Anna Catherine Sosebee
“Miss” Debbie Chinners
English II Honors
November 6, 2018
Nature’s Role in Native Americans Lives
The Native Americans of the Five Nations had a very strong relationship with nature. The indians that are a part of the five nations are; Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. These people relied on nature for everything; food, shelter, religion, and their ways of life. Nature played a huge role in their daily lives. They said, “Life was like water; it flowed on like a river and then entered a great sea and mingled in a vast pool of life. Old age was like a tree whose branches had been broken by storms and whose trunk had become weather-beaten and decayed. Good words were like flowers that bloomed and bore seed that lived on after the flowers had withered.”
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These people showed that religion played an important part in their lives. The Iroquois Indians worshiped many gods from nature; such as the god of rain and many others. In the story that we read, it talked about this tree, the Tree of Great Peace. Its roots spread in all directions; north, south, east and west. This symbolizes that the Native Americans religion is world wide. In the Native American religion, it states that everything has a soul. They said that animals, plants, rivers, and lakes have souls. With talking about souls, they have a spiritual power called orenda. An orenda is a spiritual power inherited through people and their environments.
In conclusion, the Native Americans of the Five Nations had a very strong relationship to nature. The Iroquois Indians performed special sacraments, using masks, instruments and many other things made by nature. Without nature, the indians would have absolutely nothing. No home for their families, no food to keep their children alive, no performances to provide any fun, these indians are nothing without nature. This is extremely sacred to the Iroquois Indians. Their worldwide view of nature placed tremendous importance on their look on nature.
