Just as there are hundreds of Native American tribes, there are probably hundreds of Native American religions with their own special touches, and hundreds of thousands of papers have been written about them in order for white grad students to try to understand them. I won't attempt to try to do that here, at least not fully and certainly not to the depth that they deserve. The best that I can do is to continue to paint Native American religions with a very broad brush to give you a very, very general idea.
The Sweat Lodge:
First, those who wish to avail themselves may visit the sweat lodge, which represents the womb. It used to be that only men could enter and participate in the sweat lodge rituals, but lately, it's been open to women who aren't in "their time of the moon." Sweat lodges can be used by men and women separately or together, but they are only for the truly serious and not for those interested in picking up a date. Nudity is not allowed; Native Americans are very modest and resent their rituals being taken lightly, just as we would.
The sweat lodge itself is usually a circular east-facing lodge, plank house, wickiup or teepee big enough to fit one to twenty people, and is very specific in design. Only specially-trained people are allowed to set one up lest the participants die of exploding rocks, smoke inhalation or heat exhaustion. Those within it are closely supervised and guided on their sacred path by someone called the "Fire-keeper." The Sweat Lodge is, after all, a place for Native Americans to purify and renew themselves, obtain enlightenment, healing, and peace, and find a spiritual refuge in an otherwise discordant and Euro-centric (White Man's) world.
Before participants can enter the sweat lodge, he or she should have fasted for the day and abstained from coffee, tea, drugs or alcohol. Then the participant is smudged. This means that a bundle of leaves and twigs is lit and the smoke is directed toward the participant with an eagle feather because eagles bring prayers to God/the Great Spirit/the Creator and God/the Great Spirit/the Creator sends him back with blessings, peace, happiness and love. Smudge bundles are made of one of the following: sage for cleansing, strength and meaning; sweet-grass (Hierochloe odorata,) for truth and purity; and cedar for healing and comfort. Smudge bundles are also sometimes made of cannabis, lavender, juniper, peppermint, spearmint or a combination thereof, but sage, sweet-grass or cedar are preferred. Some sweat lodges then offer a peace pipe, and others offer the participant the opportunity to give a gift of tobacco or possibly tobacco plus cannabis, which is placed on the sacred fire in the lodge. The smoke of the offering is supposed to carry prayers and thoughts to God/the Creator/the Great Spirit, much like regular incense in Catholic or Episcopal churches or during certain Wiccan rituals.
Once everyone has been seated around the inside edge of the sweat lodge, red hot stones, called the "Stone People" are brought in and placed in a north, east, west, and south position in a pit which is in the middle of the sweat lodge. Introductions by the participants are given, and then the first of four sessions begins. Each session lasts about 30-45 minutes for a total of two to three hours.
If I understand this correctly, at the first session, water is poured on the western rock to create steam, and prayers are offered to recognize the spirit world of the black west, symbolically the unknown and mysterious world of the Afterlife. Next, water is poured on the red-hot northern rock to create steam and prayers are offered in recognition of the courage and strength of the white North, which is interesting because the courageous indigenous peoples from Siberia migrated to the "Turtle Islands" (North America) and then headed south from the snowy North without knowing what they were in for. After that, water is poured on the eastern rock to create steam and prayers are offered in recognition of the wisdom of the Red Road (the Indian Way) or sometimes in recognition of the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ. And finally, water is poured on the southern rock to recognize the healing and growth-potential that comes from the yellow sun. Then everybody leaves the hot, steamy sweat lodge to jump into the brisk water of the nearest river or lake, or to roll around in the snow or sand in order to get all of the oil and sweat off their bodies.
The Native American Church:
The Native American Church relies on weekly gatherings which seem to be held on Saturday nights and continue through to a communal breakfast on Sunday morning. During this time, they gather for prayer, the reading of Bible verses, place an emphasis on the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ, the End of Days, the Resurrection, and baptism by water and hymns. In this way, they aren't too different from most Pentecostal churches. However, many of them also incorporate distinctly Native American touches into their celebrations, depending on the church: The Birth (Blessing) Ceremony, the Sacred Breath Ceremony, The Laying on of Hands (which has mostly to do with herbal healing) Ceremony, the Marriage Blanket Ceremony, the Passing on of the Spirit Ceremony, the Potlatch (Redistribution of Wealth) Ceremony, the Sacred Prayer Pipe to express the unity of all people as Children of the Creator or Great Spirit or God, the Sacred Peyote Ceremony, the Sweat Lodge, the Ghost Dance, the Sun Dance, the Drum Dance, the Green Corn Dance and the Vision Quest, and the use of sacred water drums and the sacred gourd rattles as part of their services. There are approximately 250,000 members of the Native American Church.
