Religion of the North American Plains Indians

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Religion of the North American Plains Indians
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First humans in America

• Human came to North America 20,000 yrs. ago
• Migrated from Asia by crossing over the Bering
  Strait (situated between Russia and Alaska)
• Under water now
• These first humans formed many tribes
• Domestic horses enabled the Plains Indians to
  become great hunters of buffalo and other game

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The Lakota

• The Lakota is the largest and most influential
  tribe
• Aka Western Sioux
• Inhabited western Montana and Wyoming, eastern
  regions of the Dakotas and parts of Nebraska
• In 1890 more than 200 Lakota were massacred as
  the result of the war between Indians and whites
• Today about 100,000 Lakota live on reservations
  in Montana and North and South Dakota

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• Ultimate reality
• The Lakota name for the supreme reality is Wakan
  Tanka
• Sometimes translated as Great Spirit/Great
  Mysterious
• Literally meaning most sacred
• Wakan Tanka refers to 16 separate deities
• The 16 is derived from the number 4- 4X4
• 4-most sacred
• Refers to the compass directions north, south,
  east, and west

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Supernatural beings

• Inktomi
• Name means Spider
• Mediator between the supernatural and human
  worlds.
• Taught 1st humans their ways and customs
• Trickster figure
• Offers moral lessons from experience
• Do not behave as Inktomi

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Destiny Next life

• Belief in Death/Afterlife
• Believe that four souls depart from a person at
  death
• First soul journeys to the spirit path of the
  Milky Way
• Meets an old woman who judges it and either
  allows it to continue on to the world of the
  ancestors
• or it goes back to earth as a ghost
• The other souls enter unborn children to be
  reborn

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• Two main rituals wkst
• The Vision Quest
• The Sun Dance

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Vision Quest (Initiation Rite)

• Vision Quest
• Purpose
• To gain spiritual power and knowledge of ones
  role in society
• For success in hunting, warfare, and curing the
  ill
• Experienced by
• young women and men (more frequently)
• Carried out by
• a spiritual leader medicine woman or medicine
  man- they issue specific instructions beforehand,
  and interpret the content of the vision
  afterward.
• Expresses 3 dimensions of religion
• Ritual sweat lodge prior to going out on ones
  own
• Experiential Receiving the vision or guardian
  spirit
• Mythic meaning of the guardian spirit

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VISION QUEST Ritual

• Ritual of purification in the sweat lodge
• Procedure
• A dark/airtight hut made of saplings and covered
  with animal skins
• Represents the universe
• Heated stones placed in the center and water is
  poured over them by the medicine man
• The resulting hot steam causes the participant to
  sweat profusely
• Steam room
• Both physical and spiritual purification

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Vision Quest Experiential Mythical

• After purification, the person goes off alone
  without food, water or shelter for a set of days

• The vision comes to the person in the form of an
  animal, other object, or force of nature

• Once the person returns to camp, a medicine
  man/woman interprets the vision, to determine
  their role for the rest of his/her life

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2nd Major Lakota Ritual Sun Dance

• Procedure
• Construct a lodge
• Cottonwood tree is selected
• This tree becomes the Axis Mundi the axis or
  center of the universe.
• The tree represents the supreme being
• Connects heaven earth
• The lodge is constructed of 28 poles around the
  tree representing the 28 days of lunar month
• The finished lodge is representative of the
  universe with its four compass directions.
• Begin Dance

• Purpose
• Benefits all (community ritual)
• Occurs at the beginning of summer as new year
  celebration
• to prepare for the annual buffalo hunt
• Leader
• A medicine man or woman

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The Sun Dance Practice

• The Sun Dance features long periods of dancing
• Dancers dance facing the sun for life- giving
  powers
• Music and drumbeats accompany the dancing
• Dancers skewer the flesh of their chests and
  attach themselves to the tree with leather thongs
• Dancers dance pulling back until the skin tears
• Purpose of bodily mutilation
• The body is only thing humans can really call
  their own
• Therefore, the body is the best sacrifice to
  offer to the Supreme Being

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• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vVioh7ML75Cg

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Plains Indians quiz
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Plains Indians quiz

• Word bank Wakan Tanka, Sioux, Inktomi, 4, axis
  mundi, sun, medicine man/woman, 16, body, sweat
  lodge, children, Sun Dance, Vision Quest,
  mountains- you will not use all the words
• ____________ interprets the vision for the vision
  quester.
• The Lakota trickster figure is __________ and it
  means spider.
• The purpose of this ritual is to gain spiritual
  power and knowledge of ones role in society.
• The Lakota ultimate reality is called
  ______________
• ____________ is a community ritual and its
  purpose is to prepare for the buffalo hunt.
• In the Sun Dance, a tree is required and it
  represents the _______
• The vision quest is a purification ritual that
  takes place in _________
• According to the Lakota, the __________ is the
  only thing humans can call their own and its the
  best sacrifice to offer to the supreme beings.
• Dancers dance facing the _________ for
  life-giving powers.
• The Lakota are also known as_________ ?

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Plains Indians quiz

• Word bank Wakan Tanka, Inktomi, 4, axis mundi,
  sun, medicine man/woman, 16, body, sweat lodge,
  children, Sun Dance, Vision Quest, mountains-
  dont use all
• ____________ interprets the vision for the vision
  quester. medicine man/woman
• The Lakota trickster figure is __________ and it
  means spider. Inktomi
• The purpose of this ritual is to gain spiritual
  power and knowledge of ones role in society.
  vision quest
• The Lakota ultimate reality is called
  ______________ - wakan tanka
• ____________ is a community ritual and its
  purpose is to prepare for the buffalo hunt. sun
  dance
• In the Sun Dance, a tree is required and it
  represents the _______ the axis mundi (center
  of the universe)
• The vision quest is a purification ritual that
  takes place in _____________ -sweat lodge
• According to the Lakota, the __________ is the
  only thing humans can call their own and its the
  best sacrifice to offer to the supreme beings.
  the body
• Dancers dance facing the _________ for
  life-giving powers. - sun
• The Lakota are also known as_________ ? Sioux

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