This term from the English language is often attributed to unnamed Native Americans from many tribes. The meaning in English may be different from the meaning in native languages. Probably “Many” meant “more than could reasonably be expected.” Probably “Smokes” meant campfires, although I have read that one or more of the half-dozen tribes that were in what is now Yellowstone Park as hunter-gatherers referred to the collective plumes of steam from the geysers as “Many Smokes “in their native language.
The hunter-gatherers were a nomadic tribal people who moved when their food source moved elsewhere. In the movie “Dances with Wolves,” the Sioux were hunter-gatherers who followed the buffalo. Buffaloes, being large hairy beasts, tended to move to high ground during the summer to reach cooler terrain when temperatures got too hot. The gatherers of the tribe used to be women and children who gathered grains, roots, berries, nuts, small game and fish when the tribe settled for a time when the main game stopped moving. They also opportunistically met while traveling when they recognized edible plants.
Note that the Sioux, Ravens, Cherokee, and other tribes did not just emerge one day. They were all descendants of the early Paleo Indians (the Clovis people), who inhabited what is now the United States for 10,000 years or more. The name Clovis was assigned to these earlier people by the first seeker for some of their arrowheads (Clovis Points) in Clovis, New Mexico. Later native tribes were essentially herded together by hunters as did their ancestors. Some of today’s tribes have stories that specifically mention that mastodons are the main source of food that was tracked and hunted.
Did the Paleo Indians and later Native American tribes know God? Yes. They knew what God allowed them to know. They were all descendants of Adam. The natural world in which they lived was the work of God. People today are confused about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. The natives attributed to the Great Father (God) a spiritual form. It was his way of saying what Christians say today: “God in three persons.”
They were not present on the continent where Jesus was sent as the Christ to bear all sins upon himself. But that does not mean that they are not saved. Too does not mean that any people before the time of Jesus are not saved. Web search, “How do people who lived and died before Jesus get to heaven?” I like the way Pastor John MacArthur answers the question. Pastor MacArthur bases his answer on Christian biblical scripture. Search the web for John 14: 6-9 and Revelation 21: 3.
