American Indian 12 Moons Teaching

North - Purity and Renewal
Moon: Earth Renewal Moon
Spirit Keeper of the North
December 22 to January 19
*** BLACKFOOT ***
DECEMBER - IS-STA-M-SII-WA - COLD MONTH
JANUARY - KAA-TOO-Yll - SNOW BLINDNESS

Snow Goose

ANIMAL: SNOW GOOSE
MINERAL: QUARTZ CRYSTAL
COLOR: WHITE
PLANT: BIRCH TREE
CLAN: TURTLE
ELEMENT: EARTH
The Earth Renewal Moon  is the first moon of the year and the first moon of Waboose, Spirit Keeper of the North. This moon begins at the time of the winter solstice when Father Sun returns from his journey South and begins to bring the warmth that quickens growth in the Earth Mother and all her children. The stone representing this moon is placed one quarter of the way to the East in the northern quadrant, moving clockwise. The mineral totem for the Earth Renewal Moon is the quartz crystal, the plant is the birch tree, and the animal is the snow goose. The color is white. The elemental clan influencing this position is the Turtle clan.

The Earth Renewal Moon teaches you to be as clear a receiver and transmitter of universal energy as the crystal, as important a communicator of the ancient knowledge as the birch tree, and as respectful of tradition and ritual as the snow goose. This is a position with the potential for great power. The Earth Renewal Moon teaches you to be fluid, yet proper in conduct as well as clear, adaptable, prudent, and wise. People in this position have keen vision, are good ceremonialists, and can take large steps in their personal evolution. Snow goose people need to guard against becoming blocked, against using their enormous power incorrectly, and against being so perfectionist they never have time for fun.

Rule
Moon: Rest & Cleansing Moon
JANUARY 20 TO FEBRUARY 18
*** BLACKFOOT ***
JANUARY - KAA-TOO-YLL - SNOW BLINDNESS
FEBRUARY - SA-OM-MI-TSI-KSI-SOM -TREACHEROUS MOON

Otter

ANIMAL: OTTER
MINERAL: SILVER
COLOR: SILVER
PLANT: QUAKING ASPEN
CLAN: BUTTERFLY
ELEMENT:AIR
The Rest and Cleansing Moon  is the second moon of Waboose. The stone for this moon is placed midway between the northern and eastern stones. Silver is the mineral totem for the Rest and Cleansing Moon,  the quaking aspen is the plant totem, the otter is the animal totem, and silver  is the color. This position is influenced by the Butterfly clan.

People experiencing this moon are considered as valuable as silver, as light?hearted as the music of aspen leaves, and as playful as the otter. The otter position can help you truly to like people, yourself included, and to be more humanitarian in your views. This is a time when you can excel in communicating, in developing your intellect, and in romance. The Rest and Cleansing Moon can help you both to develop your psychic abilities and to uncover the clever, bold, humanitarian, and gentle aspects of your own being. Although otter people have the potential to be noble and loving, they need to guard against dreaming so much that none of their noble ideas ever become reality.

Rule
Moon:Big Winds Moon
February 19 to March 20
*** BLACKFOOT ***
February - Sa-Om-Mi-Tsi-Som - Treacherous Moon
March - Sai-Ksi-O-Tsi-Tot-Toh-Pi - When the Geese Come

Cougar

Animal: cougar
Mineral: Turquoise
Color: Blue and green
Plant: plantain
Clan: frog
Element: water
The Big Winds Moon is the last moon of Waboose, Spirit Keeper of the North. The stone representing this moon is placed three quarters of the way between North and East. The mineral totem for the Big Winds Moon is turquoise, the plant is the plantain, the animal is the cougar, the colors are blue and green, and the elemental clan influence is that of the Frog Clan

Turquoise can teach people in this position about the real meaning of value and about protection, the plantain can teach them about their healing abilities, and the cougar can teach them about mystery and the need to establish safe territory. The Big Winds Moon can help you discover your own natural medicine power and the depth of your psychic abilities. In this position you will learn about your deep sensitivity, your yearning for spirituality, your hesitation to express your true feelings, and your need for grounding on the earth. People experiencing the Big Winds Moon can be prone to moodiness and to melancholy. They need to learn to temper their sensitivity and to have a greater sense of reality

Rule
EAST - ILLUMINATION and WISDOM
Moon: Budding Tree's Moon
Spirit Keeper of the EAST
March 21 to April 19
*** BLACKFOOT ***
March - Sai-Ksi-O-Tsi-Tot-Toh-Pi - When the Geese Come
April - Ma-Tsi-Yik-Ka-Pi-Sai-Ki*S- Frog Month

Red Tail Hawk

Animal: Red Tail Hawk
Mineral: Fire opal
Color: YELLOW
Plant: Dandelion
Clan: THUNDERBIRD
Element: FIRE
The Budding Trees Moon is the first moon of Wabun, Spirit Keeper of the East and occurs at the time of the spring equinox. The stone for this moon is placed one quarter of the way between the eastern and southern stones in the outer circle. The mineral totem for the Budding Trees Moon is the fire opal, the plant is the dandelion, and the animal is the red-tailed hawk. The color is yellow.

This position is directly influenced by the Thunderbird clan. The fire opal can teach people in this position about the need for water the emotions in tempering their fiery energy. The dandelion can show them the advantages of taking root as well as flying. The red-tailed hawk can demonstrate the joy of freedom and of a long, clear view. The Budding Trees Moon will teach you about energy, intensity, catalyzing change, fearlessness, and optimism. Being in this position will show you your leadership ability, the enormity of your own spirit, and the extent of your Clear sightedness. People experiencing the Budding Trees Moon need to learn to channel their energies, contain their emotions, and be more patient with others.

Rule
Moon: Frog's Return Moon
April 20 to May 20
*** BLACKFOOT ***
April - Ma-Tsi-Yik-Ka-Pi-Sai-Ki'S- Frog's Return Month
May - 0-TSI-KSS-TSI'O-TSI-TAI-TS-IH-PI -
- When the Buffalo Plant is in Flower

Beaver

Animal: Beaver
Mineral: Crysacola
Color: Blue
Plant: blue commis
Clan: turtle
Element: earth
The Frogs Return Moon is the second moon of Wabun of the East. The stone for this moon is placed midway between the eastern and southern stones in the outer circle of the Medicine Wheel. The mineral totem for the moon is the chrysocolla, the plant is the blue camas, and the animal is the beaver. The color is blue and the elemental clan influence is the Turtle clan.

From the chrysocolla, people in this position learn to balance the earth and sky within themselves; from the blue camas, to sustain themselves and others; from the beaver, to make all environments as pleasant as possible. This is the position to explore when you wish to learn about stability, the value of hard work, luck, and your ability to create and maintain an orderly and beautiful environment. The Frogs Return Moon will teach you about perseverance, patience, stability, and practicality. People in this position need to guard against being too stubborn, overindulging, and holding back all their feelings.

Rule
Moon: Corn Planting Moon
May 21 to June 20
*** BLACKFOOT ***
May - 0-TSI-KSS-TSI'O-TSI-TAI-TS-IH-PI -
When the Buffalo Plant is in Flower

June -MI-SOM-SOO-TA - Long Rain

Deer

Animal: deer
Mineral: moss agate
Color: Blue and green
Plant: yarrow
Clan: butterfly
Element: air
The Corn planting Moon is the third moon of Wabun, the Spirit Keeper of the East. The stone representing this moon is placed three quarters of the way between the eastern and southern stones in the outer circle of the Medicine Wheel. The mineral totem for the Corn planting Moon is the moss agate. The plant totem is the yarrow, and the animal is the deer. The colors are green and white, and the elemental influence is from the Butterfly clan.

The moss agate teaches people in this position to clearly see their link with the mineral and plant kingdoms. The yarrow teaches about both cleansing and strengthening. The deer demonstrates the beauty of grace and quick movement. This position teaches about beauty in yourself, in others, and in your environment and teaches about your own healing abilities. This position will point out any cutting edges in your personality, the necessity of balancing time and energy, and your ability to create. People experiencing the deer position need to learn to be more consistent, less suspicious, and more willing to show some of their own deep feelings

Rule
South - Rapid Growth and Trust
Moon: Strong Sun Moon; Warming Sun Moon
Spirit Keeper of the South
June 21 to July 22
*** BLACKFOOT ***
JUNE -MI-SOM-SOO-TA - Long Rain
April - Ma-Tsi-Yik-Ka-Pi-Sai-Ki*S- Frog Month

Northern Flicker

Animal: flicker
Mineral: Rose quartz, Carnelian agate
Color: Pink
Plant: Wild Rose
Clan: frog
Element: water
The Strong Sun Moon is the first moon of Shawnodese, Spirit Keeper of the South, and occurs at the time of the summer solstice. The stone honoring this position is placed one quarter of the way between the southern and western stones of the Medicine Wheel. The mineral totem for the Strong Sun Moon is carnelian agate, the plant is the wild rose, and the animal is the flicker. The color is pink, and the elemental influence is from the Frog clan.

From the carnelian, people experiencing this position can learn about their strong heart connection; from the rose, about their ability both to heal and to inspire; and from the flicker, about their desire for self expression. The Strong Sun Moon teaches about the importance of the emotions and the need for a strong home base. People experiencing the energy of this position are intuitive and wild in some aspects of being, but conservative and home loving in others. The Strong Sun Moon will educate you about the law of relationship and about family, mothering, and nurturing. While working with the flicker you must guard against wallowing in all your emotions and about fearing to take any stand.

