Ate Wakantanka....

17th Angel

17th Angel

לבעוט את התחת ולקחת שמות
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Just thought, I haven't seen any threads on native Indians.. (I don't look too hard to be honest....) Just wanted to share this Lakota prayer..

Ate Wakantanka, Mitawa ki,
Wazi ya tanhan, ka te na Wa ska ki u ya ye ki,
Hena un Taku ya kage ki, ya glu ska kta, he ca nu,
He iye cel, Wakantanka, Anpetu kil le, Micante Ki Mi ci yu Ska ye,
He cel tohanl, nitokab woyasu ki el, wahinajin ki, ima ya cu kta.

Ate Wakantanka,
Wiyohiyanpatan, wi hin nape, ki,
He ciya tanhan Wiconi oyasin, hin na pe ki,
Wiconi mitawa ki el, anpetu wanji a ke mi qu,
Heon wo pi la eci ci ye, Micante ki eciya tanhan.

---translates---

My father, great spirit,
who send'est the wind and the white snow from the north,
to make make thy creation clean and pure,
father make me clean and pure within my heart,
That I may be accepted in thy sight and judgement.

Father, great spirit,
To the east from whence cometh the rising of the sun,
and all they living creation,
Thou hast added another day to my life,
for which I give thee thanks with all my heart.
---

Anyway, currently looking into the "ghost dances" that the indians perform and various other rituals... Very interesting people..

​
 
Kindest Regards, Angel!
17th Angel said:
Just thought, I haven't seen any threads on native Indians.. (I don't look too hard to be honest....) Just wanted to share this Lakota prayer...Anyway, currently looking into the "ghost dances" that the indians perform and various other rituals... Very interesting people..
Click to expand...
Thank you for this. It is a pleasure to finally see something here from Native American mythos.

Have you seen the movie "A Man called Horse"? It is a favorite of mine, starring Richard Harris (we lost a good actor when he passed a few years back). It portrays the Lakota "Sun Vow," should be right up your alley!

A good book in my experience, is "Hanta Yo," I believe the author is Ruth Beebe (Hill?), it's been a while since I read it. Quite an interesting look, supposedly biographically accurate, into the life of a Lakota tribe in the late 1800's, just prior to the Ghost Dance stuff. There I learned the similarities between Christianity and Lakota...Wakantanka is "great-grandfather" and roughly equates in Christianity as "G-d"; Tunkashila is "grandfather" and roughly equates with "Christ"; I forget now the term for earth-mother but I see an equation with the Christian "Holy Spirit." The Lakota shaman prays to the four winds as well, in the four cardinal directions. This seems to me to equate with the four Archangels.

There are obvious differences in application, of course, but interesting just the same to me.
 
That's what I thought, I like others had assumed what the Indians where "about" but with this prayer you can actually see quite a few connections to christianity.... I didn't think anyone else had any interest in it lol, thanks juan.
 
Hi All--

I thought I had posted this link somewhere before, but maybe I haven't. If your interested in Cherokee mythology (closely related to Iroquios and perhaps Choctaw), here is a pretty good link:

http://www.cherokee.org/home.aspx?section=culture&culture=literature&cat=PdWeE5zX1DE=

It's part of the Cherokee Nation website, and if you scroll over the menu on the lefthand side, you can see how the words look in the Cherokee language, both phonetically and symbolically.

Edit: Well, apparently, you may have to scroll the menu! Sorry...never had any trouble there before! :eek: If the page comes up looking blank, go to the menu to Culture, then Literature.

InPeace,
InLove
 
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You are very welcome! I love the stories--they vary from clan to clan, and many Cherokee legends are very close to the traditional stories of the Iroquois because we are related to them. Because of what happened in this country, I have only begun to learn about this part of my history. I am so happy to finally have some concrete evidence, and the Cherokee Nation has been a big help to me.

By the way, did you know that the Cherokee people consider themselves as "monotheistic"? Well, not every Cherokee would describe it that way, but you'll notice that the stories often point to "The Great Spirit" or even "The Creator". And there are many similarities to Judeo-Christian mythology, but lots of differences, as well. And there are some inconsistencies--in one story, woman is brought forth as man's companion, but in another, woman is created first.

