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Can't remember if I got this here or somewhere else. (Original Post) Maraya1969 Apr 2013 OP
thanks-- I did not know about this NoMoreWarNow Apr 2013 #1
From Wikipedia about two spirit persons. Maraya1969 Apr 2013 #3
K&R secondwind Apr 2013 #2
The 'two-spirit' people of indigenous North Americans UnrepentantLiberal Apr 2013 #4
You learn something new every day! savebigbird Apr 2013 #5
Two-Spirit Persons... ReRe Apr 2013 #6
Amazing angrychair Apr 2013 #7
k & r . . . . for more information annabanana Apr 2013 #8
Who's the source of the quote? Who's the person pictured? tuvor Apr 2013 #9
It was only a movie, and I don't recall his name, but FailureToCommunicate Apr 2013 #10

Maraya1969

(22,441 posts)
3. From Wikipedia about two spirit persons.
Mon Apr 1, 2013, 07:33 AM
Apr 2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-Spirit

Two-Spirit People (also Two Spirit or Twospirit) is an umbrella term sometimes used for what was once commonly known as berdaches (pron.: /bərˈdæʃɨz/), Indigenous North Americans who fulfill one of many mixed gender roles found traditionally among many Native Americans and Canadian First Nations communities.

Third gender roles historically embodied by Two-Spirit people include performing work and wearing clothing associated with both men and women. The presence of male two-spirits "was a fundamental institution among most tribal peoples."[1] Male and female two-spirits have been "documented in over 130 tribes, in every region of North America."[2]

These individuals were sometimes viewed in certain tribes as having two spirits occupying one body. Their dress is usually a mixture of traditionally male and traditionally female articles. According to Sabine Lang they have distinct gender and social roles in their tribes.[14] In some tribes, male-bodied two-spirits held specific active roles which, varying by tribe, may include:


healers or medicine persons
conveyors of oral traditions and songs (Yuki)
foretellers of the future (Winnebago, Oglala Lakota)
conferrers of lucky names on children or adults (Oglala Lakota, Tohono O'odham)
nurses during war expeditions
potters (Zuni, Navajo, Tohono O'odham)
matchmakers (Cheyenne, Omaha, Oglala Lakota)
makers of feather regalia for dances (Maidu)
special role players in the Sun Dance (Crow, Hidatsa, Oglala Lakota)
 

UnrepentantLiberal

(11,700 posts)
4. The 'two-spirit' people of indigenous North Americans
Mon Apr 1, 2013, 07:41 AM
Apr 2013


By Walter L Williams
The Guardian
11 October 2010

Native Americans have often held intersex, androgynous people, feminine males and masculine females in high respect. The most common term to define such persons today is to refer to them as "two-spirit" people, but in the past feminine males were sometimes referred to as "berdache" by early French explorers in North America, who adapted a Persian word "bardaj", meaning an intimate male friend. Because these androgynous males were commonly married to a masculine man, or had sex with men, and the masculine females had feminine women as wives, the term berdache had a clear homosexual connotation. Both the Spanish settlers in Latin America and the English colonists in North America condemned them as "sodomites".

Rather than emphasising the homosexuality of these persons, however, many Native Americans focused on their spiritual gifts. American Indian traditionalists, even today, tend to see a person's basic character as a reflection of their spirit. Since everything that exists is thought to come from the spirit world, androgynous or transgender persons are seen as doubly blessed, having both the spirit of a man and the spirit of a woman. Thus, they are honoured for having two spirits, and are seen as more spiritually gifted than the typical masculine male or feminine female.

Therefore, many Native American religions, rather than stigmatising such persons, often looked to them as religious leaders and teachers. Quite similar religious traditions existed among the native peoples of Siberia and many parts of Central and southeast Asia. Since the ancestors of Native Americans migrated from Siberia over 20,000 years ago, and since reports of highly respected androgynous persons have been noted among indigenous Americans from Alaska to Chile, androgyny seems to be quite ancient among humans.

Rather than the physical body, Native Americans emphasised a person's "spirit", or character, as being most important. Instead of seeing two-spirit persons as transsexuals who try to make themselves into "the opposite sex", it is more accurate to understand them as individuals who take on a gender status that is different from both men and women. This alternative gender status offers a range of possibilities, from slightly effeminate males or masculine females, to androgynous or transgender persons, to those who completely cross-dress and act as the other gender. The emphasis of Native Americans is not to force every person into one box, but to allow for the reality of diversity in gender and sexual identities.

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/oct/11/two-spirit-people-north-america

ReRe

(10,597 posts)
6. Two-Spirit Persons...
Mon Apr 1, 2013, 08:15 AM
Apr 2013
K&R

...I did not know this, so your OP isn't redundant. We must continue to learn and open our minds a little more with each new bit of knowledge.

angrychair

(8,594 posts)
7. Amazing
Mon Apr 1, 2013, 08:45 AM
Apr 2013

Who had the right to call who savages. Native American cultures never fail to surprise or impress. Thank you for sharing!

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