The Kiowa nation were a Native American
tribe who interacted with Christian missionaries in the late 1800s.
As tensions rose between settlers and Native Americans, Christian
reformers were tasked to westernizing the tribes through missionary
work. At first there was resistance, but as more prominent members
of tribes accepted the change, other followed suit. Missionaries
were successful by not forcing the Kiowa to abandon their traditions,
but instead, to interweave their native traditions and values with
Christian ones. The tribe traditionally practiced a Sun Dance
ceremony which was forcefully stopped by the U.S. Government in 1890.
With the abolition of their Sun Dance
ceremony, it was a natural move for Christian traditions to fill the
void. Churches became a strong centre of their community, with the
focus on “the will of God” as the values they were following.
Many hymns and songs were written specifically for their culture in
their Kiowa language. These hymns actually gave strength to the
individual Kiowa culture, language, and spirituality. The primary
values of the village did not change with the adaptation of
Christianity, they were just celebrated and expressed through a
slightly different medium. The method is reminiscent of how
Christianity itself adopted traditions from other cultures and
religions to blend them together.
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