Rule
Moon: Ripe Berries Moon
July 23 to August 22
*** BLACKFOOT ***
July - II-Toh-Tot-To-Tsi-Ma-Ta-Pi-Wa
When People Move Camp Together
August - Pak-Ki-Pis-Tsi'o-Taa'-T-Ts-Pi
When the choke Cherries Are Ripe

Sturgeon

Animal: Sturgeon
Mineral: Garnet, iron
Color: red
Plant: raspberry
Clan: thunderbird
Element: fire
The second moon of Shawnodese, Spirit Keeper of the South is the Ripe Berries Moon. The stone for this position is placed midway between the southern and western stones in the outer circle of the Medicine Wheel. Iron and garnet are the mineral totems for this moon, raspberry is the plant totem, and the sturgeon is the animal totem. The color is red, and the position is influenced by the Thunderbird clan.

Iron teaches people in this position about their strength and garnet shows them their heart is the source of that strength. From the raspberry they learn about their sweetness and the thorns they project to protect this part of them selves from other people. The sturgeon show them their depth and their need to teach. The Ripe Berries Moon teaches them how to work from the heart center, how to demonstrate affection, how to face fears, and how to develop leadership abilities. This moon helps develop courage and power. People experiencing the sturgeon energy need to guard against impulsiveness, arrogance, and a tendency to dominate any scenario.

Rule
Moon: Harvest Moon
August 23 to September 22
*** BLACKFOOT ***
August - Pak-Ki-Pis-Tsi'o-Taa'-T-Ts-Pi
When the choke Cherries Are Ripe
September - II-Ta-Wa-Pi'-Ts-ko
When the Leaves Change Color

Brown Bear

Animal: Brown bear
Mineral: Amethyst
Color: purple
Plant: violet
Clan: turtle
Element: earth
The Harvest Moon is the last moon of Shawnodese of the South. The stone honoring this position is placed three quarters of the way between the southern and western stones. The mineral totem for this position is the amethyst, the plant totem is the violet, and the animal totem is the brown bear. The color is purple, and the elemental influence comes from the Turtle clan.

The amethyst can teach people experiencing this moon about good judgment and justice; the violet, about their ability to penetrate to secret regions of the heart and soul; and the brown bear, about their capacity for creative curiosity. The Harvest Moon teaches about discrimination, fair decisions, good sense, perseverance, confidence, and the ability to analyze. The energy of this position is one of balance, rationality, and practicality. This is the place on the wheel that will help you truly understand the concepts of work and duty. In the brown bear place you need to guard against being overly critical of others, or cynical about life.

Rule
West - Strength and Introspection
Moon: Ducks Flying Moon
Spirit Keeper of the West
September 23 to October 23
*** BLACKFOOT ***
September - II-Ta-Wa-Pi'-Ts-ko - Leaves Change Color
October - Sai-ai-ksi-ii-to-oyii - Geese Leave

Raven

Animal: raven
Mineral: jasper
Color: brown
Plant: mullien
Clan: butterfly
Element: air
The Ducks Fly Moon is the first moon of Mudjekeewis, the Spirit Keeper of the West and occurs at the time of the autumn equinox. The stone honoring this moon is placed one quarter of the way, moving clockwise, between the southern and western stones. The mineral totem for this moon is jasper, usually of the bloodstone variety; the plant is the mullein; and the animal is the raven. The color is brown, and the elemental clan influencing this moon is the Butterfly clan.

From the jasper, people experiencing this energy can learn how to draw both the earth and sun energy into their being and how to understand the messages of the heart. From the mullein they can learn about their abilities both to soothe and to irritate. From the raven they will gain understanding of their relationships with groups, and their ability to soar and dive. This is the position in which you can learn what balance truly is, even if you need to experience discomfort in order to do so. People experiencing the Ducks Fly Moon can rapidly go from one idea, concept, or mood to its opposite. This position can teach how to show physical affection and how to be comfortable both in earth and sky. People experiencing the raven energy must be careful not to be totally indecisive, and so changeable they confuse even themselves

Rule
Moon: Freeze up Moon - Cooling Sun Moon
October 24 to November 21
*** BLACKFOOT ***
OCTOBER - SAI-Al-KSI-II-TOH-OMA-TO-OYII -  WHEN THE GEESE LEAVE  NOVEMBER - II-TOA-TS-STO-YII -  WHEN THE COLD COMES

Snake

Animal: snake
Mineral: Malachite, copper
Color: Orange
Plant: thistle
Clan: frog
Element: water
The Freeze Up Moon (October 24 to November 21) is the middle moon of Mudjekeewis of the West. The stone honoring this time is placed midway between the western and northern stones in the outer circle of the Wheel.

Copper teaches people experiencing the Freeze Up Moon about how to focus their energies and malachite teaches them to be more sensitive to all energies. The thistle demonstrates healing abilities and versatility. The snake teaches adaptability and the capacity to silently travel to places others might fear to go. This is the position to learn how to travel between the different realms of creation and how to become a messenger for the spiritual aspects of life. The snake position will teach you about the extent of your own energy, your ability to create change, your inquisitiveness, your desire for truth, and your keen sight. When working with the Freeze Up Moon you must be careful to keep yourself grounded and not to become too suspicious of people.

Rule

Moon phase: Long Snows Moon
November 22 to December 21
*** BLACKFOOT ***
NOVEMBER - II-TOA-TS-STO-YII - WHEN THE COLD COMES
DECEMBER - IS-STA-M-SII-WA - COLD MONTH

Elk

Animal: elk
Mineral: obsidian
Color: black
Plant: black spruce
Clan: thunderbird
Element: fire
The Long Snows Moon is the last moon of Mudjekeewis and the final moon of the year. Moving clockwise, the stone representing this position is three quarters of the way between the western and northern stones of the wheel. Obsidian is the mineral totem, the black spruce is the plant totem, and the elk is the animal totem. The color is black and the elemental influence comes from the Thunderbird clan.

From obsidian, people experiencing this position can learn about their ability to perceive and mirror the thoughts and feelings of others. The black spruce teaches how to be soft and strong at the same time, and the elk demonstrates the power of beauty, majesty, and cooperation. This is the position in which to learn about your desire for justice, and your ability to live with the dualities of nature and life. The Long Snows Moon teaches about mental strength, deep fear of emotions, relationships, teaching, and communicating. People in the elk position are insightful, independent, fearless, determined, and open hearted. They need to guard against being overly argumentative and erratic in intimate relationships.

Sitting Bull Lakotah's Account of the Custer Massacre
by James William Buell.

Sitting Bull
It has been more than seven years since the tragic but heroic death of Gen. Custer and his brave band on the Little Big Horn River. The remembrance of that dire­ful day brings a tear to almost every eye, and such heart­aches to the friends of the two hundred and forty-six heroes who lay down in death together upon the wild hill­sides of a remote country. The story of how they died, fighting like the Lacedaemonians, has been told a thousand times, but never by a survivor, for of all those who stood like a rampart about their commander, not one lived through the savage hail-storm of bullets and arrows; they left their bleeding corpses, piled one upon another, with faces always toward the foe, and thus made their sacrifice complete, hallowing a spot fit for the yew tree's shade. History after history has been compiled, and commissioners have visited the battle ground to secure reliable facts concerning the fight. A court of investiga­tion was held to examine charges preferred against Major Reno, for whose coming and assistance Gen. Custer looked so anxiously on the fatal day. But with all these efforts many important facts were necessarily omitted from all histories and reports, because they could not be gathered from inferences.

Applications have been time and again made to the In­dians who participated in the fight, for particulars of the battle, but by Sitting Bull's advice they all refused to talk on the subject, believing that any admissions regard­ing the fight would incriminate themselves and lead to their condign punishment. I have striven hard to procure re­liable incidents of the massacre, seeking all sources, and beyond what is recorded in previous editions of this work failed to receive anything of additional interest until the occasion which I am now about to report.

After some correspondence with Buffalo Bill, several government interpreters, and commanders at various posts in the West, I decided to visit Ft. Yates—Standing Rock Agency—where Sitting Bull and his tribe are stationed, and make a last endeavor to learn how Custer died. This visit was made in August (1883) and so well did my en­terprise succeed that I have deemed the information then gathered of sufficient importance to add it as an appendix to “Heroes of the Plains."

My route to Ft. Yates was by the way of the Northern Pacific R. R. to Bismarck, Dakota, and thence by stage, sixty-six miles south, where I crossed the Missouri River in a skiff late in the evening and took lodgings with the store-keeper, Mr. Douglass. Ft. Yates is a considerable post so far as houses are concerned, but the force sta­tioned there consists of only two hundred and fifty men, these being portions of the Seventh Cavalry and Seventeenth Infantry. The reservation extends up and down the river forty miles, on which there are estimated to be seven thousand Sioux, all of whom, except those since born, composed the body that massacred Custer. Sitting Bull is, of course, the central figure of his tribe, but there are many other chiefs whose valor far transcends that with which he is credited, such as Rain-in-the-Face, Low-Dog, Gall, and Crow King, who fought Custer with such fatal results.

