So I thought I've posted at least 4 blogs on this thing but I don't know if I didn't it right hte first time because I didn't use this thing but they were on the sight before?? Well..here are some of my views anyway.
As I first started reading this book, and it described the Native culture, when they honored the spirits, then when they let the white men watch and they thought it was devil worship, why didn't the "white men" try to learn more about their culture? And I suppose some of them must have, and I can't be sure because this is only one side of the story, but why would you just assume, oh here's a new culture, why, they worship the devil! Lets fix it by telling them they are evil devil worshipers and they are all going to burn in hell....Ok, so thats a bit of an exaggeration because they weren't told that as harshly until after the Great Death. But still, why did no one try to understand what they are doing? It made sense for them to honor the spirits of the animals they killed, the animals were their way of life, without them they wouldn't be able to survive. And why would they worship the devil? Do we just assume that of any new culture we come across? Now I understand that ways have changed since then and I think that people are starting to become more understanding and accepting of each other, but its crazy to think that a whole culture was almost wiped out because "white men" or missionaries, however you want to put it, wanted Natives to be like them.
I have no idea how they interpreted the masked dance as devil's worship... That's a pretty extreme accusation. Like you said, they REALLY should have learned from these people. They were obviously kind people(offering them food and hospitality into their village). Animals are a huge part of the native life. After taking the life of an animal for food and/or clothing, a ritual thanked the animal's spirit for giving up its earthly body. It reminded me a lot of the movie AVITAR. After killing the deer, she thanks the animal in a native tongue before harvesting. Haha a little nerdy to mention the movie, but whatever :)
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. I also posted a comment about how close minded I thought it was of Western people to force their beliefs upon Yup'ik people. Although it was a different time and they believed their way of living was the right way, I don't understand how they couldn't see that if the roles were reversed they wouldn't take too kindly to changing all of their beliefs. How would they have reacted if the Yup'ik people tried to force their beliefs and ways of life on the Christians?
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