Native American Church
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Native American Church, a religious denomination which practices Peyotism or Peyote religion, originated in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, and is the most widespread indigenous religion among Native Americans. Peyotism involves the use of the entheogen Peyote, a spineless cactus.
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[edit] History of the Peyote Religion
Peyote was used in the territory of modern-day Mexico in pre-Columbian times to commune with the spirit world and also as a medicine. In the mid 15th century, the use of peyote spread to the Great Plains area of the United States primarily through the efforts of the Apache people. Statistics are uncertain, but Peyotism is practiced in more than 50 Indian tribes and probably around 250,000 adherentes.[1][2]
Peyotist belief varies considerably from tribe to tribe. Among the various beliefs are: belief in Jesus as a Native American culture hero, an intercessor for man or a spiritual guardian; belief in the Bible; belief in Peyote personified as a God; and association of Jesus with Peyote. Peyotists believe in a supreme God. The "Peyote Road" calls for Indian brotherly love (i.e. Indian Nationalism), family care, self-support through work, avoidance of alcohol, and avoidance of recreational drug use.
Traditionally, peyote is used in pursuit of bona fide religious faith in ceremony daily, and at all times; ceremony is a way of life practiced by Shaman, mystics, and medicine people. Peyote ritual or ceremony can be conducted by ones-self and Creator, with a guide, or in a group, at any place or time The Spirit or Creator and the participant deem it necessary. Ceremony or ritual is not limited to tipis or hogans, or to a certain number of people.
For some chapters of the Native American Church, the peyote ritual begins at 8 p.m. Saturday and continues through the night. The ritual includes prayer, the eating of peyote, Peyote songs, water rituals, and contemplation. It ends with breakfast Sunday morning. The peyote ritual is believed to allow communion with God and the deceased and to give power, guidance, and healing. The healing may be emotional or physical, or both.
Many Tribes practice inipi ceremonies, a.k.a. Sweat lodge, which involves prayer, singing, and the taking of the peyote sacrament. These ceremonies are of shorter duration than a NAC tipi peyote ceremony, and are performed during the day, and at night.
For those Church members who feel they need structure, the communal ingestion of peyote and the ceremony of the Church meeting helps participants get into a proper relationship with each other and with God. In turn this leads to an ability to live a good day-to-day life. Church members have a very strong community awareness. A good life is considered to be one that is kind and responsible--and over and above all else, one that embodies love. Native people have turned to the Church and relied on it when their lives have been beset by substance-abuse or domestic problems.
In regards to the ideal frame of mind and manner of conduct, the Native American Church has affinity with various forms of Christianity. But it also has close affinity with the values of some forms of Buddhism, Zen for example. The renowned Zen Buddhist scholar D.T. Suzuki wrote that the aspects of this life were: a life of humility; a life of labor; a life of service; a life of prayer and gratitude; and a life of meditation. This is quite close to what the Native American Church deems to be a proper life.
Peyotism has faced many legal challenges for Native Americans and non-Native Americans. In the United States, federal law currently restricts peyote use in religious ceremonies to members of Federally Recognized Tribal entities;[citation needed] and although the Native American Religious Freedom Act of 1994 and 1996 specifically states that Native Americans are exempt from persecution under the law, conflicts between those who use peyote in religious ceremonies and state governments have continued in some circumstances. Currently, laws regulating peyote use vary by state, although most follow the stipulations of the Native American Freedom Act. Use of peyote (religious or non-religious) outside of the ceremonies of the Native American Church is far more likely to be viewed as illegal by state authorities.
[edit] The Native American Church Movement
Quanah Parker is credited as the founder of the Native American Church Movement, which started in the 1890s, and formally incorporated in 1918. Parker adopted the peyote religion after reportedly seeing a vision of Jesus Christ while suffering from a near fatal wound following a battle with Federal Troops. Peyote is reported to contain hordenine and tyramine, phenylethylamine alkaloids which act as potent natural antibiotics when taken in a combined form. Parker was given peyote by Carrizo Coahuilatecan Indians in south Texas who healed him and showed him the proper way to run peyote ceremonies. Therefore, the genesis of modern NAC ceremonies have deep roots in Mexican Indian culture and ritual, due to the natural locality of Peyote and the dissemination by Parker to the Comanche and other plains tribes located in Indian Territory.[citation needed]. This key aspect of medicine history is often overlooked, and tension arises between NAC members who discriminate against Mexicans, ignorant to the knowledge that the way formed in this church was started by Mexican Indian relatives[citation needed]. Parker's words and teachings comprise the core of the Native American Church Doctrine and the "Peyote Road."
