Themes In Native American Culture

In Native American culture, it is common practice to use stories as a way to teach the young children lessons. The stories were told orally, so therefore they could be altered to fit the needs of the group that day. The stories are aimed toward children, but the lessons can be grasped at any age as they deal with many of the themes of Native American Spirituality. Some of the main lessons we learned through presentations in class are we need to find a balance with nature, have humility to contain power, and to take responsibility for our wrongdoings.
One of the most important themes of Native American Spirituality is the need to find a balance with nature. We need to give back for everything we take from Mother Earth because she gives us everything
People need to realize when to take control and when to step back and let others take over. No one is the most qualified for every job, so people need to know what best plays to their strengths to benefit the whole group. “The First Fire” teaches this lesson through many failures from different cocky animals. The first several animals to go are over confident in their abilities and they all fail to capture the fire. Water Spider finally steps up and says she will attempt to grab it. She makes a basket from her web and hold the fire as she crosses the lake (Pritchard 42-54). All the other animals think that since they have a special gift that they have the power to do anything. They are quickly proven wrong as each turns away with defeat. Water Spider shows that the smaller ones also have the power to accomplish big things. Power does not have to go to the biggest person, the smaller guys can accomplish big things as well. “Why the Blackfeet Never Kill the Mice” is another story that teaches children a lesson on power. Mouse is able to beat all the other animals at the hand bone game to gain power, even though they seem to have more power due to their massive size or strength. Mouse forfeits his power though because he wants peace and does not believe he is the best option (89-95). This shows that it is acceptable to be humble and step down from a position you do
One example of this comes from “The First Fire.” Several of the animals that tried to capture the fire, receive injuries from the fire. Vulture loses all his beautiful feathers, Raven burns and becomes black, Owl gets red eyes due to the smoke, and Snake burns to have dark and light sides (42-54). The animals quickly learn that all their actions have consequences and they have to live with those for the rest of their lives. “Co-No, the World’s Greatest Gambler” also shows this lesson when the people gamble away all their goods and families. The people are sucked in to Co-No’s great scheme to steal all they own and do not realize the consequences until it is already over (32-39). They are luckily bailed out by the animals, but they still had to take responsibility for what they had done. In “The Fire Stealing Fox,” Fox learns this by falling from the sky after temptation got the best of him. As he is flying with the birds, he breaks the one rule he has causing him to crash from the sky. He takes responsibility for breaking the rules by plunging to the ground (54-59). This lesson is important to the Native Americans because they believe everyone needs to take responsibility for their mistakes, like humans need to do for destroying Mother Earth. All of creation needs to come together to help save Mother Earth from dying and leaving