Introduction

Once upon a time the native tribes and nations of what would one day become America had all the space in their world. They made good use of it, living close to nature in what might seem to modern society like a glorious camping vacation. If you ignore the constant threat of starvation and war.

Living so close to nature, you could see into the souls of animals — such as the Beaver and Badger — as they went about their business. You could feel Waukheon the Thunder Bird fixing the weather, and revel in the rascality of Raven, Manabozho and Coyote with their tantalizing tricks.

The Native American peoples had (and still have) a huge respect for nature. Animal spirits in particular were very powerful and it was necessary to thank them and placate them if you wanted to make a meal of them. When corn arrived courtesy of the deities, it was also given its due measure of respect. The thought of organic free-range food sounds alluring, but hunting wasn’t as easy as getting up in the morning, taking a stroll and shooting a few passing bison with your bow. Even Plains societies who lived off the prolific buffalo fell under the threat of starvation at times. When herds were found, the people were grateful and thanked the gods and spirits profusely.

Say what you like about nature, whenever humans get together there’s always the risk of trouble. Many Native American tribes fought terrible wars with each other, especially when the larders were getting bare. Great warriors were held in high esteem, and the gods smiled upon them – so long as the medicine men did their bit in the ritual department. And at the end, Heaven was the Happy Hunting Ground, much the same as Earth but with better weather and animals that didn’t run away.

Before the ‘White Man’ came trampling all over the land, it was a hard but healthy life, with tales round the campfire and no churches, shrines or temples necessary. And it was teetotalism round the totem poles as none of the spirits drank spirits. Although they may have puffed on the peace pipe a bit. We can hardly blame them.

The term ‘Native American’ covers many hundreds of tribes and peoples. We have given some of the more prominent and/or fabulous cultures their own sections. For example Cherokee Mythology, Hopi Mythology, Inuit Mythology, Iroquois Mythology and Navajo Mythology. We hope to add more if the Gods are willing and the Spirits provide sustenance, more hours in the day and/or much stronger coffee.

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Options

Introduction to Native American Mythology.

Use our Godbrowser™ to explore the Gods of Native American Mythology.

View the Native American pantheons. Family trees coming soon!

Consult Godchecker’s complete alphabetical list of Native American god and goddess names.

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