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You are here: Home / History / Why did Spanish missionary priests want Native Americans to become Christians?

Why did Spanish missionary priests want Native Americans to become Christians?

May 21, 2020 by Karen Hill

The Spanish priests believed they were saving the Native Americans’ souls by converting them to Catholicism.

They did not think they were interfering with the Native Americans’ religious life because they thought the Native Americans had no real religion of their own.

In fact, California Indians had a complicated set of religious beliefs. To pay proper respect to nature, they performed a wide variety of dances and rituals. The Hupa of northern California, for example, devoted ten days every fall to the White Deerskin Dance. The Hupa believed that deer would return each hunting season only if this ceremony had been performed properly.

The Native Americans’ religious leaders were also healers. These medicine men and women had a great deal of influence in their villages. If the head of a village could not resolve a dispute, he often turned to a medicine person for help. In part because of medicine peoples’ role as peacemakers, California Indians almost never went to war with each other.

Related Facts

  • What was a Spanish mission and Why did Spanish priests move to California?
  • Why did Native Americans want to live in Spanish missions and What happened when they were confined?
  • Why did Americans want to go to Texas and why did Mexico want them there before Texas won its independence?
  • Why was contact with non-Native Americans good for Northwest Native Americans?
  • When did Northwest Native Americans first meet non-Native Americans?
  • What language do Native Americans speak and Do Native Americans still speak Indian languages?

Filed Under: History

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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