Native American Berdache: Much More Than Homosexuality

1425 Words6 Pages
Abstract When the European explorers crossed the lands of North America they encountered native tribes of people who had customs, rituals, and traditions that defied their sense of security. One of these Indian customs was the role of the Berdache. The Europeans believed that a Berdache was simply a homosexual man who dressed as a woman when in fact, a Berdache was a highly revered member of the tribes who had them and their role was a complex one. This paper will show that the Europeans were entirely mistaken in their assumptions and ideas that they formed regarding the Berdache and because of their mistakes persecuted a group of people that they believed to be immoral deviants. Native American Berdache Confusion among European Explorers When the European explorers began to explore North America, they encountered and studied the indigenous people. During the time of their exploration they studied the native inhabitants and discovered customs, rituals, and ideas that varied greatly from anything they had ever seen or heard of. Across the continent the many different tribes of Indians had each developed their own myths about the creation of the world, the appearance of the first people, the place of humans in the universe, as well as how the lives and deeds of their people were dictated by their deities and gods. Language barriers and personal and religious beliefs led to many trials and tribulations between the explorers and the natives. When the explorers witnessed something that they had no personal reference to it often scared them or went against their religious beliefs and customs. Often times, however, if the language barriers had not been present the customs and rituals could have been explained and the possibility exists that maybe the Europeans would not have been nearly as offended or distressed by what they witnessed (Spade &
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