Women And North American Native Religions
..."In February 1757, the great Cherokee leader Attakullakulla arrived in South Carolina to
negotiate trade agreements with the governor and was shocked to find that no white
woman was present. Because Cherokee women regularly advised his nations council on
matters of war and peace."#
For many years a lot had said about Native American religion. From the believing
in spirituality to the Sun Dance ceremony, from the pipe, to the dreams, from the healing,
to respect for nature and not forgetting the smoke. But in my introduction to north
American Native religion studies, little was mentioned about the importance and role
women played.
This paper discuses the importance of native American women to their religion
and how they hold the religion together. In many of these tribes there was an equality in
roles played by both genders and at times women were even superior.
This surprised the first European missionaries as it was reverse in Europe which
had Christian values. Gender roles over time have been influenced by Christianity and
other religions.
Functions of women
The functions of women in native American religions varies in different tribes. Women's roles go from raring children and the old, to farming, fighting wars all the way to be medicine women. Women cultivated and gathered food .
"When the Europeans encountered the Cherokees in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, they were shocked to find that women had so much sexual freedom and held considerable political economic and domestic power".# Carolyn Ross Johnston shows how this differed from Christianity. "The Europeans viewed this reversal of patrical values as defiant, uncivilized, pagan, sinful and deeply threatening."#
In Cherokee and many other native American religions, the women was the head of the family. She owned the land that was cultivated and the family name....
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