Category: Native American history

Lessons from the Big Freeze

Posted on by Marcha's Two-Cents Worth in Indian Reservations, Indigenous People Day, Native American Day, Native American Heritage Month, Native American history, Native Americans, Northern Cheyenne culture

In February 2021 Texas temperatures plunged into the single digits. This historic freeze also brought an ice storm. Such frigid weather is far from normal in the Lone Star State. Usually we’re enjoying paper-whites blooming and planning our spring garden. We don’t have snow plows standing by and our homes are not designed for extreme cold. Rather we typically worry more about the heat!

This picture of the paper-whites was taken the day before the historic storm rolled in. You can see what they looked like afterward in the last picture below where their remains are by the birdbath behind the water tank.

Over 700 died during this freeze when the power grid nearly failed. The only way to keep it operating was to have blackouts and rolling blackouts. A tremendous amount of bad decisions at numerous levels caused this weather event to be far worse than it should have been. I could go on and on about what those bad decisions and mistakes were, but I want to focus on my own experience.

Fortunately, I’m pretty much a “homebody” and don’t go out much. I usually have plenty of food on hand since I only shop every couple of weeks.

I also believe in being as self-sufficient as possible. I have a propane stove that works just fine with no power as well as a few other items that were helpful. As noted earlier, being cold is not usually an issue here.

I have a fireplace and had some firewood. The power was out for 14 hours and during that time the house got pretty chilly, but the fireplace saved the day. When the rolling blackouts started, they were on a schedule so when the power was on you ran the heater and anything else, then braced for the next outage.

At one point there was only a trickle of running water. I live in a community that comprises several vacation homes. Any of these empty homes that hadn’t turned off their water at the meter had ruptured pipes. Some who were home also had ruptured pipes that flooded their entire home. Plumbing here is often in the ceiling and not insulated for such extreme temperatures.

I had an on-demand water heater mounted on the outside of my house. My efforts to protect it were vain with no power. Thus, the pipes froze and ruptured. A few days later when things started to thaw out, I went out my backdoor to take something to the trash can and found a mini-Niagara Falls spewing from it.

I hightailed it to the meter to turn it off and was lucky enough to have my plumber driving by at the time. Long story short, it took three weeks to get a new water heater installed. Needless to say, that was 3 weeks without running hot water. Taking sponge baths courtesy of a spaghetti pot with water heated on my propane stove (thank heaven for that!) was definitely different that my usual warm, cozy showers.

There was actually a similar freeze this past February, but not as severe. The power stayed on and my new water heater, which has a built-in heater, survived. I learned a lot during that week in 2021. I hope to think I’m better prepared now.

However, it was a sobering thought that there are many people in the USA who live with no heat and no running water as a matter of course. The majority of these people live on Indian Reservations. If there’s an ethnic group in this country who has been forgotten it’s the indigenous people who occupied this great land for millennia before the white man “discovered” it. Other races have a variety of valid complaints, but none compare to what was done to Native Americans.

I’m not going to enumerate what those offenses were other than the obvious ones: stealing their land and attempted genocide. If you can find it in your heart to help these people, this blog from a few years ago lists 20+ ways you can make a difference. 

The entire month of November is Native American Heritage Month. The point of these designations is to highlight something that deserves attention coupled with an opportunity to learn more. One way to learn more about Native American culture, or more specifically the Northern Cheyenne, is to read our multi-award winning books in the Dead Horse Canyon saga!

The most gratifying review we ever received was from Asher Syed on behalf of Readers’ Favorite who gave us 5-stars and said, “The depth of ethnology packed into both novels is meticulously researched and beautifully detailed. Fox and Risingsun are a dream team with this saga.”

Get your copy today!

Sweet Medicine: Cheyenne Culture Hero

Posted on by Marcha's Two-Cents Worth in Book Reviews, Indigenous wisdom, Native American Day, Native American history, Native American Prophecy, Native Americans, Northern Cheyenne culture, spirituality, Story excerpts
Image Credit Pixabay

Today we recognize September 23, 2022, as Native American Day, the perfect time to honor Cheyenne Culture Hero, Sweet Medicine.

