More on the Native American Perspective.

Today in class some people talked about how the Native Americans view nature and their relationship to animals. Todd gave us a great insight on how the Native Americans hunted big game and how those animals represented the tribe as a people symbolically. While it was great to hear this information, I don't feel that a full representation was given.

Let me start off by saying that although I have personal experience with this, I am in no way an expert. I'm not a tribal elder and there are many stories that haven't heard and will never hear. That said, I'm a fairly large percentage Native American with my grandfather being the first generation in my family to move away from our reservation in Montana. So my knowledge on the subject is fractured, being that I only know about the plains tribes and really even only the Pikani perspective.

I'm sure you've probably heard of totem animals before. I grew up knowing them as spirit animals, but it's basically the same concept. Each person has a spirit animal (mine is the turtle, you may have seen my necklace) that may protect them or enlighten them in some way, mostly in dreams. My family never put much stock into dreams or visions, but everyone knew their spirit animal and what qualities they have. Usually, a person's personality mirrors the attributes of their totem. The relationship here between animal and person is very deep and meaningful. People often call upon their totem animals in times of distress. It's like having a guardian angel of sorts. Some spirit animals, like the bear, are more powerful than others. There are more dynamics to the human/totem relationship, but like I said, I'm not an expert and have very limited experience.

I think this begins to illustrate how deeply connected the Native Americans are to animals. This isn't to say that they don't eat meat because of this connection. My whole family eats meat. However, there is a certain sense of reciprocity that I don't think exists outside of the Native American community.

My question for this blog is, does your family, whatever background you are, have any stories or traditions relating to animals like that of the Native Americans?