Effigy Mounds

While reading the assigned article, entitled "Effigy Mound Builders", I found myself making several connections to modern day religion. In particular, the Late Woodland group's decorative images on their pottery and their distinction between the "upperworld" and the "lowerworld" stood out to me. The "upperworld" is represented by the creatures of the sky, birds or human beings dressed as birds. The "lowerworld" is depicted through less distinguishable "waterspirits" with long tails and often times horns. These distinct earth and sky divisions are also seen in the various effigy mounds scattered across the Midwest, particularly in Wisconsin. This reoccuring theme of the relationship between Earth(bear, buffalo), Sky(thunderbird, various other birds) and Water (lizards, waterspirits) may reflect a somewhat spiritual mentality of these Native American Tribes. It seems like they may have focused a lot on "maintaining balance and harmony in the world" (pg 116). Late Woodland group's spiritual approach to the delicate balance between all the creatures of the Earth that they coexisted with reminds me of some Eastern philosophies on how one should go about living their life. It reminds me of some of the goals of Eastern religions to maintain a similar type of balance in a person's own everyday world. It may not exactly equate to the balance between animals, but I do feel like some Eastern philosophies such as Taoism and Buddism focus on establishing a balanced and harmonious existence, as did these Midwestern Native American tribes.

I also found it interesting that these Native American cultures believed in this division between the "upper" and "lower" worlds. It reminds me of the division between Heaven and Hell that exists in Christianity. The connotations of these two worlds is mostly different in each respective religious mindset. Yet I find that the fact that there is this common division very fascinating. In the Late Woodland groups, the "lowerworld" creatures were possibly in "dynamic opposition" to the powerful "upperworld" thunderbird creatures. Often time, the "waterspirits" of the "lowerworld" were depicted menacingly, with horns and talons. This strongly reminds me of the common description and illustration of hell's demons and even Satan himself. Yet it seems like these creatures were not considered "evil". They were seen as necessary to keep the world in complete order and balance in the environment around them.