As with most tales preserved by oral tradition, there are different versions regarding Sweet Medicine’s origin. One version (from Cheyenne Memories by John Stands in Timber and Margot Liberty) tells of a young woman who lived with her parents. She had a dream where someone said, “Sweet Root will come to you, because you are clean, and a young woman.” She thought it was just a dream, but it repeated the next three nights. At this point she told her mother who said it was nothing and not to worry.

But as time passed, she began to feel as if she were expecting a baby, which her parents noticed as well. Yet this made no sense, since she never met anyone, other than the voice in the dreams.

When it was time to give birth, she left the village and went down by a creek where she built a small shelter and had a baby boy. Rather than take him home, however, she left him there, since she and her parents were ashamed.

Later that day an old woman was down by the creek collecting rye grass as bedding when she heard the baby crying. She found him and brought him home. Her husband was very happy and said “That’s our grandson. And his name shall be Sweet Medicine.”

The similarities to the virgin birth of Christ are hard to miss. Perhaps this shows a Christian influence creeping into later versions of the story. The Cheyenne’s high moral standards encouraged their women to be virtuous, so would embrace such a detail.

(If you’re a fan of The History Channel’s Ancient Aliens program, you may notice parallels to UFO abduction stories, many of which date back centuries. Native American connections with extraterrestrial visitors are well-documented, including Nancy Red Star’s book, Star Ancestors.)

The version of Sweet Medicine’s beginnings in George Bird Grinnell’s The Cheyenne Indians: Their History and Ways of Life (Volume II) is less dramatic. It states that Sweet Medicine was the second born child of a married woman, but nonetheless a very unusual child and individual.

Sweet Medicine was said to have performed various miracles, from conjuring up a buffalo calf when the tribe was hungry, to being able to elude pursuit by covering vast distances in record time, i.e., shades of Superman’s ability “to leap tall buildings in a single bound.”

Specific laws and ceremonies were among his most important contributions to Cheyenne culture. He organized the original four warrior societies, Swift Foxes, Elks, Red Shields, and Bowstrings. He instituted a sophisticated leadership structure that included ten chiefs from each of the four societies, plus four “old man chiefs,” one of whom carried the sacred medicine bundle he gave them. This brought stability to the Cheyenne that other tribes lacked.

“You chiefs are peacemakers. Though your son might be killed in front of your tepee, you should take a peace pipe and smoke. Then you would be called an honest chief. You chiefs own the land and the people. If your men, your soldier societies, should be scared and retreat, you are not to step back, but take a stand to protect your land and your people.“

He admonished chiefs to be examples of peace and courage. As stated in Cheyenne Memories, Sweet Medicine said, “Listen to me carefully, and truthfully follow up my instructions. You chiefs are peacemakers. Though your son might be killed in front of your tepee, you should take a peace pipe and smoke. Then you would be called an honest chief. You chiefs own the land and the people. If your men, your soldier societies, should be scared and retreat, you are not to step back, but take a stand to protect your land and your people.”

Generosity was another requirement imposed on chiefs. “When you meet someone, or he comes to your tepee asking for anything, give it to him. Never refuse. Go outside your tepee and sing your chief’s song, so all the people will know you have done something good.”

The four Sacred Arrows were another gift along with the sacred medicine bundle. Two arrows were for hunting and two for war, a detailed ceremony provided for renewing their power, which was lost should a Cheyenne murder a member of the tribe.

He taught the complex ceremony known as the Massaum, a.k.a. Animal or Crazy Dance, which bears some resemblance to an origin story among Plains Indians referred to as “The Great Race.”  The Wolves of Heaven by Karl H. Schlesier is a comprehensive work focused on the Massaum. As an anthropologist, Schlesier places the ceremony’s origins, and thus Sweet Medicine, in the 500 – 300 BCE timeframe.

