Grizzly bear importance in American cultures

[Montezuma]

"In Alaska, the polar bear baculum was often polished and used as a tool or knife. In the north American continent, the hunter often recieved a dog whip with handle of bear's baculum."





www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317954740_Bear_necessities_On_potential_uses_of_the_ursine_baculum_os_penis_in_archaeological_and_ethnological_contexts&ved=2ahUKEwiIgpSB24P4AhVzQ_EDHXuGBCUQFnoECAsQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3-XUJdY_aEloGMUf43kCyv

[Montezuma]

A Grizzly bear Artifact from British Colombia.





www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Paw-Bear-Nature-Literature/dp/0140194541&ved=2ahUKEwjJ2pfYmqL4AhUSG-wKHZfHArIQFnoECA8QAQ&usg=AOvVaw0iYHALd0ctDndLi1vuxkac

[Montezuma]

"Many Native Americans Consider The Grizzly To Be A Sacred Animal. They think of them as brothers and believe that they give power to their people. James "Jimmy" St. Goddard, a member of the Blackfeet Nation, once said, "The grizzly bear is not only equal to, but also far superior to us pitiful humans. To kill the grizzly is to kill our own kind. If you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly. "

"Most Native American cultures consider the grizzly a great and powerful spirit, and believe the grizzly is a gift to Mother Earth and her people. While each tribe's view of the bear varies, most look at the grizzly as a healer and protector representing courage, strength, good medicine, and authority. Bears are also a sign of wisdom. Some tribes have a bear dance, which they believe brings the spirits of their ancestors back."

www.amazon.com/Bears-Mighty-Grizzlies-Julie-Argyle/dp/1423658795

[Montezuma]

[Montezuma]

"The grizzly bear has been revered by indigenous cultures all over the world for hundreds ofyears, American Indian tribes among them. Plains Indians in particular."

"The Sioux holy man Black Elk attributed his gifts to bear medicine."





books.google.com.pk/books?id=sHpTx2mfIAMC&pg=PA17&dq=black+bear+revered&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjcjtHqzar4AhWHLOwKHZ3vDoA4FBDoAXoECAsQAw

[Montezuma]

Grizzly bear revered by many cultures.






books.google.com.pk/books?id=_gx5CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA3&dq=florida+cave+bear+revered&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj649XIhqz4AhVLDOwKHWlVB4MQ6AF6BAgJEAM#v=onepage&q=florida%20cave%20bear%20revered&f=false

[Montezuma]

A Grizzly Bear's art carving found in Southwest.





books.google.com.pk/books?id=QLZmDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA49&dq=bears%20revered%20by%20apaches&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiT1_z-ic_7AhWlWaQEHbYtDF84FBDoAXoECAYQAw&authuser=1#v=onepage&q=bears%20revered%20by%20apaches&f=false

[oldcyansilverback]

Reply 40. The polar bear is sharp everywhere .

[Montezuma]

Dec 10, 2022 6:29:03 GMT -5 oldcyansilverback said:

Reply 40. The polar bear is sharp everywhere .

Polar bear is revered throughout its range. And polar bear, as i understand, are more revered than brown bears where they are known. For example, the siberians thought the polar bears were "uncles" of brown bears and so the bruins respect the white bears.

[brobear]

This story can no longer be found here; but: www.nwf.org/magazines/

www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/National-Wildlife/Animals/Archives/2006/Grizzly-Bears-on-Ice.aspx

Aklak vs. Nanook: A Tale of Two Bears
Like most scientists, the Inuit view Aklak, the grizzly bear, and Nanook, the polar bear, as two very different creatures. Their traditional tales of polar bears almost always portray these animals as powerful, keen-witted and worthy of great esteem. The grizzly, on the other hand, is seen as a more sinister beast, one that is likely to charge unexpectedly in an explosive manner.

Some biologists might agree with that assessment, citing evidence that barren ground grizzlies appear to be more aggressive than grizzlies living farther south. One explanation, they say, could be that northern grizzlies evolved in a treeless world where there's no place to hide, so threatening one's opponent may make far more sense than fleeing.

Whatever the reason, bear biologist Andrew Derocher says he is "a lot more comfortable capturing a big polar bear on the sea ice than a small grizzly on land. Grizzlies tend to react much more aggressively. It can be very unnerving."

