Religious+Practices

=__**Cree Religious Practices:**__ =

= **__Religious Beliefs:__** =

Beliefs in religion are very sensitive, private, and thought of as entirely culture to any indian tribe. Many indians do not speak or teach people about their religion due to the sole reason those people are "outsiders". Indian religion is all about spirituality, it is not evangelistic (Redish, Laura). For the Cree indians much of this is true due to the fact that throughout history they have been very reticent about sharing their beliefs with "outsider" as they call them. Yet overtime they have shown to share their beliefs with people overtime, with getting to know them, as many people do. //Some main beliefs include:// = __Religious Practitioners:__ =
 * There is the belief of a "Great Spirit" or a //misimanito//
 * There is the belief of an "Evil Spirit" or as they call it a //macimanito-w// (may be of post-contact origin)
 * There is the "Cannibal Giant" or a //wi-htikow,// who is greatly feared within the religion
 * There religion is **animistic,** so all living beings and some inanimate objects had spirits or "//manitowak//"
 * So humans, through dreams and visions, are able to secure the help of powerful animal spirits in such activities as hunting, warfare, and love. So since all beings had spirits, there is no concept of the supernatural (Advameg, Inc).


 * Within the Cree indian religion, or really any Native American tribe, there is no such thing as a shaman or any type of priesthood. Yet some individuals within the tribe and religion have some power, and there are some men and women that have more power than others (Advameg, Inc). Once again Indian religion is spiritualistic not evangelistic (Redish, Laura).
 * Many Elders that were very knowledgable about religious matters were honored, respected and usually consulted for advice on omens, the meaning of dreams, and visions (Braroe, Niels).

= __**Religious Ceremonies:**__ =


 * In the past, as in the earliest periods of the Cree, there has been no record of the Cree indians of the western woods having any type of religious ceremony. Yet in recent history there has been practices of "tea dances". These were for a type of thanksgiving and were held during the spring and autumn.
 * The Cree also have practices such as holding feasts or dances after successful hunts within the tribe. Overtime new practices have occurred, and in present day, within some Cree tribes there are Christian rituals that are common (Advameg, Inc).
 * When someone gets married they typically have traditional four-day give-away ceremonies, along with round dances, regular sings. Names were also given in the traditional ceremonial manner, in which during this guardian spirits are acquired (Braroe, Niels).

= = = __Tales and Traditions of the Cree Indians__ =


 * Within the tribe there was an oral tradition that was both sacred and secular with its tales. In the tales there was a character, //Wisakecahk//, who was the hero of the popular tramsformer and trickster tales.In past practices, the tribe members would paint and tattoo there face and body with elaborate designs (Advameg, Inc) Traditional storytelling is a very important aspect to the Cree Indian Culture, sometimes even more so than religion (Redish, Laura).
 * There is one legend about "How the People Hunted the Moose". The legend tells of a family of moose sitting in their [[image:moose_hunt.jpg width="371" height="229" align="right" caption="The Legend of "How the People Hunted the Moose""]]lodge one night when a pipe comes floating in and the sweet smelling smoke came out from the long pipe and surrounded the lodge (Redish, Laura). The pipe came close to each of the moose people and they didn't know but this was a pipe not to touch because it was sent my the humans hoping they would have success with their hunt. So as the pipe floated around the youngest moose asked for it to come to him and he smoked it and as he did that the old moose said to his son, "you have killed us, they will be able to get us", he then explained where the pipe came from and its danger. The next morning the legend tells of how the moose go out for food and sadly cannot outrun the humans and are caught and killed. Yet the story ends happy because the humans treated the moose body with care and when the moose wakes up in the "afterlife lodge" he receives a present from the humans and that was that humans are kind because they treated his body with care (Redish, Laura). So he understood that, "it was not a bad thing for me to accept the long pipe the human people sent to us. Those hunters treated me with respect. It is right for us to allow the human beings to catch us" (Redish, Laura). The legend ends with the theme that those hunters who show respect to the moose are always the ones who are successful when they hunt.



= __Cree Indians Ideas on Sickness & the Afterlife:__ =


 * The Cree Indians believed that death was the result of witchcraft. All fatal illnesses were welcomed with equanimity and the dying person required that his survivors avenge his death (Advameg, Inc). Most Burials were in a typical grave or on a scaffold. Overtime a gun was fired in the tent to drive away the spirit (Advameg, Inc). Also when a Cree became ill there was a practice of a spiritual to help invoke the ritual of shaking the tent they resided in or the sweatbath; both of these were equally important to the Cree (Advameg, Inc). Most times if any of the Cree became ill there practice was to just use herbal medicines, but the idea of becoming ill was thought of by the Cree being due to malevolent forces.

__References:__
> 263-280. PDF file. >
 * Advameg Inc. “Cree, Western Woods - Religion and Expressive Culture.” //EveryCulture.com//. Advameg, Inc, 2011. Web. 5 Dec. 2011. .
 * Braroe, Niels Winther. "Kinds of Plain Cree Culture." //Ethnology// 41.3 (2002):
 * Foster Pepper’s Native American Law Group, W. Gregory Geudal, and Joanna Boison. “Native American_Body_Paint.” //Native American Legal Update//. Foster Pepper’s Native American Law Group, 2011. Web. 5 Dec. 2011. .
 * Redish, Laura, and Orrin Lewis. “Seeking Native American Spirituality.” //Native Languages of the Americas website//. Orrin Lewis, 2011. Web. 5 Dec. 2011. .