So where did Sweet Medicine gain his profound wisdom?

The legend states that Sweet Medicine and his wife disappeared for four years, which was spent deep inside the Sacred Mountain where they were taught by spiritual beings known as maiyun. (This is very similar to stories about other important spiritual leaders as expressed on Ancient Aliens, Season 18/Episode 20, “Secrets of Inner Earth.”)

Thus, the tradition arose of fasting on the Sacred Mountain for four days to commune with the holy people. Bear Butte in South Dakota is the Cheyenne’s Sacred Mountain while other tribes have their own versions. There are numerous references to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming in these stories, another location infamous for UFO sightings, as immortalized in Steven Spielberg’s 1977 movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Cheyenne Sacred Mountain, a.k.a. Bear Butte, South Dakota

Before Sweet Medicine died at a very old, but undetermined age, he gave his final address, which included admonitions along with a prophesy:

“I have brought you many things, sent by the gods for your use. You live the way I have taught you and follow the laws. You must not forget them, for they have given you strength and the ability to support yourselves and your families.

“There is a time coming, though, when many things will change. Strangers called Earth Men will appear among you. Their skins are light-colored, and their ways are powerful. They clip their hair short and speak no Indian tongue. Follow nothing that these Earth Men do, but keep your own ways that I have taught you as long as you can.

Image credit Pixabay

“The buffalo will disappear, at last, and another animal will take its place, a slick animal with a long tail and split hoofs, whose flesh you will learn to eat. But first there will be another animal you must learn to use. It has a shaggy neck and tail almost touching the ground. Its hoofs are round. This animal will carry you on his back and help you in many ways. Those far hills that seem only a blue vision in the distance take many days to reach now; but with this animal you can get there in a short time, so fear him not. Remember what I have said.

“But at last you will not remember. Your ways will change. You will leave your religion for something new. You will lose respect for your leaders and start quarreling with one another. You will lose track of your relations and marry women from your own families. You will take after the Earth Men’s ways and forget good things by which you have lived and in the end become worse than crazy.

“I am sorry to say these things, but I have seen them, and you will find that they come true.”

So who exactly was Sweet Medicine?

A real person?

Or no more than another figure in the realm of folklore and mythology?

We may never know, but his prophesy’s accuracy is pretty hard to ignore.

Things Are Getting A Bit Crowded…

Posted on by Marcha's Two-Cents Worth in Book Reviews, Native American Heritage Month, Native American history, Native Americans, Northern Cheyenne culture, Uncategorized

…BUT IN A GOOD WAY.

An author never knows how a sequel will be received in a contest. Without the backstory presented in the previous book, the judges may be lost or unimpressed, thinking there are too many unanswered questions. All you can do when you submit it is cross your fingers and hope for the best.

Clearly, this was not a problem with Return to Dead Horse Canyon: Grandfather Spirits. So far it has done as well as its precursor, plus winning a Firebird Book Award, but The Curse of Dead Horse Canyon: Cheyenne Spirits was not entered in that particular competition.

Each of the awards is described on the book page, so I won’t repeat that information here. While winning another award is always a good day for authors, the one that impressed me the most was the wonderful review rendered by Asher Syed on behalf of Readers’ Favorite.

It was beyond gratifying to see that he comprehended the message Pete and I were trying to convey. Not only that, but that he actually went back and read the first book when that was not required. Yet, he did so, and provided very complimentary comments about that as well. Calling us a “dream team” truly made that day and several since! To be perfectly honest, it made me cry.

Many thanks to the various individuals who have read our work and provided us with such valued feedback. Nothing makes all the work more worthwhile than being recognized by complete strangers. Thank you, one and all.

Our goal with this ongoing saga is to provide readers with a glimpse of the beautiful Northern Cheyenne culture about which most know little, if anything. Pete and I are learning more about it as well. The conclusion to this trilogy is in work with the goal to be well underway by the time we celebrate Native American Heritage Month in November. The challenge upon us is to make the conclusion even better than the first two installments.