Parker taught that the Sacred Peyote Medicine was the Sacrament given to all Peoples by the Creator, and was to be used with water when taking communion in some Native American Church medicine ceremonies. Parker created the "half-moon" style of the peyote ceremony. The "cross fire" ceremony (originally called the "Blue Moon" ceremony) later evolved in Oklahoma (initially among the Kiowa Indians) due to influences introduced by John Wilson, a Caddo Indian who traveled extensively with Parker during the early days of the Native American Church movement. The Native American Church was the first truly "American" religion based on Christianity outside of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Parker's most famous teaching regarding the Spirituality of the Native American Church:
- The White Man goes into his church and talks about Jesus. The Indian goes into his Tipi and talks with Jesus.
The modern reservation era in Native American History saw many tribes adopting this religion. The Peyote religion and the Native American Church, however, was never the traditional religious practice of North American Indian Cultures. This religion was created by Parker's vision of Christ and was driven by influences from Mexico and other Southern Tribes who have used peyote since ancient times. Under Parker's leadership, peyote became an important item of trade, and this, combined with his Church movement and political and financial contacts, garnered Parker enormous wealth during his lifetime.d
[edit] The Peyoteros of Southern Texas
The peyote religion evolved an elaborate trade network which has persisted since pre-Columbian times, in Southern Texas, with designated harvesters of the peyote in Rio Grande City,Texas, and Mirando City,Texas. The Peyoteros are a group of closely knit families of Spanish ancestry who have harvested peyote for Native Americans since the early 1700s. The modern peyoteros still harvest peyote in the same manner as their ancestors, with a machete' and a very small work crew of young and sometimes old men. Peyote is harvested and dried after the crowns of the plants are removed at ground level; cut at an angle, to allow water to run off. The peyoteros never dig up peyote, but rather cut the tops of the cactus crowns at ground level with a machete'. Peyote plants create large taproots with an extensive root system, and the plants slowly regenerate new heads after harvest, often producing a much larger plant after several years of regrowth. Currently, Peyote is being overharvested. seriously endangering the existence of the local populations of peyote. There are only 3 licensed Peyoteros left in Texas, due to overhavesting, and illegal poaching, and strict licensing and tax regulations by the Texas Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Federal government. Two Peyoteros in South Texas are Mauro Morales of Rio Grande City, Texas, and Salvador Johnson of Mirando City, Texas.
Indians are permitted to purchase peyote to supply the Native American Church both in person and via US Mails "Restricted Delivery" procedures. Special ceremonies are performed with the harvested and dried peyote medicine in order to bless it for use as a sacrament for Native American Church rituals and ceremonies.
All three of the peyoteros are licensed by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency and operate under DEA 225 permits. Peyoteros are also required to be registered with the State of Texas Department of Public Safety, for a fee over $1,200 per year in a poverty stricken area of south Texas. Legitimate Native American Church Branches are required to register with the Texas Department of Public Safety in order to purchase, harvest, transport, or cultivate peyote. Non-Indian churches not affiliated with Federally Recognized Tribal entities are not eligible for registration with the Texas Department of Public Safety at this time.
[edit] The Fabled White Peyote of The Grand Canyon and Four Corners Area
Archaeological discoveries in Arizona and Southern Texas indicate that peyote has been used by the Southwestern Tribes and their ancestors since antiquity. Peyote has been found carbon dated as 10,000 years old in caves in Southern Texas and Arizona. The mummified samples did not resemble modern peyote and were larger and more domed in comparison to modern populations of Lophophora williamsii. These samples also contained up to 6% mescaline by weight even after thousands of years in a desiccated state. Modern Lophophora varieties average 3% mescaline in comparison. The Dine (Navajo) oral traditions and those of other Southwest tribes indicate that a cold tolerant, high altitude variety of peyote existed in the area of the Grand Canyon in ancient times[citation needed], called "white peyote" which was rumored to be of cosmic potency.
Recent discoveries and botanical evidence indicates modern Lophophora species may in fact be divergent hybrids of Lophophora diffusa and a species recently named Lophophora brackii[citation needed], a high altitude domed "white" peyote with 'Z' patterns and articulated ribbing that originates from a single population confined to a mountain near Viesca, in the northern state of Coahuila, Mexico. Modern Lophophora varieties exhibit pollen structure which ranges from 3 pored pollen from its western ranges up to 9 pored pollen in the Eastern Range where Lophophora decipiens grows under extremely arid conditions, characteristics of a natural hybrid. Lophophora diffusa more closely resembles primitive cacti than the other Lophophora varieties and this species also exists as an isolated population in a mountainous area and is more cold tolerant[citation needed] than Lophophora williamsii populations.
Currently, Peyote is on the Endangered Species List in Mexico, where it is more abundant than in the U.S. where it is not on the Endangered Species List. It is currently illegal to harvest peyote species in Mexico as all Cacti are protected under CITES and the Mexican Government has enacted strict laws to protect native cactus species.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
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