make hay and
sell it and be rich like white men, but how dare I cut my mother’s hair?
““

Indian people are lovers of nature. He loved the
earth and all things of the earth, the attachment growing with age. The
old people came literally to love the soil and they sat or reclined on
the ground with a feeling of being close to a mothering power. It was
good for the skin to touch the earth and the old people liked to remove
their moccasins and walk with bare feet on the sacred earth. Their
tepees were built upon the earth and their altars were made of earth,
and it was the final abiding place of all things that lived and grew.
The soil was soothing, strengthening, cleansing and healing.

That is why the old Indian still sits upon the earth instead of
propping himself up and away from its life-giving forces. For him, to
sit or lie upon the ground is to be able to think more deeply and to
feel more keenly; he can see more clearly into the mysteries of life
and come closer in kinship to other lives about him.

Kinship with all creatures of the earth, sky and water was a real
and active principle. For the animal and bird world there existed a
brotherly feeling that kept the people safe among them and so close
did some of the people come to their feathered and furred friends that
in true brotherhood they spoke a common tongue.

The Indian people were wise. They knew that man’s heart away from nature
becomes hard; they knew that lack of respect for growing, living things
soon led to lack of respect for humans, too.

In the Indian the spirit of the land is vested; it will be until
other men are able to divine and meet its rhythm. Men must be born and
reborn to belong. Their bodies must be formed of the dust of their
forefathers’ bones.

[The Indian] was kin to all living things and he gave to all
creatures equal rights with himself. Everything of earth was loved and
reverenced.

Chief Luther Standing Bear, Land of the Spotted Eagle, Houghton
Mifflin, Boston & New York, 1933.