[oldcyansilverback]

In reply 49, it is said that barren ground grizzlies are more aggressive than grizzlies further south. I believe that while the grizzlies are more aggressive than the polar bears, the polar bears are in turn at least more aggressive than the Kamkatcha brown bear, Siberian brown bear, and Eurasian brown bear. That explains why the locals call the polar bears the brown bears uncles. Though i might be wrong.

[Montezuma]

The American Indian sorcerer's sacrifice costume with bear faces.





books.google.ru/books?id=fSbsDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA96&dq=bear+in+han+culture&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&authuser=2&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjizJLA2P2AAxVCh_0HHfJZBbMQ6AF6BAgMEAM#v=onepage&q=bear%20in%20han%20culture&f=false

[Montezuma]

The Kiowa and Apaches mention dangerous man-eating bears in their mythologies.





www.academia.edu/6507246/Lions_and_tigers_and_bears_Predators_as_a_folklore_universal?email_work_card=view-paper

[Montezuma]

An American Indian artifact (Haida) showing the mythological Mother bear.



Source: The Scared Paw: Bear in nature, myth and folk

[Montezuma]

Book: American Wildlife in Symbol and Story by Angus K. Gillespie


"The history of American bear symbology begins with Native American attitudes about the bear. Bears were ubiquitous in the myths, ceremonies, and everyday lifeways of virtually all Indian culture groups. The Indian-bear relationship was conceived of ideally as one of mutual cooperation: bears seemed to offer themselves to Indian hunters as a resource, and in turn were propitiated, and their future numbers guaranteed, by the Indian’s fulfillment of ritual obligations. Among many tribes, the bones of slain bears were hung neatly in trees, away from the gnawing of camp dogs, as a gesture of respect and gratitude."



books.google.com.pk/books/about/American_Wildlife_in_Symbol_and_Story.html?id=QWRm9QEhpZYC&redir_esc=y

[Gorilla king]

the bones of slain bears were hung neatly in trees, away from the gnawing of camp dogs, as a gesture of respect and gratitude."

Awesome, never heard this before. Very good research bro. I wonder if bones of tigers were also hung neatly in trees?

[Montezuma]

Oct 6, 2024 12:12:51 GMT -5 Gorilla king said:

the bones of slain bears were hung neatly in trees, away from the gnawing of camp dogs, as a gesture of respect and gratitude."

Awesome, never heard this before. Very good research bro. I wonder if bones of tigers were also hung neatly in trees?

Good question. Basically, in every place where bears are revered, bear hunting and consumption involves a lot of rituals and taboos. Hanging bears bones with trees is a feature found almost everywhere: in Siberian bear festivals, Andean bear rituals, Finnish Karavela ceremony etc. 

Shamanism and animal cult when connected to bears is basically more elaborate and complex than other animals. Let's see for Amur region. If a revered tiger or elk is killed, so it's bones would be buried underground with enchants and respect with some parts kept for rituals, however, in the case of bear that would be different in terms of complexity. All bear bones carry 'a unique name' of its own distinct on other animal bones, many of its parts would be kept and some hung with trees, there would be a lot of dancing and praying to the bear to appease (and even seek forgiveness for killing it) it's spirit. In short, in rituals wise, bears are more an object deserving more ritualistic attention than other animals most of the time.

[Montezuma]

From the same book:

"Respect and thankfulness found expression also in Native American artwork. Bear representations are everywhere in Indian decoration and material culture—painted on buffalo robes, tipis, and Pueblo ollas, carved on the red stone bowls of calumets. Silhouettes of bear tracks adorned war shields. Necklaces were made from strings of bear claws; knife handles were made from bear jawbones. In this connection, Indian art authority John C. Ewers raises an important point: “Probably no other animal in [the Indian’s] environment could be unmistakably identified by a representation of any one of several distinctive parts. Ingenious Indians repeatedly produced bear symbols from the skin, claws, jaws or paws of the bear. The animal could be symbolized in the graphic arts as well as drawings of its paw or distinctive track alone."