Rain-in-the-Face
True democracy flourishes only with the Indians; the chiefs are chosen for their wisdom, by bands, and these bands are great or small according to the chief's popular­ity; thus, an Indian may be chief of a band of twenty, or of two hundred, for every Indian has the right to forsake his chief and become a member of another band. It often occurs that a chief is entirely abandoned, and then he becomes, practically, "a private in the rear ranks."

Sitting Bull is not a chief in the sense the term is used, but is a Moses among his people; he has almost unlim­ited influence among all the tribe, whether chiefs or bucks; some have pronounced him a medicine man, but this he disclaims, for he is too cunning to be subjected to a daily manifestation of his power. He claims to be a prophet; that he is in direct communion with the Great Spirit, who visits his teepee and talks with him face to face; and not only talks, but smokes his pipe and makes himself otherwise familiar.

The career of Sitting Bull, or that for which he has credit, is eventful, if not remarkable, especially that por­tion since 1875. His war with the government opened in the spring of that year. Various depredations in the neighborhood of Fort Buford, on the Missouri River, were charged to him, but he denied them. Some settlers began measures of retaliation, when the prophet became greatly enraged, and, gathering about him a strong band, refused to live on a reservation, and went into camp on the Yellowstone. Then followed his siege of Fort Pease, when five hundred Indians endeavored for three months to capture the place and its defenders, forty-seven white men in all. A regiment of cavalry and some friendly Indians were sent to the relief of the garrison, but Sit­ting Bull withdrew at their approach, and us soon as the troops escorted the besieged away he returned and burned the fort. War was then declared against him, and, fail­ing to surrender within the ten days allowed, Generals Crook, Terry and Gibbon started after him in different directions. He checked the advance of General Crook by engaging his troops, slaughtered General Custer and all his band in an ambush on June 25th, 1876, and effected an escape to Canada, where he lived, under the sur­veillance of Major Walsh, of the British Mounted Police, until the year 1880.

On Monday, June 14th, a body of Sitting Bull's tribe, to the number of five hundred, came down from the British territory, and, crossing the Yellowstone, surren­dered to Gen. Miles at Ft. Keogh. A smaller party had surrendered to Gen. Miles in 1877, but this was because of his active campaign in which the Indians were pursued so closely that they were unable to cross the British line.

Sitting Bull, and about two hundred of his followers, surrendered on the 20th of June, together with their arms and ponies, to Major Brotherton at Ft. Buford. He was forced to take this course to save himself and people from starvation. They found the British climate too severe, while the game of that region was so scarce that they could not sustain themselves. The cavalcade, as it entered the fort, attracted much attention. It consisted of six army wagons loaded with squaws and children, fol­lowed by thirty of Louis Legare's Red River carts well-filled with baggage. Sitting Bull himself and his chiefs rode their ponies, and refused to dismount or shake hands until they arrived at the place fixed upon for their camp. Immediately after the surrender, the Indians were placed between the Post and the steamboat landing and there re­mained secure in Maj. Brotherton's charge until a few months after, when they were transferred to Standing Rock Agency.

Crow King
On the evening of my arrival at Ft. Yates I made the acquaintance of several officers at the club room, among whom was Capt. McDougal of the 7th Cavalry, who was with Maj. Benteen at the time of the Custer massacre, and who, with his commanding officer, attacked the Indians so savagely that Sitting Bull was compelled to retreat. I also met Lieutenant Brennen, of the Seventeenth Infan­try, also Captain Greene, Captain Howes, Colonel Stewart and others. Announcing to them the object of my visit, they volunteered their services to make my trip a success­ful one.

On the following morning I was introduced to Mrs. McLoughlin, wife of Major McLoughlin the Indian agent. This excellent lady is official interpreter for the govern­ment, and her influence with the Indians at the post is almost equal to that of Sitting Bull himself. Her servi­ces to me were invaluable, of which I shall speak here­after.

Shortly before noon a government team was placed at my disposal, with a driver, and accompanied by Captain McDougal and Lieut. Brennen, I drove down to Sitting Bull's camp, one mile south of the Fort. Upon reach­ing the tepees we learned of a funeral which was then taking place, the body being that of Sitting Bull's nephew, sixteen years old, who had died the day previous of a lung trouble contracted while he was attending school in the southern part of the territory. This opportunity I could not forego, so at my solicitation we drove over the hills two miles or more, and came upon the funeral pro­cession, if such it can be called, just as the body was be­ing deposited. It is the custom of the Sioux to hang their dead up on the branches of trees, when in a wooded country, but when their camp is on the prairie they erect scaffolds about ten feet in height, upon the top of which their dead are laid.

The corpse of Sitting Bull's nephew had been prepared for deposition the evening previous to my visit, this prep­aration consisting in swathing the body with all the cloth­ing owned by the deceased, including the allowance shortly before made him by the government, and around these were two blankets, the whole being bound with ropes, so that no part of the body was left uncovered. Lamentations were then made over the corpse all night, not, as might be supposed, by the relations, but by four old women who were engaged to do all the crying. It is a rare thing to see an Indian crying, as it is esteemed dis­graceful, so there are professional mourners who engage themselves to display the grief supposed to be felt by the friends and relatives of deceased persons. Frequently, when there is extreme grief over a death, the distressed persons will cut off a finger or toe as an evidence of their feelings.

Bodies are taken to the place of final deposit by tying them on a travois, with head toward the ground. It. was thus the body we followed was conveyed to the scaffold, made ready to receive it three weeks before, when his father died and was deposited on a scaffold large enough to receive another corpse.

The procession, so-called, consisted of four old women and their children, the professional mourners previously spoken of.  Indian men never attend a funeral unless it is that of a chief. We arrived at the scaffold in time to see the women make a temporary ladder up which they climbed and carried the body, with extreme difficulty, and deposited it beside the remains which already lay there. I saw no other scaffold on which there was more than one body. After the deposition was made, the women threw their arms about, tossed their hair and crooned a kind of dirge which had neither time nor melody to distinguish it from an unrythmic wail; after crying thus for a time they fell to stamping the ground and digging with a short crow-bar. We had witnessed these sights from a dis­tance, being unwilling to intrude upon so sacred an occa­sion; as we drove up the lamentations suddenly ceased and gave place to stares of curiosity. One of the old women, engaged as mourner, told us she had been em­ployed to cry so much recently that she could scarcely see. The rheumy appearance of her eyes certainly confirmed this declaration. Shortly after our departure the old women returned to the camp and were succeeded by four others. The mourning was thus continued, by relays of women, for a period of three days. The dura­tion of such manifestations of grief is generally deter­mined by the number of ponies left by deceased to pay for the service.

Gall
After leaving the cemetery we drove back to Sitting Bull's lodge, and being introduced I conducted a long conversation with him through Charles McLoughlin, a young son of the Indian agent, as Sitting Bull can scarcely speak a word of English, though he signs his name fairly well—as is seen in his autograph.

I found him sitting upon the ground, within his tent, with six other leading men of his tribe. Capt. McDou­gal asked for a pipe, which being produced and filled with tobacco, was lighted and smoked by the entire party. After this friendly ceremony the Captain announced to Sitting Bull the purpose of my visit, and assuring hint of my good intentions toward his people, begged that he tell me, without reserve, everything he might know con­cerning the Custer Massacre. The cunning prophet made no reply for several minutes, smoking his pipe vigorously in the meantime, evidently debating with himself the advisability of his actions. At length he said:

I was not in the fight and know nothing about it, save what my warriors have told me."

Again Capt. McDougal besought him to abandon his reserve, and, for the sake of history, and that justice might be done his people and himself, to disclose what he knew concerning the battle; how it was conducted, what orders he had given, who killed Custer, and all other information he possessed. His answer I will give in my own language as it was, in effect, interpreted to me:

I need not tell you how we have been deceived by the white people, for if you are friendly you know the facts, and if you are our enemy you would not believe me. The Black Hills country was set aside for us by the government; it was ours by solemn agreement, and we made the country our home; we realized how our lands had been taken, our reservations circumscribed my people driven like so many wild beasts toward a common center to be shot down by encircling soldiery. Our homes in the Black Hills were invaded when gold was discovered there; we asked for protection, which was promised, but with all our importunities the government refused to come to our aid. White thieves committed depredations and then accused my people of perpetrating the acts. Well, it is no use to tell you more. At last we resisted, and that moment the poor despised Indian raised his arm to protect his wife, children and his own, the government to which we looked for the aid that had been promised, let loose the army upon us to kill without mercy, exterminate if possible. We fought as brave men fight, with no advantages but courage to defend against usurpers we met our enemies and honorably de­feated them.

Now it is asked, why do I refuse to talk about our fight with Custer? You cannot wonder at my silence. Every man's rifle is leveled at the Indian's heart; every white man cries out, let us avenge Custer, and especial hatred is directed against Sitting Bull. I am afraid to trust myself away from my people. They have tempted me with large offers to travel in the States, but the cars would make me sick, and once wholly within their power, the white people would starve me to death, because they say I murdered Custer.

