Native American Regalia
The Native American people had many different spiritual rituals and ceremonies
and many of these traditional events were times when they would dress up in
ceremonial Native American regalia. The majority of the Native American regalia
were masks that were carved out of wood and many times they depicted gods
and spirits. Sometimes the masks would be representations of animals that
were thought to be sacred by many Native American Indian tribes.
The Native
American regalia were usually very colorful and would be adorned with various
feathers and beads, to the American Indian tribes these were more than just
regalia though, they were representations of their deities and the ceremonies
were traditional at certain times every year. One of the festivals that were
held by many Native American tribes was a kind of harvest festival, when they
would harvest all their winter supplies they would then feast. There are still
thousands of Natives that live throughout the country on the many Indian reservations
and many still follow the traditional ways and perform the customary rituals.
On some reservations and even some museums you can see reenactments of some
of these ceremonies where they wore Native American regalia and masks.
Native American regalia have also become a favorite children’s Halloween
costume, even though some people might find these regalia offensive they
are still quite popular and really just an innocent costume rather than
a stereotype many people see the Native American regalia as. There were
many schools and universities that had mascots that were Native American
Indians but many have since changed their names and mascots in order to
be more politically correct and not offend anyone that has Native American
roots. One school that was able to maintain the American Indian mascot is
Florida State University, and the Seminole Indians are honored and have
approved of the mascot depicting a Seminole Indian, and the Seminole Indians
are a Native tribe to the state of Florida. During Halloween you can find
many different types of Native American style regalia depicting different
tribes and their clothing and traditions, and you are bound to see many
Indian regalia on children for years to come.
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