Two-Spirit Two-Spirit Richard Greene Category="First Nations culture"Category="LGBT history"Category="Native American culture"Category="Transgender in non-western cultures"Category="Transgendered (Male-Bodied)"Two-Spirit is a term for Third gender people (for example, woman-living-man) that are among many, if not most, Native American and Canadian First Nations tribes. It usually implies a masculine spirit and a feminine spirit living in the same body. It is also used by Gay, Lesbian, bisexual, Transgender, and intersex Native Americans to describe themselves. There are also native terms for these individuals in the various Native American languages.

The old term "berdache" (from French bardache, from Spanish bardaxa or bardaje/bardaja, from Italian bardasso or berdasia, from Arabic bardaj, from Persian bardaj or barah meaning "kept boy," "male prostitute," or "catamite") is a generic term used primarily by anthropologists and is frequently rejected as inappropriate and offensive by Native Americans. It has widely been replaced with two-spirit.

These individuals are often viewed as having two spirits occupying one body. Their dress is usually a mixture of traditionally male and traditionally female articles. They have distinct gender and social roles in their tribes. For instance, among the Lakota there was one ceremony during the Sun Dance that was performed only by a two-spirited person of that tribe. (See Winkte)

Two-spirited individuals perform specific social functions in their communities. Some are counselors while others are medicine persons or spiritual functionaries. They study skills including story telling, theater, magic, hypnotism, healing, herbal medicine, ventriloquism, singing, music and dance.

Some examples of two-spirited people in history include the accounts by Spanish conquistadors who spotted a two-spirited individual(s) in almost every village they entered in Central America.

There are descriptions of two-spirited individuals having strong mystical powers. In one account, raiding soldiers of a rival tribe begin to attack a group of foraging women when they perceive that one of the women, the one that does not run away, is a two-spirit. They halt their attack and retreat after the two-spirit counters them with a stick, determining that the two-spirit will have great power which they will not be able to overcome.

Alternate spellings are "two spirit" and "twospirit."

Terms

Two-Spirit like identities outside of North America

See also

Sources/Recommended reading

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