Common Misconceptions

As a part of our educational objectives, we seek to inform people of the realities of Native American life. All too often, the only contact with Native American life happens through the media that perpetuate inaccurate stereotypes. It's impossible to clear up all the misconceptions about Native Americans, but we hope that we can at least destroy some myths.

Myth: All "true indians" are already dead.

Fact: A great percentage of the indigenous population of the Americas has been killed since Columbus arrived, but not all of them. Native Americans and their traditions have prevailed and are still alive.

Myth: All Native Americans live on reservations.

Fact: Many Native Americans refused to leave their homelands and hid out during the eras of relocation to the reservations. They didn't live on the reservations and their descendants still don't live on reservations, but they are as much Native Americans as those who do.

Myth: All Native Americans are one nation with the same language and the same traditions.

Fact: In the USA alone there were over 500 different nations of Native Americans. This number becomes even greater when you add the Canadian, South and Central American nations. Therefore, a great diversity exists and has always existed between Native American cultures. There are similarities but also many differences between different nations in terms of language and culture.

Myth: All Native Americans wear buckskins, feathers and beads.

Fact: Just like in languages and traditions, there are also many differences between the traditional clothes of Native American nations. However, those traditional clothes are different types of ceremonial regalia, but in everyday live, Native Americans just wear whatever they are comfortable in, and that's basically what everybody wears.

Myth: All Native Americans have dark hair and brown skin.

Fact: There are many Native Americans with blond or red hair and "white" skin. Native American people are defined through their traditions, not by their outer appearance.

Myth: All Native Americans are alcoholics.

Fact: Alcoholism is no respector of nationality, ethnicity, or economic status. In other words, it exists everywhere to a certain degree.

Myth: The pilgrims invented Thanksgiving.

Fact: Thanksgiving was actually what Eastern Native American nations call Green-Corn Ceremony, celebrating the year's harvest among other things. The idea of "giving thanks" is traditional in most ceremonies, and this is true for an everyday prayer as much as for a special event.

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