How the first nations celebrate Christmas.
Beliefs and traditions were a very important part of every First Nations and Inuit cultures and often reflected a deep understanding and respected for nature. Their stories, dances, songs, are and spiritual firtuals had a great deal of meaning and stmbolism for everyone in the tribe.
On the Northwest coast, many tribes have had prayers and celemonies every year to welcome the salmons who swim up the rivers to lay their eggs. They believed that everything in the natural hworld has a spirit.
In the Arctic, Inuit elders enjoyed telling stories to the children, which really were lessons about their values, beliefs and knowlegde of the land. The Inuits are well known for their beautiful stone carvings, which often show the creatures and charactors from these stories.
Many Subarctic tribes told myths and legends about a time when animals were very powerful and could take on human form. These stories tought lessons about how nature and people really depend on one another.
The Blachfoot people on the Great Olains have held a sun Dance at the beginning of the summer to symbolize the earth renewing itself as a living being. The dance was as celebration to honour the buffalo, which they belived was the source of all life.
The people who like in the Plateau area believed the trees and rocks and everything around them had special powers and when children reached a certain agem they had to take special training so that they could receive a spiritual gift and a “power song” fron their nature spirit.
The Iroquois farmers from the Eastern Woodlands believed in Great Spirits that came from nature an made the seasons change. Many of their festivals and rituals were protected.
First Nation culture veiw things associated with Christmas differently from many poems and stories by First Nation peoples. Fist Nations people throughout the Western Hemisphere have respected a Creator and Great Spirit, although they didn’t likely hear of Christmas until the Spanish arrived with missionaries and the English with their Protestantism. The various indigenous groups also likely shared a belif in the spirit nature of all things. When the First Peoples hunt, they thank the boeasts for giving their lives. They thank the corps for growing to feed them.
Many First peoples, especially in what is now the is US, discovered that the mission stories of Christmas birth and realted events fulfilled certain trival propheies and did not interfere with their indigenous beliefs. In fact, becouase Jesus was Hebrew and likely darker skinned, many Native Americans called him Red Man. They also liked that he experienced the wilderness. Other native groups were not treated well by Christians. The eastern nations at Plymouth, for instance, but the maltreatment isn’t the only interaction had with Native American, much was good.
