Nature worship is a religious devotion paid either to nature as a deified collective entity or to all things in nature, including the elements, celestial bodies, plants, animals, and humanity. The worship of the elements does not seem to occur in the most rudimentary religions but frequently arises in later stages of religious development. The worship of fire, found among many primitive peoples, reached its highest development in the ancient Parsis sect of Persia. Celestial bodies have been deified in the religious systems of primitive and highly civilised peoples alike. The Khoikhoi of South Africa worship the moon; sun worship was practised by the Iroquois, the Plains Indians, and the Tsimshian Indians of North America and reached a high state of development among the Indians of Mexico and Peru. The sun was also a Hindu deity, regarded as evil by the Dravidians of southern India, but considered good by the Munda of the central parts. The Babylonians were sun worshipers, and in ancient Persia worship of the sun was an integral
part of the cult of Mithra. The ancient Egyptians worshiped the sun god Ra; they also apotheosised the moon and the starSirius. Other Egyptian deities included the constellations and the circumpolar stars. Plants and trees have been worshiped as totems or because of their usefulness, beauty, or fear- inspiring aspect. They are considered either as holy in themselves or as the dwelling places of spirits. Both the soma plant of India and the coca shrub of Peru have been worshiped for the intoxicating properties of products derived from them. Field crops, regarded as harbouring spirits of fertility, have been worshiped both by primitive tribes and by the peasants of Europe, among whom traces of the cult may still be found. Research Nature Worship
The term tribe describes a social group having a common speech, cultural level, and body of customs, occupying a circumscribed food-producing area, and claiming a common ancestry. As thus used in ethnology the term tribe denotes the simplest socio-political unit, based on endogamy, marriage outside the tribe being discouraged, but often comprising two or more exogamous phatries or clans.
Government is effected by means of tribal or customary law, maintained either by public opinion expressed through elders, or by headship, elective or hereditary. Among the Australian aborigines, whose physical environment offered no incentive to the development of warfare, tribal cohesion was maintained by the initiation ceremonies and other periodic gatherings. In aboriginal America the tribal organisation passed through every stage, from the simplest (Fuegians), to such complex unions as the Iroquois confederacy. Negro and BantuAfrica were traditionally essentially tribal, the latter having developed a high level of kingship for the direction of warfare. Similarly nomadism usually leads to tribal autocracy.
The Algonquin (Algonkin) were scattered small groups of American Indians speaking Algonkian languages and living in forest regions around the Ottawa River in Ontario, Canada. Most were slaughtered by the Iroquois or died of European diseases although about 2000 still survive. Research Algonquin
The Cayugas were a North American Indian tribe of the Iroquois. They were one of the Six Nations, and originally inhabited a district on Cayuga Lake. Though visited by French missionaries, they allied themselves with the English. During the American War of Independence the Cayugas joined the British, being already in arms against the colonists at Point Pleasant. They annoyed General Clinton on his march to join Sullivan in 1779 and as a result their villages were destroyed. After the war they ceded nearly all their lands to the State of New York. They later became scattered and almost totally disappeared. Research Cayugas
The Cherokee (more properly Tsallaki) are a north American Indian nation of the Iroquois family with two main divisions: the Ottare and the Ayrate.
Cherokee Indians down to 1830 occupied the upper valley of the Tennessee River. They supported the English against the French. In 1755 they ceded lands to Governor Glen and permitted the construction of English forts within their territory. In 1757 difficulties arose which led to hostilities. with the English, finally terminated by the Cherokees' defeat in 1761. In 1773 they ceded to Georgia a large tract of land. At the commencement of the American War of Independence they joined the English, and in 1780 served at Augustao They were finally reduced by General Pickens and acknowledged the sovereignty of the United States on November the 28th, 1785. They ceded other portions of their territory, and in 1790 a part of the tribe migrated to Louisiana. The Cherokees rendered important services in Jackson's army in 1812, but the Georgians desired to get rid of them. In 1817 they ceded lands to the United States, who in turn provided lands on the Arkansas and White. Here 3000 emigrated in 1818, and finally in 1835 the remainder found homes in Indian Territory, west of the lands given the first immigrants. During the American Civil War they first joined the Confederates, taking part in the battle at Pea Ridge, but afterwards were separated into two parties. Research Cherokee
The Fox are a North American Algonquin Indian tribe originally from northern Wisconsin and kinsmen of the Sacs. They were mainly sedentary farmers but also hunted and fished. They were affected by Iroquois expansionism and white settlers. In the American War of Independence they joined the British under De Langlade. They made a treaty in 1804 and ceded lands, but with the English attacked Sandusky in the War of 1812. In 1824 and 1830 they ceded large tracts of land. Though involved in the Black Hawk War they gave up more of their territory in a treaty with General Scott at its close. Later they centred on the Des Moines, and in 1842 were removed, settling on the Osage in Iowa. Research Fox
Huron is a nickname for a member of a confederation of five Iroquoian North American Indian peoples living near lakes Huron, Erie, and Ontario in the 16th and 17th centuries. They were almost wiped out by the Iroquois. In the 17th century, surviving Hurons formed a group called Wyandot, some of whose descendants now live in Quebec and Oklahoma. Research Huron
The Iroquois, or Six Nations, were a confederation of North American Indian tribes including the Mohawks, Oneidas and Senecas. They lived on the shores of the Mohawk river, and spread through to the Mississippi. In the seventeenth century they carried on extensive hostilities against the French and suffered severe losses, some of the tribes being wiped out by the settlers. The Iroquois allied themselves with the Dutch and subsequently with the English, though they afterwards joined Pontiac.
Peace was restored, but in 1774 a part of the western bands took up arms against the whites. During the American War of Independence the Iroquois, with the exception of those in Canada, favoured England. They fought against the colonists and committed extensive ravages. At the close of the war nearly all emigrated to Canada, except the Oneidas and Tuscaroras, with whom the Government made a treaty in 1784. In 1785 and 1788, the Indians began to cedelands. In the War of 1812, the English and American Iroquois were arrayed against each other, but peace was soon restored. The tribes became scattered some going west and being imprisoned on squalid reservations, and others seeking their relatives in Canada. Research Iroquois
James Palmer was an American sailor. He was born in 1810 and died in 1867. He commanded the 'Flirt' during the Mexican War. He commanded the 'Iroquois' atVicksburg, and was Farragut's flag-captain at New Orleans and Mobile. Research James Palmer
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