Download Native American Religion: Pluralism, Continuity, and European Contact and more Quizzes World Religions in PDF only on Docsity! TERM 1 Native American Diversity DEFINITION 1 Pluralism -> not a phenomenon of the modern world - Americans were most diverse before European exploration - Over 500 native American societies identified in North America - Different languages, housing types, occupations, religions.. TERM 2 Religious Diversity DEFINITION 2 Every group had/has its own:Sacred stories, sacred songs/dances, religious authorities, rituals - No single religious institution, so single acred book, no core group of rituals - No pan-Indian movement until 20th centuryAMID SUCH DIVERSITY, CAN WE SAY ANYTHING ABOUT "NATIVE AMERICAN RELIGION"? TERM 3 Contact with Europeans DEFINITION 3 Vastly different epistemologies (philosophies) and ontologies (beliefs about the nature of being) between Europeans and Native Americans - Often led to justifications for conquest - Natives frequently characterized as "pagans" or "heathens" TERM 4 Bartholome de las Casas DEFINITION 4 Spanish priest and writer (1484-1566) - Emigrated to the Americas in 1502 - Criticized Spanish treatment of Indians - Asked whether is be "worse to give the Indians into the charge of the evils of hell than to the Christians of the Indies" - Papal Bull of 1537 declared that Indians were human beings - One of the first human rights movementsYet primary issue for most Europeans was eradication of assimilation of Indians TERM 5 The Lakota DEFINITION 5 Lakota are well-known for their resistance to the US Army and to encroachment on their culture - Led by legendary 19th century chiefs such as Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse - Forced to give up lands and traditional occupations after the Battle of Little Bighorn - Put on reservations by the 1890s TERM 6 Continuity between Human Beings and the Natural World DEFINITION 6 Everything is considered alive, dynamic, significant - Human beings are actively involved in this change and linked to the natural world TERM 7 Wakan Tanka DEFINITION 7 "Mystery" or "power" (wakan) found in forces of nature, animals, plants, human beings, inanimate objects... -Bison historically at the center of tribal identity - Especially said to epitomize this power - Source of both material and spiritual sustenance TERM 8 Continuity between Natural and Supernatural DEFINITION 8 Symbolic relationship between human beings and otherworldly figures - Not a dualistic religious system - The holy of divine constantly in the material realm TERM 9 Tossing of the Sacred Bull Ritual DEFINITION 9 -Represents desire to be close to the power of the great buffalo spirit - Ball originally constructed of buffalo hide- Standing in the center of a field, a young woman tosses a ball to a group of player-The players then scramble to catch the ball and symbolically gain the wisdom of the buffalo TERM 10 Continuity between Living and Dead DEFINITION 10 Ancestor spirits - Spirits of deceased loved ones - Can travel between earthly and spiritual realms - Sought for assistant and a sense of family unity
