I was reading the other day about Native Americans and their beliefs and rituals...?

Question

I find the corrolation they use with the animals on their totems fascinating. Are there tribes that still practice the old ways?

Answer 1

Of course there are... plenty of them, too. Check states like Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Idaho and North Dakota

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Answer 2

I can't really speak for the Native Americans, but from what little I know yes, I think that some of them do. They also incorporate some of the old ways into the new, such as the Native American church. I have never been to a service there but I think it is part Christian, part Nature based.

Answer 3

They're still around. What you speak of is commonly known as animal medicine. The body itself identifies with all the creatures of the earth, some more than others. Under certain conditions, through a combination of allowing the bodies identification with the physical aspects of the animal, and at the same time projecting a portion of your own consciousness and blending it with the animal's consciousness, you can assume the animal's 'powers' and perspective. In some cultures they call it shape-shifting.

Answer 4

As myself, a Native American - most all of the tribes still do practice the old ways. Of course we live in modern times, but we have never forgotten our heritage. In fact the Native American Historical Society is putting on video/DVDs what our elders still have memory of. The stories passed onto them. The language of their youth.

Answer 5

Argh. Beware of generic assesments of indigionous peoples.
Don't romanticise.

People survive, they live, they struggle, some thrive many die. Some other things, very important things, survive. Some universals, some not!

No one can go back, things will never be the same. Foreward is the only way home for any of us, native or non-native. Around the world there are people struggling to hang on to and rediscover their ancestors and natural ways of understanding. Some are sharing striving to reconnect. Helping each other to get back. a lot of mistakes and abuses are happening. A lot of wonderful things are happening as well from this reaching out and sharing! We are some of us, strengthening each other, learning from each other, creating bonds!

'EVERYONE' SPRUNG FROM AN EARTH BASED CULTURE AND SPIRITUALITY, all lineages trace back to this beginning. IT IS STILL WITHIN ALL OF US TO REDISCOVER!

Our earth based ways have many common and universal threads. Learning from nature and acknowledging that we are a part of that, it is the beginning, the door opening, the door disolving into open space. You are beginning! This is not a colour coded birth right. It is everyones! Culture...that is different. We all need to be respectful to one another.

If you are interested in 'totems' or 'crest poles', go on to the internet or go to a good library and look up Haida artists like Robert Davidson, Bill Reid and Mungo Martin. It is somewhere to start.

Yes, these are living art forms and living cultures. learn what is behind these to understand what is within them.

As for dying cultures. When I was a teenager in high school my Canadian history book said that Native People were a dying race and that their cultures' were dead. Well! some did die. Some exterminated. However, today the First Nations of Canada have the highest population growth in the country despite herendous odds!

I was sitting at a friends kitchen table with her grandaughter and her grands hubby. They are Six Nations kids from out east. Great young couple! Anyway...this young guy was amazed at something very intersting. He grew up without learning his indigeonous language. No surprise. He had come to believe it was going to be lost forever as many of his generation believed. Today, he finds himself a fish out of water as he hears his language being spoken fluently amongst young teens from his First Nation! WOW! Tears! NEVER SAY DIE! IT ISN'T OVER TILL ITS OVER !

I am not saying that there is an easy road ahead...it is really, really rough for a lot of people. But wow,,,these young people rock!

My son is a Sundancer. He is only seventeen. He is a leader!
So don't say it is dying, it is not! Like the Phenix rising I believe with all my heart and soul that all is not lost!

I am not native. I have family and friends that are. I am proud of my lineage, so don't go calling me some deluded wanna be! That should not make any difference. Earth consciousness is not something determined by so called 'race'. You don't have to do it 'the native way' to be a part of it either. We all have this inside of us. Some 'more' naturally than others but that is not nescerrailly by lineage or culture. It just is.

I will pass on something to you. A lot is changing, and it is changing faster than anyone realises! Everyone would be very smart to ground themselves in tune with the earth. Communicate, educate, appreciate and activate! NOW!

