Indigenous & Native Views
Though all the different native and indigenous religions are very unique, their views of the Earth Mother unify them. “The world is an open Bible for us, “Matthew King, a Native American elder, once said to the editors of the book Wisdomkeepers (1990). “We’ve learned that God rules the universe and that everything God made is living. Even the rocks are alive.” Tom Hayden wrote in The Lost Gospel Of The Earth (1996) that in the Cherokee language their word for land, religion, history and culture is the same word, eloheh. The way people lived and the way of the land was recognized as two parts of a single thing that would reach the same end. Hayden also wrote that in the Sierra foothills, tribes called people, animals, birds, and fish all by the same name maidu which encompasses all “beings.” Similarly, Tapuat is the Hopi name for Mother Earth but it has the connotation of being a child at the same time.
Native Americans religion was based primarily upon the Earth and the Sky as a whole. They saw how all things were connected to their people. Mother Earth and Father Sky provided these people with life. Another important ritual of the Native Americans was the worship of a totem animal or plant. Most Native tribes had rituals and worshipping beliefs tied up with certain important animals or plants, which are closely related to their people.
The Natives of this country cherished every aspect of the Earth Mother. The famous chief Seattle once said in a speech written about in Indian Oratory (1971), "Every part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people… Even the rocks, which seem to be dumb and dead as they swelter in the sun along silent shores, thrill with the memories of stirring events connected with the lives of my people..." Also he said, “Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.” Chief Seattle and his people recognized our connection to the Earth Mother. Many Chiefs tried to speak to the Europeans during the invasion of America and tried to teach the ancient wisdom of the Earth Mother.
Though, these wise words were almost forgotten at the time, today these ideas are being brought back as more than just a memory. In The Black Oak (2005), a newspaper about and by the Native Americans, an article was written in July by Shawn Bourque about the Native American's management of the forests in the Klamath Mountain regions. Bourque reminded us that the wilderness was not untouched when modern Western society “discovered” the area. The Karuk and other tribes had used fire to keep forest floors open since the end of the ice age. The value, beauty, and integrity of the old growth forest could be destroyed by invasive plants that are no longer being controlled in the way they had been for so many years. Therefore, the indigenous people were “thus intertwined as part of the evolution” of the old growth forests. Western society is just beginning to realize how the land must be managed by these age old techniques used by the local tribes.
Tom Hayden described the native tribes of America as “botanists and zoologists” in his book The Lost Gospel Of The Earth (1996). Furthermore, Hayden wrote that tribes usually were able to take what they needed from the land without destroying it. They understood how to grow crops without the problems of fertilization, erosion, and tillage, which the agricultural industry uses today. Also, the tribes hunted wild medicines, edible or useful plants, and animals in such a way that the hunted species would continue to prosper. Today people are learning from these ancient teachings little by little.
The Natives of America were not the only indigenous people to worship the Earth Mother. In fact, most indigenous people have similar beliefs. In the book Story Earth (1993) many native people write about their culture, religious beliefs, and their way of life, which is all based on the Earth Mother. In the book Story Earth (1993) Rigoberto Queme Chay a Mayan from Guatemala writes about her ancient roots, "...for the Mayan culture Mother Earth is sacred and man is part of nature..." In that book Salvador Palomino writes about the Quechua people of South America who teach an ancient song that goes, “The sun is my father, the moon is my mother, and the stars are my brothers.” Also in Story Earth (1993) Alberto Hotus Chavez writes about his people from Easter Island, who are commonly called the Rapa Nui, “Our kaninga i’he nue is Mother Earth, but it also refers to the womb and the placenta.” Obviously the Rapa Nui people believe they are so interwoven with the earth that the earth and the womb share the same words; they also share many of the same features of bringing life into the world. Another example comes from Pablo Santos of the Aeta people of the Philippines who writes, “Land is life.” He also quotes Datu Mandagese who tells us that the Earth Mother is “the breast that feeds us.” But this book does not just cover tropical cultures, even in Finland people have similar ideas. Pekka Aikio writes about his people, the Sami, saying that the indigenous ways have not been lost and that the Sami people still say, “The Sun is our father and the Earth is our mother.”
Further, in Nordic cultures the Earth Mother has also been worshipped. In Sagas Of The Norsemen (1990), the goddesses Nerthus is the “Mother Earth” worshipped by Tacitus and by Danish tribes. On the Dutch Islands the goddess of the earth is Nehalennia. Both of these goddesses, Nerthus and Nehalennia are worshipped in association with safety and prosperity. Nerthus is divinely paired with the god of the sea bounty and wind, Njord. Furthermore, the root of the word Earth comes from the Greek root ergaze which means the working of the ground but then evolved into the name Erda who is another Nordic Earth goddess. Many other Celtic, Nordic, and Druid cultures had deities personifying the Earth Mother.