NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU MIGHT FIND

SUPPOSE YOU HAVE CHOSEN...

  ...chosen to study religions...  many religions; perhaps preferring those most foreign to your common understanding of what that is. Native American societal groups, which travel and live together, share a common understanding of where their ancient ancestors came from, how the world they share was created or discovered & most important of all...  how they should fit into it; their relationship to the other creations found there.

Like the children of most 'societal groups,' they have been taught the business of finding/getting what they need to survive[as a group]. The labor involved is often divided among the most obvious sub-groups in their camps...  males, females & others; nobody is assigned no important role in these daily endeavors; each is a valued contributor, and there are often recruitment procedures, enabling the complete acceptance of those born to other bands of 'travelers.'

Their numbers need to be increased, to balance the attrition of females marrying into separate bands, those lost to disease, aging or fatally wounded & the youth who leave in search of different resources[and methods for procurement], and never return. Art and religion can only begin to develop, when adequate solutions for these necessities of life already exist, and function acceptably.

Trade with other bands will also result, when there is a surplus being produced by any of the sub-groups. Exposure to anything not explained by the stories they tell, about their ancient ancestors and the nature of the created world they belong in, must create serious tensions within the small society. A dynamism in their religious beliefs is what is called for, if the group is to continue to thrive, in a world that is changing itself.

Looking into what can be found out about these exotic beliefs...  and believers, can only be a profitable exercise, if we examine our own society, its beliefs & its tendency to be dynamic in the face of rapid technologic advancement. Great civilizations have reached their unlikely heights of technological achievement, only to disappear completely, leaving no physical trace & no recorded history to guide us.