Native American Culture

The Dreamspell calendar is a timekeeping methodology based off an ancient Mayan system. It was created in 1987 by José Argüelles to integrate the ancient Mayan system with the standard...

Indian beading techniques vary by both tribal region and time frame. Materials used in Indian beading before the arrival of Europeans included shells, stones and bones. After the influx of...

Wasting nothing procured from nature, Cherokee Indians relied on animal skins and plants to convert into clothing. Following the arrival of European colonists in the late 1700s, the Cherokee mode...

Rain dances are one of the most famous dances among the Native American culture. The purpose of the rain dance is to invoke the Gods to bless the Earth with much-needed rain showers. The rain...

Authentic Native American crafts are beautiful in almost any form, but it is disappointing to purchase what you believe to be genuine art only to find a label stating "Made in China." This is...

Smoke signals seen for miles make for useful communication for Native Americans to warn of danger or while away from their families. A puff of smoke that is either short or long conveys the point...

The tomahawk derives its name from the Algonquian term meaning "light battle axe." Native American craftsmen made many variations of the tomahawk from stone; metal blades arrived with the...

Flint knapping is the controlled chipping away at high silica stones such as flint in order to produce sharp projectile points or tools like arrowheads. Only stones with the highest amount of...

The igloo is a temporary structure built from snow and ice as a shelter during Eskimo hunting trips. Using soft snow as a construction material seems impossible in theory; the snow does in fact...

There is a wide variety of Mexican silver jewelry on the market. The marks or symbols on a piece of jewelry are called a hallmark. A hallmark typically identifies the quantity, purity, and alloy...

In the 1800s, the Yakima Indian tribe established their main village near the narrows of the Yakima River in present-day Washington State. Yakima means "people of the narrows."

The term Woodland Indians refers to a wide range of Native American tribes that lived in the heavily wooded areas of Northeastern and Central North America. They devised various tools for...

Native American healing practices look to the natural world for substances that can soothe headaches, disinfect wounds, and heal cuts and burns. Burns are a two-punch injury: they damage the skin...

Mexican silver jewelry is becoming popular as a collectible item thanks to its excellent craftsmanship, durability and colorful artistic flair. Owning a piece of the jewelry is like owning history...

Iroquois tribes and other Native Americans of the Northeast built long houses for use during the winter. Builders of long houses took advantage of readily available natural resources--primarily...

How to enjoy blueberries eskimo style.

Arrowheads, or projectile points, can be found in Indiana, where the state has a history of Native American populations. From the Potawatomi and Miami nations of Indians to the prehistoric...

On Dec. 21, 2012, also known as the Winter Solstice, an ancient Mayan mythical event will occur when the earth, the sun and the center of the Milky Way galaxy become aligned. For the Mayans, it is...

Native American Healing (NAH) has been used in North America for over forty thousand years. The healing system used by indigenous tribes combines religion, herbal medicine, spirituality and...

In Alaska, there are federal laws granting people in rural communities the right to hunt, trap and fish for subsistence purposes. According to Alaska's Department of Fish and Game Subsistence...

The Akiachak Native Community are leaders in the Native American movement in Alaska, seeking greater self-reliance and sovereignty in tribal legal matters. The community of Akiachak can be visited...

White sage is one of over 750 sage species and is commonly used for burning in a ceremonial, sacred or cleansing ritual. This particular variety isn't widely used for cooking, but it can be ground...

Like all children, Pueblo Indian children of the American Southwest loved games. Anthropologist Alice Cunningham Fletcher said these games "have been played in our land for untold generations,...

Navajo crafts have commonly used symbols found often in their famous rugs, but also in other forms of art. Symbols include animals and natural phenomenon, and steps, swirls or other border...

Native Americans utilized the natural resources around them in order to survive. One of the most important resources was stone. Native Americans primarily used stone for making tools. Stone tools...

Native Americans began making pottery thousands of years ago. For many Native American tribes, women were the primary producers of pottery. Specific characteristics of Native American pottery vary...

The practice of tattooing can be found the world over, extending back through human history to the Ice Age. Many different indigenous groups have distinct methods and designs for their tattoos,...

Native American Pottery is functional as well as beautiful. Durable pottery in bold, striking colors and patterns make the pottery distinctive art. Tribes continue their heritage by passing skills...

Jewelry design differs among Native American Indian tribes, but the differences are more subtle than with other arts and crafts because the materials used to create jewelry are so similar. Native...

The Missouri Indians were a small band of Native Americans who met with the Lewis and Clark Expedition. These Indians were nearly wiped out by rival tribes known as the Sauk and Fox and then from...

Indian tribes of the Eastern Woodland area of the United States included a wide variety of nations and cultures; the Iroquois, Algonquian, Shawnee, Seminole and Cherokee tribes made up just a...

The culture and society of Native Americans left an unmistakable impact on the history of North America. Archaeologists have found countless relics from Native American jewelry used in rituals and...

The Hopis are a large group of Native Americans from the Southwestern United States. They are one of the oldest Native American tribes in the United States, with homes dating back to 1050.

Most samples of native pottery go back only as far as 1000 B.C., when agriculture began in North America. The less nomadic lifestyle that agriculture afforded inspired the use of jars to...

The Cherokee Indians have a rich heritage that includes individual elements unlike any other society's. Some of those elements include their style in hair and body modification, but mostly it...

During the late 1800s and first half of the 1900s, an effort to reeducate the Native American population of the United States under European standards was undertaken. This process primarily dealt...

Anasazi is a Navajo word that means "ancient ones" or "ancient enemy." No written history offers the true name of this long-lived early culture. These ancestors of today's Pueblo, Hopi and Zuni...

The amazing blue gemstone known as turquoise has been utilized in the Native American culture since the year 200 B.C. Native American tribes of the Southwest consider turquoise a very valuable...

American Indians had different fighting techniques than the white men who came into conflict with them. When Europeans first arrived in North America, they could not comprehend the battle tactics...

Igloos, or snow houses, are remarkable structures built by many cultures living in particularly cold and snowy areas. Made from the very ice and snow dominating the landscape, they provided an...

Each U.S. state boasts a distinct, rich history that has shaped its current way of life. In the Western states like Colorado, Native Americans played a significant role in the development of the...

Kachinas, or kachina dolls, are a craft of the Native American Hopi tribe. While they are called dolls, these crafts are actually exquisite works of art stylized after Hopi deities and...

The Chippewa Indian tribes live primarily in Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Ohio and Ontario, Canada. At its cultural peak, nearly 150 bands of 35,000 Chippewas existed. They are...

Since ancient times, the hides or pelts of small animals were sewn together or woven from down, bark, cotton, wool or feathers. Plains Indians used the hides of buffalo for blankets of all shapes...

Sacagawea, an American Indian woman, acted as an interpreter for the Lewis and Clark expedition during its exploration of the American West. Her knowledge of the land and ability to communicate...

Woodland Indians were innovators. They were among the first Indians to inhabit a location permanently and end a pattern of nomadism, according to Chieftans Trail. This permanent residency allowed...

Arrowheads were used by Native Americans for hunting game and as weapons and other cutting devices. They were strapped to the tips of polls for spears or had a wooden handle strapped on for a hand...

The Powhatan tribe made a number of crafts that served many practical purposes. These crafts also served other purposes, such as symbolizing friendship or telling the story of a family. They...

Tens of thousands of years before European settlers established a foothold on the North American continent, Native Americans utilized a wide variety of spiritual and natural practices to restore...

The Blackfoot tribe originated in parts of Alberta and northern Montana. Thus, the art of this tribe is highly distinct from the art of southern and midwestern tribes. Resources for art differed...