The Feminine Landscape of Ceremony

The Feminine Landscape of Ceremony

Whenever one sets out to read or analyze a novel or tale by an Indian writer, one must bear in mind that the basic reality experienced by tribal peoples and by Western peoples is not the same, and therefore Native American literature will reflect basic assumptions and beliefs about a the Universe which the western reader may not identify or be familiar with. As a matter of fact, western cultures tend to separate the material from the spiritual and supernatural, while for the Native Americans the material and spiritual are different expressions of the same reality.

To put it more explicitly, in Native American thought their god/goddess is the All Spirit, but other things are also spirit, in fact more spirit than body, more spirit than intellect, more spirit than mind (Feldmann 45). Once the natural state of existence is whole, beauty, health and goddess are regarded as wholeness while disease is seen as a condition of division and separation from the harmony of the Whole (Feldmann 52). Therefore, the tribes seek- through song, ceremony, legend, sacred stories (myths) and tales- to embody, articulate and share reality, in order to bring the isolated, private self into harmony and balance with this reality (Feldmann 74).

The structure of Native American literature reflects this egalitarian view of Nature/Life, and for that reason does not rely on conflict, crisis and resolution for its organization (Witt 23) . Instead its significance is determined by its reflection of tribal understanding, and its relation to the unitary nature of reality.

The assumption that the Universe is Whole and unitary implies that all phenomena are perceived as intelligent manifestations of the intelligent universe from which they arise and is supported by the way most Indians