Course, Joe Smith wasn't exactly a biblical scholar, nor was he any kind of expert in archeology or ancient languages. And to be fair, there have been a number of document finds since his day.
They'd been worshipping Thor, Odin, The 3 or 4 Household goddesses, Herb Woman and Little Red Man. As pagans for thousands of years they obviously didn't want to give up their traditions.
The priests made a compromise. Inasmuch as the Far North has no grain nor grapes, they allowed them to keep Little Red Man as a Sacrament. There was no end of troubles from that one. This is an hallucinogenic mushroom.
We first encounter these people in the early 1600s in America pursuing their own version of Christianity out on the frontier ~ they called it Church of the First Born.
They got along well with the Indians according to many other sources.
No doubt!