Response to Alex Fairchild's "Burial Mounds"

Alex brought up an interesting point that I was grappling with while reading 'Indian Mounds of Wisconsin'. The Native Americans seem to have been very deliberate in their distinctions between the 'upper' and 'lower' worlds. While one may immediately jump to the conclusion that this is similar to the Christian belief in a heaven- 'upper' world, and hell- 'lower' world, upon further reflection this does not appear to be the case. Christians believe that heaven exists as a place to be in union with God, and where the spirits of believers of Jesus Christ will go upon death. Christians also believe that hell is where the spirits of people who have had the chance to know Jesus and have refused to accept him go upon death. This concept is very different from the Native American's use of the 'upper' world and 'lower' world. While some tribes did consider the tribes with an 'upper' world animal as their symbol to be more powerful or significant than those tribes with a 'lower' world symbol, this did not necessarily connote a good verse evil approach, or a membership of the 'lower' world tribe to be a demotion or a punishment or a consequence of that Native American's actions. It would make more sense that the different classifications were physical observations of that animal's role in nature. Those animals that dwelled in the sky, and those who remained on the ground.