What ritual do Native American use?

Answer 1

Native American's had a ritual for just about everything they did, and you can multiply that by 4,000 or so to get an ideal of how many rituals there are / were (some are defunct now). I guess you could say that life itself was (is) a ritual, in practice.

Answer 2

The death rituals of Native Americans varies from tribe to tribe and person to person. There is no right or wrong way to go about it. It's like saying there is only one religion that God will recognize. No one knows the deepest parts of any one person so it is okay to accept and be happy with the process after all, if you are reading this you are alive. The ritual, I actually like process better, is best developed and lead by the one who is about to "take the journey". When someone is close then ask them about what they want and expect from the process. Some will want a detailed complex and ceremony with deep meanings and messages. Others will want no ceremony or process, it is their desire in any case. If you are given your moment with know pre-planning then look back on the life of the beloved, ask others, make the process a family moment. Through consultation your process will come.

For process, from my perspective, it's about emotionally and spiritually making right the journey. Upon becoming aware of the transition it is time to pray, mediate, chant, dance, sing or whatever you need to do. If you have a strong group of people in your circle they will be good to seek advise and comfort from. It is important to remember that you are not alone (emotionally, spiritually and physically). Give your self all the time needed to feel the moment, the transition and your personal loss. Depending on how close you are you may be called on to serve as a lead in the process or you may be the process. There can be all types of processes in your process and that's okay. If you decide the sweat lodge in right then do it, if you decide your place of worship is right then be there. In all processes the most important aspect is respect and full on responsibility to mourn. Without mourning there can not be a morning. What ever your mourning process is feel it and then fill it up in you life. In "my way" as it is with a number of native American process, you are obligated to feel and fill the mourning up in your life for a cycle of the seasons. Meaning, the day your relative takes their journey is the day you start your process. It formally ends one year later, traveling through the Creator's four seasons. In the process you are expected to feel and fill your life with all aspects of mourning. Tears, laughter, anger, joy, peace and love. All the emotions known to you should be expressed with full force and purpose. Nothing held back. Make others in your circle aware of the process so they can give you the room and support to do you work.

Once your year has been completed it's time to close the mourning process to prepare for the morning process. Some have titles for this portion of the process. Some have elaborate, time honored, titles for the process. "Wiping the Tears" is one I have heard and I am sure there are many other formal and family titles. Whatever may come to you for that physical closure, make proper preparations and see it through. Some plant a tree on the anniversary, others host a pot-luck or travel to a significant place of purpose for the traveler. Others become more elaborate and build a monument or name a star after the departed. Whatever comes to you is okay.

Invite others, especially those who have been supportive of your process also invite others who were dealing with the same loss in their own way. The day should be filled with laughter, stories, fond memories, photo's and videos. It is okay to add layers of other processes in the day as well. Whatever comes to you is meant to be there. The final closing elements can be as simple as finishing your meal, watering the newly planted tree, offering tobacco to the fire, singing a song, saying a prayer or it can be as complex as a 40 member choir, ancient Tibetan bells, the pastor of your church saying amen.

The most important aspect of the closing it releasing the departed one to continue on with their spirit work. Spirit work know but to them and God. While the one year letting go process had it's place for both of you, it is time to understand and more important accept that the traveler has their own spirit work to do and it is truly sacred and theirs. Your need to hang on, call on and press on can be distracting to them... it is time to go on. Knowing full well that they will never be gone from you and never be forgotten or loss. Even with the earthly year gone by, it does not mean that the mourning is over that process is private and sacred to you alone. If you must hold on and continue to mourn, then let it be. Know, on top of all else, that your loved one is going to continue on and may have already left. That's okay.

I speak from a full on place of experience. Not because of my personal native American heritage but because I am living it right now, my middle son took the journey on Oct of 2010 and this writing is part of my personal mourning and letting go process. I share in this process because it needs to be said by me right now.

In all due respect for all processes, native American or not, I pray that I have not been disrespectful and only respectful of your loss and process. There is nothing so hard as letting go of a piece of you, nothing can describe the pain and hurt, no one can make it any easier or less real. It is what it is and in your way, make way to feel and fill the mourning process. In due time it will be the right time to feel better... Your time is your time, their time is eternity time.

For my son... Peace and Ease.

Answer 3

First you must clarify what do you mean by ritual, because if you mean ceremonies (religious, spiritual) they vary greatly from tribe to tribe. The most common is a wide range of offerings - be it tobacco, food, pipe, bundles, prayer cloths etc. Among prairie tribes there's a common ceremony usually referred as the Sundance, but there are also variations in how it's performed among tribes. If you mean customary social activity, there are giveaways, gatherings, dances among most common.

Answer 4

well, every year in summer the hopi, zuni, and other pueblo Indians held a religiouse celebration. The ceremony called on the kachinas, or spirits of the ancestors. The pueblo believed the kachinas had the power to bring a plentiful harvest. At the festival, masked dancers played the role of different kachinas. They danced and sang songs to bring rain in the year ahead. Today, the pueblo also carved kachina dolls, as well as hold dances.

Answer 5

Among the Skidi Pawnee there was once a spring ritual called the the Captive Girl Sacrifice or Sacrifice to Morning Star, part of the annual creation rituals among all the Pawnee tribes and aimed to improve the fertility of the soil and success for growing crops. This involved lengthy and complex ceremonies, followed by the killing of a young girl captured from an enemy tribe in sacrifice to Morning Star for his struggle during the creation of all life on earth. The girl was stripped naked and she was painted half black and half red before being tied to a cottonwood framework. Then all the Skidi men and boys shot her dead with arrows. The last girl to be killed in this way was a Sioux named Haxti on 22 April 1838, after which the ritual was no longer performed.

Alone of all the true Plains tribes, the Crows of Montana grew a species of tobacco plant each year amid very lengthy religious ceremonies. This tobacco was never used for smoking, but was connected with the stars and considered to be a sacred plant.

The Hidatsas had a ceremony for their bravest warriors to prove themselves, which involved going a short distance from the village with their bows and arrows. They sang war songs and danced a special dance before all shooting their arrows straight up in the air - naturally these arrows fell directly back among the warriors, who were not permitted to move. This was a real test of bravery and some must surely have been injured.

Answer 6

Birth traditions vary in each tribe.