Similar Traditions Of Northern Paiute Native Americans To Christian Religion

Northern Paiute: Native Americans

I came across and article about Native Americans from 1937. Times have certainly changed, the article was headed Pagan Custom Less Among Indians. It came to my attention because there is a coincidence of sorts. This is the article:

Sarah Winnemucca

Paganism is gradually disappearing among Indians on the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation, according to the Rev. William A Stinson vicar at St Mary's on the desert of the Nevada Episcopal missionary district.

"Many of the old customs still exist to be sure," he said, "but they interfere very little with our Christian teachings."

There are now 400 baptized Indians on the reservation, of whom 175 have been confirmed.

"One of the strongest of the old traditions is that of water babies," the vicar reported. "When some of the Indians tell me that the water babies were crying last night, they are really serious.

"Tradition has it that when the wind blows in off Pyramid Lake and sighs though the trees of the reservation it is the water babies crying, and something ominous is about to happen," he explained. "Superstitious Indians remain indoors when they think the water babies are about."

A similarity between religion of the primitive western tribes and the Christian religion was described by the vicar.

"It may only be a coincidence, but the older Indians have told me their ancestors used to kneel facing the east each morning as they washed their faces and would pray to the Great Spirit to cleanse their hearts as the water cleansed their faces," he said. "As you know, the altars in our churches are always placed in the east end."

"A literal translation of the Indians' tribal name is water ute derived from the name of the original Ute Indians in Utah and pah meaning water," he declared.

As I understand it, the indigenous peoples of the mentioned area are known as Northern Paiute.

Other Native American Posts:
Synchronicity Leading To Pocahontas Saving John Smith
Native American Chief Seattle And His Powerful Speech
Tecumseh And The Shawnee Way To Live And Die

Synchronicity Leading To Pocahontas Saving John Smith

Darren of Just Watching the Wheels Go Round left a comment on my blog about a place called Hay-on-Wye, which is famous for its many bookshops.

As happens with synchronicity or coincidence, that day I had been looking at a 100+ year old book I had bought at Hay-on-Wye on my last visit, which was over five years ago. The book is called The Journal of American History. So I thought that this possibly meant I should write a post about the book - well, publish a few images at least.

The book starts off all about John Smith (1580 – 1631). Now I didn't know much about him other than the Pocahontas link - the picture above, which is a painting from 1870, shows Pocahontas saving Smith's life.

John Smith was one of those who sailed from England to, what is now the USA, and landed on the 26th of April 1607. A bit of a coincidence here for me with the 6 and 7 in the date and also the 26th of April being my parents wedding anniversary. The landing was at Cape Henry and it just so happens I am researching an old relative called Henry Perry.

Let's look at an image from my antique book, which is of an engraving from the 1600s of the same scene as the painting at the top of the post. It illustrates how we see things differently through the ages and how history can be manipulated.

The book states: "Captain Smith condemned to death by the Aborigines of the New World. Quaint scenes of his sentence and his tragic rescue by the daughter of the Savage King at the moment of execution."

It's interesting how Native Americans have been viewed over the years, and look how we now see Smith and Pocahontas on screen!

The next image shows the Chief of the Powhatan and the caption reads: "Powhatan held this state and fashion when Capt. Smith was delivered to him prisoner 1607."

I think I'll just stick to theme of John Smith and his captors. The book's description for the following is "Captain John Smith held a prisoner by the American Aborigines in 1607 and ushered into the sacred presence of the Holy Idol while the Priest and the Conjurer weave a spell about him and subdue him with their weird incantations and hideous outcries."

Below, we have moved forward to 1608: "Captain John Smith in an attempt to force the American Savages into subjection. He snatched the King by his long locke and with his pistol ready bent against his breast, led him trembling near dead with fear and addressed the terrified Aborigines."

Going back to 1607, a couple more 1600s engravings said to be taken from John Smith's own book. Firstly "Captain John Smith taken captive by the Savages and bound to a tree to be shot to death while his executioners triumphantly danced about him, swinging their bows and arrows and subjecting him to torture."

And finally, the following engraving shows: "The adventures of Captain John Smith, his daring escapades, his dangers and his triumphs in establishing the First Permanent English Settlement on the Western Hemisphere."

Because of Darren's comment I ended up reading about Pocahontas and writing this post. It shows how we can be led places, sometimes without realising we have been influenced to do so. There can be good and bad sides to this. I think though, with synchronicity and coincidence, it's often a good idea to follow the prods and nudges received as they are usually of value.

Other Random Posts Featuring Native Americans:
Native American Chief Seattle And His Powerful Speech
Tecumseh And The Shawnee Way To Live And Die
Black Elk On Peace And At The Door Of Death

Native American Chief Seattle And His Powerful Speech

This is something new to me but maybe it's well known in the USA. It's a speech said to be by a Native American called Chief Seattle - also known as Si'ahl, Sealth, Seathle, Seathl, or See-ahth. He lived from 1780 to 1866 and gave this speech, probably in 1854, about handing over native lands to the new white settlers.