"One common motif in Indian painting is the depiction of a bear with a line or cloud flowing from inside the animal through its mouth. This motif, popular today in Pueblo pottery and Navajo sandpaintings crafted for the tourist trade, conveys the idea that the bear’s invulnerability is a kind of supernatural power with its source in the animal’s heart (fig.5.1)."




books.google.com.pk/books/about/American_Wildlife_in_Symbol_and_Story.html?id=QWRm9QEhpZYC&redir_esc=y

[Montezuma]

"The bear’s vitality and strength could be transferred to humans by means of medicines derived from the bear, and the native pharmacopoeia is filled with bear salves and tonics. Early settlers in Virginia found the Indians using bear oil combined with crushed wild angelica root or golden seal as a skin toner and insect repellent. Mixed with tobacco, bear oil was taken to expel worms from the intestinal tract. Unrendered bear grease would relieve general aches and swelling, and was sometimes applied over the entire body, Channel- swimmer fashion, as insulation. Among the Yokuts of California, bear hair was the main ingredient in a drink to ease childbirth. Bear spleen was applied to cure toothache by the tribes of the Great Lakes region. The Navajos used bear gall mixed with ground corn as a ready cure for the “corpse poison” said to be dispensed by witches; cautious Navajos carried gall medicine wherever witches were thought to be operating."

"Native Americans could also receive bear power through dreams, visions (actively sought through sensory deprivation or hallucinogens), or they might purchase the power from someone who had extra. In any event, bear power was desirable as war medicine and for curing. Within some tribes, dream societies were formed, composed of those tribesmen with bear power. Members of the Oglala Sioux mato ihanblapi (‘they dream of bears’) ceremonially “paraded around the camp dressed in bearskins, growling like a bear and chasing people.”



"Bear shamanism was one of the most dramatic forms of animal symbolism in Indian culture. Several accounts of bear shamanism were collected from California tribes by the distinguished anthropologist Alfred Kroeber. Bear doctors were considered almost invulnerable; they might even return from the dead. The vocation came in a dream, or the novice would wallow in the pool formed by an uprooted tree, as bears did. He would stay alone in the woods for perhaps an entire season, living and eating with bears. The novice would become a bear, and old Indians could recount the transformation in great detail, including a description of the sensation of the fur growing out of the skin. Upon his return to the human world, the novice would be tutored by older bear doctors in singing and curing, then after passing a further series of hardships, he was considered a bear shaman."




books.google.com.pk/books/about/American_Wildlife_in_Symbol_and_Story.html?id=QWRm9QEhpZYC&redir_esc=y

[Montezuma]

"It was the bear shaman’s responsibility to cure bear bites, which he did by extracting a bear’s tongue from the wound. Such feats, though performed with sleight of hand, were not necessarily intended to be deceptive; they were metaphorical representations of the curing process. The main function of the bear shamans, however, was to act as tribal avengers, to kill members of their own or another tribe against whom they held a grudge. The shamans supposedly turned into bears to do the killing, but again the metaphorical nature of these acts was acknowledged, and some of Kroeber’s informants stated that the shamans just wore hardened bear skins. Upon engaging their enemies, the shamans would pretend to bite and claw but actually stab their victims with a knife held close to the mouth. Victims were dismembered and gutted, their entrails scattered around, simulating a bear’s kill.

Kroeber was skeptical about some of his informants’ reports, and he notes that it was hardly more possible for a shaman to fight efficiently in a heavy bear costume that it was for him to turn into a real bear. Yet even when the sensational aspects of bear shamanism are discounted, a powerful institution for social control remains. The shaman’s “grudge” was in reality the tribe’s dissatisfaction with an antisocial member. Stories about bear shaman vengeance were circulated to keep people in line, and the shaman complex functioned as ghost belief or witchcraft does in some other cultures."



"Bear curing continues among the Shoshonis and Utes of the Great Basin, and elsewhere the bear continues to figure in matters of social control. Among the Chippewa of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, folklorist Richard M. Dorson found belief in the “bearwalk,” a witch or evil spirit that may take the form of a fire-breathing bear. The bearwalk stalks at night, bringing a strange illness which kills its victim in sixteen days. On the fourth night after the victim’s death, the bearwalk visits the grave and steals a finger, the tongue, or an eyeball from the corpse. Some people said that if the bearwalk fails to make off with a ghastly souvenir, he will die in four months.

Bearwalk tales are reminiscent of the French-Canadian loup-garou or werewolf tradition, but they maintain a decidely Indian quality, with the recurring Indian sacred number four (also sixteen—four fours), emphasis on dreams (the witch transforms into a bear while dreaming), and power (fire) emanating from the bear. Only an Indian can be killed by a bearwalk; it is fitting that the bear, so prominent in protohistorical Indian belief, continues to help define Indian ethnicity."




books.google.com.pk/books/about/American_Wildlife_in_Symbol_and_Story.html?id=QWRm9QEhpZYC&redir_esc=y