Memphis Foundations: Going Back to Move Forward: Mississippian Culture Characteristics
- Daisy Shotwell
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 21 hours ago
In the last blog, I gave a general introduction of Mississippian Native Americans and today I will briefly look at cultural characteristics that identified Mississippian culture.
Source: historyandculture.org History and Culture Media 3.2.2025
Direct Quote Below:
Key Takeaways:
The Mississippian Culture flourished between 800 CE and 1600 CE in the southeastern United States.
Mound-building and agricultural practices were key elements of their civilization.
Social structure was complex, with powerful leaders and a stratified society.
Trade networks connected Mississippian cities, facilitating cultural exchange.
Though the Mississippian culture declined, their legacy remains an important part of Native American history.
I want to zone in on the spiritual foundations released through mound-building.
Taken directly from the article above.
1. Mound-building and Architecture
The Mississippians are most famous for their large ceremonial mounds. These mounds were built in various shapes, including conical, platform, and ridge-top mounds. They were often used as foundations for temples, elite residences, or burial sites. The largest and most notable of these sites is Cahokia, located near modern-day St. Louis, Missouri, which housed over 120 mounds at its peak.
The central mound in Cahokia, known as Monks Mound, stands as the largest pre-Columbian earthwork in North America. It is believed to have been a political and religious center that housed the ruling elite. Other mounds and structures in Mississippian cities served as platforms for the social and ceremonial activities that reinforced the power structures of the culture.
Taken from Thoughtco.com By K. Kris Hirst Updated on February 06, 2019
Mississippian groups were independent, with common farming, mound building, and shared rituals like ancestor worship.
Source for below:
Ceremonial and Religious Practices
Religion played a central role in the lives of the Mound Builders, as evidenced by the ceremonial mounds and artifacts discovered at their sites. These societies practiced a form of animism, believing that spirits inhabited the natural world around them. Ceremonies were held to honor these spirits and seek their guidance. The construction of mounds often had religious significance, serving as places for rituals and gatherings. These practices reinforced social cohesion and provided a spiritual foundation for their communities.
Source for below:
Mississippian Religion
Animals, plants, and other aspects of the natural environment in the American Bottom assumed special importance and roles in the spiritual life of Native Americans. Believing that all things are related, many historic Native American groups had beliefs and rituals that likely had counterparts in the spiritual lives of Mississippians: They prayed to the spirits of the game they hunted for forgiveness for taking their lives.
The importance of wetlands in the Mississippian world view is likely reflected in the frequent use of frogs, turtles, ducks and other aquatic animals as decorative motifs on pipes, bowls, and ornamental items. Animals that moved between different environments - land, water, or sky might be viewed as mediators or messengers between people and the spirit worlds above and below the earth. The long-lived cedar tree, with its durable red wood and pleasant scent, has spiritual importance to many American Indian groups. Its wood and boughs are often used to purify and sanctify. Numerous burial litter poles from Mound 72 at Cahokia are made of cedar.
Spanish accounts of the Natchez in Mississippi provide some clues about the religious activities of Mississippian priests. Ceremonies and rituals led by priests and chiefs to mark the passing of the seasons, celestial events, and harvesting of crops took place on top of the flat-topped mounds while the common people observed in the plazas at the base of the mounds.
I hope I was able to validate the religious practices of the Mississippian culture, which is primarily ancestor worship and anything in nature and environment.
What does the Bible say about worshipping anything other than GOD?
Romans 12.5 ESV
Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Deuteronomy 4.19 ESV
And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.
Joshua 24.15 ESV
And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Exodus 20.3 NKJV
“You shall have no other gods before Me.
1 Corinthians 10.14 NKJV
Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
Leviticus 26.1 NKJV
You shall not make idols for yourselves;
neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves;
nor shall you set up an engraved stone in your land, to bow down to it;
for I am the Lord your God.
How a land or a people becomes cursed from the Bible
Galatians 3.10
For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”
Leviticus 18:24-30 ESV
“Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. ...
How do you break the curse off of your life? We will talk more about breaking the curse off the land in upcoming blogs.
SOLUTION: Personal Repentance
Scripture: Galatians 3.13 Amplified
Christ purchased our freedom and redeemed us from the curse of the Law and its condemnation by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS [crucified] ON A TREE (cross)”—
Join me next time as I continue on educating for breaking the curse from Memphis, TN. If you want to be a part of a Revival Ministry in Memphis, TN please contact me and get on the e-list at linktr.ee/daisyshotwell
Blessings in Abundance,
Daisy Shotwell,
Apostolic Legislator
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