In Native society, we cannot separate culture from spirituality. Everything is sacred, and everything in nature is alive with its own spirit. So even the way one hunts, plants crops, dresses, and lives has deeper meaning than just food, clothing, and shelter.
Also, culture is an ongoing process that can only stop with extinction. We are not extinct. Just as the descendants of those early settlers do not still live in log cabins and ride in wagons, neither do we live in the same way as our ancestors. Today, like our neighbors, we live in houses, have jobs, and send our children to school. Even those of us living on the Delaware reservation in Oklahoma no longer dress in leathers or live in wigwams.
Source: Àlankèntkátâxkwe (Star Dancer), Turtle Clanmother, Thunder Mountain Lenapé Nation
