Series:

Living wisdom

2 total works

Cover of Native North America
With abundant photographs, more than 160 in color, Native North America illustrates tribal life, sacred arenas, spiritual traditions, and artifacts of the indigenous people of North America, from the Inuit of the Canadian north to the Navajo of the American southwest.

Beginning with a brief history of Native Americans, Larry Zimmerman and Brian Molyneaux explore individual culture areas, region by region. They discuss Native American spiritual observances, including personal and communal rituals, initiation rites, and curing ceremonies. Through descriptions of the powwow, rites of passage, plant rituals, oral storytelling, dreams, the ghost dance, and the drum, the authors provide a sensitive introduction to Native American spiritual traditions and examine issues that face Native Americans today.

Cover of Living Wisdom

Living Wisdom

by Larry J. Zimmerman

Published 13 September 1996
Beginning with an historical perspective on Native North American peoples, this book presents an account of the spiritual traditions of the tribes, from the Tlingit of the north to the Navaho of the southwest. A chapter on the sacred looks at Native American spiritual life, examining unseen powers, the interdependency of all things, worship and community consciousness and the importance of preserving tradition. It also addresses Native American sacred history, relating the creation myths of the Earth Diver and Great Spirit and activities of cultural heroes and tricksters. A chapter on ceremonial life illuminates the expression of the sacred in such forms as initiation rites, death cults, shamanism, thanksgiving celebrations and personal ritual. The main body of the book concludes with an analysis of the predicament of the tribes in the 19th and 20th centuries and their revitalization in the late 20th century. The book is illustrated with images of tribal life, sacred landscapes, and native artefacts.