Life Customs of Indians

Also known as Amerindian or Amerind.

Also known as Native Americans, it is a general term for all Native Americans except Eskimos. Indians are the Native Americans. This species is distributed in the countries of North and South America, belonging to the Mongoloid American branch. The use of Indian languages, including more than a dozen language groups, so far there is no recognized language classification.

The Indians are the earliest inhabitants of Latin America. The reason why they were called "Indians", mainly because when Columbus and other explorers, thought they reached the "new land" is India, called the local residents as "Indian" people. (English pronunciation of the word "Indian".)

The Indians used to be called Reds because their skin was often red, but it was later realized that the red color was a misperception due to the habit of applying red paint to the face.

Researchers believe that the ancestors of the Indians arrived in the Americas about 20,000 years ago by crossing the Bering Strait from Asia, or by land bridges over frozen straits. They shared some cultural characteristics with their Asian contemporaries, such as the use of fire, the taming of dogs, and certain special rituals and medical practices.

The Indians, after more than 20,000 years of culture, have produced many different peoples and languages, have built four empires in their history, the most important being the Aztec Empire in Central America and the Inca Empire in South America, have invented the Mayan script, and have been quite proficient in the study of astronomy, supplying the world with crops such as corn, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco, and cocoa. Because the colonizers persecuted and killed the Indians, the destruction of Indian culture, resulting in the remnants of the ancient civilization of the material is not much, but the current research is increasingly attracting the attention of the archaeological community, the Americas countries have also begun to make great efforts to excavate the ancient Indian culture.

Life

For historical reasons, most Indians now live in isolated rural areas. Like the Mayans, most of the other Indian nations have retained their traditional living customs. When Indians cook, they still like to use rough-textured clay pots, stone bowls and wooden spoons. When someone is sick, they pick herbs, or light them on fire to smoke the patient, or cook soup for the patient to bathe. To this day, they wear traditional clothing that is characteristic of their people. The Mayan women of the Yucatan Peninsula, young and old, wear loose white embroidered dresses and brightly colored flowers on their heads; men wear loose white pants, straw hats and straw sandals. Indian women on the Central Plateau love to wear embroidered smock and vertical stripes of the wide skirt, wearing a kind of upper body called "Reboso" multi-purpose shawl. This shawl can not only shade the sun, but also can keep out the cold, but also can carry children, pack things. Extremely rich national characteristics of the dress has become a clear symbol of the Indians. Many Indians still live in primitive houses. In the Yucatan Peninsula, the Maya people in the woods to open up a piece of flat land, on the spot, the thick branches of a tree one by one to fix on the ground, surrounded by a large circle, the palm tree's large leaves on the top, the house was built.

Culture

The Indians believe in "animism", they respect nature, to the natural world of grass, trees, mountains and rocks are reported to the attitude of awe. Indians have been assimilated to a considerable extent by the European Christian faith, in today's United States, most Indians believe in Christ, but the original Indian faith still exists, it is mixed with Christianity, becoming a strange religious beliefs. Cayet says that religious beliefs occupy a high place in Indian life, and that the most important tribal chief is the religious leader, who has authority over the tribal head in internal matters. In most tribes, the tribal chief is only responsible for external affairs, mainly dealing with the federal or local government, he represents the tribe externally, but his power of appointment is in the religious leader, who is more important to listen to the religious leader in internal affairs.

The language of the Indians is one of the most interesting and difficult to understand in the world. [It is said that at the time of World War I (Pacific Theater of World War II?) At the time of the Allied Powers (U.S.?) Indians serving in the Allied (U.S.?) armies during World War I (Pacific Theater of World War II?) were said to have specialized in making telephone calls in which they communicated troop "orders" to each other in words that were then translated into English or other languages. This method was the most reliable and secretive, because no one but them understood it