Native American Religion (Religion in American Life) PDF
Preview Native American Religion (Religion in American Life)
Native American Religion JON BUTLER & HARRY S. STOUT GENERAL EDITORS Native American Religion Joel W. Martin OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS NewYork • Oxford Oxford University Press Oxford NewYork Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Paris Sao Paulo Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Copyright © 1999 by Joel W. Martin Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Website: www.oup-usa.org Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Martin, Joel, 1956- Native American Religion / Joel Martin. p. cm. — (Religion in American life) Includes bibliographical references and index. Summary: Discusses the world view and beliefs of various Native American religions and their role in promoting survival of the devastation caused by the arrival of Europeans. ISBN 0-19-511035-8 (alk. paper) 1. Indians of North America—Religion—Juvenile literature. [1. Indians of North America—Religion.] I. Title. II. Series. 299' .7—dc21 98-50155 CIP AC 987654321 On the cover: Rain House and Saguaro Wine Festi- val, painted in 1993 by Mike Chiago, depicts the Printed in the United States of America O'odham ceremony performed each June. on acid-free paper Frontispiece: Lisa Altaha with her godmother dur- Design and layout: Loraine Machlin ing the Sunrise Dance at the Apache Girls' Puberty Picture research: Lisa Kirchner Ceremony at Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona. Contents Introduction 7 Jon Butler and Harry S. Stout 1 C H A P T ER Circling Earth 13 C H A P T ER 2 Tradition and Crisis in the Eastern Woodlands 39 3 C H A P T ER Native and Christian 67 C H A P T ER 4 New Religions in the West 91 5 C H A P T ER Homecoming 121 Chronology 147 Further Reading 151 Index 154 Introduction JON BUTLER & HARRY S. STOUT, GENERAL EDITORS A "Our land, our religion, and our life are one." statement describing the belief of the Hopi Indians, it echoes throughout the history of many other Native Americans. For the Anishinaabe people of contemporary Minnesota, the wild rice harvest, with its eager anticipation, family activity, and traditional rituals, reconnect the Anishinaabe to the land and its sacred power. For Handsome Lake, the Seneca visionary of the early 1800s, reli- gious renewal offered a way to recover the "Good Word" of ancient moral teachings and to shed the drinking and gambling introduced by Euro- peans. For Catharine Brown, a youth converted by New England mission- aries working among the Cherokee Indians, a religious awakening meant long hours in Bible reading and a concern for conversion that over- whelmed even her dreams. Joel Martin's Native American Religion explores the rich diversity and vital heritage of religious expression among America's many Native peo- ples. It traces the development of Native American religion from ancient burial mounds thousands of years old to the arrival of European con- querors and missionaries in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It depicts the vast movements for pan-Indian renewal and the remarkable The Gaan, Apache Moun- tain Spirit Dancers, cele- persistence of traditional Native belief in twentieth-century America, brate the passage of from the formation of the Native American Church in 1918 to the pas- Apache girls into woman- sage of the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act of 1990 that hood at a Sunrise or Girls' restores many religious objects and human remains to Native groups. Puberty Ceremony in 1947. 7 • Native American Religion Profiles of famous and ordinary men and women contribute to bring this vibrant, complex, and sometimes controversial history alive. This book is part of a unique 17-volume series that explores the evo- lution, character, and dynamics of religion in American life from 1500 to the end of the 20th century. As late as the 1960s, historians paid relatively little attention to religion beyond studies of New England's Puritans. But since then, American religious history and its contemporary expression have been the subject of intense inquiry. These new studies have thor- oughly transformed our knowledge of almost every American religious group and have fully revised our understanding of religion's role in American history. It is impossible to capture the flavor and character of the American experience without understanding the connections between secular activ- ities and religion. Spirituality stood at the center of Native American soci- eties before European colonization and has continued to do so long after. Religion—and the freedom to express it—motivated milllions of immi- grants to come to America from remarkably different cultures, and the exposure to new ideas and ways of living shaped their experience. It also fueled tension among different ethnic and racial groups in America and, regretfully, accounted for difficult episodes of bigotry in American soci- ety. Religion urged Americans to expand the nation—first within the continental United States, then through overseas conquests and mission- ary work—and has had a profound influence on American politics, from the era of the Puritans to the present. Finally, religion contributes to the extraordinary diversity that has, for four centuries, made the United States one of the world's most dynamic societies. The Religion in American Life series explores the historical traditions that have made religious freedom and spiritual exploration central fea- tures of American society. It emphasizes the experience of religion in America—what men and women have understood by religion, how it has affected politics and society, and how Americans have used it to shape their daily lives. 8 RELIGION IN COLONIAL AMERICA Jon Butler RELIGION IN NINETEENTH CENTURY AMERICA Grant Wacker RELIGION IN TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICA JON BUTLER & HARRY S. STOUT Randall Balmer GENERAL EDITORS BUDDHISTS, HINDUS, AND SIKHS IN AMERICA Gurinder Singh Mann, Paul David Numrich & Raymond B. Williams CATHOLICS IN AMERICA James T. Fisher JEWS IN AMERICA Hasia R. Diner MORMONS IN AMERICA Claudia Lauper Bushman & Richard Lyman Bushman MUSLIMS IN AMERICA Frederick Denny ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS IN AMERICA JohnH.Erickson PROTESTANTS IN AMERICA Mark Noll AFRICAN-AMERICAN RELIGION Albert J. Raboteau NATIVE AMERICAN RELIGION Joel W.Martin ALTERNATIVE RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS IN AMERICA Stephen J. Stein CHURCH AND STATE IN AMERICA Edwin S. Gaustad IMMIGRATION AND AMERICAN RELIGION Jenna Weissmanjoselit WOMEN AND AMERICAN RELIGION AnnBraude BIOGRAPHICAL SUPPLEMENT AND SERIES INDEX Darryl Hart and Ann Henderson Hart
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