Animals In Native American Mythology

Improved Essays
“A beautiful woman can be painted as a totem only; not as a woman but as a Madonna, a queen, a sphinx.” In Native Americans’ culture, the belief in Totemism has not only become an asset to their everyday lives, but also has been essential to how they use the existence of animals to apply them to humans for many purposes. The connection between animals and humans develops a perspective for each and every one of us and how …. Totems have created a resemblance between animals and people whose personalities differentiate from one another. Despite how extraordinary one is, there will still be an animal that impersonates a human’s characteristics and mindset. Out of all of the animals in Native American Mythology, the following three totems mimic my personality: a butterfly, peacock, and a unicorn. One of the totems that best imitates my personality is a butterfly. Butterflies are insects that go through a transformation. This particular trait displays how I view life and accept the fact that there will be situations or a point in time where I will experience some type of change in relations to my surroundings. In other words, …. Life is filled with changes that you have to accept. That includes financial stability, the people you interact with, and.. In addition, butterflies …show more content…
Peacocks are known for their self-confidence and self-esteem. Both of these characteristics are parallel to one another. Self-esteem is how confident an individual may be in themselves. The amount of confidence I have in myself is very high because of how I accept who I am as an individual (my appearance, talent, intelligence, etc.). My individuality and perpetual personality are two things that.. Peacocks are a species of birds that have knowledge. Knowledge is a powerful ________ that … My intelligence has been recognized throughout my life as an infant and as an adolescent. How can that little girl spell transportation at such a young

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Native Americans have endured disease, colonization, and relocation from their homes. Much of their culture was drastically changed due to mission efforts and government intervention which led to massive acculturation. However, to claim that their culture was buried with their ancestors is a rather ignorant accusation. In other words, it was transformed to fit the view of modern society, but remaining in touch with their roots. To better understand this transformation, I have focused to analyze a painting by Oscar Howe (Native American) titled Rider which creates a unique blend of Native American and Western design.…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “For some Native peoples, the horse still is an essential part of daily life. For others, the horse will always remain an element of our identity and our history. The Horse Nation continues to inspire, and Native artists continue to celebrate the horse in our songs, our stories, and our works of art.” – Emil Her Many Horses Emil Her Many Horses is one of the many curators at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. More specifically, he is the curator in the Museum Scholarship at the National Museum of the American Indian.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Native American Myths have been used for hundreds of years to pass stories and traditions along to different generations. Throughout these stories, there are themes found. Whether these themes are well known or if you need to dig deep into the story to find it, they help convey the message being portrayed. The themes in the myths relate to now a day cultures and remind us how similar we are to the Native Americans. Coyote and the Buffalo, The World on the Turtle's Back, and Brother Bear are stories where themes can be found.…

    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Indians facing persecution turn to Native American religion and practice traditional sacred ceremonies in order to escape the reality of the psychological and physical mistreatment they face within American society. Mary Crow Dog was a Sioux Indian of the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. (Pg.5) As a child Crow Dog attended the St. Francis boarding school where Indian children were forced to assimilate and faced with punishment if they disobeyed. (Pg.4) Crow Dog became involved with the American Indian Movement as a teenager and participated in some monumental movements in the 1970’s, including the Trail of Broken Treaties and the siege at Wounded Knee.…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What do you think of the word Redskins? Redskins is the name given to the Washington DC football team to represent a Native American mascot. This topic has been controversial for years now as the term is discriminating against Native Americans. Many have agreed upon the NFL dropping the name. Yet, some believe that the name gives respect to the Natives and wants to keep the name as showing honor to them.…

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Native Mascot Zahnive George Ever since I was a child I was always told that I was a mascot and it was an honor to be consider a mascot. I always looked at it that way. I always thought the native people loved to be consider a mascot of a popular school team, football team, basketball team, etc. As any child I was always naive and thought everything was as it seem.…