The content of the speech is disputed, some would say it's bits and pieces from what he actually said and others that perhaps it's a mish mash created by someone called Ted Perry (no relation!). However, I don't think this really matters, though no doubt will to purists. For me the content is something very powerful.

Chief Seattle's Letter

"The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?

Every part of the earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.

We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man all belong to the same family.

The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each glossy reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father.

The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give the rivers the kindness that you would give any brother.

If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life that it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also received his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.

Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.

This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. One thing we know: our God is also your God. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator.

Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted with talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is to say goodbye to the swift pony and then hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.

When the last red man has vanished with this wilderness, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?

We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it, as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children, and love it, as God loves us.

As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. This earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you. One thing we know - there is only one God. No man, be he Red man or White man, can be apart. We are all brothers after all."

Further Posts:
Tecumseh And The Shawnee Way To Live And Die
The Indians Of Haiti As Observed By Christopher Columbus
Tecumseh And The Presidential Curse Coincidence

Creation And Destruction Of The Earth

Not sure why I thought about this, but it's strange how in the beginning the earth was created in six days - and God rested on the seventh.  According to Genesis in the Bible, that is.  One problem with this (well, lots really) there wouldn't have been any 'days' until the sun and moon were created.

Also God created light and darkness - day and night - on the first day but, again, there was no sun or moon.

It always interests me how some people take the Bible as being, erm, gospel.

I suppose the argument would be that a day in the beginning wasn't a day as we know it.  It was much, much longer - a period of time. Someone, years ago, who reckoned he knew all about this sort of stuff, said a day was actually a thousand years.  "Why a thousand years?" I asked.  Great rumblings and mutterings and, "Because it was", was the answer.

But everything goes in cycles or periods of time (as we know it). Occultists talk of Cosmic Days, we are supposedly in the fifth - but maybe we are moving into the sixth, and this is what the Maya calender is really all about.

It won't be the end of the earth or mankind, but a new beginning, a shift in consciousness. It would be nice to think so.

According to James Redfield the Mayan calender illustrates a time scale showing the nine Steps of Creation.  It is the ninth step that ends in 2012 - the first step beginning about 16 billion years ago when the universe was created.  All very simplistic.

A more fanciful approach was taken by José Argüelles in The Mayan Factor: Path Beyond Technology. He claims that on August 13, 3113 BC the Earth began a passage through a galactic synchronization beam that emanated from the center of our galaxy, that it would pass through this beam during a period of 5200 tuns (Maya cycles of 360 days each), and that this beam would result in total synchronization and galactic entrainment of individuals plugged into the Earth's electromagnetic battery by December 21, 2012. He believed that the Maya aligned their calendar to correspond to this phenomenon. So there you go.

There's lots of doom and gloom and fanciful stories on the Internet, books on the subject of 2012 abound - well they would be, it's a lucrative market.

I think that Karl Kruszelnicki in Great Moments in Science gets nearest to what I feel will happen on 21 Dec 2012 - a new calender will commence.

Kruszelnicki writes: "…when a calendar comes to the end of a cycle, it just rolls over into the next cycle. In our Western society, every year 31 December is followed, not by the End of the World, but by 1 January. So 13.0.0.0.0 in the Mayan calendar will be followed by 0.0.0.0.1 – or good-ol’ 22 December 2012, with only a few shopping days left to Christmas."

No doubt this isn't as exciting. I feel that man will continue to grow spiritually and will one day go on to inhabit other planets, just as the first settlers of our age travelled to North America, Australia and so on. Hopefully, being of improved consciousness, they will treat any 'natives' they may find on these planets with more respect than we did with the likes of the Native Americans and the Australian Aborigines. Or will it be us that is more 'native' like in comparison?

In the meantime let's try to make this place and time a better place and time for everyone.

Tecumseh And The Shawnee Way To Live And Die

If we look there is wisdom to be found in most cultures.

The following is a quote from the Shawnee Native American Tecumseh, sometimes known as Shooting Star, Tecumtha or Tekamthi.

His birthdate isn't known for sure but was probably around March 1768. He died, or rather was killed, at the Battle of the Thames, on October 5, 1813. His death signified the end of united Indian resistance against the Americans.

I won't go into the rights and wrongs of what happened but here is the quote from Tecumseh, who was something of a mystic along with being a warrior. They are surely guidelines, even for today, on how to live our lives:

"So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours.

Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people.

Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.

Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and grovel to none.

When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself.

Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision.

When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way.

Sing your death song and die like a hero going home."

I think that says it all.

Further Reading:
Black Elk On Peace And At The Door Of Death