My Artistic Response Reflection

My Reflection

            For this artistic response I studied the spirit of the Bear. Out of all the spiritual animals and totems that I’ve heard of from different tribes, the animal that spoke to me the most was the Bear. On more than one level does the Bear speak to me. For some reason that I don’t know, I have always been fascinated by the lifestyle of the Bear. Not only how they get to sleep for three months or more, but just how much of a personality each bear seems to have. They remind me a lot of people in how each bear can be completely different from another even if they are litter-mates.

            When I read about the Native American traits and symbols of the Bear I was surprised by how much I can connect with. The main aspect of a spirit bear is its maternal instinct to protect. I have always felt a sort of protective instinct around family and friends, and a bit of my respect for the Bear comes from how well they mother their cubs and how strong their will to protect is. As well as the Bear’s power symbolism, I also connected with their bravery. Ever since I can remember I have always thought of the saying “You are braver than you think you are,” which really rang a small bell of similarity between me and the Bear spirit. There are a couple of other traits that I connect with as well, but those two rang true very strongly with me. Putting aside the Bear’s spiritual meanings, I have to say I admire the bear’s diet. Fish, berries, and different roots and grasses; sometimes there’s some shellfish or insects that they eat. When I think of a balanced diet and how people put a huge emphasis on having one every day, the bear definitely earns my respect. They eat exactly what they need to stay strong and healthy. Doing this project gave me a sort of spiritual awareness about the Bear and about myself. I also enjoyed being able to draw different interpretations of the Bear in my sketchbook that I can keep to remember my connection.

My Artistic Response- The Bear

There are many different spiritual animals and symbols in Native American history and folklore. Some examples are the Wolf, the Salmon, the Bear, the Beaver, the Eagle, the Bison, the Coyote, and the Raven. Out of all of these, the bear spoke the most to me. After hearing about the different traits between the different animals, I feel closely represented by the bear.

Bear Meanings from Native North American Views

The bear has a long history among Native American people.

The bear is said to be as free spirited as the wind and greater than it is big. The bear is also known as being very unpredictable. The bear seems peaceful on the outside as it forages for berries and other plants, but when provoked it showed the First Peoples its ferocity.

Because the bear has this ferociousness hiding just under the surface, the First Peoples were very cautious and respectful of the bear. Even tribes of people who were sworn to peace recognized and respected the “spirit of the warrior” that is the spirit of the bear.

Bear symbolism was determined by what tribal sages and other tribal members saw of the bear. They saw similarities between humankind and bears from what the bear eats and how the bear stands upright like a man.

One tribal sage from the Shoshone tribe saw a group of bears standing upright and called it the “Dance of Gratitude” as well as a way of offering prayer.

Bears are known for the symbols they stand for in different tribes. Some of those symbols are:

• Protection
• Childbearing
• Motherhood
• Freedom
• Discernment
• Courage
• Power
• Unpredictable

Bears are also known to non-native peoples as standing for:

 Peace

 Resurrection

 Powerful

 Benevolence

 Sovereignty

 Motherhood

 Duality

This spirit animal specifically because of some of the indicating characteristics of the bear. I believe if I had a totem or spirit animal, it would be a bear. I also think that my brother would be a bear, as well. I relate to the Protection, freedom, courage, and predictableness of the bear, according to the Native American symbols. For non-native people, I relate to the benevolence, peace, and duality traits of the bear.

An interesting link with stories from different tribes

www.native-languages.org/legends

It has a lot of tribes from all over the US and their stories. It tells a little bit about icon animals and creatures. Overall, its a very interesting website.

"The Shark King" is my favorite so far...

Since beginning my extensive research for folklore and anthropology of Native Americans, I have discovered so many stories about things I never have thought about before. I found one about a Shark King who fell in love with a human woman, married her, and had a son. He went back to the sea and left his wife and son behind. The village people had figured out that there was something off about the son. They had him dropped into water to see if he floated, and sure enough he did, since he is the son of the shark king. The village people tried to kill him because he would eat all the fish before the fishermen could catch them. In the end of the story, the son escapes via a small pond that the Shark King had excavated a small tunnel to the sea in the bottom, and was never seen again.

This is my favorite story so far, although I left out much of the details. There are a lot of really interesting stories that I haven't read all the way through yet, and I'm looking more and more forward to doing so.

Just Curious

For our final paper, I have to say that this is the most difficult outline I have ever made. Particularly because I had trouble coming up with a suitable thesis for a 10-15 page paper. I have finally narrowed it down to finding similar stories from different tribes and comparing some of them together. A story I noticed on many websites was the story of the Raven. I haven't fully figured out why yet, but I'm going to be reading multiple stories tonight and within the next couple days to prepare myself more for writing my final paper and having it make more sense (and to not make myself sound so uninformed...).

Research on Folklore

So far in my research, I have found so many interesting stories about how things came to be the ay they are. Some have been relatively the same story but told in a different way, but I have found quite a lot of stories all pertaining to something very different from the next story. One of my favorite websites has multiple links to tribes all across the US and has lists of the stories they tell. I'm not sure which is my favorite story yet because I haven't read most of them, but I am beginning to narrow it down. I've noticed one of the most popular tales seems to be about the Raven and all its cunningness.

Folklore and Anthropology

For my final paper I am studying about Native American folklore and stories. So far I have found all kinds of really interesting stories online. My favorite source so far has multiple links to different tribes around the US that provides stories of nature and the ways of life. Ever since I can remember I have always been interested in native American studies and especially their stories and folklore. So finally having a reason to look deep into the topic is quite exciting for me.