Tradition and Ritual in Native American Culture: Sweat to Cleanse the Soul

 

National Anthropological Archive. n.d. [Native Americans steam lodge]. From Smithsonian Institute. Retrieved April 3, 2025 (http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/02/sweat-lodge-trial-fuels-native-american-frustrations/).

This is an image of two Native American men sitting in front of a structure known as a steam lodge. The steam lodge is hut-like with a shape like a dome where people go for a steam bath of sorts. It looks to be made from wood sticks and covered by some sort of tarp, likely animal skin. There are others inside the structure. They appear to be deep in thought, many staring intently or squinting at the space in front of them. They are all visibly sweating, their skin soaked and glistening in the sun. The man in front of the steam lodge on the right side of the image is smiling while looking at the camera. There is a look of pride or amusement on his face. The man to the left of him is also smiling but looks down at the ground instead. This show of emotions is a likely representation of the way they feel about the ritual taking place in the steam lodge. 

In Mary Douglas's Purity and Danger: An analysis of concept of pollution and taboo, she uses the body as a metaphor for society and the sort of systems to which we extend boundaries. In "External Boundaries," Douglas explains how rituals are performed and sacrifices are made to symbolize purity and other moral virtues within society. She writes, "The body is a model which can stand for any bounded system. Its boundaries represent boundaries which are threatened and precarious. The body is a complex structure. We cannot possibly interpret rituals concerning excreta, breast milk, saliva and the rest unless we are prepared to see in the body a symbol of society, and to see the powers and dangers credited to social structure reproduced in small on the human body" (Douglas 2002: 142). To unpack this quote, it is necessary to look at the different examples Douglas employs as later on, she mentions initiation rites that Australian and African groups carry out. Here, there is an emphasis placed on sexuality and purity as aspects of boundaries that the body sets. Body symbolism is mentioned again; this idea of boundaries and margins is at core. From bodily excrements that exit to the food that enters, what goes in and out of the body is important and can serve as a symbol for much more within a society. 

Societies place value on different symbols, rituals, and traditions. For certain Native American cultures, purity is something of great importance. The steam lodges as pictured in the image act as ritual sites where people can cleanse their souls. It is a spiritual cleansing that they are going through. These traditions serve as a symbol for the way people can, in a way, remove impurities through sweat in a place of community-- it is an intimate setting with only up to 12 people in a steam lodge at a time (Langford 2023). As Douglas mentions, the boundaries or margins of the body symbolize what is pure and impure in a society. The body is representative of much more than just itself: "Just as it is true that everything symbolizes the body, so it is equally true (and all the more so for that reason) that the body symbolizes everything else" (Douglas 2002: 151). This image reflects something greater than the people within it; it reflects a culture and the rituals and traditions a peoples hold sacred to them. 

References:

Douglas, Mary. 2002. Purity and Danger: An analysis of concept of pollution and taboo. London and New York: Routledge Classics. 

Langford, Kim. 2023. "The Cleansing Traditions of Native Americans." Owlcation, October 31. Retrieved April 3, 2025 (https://owlcation.com/humanities/The-Cleansing-Traditions-of-Native-Americans).