InPeace,
InLove
 
juantoo3 said:
The Lakota shaman prays to the four winds as well, in the four cardinal directions. This seems to me to equate with the four Archangels.
Click to expand...

Hi juan--in the Cherokee tradition (well, one of them, anyway :)) the earth is an island suspended at four points from a solid rock. When the cords wear out, the land will then be covered again with water. Lots to contemplate here in regard to comparisons/contrasts with other mythologies. The Archangels and their appointments in The Revelation of St. John, the Rock, etc...

I am even rethinking a Paul Simon lyric. ;)

InPeace,
InLove
 
InLove...I thought of you today and am not surprised at your native roots and your exploring spiritual nature. Thanks for the link. I'll explore it someday....

Sometime ago I happened upon the writings of Vine Deloria, a native who ended up as a distinguished professor at the University of Colorado. I believe that his books would interest you, especially the one that hooked me on his viewpoints concerning things spiritual, G-d Is Red.

flow....:)
 
Thanks, flow. :) Yes, I have heard of that book and look forward to reading it someday. There are so many books I want to read! Participation in CR has provided me with so many sources, it is difficult to know where to start. I haven't been able to get out much at all for a little over a year now. (I even let my driver's license expire for the first time ever because I was so ill I just couldn't manage to get it done!) In the past few months, though, I have been involved in a couple of weddings, a reunion, a funeral, a few train rides, and things like that. I keep telling myself that I'll order from Amazon or something, so I can just have some books delivered, but I think that I'd just rather get to the library on a regular basis. I'm sure it would save me some money and storage space, but the one closest to me is rather limited. In the meantime, I surf a lot. But I'm getting there....

Well, I kind of rambled a bit, didn't I? To delete or not to delete--that is the question. Hmmm...I think I'll just leave it there, and defy my ever present urge to edit. :)

Thanks for your encouragement. It helps. I admit that I am a little apprehensive about saying anything regarding these recent discoveries, as they been hidden all these years. I knew something--just wasn't sure what. I really have approached it all very slowly and carefully, and I am in the midst of learning. I hate to admit it, but I am still a little afraid that I will say something wrong, or I won't know something that someone thinks I ought to! Silly, huh? I'm so glad that my family is being cool about it--the other day, I gave my dad some new info (found one of his grandpas on the Dawes list!). I asked him how he felt--he said, "Go for it, kid!"

InPeace,
InLove
 
Kindest Regards, InLove!
InLove said:
Hi juan--in the Cherokee tradition (well, one of them, anyway :)) the earth is an island suspended at four points from a solid rock. When the cords wear out, the land will then be covered again with water. Lots to contemplate here in regard to comparisons/contrasts with other mythologies. The Archangels and their appointments in The Revelation of St. John, the Rock, etc...

I am even rethinking a Paul Simon lyric. ;)
Click to expand...
"I am a rock...I am an island...(and a rock feels no pain, and an island never cries)"

Interesting thought.

I read a couple of books sometime back by a Lakota shaman by the name of Fool's Crow. In the books he related how he became a medicine man, and some of the "rituals" if one wishes to call them that. If a person were to come to him to seek medical help (might as easily be spiritual help, the two are synchronous), an elaborate offering of tobacco was brought as a gift. I noted on the site you linked that the Cherokee (at least some) recognize "the little people" described as little long haired indians that are invisible except when they wish to be seen. Part of the Lakota offering was prepared for the rock people, who were as I understood the spirit within the stones. Where the Cherokee seems to correspond with something like Irish / Celtic fairies (fae), the Lakota is more animist / pantheist I suppose in outlook. The rock people have no outwardly human traits, yet they possess great medicine just the same. Of course, the rock people are but one segment of those that are given due honor, but the animal totems are pretty well understood in a general sense; the owl, the deer, the wolf, the buffalo, the eagle. But the rock people stuck out to me as something I have not seen allusion to anywhere else. About the closest might be those who honor spirits in trees.

