Church iconography7/29/2023 ![]() Since the majestic, all-encompassing supreme being is difficult to visualize, its morphology is relatively simple. Supreme BeingsĪmong the myriad images found in North American Indian iconography are certain divine beings whose representations cut across taxonomic groups these include supreme beings, tricksters/culture heroes, guardian beings, and other mythical beings. This path is pictured with many detours and dramatic occurrences. All of the degrees are represented as connected by the path of the initiate's life, starting in the image of the primordial world and ending upon the island of direct communication with the supreme being. The Ojibwa bark charts of the Midewiwin ceremony consist of illustrations of the degrees of initiation into the Mide secret society. It corresponds to the Milky Way, which is the path of the souls of the dead. This path is called the Good White Path, the symbol of the human life. The Delaware big house has a circular path on its floor, which the visionary singers and other participants in the big house ceremony walk and dance upon. The most common image of this type is that of the right, or the beautiful, path. ![]() In a completely different approach to the visualization of the cosmos, the well-known Navajo sand painting of Father Sky and Mother Earth illustrates the anthropomorphic representation of the cosmos.Ĭoncerning nonvisual aspects of the cosmos, it is not uncommon that ethical ideals or holistic images of proper human life, which are extensions of the theological bases of many cosmologies, are also visualized iconographically. Representations of the cosmos can refer to the more subtle manifestations of the world, as in the sand paintings of the Luise ño of California, but they can also approach the reality of topographical maps, as in the sand paintings of the neighboring Diegue ño. In fact the Crow call this tent the "imitation" or "miniature" lodge, a replica of the Sun's lodge. Similar ideas are found among the Plains Indians, for whom the sacred camp circle constitutes an image of the world, and the central pole of the Sun Dance tipi, the whole cosmos. Renewing such a house constitutes the actual renewal of the cosmos. Usually the realms of this cosmos are interconnected with a central post, which is conceived of as extending itself like a world tree up to the heavens. The fundamental idea of the ceremonial lodge, such as the Delaware xingwik áon ("big house"), is that all of its parts symbolize, and in ritual contexts actually are, the cosmos. The most widespread symbol of the whole cosmos is the ceremonial lodge, house, or tent. The cosmos is most often graphically limited to those elements that characterize its basic nature and structure, including its nonvisual aspects. But whereas the mythical image of the universe (its cosmography) may be highly detailed, the iconographical rendering is necessarily restricted. The CosmosĬosmologies vary from tribe to tribe in both content and imagery. But it is not always the case that the verbal images of the myths are equivalent to iconographical images: one notorious example of divergence is the Ojibwa trickster, Rabbit, who, when pictured, is actually human in form.Ĭoncerning the wide variety of media used, the following general distribution can be observed: in the Far North -ivory, bone, and stone the Northeast and Southeast Woodlands -wood, bark, skin, quillwork, and beadwork the Plains -skin, beadwork, pipestone, quillwork, and painting of bodies and horses the Northwest Coast -cedar, ivory, argillite, blankets, and copper California -baskets and some stone the Southwest -sand painting, wood, stone, baskets, pottery, jewelry, and dolls. As such, they can be cataloged in the following manner: the cosmos, supreme beings, tricksters/culture heroes, guardian beings, other mythic beings, astronomical beings, weather beings, animal beings, vegetation beings, human beings, geological beings, and abstract symbols. The iconographical themes follow the general lines of myth and religious beliefs. As a result, the beautiful pottery and stone remains of the prehistoric peoples of the Southwest and Southeast are not represented here, nor are the remains of the Mound Builder cultures of the river regions. The following exposition of the major themes of religious iconography in North America is restricted to the evidence of the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries of ethnographic research. A study of the iconography of a people provides a unique opportunity to gain insight into what Werner M üller calls the "pictorial world of the soul" ( Die Religionen der Waldlandindianer Nordamerikas, Berlin, 1956, p. ![]() Rooted in mythical imagery, it informs the content of individual dreams and nourishes the themes of contemporary Indian art. Iconography is a living force in North American Indian religious life, past and present. ICONOGRAPHY: NATIVE NORTH AMERICAN ICONOGRAPHY
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