That, my friends, is a daunting task.

New TV Series Starring Zahn McClarnon

Posted on by Marcha's Two-Cents Worth in Native American history, Native American Media, Native Americans
Photo By thepaparazzigamer – Zahn McClarnon at the Premiere Of Hulu's Shut Eye at ArcLight Theatre in Hollywood, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=87192051

If you enjoy Native American themed media, check out the new AMC series, Dark Winds, based on Tony Hillerman’s novel, Listening Woman. This intense, action-packed drama set on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona in the 1970s is not for the faint-hearted.  

You may recognize the main character played by Zahn McClarnon. His interest in acting goes back to high school as evidenced by his long list of film and televisions credits, including the role of Mathias, tribal police chief in the Longmire series.

Per Wikipedia, he grew up in Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, and Montana, his mother was Hunkpapa Lakota with his father of Irish descent, as reflected in his name. He has a fraternal twin brother.

McClarnon’s first name is in honor of his maternal great-great-uncle, Frank “Frances” B. Zahn, who was an artist and Lakota elder of Standing Rock Indian Reservation. McClarnon’s middle name, Tokiya-ku, loosely translates to mean: “first one to come.”

Check your local listings for day and time.

Meet the Three Sisters

Posted on by Marcha's Two-Cents Worth in Indigenous wisdom, Native American history, Native Americans
“For millennia, from Mexico to Montana, women have mounded up the earth and laid these three seeds in the ground, all in the same square foot of soil.” –Robin Wall Kimmerer in Braiding Sweetgrass

A legend tells of Indigenous people who were suffering from hunger during an exceptionally long winter. One snowy night, three beautiful women came to visit. One was tall, dressed in yellow with long flowing hair, another wore green, and the third wore an orange robe. They sought shelter from the cold and were invited to sit by the fire.

There wasn’t much food, but the family shared what they had with the mysterious visitors. In gratitude for their generosity, the three sisters revealed their true identities as corn, beans, and squash, then gave themselves to the people so they’d never go hungry again.

The true beauty of the story is that the Three Sisters represent far more than three random food crops. They comprise a synergistic garden trio that epitomizes companion planting. Like the legend, this genius method originated with Indigenous people, whose closeness to nature inspired this amazing botanical analogy of reciprocity and cooperation.

 “The organic symmetry of forms belongs together; the placement of every leaf, the harmony of shapes speak their message. Respect one another, support one another, bring your gift to the world and receive the gifts of others, and there will be enough for all.”

Robin Wall Kimmerer in Braiding Sweetgrass

If you’re unfamiliar with gardening, here’s how it works: The corn provides a trellis for the beans to climb while the squash’s huge leaves provide shade that discourages weeds and helps retain moisture in the ground. Furthermore, beans host nitrogen fixing bacteria, which benefits the corn, while the squash’s prickly leaves discourage caterpillars and some insects.

And it gets even better. The trio is nutritionally sound. Corn and beans combine to form a complete protein while squash provides additional vitamins in its carotene-rich flesh. Utilizing mostly vertical space, even a small garden can yield not only a generous harvest, but a reasonably balanced diet as well.

Some add sunflowers , expanding this harmonious group to a quartet. You can find detailed instructions on how to plant the Three Sisters here.  The site includes various patterns developed by Indigenous tribes in different geographical areas. Some include sunflowers for yet another dimension of function and beauty. Note you do not plant them all at once, but give the corn a chance to get established, i.e., about four inches tall, before planting the beans to assure it has the strength to support the vines.

Depending on how long the growing season is in your area, it is a bit late to get started, but could be worth a try. With a potential food shortage looming due to the price of fuel, if nothing else use this Native American wisdom to stock up on dried beans, canned corn, and winter squash at the grocery store, even if you can’t grow your own. The trio produces an appealing culinary chorus as well.

Bon appetite!

