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Native American tribes across North America have unique rituals that represent their core beliefs. Common tools include tobacco pipes, drums, and flutes. Deburring with dried herbs like white sage is used for purification. Peyote is used in religious ceremonies, and rite of passage ceremonies celebrate milestones. The Ghost Dance and rain dances were performed to push for clean living and cause rainfall. The Sun Dance involves dancing to drums, fasting, and piercing the skin.
There are a variety of different Native American rituals used by various tribes across North America. These rituals represent part of the core belief system of traditional American Indian beliefs. While different tribes have unique ways of performing these Native American rituals, most maintain some level of similarities in these practices.
Common tools used in Native American rituals include tobacco pipes, drums, and flutes. In the past, these were generally all handmade and helped accentuate the various practices. Today, many are mass-produced, but most tribes still make one for use in ceremonial practices.
The art of deburring is common in many of the rituals. Bundles of herbs such as white sage are dried for the purpose of burning. They are commonly used for purification ceremonies. Essentially, burning sage acts like a form of incense, releasing a pleasant smell.
Another element common to many American Indian ceremonies is the use of peyote, a spineless cactus that produces psychotropic effects. Many American Indians practice peyote religious ceremonies, especially in what is known as the Church of the Native Americans. Despite the fact that peyote is considered a controlled substance by the federal government of the United States, the Supreme Court has authorized its use in Native American rituals.
A ritual practiced by Native Americans is the rite of passage. This involves a series of ceremonies celebrating milestones in the lives of the tribe members. These rite of passage ceremonies can be conducted on an individual basis or as a tribal event. Generally, these rituals are involved in coming of age, marriage, and death.
Having its origins in a religious movement of the late 1800s, the Ghost Dance was a practice used by many Native Americans of the United States throughout the West. It signifies several aspects of Native American spirituality, especially the push for clean living among the tribes and the end of expansionism by white Americans. The Ghost Dance was used during circle dancing, a practice where tribe members danced in a circle.
Similar to the Ghost Dance, rain dances were performed across much of the continent by the indigenous peoples of North America. The purpose was to cause rainfall during times of drought and to ward off evil spirits from the area. For example, the Cherokee believed that the rain that came from dancing was caused by former chiefs of the tribe. Often the feathers and the turquoise color were used to stimulate the rain to fall.
Another famous dance used in Native American rituals is the Sun Dance. This is practiced by many tribes in both the United States and Canada, but primarily among the Plains Native American nations. While each tribe has distinct ways of conducting the Sun Dance, familiar features among most tribes are the practice of dancing to drums, fasting, and piercing various sections of the skin.