Low-Dog
Now I will tell you the truth, after our fight at Fort Pease my people concluded to leave our country and travel into the British Possessions, where we hoped to find plenty of game and have better protection. To prepare for this great journey and change, we held our annual Sun Dance, being our offering to the Great Spirit. It is our belief that we can only come into the presence of the Great Spirit through sufferings of the flesh, but though the ceremony indicates pain to those who partici­pate, yet there is really no suffering when there is an acceptance. At the conclusion of the third day of our dance I became unconscious of my material surroundings and was awakened in the spirit before the Great Ruler. He smoked and then gave to me the peace pipe; we were seated together in a beautiful tepee, and after smoking, he said to me, Tatanka-e-Yotonka, you are being sur­rounded by your enemies; in seven suns you will be attacked by your ancient foe, the Crow Indians, but over these I will give you a victory; three more suns shall not set before your people will have an engagement with white soldiers; the fight will be a terrible one, but your enemies will be slaughtered and you shall have a great victory. This prophecy you can make to your people, for they are weary and this will give them courage. After thus speaking the Great Spirit vanished and sometime during the night I recovered consciousness. I prophesied to my people as the Great Spirit directed, and that it came to pass as I uttered my people are the witnesses.

"The Crow Indians attacked us, but were repulsed with heavy losses, so that they molested us no more. On the seventh day thereafter, as we were encamped near the Rose Bud, a body of soldiers appeared who, I have since learned, were commanded by Maj. Reno. They fired into us, but being prepared we charged upon them so briskly that the troops fled in such a panic that many lost their arms, and a large number were killed. We did not follow them for fear of an ambush, as I could not under­stand why Reno did not make a stand. We drew off and in the afternoon my scouts reported another body of soldiers approaching. After learning their probable strength I directed my warriors to form in the ravines so as to be out of view, and leave a horse-shoe gap so as to surround the troops when they should enter.

My position was across the river from where the battle occurred, as I took it upon myself to direct the fight and also take charge of the camp. My orders were de­livered by courier to Spotted Eagle, Rain-in-the-Face, Crow Bing, Low Dog, and Gall, and these chiefs participated in the battle.

"The troops discovered my warriors before the gap was closed upon them, and with a wild yell they charged right down a ravine toward our camp, but upon coming up on the other side the circle was completed about them, and the battle began. Now, I witnessed little of the fight myself, but was kept informed of its progress. The firing was terrific, and though the soldiers fought with desperation my braves were better fighters than they. The combat lasted I cannot tell how long, as we do not compute time like the white people, but I should judge not longer than it would require me to walk to the fort and return (two miles). The firing gradually grew less and when it had almost ceased a messenger came and told me that all the soldiers had been killed.

Death of Custer - His last shot
 As I started toward the battle-ground I saw five of my braves chasing a soldier over the hills. They were on horses and all running with great speed. I watched them until they had disappeared in the distance. The pursuers, who were braves of my tribe, returned sometime after and reported that they had been pursuing an officer, who being well mounted would certainly have es­caped, but that just as they were about giving over the chase, the officer drew a pistol and placing it against his head blew his brains out. The pursuers brought back with them a portion of the suicide's clothing. My braves, who had won the battle, collected what material, arms, ammunition, clothing and money they could find on the battle-ground, and then started northward. Up to this time I did not know we had been fighting Gen. Custer, and nothing ever surprised me more than the report which came to me a long time after the battle, that my warriors had killed Custer. We knew that the General wore long hair, and it was by this peculiarity we expected to distinguish him. Since the return of my people to Fort Yates I learn that Custer's coat of buckskin was stripped from the dead body of the General by one of my braves who afterward wore it until his death, and was buried in it. I did not learn this, however, until after the death of the brave.

"On the night after the battle our tents were struck and we started northward, expecting an attack on the fol­lowing day. My warriors were very tired, and had the pursuit been an active one we would, no doubt, have been overcome. Had not Maj. Benteen joined forces with Maj. Reno when we had the latter surrounded in the woods, there would have been few soldiers left in the three commands to tell the story of their disaster.

"No one can tell who killed Gen. Custer, it is impos­sible because of two facts: (1) None of my braves knew Custer, and (2) the tumult and smoke of the bat­tle were so great that combatants were often obscured en­tirely, and the fighting was therefore promiscuous. None of my people. ever boasted to me that they had killed Custer.

"I have now told you all that I know in regard to the fight with Custer. I can't see why the white people hold me responsible for his death; the soldiers attacked us and we fought to defend ourselves. If all my people had been slaughtered the whites would have been glad. I am now at peace, however, and do not want to speak ill of the government. I hope our peace may endure. I have only one ambition now, and that is to live the re­mainder of my days with my children and people. I feel that my life will not long endure: a lung trouble has afflicted me for more than a year, and seems to grow gradually worse. Many offers have been made me to travel through the country and show myself, but no in­ducements could prevail. I never rode on the cars and fear such travel would make me sick; besides, I would not trust myself with the whites, who would starve me. My delight is to have my children with me every day, and here among my people will I die."

This closed my interview with the wily warrior, and though short, it was far more satisfactory than I had dared to hope for. Sitting Bull impresses all who see him with his genius, not particularly as a warrior but as a states­man or tactician. He has a noble, kindly face, and an eye that discloses his trait of acute observation. His stature is tall and commanding, broad of chest and strong in limb. He declared his age as forty-four, but as In­dians, as a rule, cannot compute time, his statement does not appear willfully absurd; I should judge his age to be about sixty-five.

The story which Sitting Bull tells of an officer who was pursued and who shot himself to escape capture is authen­ticated by a discovery made by Gen. Sherman two or three years ago, when on a visit to the battle ground. Six or seven miles from the field of disaster, the General with his party, came upon the skeleton of a man with remnants of officer's clothing still adhering to it. An examination of the skull disclosed gold filling in several of the teeth, and served to identify the skeleton as that of Lieutenant Harrington, of the 7th U. S. Cavalry, who was with Custer.

Among the Sioux Indians there is a squaw, La­kotah by name, the wife of chief Spotted Horn Bull (Tatanka-ha-gle-ska ), who by her bravery and intelli­gence, has risen to a position of influence among the tribe far superior to that of her husband, and second only to Sitting Bull himself. A short time before my visit to Ft. Yates this dusky Amazon had a combat with the great warrior chief Gall, who so distinguished himself in the Custer fight. Report states that Gall bad attempted to form a matrimonial alliance with an Indian girl regardless of the fact that his wife was still sharing his tepee and the government allowances with him. Gall's wife is a cousin of Mrs. Spotted Horn Bull, and she took such um­brage at him for trying to displace her relative that, setting aside all attempts to reason or compromise, she challenged the chief to an encounter; the challenged failed to afford her satisfaction, so she forced a fight by attack­ing Gall in front of Mr. Douglass' Government store. The scene which followed is represented as having been exciting in the extreme. Gall first acted entirely on the defensive, but he soon became aggressive only to bring upon himself a distressing defeat, for the heroic squaw beat him so badly that, after his features were chewed out of shape, he howled for mercy, and to escape further punishment gladly promised to restore his wife and for­ever after abandon reckless courtships.

Spotted Horn Bull is not generally reputed to be a brave or able chief, natural faults which his wife has long perceived, and, possibly, to the end that the family may not be wholly without honor among the tribe; or, follow­ing an inherited inclination to seek glory in the field of strife, she disdains the occupation of her sex, and has sev­eral times been an active warrior in the fighting ranks of her tribe. Her last exploit was as a participant in the bloody meeting with Custer, in which she rode a white pony that was always where the fight was hardest; her carbine did terrible execution, and her bravery so incited the Indians that they made the massacre complete. Intrepid daring, however, is not Lakotah's only characteristic, for she is acknowledged to be the smartest member of her tribe. Un­like Sitting Bull (to whom she bears the relation of cous­in) who is always suspicious and stubborn, she is frank, good-humored, and is glad of an opportunity to talk about the Custer massacre, though never vauntingly of herself. Mrs. McLaughlin, to whom I have previously referred, having told me that Lakotah could give me a better description of the fight than any other Indian, I appealed to her to arrange an interview that I might hear the squaw's interesting story. At my solicitation, there­fore, Mrs. McLaughlin drove down to the Indian camp and brought Lakotah up to her horse, where, as per ar­rangement, I met her. After an introduction - a statement of my purposes—a request was made by Mrs. McLaughlin that Lakotah relate to me a full description of the fight as well as the antecedent and subsequent facts calculated to give a more definite idea of the dreadful massacre. With Mrs. McLaughlin acting as interpreter, the Indian woman told me the story of that horrible ho­locaust substantially as follows, conveying her meaning in my own language:

"I will leave it to others to tell you of the wrongs done my people by the Government and its soldiers. The Custer Massacre was a consequence of this treatment, and if it teaches the father at Washington to do us justice hereafter I shall be glad, but I now fear that instead of serving to improve our miserable condition it will cause the soldiers to seek revenge by increasing the severities from which we suffer. But I will now only talk to you about our fight with Custer.

"Eleven days before the battle we were encamped with­in fifty miles of the place where the engagement took place, on a small creek: called Greasy Grass; I do not know the English name for it. In this place our people held a religious ceremony, our Sun Dance, to show the Great Spirit that our hearts were always toward him and to ask for His protection. Among the number who bore the tortures of that ceremony, by piercing the muscles of his breast and thus suspending himself from the pole, was Sitting Bull. There were six other chiefs who cut themselves and were hound to the pole, but they all fainted or broke their bonds the first day. Sitting Bull remained in one attitude for two days, looking always toward the sun, and never showing any signs of suffering or weakness from loss of blood. In all this time he tasted neither food nor water, but the third morning he went into a sleep and we knew he was holding a council with the Great Spirit. I forced food and water into his mouth, bathed his wounds and watched beside him until night, when he opened his eyes and then told how he had been counseled to act by the Great Spirit; he also prophesied a battle with the Crow Indians, and with Custer (at this point she related the same story told to me by Long Soldier, which I have given in the chapter devoted to Sitting Bull's account of the bat­tle).