Attribution: Garlan Miles, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

“The Wolves of Heaven: Cheyenne Shamanism, Ceremonies, and Prehistoric Origins” by Karl H. Schlesier

Posted on by Marcha's Two-Cents Worth in Book Reviews, Indigenous wisdom, Native American history, Native Americans

If you’re just learning about the Cheyenne (Tsistsistas), this book is likely to be considerably over your head. I’m glad that I read Book One of Peter J. Powell’s “Sweet Medicine” first, which went into enough detail to make this one a good follow-up, though Powell’s Book Two, which I am currently reading, would have been helpful, too.

The author, Karl Schlesier, is a German anthropologist who did a tremendous job researching the existing body of knowledge on the subject, including that of George Grinnell and Powell, then synthesizing it with his own research to arrive at some interesting and well-founded conclusions.

One thing he establishes is that the Tsistsistas were in the northern Plains from about 500 B.C. to A.D. 800. Their language is in the Algonquian family, which the archaeological record indicates first manifested in North America around 8000 B.C.

So when the Cheyenne claim the land was given to their ancestors thousands of years ago, Schlesier has shown that be true.

The Sacred Mountain (Bear Butte State Park)

Think about that for a moment. He even attributes the huge medicine wheel in Wyoming to the Tsistsistas.

In her book “Braiding Sweetgrass,” Robin Kimmerer pointed out what it meant to be indigenous to an area. Those of us like myself who has lived in numerous locations have difficulty relating to this concept. Yet those who are living in the same town or region where their grandparents or other ancestors were born, lived, and are now buried, may comprehend what that means.

If your entire life, as well as that of generations of your family, has been spent in a specific area, there’s a sense of ownership, attachment, and love for the land and all it represents.

I’ve been a “move-in” various times and the “locals” always scope out newcomers with a jaundiced eye. To an outsider this feels somewhat clannish, projects a sense of seniority or even superiority. They may appear friendly, but you know you’ll always be suspect and never make it into the “inner circle.”

I lived in a small town in Northern Utah for 15 years and was always considered a move-in by those whose great-grandparents founded the town in the 19th century. Where I live now in Central Texas has similar vibe. I shudder to think what it would be if they realized that by birth I’m a Yankee! They think I’m from Houston, but even that doesn’t count.

City folk are suspect, too.

Put yourself in the local’s shoes for a moment. First of all, move-ins change things. For example, they may scoop up land for sale by a local farmer who’s decided to retire. None of his family members are interested in agriculture, so he sells for a good price and retires in town. Good news for the farmer. However, for his neighbors and community at large, what happens when the buyer is a developer who proceeds to put in a large tract of new homes complete with a few shopping centers?

Community development leaders in small towns, who are often likewise move-ins, are often guilty of the same thing. Their goal is to build up the economy and make money. They don’t care that they are forever changing the lifestyle of people whose roots go back a century or more. More than once I’ve purposely moved to a rural location only to have it build up over the years, heading toward the environment I purposely left. Currently, Austin, Texas is creeping closer and closer to my Hill Country retreat. I wasn’t born here, but I don’t like it, either.

Now think about the Cheyenne, who’d been given their land by their creator god, Maheo, thousands of years before. Furthermore, the concept of land ownership by indigenous people is entirely foreign. Then one day the white man comes along, tells them they have to leave, and proceeds to call them savages when they fight to keep it.

Thousands of years, folks. Thousands of years.

If some foreigner turned up on your land and told you to leave, what would you do?

So this book validated the fact that the Tsistsistas did indeed occupy the northern Plains, including parts of Montana, North Dakota, and Canada for millennia.

Literally.

The main focus of this book is to describe an ancient ceremony known as the Massaum. Its complexity and production requirements rival any pageant, to say nothing of its symbolism. It’s most basic tenet is that of an earth-giving ceremony, in remembrance of what they were taught by their Creator and how they were told to live. (For comparison, think of how many thousands of times the Christmas Story has been retold in pageants.)

