We grew up watching movies and stories where American Indians are bloodthirsty and merciless warriors who are ready to scalp any first white person they meet.
But after all, this white man came to their land, and today it is difficult to say who was more bloodthirsty. But before the arrival of the first Europeans, almost the entire continent was inhabited by various tribes with the highest culture. The peoples living on the American continent had different and original beliefs, but they were all aimed at unity with nature and complemented its harmonious structure.
Despite the fact that the Europeans practically destroyed the local population, and those who remained were herded into the reservations, the Indians were able to preserve their customs and beliefs. Most of the Indians of North America are jealous of their customs and rituals. Much is inherited and is a must for Native American youth.
For example, members of the Navajo tribe establish a connection with the land and nature from the very birth of a new person. For their magical actions, they, as in ancient times, use several sanctuaries located in the Big Mountain area. These sanctuaries bear beautiful names - "Altar of the Wind" and "Red Willow Stream".
Magic is closely intertwined with the life of these peoples. What is characteristic, but young people willingly study and perform many magical rituals, which, according to the Indians, make them real members of the tribe. Young people, through various rituals of abstinence and self-torture, try to reach the state when visions begin. It is these references that should become a sign that the spirits of the ancestors agree to accept this person into full-fledged members of the tribe.
By the way, the notorious custom of scalping has quite logical grounds. For example, the ancient Slavs believed that a person's strength is in his hair. And depriving him of his hair could deprive him of his strength. The Indians felt the same way.
Nature and space have always been the basis of Indian magic and fortune-telling. Virtually all animals represented separate deities. The Indian shaman was not so much a man as a guide both to the other world and to the animal world. The Indians had no such thing as heaven or hell. There were several ways after death. One could become an animal or join the ancestors who lived an ordinary life, but in the afterlife.
If in other countries they went to the sorcerer with specific requests and questions, then the Indian shaman only indicated the direction, and the person himself had to make a choice. The main methods of Indian shamans were hallucinations obtained with the help of various psychotropic substances. But young people were supposed to achieve hallucinations on their own, without the help of drugs. But what is surprising is that young Indians never lie if there were no hallucinations. In such cases, it is allowed to buy the necessary visions from those who saw them or from the shaman himself.
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Today, many young people are leaving reservations and looking for a good life in the major cities of the United States. But it is too early to talk about the disappearance of the ancient Indian culture.
BUKHRANSKY SERGEY
