Good day to you in this article I am going to cover a new subject for me but hopefully by the time I have finished writing not only shall I have more interest in this amazing subject but that you too shall be interested in learning more about this subject.

This is not a new subject and in fact dates back to way before the Christian Church. It is mainly associated with the native American Indians of the great plains now contained within the United States of America. I say mainly associated as now thanks to the great communications we have of course their great teachings have been allowed to traverse the globe. One of their sayings is this:-

• Wakan Tankan Nici Un

Translated this means:-

• May The Great Spirit Walk With You

Just this saying alone invokes for me a subject that I would be interested in finding out more about. It amazes me that when the settlers arrived in what we now know as the United States of America they assumed that the native people of the Americas held no religious beliefs when in fact to be honest they held very strong beliefs if anything stronger than what they the settlers held. After all their religion was based on loving mother nature, the very Earth to which we all share.

The very basis of their religion was held in the belief that as the Earth was the mother of all, it follows that everything was related to the great spirit. This holds true for everything. All matter living and even inanimate objects. Water to sand, pebbles to mountains. If you hold this belief you are called "animistic".

The Indians were great lovers of nature and to be contained inside villages towns, etc was abhorrent to them. If they were to stumble across a place of outstanding beauty they would offer a prayer to the Great Spirit thanking her for the place they had come upon.

The native Americans held great beliefs for the land and I have below produced a bullet list of their beliefs:-

• Land could not be does not and cannot belong to one person.
• Land cannot be sold.
• Land should be respected as this is where all living matter is buried.
• Land is beautiful and is there to be enjoyed.
• The Spirits lived in the land and if you disrespect the land you would anger the spirits.
• The buffalo need open land to roam and as land was open to anyone to farm or fence them in was impossible.
• The land belonged to all.
• Land was imperishable and eternal.

Their art if noted was mainly concerning the animal world and this would go from their drawings to their clothing. Their clothing mainly came from the buffalo they would follow. They would often perform the "Mandan Buffalo Dance" in which they would ask the great spirits to help bring the buffalo to them.

Their headdress was without question greatly associated with the animal world and the basis of the headdress was on the strong belief that the hair was an extension to the soul and therefore they wore the headdress with great pride. One of the most important pieces of headdress you could wear was the "Horned One" and this was made with the Golden Eagle helping you all the way.

Headdress's were earned and not just worn by birth right.

• Their astrological chart was as well based on animals much like the Chinese one. Each animal much like our astrological chart lasted one month of the year so there was twelve in each calendar year. Each animal had a specific personality associated with it.

In this article we covered the beliefs of the Native American Indians and how their religion was based on the love of mother nature and how man was just as important and equal is as the earth we walk upon and share with the animal world. We touched on their beliefs and dress as well as their astrological chart.

Once again thanks for reading and any questions just fire away.

That's it for now thanks Jason who quite simply rocks at writing.