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Native American Culture Essay

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Culture, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary is stated as “The integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief and behavior that dpends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations. The customary beliefs, social forms and material traits of a racial, religious or social group. The set shared attitudes, values, goals and practices that characterizes an institution or organization. The set of values, conventions or social practices associated with a particular field, activity or societal characteristic.” Of these four definitions, I shall be focusing on the second one to discuss what makes up the culture of American Indians.The culture of the various tribes that made up the Native Americans is one of close knit families, highlyspiritual peoples and living together as one with the land they lived on. They believed in spirits, worshiping and honoring them. Some settled into single locations while others were nomadic, but all had a focus on working with the land around them. Because there are so many varying tribes that make up Native …show more content…

Personal space seems to vary fairly widely between tribes. They all seem to avoid eye contact. Some prefer a large personal space and have a no touching policy, others maintain a smaller personal space and will touch briefly and even others have little to no space. Some groups would hug often with family and tribe members. The healthcare beliefs of Native Americans were two-fold. They held both spiritual and scientific beliefs when it came to dealing with Illness. They would consult the spirits when disease would suddenly appear in a village, asking for advice or pleaing for help. There are also a slew of herbal remedies however that Native Americans' used for treating illnesses. So they seemed to follow a bit of both practices, looking to a higher power and attempting to treat illness with local medicine of their

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