"Two days after the Sun Dance was concluded, and according to Sitting Bull's prophecy, a large war party of Crows attacked us, but after fighting all day they wore driven off into the Wolf Mountains, several of their warriors being killed; our loss was only seven.

"On the morning after the battle with the Crows, we broke camp and moved on to the Little Big Horn, where, finding plenty of water and grass, we went into camp again.

"To make my story more readily understood—for I shall now begin to tell you about the great battle which here took place between my people and Gen. Custer—I will draw a diagram of our camps and the general posi­tion we occupied when the fight began."

At this point Lakotah called for my pencil, and being given a piece of paper she made the following drawing, in the execution of which I was very much surprised.

" The total fighting force of the seven tribes was about five thousand, and all of these were first camped on the west side of the river, where the ground is nearly level, except at a little distance back where the ground rises in a bench six or seven feet high. On the east side of the river, however, the land is broken and hilly, while along the bank there are precipitous bluffs, the highest being marked on the diagram ‘K’. Reno threw up his shallow breastworks at ‘G’at which point the land is two hun­dred feet above the river, rising very abruptly. It was front this side of the river and over these hills the United States soldiers approached.

" It was to the bluff point marked ‘K' that captains Benteen and Wier rode to discover the position of Gen. Custer, but being unable to sight him, and seeing the large Indian camp, they fell back to support Reno. In the meantime, however, Reno had crossed the river—which was anywhere easily forded—at ‘L,' and attacked the Indians in the rear. This was on the morning of June 25th. On this same date seven Cheyennes had been sent out to join Chief Spotted Tail; five of this number got through, but the other two stopped on the bluff and from a high point signaled with their blankets the approach of a large body of soldiers, which afterward proved to be Custer.

When Reno opened fire from the west bank, he seemed to have little or no idea of the number of Indians to whom he was opposed. He dismounted his men, and leaving one man to guard four horses, which of course diminished his fighting forces one quarter, he rushed onto the camp. It happened that very few warriors were in camp at the time, as more than half of them were after the pony herd, so that with the first fire there was a panic among the women and children that I cannot undertake to describe. We all expected to be massacred, and there was not the least resistance manifested, when suddenly, and for a most unaccountable reason, Reno's men became panic-strikers and retreated back across the river in such wild disorder that scores were killed by our men; even little boys followed in the rout and pulled soldiers from their horses and killed them. After crossing the river the retreat continued up a hill so steep that unless badly frightened a man could scarcely climb it.

Lakotah several times repeated her disgust at the action of the whites, and the only explanation she could give for the retreat was that Reno saw, when he got into it, how large the Indian village was and was seized with a panic greater than that among the Indians themselves. That the latter was very decided, however, was proven by the fact that the warriors hurriedly returning with the quick­ly rounded herds met many fugitives from the camp and feared the worst on their own return.

“Very soon after Reno's retreat the blare of Custer's trumpets was heard; messengers soon reported his prob­able force and the work of surprise and hemming him in was begun. The braves who were after the pony herd had now returned and the whole fighting force crossed Little Big Horn and, being hidden by the hills, surround­ed Custer before he was probably aware that there were so many Indians in the vicinity. When the whites had marched under the high ledge of rocks, suddenly our force of five thousand rose up and fell upon them on every 'side. The whites first dismounted and fought, but seeing how they had been surrounded, and that there was little hope for their escape, they remounted again. For nearly half an hour the fight was terrible, as our braves were all as well armed as the soldiers. The valley be­came so full of smoke that it was like a dense fog, and the noise and confusion was dreadful. After that time there was a gradual cessation of the firing and in less than an hour we had killed every soldier and the battle­ground was left to us.

"I am not sure, but I think that I saw Gen. Custer, though I did not know him at the time, fighting desper­ately about one hundred yards from where he fell; I certainly saw a leading officer of the troops whose de­scription answered that of Custer. This man, whoever he was, showed wonderful bravery, so that many of our warriors tried to kill him for the honor that the deed would confer, but I do not know who killed him, and I am almost certain that no one else knows, for the confusion made it impossible to tell what execution any Indian did."'

Custer and his command killed, the Sioux again turned their attention to the troops on the hill, and the woman, resuming the story, laughed gleefully as she told what fun the bucks had shooting at the soldiers as they ran that terrible gauntlet, down the hill to the river, for wa­ter. The Custer men were soon stripped, of course, and the only way the Indians knew they had killed the Long-Haired Chief was by his buckskin coat trimmed with beaver, which they found on his person. Lakotah says the Sioux lost thirty killed and more than twice as many wounded, but the loss was no doubt very much greater than this estimate. Among the killed were boys of twelve and fourteen, who, in the ardor of young warrior-hood, rushed across the river on their ponies and into the thickest of the fight. She mentioned two boys who were wounded; one, a young Achilles, in the heel, and another in the right arm, which was shot off. Both recovered and neither of them is yet twenty, though seven years have passed since they counted their first coups. It was with a tone of most noticeable regret that the woman told of the quantities of bank notes found and wasted, as being utterly ignorant of the value of the curiously painted parallelograms of green paper.

Of course, feasting and laudation were the order of the day and night succeeding the slaughter, but the news of Terry's approach with his command compelled a hasty breaking up of the camp. She says they marched day and night for several days, and soon the whole band was safe in the fastnesses of the Big Horn mountains, where they remained some time before a separation took place, and the Uncapapas and portions of other tribes went north. The squaw's story was told straightforwardly and beyond question she believes it true, every word.

Among the many brave and noble-hearted men who fell with Gen. Custer were his two younger brothers. Boston and Tom Custer, Lieutenant James Calhoun, his brother-in-law, and Autie Reed, a young hero, his nephew; all these dropped out at once, as it were, from the family circle. Every man in Calhoun's company died in the ranks; there was no scattering to indicate either panic or retreat, but with the ranks all closed up the company fell as though every man had been struck with one fatal bolt of lightning. Lieut. John J. Crit­tenden, Col. Cook, Capt. Yates, Lieut. Riley, in short every one of those who participated and fell in that dreadful fray were as gallant men as ever went forth to battle or lay life upon the sacrificial altar of their country. Though mangled by bullet and arrow, dis-crowned by the savage scalping-knife, divested of their country's uniform which would have been most fitting cerements for such patriotic heroes, let us believe that at the final roll-call these evidences of Indian desecration will prove their passport into the highest holiest life.

From Heroes of the Plains, 1891 – by James William Buell.

Paiute- Ghost Dancers

Known as the messiah to his followers, Wovoka was the Paiute mystic whose religious pronouncements spread the Ghost Dance among many tribes across the American West.

Wovoka (1856-1932), also known as Jack Wilson, was a Northern Paiute religious leader and founder of the Ghost Dance movement. Wovoka means "wood cutter" in the Northern Paiute language.

Wovoka was born in the Smith Valley area southeast of Carson City, Nevada, around the year 1856. Wovoka's father may have been Numu-Taibo ("white person"), a religious leader whose teachings were similar to those of Wovoka. Regardless, Wovoka clearly had some training as a shaman.

Wovoka's father died around the year 1870, and he was taken in by David Wilson, who was a rancher in the Yerington, Nevada area. Wovoka worked on the Wilson ranch, and used the name Jack Wilson in his dealings with whites. David Wilson was a devout Christian, and Wovoka learned English, Christian theology, and bible stories while living with him.

In his early adulthood, Wovoka gained a reputation as a powerful shaman. He was adept at magic tricks. One trick he often performed was being shot with a shotgun, which may have been similar to the bullet catch trick. Reports of this trick may have convinced the Lakota that their "ghost shirts" could stop bullets. Wovoka is also reported to have performed a levitation trick.

In early 1889 Wovoka proclaimed that he had a prophetic vision during the solar eclipse on January 1 of that year. Wovoka vision entailed the resurrection of the Paiute dead and the removal of whites and their works from North America.

To bring this vision to pass, Wovoka taught that they must live righteously and perform a round dance, known as the "Ghost Dance".

At around age thirty, Wovoka began to weave together various cultural strains into the Ghost Dance religion. He had a rich tradition of religious mysticism upon which to draw.

Around 1870, a northern Paiute named Tavibo had prophezied that while all whites would be swallowed up by the Earth, all dead Indians would emerge to enjoy a world free of their conquerors.

He urged his followers to dance in circles, already a tradition in the Great Basin area, while singing religious songs. Tavibo's movement spread to parts of Nevada, California, and Oregon.

Whether or not Tavibo was Wovoka's father, as many at the time assumed, in the late 1880's Wovoka began to make similar prophecies.

His pronouncements heralded the dawning of a new age, in which whites would vanish, leaving Indians to live in a land of material abundance, spiritual renewal and immortal life. Like many millenarian visions, Wovoka's prophecies stressed the link between righteous behavior and imminent salvation. Salvation was not to be passively awaited but welcomed by a regime of ritual dancing and upright moral conduct.

Despite the later association of the Ghost Dance with the Wounded Knee Massacre and unrest on the Lakota reservations, Wovoka charged his followers:

Do not hurt anybody or do harm to anyone. You must not fight. Do not refuse to work for the whites and do not make any trouble with them.
While the Ghost Dance is sometimes seen today as an expression of Indian militancy and the desire to preserve traditional ways, Wovoka's pronouncements ironically bore the heavy mark of popular Christianity.

