Powhatan Religion, Pastimes and Fine Arts

There are two main theories of the creation story in Powhatan religion. The first is that the all-powerful god Okewas created everything. And because of this, the Powhatan’s believed he led them in to battle. It was believed that only priests’ could understand him. When Okewas was mad, he gave bad weather. So, to keep him calm, the tribe would offer food and tobacco. Okewas was even said to have come from forests and create the occasional man. The other theory about creation is that a hare created everything. And at the very beginning of time, when the hare created people, he put them in a sack. First the winds tried to blow the sack from him, but the hare didn’t let that happen. But, he spread some deer hairs over the land, making each and everyone of them into a deer before releasing one women and one man into each country. Temple’s were created for praying to Okewas and other gods. When someone was to have died, it was believed that they went to a great place to be along side the gods and share a home with them. It was quite typical for the gods to be referred to as ‘he’, and were supposed to resemble men as well. And sometimes, healing ceremonies were held were the Powhatan’s would do the ever-so-famous hoop dances.

Whenever the Powhatan’s weren’t hunting, making clothes, gathering food and so on, they enjoyed many different pastimes, some similar to ours. Sometimes they played a lacrosse-like game, or sometimes even a stick counting game. They even played a card game with the rules similar to that of poker where they bet bows, arrows, beads, etc. Women would garden, but that wasn’t as much of a pastime as it was a chore. Men would also make tools and weapons from animal parts, rock, wood and even the occasional seashell.

The Powhatan arts took a fairly big place in the Powhatan culture. Women would weave baskets and made pottery, cord and rope. The women would also take the skins of the animals that the men had hunted and killed and would preserve them for making clothes later on. After the women were to have made the pottery, they would set them in the sun to dry.

By Alexa