Mythologizing Native American spirituality

Native American religions are the spiritual practices of the indigenous peoples of North America. Ceremonial ways can vary widely and are based on the differing histories and beliefs of individual tribes, clans, and bands. Early European explorers describe individual Native American tribes and even small bands as each having their own religious practices.

Instead of calling their beliefs and practices a set religion, most refer to it as a system of spirituality that permeates every aspect of their lives. Religion is a set doctrine of supernatural beliefs, the ceremonies, and activities associated with it, and includes things like concepts of deities, spirits or ghosts, what happens to a person after death, and certain special occasions throughout a person's life.

Native American spirituality includes similar ideas, but integrates them more into everyday living rather than reserving them for special occasions. Of course, there are ceremonies for births, deaths, marriages, harvests, and other special times, but daily life was just as filled with beliefs as “holidays” would be.

Some Common Threads Throughout:

Beliefs About Death. They believe in a spirit that lives on after physical death stopped the body. It will journey on to another realm or spirit world where it would live another type of life much as it did when it was within a human body here on Earth.

Planting or Harvesting. For tribes who engaged in agriculture, especially those in the South and Eastern portion of the United States, celebrations like the Green Corn Festivals mattered a lot. These particular ceremonies had to do with picking corn at the end of the growing season and waiting until it was ready to be used as food. These ceremonies included ritual cleansings, dancing, feasts, various types of ceremonies, and practices both serene and a lot of fun. Everything from council meetings to baby naming ceremonies to ball games and sports occurred at these times.

The Concept of a Great Spirit or God. Some people believe in many different deities controlling things like weather, the underworld, or even something as specific as a particular mountain.

The Sun Dance. Many Native religions view the sun as a great power in their spiritual world. The Sun Dance practiced by many cultures is a way to honor the sun.

The Ghost Dance. The dance would return ancestor's spirits from the dead, bring back the massive tribes of buffalo, and stop the white settlers from destroying the people or taking up the rest of the land.

Sweat Lodges. are about renewing yourself and forming a limitless bond with the spiritual world.

Pipe Ceremony. is part of peace negotiations but also naming ceremonies and personal prayers.

Smudging. Smudging is the act of burning certain herbs or incense so they produce a lot of smoke, and using that smoke to cleanse a person, object, or place. It is done in many pagan religions to release negativity or bad spirits from a location. 

Vision Quests. Many native cultures include the concept of vision quests in their religious or spiritual beliefs and practices. These quests exist to form or encourage a type of connection to a spirit or guide that can bestow truths or understanding on a particular person.