The Tsistsistas summer ceremonial period was timed by the respective heliacal risings of the stars Aldebaran, Sirius, and Rigel. The fifth day of the Massaum began upon Rigel’s rising, a magnificent blue star. The author states, “In the Massaum, the blue star design . . . was painted on the buffalo skull placed on the deep earth on the west side of the wolf lodge and on the faces of [the participants.]“

While he never states it explicitly, my conclusion is that this is the design found on the Cheyenne flag, in this case white on a field of blue, with blue the color associated with Maheo. I found this extremely fascinating because I’d wondered what the symbol’s origin was and this fit beautifully.

It also clearly incorporates the cardinal as well as the four sacred directions (southeast, southwest, northwest, and northeast) tended by the maheyuno, the four sacred guardians of the Universe.

How cool is that? Gives it a lot more depth of meaning, other than an unusual geometric design that’s a bit hard to describe.

The author definitely did his homework and painted a fascinating picture of the Tsistsistas as an ancient culture with rich traditions and ceremonies. From time to time he’d digress into the practices of other tribes, which didn’t necessarily add anything to the Cheyenne story other than the interesting fact that indigenous tribes in Siberia share numerous things in common, suggesting similar origins.

This book is not a light, leisurely read any more than Powell’s “Sweet Medicine” volumes unless you love the scholarly details behind Cheyenne culture. If you’re seriously interested, you won’t be disappointed. For me it’s research material for Dead Horse Canyon Book 3 along with a huge pile of other books. I’m one of those crazy authors who enjoys the research phase as much as weaving it throughout the story itself, with various factoids having a way of enriching the plot. If you’re so inclined, you can find it in paperback on Amazon.

Did Ancient Hopi Elders see Our Day?

Posted on by Marcha's Two-Cents Worth in Holy Bible reference to dominion, Hopi prophecy, Indigenous wisdom, Native American history, Native American Prophecy, Native Americans, spirituality

Not everyone believes in prophecy. Of course, the test of a true prophet versus someone with a vivid imagination is whether or not their predictions come true. In many cases, the speaker does not live long enough to see whether it does or not, but if others recorded what they said, in due time the truth will be known.

Native Americans have run the gamut of emotions from outrage to grief toward the white man’s life style and attitude toward Mother Earth. According to the Holy Bible, man was given “dominion” over the Earth. A word that suggests he could do as he pleased with all it contains and justifies exploiting it for his own gain.

However, in view of the current state of the planet, was that an accurate translation of the Creator’s intent?

Much was edited out of that sacred tome because it didn’t fit the understanding of the day. Ancient Roman emperors twisted Christ’s teachings to suit their own designs. One translation of the Bible that is often quoted, and even considered among the best, was commissioned by King James of England and published in 1611.

The front plates states, “Translated out of the original tongues: and with the former translations diligently compared and revised by His Majesty’s special command.”

I don’t know about you, but it’s pretty hard to believe British attitudes didn’t creep in, intentionally or otherwise, to reflect his royal view of the world, which, incidentally, included worldwide colonization. Some books of the original Bible were deleted, such as The Book of Enoch, because so much of its content was either offensive, fried their brains, or didn’t make sense.

What if the word translated as “dominion” actually meant “responsibility?” The implications are huge. Do you have dominion over your children or responsibility for them? Does man have dominion over Earth’s resources or responsibility for them? If you’re a parent, how did you feel when you gave your child an expensive gift that they subsequently trashed?

The consensus among Native Americans is that we are responsible for the planet and everything on it, including each other. “All my relations” refers beyond immediate and extended human family to all “two-leggeds” as well as every plant, animal, and mineral.

We all came from Mother Earth. We are all related.

Hopi religious elders Thomas Banyacya and Grandfather David Monongye have interpreted ancient prophesies in the following video. Bear in mind the first part was recorded in the 1970s, the latter portion in 1993. More details are available on YouTube. Some predictions you’ll recognize as being fulfilled in the years following when this was recorded. Sometimes the language is quaint as they try to explain things for which there were no words in their native language.

