Fun Fact 2: Native American Indians lived in different tribes across the continent of North America and many tribes had similar cultures and beliefs
Fun Fact 3: Culture, religions and beliefs are very important to the way of Native American life. Animism is a commonly shared belief amongst American Indian tribes, it is based on the spiritual belief that everything, living, natural or inanimate and has a soul or spirit
Fun Fact 4: Animals were considered to be spiritual by Native Americans and although they are hunted, every part of the animal was used in some way, the spirits of each animal was believed to continue and bought strength to the people of the tribe
Fun Fact 5: Festivals and ceremonies are closely linked to religion and beliefs. It was customary to hold ceremonies and rituals to worship and pacify the spirits; the festivals and ceremonies would include lots of chanting, singing and dancing
Fun Fact 6: The ownership of land was an alien concept to Native American culture - they held the belief that the land was a gift from the creator and was free to be used by all for survival and nourishment
Fun Fact 7: Native American culture contains varied spiritual and traditional beliefs. Spiritual stories contain gods and deities that are symbolic to nature; these include the weather, seasons of the year, plant and animal life, the sky and earth, and fire and water
Fun Fact 8: Art plays an important role in Native American culture; it has been used to express the Native American way of life for thousands of years and includes painting, basket and textile weaving, ceramics, bead work, jewelry and attire
Fun Fact 9: Many Native American Indian art projects conveyed culture and beliefs using symbols or pictograms. A list of materials used to create artwork and pictures includes; bark, rocks, cloth, clay, stones and animal skins
Fun Fact 10: The feather war bonnet (or warbonnet) is considered the most popular item of Native American headwear in today's culture; however the roach headdress were considerably more common to Native Americans. A roach headdress was made from stiff spine-like porcupine hair, and often included hair from white-tail deer, moose and turkey beard. Like the feather warbonnet the roach headdress is traditionally worn only by men, it is usually worn by warriors, dancers and in cultural religious ceremonies
Fun Fact 11: A dream catcher is a Native American craft object made from willow, twigs, plants, animal tendons and feathers. Originally made by the Ojibwa tribe these man made webs, were believed to filter out bad dreams from good thoughts. There is a picture of a dream catcher above
Fun Fact 12: Native American Totem Poles are large trees carved with figures that represent faiths and beliefs. The carvings, colours and symbols on a Totem Pole have spiritual meanings and cultural significance: they are an important part of Native America culture
Fun Fact 13: The moccasin is considered characteristic footwear of the Native American people; historically it was made from soft deer skin
Fun Fact 14: What is wampum? Wampum are prominent in Native Indian culture, they are sacred beads made of cylindrical, channelled whelk shell (white wampum) or quahog shell (purple wampum)
Fun Fact 15: Wampum shell beads were traditionally used for currency; they were also woven into special items to record and signify special events, transactions, exchanges and agreements including marriage |