Wovoka's invocation of a "Supreme Being," immortality, pacifism and explicit mentions of Jesus (often referred to with such phrases as "the messiah who came once to live on Earth with the white man but was killed by them") all speak of an infusion of Christian beliefs into Paiute mysticism.

The Ghost Dance spread throughout much of the West, especially among the more recently defeated Indians of the Great Plains. Local bands would adopt the core of the message to their own circumstances, writing their their own songs and dancing their own dances.

In 1889 the Lakota sent a delegation to visit Wovoka. This group brought the Ghost Dance back to their reservations, where believers made sacred shirts -- said to be bullet-proof -- especially for the Dance.

The slaughter of Big Foot's band at Wounded Knee Creek in 1890 was cruel proof that whites were not about to simply vanish, that the millennium was not at hand. Wovoka quickly lost his notoriety and lived as Jack Wilson until sometime in 1932.

He left the Ghost Dance as evidence of a growing pan-Indian identity which drew upon elements of both white and Indian traditions.

Wovoka's Message: The Messiah Letter
The Promise of the Ghost Dance

Ghost Dance

By the morning of January 1, 1889, Wovoka was clearly a man torn apart by the conflicts of his past. His father's failure to be taken seriously as a prophet, the suffering of the Native peoples and his own religious concepts (both tribal and Christian) weighed heavily on him. On that day, Wovoka claimed to have dreamed a vision of a new and glorious world for the Native peoples. But was it really a new world?

In his dream, Wovoka conversed with God, who promised a new world set aside for the Native peoples. The wildlife of the region which was nearly depleted by white settlers (buffalo, elk, deer) would be replenished. The white settlers would vanish en mass and the Native dead would be resurrected and reunited with their living ancestors. Suffering, starvation, pain and disease would be wiped away forever. From a theological viewpoint and the safety of hindsight, however, one can detect prophecies which were not tribal in origin.

Even the most casual churchgoer would recognize the visions of the Book of Revelation in Wovoka's prophecies. Yet Wovoka's audience - the Paiute people and, later, other tribal nations - did not recognize it simply because Christianity did not take root among the Native peoples. White missionaries, for all of their efforts, did not put their faith into the hearts of most Native peoples. Wovoka, obviously recognizing this, refashioned the Revelation warning to his world.

He claimed the Native peoples would receive God's favor since it was the white man who rejected Christ. And unlike the New Testament, which was vague concerning the time and place of God's new world, Wovoka spelled out the immediacy of what he said. "Jesus is now upon the Earth," he stated. But again, there is historic contradiction here- Wovoka is quoted as saying he was Christ and he wasn't Christ. It would seem that either he excelled at playing to different audiences or was damned to being preserved by faulty historians.

Wovoka added this new world for Native peoples would come, but only if a ritualistic dance was practiced. In his initial preaching, he instructed his audiences to dance five days and four nights, then bathe in a river and go home. Wovoka promised to send a good spirit to his followers, who were to return in three months, at which time he would promise "such rain as I have never given you before."

The ritualistic dance, which became known as Ghost Dance, clearly appealed to the Native peoples who were baffled by the pew-bound protocol of Christian faiths. Unlike the calls of his father Tavibo, Wovoka found an audience eager to follow his teachings.

Ghost Dance spread to different nations throughout the west with a speed and ferocity unrivaled by any religious frenzy of the day. This turn of events was all the more remarkable for three reasons: the geographic and language barriers among the various nations, the lack of access to media or technology for spreading this news, and the fact that Wovoka never left the Paiute land.

Instead, members of other nations came to Nevada to learn from him. Why Wovoka did not travel could be attributed to either a fear of unknown territories, a lack of funds to accommodate travel or even the possibility of enemies.

In the summer of 1890, among those who visited Wovoka were two members of the Lakota reservation at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, named Kicking Bear and Short Bull.

They became enraptured by Wovoka's faith and even stated that Wovoka levitated through the air above them. Kicking Bear and Short Bull brought Ghost Dance back to Pine Ridge, but in a very different form which lead to totally unexpected results.

Wovoka's faith was based on non-violence with whites. In fact, he even urged his followers not to tell the whites what they were doing. But as interpreted by Kicking Bear and Short Bull, Ghost Dance took on a militaristic aspect. Special garments known as Ghost Shirts were to be worn to deflect bullets fired by white soldiers or settlers. Government agents were permitted to witness the Ghost Dance ceremony and were told what it meant. Kicking Bear and Short Bull added the Indian Messiah would appear to the Lakota in the Spring of 1891.

Ghost Dance came to the Lakota with a fury. All activity at the Pine Ridge Reservation was put aside and the Native peoples adopted this faith with a mania. Government agents and white settlers were terrified by this sudden and (to them) bizarre turn of events. Newspapers spread stories of savage Indians in wild pagan practices.

Tensions became overpowering in this region as the Lakota people gave all their waking hours to Ghost Dance. (One government agent, Daniel F. Royer, tried to distract the Lakota by bringing his nephew to Pine Ridge to introduce baseball. It did not work. A missionary named Catherine Weldon offered to debate Kicking Bear on religion, but nothing came of it.)

Blame for Ghost Dance was placed on two people. Wovoka was traced as the father of the Ghost Dance and was interviewed by James Mooney, an ethnologist and anthropologist with the Smithsonian Institute. Wovoka passed a message to Mooney that he would control any militaristic uprising among the Native peoples in return for financial and food compensation from Washington.

The offer was ignored. And blame was also put on Sitting Bull, the chief medicine man of the Lakota people. Ironically, Sitting Bull was apathetic to Ghost Dance and only allowed its introduction at Pine Ridge with great caution. His initial qualms were realized: government agents considered Sitting Bull responsible solely due to his leadership role among the Lakota. Tribal police were dispatched to arrest him, but his apprehension resulted in conflict when several Lakota fought to protect him. Sitting Bull was killed in the crossfire on December 15, 1890.

Fourteen days after Sitting Bull's fatal shooting, the U.S. Army sought to relocate and disarm the Lakota people, who failed to stop their Ghost Dance. On the frozen plains at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation, government troops opened fire on the overwhelmingly unarmed Lakota people, killing 290 in a matter of minutes. Thirty-three soldiers died, most from friendly fire; 20 Medals of Honor were presented to surviving soldiers.

As news of Wounded Knee spread throughout the Native nations, Ghost Dance died quickly. Wovoka's prophecies were hollow; the land would not be returned from the white man through divine intervention. With the suddenness of its birth, Ghost Dance disappeared.

Wovoka himself virtually vanished into obscurity. In his later years, he exhibited himself at sideshows in county fairs and worked as an extra in silent movie Westerns. (The one surviving photograph of Wovoka was taken on the set of a film.) By the time of his death on September 20, 1932, he was virtually forgotten by both white and Native peoples. It would not be until the 1970s and the birth of Native American activism that the story of the Ghost Dance was told againÑ even if its father's life was reduced to footnote status.

The tragedy of Wovoka is a legacy of pain and suffering among the very people he wanted to save. The songs of the Ghost Dance are silent today and the dream of Wovoka vanished in the harsh light of reality. The Christian principles which he laced into his theology were brutally ignored by the soldiers and settlers who held allegiance to Christ and yet destroyed the Native way of life with a brutality unknown in the Gospel teachings.

- James Mooney, The Ghost-dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890

Native American Quillwork.
Before Native Americans acquired glass beads, they embellished their clothing and objects with quillwork. Quills from the porcupine were used and so were bird quills. This was probably the oldest form of Native American embroidery. Quills could be twisted, folded, plaited and wrapped to create a wide range of patterns on many items including clothing, moccasins, baskets, tool handles, pipe stems, bags, mats, horse gear and birch bark containers.

The quills had to be washed, dyed and flattened, usually by running them through one’s teeth but special tools were also used to flatten the quills. The natural color of porcupine quills range from white to pale yellow with the tips being black. The quills were dyed with natural elements derived from plants until aniline dyes were available through trade. Holes would be punched through the hides or bark and sinew was used to attach the quills until thread was available. Quillwork is considered a lost art but there are many Native Americans who still practice this old craft.

One wonders how the quills of the porcupine were obtained prior to being able to purchase them. Of course finding a dead porcupine is one way but native women seeking porcupine quills used the sneak-up method. They would cautiously sneak up behind a porcupine and throw a blanket over it. The natural defense of the animal would be to raise it quills, which would get caught in the blanket. When they removed the blanket, they simply had to pull out the quills that got stuck in the blanket.

Obviously porcupine quills are a valuable find on the road. A dead porcupine will not remain on the road for long. Once while traveling in New Mexico near the four corners area, we spotted a dead porcupine on the side of the road. I told my husband to turn around and go back. In the five minutes in took to backtrack, some industrious artisan had already removed the animal off the road.

The basic techniques of quillwork are zigzag, simple band, single thread line, wrapping and plaiting.

Zigzag: This is the simplest, most versatile and most natural form of quill work and the sturdiest. It can be worked into many shapes.

Simple Band or Parallel: This technique looks simple but flaws are easily detected and care must be taken to select quills that are similar in width and color. It is similar to the zigzag technique except the quills on the top row are folded away from you rather than toward you.

