Culture

The culture of the Native Americans is very alternative from the culture of other people in the Western World. They had an extraordinary culture. They were really earthbound. They were great hunters and were really skilled in following tracks. They used bows and arrows and mostly hunted buffaloes, wolves, beavers and bears. Their hunting techniques were very varied and depended on what they were hunting. They often used animal skins to camouflage themselves.



The spiritual culture was also very important. They built totem poles, that often recounted familiar legends or notable events. They are known for smoking pipes called calumets, a common misunderstanding is that they always smoked drugs, but most of the time it was tobacco that was smoked. Smoking was a sacred ritual. “ Huron Indian myth has it that in ancient times, when the land was barren and the people were starving, the Great Spirit sent forth a woman to save humanity. As she traveled over the world, everywhere her right hand touched the soil, there grew potatoes. And everywhere her left hand touched the soil, there grew corn. And when the world was rich and fertile, she sat down and rested. When she arose, there grew tobacco...“. The sacred pipe ceremony was one of the most sacred things in the Native American religion.

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Their culture still affects America, both in art and in media. They had many beautiful patterns and some of them are still used by the biggest fashion brands. There are still many cities and states which have names originated from Native American languages. There are some really good films that have been made about them, for example the Last of the Mohicans and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. They used the land for agriculture their crops were for example squash, corn, cotton, tobacco, sunflowers and pumpkins, those crops are still grown throughout the United States. They lived in tents called tipis, they were made out of animal skins and they usually made small fires in the middle of them. They built totem poles, that often recounted familiar legends or notable events. They are known for smoking pipes called calumets, a common misunderstanding is that they always smoked drugs but that isn’t true, most of the time it was tobacco in them. Smoking was a sacred ritual. “ Huron Indian myth has it that in ancient times, when the land was barren and the people were starving, the Great Spirit sent forth a woman to save humanity. As she traveled over the world, everywhere her right hand touched the soil, there grew potatoes. And everywhere her left hand touched the soil, there grew corn. And when the world was rich and fertile, she sat down and rested. When she arose, there grew tobacco...“. The sacred pipe ceremony was one of the most sacred things in the Native American religion.

We found out that they had an amazing connection with nature and that the Europeans treated them terribly. They believed that they were a part of the nature and shouldn't separate themselves from it. They respected the land and the creatures living there.  They shared the land and hadn't even had the idea of someone “owning” the land. The Europeans thought the exact opposite. The land had great spiritual value to them. When they hunted the prayed to the Creator and believed that it was the land that gave the prey to them. Then they came home and shared the food.
 

 

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