People and bears

[tomf]

Traditional Animal Foods of Indigenous Peoples of Northern North America

http://traditionalanimalfoods.org/mammals/bears/

[south fork]

Many cultures had strong spiritual beliefs regarding black bear and some developed rituals around the bear . Still a major spiritual belief California and Nevada Bear Dance is still a big part of todays culture .

[ApacheNDN]

The old belief of my tribe/family, Chiricahua Apache, is that bears are forbidden to be killed unless they are attempting to take your life. The bear or shuush in our language, is considered to be a reincarnated person, generally someone considered to have been a butthole while alive, was their punishment from Ussen for being this way. In Apache culture family is family, no matter what, and if you kill a bear you could be possibly killing a relative. I have some cousins that are half Lakota, and whether they were joking I don't know, but their belief is that if you eat bear meat you would go bald and grow hair on your body. This explained the appearance of a lot of the Europeans.

[tomf]

Really neat to get your perspective and hear some real stories/beliefs. Pretty sure the belief that bear were (or had been) people, was shared by some California groups.
This is an ancient thread that I barely remember, but I'm glad the link is still active.

[paohrocks]

Thank you for your perspective, very interesting.

[ApacheNDN]

Yeah. I get bored and go through the old stuff. I like to share my knowledge of my people. There's a lot of tribal people that don't want to share or get incensed by some of the questions. I think it's better to share. That way we can all learn from each other and hopefully not be intimidated by the questions.

[south fork]

Yosemite's people have a strong spiritual connection to the Bear and still have Bear Dance ceremonies .

[PaleoSnow]

Bear Effigy? I say definitely Found in east Tx probably 15 years ago or more. Actually my first “pot”!

[south fork]

It's a very nice pot but I'm not seeing a Bear.

[JoshinMO]

"Sometimes The Bear gets You".

[OnewiththewilD]

That was a really great read, thank you for sharing! A thing to add is, for those who dont know, most wild game is very lean on fat, or just not the right kind that our bodies need. Bears do have the right type though

[Ron Kelley]

That Bear steak marbled with fat and cooked over an open fire: Can't beat it!

[Cecilia]

I had old b’frd usta go sit up bear stands, “hunt” them. Bring home meat, stuffed mounted heads, fur rugs. He was not one o’ my Hs…

[OnewiththewilD]

Ive only had Bear twice, and i was young. I remember it being sweet tasting