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Odds and Ends

Smudge sticks: Using a smoking smudge wand for purification is part of many Native American traditions.

Talking Sticks: Passing the talking stick from speaker to speaker is a respectful way to communicate and share opinions. This tradition is especially helpful in keeping disagreements from getting out of hand.

Dreamcatchers: The earliest dreamcatchers (sacred hoops) were crafted for children to protect them from nightmares

Sweat Lodges: The Native American sweat lodge or purification ritual cleans and heals the body, mind, and spirit.

Totems: The appearance of birds and animals, either in reality or dreamtime, are considered to be totem messengers offering spiritual guidance. And, Totems today still are spiritual guidance no matter if large or if small. Hand-made and carved are the traditional Totems.

 

Native American Traditional Storytelling is the Greatest Gift to share! Medicine Sticks are very powerful and must be used with cautions. Hair ties and hair feather decorations are very traditional. Sacred stone remains the Turquoise and is used many ways!

Walking sticks were used by many elders and decorated. Some could Tell a history of hunting or even of family.

American Indian Clothing and Regalia:

Originally, there were many different traditional clothing styles in North America. Nearly every Native American tribe had its own distinctive style of dress, and the people could often tell each other's tribal identities by looking at their clothes, headdresses, and ornamentation.

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Tobacco is offered in respect to Medicine People And, this Tradition lives on!

American Indian Drums:

The most important Native American instrument was and still is the drum, as you can tell by going to any powwow or Indian event.

Originally made from the hide of the Sacred Buffalo.

It is the "Living Beating Heart of the Nation "and represents unto all Native American Indian ears:

" WE ARE OF ONE BLOOD "

 Meaning of Prayer or Dance Fans:

They are used to pray, or sing and to dance with.

The fringe part of the fan is said to represent native roots. The 12 fringes represent the roots; it represents the 12 months; it represents the 12 tails of the eagle and hawk; it represents the songs, and especially towards the mountain song, and the early morning dawn songs.

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The use of Tobacco: Indian stories has it that in ancient times, when the land was barren and the people were starving, the Great Spirit sent forth a woman to save humanity. As she traveled over the world, everywhere her right hand touched the soil, there grew potatoes. And everywhere her left hand touched the soil, there grew corn. And when the world was rich and fertile, she sat down and rested. When she arose, there grew tobacco...

Which The sacred pipe and Native American Pipe Ceremony are at the heart of native people's cultures as they travel the road of balance. The smoke coming from the mouth symbolizes the truth being spoken, and the plumes of smoke provide a path for prayers to reach the Great Spirit, and for the Great Spirit to travel down to Mother Earth.

The Native American pipe ceremony is a sacred ritual for connecting physical and spiritual worlds. "The pipe is a link between the earth and the sky,"

 

Visit: Native Crafts by Annlee

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