Native American Traditions

1. Native American Traditions In Harmony with Nature

2. The first Americanliterature was created by the first people to live in North America, the Native Americans • Inhabited the land thousands of years before the first Europeans • Didn’t consider the land to be a single nation • Belonged to more than 300 distinct groups • Spoke more than 200 languages • Lived a life connected with nature • Had complex religious beliefs, sophisticated political systems, and strong social values

3. Native American literature was oral • Passed down from generation to generation in the form of storytelling and performances • Pictographs, knotted strings, and coded wampum belts aided in memorization • All stories and songs were attributed to the Great Mystery • The Great Mystery gave the words to the singer or storyteller • Words possessed magic and power • Could help the hunter capture game, influence the crops to grow, etc. • Native Americans also believed the living could communicate with inanimate objects • Example: People could assume the form of animals and vice versa

4. There is an emphasis in Native American lit. on the importance of living in harmony with nature • They believed humans had a kinship with animals, plants, the land, the heavenly bodies, and the elements • They believed human beings did not have control over nature and was actually a part of nature that needed to maintain a proper relationship with the surroundings

5. Types of Native American Lit • Myth • A traditional story, religious in nature, that explains a belief, ritual, or natural phenomenon • Most myths contain archetypes • Archetype – a pattern that appears in literature across cultures and is repeated throughout the ages • Can be a character, a plot, an image, a theme, or setting • Creationmyths • Explain the beginning of the world

6. Types of Native American Lit • Ritual Songs and Chants • Performed as part of ceremonies • Hunting songs, love songs, spiritual songs, etc. • Helped N.A. communicate with the Great Mystery

7. Types of Native American Lit • Tales of Heroes and Tricksters – tell of people who transformed the world into its present state • Animals act like humans • Include magical transformations • Explain natural phenomena • The hero of a trickster tale can play several roles • Cultural hero • Clever deceiver • Numbskull

8. The stories/works in our text are different from their original form • They have been translated into English • They would have been performed, not read • They still, however, expose the reader to the beauty, wisdom, and humor of the literature

9. Native Americans and their traditions have not disappeared from this country • Some cultures were lost due to disease and violence or European invasions • Others did survive and change • Forced religious conversions • Forced relocation • Forced education • They still keep oral traditions alive by singing songs and telling stories • Most of the new generation of writers deal with the problems of harmonizing the old and the new • Reconciling old traditions w/ the new practices • Mixing together mythology, oral history, & personal reflections