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The contemporary belief in the great spirit is generally associated with the Native American Church. [18] The doctrine regarding the great spirit within this modern tradition is quite varied and generally takes on Christian ideas of a monotheistic God alongside animistic conceptions.
Although conversion to Christianity was a slow process, the tenets of the Native American Church were more readily accepted. [10] Originally formed in the Oklahoma Territory, the Native American Church is monotheistic, believing in a supreme being called the Great Spirit. It was officially created in 1918. [2]
Native American religions were prevalent in the pre-Columbian era, including state religions. Common concept is the supernatural world of deities, spirits and wonders, such as the Algonquian manitou or the Lakotaʼs wakan, [19] [20] [9] as well as Great Spirit, [21] Fifth World, world tree, and the red road among many Indians. [9]
The Native American Church is considered the most widespread religious movement among the Indigenous people of North America. It holds sacred the peyote cactus, which grows naturally only in some parts of southern Texas and northern Mexico. Peyote has been used spiritually in ceremonies, and as a medicine by Native American people for millennia.
Manitou is the spiritual and fundamental life force among Algonquian groups in the Native American mythology. Manitou is one aspect of the interconnection and balance of nature and life, similar to the East Asian concept of qi. In simpler terms it can refer to a spirit. This spirit is seen as a person as well as a concept.
Manitoulin Island, called mnidoo mnis, or "island of the Great Spirit", by the Odawa, is very important to the Ojibwe, or Anishinaabe, because of its many sacred sites and sounding rocks. Native peoples continue to dwell on the island, which hosts several reserves. [6]
Lakota religion or Lakota spirituality is the traditional Native American religion of the Lakota people. It is practiced primarily in the North American Great Plains, within Lakota communities on reservations in North Dakota and South Dakota. The tradition has no formal leadership or organizational structure and displays much internal variation.
[1] [2] This is usually translated as the "Great Spirit" and occasionally as "Great Mystery". Wakȟáŋ Tȟáŋka can be interpreted as the power or the sacredness that resides in everything, resembling some animistic and pantheistic beliefs. This term describes every creature and object as wakȟáŋ ("holy") or having aspects that are wakȟáŋ.