SUNDANCE

Dear Harold, First, for Indian People the one and only Source of Life is the One Creator.  There may be a Tribe in this hemisphere that is not monotheistic, but I've never heard of it.  People who live close to creation
and to the Creator know that God is One.  In the Dakota/Lakota language our word for God is WAKAN TANKA, the Great one.

Consider!  People who are urban create gods.  Only they are polytheists. For each craft they create a patron or sponsor to whom they pray, to whom they offer sacrifice.

Also be careful in reading non-Indian writers, especially those of past generations.  They did not make the effort to live with the People and to learn their languages.  Whatever appeared to them as spiritual they identified as "god" or "gods".  If they were Christian, they forgot their own upbringing.  In the Christian tradition there are many spirits, who we know are not gods.

You seem to live close to Browning, Montana.  Ask a Blackfeet Native Speaker for his/her word or name for the Creator.  Perhaps it would be best for you to visit to the Blackfeet College at the edge of Browning.

I visited Browning twice at the invitation of Mary Spotted Wolf.  She was then the Chief Judge.  My first visit was in 1973; the second in 1975.  Mary had called and had asked me to come and talk in their Catholic parish church about Native Spirituality.

The "rest of the story" of my visit to the Blackfeet appears in the final paragraphs of the article, NAMING CEREMONIES, on this our Page.

Sun Dance.  All People reach out to the Creator and call on Him in Prayer and Ceremony.  Each People does it in their own way.  Their worship grows out of the earth of which they are born.  The fruits of the earth are used to give praise and thanks to the Creator.  (We Catholics use everything!! Fire, water, oil, stone, incense, wood, anything at all.  We are able to use everything, because the word 'catholic' means universal; it is inclusive. We respect everything, and in everything we see the work of God, find God.)

I hope you don't mind my emphasizing catholicity.  We Catholics have had to live through very serious prejudice in this country.  Do you know anything about the KLU KLUX KLAN?  When I was a child - born in 1916 -  people of color, people who were Jewish and people who were Catholic were harassed and tormented, even killed, by the KKK.  I remember the fiery torches carried past our house by the KKK, when they were showing their strength.  I know what it means to be misjudged and persecuted because of our spirituality.

Like us, Indian People had their sacred places destroyed and their ceremonies outlawed.  Indian People were tormented by the Government, not by outlaw gangs.  Government knows that, when people pray, people have power. And Government certainly did not want Indians to have power.

This changed in 1979.  By Public Law 05-34 of that year, Indian People were given their first Freedom of Religion.  And we Catholics support them.  They have a right to pray out of the earth from which they grow.

When the Pope came to Phoenix in 1987 to our annual National Catholic Indian Conference, he bowed his head and received the blessing of one of our Prayer Leaders, Sydney Baca, a Mescelaro Apache Pipe Carrier.  To read about the ceremony and about Pope John Paul II's response to the blessing write to our National Office, TEKAKWITHA CONFERENCE CENTER, P.O. Box 6768, Great Falls, MT  59406.  Ask Sister Kateri Mitchell, SSA, to send you a copy of how the Pope thanked Native People for their attention to and remembrance of the spirituality of ancient ceremonies.

Now, to understand the spirituality of the Sun Dance one must bow in humbleness.  It would be good for you to open your heart to God.  His Word comes in marvelous ways.  Be ready for it.  You must learn, if it is
possible, to be part of this earth. It's good to know one's earthiness.

Then as a beginning, get the book LAKOTA LIFE by Ron Zeilinger, published by Tipi Press at St. Joseph Indian School, Chamberlain, SD  57325.  It is a small book, but very informative.  The Press has an 800 number.  It is 800-229-5684.

Maybe I should mention our own Web Page www.bluecloud.org  go to Indian Center, then Spiritual Heritage and under Bibliography - Religion of the American Indian see our book list.