Nations, Battle of the See Battle of Leipzig Native American See American Indian
Native American arts Literary, performing, and visual arts of the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere. Folktales have long been a part of the social and cultural life of diverse groups of American Indian and Inuit peoples. These tales were passed on orally by storytellers whose presentation could shape the power of a story. One technique they fre¬ quently employed was the repetition of incidents. Elements of mythology—which vary from region to region—are also central. Any definition of a Native American musical style is complicated by the vari¬ ety between tribes and within tribal repertoires. An evident feature of much music is male dominance. Equally evident is its limitation to a single singer, who performs without harmonization and with percussion accom¬ paniment. The singing voice is well supported from the diaphragm and has a pulsating quality caused by the rhythmic expulsion of breath. Melo¬ dies are generally sparse, sometimes even monotone; only rarely do songs expand beyond the notes of the pentatonic (five-tone) scale. Among the instruments used are drums, rattles, and sometimes wind instruments such as the panpipe. The dances of Native American peoples represent forms passed down over centuries and modified through interaction with foreign and other Indian cultures. Their origins lie in religious rites; in attempts to invoke magic and thus cure illness or assure success in food produc¬ tion, hunting, and warfare; and in such life-passage rites as birth, puberty, and death. Patterns within the dance reflect complex relations of rank and gender, and the dancers themselves often represent different religious symbols. Characteristic of Indian dancers is a slightly forward-tilted pos¬ ture, forward raising of the knee, flat-footed stamp or toe-heeled action, and tendencies towards muscular restraint and relaxation in gesture.
Native American visual arts also vary widely from tribe to tribe and region to region. The particular utilitarian form that Native American art took on often reflected the social organization of the cultures involved; for example, political and military societies found their major art forms in weaponry, pageantry of costume, and panoply. Working with the materi¬ als natural to their respective homelands, the various Indian cultures also produced art that reflected their environment; for example, those living in forested regions became gifted sculptors in wood. Some of the best Native American artwork was applied to those objects intended to please a deity, soothe the angry gods, and placate or frighten evil spirits. Among the many media explored by Native American cultures are weaving, pot¬ tery, basketry, wooden sculpture, clay ware, quillwork, embroidery, beadwork, totem poles, murals, and masks. Architectural achievements are also varied and include the monumental stone cliff dwellings of the American South¬ west and the enormous Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl at Cholula in Mexico. See also kachina; Navajo weaving; oral tradition; Pueblo pottery; trickster
TALE.
Native American Church or peyotism Religious movement among North American Indians involving the drug peyote. Peyote was first used to induce supernatural visions in Mexico in pre-Columbian times; its use extended north into the Great Plains in the 19th century, and pey¬ otism is now practiced among more than 50 tribes. Peyotist beliefs, which combine Indian and Christian elements, vary from tribe to tribe. They involve worship of the Great Spirit, a supreme deity who deals with humans through various other spirits. In many tribes peyote is personi¬ fied as Peyote Spirit and is associated with Jesus. The rite often begins on Saturday evening and continues through the night. The Peyote Road is a way of life calling for brotherly love, family care, self-support through work, and avoidance of alcohol.
Native Dancer (foaled 1950) U.S. Thoroughbred racehorse. He won the Preakness and Belmont stakes in 1953 but finished second in the Ken¬ tucky Derby. In 1954 he was named Horse of the Year. He won 21 of 22 total starts, achieving widespread popularity as the first horse whose major victories were seen on national television.
native element Any of the 19 chemical elements that occur as min¬ erals and are found in nature uncombined with other elements. They are commonly divided into three groups: metals (platinum, iridium, osmium, iron, zinc, tin, gold, silver, copper, mercury, lead, chromium); semimet¬ als (bismuth, antimony, arsenic, tellurium, selenium); and nonmetals (sul¬ fur, carbon). Members of the group of native elements form under widely varying physicochemical conditions and in very different rock types. Many deposits are sufficiently abundant to be commercially important.
NATO in full North Atlantic Treaty Organization International military alliance created to defend western Europe against a possible Soviet invasion. A 1948 collective-defense alliance between Britain, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg was recognized as inadequate to deter Soviet aggression, and in 1949 the U.S. and Canada agreed to join their European allies in an enlarged alliance. A centralized administrative structure was set up, and three major commands were established, focused on Europe, the Atlantic, and the English Channel (disbanded in 1994). The admission of West Germany in 1955 led to the Soviet Union’s creation of the opposing Warsaw Treaty Organization, or Warsaw Pact. France withdrew from military participation in 1966. Since NATO ground forces were smaller than those of the Warsaw Pact, the balance of power was maintained by superior weaponry, including intermediate-range nuclear weapons. After the Warsaw Pact’s dissolution and the end of the Cold War in 1991, NATO withdrew its nuclear weap¬ ons and attempted to transform its mission. It involved itself in the Bal¬ kan conflicts of the 1990s. Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty stated that an attack on one signatory would be regarded as an attack on the rest. This article was first invoked in 2001 in response to the terrorist Septem¬ ber 11 attacks against the U.S. Additional countries joined NATO in 1999 and 2004 to bring the number of full members to 26.
Natsume Soseki Yna-tsu-'ma-'so-.se-keN known as Soseki orig. Natsume Kinnosuke (b. Feb. 9, 1867, Edo, Japan—d. Dec. 9, 1916, Tokyo) Japanese novelist. Originally a teacher, Natsume made his liter¬ ary reputation with two very successful comic novels, I Am a Cat (1905- 06) and Botchan (1906). After 1907 he gave up teaching and produced sombre works dealing with human attempts to escape from loneliness, including The Wayfarer (1912-13), The Gate (1910), Kokoro (1914), and
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natural bridge ► Naucratis I 1335
Grass on the Wayside (1915). The first writer of modem realistic novels in Japan, he articulately and persuasively depicted the plight of the alien¬ ated modern Japanese intellectual.
natural bridge or natural arch Naturally created arch formation resembling a bridge. Most are erosion features that occur in sandstone or limestone. Some are formed by the collapse of part of a cavern roof. Oth¬ ers may be produced by entrenched rivers eroding through meander necks to form cutoffs. Still others are produced by exfoliation (separation of successive thin shells) and may be enlarged by wind erosion.
Natural Bridges National Monument National monument, southeastern Utah, U.S. Comprising three large natural bridges carved by two winding streams, it was established in 1908. The largest bridge, Sipapu, is 222 ft (68 m) high and spans 261 ft (80 m). Pictographs were carved on another of the bridges, Kachina, by early cliff dwellers.
natural childbirth Any of the systems (e.g., the Lamaze method) of managing birth without drugs or surgery. All begin with classes to teach pregnant women about the birth process, including when to push and what breathing and relaxation techniques to use at which stage. The goal is to reduce fear and muscle tension, which can increase the pain of labour, and to make the mother an active participant in the process. The father or another partner usually attends the classes with the mother and coaches her during the birth. See also midwifery; obstetrics and gynecology.