Illustrations and symbols

To express their relationship with the sacred land and the plants and animals with whom they share it, peoples of all native American cultures resort to artistic manifestations. The symbols and drawings that adorn from the squirrels to the shoes allow artists and peoples to reflect on the world around them and remember their religious and secular importance. Objects carefully crafted should be appreciated by their own users and, traditionally, artistic skill is highly appreciated. For Indian peoples, as in other cultures, having access to the best artists and craftsmen was an unambiguous indicator of social prestige.

Decorative drawings and symbols can be used in almost any type of material or applied to other objects. The skins are adorned with counts or feathers and painted. The horn, bone, shell, stone and wood are cut, engraved and painted. Clay figures or squirrels are also often painted or engraved. Animal hair and plant fibers are filed to make nets and tissues.

The medium limits the subjects to some extent. Because they are the easiest fabrics to work, cisterns, counts and woven fabrics generally have geometric drawings. The naturalist figures experience some stylization due to the limitations of the material. Although loyalty to nature is not necessarily an artistic or cultural ideal, painting and sculptures tend to present a greater naturalism.

Most of the time, the symbols and drawings reflect the natural environment of the artist. For example, floral and vegetable motifs are used in forest art, while marine animals are more common in coastal groups. Other themes are based on the cosmology of the respective peoples and often appear mythical beings such as the thunderbird, snakes and other supernatural creatures.

Several territories, including the southwest and northwest coast, are known for their basket experts. Both the ceremonial and daily baskets of the hopis usually carry geometric drawings, animals and kachinas. The most common themes are triangles and concentric circles, which often include vibrant colors and elaborate designs. Although eagle and fox mother kachina are popular themes, turtles have gained popularity recently.

The Alfareros villages are recognized for their high quality and sophistication in their works, which maintain the tradition rooted in the large pre-contact cultures of the area, such as the Anasazis.

Both geometric themes and traditional animals, such as snakes and thunderbirds, are represented in white, black and in intense red, ocres and natural creams.

More than thirty thousand Navajo indigenous people are engaged in the weaving of carpets, resulting in great diversity. According to the Navajo legend, the Spider Woman taught the weavers how to grind herbs, yuca, cedar bark and cotton. However, wool became the main raw material for the navajos as they engaged in pasturing. In order to adapt to the tourist market, Navajo carpets have adopted pastel tones instead of natural terrestrial tones. There are a variety of local modalities. The glass style, for example, uses a lot of different lines. The Yei carpets (which means "god") and Yeibichai (who means "masked dancer") are inspired by the sacred paintings on sand, although they do not have a ritual function. In the Great Lakes area, skilled employees flatten pork-spin threads, adorn them with vegetable dyes and use them to decorate bags and mocassins. The women of the northeastern tribes Huron, Micmac and others embroidered leather, fabrics, and bark of beetle with hair dyed with bark. As the Europeans introduced colored glass counts in the region, the Indians combined them with traditional materials and even replaced them. Although complex floral themes are the most common, they also use simple geometric drawings to decorate objects such as bags or knife vines.

The villages of the plains also used pig-spin puffs for mocassins and pipes. The drawings of the Indians of the plains are usually more geometric and include circles, rectangles and triangles, but bison skins covering the tipis and those of particular use may present naturalistic images of buffaloes and horses. The circles represent the celestial dome, the buffalo land shelter or the soil of the tipi. The circle, as in many other native cultures of North America, represents the relationship between what exists on earth and the eternal cycles of nature.

Much of the art of the northwest coast is considered figurative, i.e. it highlights the elements or characteristics of an animal or person and, at times, removes other traits. The castor is represented by two large incisives and a wide, shaded tail, while the horns have a peak and eyes that give them a unique appearance. The representation of the three-dimensional totemic poses is usually more complete than in two dimensional objects. Although some animal figures combine animal and human traits, they often adopt anthropomorphic characteristics.

Masks

The actors wore masks that represented different supernatural beings with healing powers in many ceremonies, especially those intended to heal the sick. The Yei masks of the Navajo are made of ceremonial gamuzas of sacrificed deer. To prevent blood loss, the deer should be stifled using sacred flour or corn pollen in the nasal holes.

Masks are used in the winter healing ritual Yeibichai, also known as the Night Song. This ritual can only be performed during the night, when the snakes are asleep. The ceremony is held in order to heal people affected by attacks or madness.

However, during the final two nights of the ceremony, the Yeibichais teach young men of both sexes the secrets of the masquerading gods.

Ceremonial suits and costumes

The mythical custom or religious vision dictated the ceremonial costumes worn by members of the tribe, especially chiefs and warriors. While the feathers used to be eagles, the skin and horns of the buffalo were used to make feather or other touches.

The shape of the models, the decorated shirts and the drawings painted on men and horses had a mythical meaning. They wore this type of suit on ceremonial occasions, such as returning from a successful incursion or in the same battles.

The tribes used the decorative materials at their natural reach. Thus, the cree of the plains were skilled in making ornaments with dyed spinach pig legs, while the blackfoot wore cornea and buho feathers. It was believed that in any case, the special qualities of animals were passed on to the user.