Women and North American Native Religions

My Religion My Tribe, My Life:

The Importance of women in Native American Religion

Introduction

"In February 1757, the great Cherokee leader Attakullakulla arrived in South Carolina to

negotiate trade agreements with the governor and was shocked to find that no white

woman was present. Because Cherokee women regularly advised his nations council on

matters of war and peace."#

For many years a lot had said about Native American religion. From the believing

in spirituality to the Sun Dance ceremony, from the pipe, to the dreams, from the healing,

to respect for nature and not forgetting the smoke. But in my introduction to north

American Native religion studies, little was mentioned about the importance and role

women played.

This paper discuses the importance of native American women to their religion

and how they hold the religion together. In many of these tribes there was an equality in

roles played by both genders and at times women were even superior.

This surprised the first European missionaries as it was reverse in Europe which

had Christian values. Gender roles over time have been influenced by Christianity and

other religions.

Functions of women

The functions of women in native American religions varies in different tribes. Women's roles go from raring children and the old, to farming, fighting wars all the way to be medicine women. Women cultivated and gathered food .

"When the Europeans encountered the Cherokees in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, they were shocked to find that women had so much sexual freedom and held considerable political economic and domestic power".# Carolyn Ross Johnston shows how this differed from Christianity. "The Europeans viewed this reversal of patrical values as defiant, uncivilized, pagan, sinful and deeply threatening."#

In Cherokee and many other native American religions, the women was the head of the family. She owned the land that was cultivated and the family name. When a man married, he went to live with his wife and when time came for divorce, he had to leave everything behind at the wife's clan. This included children . When the Lakota traced their ancestry, while acknowledging and respecting their fathers relatives, most took the band name of their mothers and these patterns still exist".# For the man to see the children he had to visit the former wife's family.

Because the woman had custody of the children after divorce, the father didn't discipline the children. This was done by the older brother, or maternal uncle. However, in the case were neither of them was present in some other native American religions, the mother had to do it.

Even though gender roles were not engraved in rock, there seamed to be an understanding of the roles of women and men. "Women would tan hides, carrying wood, and on occasion carrying burdens that in no way inferred low status."#

War was a field dominated by men in many aboriginal religions but even with these reports there are a lot of women who were actively involved on the battle field. Oliver La Farge said" The conquering of white man's west was men's business chiefly, but keeping their country was the task of the whole Indian family and the women often were stauncher and braver than men".# If as a woman you could fight she would get in the army. "Some" women "even led war expeditions and if they achieved honours they became, winoxta, women soldiers." # Collins mentions that some of the women's duties in the war were "counting coups, stealing guns or horses, killing, and scalping".#

Off the battle field women would treat the wounded. "Sometimes women would

pressure their husbands to steal more horses in order to acquire more wealth, and some would even encourage their husbands to capture other women to be co-wives in helping with domestic duties."# Native American women had final say when the warriors disagreed, they could stop warriors from going to war, and even made decisions on captives."#

Like many other religions women played a very important role in sacred ceremonies. For example in the sun dance, which " is virtually universal to tribes on the northern plains"#, men and women pledge one to four days of abstinence from food and water. As some of the male dancers vowed to be staked through the chest to the sun dance tree, women generally sacrificed flesh from the upper arm."# Joseph Eppes Brown writes that " when women make offering from pieces cut from their arms, sacrifice through suffering is accomplished that the world and all beings may live, that the life be renewed, that man(human) may become who he is."# For the Cheyenne women didn't include flesh offerings even though "suffering was still a vital part of the sun dance."# Special persons are chosen for specific ritual functions. Among these is the venerable sacred woman of purity who is the earth herself in all her powers and with all her blessings. Without the presence of this most sacred woman there can be no Sun Dance, for the duality of cosmic forces, the complementary of male and female are essential to the creative act, are central to realization of totality".#

"Native American women were pivotal to community survival: They controlled material property and food; held positions of political importance, status, and power; educated children about traditional ceremonies and practices; and taught family history. The continuation of most Native American tribes' oral traditions relied on female power."#

Relation to men

In relation to men in many aboriginal religions there was an equality in the roles each gender played, in some cases women even more superior. "Men and Women( in Cherokee) had gender specific tasks, but they occupied interdependent spheres."# "Lakota Women are Shaman's as often as men are and bring blessings to the people."#

It was understood in most Native cultures that men and