Single Thread Line: This is executed the same way as the band/parallel technique except one thread is used instead of two. The quill is also left whole instead of the tips being trimmed until the work is completed.

Wrapping: This technique enables one quill to be wrapped upon itself; two quills can also be intertwined.

Plaiting: This type of quillwork has the appearance of being woven. It’s one of the fastest to execute once one has mastered the skill, even though it looks complicated. It uses the single band/parallel or zigzag technique but many quills are used throughout the work rather than just one or two quills at a time.

Native American Names & Meanings

Female
ABEDABUN: Cheyenne name meaning sight of day."
ABEQUA, ABEQUE: Cheyenne name meaning stays at home."
ABETZI: Omaha name meaning "yellow leaf."
ABEY: Omaha name meaning "leaf."
ABEYTU: Omaha name meaning "green leaf."
ADOETTE: large tree
ADSILA: Cherokee name meaning blossom."
AIYANA: eternal blossom
ALAMEDA: grove of cottonwood
ALAQUA: sweet gum tree
ALAWA: Algonquin name meaning pea."
ALGOMA: valley of flowers
ALSOOMSE: Algonquin name meaning independent."
ALTSOBA: Navajo name meaning all war."
AMADAHY: Cherokee name meaning forest water."
AMAYETA: Miwok name. Meaning is unknown
AMITOLA: rainbow
ANABA: Navajo name meaning returns from war."
ANEVAY: superior
ANGENI: spirit
ANGWUSNASOMTAQA: Hopi name meaning crow mother spirit."
ANKTI: Hopi name meaning repeat dance."
ANNA: Algonquin name meaning mother."
ANPAYTOO: Sioux name meaning "radiant."
APONI: butterfly
AQUENE: peace
ASDZA: Navajo name meaning woman."
AT'EED: Navajo name meaning girl."
ATEPA: Choctaw name meaning wigwam."
AWANATA: Miwok name meaning "turtle."
AWENASA: Cherokee name meaning my home."
AWENDELA: morning
AWENTIA: fawn
AWINITA: Cherokee name meaning fawn."
AYASHE, AYASHA: Cheyenne name meaning little one."
AYITA: Cherokee name meaning first to dance."
BENA: pheasant
BLY: tall
CATORI: Hopi name meaning spirit."
CHA'KWAINA: Hopi name meaning one who cries."
CHA'RISA: Hopi name meaning elk."
CHAPA: Sioux name meaning "beaver."
CHENOA: dove
CHEPI: Algonquin name meaning fairy."
CHILAILI: snowbird
CHIMALIS: bluebird
CHITSA: fair
CHOCHMINGWU: Hopi name meaning corn mother."
CHOLENA: bird
CHOSOVI: Hopi name meaning bluebird."
CHOSPOSI: Hopi name meaning bluebird eye."
CHU'MANA: Hopi name meaning snake maiden."
CHU'SI: Hopi name meaning snake flower."
CHUMANI: Sioux name meaning "dewdrops."
COCHETA: stranger
DENA: valley
DEZBA: Navajo name meaning goes to war."
DIBE: Navajo name meaning "sheep."
DOBA: Navajo name meaning "no war."
DOLI: Navajo name meaning "bluebird."
DONOMA: Omaha name meaning "sight of the sun."
DYANI: deer
EHAWEE: Sioux name meaning "laughing maiden."
ENOLA: solitary
ETENIA: rich
EYOTA: great
FALA: Choctaw name meaning crow."
FLO: arrow
GAHO: mother
GALILAHI: Cherokee name meaning attractive."
HAKIDONMUYA: Hopi name meaning time of waiting moon."
HALOKE: Navajo name meaning "salmon."
HALONA: of happy fortune
HANTAYWEE: Sioux name meaning "faithful."
HAUSIS, HAUSISSE: Algonquin name meaning old woman."
HEHEWUTI: Hopi name meaning warrior mother spirit."
HELKI: Miwok name meaning "touch."
HONOVI: Hopi name meaning strong deer."
HUATA: Miwok name meaning "carrying seeds in a basket."
HUMITA: Hopi name meaning shelled corn."
HURIT: Algonquin name meaning beautiful."
HUYANA: Miwok name meaning "falling rain."
IMALA: disciplines
ISI: Choctaw name meaning deer."
ISTAS: snow
ITUHA: sturdy oak
ITUHA: white stone
KACHINA: Hopi name meaning spirit, sacred dancer."
KAI: Navajo name meaning "willow tree."
KAKAWANGWA: Hopi name meaning bitter."
KALISKA: Miwok name meaning "coyote chasing deer."
KANTI: Algonquin name meaning sings."
KASA: Hopi name meaning dressed in furs."
KAYA: Hopi name meaning elder sister."
KEEGSQUAW: Algonquin name meaning virgin."
KEEZHEEKONI: Cheyenne name meaning burning fire."
KIMAMA: Shoshone name meaning butterfly."
KIMI: Algonquin name meaning secret."
KIMIMELA: Sioux name meaning "butterfly."
KINEKS: rosebud
KIWIDINOK: Cheyenne name meaning of the wind."
KOKO: Blackfoot name meaning night."
KOKYANGWUTI: Hopi name meaning spider woman at middle-age."
KOLENYA: Miwok name meaning "coughing fish."
KUWANLELENTA: Hopi name meaning to make beautiful surroundings."
KUWANYAMTIWA: Hopi name meaning beautiful badger going over the hill."
KUWANYAUMA: Hopi name meaning butterfly showing beautiful wings."
LEOTIE: flower of the prairie
LENMANA: Hopi name meaning flute girl."
LEQUOIA: meaning unknown (probably an alteration of sequoia, name of a giant redwood tree)
LILUYE: Miwok name meaning "singing chicken hawk that soars."
LISELI: Zuni name. Meaning unknown
LITONYA: Miwok name meaning "darting hummingbird."
LOMAHONGVA: Hopi name meaning beautiful clouds arising."
LOMASI: pretty flower
LULU: rabbit
LUYU: wild dove
MACAWI: Sioux name meaning "generous."
MAGASKAWEE: Sioux name meaning "graceful."
MAGENA: moon
MAHAL: woman
MAHU: Hopi myth name.
MAI: coyote
MAKA: Sioux name meaning "earth."
MAKAWEE: Sioux name meaning "mothering."
MAKKITOTOSIMEW: Algonquin name meaning she has large breasts."
MALIA: Zuni name meaning "bitter."
MALILA: Miwok name meaning "fast salmon swimming up a rippling stream."
MANABA: Navajo name meaning "return to war."
MANKALITA: Zuni name. Meaning unknown
MANSI: Hopi name meaning plucked flower."
MAPIYA: Sioux name meaning "sky."
MARALAH: born during an earthquake
MAUSI: plucks flowers
MEDA: prophetess
MELI: Zuni name meaning "bitter."
MEMDI: henna
MEOQUANEE: Cheyenne name meaning wears red."
MIGISI: Cheyenne name meaning eagle."
MIAKODA: power of the moon
MIGINA: Omaha name meaning "returning moon."
MIKA: intelligent raccoon
MIMITEH: Omaha name meaning "new moon."
MINAL: fruit
MISAE: Osage name meaning white sun."
MITUNA: Miwok name meaning "wraps salmon in willow leaves."
MONA: gathered of the seed of a jimson weed
MOSI: Navajo name meaning "cat."
MUNA: Hopi name meaning overflowing spring."
NADIE: Algonquin name meaning wise."
NAHIMANA: Sioux name meaning "mystic."
NAMID: Cheyenne name meaning star dancer."
NARA: from Nara
NASCHA: Navajo name meaning "owl."
NASHOTA: twin
NATA: speaker
NIABI: Osage name meaning fawn."
NIDAWI: Omaha name meaning "fairy."
NIJLON: Algonquin name meaning mistress."
NINA: strong
NITA: Choctaw name meaning bear."
NITTAWOSEW: Algonquin name meaning she is not sterile."
NITUNA: daughter
NOKOMIS: Cheyenne name meaning grandmother."
NOVA: Hopi name meaning chases butterfly."
NUKPANA: Hopi name meaning "evil."
NUMEES: Algonquin name meaning sister."
NUNA: land
NUTTAH: Algonquin name meaning my heart."
ODAHINGUM: Cheyenne name meaning rippling water."
OGIN: wild rose
OLATHE: beautiful
OMINOTAGO: Cheyenne name meaning beautiful voice."
OMUSA: Miwok name meaning "misses with arrows."
ONATAH: Iroquois name meaning of the earth."
ONAWA: wide awake
ONIDA: the one searched for
OOLJEE: Navajo name meaning "moon."
OOTA DABUN: Algonquin name meaning day star."
ORENDA: Iroquois name meaning magic power."
PAKWA: Hopi name meaning "frog."
PAKUNA: Miwok name meaning "deer jumping downhill."
PAMUYA: Hopi name meaning "water moon."
PAPINA: Miwok name meaning "vine growing around an oak tree."
PATI: Miwok name meaning "break by twisting."
PAUWAU: Algonquin name meaning "witch."
PAVATI: Hopi name meaning "clear water."
PETA: Blackfoot name meaning "golden eagle."
PETUNIA: flower name
POLIKWAPTIWA: Hopi name meaning "butterfly sitting on a flower."
POLOMA: Choctaw name meaning "bow."
POSALA: Miwok name meaning "farewell to spring flowers."
POWAQA: Hopi name meaning "witch."
PTAYSANWEE: Sioux name meaning "white buffalo."
PULES: Algonquin name meaning pigeon."
ROZENE: rose
SAHKYO: Navajo name meaning "mink."
SALALI: Cherokee name meaning squirrel."
SANUYE: Miwok name meaning "red cloud at sundown."
SATINKA: magical dancer
SHADA: pelican
SHADI: Navajo name meaning "older sister."
SHESHEBENS: Cheyenne name meaning small duck."
SHIDEEZHI: Navajo name meaning "younger sister."
SHIMA: Navajo name meaning "mother."
SHIMASANI: Navajo name meaning "grandmother."
SHUMAN: Hopi name meaning "rattlesnake handler."
SIHU: Hopi name meaning "flower."
SINOPA: Blackfoot name meaning fox."
SISIKA: bird
SITALA: Miwok name meaning "of good memory."
SITSI: Navajo name meaning "daughter."
SOKANON: Algonquin name meaning rain."
SOKW: Algonquin name meaning sour."
SOOLEAWA: Algonquin name meaning silver."
SOYALA: Hopi name meaning "time of the winter solstice."
SULETU: Miwok name meaning "flies."
SUNKI: Hopi name meaning "to catch up with."
TABLITA: Hopi name meaning "tiara."
TADEWI: Omaha name meaning "wind."
TADITA: Omaha name meaning "one who runs."
TAIGI, TAINI: Omaha name meaning "returning moon."
TAIMA: thunder
TAIPA: Miwok name meaning "spread wings."
TAKALA: Hopi name meaning "corn tassel."
TAKCHAWEE: Sioux name meaning "doe."
TAKHI: Algonquin name meaning cold."
TALA: wolf
TALULAH: Choctaw name meaning leaping water."
TALUTAH: Sioux name meaning "blood-red."
TAMA: thunder
TANSY: Hopi name meaning "name of a flower."
TAYANITA: Cherokee name meaning young beaver."
TEHYA: precious
TIPONI: Hopi name meaning "child of importance."
TIS-SEE-WOO-NA-TIS: Cheyenne name meaning she who bathes with her knees."
TIVA: Hopi name meaning "dance."
TOLINKA: Miwok name meaning "flapping ear of a coyote."
TOTSI: Hopi name meaning "moccasins."
TUWA: Hopi name meaning "earth."
UNA: Hopi name meaning "remember."
URIKA: Omaha name meaning "useful to all."
UTINA: meaning unknown
WACHIWI: Sioux name meaning "dancer."
WAKANDA: Sioux name meaning "possesses magical power."
WAKI: Hopi name meaning "shelter."
WANETA: charger
WAUNA: Miwok name meaning "singing snow goose."
WEEKO: Sioux name meaning "pretty."
WENONA: firstborn daughter
WICAPI WAKAN: Dakota name meaning holy star."
WIHAKAYDA: Sioux name meaning "little one."
WIKIMAK: Algonquin name meaning wife."
WINEMA: chief
WINONA, WENONA, WENONAH: Sioux name meaning giving."
WITASHNAH: Sioux name meaning "virginal."
WUTI: Hopi name meaning "woman."
WYANET: beautiful
YAMKA: Hopi name meaning "blossom."
YAZHI: Navajo name meaning "little one."
YEPA: snow woman
YOKI: Hopi name meaning "rain."
ZALTANA: high mountain
ZIHNA: Hopi name meaning "spins."
ZITKALA: Dakota name meaning bird."

