Past Exhibits: > People of the Sky: Bird Spirits in American Indian Life
People of the Sky: Bird Spirits in American Indian Life
Wildlife was abundant in America at the time these works of art and artifacts were created. Game was plentiful and immense flocks of birds migrated across the skies.
Birds were omnipresent and prominent in the cultures of indigenous peoples and provided far more than food and feathers. Knowledge about local bird species was incorporated into the communities’ traditions and belief systems, enriching their lives both materially and spiritually. Incorporated into songs, legends and ceremony, particular species served as hunting aids, augurs and omens. Avian imagery on baskets, pottery and regalia was widespread and ranged from naturalistic to stylized or abstract. Linking the terrestrial realm with the sky, birds serve as powerful symbols in myth, religion and art.
