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The Sun And Her Daughter TsaLaGi
I will
try to add a new story each month.
But for now I wanted to start with this
story that is the foundation of Lakota belief.
I want to thank my Kola Joe for this one.
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WHITE BUFFALO
CALF WOMAN
Brings The First Pipe As told by: Joseph Chasing Horse |
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We
Lakota people have a prophecy about the white buffalo calf. How
that prophecy originated was that we have a sacred bundle, a sacred pipe, that was brought to us about 2,000 years ago by what we know as the White Buffalo Calf Woman. |
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The story goes
that she appeared to two warriors at that time. These two
warriors were out hunting buffalo, hunting for food in the sacred
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| That time one of the warriors thought
bad in his mind, and so the young girl told him to step forward. And when he did step forward, a black cloud came over his body, and when the black cloud disappeared, the warrior who had bad thoughts was left with no flesh or blood on his bones. The other warrior kneeled and began to pray. |
| And when he prayed, the white buffalo
calf who was now an Indian girl told him to go back to his people and warn them that in four days she was going to bring a sacred bundle. |
| So the warrior did as he was told.
He went back to his people and he gathered all the elders and all the leaders and all the people in a circle and told them what she had instructed him to do. And sure enough, just as she said she would, on the fourth day she came. |
| They say a cloud came down from
the sky, and off of the cloud stepped the white buffalo calf. As it rolled onto the earth, the calf stood up and became this beautiful young woman who was carrying the sacred bundle in her hand. |
| As she entered into the circle
of the nation, she sang a sacred song and took the sacred bundle to the people who were there to take of her. She spent four days among our people and taught them about the sacred bundle, the meaning of it. She taught them seven sacred ceremonies. |
| One of them was the sweat lodge,
or the purification ceremony. One of them was the naming ceremony, child naming. The third was the healing ceremony. The fourth one was the making of relatives or the adoption ceremony. The fifth one was the marriage ceremony. The sixth was the vision quest. And the seventh was the sun dance ceremony, the people's ceremony for all of the nation. |
| She brought us these seven sacred
ceremonies and taught our people the songs and the traditional ways. And she instructed our people that as long as we performed these ceremonies we would always remain caretakers and guardians of sacred land. She told us that as long as we took care of it and respected it that our people would never die and would always live. |
| When she was done teaching all our
people, she left the way she came. She went out of the circle, and as she was leaving she turned and told our people that she would return one day for the sacred bundle. And she left the sacred bundle, which we still have to this very day. |
| The sacred bundle is known as the
White Buffalo Calf Pipe because it was brought by the White Buffalo Calf Woman. It is kept in a sacred place (Green Grass) on the Cheyenne River Indian reservation in South Dakota. it's kept by a man who is known as the keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe, Arvol Looking Horse. |
| When White Buffalo Calf Woman promised
to return again, she made some prophecies at that time One of those prophesies was that the birth of a white buffalo calf would be a sign that it would be near the time when she would return again to purify the world. What she meant by that was that she would bring back harmony again and balance, spiritually. |
| No matter what happens to Miracle
in the coming months and years, Joseph Chasing Horse says the birth is a sign from the Great Spirit and the ensuing age of harmony and balance it represents cannot be revoked. That doesn't mean, of course, that the severe trials Native Americans have endured since the arrival of Europeans on these shores are over. Indeed, the Lakota nation mounted the longest court case in U.S. history in an unsuccessful effort to regain control of the Black Hills, the sacred land on which the White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared 2,000 years ago. |
| " We are praying that mankind does
wake up and think about the future, for we haven't just inherited this earth from our ancestors, but we are borrowing it from our unborn children." |
| An Elder Lakota Man once was heard to say that the Cherokee and the Lakota are true cousins I thought that was very interesting, I know the Lakota were probably in the area of the Eastern band of the Cherokee when they were on there journeys. But then I came across this story. I have heard from many folks of different tribes that we all had a sun dance at one time. This story really hit home. An Objibway man told me one time that in the way back time before the first Europeans that we all spoke one language and were not known by tribes. The more I learn the more I believe this. |
Title:
Sun and her Daughter
Tribe:
Cherokee
Region:
Tennesee, North Carolina
Object:
Sun, Moon
As
the Sun traveled across the sky she would stop in the middle each day to
have
dinner at her daughter's house. Now the Sun hated people because
they
would always squint when they looked at her. "They screw up their
faces
at me!" she told her brother the Moon. "I like them," said the Moon,
"they
always smile at me." They Sun was jealous and decided she would kill
the
people by sending a fever. Many people were dying and those remaining
decided
they would have to kill the Sun. With some magic, one of the
people
was turned into a rattlesnake and sent to wait by the daughter's
door,
to bite the Sun when she stopped for dinner. But when the daughter
opened
the door to look for her mother the snake bit her instead. The snake
returned
to Earth with the Sun still alive and the daughter dead. When the
Sun
discovered what had happened she shut herself up in the house and
grieved.
The people no longer had the fever but now it was cold and dark.
So,
seven people were chosen to visit the land where ghosts dance to see if
they
could retrieve the daughter. As she danced past them they struck her
with
rods so she fell down, then they trapped her in a box. On the trip home
she
complained of not being able to breath so they opened the lid just a
crack.
She became a redbird and escaped, flying back to the land of ghosts.
Seeing
the seven people return empty handed, the Sun began to cry. This
caused
a great flood. To amuse the Sun and stop the flood, the people
danced.
This is why the people do the Sun dance to this very day.
The Ancient One
| Ancient One sat in
the shade of his tree in front of his cave.
Red People came to him and he said to Red People, "Tell me your vision." And Red People answered, "The elders have told
us to pray in this
"Hmmmm," said the Ancient One.
Then Black People came to him and he said to
Black People, "Tell me your vision."
And Black People answered, "Our mothers have
said to go to this building and that building and pray in this manner and
that manner. And our fathers have said to bow in this manner and that manner
when we pray. And it is important that we do only this when we pray."
"Hmmmm," said the Ancient One.
Then Yellow People came to him and he said
to Yellow People, "Tell me your vision."
And Yellow People answered, "Our teachers have
told us to sit in this manner and that manner and to say this thing and
that thing when we pray. And it is important that we do only this when
we pray."
"Hmmmm," said the Ancient One.
Then White People came to him and he said to
White People, "Tell me your vision."
And White People answered, "Our Book has told
us to pray in this way and that way and to do this thing and that thing,
and it is very important that we do this when we pray."
"Hmmmm," said the Ancient One.
Then Ancient One spoke to the Earth and said,
"Have you given the people a vision?" And the Earth said, "Yes, a special
gift for each one, but the people were so busy speaking and arguing about
which way is right they could not see the gift I gave each one of them."
And the Ancient One asked same question of Water and Fire and Air and got
the same answer. Then Ancient One asked Animal, and Bird, and Insect, and
Tree, and Flower, and Sky, and Moon, and Sun, and Stars, and all of the
other Spirits and each told him the same.
Ancient One thought this was very sad. He called Red People, Black People, Yellow People, and White People to him and said to them. "The ways taught to you by your Elders, and your Mothers and Fathers, and Teachers, and Books are sacred. It is good that you respect those ways, for they are the ways of your ancestors. But the ancestors no longer walk on the Face of the Earth Mother. You have forgotten your own Vision. Your Vision is right for you but no one else. Now each of you must pray for your own Visions, and be still enough to see them, so you can follow the way of the heart. It is a hard way. It is a good way. |
I want to thank Glenn Welker
for this story and for having
such a fine site with many old
and new stories.
Visit his page you will not
be dissapointed.
Wado Glenn Indegenous
People's Literature
| In the beginning of time all
the creatures both human and non-human had a job or responsibility to carry
out. The little white Beetles job was to place the stars in the sky in
perfect order, with each star in a place of it’s own. He kept the stars
in a basket under his bed and they were many crystals all shiny and beautiful.
Each night when the Sun went to be with his wife Changing Woman, Little White Beetle would get his basket out, and carefully place each star in it’s proper place in the heavens to bring light into the darkness. And all the people would look up and see all these bright crystals and smile, at there perfect beauty and perfect balance. Well it was not long before Little White Beetle starting feeling mighty important and he would stay up late at night after he finished his job talking to everyone about how important he was. He would say with out me the heavens at night would be dark and the people could not see to get around. And with out me there would be no beauty in the night sky. Why of all the people that the Creator chose to do a job mine surely must be the most important. This went on night after night and the people grew tired of his constant bragging. Coyote most of all was really tired of it because he viewed himself as being quite important. Coyote told the people IM really tired of his talk and I am going to something about it. So one night he kept Little White Beetle up real late talking. Really got him to bragging about how important he was. SO that the next day Little White Beetle was very tired and he went to bed and was really soundly sleeping, when the Sun started to make his journey to Changing Woman’s house he was still sound asleep and Coyote was right out side his door. Coyote yelled! LITTLE WHITE BEETLE! Get up it is getting dark. Little White Beetle jumped from his bed and grabbed his basket full of crystals and ran from his house. As he came through the door old Coyote stuck out his foot and tripped him and all those beautiful crystals just flew up in the sky and landed all over the place with no order to them and that is the way we see them today. Well the Creator called Little White Beetle to his lodge; He stood before him with his head bowed in shame. The Creator said because of your pride and your self-importance you have caused the night sky to not be in balance. Now you must surely know that no one is better than his fellow relative is, and that every person’s job in creation is important with none above the other. So to remind you of what you have done you will no longer be Little White Beetle, but you shall be known as Little Black StinkBug. So now when the people see this bug they are reminded that we are all the same in the Creators eye and no one is above the other. The People call the stink bug wets himself for the odor of him smells of urine. |
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