Native American Popular Religion in New England's Old Colony, 1670-1770 PDF

Native American Popular Religion in New England’s Old Colony, 1670-1770 ARTICLE BY: DOUGLAS L. WINIARSKI SUMMER WEEK 2 Overview — This Article — Who and Where? — Family and Religion — Religious Literacy — Spiritual Healing and Mortuary Customs — Supernatural Lore — What does it tell us? Objective —...

Native American Popular Religion in New England’s Old Colony, 1670-1770 ARTICLE BY: DOUGLAS L. WINIARSKI SUMMER WEEK 2 Overview — This Article — Who and Where? — Family and Religion — Religious Literacy — Spiritual Healing and Mortuary Customs — Supernatural Lore — What does it tell us? Objective — To Understand the ways that religion of both the natives and the colonists and their interactions with one another. What This Article is About — The Article discusses primarily the account of Josiah Cotton and his time preaching to and converting the Native tribes the Plymouth colonial area. — The Article uses anecdotal evidence to make its points about how the religions of the Natives and the Colonists blended over time. — This Article does not spend a large portion on the spirituality of the natives. Rather it discusses the conversion of these peoples to Christianity. Who — Josiah Cotton- A missionary who came to New England area to convert to local Native population. — The Wampanoag Tribe- The tribe of the area that is primarily discussed in the article. — Other persons that are important for the understanding of the Article Where Family and Religion — Families converted together. — Families attended churches together. — Children would continue in their parents spirituality after the conversion. Native Families and Religion — Many of the early churches for converted Natives would be ran by a Native preacher. — Over time English preachers would head the congregations and the colonist and native communities began to fuse. Colonist Families and Religion — Families would pray at same church. — As time went on the churches of the colonists and the natives fused more as the popular religion on Christianity won out over the native religion. Religious Literacy — What is it? ¡ The ability to understand the bible and religious texts, to be able to at least read the bible. — English Preachers to the Natives strived to increase literacy among their congregations. — This was done to make “proof” that Christianity was the correct faith. Religious Literacy (cont.) — Books like The Indian Primer were shipped to New England to be given to Natives to learn. — This did in fact raise literacy among the Native population, But fell over time. Literacy Rate Among Native Population Location Literacy Rate Plymouth Colony, 1674 28.57% Plymouth Colony, 1726 20.00% Healing and Mortuary Customs — Both New England and Native American Christians sought spiritual healing and had their own mortuary customs. — Though different the two customs shared remarkable similarities. — The development of the “Middle Space”. ¡ A shift from the production to the consumption of religious values. Healing — Native healing Practices posed a concern to the colonial preacher. — As time progressed the habits of native shamans began to include Christian beliefs. — Christian Converters used healing as a way to convert more of the Native population to the Church. Burial Customs — Natives of the Wampanoag Tribe would bury their dead in the fetal position facing southwest. — Personal items would be included at the burial so the dead would find their way to the blissful afterlife easily. — These Burial customs may have continued without the awareness of colonial preachers even after conversion. Afterlife — Wampanoag and other tribes of the area believed their spirits would go to the house of Cautantowwit. — This place was similar in description to the Christian Heaven — This similarity between afterlives made conversion easier to accept for the Natives as well as making bridging and spirituality gap between two faiths. Supernatural Lore — Both Colonists and natives had supernatural lore and practices. — Colonial Converters sought to either study or eliminate the Native supernatural stories and habits. — As time went both Native and Colonial practices came to be more accepted. Native Supernatural Lore — The Wampanoag Tribe of in this area guarded some of their practices closely even after their conversions. — Sacrificing Rocks — Evil spirits were replaced by demons, ghosts, and other Christian superstitions as the conversions continued. Colonist Supernatural Lore — Colonists also had their own Supernatural Lore. — This was more accepted by the preaching colonists. — Colonists would consult oracles, carry good luck charms and tell stories of unnatural events just as much as the Native population. What It Tells Us. — The evidence in this article shows us that Christianity did win out as the popular religion of the area but was not the exact same Christianity that had arrived. — Christian and Native customs began to fuse as time went, and though Christianity was still the way of worship, Native customs followed the converted and influenced the colonial people. Citation — Winiarski, Douglas L. “Native American Popular Religion in New England’s Old Colony, 1670-1770”, In Religion and American Culture, Vol.15,