These bags of water we are given...colour will not mean the same as it does now, as in the future. But first...we must survive! We must remember!

Safe journey. I love you all.

Answer 6

Ya'at'eeh,

I can not answer your question in regards to the totems, but I can reassure you as a Navajo Indian that Native Americans are practicing our "old ways." We continue our language, culture and have assisted non-Natives with Navajo-based judicial court programs to assist in their judicial court systems. As such, we not only speak and continue our language and culture, but we are empowering others with our culture.

Despite the 1990 Census survey of 25% of the Navajo population still fluently speaks the Navajo language, public schools and higher education institutions on the Navajo Nation are teaching the Navajo language and/or have integrated Navajo language into their normal curriculum. Such a school is the Tse Ho Ts'o Dine Bi Olta of Fort Defiance, AZ, which has immersed all the lessons in the Navajo language and culture. Of course, English is taught as the Arizona curriculum, but the rest of the subjects as such math, science, arts, technology are taught in the Navajo language. This Navajo immersion school has performed at levels comparable to the rest of the nation fulfilling NCLB standards. Dine College, the first Native American college in the United States, teaches the Navajo language to the public. Instructors teach students the Navajo language with such forms as Navajo for non-speakers, Navajo for speakers, Navajo medical terminology and Navajo public speaking. In fact, some college Navajo linguists are assisting some Athabascan-speaking tribes with supplementing parts of their language which has been lost. In some commercial environments, the Navajo language is used to describe areas within the stores. Of course, most businesses such as automobile dealerships, restaurants, grocery stores, garages, etc. on and bordering the Navajo Indian Reservation are bilingual. So, the Navajo language is taught and of course supported by local communities.

Again, orthodox Navajo culture is taught within K-12 public schools and colleges and integrated some Navajo government programs. Different Navajo teaching philosophies are integrated into different schools as the schools' paradigm such as the Rough Rock Demonstration School's Corn Stalk philosophy of teaching. Dine College teaches Navajo philosophy, some basic Navajo ceremonial songs and some basic Navajo ceremonial herbs. Sometimes with the permission of the patient and the head singer, Dine College students participate in the actual ceremony. K-12 schools compete in different cultural activities such as traditional singing, performance of traditional activities, Navajo poetry, making of cultural items and contemporary singing in Navajo. As such, the Navajo culture is very much alive.

As I mentioned before, the Navajo are assisting others, Native and non-Native, with the Navajo language and/or culture. For some Athabascan-speaking tribes of the northwest United States or western coastal Canadian tribes, the Navajo is assisting some of those tribes by supplementing their language and culture with Navajo language, culture, philosophy and some ceremonies. For some Native, U.S. and international non-Native judicial courts, the Navajo Peacemaker Court System is an ideal system to work out legal problems.

If you do some research, you can find a lot of information on Navajo language and culture programs. On the other hand, just come out to the Navajo rez and see it yourself. You will see a great example in this year's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" where a Navajo family is given a home. Ceremonial and cultural considerations were taken into account in the design of the home. It's a pretty cool looking home. But, Navajos continue their language and culture in all forms. These are a few examples. I hope this answers your question. In the mean time, take care and peace be upon you.

Hagoonee',

Answer 7

I am not sure if you mean totems as in spirit guide or totem pole as in family statement.

Totem poles are more indiginous to the Northwest. I may be incorrect. Some others may have them as well in other areas that I am not aware of.

Answer 8

Yeah. There sure are native african tribes still around but they aren't exposed to civilisation. Bit behind the times I suppose.

Answer 9

kinda sorta. but it's dying out rapidly. soon there won't be much left of the old ways, except for a half remembered remnant. rather like wicca is a vague reflection of the old ways of europe...

Answer 10

I'm sure there are but Sunman would know much more on this than I, however there is a very good movie I think you would like it's called Dead Man.