Native American "Circle of Life"

It is difficult, if not impossible, to comprehend the uniqueness, complexity, and diversity of the peoples and cultures that have populated the Americas for literally thousands of years. Similarly, the scope of Native beliefs and traditions that has evolved to support and maintain the different cultural heritages is extensive and involved. Of particular note, however, is the folklore/myth that informs Native American culture. The project will focus on developing an understanding of a specific core aspect of the Native American value system that works to ground the realities of the "First Americans." In so doing, the effort will provide invaluable insight into the importance of beliefs and traditions in propagating a culture.
Although not all Native americans share a collective consciousness about all issues, and their supportive belief systems may differ, certain aspects of their folklore/myuths are profound and overarching in their cultural applications. Hill observes that the Native way of thinking can be seen in such things as "the use of the circle as a symbolof unity, in the use of animal totems to represent the sharing of power between the people and the animal world, and in a different attitude about the land - one that sees the earth as alive and sacred, to be shared by all."1 Developing an understanding of these shared values is central to gaining any insight into the inner workings and hidden mechanisms that ground the perspectives of Native peoples.
The project will focus on exploring exemplars of Native American values and traditions that reflect the common realities that ground Native viewpoints of their universe. Different spiritual, secular, and mythical concepts that represent the shared belief systems will be examined to determine how they influence the Native American ways of thinking and living. The effort will contribute to the understanding of how cultural values and traditions, described by Bluestein as "evolve(ing) from rudimentary beginnings,"2 stimulates individuals, groups, and entire peoples to "connect with a sacred manner of knowing . . . (and) experience the unbroken tie of spirit"3 betwen generations. Simplistically, the project will offer an enhanced perspective, of a very specific application, of how culture helps determine who we are, where we have been, and how it supported our getting there.
American Indian belief systems rely extensively on symbol for articulation. Although individual depictions of folkloric values and mythology may differ from tribe to tribe, all Native American cultures express their connections to the universe, or how they conceptualize the world, through symbols and patterns. despite differences in perspectives, however, most Native American cultures share an elaborate belief in the sacredness of the circle. Teachings, values, and beliefs incorporating renditions of "the Circle," as a symbol of unity or wholeness, are particularly prevalent in the Native American concept of the world of Native Americans. Stories, songs, music, art, and regaliz are repeatedly based on, and reflect, the sign. In effect, the symbol represents their concept of life. As Allen points out, "this probably stems from the Indian concept of a circular, dynamic universe in which all things are related and are of one family." In that context, the circlwe reflects a never-ending cycle of being in which there is an inseparable unity between the past, present, and future. As such, all aspects of life may be depicted in circular form.

Notes on particular aspects that emphasize the circle in Native American culture:

A. Native American observations that allude to the "Circle."

"Everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round . . . the Sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in iots greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles for theirs is the same religion as ours . . . Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves."5

2. "A small circle represents the Moon, the color white, and the forces of change and growth. A perfect large circle symbolizes the spirit in its original form. Therefore, on the one hand, it can represent the Sun, the male, the power of love, and the color yellow; on the other hand, it can also represent the female, the family, and sensitivity. A dot in the center of a circle stands for the seed of the male principle while the circle represents the female principle, which nurtures the seed. This symbol can also indicate a union, pact, or marriage."6

3. "Images of the circle dominate our lives and govern our existence; now, and in the continuing cycles of our lives as we pass from one world into the next. The pattern is irrefutable."7

B. Concepts of Time:

1. Unlike their European-oriented counterparts, who respect a linear, or sequential, approach to the time continuum; Native Americans conceive time in a circular context. Non-Natives perceive the past, present, and future as being part of one long and continuous path punctuated, and marked, by important events or ideas that characterize the era. The past is remote and somewhat alien; the present is ephemeral; and the future is distant and unknown. In effect, the perspective has the capability to separate people from the past experiences, ancestors, traditions, and occurrences that greatly influences both the present and the future.

In contrast, Native Americans conceptualize the passage of time not linearly, but as a circular process; marked by "birth, growth, maturity, death and regeneration of all things that share the earth - plants, animals, people . . . The past is a place where all things reside that have completed the cycle. All things are "out there" now, not distant but imminent."8 From this perspective, contemporary events, past experiences, future outcomes, and the attendant folklore are all part of a great systemic and rhythmic circle of life. Each factor is inexplicably tied to, and affected by, the others; rather than each individual aspect simply following the others in a straight, relatively unrelated, time continuum.

1. Richard Hill, Pathways of Tradition: Indian Insights Into Indian Worlds. An exhibition at
the George Gustav Heye Center of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American
Indian, New York City. November 15, 1992, to January 24, 1993.

2. Gene Bluestein, Poplore: Folk and Pop in American Culture (Amherst, MA: University of
Massachusetts Press, 1994), 15.

3. Gerald McMaster & Clifford E. Trafzer, eds., Native Universe: Voices of Indian America
(Washington, DC: Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, 2003), 76.

4. Paula Gunn Allen, The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions
(Boston: Beacon Press, 1986), 156.

5. Black Elk (Lakota), Black Elk Speaks (New York, Pocketbooks, 1961), 16.

6. Heike Owusu, Symbols of Native America (New York: Sterling Publishing Company, 1997),
217.

7. Macikiiseki, personal interview by author, 13 March 2007.

8. Larry J. Zimmerman & Brian Leigh Molyneauyx, Native North America (Norman, OK:
Oklahoma University Press, 1996), 164.