Regarding the Sacred Peyote Ceremony: Their leader/medicine man/shaman/priest is called the "Roadman," and it is he who puts the spiritual travelers on the Peyote Road to enlightenment or spiritual awareness. (Please note, you cannot legally take the Peyote Road if you are not at least certifiably one-quarter Native American.) The Sacred Peyote, the use of which goes back 6,000 years, is either ingested as a dried pod or infused in a tea, and is said to allow for communion with the Creator and for healing of any kind. It is not clear at what point the Sacred Peyote is introduced into the service or if it is used in lieu of communion wafers or wine/grape juice, but its use has been linked to a reduction in alcoholism in Native Americans.
Colors also have sacred meaning in the Native American Church. Blue represents the sky and empowerment. Green represents the river and healing. Yellow represents the earth and the Road of Life. Red represents fire and either Jesus Christ or prayer or the Sacred Pipe which is made of red pipestone. Black represents water and purification, and white represents the smoke of tobacco. It should be noted that the meanings ascribed to the colors probably vary depending on the tribe or congregation.
Traditional Tribal Religions:
These vary tribe by tribe and healer by healer, but they usually contain a few, some, most or all of the Native American rituals: the Birth (Blessing) Ceremony, the Sacred Breath Ceremony, The Laying on of Hands (which has mostly to do with herbal healing) Ceremony, the Marriage Blanket Ceremony, the Passing on of the Spirit Ceremony, the Potlatch (Redistribution of Wealth) Ceremony, the Sacred Prayer Pipe to express the unity of all people as Children of the Creator or Great Spirit or God, the Sacred Peyote Ceremony, the Sweat Lodge, the Ghost Dance, the Sun Dance, the Drum Dance, the Green Corn Dance, storytelling and the Vision Quest. Their goal is to instruct, purify, renew, obtain enlightenment, healing, and peace, to find a Oneness with the Great Spirit or the Creator and with Nature, and a spiritual refuge in an otherwise discordant and Euro-centric (White Man's) world.
Certain tribes also have interesting ceremonies and religions. The Quapaw, for example, have a Half-Moon ceremony in which tobacco is used, but not the Bible, and a Big Moon ceremony in which the Bible is read, but no tobacco is used. Those who practice Midewiwin in the Algonquin tribes engage in very secret healing ceremonies concerning the Mystery of the Sacred Medicine and the transference of souls (at least as far as I can fathom.) Certain tribes in California, like the Pomo and the Miwok, have secret underground dances in celebration of Kuksu, a red-beaked supernatural healer who lives in a sweat-lodge at the southern end of the world.
The Iroquois Nations, especially the Seneca, follow the teachings of Handsome Lake, a Seneca recovering alcoholic who saw what has happening to his people after they had been consigned to reservations and preached an updated version of The Great Law of Peace in which he outlawed drunkenness, witchcraft, sexual promiscuity, wife-beating and quarreling, all by-products of excessive drinking. Some Siouan-speakers may not believe in a Great Spirit, per se, but they believe in "Wakan Tanka," which is the divine essence in every living and inanimate thing. The famous Kachina dolls of the tribes in the Southwest are said to represent powerful male and female spiritual beings who brought forth rain and provided other blessings, but then humans took them for granted, so the Kachina left, and the Kachina costumes worn by the male dancers allow the dancers to become one with the Kachina whom they are representing. And several indigenous religions predict the end of White Man's domination of this continent and a return to Native Americans ways.
White Man's Religions:
Only 4% of the Native Americans identify themselves as Christian, which is understandable, in light of the historically brutal, imperialist, and racist efforts to convert them, not that anyone has tried those methods in several years. These White Man's Religions include the Roman Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, the Baptist Church, the Episcopal Church, the many Pentecostal churches, and the Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons.)
Unfortunately, it wasn't that long ago that Native American children were separated from their mothers and their fathers and forced to live in church-run boarding school in order to educate them, assimilate them into white society, and leech away their senses of tribal identity. Many of these boarding schools are still in operation today, but hopefully, with courses that recognize their tribal heritage.
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