Welcome to Native American Heritage Month!
Each November, Native peoples are more prominent in the news. We can attribute this attention not only to Native American Heritage Month and school curriculum but also the anniversary of the first Thanksgiving and harvest’s end. With the broadcast of We Shall Remain on PBS stations this past April and May, students as well as library patrons may have even more questions about Native history and peoples today.
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Cultural conflict and the degradation of sovereignty sprang from the fact that Christian institutions are not focused on specific places and specific people. Religious leaders felt a need to spread the belief system to all peoples everywhere. They interpreted the absence of Christianity among Native Americans as an absence of all religion. However, Native peoples did have developed religious belief systems and rituals well before the time of contact with Europeans.
Although traditional Native American religions shared many attributes that set them apart from Christianity, there were also religious distinctions among the tribes. Native nations that relied on hunting and gathering for their sustenance used animal ceremonialism; agricultural nations featured rain and fertility rituals in their religions. Hunting groups focused on a male supreme being, while the agricultural societies worshipped both gods and goddesses. The agricultural nations saw creation coming out of the ground, and spirits returned to the earth after death and burial. For this reason burial places are of central importance. Hunting societies looked toward the sky as the source of both creation and heavenly afterlife.
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This Day in North American Indian History
November 20,
1817
Mikasuki Seminole under Chief Hornotlimed attacked a boatload of forty soldiers, seven of their wives, and four children on the Apalachicola River. Thirty-eight of the soldiers, including commander Lieutenant R.W. Scott, and all of the women and children were eventually killed. The U.S. Army considered this to be the first fight of the First Seminole War. This was also reported as November 21 and 30.
November 20,
1831
While looking for rumored “lost silver mines” in Texas near the old San Sabá Mission, Jim Bowie and ten companions encountered almost 150 Caddo and Waco Indians. A fight ensued that became legendary in Texas history. After frontal attacks proved ineffective, the Indians set fire to the brush and trees surrounding the Americans. This ploy also failed to work. After losing over fifty warriors to Bowie's one, the Indians left the field.