Dakota / Lakota TheologyWhen you study People you are touching -- not a problem -- but a Mystery. Problems are irritating, and when solved are discarded. Mysteries are fascinating, and when tested are entrancing. Scientists do not study the mystery!!! but only the peripheral and animal areas of human life. |
|
| Reproduction Nest building Food gathering Social structure Educational system |
All peripheral, and if you stay in these areas alone, you do not know the person, or persons. |
For your understanding we have used familiar catechetical terms to parallel Indian concepts in religion.1. WAKAN -- this word comes back again and again 2. Creation -- starts in Black Hills -- read enclosed storyWakantanka -- wicasa wakan -- sunka wakan After man was made, he, too, was lonesome; and the young maidens of the Bird and Beaver and Bear tribes played around him to make him happy. Read "Soul of the Indian. 3. Sin -- Moon was unfaithful, so she must again and again cover her face. 4. Prayer -- Hambleciya -- Prayer stones 5. Penance -- Sweat Bath -- Sun Dance. 6. Community -- Oyate -- Tiyospaye. 7. Priesthood -- Wicasawakan -- had much Wasagiya 8. Worship -- Sacred Pipe 9. After life -- No Hell -- Life -- Eating with the dead.Flags at the Sacred Spot: Is there anything that is missing from God's full revelation? The Thunderbird --- A person -- Guide, Counselor, Teacher, Judge.Have we lost the idea of the "personality" of the Redeemer? "Organization is our salvation""The basis of all human change, whether personal, social, political, economic, is Theology." 'We also have a religion which was given to our forefathers, and has been handed down to us their children. It teaches us to be thankful, to be united, and to love one another! We never quarrel about religion." Senaca Orator-Red Jacket. "The religion of the Indian is the last thing about him the man of another race will never understand." Charles EastmanGod has revealed himself to all his children. See the perception of this in the Documents of Vatican II. The Indian does not speak of these deep matters so long as he believes in them, and when he has ceased to believe he speaks inaccurately and slightingly." Charles EastmanA man's religion is the deepest thing in him. Even if he can be induced to speak, the racial and religious prejudice of the other stands in the way of his sympathetic comprehension. Charles EastmanWhen Man's trust is lost, he begins to attack that in which he trusted. "You whites have a Chief to go by (the President) , but the only thing I go by is Wakantanka. The whites think the Great Spirit has nothing to do with us, but he has. After fooling with us and taking away our lands, the whites will have to suffer for it hereafter." Red CloudIt is very difficult for man to overcome his own complexes. Most of the above is gone from the Dakotah consciousness. But perceptive men are thinking about it again.Material things do not hold value to old Indians. To young Indians, yes, they do now, after school, etc. Instead of the above we have given religious sanction to the dicta of Benjamin Franklin and others: The Dakotah in their religion want no Integration by destruction or conformation by vilificationCompetitiveness - for - equality When Custer came to parley with Chief Medicine Arrow, Bad Dog and others were seated inside the Council Lodge in a circle. Only Custer was allowed to enter and was seated near the door on the left side, next to Medicine Arrow. The Sacred Pipe was brought forth, filled, and lighted from the fire burning in the center of the Lodge. The Chief took the first puff and handed the pipe to Custer, who was told to smoke the pipe until nothing remained in the pipe but ashes. This he did and handed the pipe back to Medicine Arrow. After the ceremony, the Indians filed out, Custer coming last. Medicine Arrow sat down in front of the Lodge door and dug a small hole in the ground with his hands. He emptied the ashes from the pipe that has been smoked over the Sacred Arrows into the hole and covered them, making a small mound. He stood up and faced Custer and said, "You have taken this pipe and this smoke in the presence of the Sacred Arrows of the Cheyenne. You have promised not to hurt us. If you break this pledge, you will become as ashes in the grave. Yellow Hair, this is your grave. If you do not keep your word, you will die Custer walked away unmoved by the ceremony or by the Chief's prophecy. "This war did not spring up here in our land: this war was brought upon us by the children of the Great White Father who came to take our land from us without price, and who, in our land, do a great many evil things. The Great Father and his children are to blame for this trouble...It is our wish to live here in our country peaceable, and do such things as may be for the welfare and good of our people...When people come to trouble it is better for both parties to come together without arms and talk it over and find some peaceful way to settle it."When the last red man shall have perished, and the memory of my tribe shall have become a myth among the white men, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe .... . . . . . . . . . . Spotted Tail (Dakota) "Let me be a free man... free to travel, free to stop, free to
work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers,
free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk and think and
act for myself.... and I will obey every law - or submit to the
penalty.' For Lectures on Dakota/Lakota Theology write to: American Indian Culture Research CenterP.O. Box 98
|