Tag Archives: Shoshones

Other Healing Rituals

Blackfeet Sweat Lodge in Montana circa 1900, courtesy Library of Congress

Blackfeet Sweat Lodge in Montana circa 1900, courtesy Library of Congress

Many Native Americans believed that illness came from evil spirits, so their rituals emphasized that aspect of healing.

The Shoshones believed that a ghost entering a person’s body caused sickness, and used incantations, prayer, drums, medicine whistles, and sweat lodges to prepare a patient to have the ghost extracted. Continue reading