Agriculture
The native American tribes were hunters, gatherers, and farmers. Many of the men in pre-Colombian North America would either hunt animals for food or to domesticate them, or work as farmers producing locally found staple crops. Women would gather food, or help in the farming processes with their husband
Women
A Native American women's role in the society for many tribes was to be a productive worker in food collection, or be a productive house wife. If the tribe was a migrating tribe that use temporary housing, then women would primarily work with their husbands while also caring for their children, if they lived in permeant settlements, then the child was the primary focus of the mother.
Religion
Native American religion is difficult to track and explain. This is because through many tribes, the religious principles were passed down verbally. Many of these groups had their own beliefs though many of them were similar in the major aspects. Native American religion tends to focus around nature, such as landscape, animals, plants, and other environmental elements; and like most religions, Native American stories attempted to explain the events of nature (miracles and disasters alike).
Many consider the Native American religion to be more spiritual than a monotheistic or polytheistic religion, as to say that they worshiped the earth and the concept of spirits over gods (depending on the tribe), not to say that some groups did not have gods. Native American religion includes a number of practices, ceremonies, and traditions. These ceremonies may be in honor of a number of events. The practice of taking certain hallucinogens was commonly used to gain greater insight or communicate with the gods. Ceremonies may include feasts, music, dances, and other performances. Symbolism, especially with animals, is often a common part of Native American religion. Animals were used to represent certain ideas, characteristics, and spirits. Some Native American tribes used animals to tell the story of creation. Some creation stories, one by the Tlingit Indians, were centered on a raven. |