To quote the video, “We are at a crossroads. One path leads to destruction. The other is living together in harmony with nature.”

It appears we took a wrong turn somewhere.

P.S. If you don’t know what the “cobwebs” refer to, research “geo-engineering” and/or “chemtrails,” the ultimate violation of the Earth Mother.

The Power of Words

Posted on by Marcha's Two-Cents Worth in Indigenous wisdom, Native American history, Native Americans, spirituality, US History, Videos

The purpose of words is to convey meaning. How they’re spelled, how they sound differs tremendously. Sometimes they convey the same meaning, such as for a cat or dog. Others are unique and can’t be translated into another language, especially if they’re based on cultural context.

When immigrants come to a country, they assimilate better if they learn the host language. This is not simply a matter of getting along better in society. It integrates them into the culture. America became a “melting pot” as immigrants came from a multitude of foreign nations, then were united in a common language, i.e. English, even if they maintained their ethnic traditions.

When Europeans came to the American continent they encountered indigenous peoples whose languages were entirely foreign. While there’s a similarity in etymology and syntax among Latin-based languages (English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, etc.), those spoken by Native Americans (which were several) had no similarities to European languages. Their culture and society were so different, many words common to Europeans didn’t even exist in theirs and vice versa.

Most of our thoughts comprise words. A person’s vocabulary determines their ability to think and comprehend the world around them. Without applicable words, unfamiliar concepts cannot exist. Emotions, however, exist beyond words. If you see someone laughing or crying, you know they’re feeling something.

Europeans took possession of this country in a less than friendly manner. Eventually, indigenous people became the “Indian Problem.” They refused to cooperate by giving up the land gifted to them by the Creator, a.k.a. Great Spirit. After numerous wars, massacres, and ugly confrontations, those that remained were herded off to reservations. As if that wasn’t bad enough, their children were taken and sent to government boarding schools where they were “reprogrammed.” This comprised cutting their hair, dressing them in “civilized” clothing, and forbidding them from speaking their native tongue. Being caught doing so resulted in their mouth being washing out with soap.

This was not a benevolent gesture to help Native Americans assimilate into European/American society. The intent was to annihilate their culture, identity, and beliefs, an insidious form of virtual genocide. A slight improvement, I suppose, over edicts from the Vatican that gave early explorers and colonists permission to kill them or make them their slaves.

Imagine forcing new immigrants to give up their language and customs. As “guests” in this country, it could almost be justified, a condition of habitation that promotes unity. Instead, just about any document they may need to read is available in their own language at taxpayer expense. Yet, quite the opposite was done to indigenous peoples who were here first.

If you have a difficult time relating to this, consider hoards of Chinese soldiers swarming our borders and forcing us to abandon our way of life, including our language, and adapt to theirs or die.

As intended, indigenous languages began to disappear. Fortunately, some survived. Ironically, helping the current younger generations to learn their native tongue is now a function of the very schools who originally forbade them from speaking it.

Why should they care? Because that is who they are. Culture, ceremonies, and their collective philosophy of life is embedded in their language. They have words with no English analog. Even in English, certain things have different meaning. For example, “All my relations” to a Native American includes all living things as well as the Earth herself. “Turtle Island” is not only this continent, but embodies their creation story.

Why should we care if their culture is lost? Because it’s in the world’s best interest for it to be revitalized. Assimilating it may be the only thing that can save us from ourselves in this war-torn, polluted, technology-dependent world.

This short video (less that 3 minutes) contains the 10 Commandments of Native Americans. As you listen, consider they initially welcomed Europeans to their land. They only became aggressive when the Founding Fathers and those who followed didn’t want to share this country with its original inhabitants.

They wanted them out of their way.

