The Bear Clan: North American Totemic Mythology, Belief and Legend
By: Michael Ramsey, Ph.D.
The lifeways of North America's bears and humans have been
intimately linked for over twenty-thousand years. Both species evolved
together after their ancestors crossed the Ice Age land bridges that
once joined Asia and North America. For the Native Americans, who saw
all animals as sacred and possessing individual spiritual powers, the
bear held a very special place in their belief system. Almost
every Indian culture that lived in proximity to the bears of North
America had a commonality of customs, mythology, legends and ceremonies
involving the animal. In part, this similarity and strong presence of
the bear as a powerful totem sprang from the knowledge that it was one
of the few animals that could kill the Indian. This fear-inspired
respect was reserved for only the strongest of spirits.
More importantly, though, the Indian saw the bear as something
very much more than simply a powerful animal that conjured fear. He was
brother, kindred spirit and teacher. They saw in the bear an animal that
had amazingly similar traits to themselves. These traits included physical
attributes such as the ablity to walk upright for periods of time, the
human-like mannerisms, as well as the striking similarity of its skinned
body to that of their own. In addition, existing on a diet of nuts,
berries, roots and meat, the bear was the only large omnivor other than
man. Female bears also had a strong maternal devotion to their young.
Cubs stayed with their mothers for several years, being fiercly protected,
while undergoing a period of learning and growth.
These traits, together with the animal's strength, projected the bear
as a powerful totemic symbol to the Native Americans. The act of hibernation,
for example, gave rise to initiation ceremonies, life/death rituals,
creation myths and connected the bear to the underground spirit realm. The
digging of roots and following of the available seasonal food supply
made it, in the Indian's eyes, a master gatherer, a knower of herbs and
medicines, and a healer. Throughout North America one of the greatest visions
that could come to a tribe's shaman was the appearance of the bear either in
a dream or on a vision quest. This vision was a guarantee that the shaman,
now having the bear spirit within him, would practice good healing for the
tribe. Finally, as a warrior, the animal was unequaled. A young Indian warrior
could do no better than to carry the spirit of the bear with him into battle.
His animal totem was usually manifested in symbolic war paint and perhaps the
brandishing of a weapon made from the bones of a bear.
The bear clan within certain tribes was very prominent and its
members greatly respected. The priciples and practices of these clans varied.
Sometimes organized for purely spiritual cermonies and other times for the
hunt, these groups dressed, ate and often times acted like a bear in order to
gain favor with its spirit. Many of these rituals are well documented and
clearly show not only a deep connection to the animal but also a depth of
understanding of its daily life. To carry the bear as one's guardian spirit
was truly respected; to become a bear (either metaphorically or physically)
gave the Indian insights and powers from the Spirit World.
With the onslaught of the white man and his religions, many of the
the Indian's rituals, as well as they themselves, disappeared. Several
tribes, especially the Sioux of the Northern Plains and the tribes of the
Pacific Northwest and Alaska, have had their ceremonies documented and
preserved. The human/bear stories of other Native cultures have been
deciphered through careful study of the remaining symbols and artifacts. It
is no wonder that the fear instilled by the bear in the early western pioneers
together with the great richness of the Native American's myths, that
the facination, respect and imitation continues today in North America and
probably will far into the future.