Just a bit to add to the discussion. :)
 
A scout is reverent....part of the Boy Scout Law.

But Scouting is decidedly interfaith, ecumenical, non-denominational. Yes many if not most Boy Scout troops are in churches and some troops consist entirely of one belief system, sect or denomination...but most have a variety.

So how do they conduct this reverence...out camping on Sunday morning, what do they do...When they are all of one persuasion or belief system they have a service in their fashion...but when they are intermingled with all...they have a service called Scout's Own... I can't speak of worldwide, but at Jamborees, Camporees and other events...every one I've heard that was intended to be interfaith was of Native American origin. They've been great services for the boys and sparked wonderful discussions on the ride home.

The scouts also have an internal camping and scouting group for those who have proved themselves as worthy to their troop and wish to go beyond scouting...it is called Order of the Arrow and fashioned on Native American scout/brave lore.
 
Thanks wil, for bringing this thread back to the front page. It is a good read. And juan, thanks for your comments--I must have overlooked them before. (Judging from the date of your post, I think I was quite distracted at the time.) I really enjoyed reading about your thoughts regarding the rock people!

InPeace,
InLove
 
This native indian discussion is extremely interesting. I could read stories of yours endlessly, in love. The affinity with the earth as a mother etc sounds true to me.
 
Mahalo greymare.:) I said that because you should look up some of pohaikawahine's posts here in CR regarding the Hawaiian native stories. She really knows how to relate the ancient Mythologies not only to each other, but also to the events of today. I love to read her writings. Poh? Are you still there? Poh? (She doesn't talk very much, unlike me. :eek:)

So....I've been trying to persuade my next-door neighbor who is a citizen of the Potawatami Nation to take me with her on her trips "home" that she makes several times a year. She's up in Shawnee, Oklahoma as we speak at a family reunion festival. She never takes me, though (there are rules, and the Potawatami's have stopped doing so much inter-tribal stuff there because of accomodational concerns). Anyway, I begged her to take me with her again this time, but the truth is, physically, I couldn't do it now, anyway--got some issues there <sigh>. LOL, but I am honored that she trusts me with a key to her home so I can feed her beloved bulldog while she is gone! :)

wil, speaking of Scouts, I remember being invited to join the Girl Scouts of Tejas when I was a kid. I went to all of their meetings and participated in a lot of activities, but my mother would never let me officially join. There may have been financial concerns, but I really don't think that was it, because my parents always managed to come up with the money for stuff when it was something they weren't worried about. I think they just didn't want me to go off camping. It was scary for them--and right around that time, there were some terrible incidents that I won't go into here. Anyway, I always felt a bit left out when they wore their uniforms to school on Tuesdays, I think it was? But later, things worked out for me in other ways. But isn't it touching what kid's go through in their minds. It is good for adults to look back into their own childhood at the emotions they remember, and know that their children are experiencing something very similar, albeit in a different setting that often leaves the former generations somewhat numb with wonder, at best!

Well, there I go again--I've been rambling. Time to stop.

Aloha nui--;)

InPeace,
InLove
 
Hi greymare :)

Unfortunately (I hate that word, because even though I have a goodly bit 'o the I-r-r-ish in me, I don't believe so much in luck as in grace), anyway, what was I saying? Oh, yeah. I am bitten by cancer. A rare form. Later stages. Recurring. But I'm still here, and while I am, I am just glad I can come to places like CR and talk with folks like you and others here. I still manage to get around a bit, and I am even considering renewing my driver's license just in case things improve. I actually enjoy riding the rail system and the train sometimes, and I am still walking on most days, but looking into the wheelchair idea lately. I've needed one before....

Who knows? Maybe a cure will be found today. Wouldn't that be great??? Perhaps if humankind could spend less time, money, energy and natural resources making war, we could make more good medicine. (This website needs an emoticon for "sadness".)

InPeace,
InLove
 
Thanks wil. And I just gotta hang around for this.

Shameless, aren't I? ;):D

InPeace,
InLove
 
InLove,

You're more fearless than shameless and strong strong strong beautiful.
Whatever happens your bright spirit will be forever.

love - c -
 
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