The Words That Come Before All Else

Posted on by Marcha's Two-Cents Worth in Book Reviews, Indigenous wisdom, Native American history, Native Americans, spirituality, US History

I am reading “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer, a citizen of the Potawatomi tribe. The author is not only a Native American–in addition, she has a PhD in botany and is a decorated professor at SUNY. The book’s subtitle is “Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants.” Those nine words don’t even come close to describing the insightful treasures it contains.

In one section she compared the Pledge of Allegiance (noting how Native Americans tend to choke on the phrase “liberty and justice for all”) to the Thanksgiving Address, known as the “Words That Come Before All Else.” The author describes it as the “ancient order of protocol [that] sets gratitude as the highest priority. The gratitude is directed straight to the ones who share their gifts with the world.”

The origin is with the Onondaga, a member of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, whose constitution was a model for our own. It’s a shame we didn’t adopt their other values as well. Consider how it begins:

Today we have gathered and when we look upon the faces around us we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now let us bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as People. Now our minds are one.

Available on Amazon

Consider, if you will, how the USA might be a different country today if every session of Congress opened with that phrase. Would toxic partisanism be tearing this country to shreds? It continues:

We are thankful to our Mother the Earth, for she gives us everything that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she still continues to care for us, just as she has from the beginning of time. To our Mother, we send thanksgiving, love and respect. Now our minds are one.

Would we treat our planet with more respect if everyone began each day thanking the Earth? Would we drench our Earth Mother in pollution? Would we strip-mine her resources?

We give thanks to all of the waters of the world for quenching our thirst, for providing strength and nurturing life for all beings. We know its power in many forms–waterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans, snow and ice. We are grateful that the waters are still here and meeting their responsibility to the rest of Creation. Can we agree that water is important to our lives and bring our minds together as one to send greetings and thanks to the Water? Now our minds are one.

Native American prophecy declared a century or more ago that the day would come when people would have to buy water. The possibility seemed ludicrous. Yet here we are. Who would dare drink directly from even the remotest mountain stream?

The Thanksgiving Address continues to include all of nature: The Fish life in the water…the Food Plants…Medicine Herbs…the trees…animal life…the birds…the Four Winds…the Thunder Beings…our oldest Grandmother, the Moon…the enlightened teachers…the Creator.

I invite you to read this beautiful testament in its entirety at the end of this post.

Then consider that the people who created this literary work of love and respect were referred to as savages, simply because they fought to keep their ancestral lands. Thousands of women and children were massacred by the military. Treaties were broken by the U.S. Government as a matter of course, “the Indian problem” ultimately solved by forcing them to remote reservations on uninhabitable land. Their languages and customs were outlawed, their children stolen, and “re-educated” in boarding schools where their hair was cut off and their mouths washed with soap for speaking their own tongue. Even today the poorest counties in this supposed “great” country are found on reservations.

Where would we be today if the white man had assimilated their way of life, if our minds had become one? Modern peace chiefs have gone before Congress and the United Nations, warning them where the world is heading to no avail.

Meanwhile, indigenous prophecies relative to the fate of this nation are being fulfilled before our eyes. Their accuracy is startling.

How different it could have been if our minds had been one.

Thanksgiving AddressDownload

Harmony or Death?

Posted on by Marcha's Two-Cents Worth in Indigenous wisdom, mining, Native American history, Native Americans, Spirit Medicine, spirituality, US History, Videos

Chief Arvol Looking Horse provided this message to the world back in August 2016. To think when he made these statements he referred to the Earth’s condition as horrible! So much has happened since it’s hard to comprehend. It appears that the consequences have begun since nothing has improved in the past five and a half years.

This video is a little over 16 minutes long. The music is haunting as are many of the images. Pay close attention to the words. The script is written so you can pause the video as needed to read them. Ponder their meaning and implications.

Prophecies declared we were at the crossroads back then. Bear in mind that was before the COVID-19 pandemic of body and spirit. As a result, people worldwide have lost many freedoms they took for granted.

Now we’re on the brink of war.

We were admonished to unite spiritually or be faced with chaos.

We are there.