Posted by MoparNorm on Saturday, September 23, 2006 at 2:15PM :
In Reply to: What term would you use? posted by chriscase on Saturday, September 23, 2006 at 9:58AM :
...many Indians* converted to Christianity and as such there tombstones are marked with crosses, etc., such as MoparTina's grandparents. Tribal symbols for the Great Spirit and/or Mother Earth varied from tribe to tribe and region to region, so using one particular symbol for all Indians would be innapropriate and incorrect. There are dozens of similar but varying beliefs. Because of many migrations and over time, the same symbol could have different meaning within the same tribe and/or region to region. Tribal symbols for a "diety" also varied.
MN
* the term Indian is used for the sake of simplicity, there is no politically correct term that is accurate to note all tribes and peoples that were in America at the time of the European settlement. The terms used that are close to correct are Indigenous People, but that gets a little too PC. They were also migrants, not native to America, but they did beat us here by some 22,000-14,000 years. The "native" Americans lived here some 1.5 million years ago and no positive proof has been found that they continuously survived to modern times or to the time of the "Indian" migration from Mongolia. Historically we have called the "native peoples" Indians and except for confusion at the Stop and Go or 7-11, Indian as a blanket term still works, but calling folks by their tribal name such as Cherokee or Ute, is more correct.