    • 395 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    There has been many arguments about Native American sports team mascots, name and logos. It is time for sports teams to just get rid of the “racist’’ sports imagery because the protesters will not stop talking about them. some of these teams using Native American mascots include the washington Redskins, the Florida State Seminoles, the Cleveland Indians, the Atlanta Braves, the Cherokee Braves and many more. Using native american images and names in professional, colligate, and high school sports teams does not reinforce and perpetuate stereotypes because the mascots are used to represent native symbols and to not offend and its also to represent the heritage and the way they used to do things.…

    • 215 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Today I watched a short video on animal spirit guides. The videos main focus was on the red-tailed hawk but it also discussed animal totems. The video was by Jordana Van who is a holistic healer and intuitive counselor. Before the video I did have some general knowledge about spirit guides and animal totems but it was very interesting to see the details of a specific animal. Early on in the video a big distinction is made between animal spirit guides and animal totems.…

    • 239 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    he symbols of native american culture might differ in meaning from tribe to tribe. These symbols were made and used for a several reasons and were represented by numerous objects. Some of them were specific to individual families and passed down from one generation to another. Others had a practical purpose like indicating a way for good hunting,or providing directions to get home. Let 's talk about one of them.…

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Inequality is not desired in society, nobody wants to be left out in the darkness. When a particular cultural group gains strength and ground, other groups will start fighting for themselves to maintain equilibrium. However, if society is equal, there would be a lack of diversity in this world. There would be no competition or drama as everyone will be the identical. In the story “Totem”, Thomas King uses totem poles as symbols to represent a scenario in which a certain culture group is isolated from society.…

    • 525 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I have always imagined that there was more to the culture and history of Native Americans than just what I was taught in school; for that reason, In the Hands of the Great Spirit by Jake Page attracted me. Although I realized that a book about the twenty thousand year history of Native Americans would be like reading a textbook, which is not something I do during my free time, I considered the fact that I would actually learn more about a topic that is not “properly” taught in school. One of the biggest topics that I explored in this book was Native American culture; this is an aspect that I had never been taught anywhere else, but that Jake Page really illuminates with myths and pictures placed throughout the book. In addition to that, I…

    • 1391 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As we all know by now, every animal is symbolic by either reflecting a person’s personality or physical aspects or even both. Certain religions believe that each animal represents a person, they call this having a spirit animal. In my case, according to my personality traits and physical aspects i was able to carefully choose an animal that resembles me the most. After doing lengthy research on myself and on the animal i have chosen, i came to the conclusion that the animal that is most similar to me is the prairie dog. Although the prairie dog is not an animal that is as known in this world like a lion or a wolf, this animal is more uncommon and lowkey.…

    • 296 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The effect the European American’s culture had on the Native Americans is still very prominent today because the stereotypical American Indian still persists both in life and literature. By erasing their languages and teaching European ways exclusively, the Native American culture has slowly disappeared. The culture has been slowly degraded by an increase of acceptance of Native American stereotypical attributes such as alcoholism, laziness, and gambling addictions among others. Indigenous people were deeply affected by European American culture and have been fighting stereotypes to rebuild the foundations of their identity that have been neglected throughout a painful history. Often times, stereotypes can be positive, but more often than…

    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In modern times, the western approach towards nature and Life is practical in the sense that it can all be explained by a scientific phenomenon. Due to this mentality, spiritual connections to our roots, nature and Life, are abysmal. To Linda Hogan, writer of Dwellings, this inauspicious approach confirms a detachment from “the treaties once made with [nature]”(11), to which Native Americans dearly hold on to. Throughout Dwellings, Hogan recounts significant experiences that enable her to inch closer to her roots and raise her awareness on the beauties of Life.…

    • 881 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Long before the Europeans settled in the Americans, Native Americans told stories of why the world is the way it is, to convey how the universe, earth and life began. These stories, called myths, help them rationalize the world they lived around. We know about these myths through the recent preservation to keep the riches of Native Americans oral tradition alive. In addition, we find out more about their perspective on topics such as the traditions, beliefs, and values they hold of the natural word occurrence.…

    • 490 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays