This story was told to me many times by my mother when I was little. I always loved it and I can still hear her voice as she told it to me. The core story of the creation is traditional Lakota, but I’ve built a new story around it to make it more interesting. Spotted Pony is a fictional character I created for this story. I included the seven sacred rites of the Lakota and built them into this story. I will explain each one of them as they are revealed to Spotted Pony.
The Story
Spotted Pony sat in the grassy field as he viewed the flat landscape around him and breathed in the mixed fragrances of sweet grass, pine and dust scenting the early morning air. “Spotted Pony” he thought to himself. “I’m not a pony!“ Thirteen times he’d seen the leaves return to the trees; or at least this is what his mother and the elders told him. Thirteen times he’d seen the winter snows return and the buffalo herds stop in Lakota country to graze. Spotted Pony knew it was time for his vision quest, the rite of passage for young Lakota males, marking them as an adult within the tribe. His heart told him it was time, but the elders told him to wait just a little longer. “I’m going” said Spotted Pony out loud, startling himself by the sound of his voice. He headed back to tell the tribe of his decision. The elders held firm that it was too soon for a vision quest. But they also realized Spotted Pony was special. "If you feel the need to commune with Wankan Tanka, then you may go to your special place to pray, and perhaps you will receive a vision." Spotted Pony accepted the answer from the elders. It was final.
“You know what to do?” asked his mother when he told her he was leaving for his place to pray. Spotted Pony did indeed know what he had to do. In order to have any hope of a vision, he must go to the special place that spoke to him, and he must go there completely alone. He must not take any food or water with him, and he must not return until he’d seen his vision. And so he headed off for the special place. He realized this was not an actual vision quest, but he could feel in his heart something very special was about to happen.
Spotted Pony finally reached the hills and found his place next to a rough rock ledge. He sat down and leaned back against the red brown craggy wall of rock. A sharp rock jammed his back as he leaned against it. “Sometimes pain helps to induce a vision” he thought to himself. He leaned back fully against the jagged wall and allowed the pain to fill his body and mind. Stretching out before him was an endless sea of green grass and a small patch of trees far in the distance.
Spotted Pony meditated and prayed all that day and well into the night. As night fell, Spotted Pony could hear animal noises all around him as the stars twinkled bright in the dark night sky. “The ancestors are watching me” he thought as he looked up at the stars, and in that realization he felt safe and secure. Quick shifting winds rattled the grass, blowing it in one direction and then another. Spotted Pony watched the grass dance around him as the rock ledge continued to punch into his back, making it bleed.
Somewhere in between awake and asleep something startled Spotted Pony into full alertness. A beautiful White Buffalo appeared before him standing perfectly still, his eyes like ice blue diamonds glowing brightly and illuminating the area around him. Spotted Pony knew he was in the presence of something much greater than himself when he saw the White Buffalo. The Buffalo was a manifestation of Wankan Tanka, the Great Spirit. The magnificent creature stood perfectly still as he stared at Spotted Pony with his glowing pale blue eyes. Little Pony slowly stood up from his seated prayer position, never taking his gaze off of the sacred animal. The Buffalo was breathing heavily, and Spotted Pony figured he must be very tired after his long journey from the Spirit World. As Spotted Pony cautiously walked towards the animal, he felt himself gently shoved back and he realized he was not to approach the Buffalo, nor was he to touch the Buffalo, nor should he speak. He was to remain in his place and watch….. and listen.
Soon the wind subsided and there was no noise except for the drumming of Spotted Pony‘s heart and the heavy breathing of the Buffalo. The animals were quiet, and all of nature stood still and silent in order to listen to the wisdom of the Great White Buffalo. It was now that Spotted Pony saw his vision.
The Buffalo never spoke, but Spotted Pony could hear the Great Buffalo’s words inside his head as the vision played out in front of him.
“I have come to explain to you the beginning of the people and the creation of the country. I will also tell you of seven sacred rites. After I leave I want you to go back to the people and tell the elders and tribal wink’tes what you have just seen and heard. They will believe you for I have also told this to them in dreams and they will know what you say is true.”
The White Buffalo’s eyes grew even brighter and more intense as they projected a vision and Spotted Pony watched closely as the great secrets revealed themselves to him.
In the beginning, prior to the creation of the earth, the gods resided in an undifferentiated celestial domain and humans lived in an indescribably subterranean world devoid of culture. Chief among the gods were Takushkanshkan ("something that moves"), the Sun, who was married to the Moon, with whom he had one daughter, Wohpe ("falling star"); Old Man and Old Woman, whose daughter Ite ("face") was married to Wind, and with whom she had four sons, called the Four Winds.
Among numerous other spirits, the most important was Inktomi ("the spider"), the devious trickster. Inktomi conspired with Old Man and Old Woman to increase their daughter's status by arranging an affair between the Sun and Ite. The discovery of the affair by the Sun's wife lead to a number of punishments by Takushkanshkan, who gave the Moon her own domain, and by separating her from the Sun initiated the creation of time.
Old Man, Old Woman, and Ite were then sent to earth, but Ite was separated from the Wind, her husband, who, along with the Four Winds and a fifth wind presumed to be the child of the adulterous affair, established space. The daughter of the Sun and the Moon, Wohpe, also fell to earth and later resided with the South Wind, the paragon of Lakota maleness, and the two adopted the fifth wind, called Wamniomni ("whirlwind").
Alone on the newly formed earth, some of the gods become bored, and Ite prevailed upon Inktomi to find her people, the Buffalo Nation. In the form of a wolf, Inktomi traveled beneath the earth and discovered a village of humans. Inktomi told them about the wonders of the earth and convinced one man, Tokahe ("the first"), to accompany him to the surface. Tokahe did so and upon reaching the surface through a cave (Wind Cave in the Black Hills), marveled at the green grass and blue sky. Inktomi and Ite introduced Tokahe to buffalo meat and soup and showed him tipis, clothing, and hunting utensils. Tokahe returned to the subterranean village and appealed to six other men and their families to travel with him to the earth's surface. When they arrived, they discovered that Inktomi had deceived them: buffalo were scarce, the weather has turned bad, and they found themselves starving. Unable to return to their home, but armed with a new knowledge about the world, they survived to become the founders of the Seven Fireplaces.
The White Buffalo then revealed the seven sacred rites to Spotted Pony. He reassured Spotted Pony that he is only the precursor, and another will follow to further explain these rites.
Wohpe ("Falling Star") will appear to the Lakota as a real woman during a period of starvation and she will confirm Spotted Pony‘s vision and the dreams of the elders. She will be discovered by two hunters, one of whom lusts for her. The lustful hunter will immediately be covered by a mist and reduced to bones. The other hunter will be instructed to return to his camp and tell the chief and people that she, "White Buffalo Calf Woman," will appear to them the next day. He will obey, and a great council tipi will be constructed. White Buffalo Calf Woman will present to the people a bundle containing the sacred pipe, and she will tell them that in time of need they should smoke from the pipe and pray to Wakantanka for help. The smoke from the pipe will then carry their prayers upward. She will then thoroughly instruct them in the seven sacred rites.
THE SEVEN SACRED RITES OF THE LAKOTA ARE REVEALED TO SPOTTED PONY
WANIYETULA WOWYAPI'KANUPA
The Smoking of the Pipe
The bowl of the Pipe she gave the Lakota was made of red stone, representing the Earth. Carved on the bowl was the head of a Buffalo, symbolizing all of the four-legged animals of the Earth. The stem was of wood and represented all that grows on the Earth. Twelve eagle feathers hung from the place where the bowl joined the stem symbolizing all the birds. The round stone was made out of the same red earth as the pipe and had seven circles on it representing the seven rites.
NAGI GLUHAPI
The Keeping of the Soul
The Sacred White Buffalo Calf Maiden told the Lakota that when they die, their souls must be purified so they can reunite with the Great Spirit. A lock of hair from a departed person was taken and held over a piece of burning sweetgrass to purify it. Then it was wrapped in a piece sacred buckskin, and the Sacred Pipe was smoked. The soul bundle was kept in a special place in the tipi of the soul's Keeper, usually a relative. The Keeper of the Soul vowed to live a harmonious life until the soul could be released, usually in about one year.
The ceremony to release the soul started with a buffalo hunt. A special lodge was constructed. Kinnikinnik, sacred tobacco, was smoked in the Pipe and special food was buried as an offering to the Earth. The bundle containing the soul was carried outside the lodge, and as soon as it reached the air the soul was released. The soul then traveled along the Spirit Path, which is the Milky Way, until it reached Maya Owichapaha, the old woman who judges each soul. If she judged it worthy, she sent the soul to the right, to Wakan Tanka. Unworthy souls were sent to the left and remained until they finally become purified and could join Wakan Tanka.
ONIKARE
The Sweat Lodge
The sweat lodge is central. Prayers that are offered there draw on all the powers of the universe--Earth, Water, Fire and Air. In the old days Inipi was done before any major undertaking to purify the body and gain strength and power. The sweat lodge is constructed of young willow trees placed in a circle which represents many things: the earth, the womb, the universe. The door opening faces East--the direction of light and wisdom. In the center is a round fireplace, the center of the universe, where Wakan Tanka rests. Ten paces from the door, to the East, is the sacred fireplace where rocks are heated. In front of that is a mound of earth. Prayers are said at each stage of the construction of a sweat lodge. When it is completed, a burning coal is brought in and sweetgrass is burned by the leader of the Inipi to purify the lodge. He or she then smokes some sacred tobacco in the Pipe and carries it outside, placing it on the mound of earth. The other participants enter the lodge, sitting in a circle on sacred sage, and the Pipe is brought in and smoked. The heated rocks are placed on the center fireplace and the Pipe returned to the earth mound. Then, the door is closed. During the ritual, the door is thrown open four times to represent the four ages described by the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Maiden. The fourth time the participants leave the lodge, emerging from dark to light which represents the liberation from the physical universe. All that is impure is left behind in the sweat lodge.
HANBLECHEYAPI
Crying For A Vision
All men and women can "cry for a vision" or what Black Elk calls "lament," but only the worthy will receive one. To undertake a Vision Quest in the proper way, a Wicasa Wakan (holy man) should advise the seeker and interpret the vision. The Vision Quest was used in the old days to prepare for going on the warpath, before a Sun Dance, or to ask Wakan Tanka for a favor. The most important reason for the Vision Quest is so a person can understand better his/her oneness with all things and gain knowledge of the Great Spirit. A person undertaking a Vision Quest first goes with a Pipe to a holy man, and he prays for them. Everyone present smokes the Pipe. The Inipi is conducted to purify them. In the old days, the seeker had to build the sweat lodge by himself. The seeker then takes his Pipe and some tobacco and goes up the mountain. Helpers have gone ahead and prepared a sacred place. The seeker stays there and prays for a vision. Often it comes in the form of an animal. Dreams often carry the most powerful visions. At the end of the Vision Quest, the helpers come and take the seeker down the mountain to the sweat lodge. The holy man listens to everything the seeker has seen and heard and interprets the vision. Someday soon Spotted Pony will make his Vision Quest and perhaps even receive a new name.
HUNKAKA-GA
The Making of Relatives
Hunkaka-ga was first used to make peace between the Lakota and the Ree tribe. By making the Ree relatives, it insured peace between the tribes. This relationship mirrored the relationship of the Lakota with Wakan-Tanka. The first ceremony with the Ree took place over several days. Near the end came the painting of faces. The women's faces were painted red, and the men's were painted red with a blue circle around the face and blue lines on the forehead, cheekbones and chin. Being painted symbolizes that the person has changed, been reborn and taken on new responsibilities and a new relationship. Past troubles between the new relatives are forgotten. Today, one can become part of a Tiyospaye by birth, marriage or hunkaka-ga.
ISHNA'TA AWI CHA'LOWANGI
A Girl's Coming of Age
When a girl had her first menstrual period, a ceremony was held to purify her in preparation for becoming a woman and bearing children. Her family built a tipi and gathered the necessary objects for the ritual, which was conducted by a holy man. On the day of the ceremony, sweetgrass was burned and all the objects purified with the smoke. The Pipe was smoked and prayer offered up to Wakan Tanka and to the four directions and to the Earth. In the ceremony, a buffalo skull was a central object. It was painted with the red paint symbolizing the earth, and cherries and water were placed before it. Tobacco was spread in the shape of a cross, and blue paint put on it, symbolizing the coming together of earth and sky. The holy man then gave the girl a piece of buffalo meat, and the water and cherries were passed to the members of her family. A feast was held, and a giveaway took place. The goodness and holiness that came to the young girl also then extended to the whole tribe.
TAPAWANKAYEYAPI
The Throwing of the Ball
The throwing of the ball in the old days was very different from the modern game that is played with four teams, four goals and a ball. The original ball was made of buffalo hair covered with buffalo hide. Today, balls are usually beaded and colorful.
In a ceremony before the throwing, the ball was painted red, with a blue dot in each of the four quarters. Then, two blue circles were painted around the ball, symbolizing the coming together of heaven and earth, making the ball sacred. A Pipe was purified with sweetgrass smoke and smoked while prayer was offered up to Wakan-Tanka and the Powers of the four directions. The ball was said to have been given to man by the buffalo, symbolizing that man was the inheritor of the earth.
A young girl was chosen to throw the ball and she stood at the center of a large circle with the four directions marked. First she threw the ball to the West, and it was caught by one of the people and brought back to her. She then threw the ball to the other three directions, and each time the person who caught it brought it back to her. Lastly, she threw the ball up in the air and it was caught and returned to her. The little girl symbolizes innocence and purity. The throwing of the ball to each direction shows that Wakan-Tanka is everywhere. As the ball comes down on the people, his power also comes down but it is received, or caught, by very few people.
Topic: Messages From The Heartland (Read 2149525 times)