The Encyclopedia of World Religions

314 S Native American religions

A religious figure among the Algonquian-speaking Native Americans was the shaman, or medicine man. This drawing shows an Algonquian shaman preparing his medicine. He sings sacred songs as he mixes various ingredients together while shaking a rattle. (Library of Congress)

natural beings or sometimes also to a nonpersonal, supernatural power. Dreams provided an important source of communication with the supernatural. Houses, often big enough for several families, were thought to mirror the structure of the universe at large (sky, earth, directions, and so on). In the southern lands east of the Mississippi people depended heavily on agriculture. As a result, Green Corn ceremonies figured prominently in their religions. These people told many stories and folktales, such as earth-diver stories about the creation of the world and stories about the antics of TRICKSTERS . Some of their communities were wealthy enough to have full-time priests. Especially impor

to the Pacific, the jaguar received a great deal of religious attention. Traditional religions of North America varied greatly. To the east of the Mississippi lived well off agricultural communities as well as woodland hunters. In this region tribes and villages entered into larger confederations and alliances, notably, the Iroquois confederacy centered in what is now upstate New York and the Five Civilized Tribes of the American Southeast. People in the northern part of the region wor shipped spiritual realities known in different lan guages as manitou and orenda. Opinions differ over whether these terms always referred to super