Reminder about what is NA

There were a couple of discussions over the past four days about NA tradition, and what is the way of doing certain things.Many times when you hear of a tradition, ritual, or ceremony, it isn't a "Native American" one per se, but one of a certain tribe, or Nation.

There are similarities, but there are also huge differences. When you go to an event that is anything other than an inter-tribal pow wow, call it a "Navajo ceremony", an "Ute Sundance" (the Utes invented the Sundance by the way, and the Lakota adopted it), or a" Mohawk wedding", a "Cherokee ceremony",  not a Native American event.

Many times there will be a mention of a Native American event, and in fact there aren't many tribes who honor that event. The differences usually come from where the tribe was located. Those in the Northeast have no need for any raindance (Plains and southwest tribes however did), or deer song (Navajo). Water and food was plentiful, yet if you lived in the desert southwest, these things were more important to you and part of your life. Your food, clothing and belief about the world came from what Nature provided (and didn't provide), for you.

Some tribes have elaborate family ceremonies. An example is that some tribes have adoptions,like the Lakota, who have the  Hunka ceremony, other tribes merely say..."Welcome". Just because there is a huge ceremony attached to one tribe, that doesn't necessarily mean there is one attached to another tribe. It also doesn't mean that if a person didn't have a Hunka ceremony, he wasn't adopted, he just wasn't adopted by a Lakota.

People have this strange idea about what is Native American. My joke when I was getting married was that if I were to wear traditional wedding attire, I would wear a knee length skirt , some shells, some paint and nothing else. I would be arrested today if I wore that, yet that is my traditional clothing, or lack thereof. Today if you go to a NA wedding, you frequently see brides wearing white gowns....it is pretty obvious that white satin gowns are not traditional , but make sure that you aren't taking something as traditional, or broadly Native American, when it is not.

Some did hot sweats, some did cold sweats, some didn't really bother with sweats at all. There is a vast difference in daily life in not only the US, but Canada, Mexico (where some Apache lived), and down into Central and South America.

When asking about a way, regalia, or any other question, ask, "What is your tradition?". This way you will learn much more. You will know what is Pequot and what is Seminole, what is Hopi, and what is Inuit. They are all VASTLY different from each other....

Oh, and there are NO shaman in the US except in Alaska, and Hawaii.

Not all Indians lived in a tipi

There is not one single NA language.

Not all Natives look like the ones in the westerns, and if you learned it from a movie with John Wayne, it is probably wrong.

Always research, learn and grow!

Peshaui Wequashimese


(C)2011 Dr R M Reiter Wolf, may not be used, copied or reproduced without prior written permission.