I need information on Native American Religions. I know that they tend
to revolve around stories, and I've found several Native American
myths, but they aren't very informative as to the -for lack of a
better word- structure of the religion. Another thing I have noticed
is that the myths, (and from that I conclude any other religious
beliefs as well) cannot be said to be consistent between different
Native American tribes. Most likely, information that would be useful
to me would focus on one particular tribe, and be more in depth, as
opposed to less detailed information on many tribes.

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 07 Dec 2005 13:24 PST

As you said the "religions" of American Indians were vartied and
diverse depending on what tribe on is referring to and even among
those the religions differed to some degree. Being uncertain of what
you need specifically and short of providing you (unnecessarily
perhaps) a history of a particular religion, would you like me to
simply name some American Indian religions so you can research them
yourself to your heart's content?

tutuzdad-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 12 Dec 2005 11:55 PST

Do you have any you'd like to add in response to my clarification request?

tutuzdad-ga

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Clarification of Question by neilward-ga on 16 Dec 2005 10:54 PST

I'm sorry to be so slow in responding to your questions!  I don't know
much about the topic, so how about narrowing the research to
information on the Iroquois and the Cherokee tribes?

Dear neilward-ga

Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. As you
pointed our there are vast differences between the religions of
various tribes and the same is true in many instances between tribes
of the same ethnicity, depending on the region and era one researches.
Because of this it would be virtually impossible to outline the
religions of the Cherokee or Iroquois for example, in the same way one
might describe the tenets of Catholicism. Rather to describe the
religions of Native American tribes would be comparable to describing
the practice of Christianity or Islam, both of which vary widely in
terms of era, region and ethnicity.

What I have managed to do is compile what I believe are most
informative documents about the religious and spiritual practices of
these tribes. Myth is an important part of these religions and should
not be discounted as an unimportant aspect merely because they cannot
be confirmed or substantiated. Indeed the whole Native American
culture and social and political structure was and still is infused
with a spirituality that cannot be separated from the rest of the
community's life at ANY point. While I will not focus on myth and
legend in particular in my research, one must bear in mind that these
are actually ?part? of their religions and play highly significant
roles.

After some considerable research and reading of these documents that
pertain particularly to Cherokee and Iroquois tribes I have carefully
selected various sources specifically for their relative content. As I
said, it would be futiile to try and accuratley and effectily explain
in this setting what these religions, some believed to be thousands of
years old, are all about without writing volumes about them and their
religious evolutions over the centuries. By reviewing these personally
selected links I believe you will get a fascinating and detailed
overview of the religions of these tribes:

CHEROKEE

CHEROKEE RELIGION
http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/nam/cherok.html

SACRED TEXTS
http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/cher/

CHEROKEE RELIGION: HIGHLIGHTS
http://www.cherokeebyblood.com/religion.htm

WHAT WAS CHEROKEE RELIGION LIKE?
http://ngeorgia.com/letters/01jan.html

WHAT ARE THE BASICS OF THE CHEROKEE RELIGION?
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view.php/6607

TRADITIONAL RELIGION OF THE CHEROKEE NATION
http://www.cherokeenationmexico.com/rel_traditional.html

THE SACRED FORMULAS OF THE CHEROKEES
http://www.public-domain-content.com/books/native_american/cher/sfoc/index.shtml


IROQUOIS (Includes Sioux, Dakota, Lakota, Senca, Cayuga, Mohawk,
Oneida, Onondaga, Tuscarora; et al)

THE CODE OF HANDSOME LAKE, THE SENECA PROPHET
http://www.public-domain-content.com/books/native_american/iro/parker/index.shtml

THE IROQUOIS BOOK OF RITES
http://www.public-domain-content.com/books/native_american/iro/ibr/index.shtml

SIOUX RELIGION
http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/nam/sioux.html

DAKOTA / LAKOTA THEOLOGY
http://www.bluecloud.org/41.html

THE LAKOTA WAYS
http://www.itvs.org/homeland/lakota_1.html

IROQUOIS DREAMWORK AND SPIRITUALITY
http://www.webwinds.com/yupanqui/iroquoisdreams.htm
http://www.webwinds.com/yupanqui/iroquoisdreams2.htm
http://www.webwinds.com/yupanqui/iroquoisdreams3.htm
http://www.webwinds.com/yupanqui/iroquoisdreams4.htm


I hope you find that my answer exceeds your expectations. If you have
any questions about my research please post a clarification request
prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



INFORMATION SOURCES

Defined above


SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

Iroquois

Cherokee

Religion

Spirituality

Sacred

Traditions

Doctrine

Practices

Thank you!  I understand that the topic was broad, and I think you did
a great job finding sources for me.

hey,
well,one of the famous tribes - "Carib",which located in the south of
the Caribeans...
I can tell you the whole history of this tribe,but I'll give you a
link,it should giv eyou some info bout this tribe :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannibalism
(look at the part of "Cannibalism among humans")
Goodluck