Most Native American beliefs refer to a ‘Great Spirit’, an unknown force which is present in every living thing. Also known as the ‘Creator’ and the ‘Great Maker’, it is responsible for creating the universe and everything in it and is helped by other spirits, who are linked to various parts of nature.

Different Native American tribes have different names for the ‘Great Spirit’. The Algonquin refer to it as ‘Gitche Manitou’, the Cheyenne call it ‘Heammawihio’ and the Shawnee the ‘Finisher’.

Native Americans believe that the land and the people are bound together by a mystical interdependence. Stories about the spirits were rarely written down but passed from generation to generation by word of mouth. Myth and folklore is used to explain natural phenomena, from how people first cried, to how rivers and mountains came to be created.