E-Book Overview
This extensive work goes beyond similar surveys that focus only on anthropology and history and explores the religious practices, movements, institutions, key figures, ceremonial systems, and religious accoutrements indigenous to North America, from the precontact era to the present. Taking a deep and informed look specifically at the religious and spiritual nature of Native Americans, the encyclopedia places traditions within their historical and theoretical context, examining their relevance within Native religious life and practice as well as within the academic study of religion.
Topics covered include key ideas and issues, religious and political leaders, primary ceremonies, mythic figures, and related cultural subjects, such as basketry, whaling, farming, and bison hunting, which have religious significance for Native peoples. Contributors include noted scholars of American Indian religious culture, including many who come from tribal traditions and can offer valuable insights and observations from their personal experience.
E-Book Content
American Indian Religious Traditions
American Indian Religious Traditions An Encyclopedia
VOLUME 1 A–I
Suzanne J. Crawford and Dennis F. Kelley
Santa Barbara, California
Denver, Colorado
Oxford, England
Copyright 2005 by Suzanne J. Crawford and Dennis F. Kelley All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Crawford, Suzanne J. American Indian religious traditions : an encyclopedia / Suzanne J. Crawford and Dennis F. Kelley. p. cm. Incl