On the 25th of December, the Nativity Feast is celebrated, and on Lent Christians practice 40 days of self-reflection and remembrance of Jesus' cause. Then, on Easter, Jesus's resurrection is celebrated. What these rituals tell an observer is that the Christians of early America used ritual to commune with the memory of an event that is monumental in a story where spirit is an invisible force that affects their position in an afterlife. In their cosmology, they were in the godly realm of Paradise, kicked out, and must now live on earth in efforts to prove themselves worthy again by the time of their death. The Native Americans on the other hand, believe that the spirit world is more closely related to the earth than the early European settlers. Their ceremonies were connected with, as Ruth Underhill notes, "the very fabric of life. They furnished the chief opportunities for learning, for feasting, for lovemaking " (5). Their cosmology did not dictate a world where spirits were primarily a part of a different world as was in the European settlers, but rather, right there on earth. Of course, the cosmologies of both these groups were born out of two very different creation myths.
The belief systems of both the Native Americans and the early European settlers differed mostly because of their creation myth beliefs. The early Europeans believed God was the creator of life on earth and as the bible states, that he created humans (Adam and Eve) last so that they might enjoy and basically have dominion over other creations. In other words, these European settlers believed humans were special and they were to exercise this right to raze fields, cut down trees and create settlements, and harness the powers of the land. The world was merely a workshop in which the creations of God were able to do as their God had done before them " create. After Adam and Eve fell from grace they were nonetheless still in place to rule over other forces of nature.
