Indigenous Traditions
Diverse and specific to each people and land, Indigenous spiritual systems center relationship—between humans, ancestors, animals, landforms, and unseen forces. They are living, evolving, and rooted in place rather than abstraction.
Introduction
Indigenous Traditions refers to the diverse spiritual systems of the many distinct Native nations across North America—each with its own language, cosmology, ceremonial structure, and relationship to land. There is no single unified “Native American religion.” Instead, these traditions are rooted in place, ancestry, and reciprocal relationship between humans, animals, spirits, and the natural world. Ritual life may include seasonal ceremonies, storytelling, vision quests, medicine practices, sacred songs, and community gatherings, all embedded within tribal identity and governance. Knowledge is often transmitted orally and through lived participation rather than written scripture. Many traditions continue actively today, adapting while maintaining continuity with ancestral teachings. Any discussion must respect that these are living, sovereign cultural systems, not mythic relics or interchangeable archetypes.
Dievturība is the modern revival of Latvian folk paganism, honoring Dievs, Māra, Laima, and the cycles of nature. Rooted in ancient dainas, rituals, and seasonal festivals, it blends ancestral memory with living practice. Explore how this native faith weaves gods, land, and song into a sacred worldview reborn in modern Latvia.