“Two Spirits” were big in Native American tribes; they
served as a immense part in the Native American community and still do today. [1]
Two spirits are men who dress up and act as a woman in the community. They know
how to do almost 2 times the work that women were able to do and were really
good at weaving, beadwork and pottery. [2] At
first when I was learning about two spirits I thought they were a little odd
and I didn’t really understand why someone would want to do that but then after
learning more about Two spirits in class the idea of them makes more sense to
me. Two spirits had a lot of advantages that other people in the tribe didn’t
have and were very well respected. [1] Two
spirits served a huge part in the community they were kind of like a buffer and
people came to them when they needed marital advice and needed to find a
partner. When two spirits wanted to marry they usually got married to
non-spirit members of the tribe. [2] I
think this is good because they weren’t confined to just marrying other two
spirit members, they were able to choose their partner just like everyone else
in the tribe. I think it is nice that Two Spirit members were socially
acceptable in their society because that’s not how it is today in the American
Society. Native American society seems like its a lot more accepting than we
are today. Two Spirits still exist today. They usually are big in adoption of
other members of the tribe on their reservation. I think its nice that they are
so helpful in the community, most of the children suffer from parents that have
alcoholism problems, drug abuse, and health problems and they have no one to
look after them so the Two Spirits step up. [2]
I also like how Two Spirits are like a buffer so a lot of the tribe members
come to them about different types of advice. Usually today if people need
advice on something they either go to their parents or their close friends, but
sometimes their close friends or their parents might judge them so I think that
its nice that the Native American people had the opportunity to go to someone
that would just help them out with their issue and not have any judgment on
them.
[1] Williams Walter , "The 'two-spirit'
people of indigenous North Americans," The Guardian,
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/oct/11/two-spirit-people-north-america
(accessed January 26, 2014).
[2] Moore, Crystal, "Two Spirits," Native
American Sexuality & Sexual Violation in the Conquest of the Americas,
compact disc.
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