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Male
ABUKCHEECH: Algonquin name meaning "mouse."
ACHAK: Algonquin name meaning "spirit."
ADAHY: Cherokee name meaning "lives in the woods."
AHANU: Algonquin name meaning "he laughs."
AHIGA: Navajo name meaning "he fights."
AHILIYA: Hopi name. Meaning unknown
AHMIK: beaver
AHOTE: Hopi name meaning "restless one."
AHTUNOWHIHO: Cheyenne name meaning "one who lives below."
AKANDO: ambush
AKECHETA: Sioux name meaning "fighter."
AKULE: looks up
ALO: Hopi name meaning "spiritual guide."
ALOSAKA: Hopi myth name
ANAKAUSUEN: Algonquin name meaning "worker."
ANOKI: actor
APENIMON: worthy of trust
APONIVI: Hopi name meaning "where the wind blows down the gap."
ARANCK: Algonquin name meaning "stars."
ASHKII: Navajo name meaning "boy."
ASKOOK: Algonquin name meaning "snake."
ASKUWHETEAU: Algonquin name meaning "he keeps watch."
ATA'HALNE': Navajo name meaning "he interrupts."
AVONACO: Cheyenne name meaning "lean bear."
AWAN: somebody
AYAWAMAT: Hopi name meaning "one who follows orders."
BEMOSSED: walker
BIDZIIL: Navajo name meaning "he is strong."
BILAGAANA: Navajo name meaning "white person."
BIMISI: slippery
BODAWAY: fire-maker
CHA'AKMONGWI: Hopi name meaning "crier chief."
CHA'TIMA: Hopi name meaning "the caller."
CHANKOOWASHTAY: Sioux name meaning "good road."
CHANSOMPS: Algonquin name meaning "locust."
CHAS-CHUNK-A: Winnebago name meaning "wave."
CHAVATANGAKWUNUA: Hopi name meaning "short rainbow."
CHAYTON: Sioux name meaning "falcon."
CHESMU: gritty
CHEVEYO: Hopi name meaning "spirit warrior."
CHOCHMO: Hopi name meaning "mud mound."
CHOCHOKPI: Hopi name meaning "throne for the clouds."
CHOCHUSCHUVIO: Hopi name meaning "white-tailed deer."
CHOGAN: Algonquin name meaning "blackbird."
CHOOVIO: Hopi name meaning "antelope."
CHOVIOHOYA: Hopi name meaning "young deer."
CHOWILAWU: Hopi name meaning "joined together by water."
CHU'A: Hopi name meaning "snake."
CHUCHIP: Hopi name meaning "deer spirit."
CHUNTA: Hopi name meaning "cheating."
CIQALA: Dakota name meaning "little one."
DELSIN: he is so
DEMOTHI: talks while walking
DICHALI: speaks a lot
DOHOSAN: bluff
DUSTU: Cherokee name. Meaning unknown
DYAMI: eagle
ELAN: friendly
ELKI: Miwok name. Meaning unknown
ELSU: flying falcom
ELUWILUSSIT: Algonquin name meaning "holy one."
ENAPAY: Sioux name meaning "brave."
ENKOODABOOAOO, ENKOODABAOO: Algonquin name meaning "one who lives alone."
ENYETO: walks as a boar
ETCHEMIN: Algonquin name meaning "canoe man."
ETLELOOAAT: Algonquin name meaning "shouts."
ETU: sun
EZHNO: solitary
GAAGII: Navajo name meaning "raven."
GAD: Navajo name meaning "juniper tree."
GOSHEVEN: leaper
GUYAPI: frank
HAHKETHOMEMAH, HARKAHOME: Cheyenne name meaning "little robe."
HAHNEE: beggar
HAKAN: fire
HANIA: Hopi name meaning "spirit warrior."
HASSUN: Algonquin name meaning "stone."
HASTIIN: Navajo name meaning "man."
HAWIOVI: Hopi name meaning "going down the ladder."
HE-LUSH-KA: Winnebago name meaning "fighter."
HEAMMAWIHIO: Cheyenne name meaning "wise one above."
HELAKU: full of sun
HELKI: Miwok name meaning "touch."
HESKOVIZENAKO: Cheyenne name meaning "porcupine bear."
HESUTU: Miwok name meaning "yellow jacket nest rising out of the ground."
HEVATANEO: Cheyenne name meaning "hairy rope."
HEVOVITASTAMIUTSTO: Cheyenne name meaning "whirlwind."
HIAMOVI: Cheyenne name meaning "high chief."
HINUN: myth name
HINTO: Dakota name meaning "blue."
KOHKAHYCUMEST: Cheyenne name meaning "white crow or white antelope."
HOHNIHOHKAIYOHOS, NEEHEEOEEWOOTIS: Cheyenne name meaning "high-backed wolf."
HOK'EE: Navajo name meaning "abandoned."
HONANI: Hopi name meaning "badger."
HONAW: Hopi name meaning "bear."
HONIAHAKA: Cheyenne name meaning little wolf."
HONON: Miwok name meaning "bear."
HONOVI: strong
HOTAH: Sioux name meaning "white."
HOTOTO: Hopi name meaning "warrior spirit who sings; he who whistles"
HOTUAEKHAASHTAIT: Cheyenne name meaning "tall bull."
HOWAHKAN: Sioux name meaning "of the mysterious voice."
HOWI: Miwok name meaning "turtle-dove."
HURITT: Algonquin name meaning "handsome."
IGASHO: wanders
ISTAQA: Hopi name meaning "coyote man."
INTEUS: has no shame
ISTU: sugar
IYE: smoke
JACY: moon
JOLON: valley of the dead oaks
KACHADA: Hopi name meaning "white man."
KAGA: chronicler
KAJIKA: walks without sound
KANGEE: Sioux name meaning "raven."
KELE: Hopi name meaning "sparrow."
KEME: Algonquin name meaning "secret."
KESEGOWAASE: Algonquin name meaning "swift."
KESTEJOO: Algonquin name meaning "slave."
KITCHI: Algonquin name meaning "brave."
KNOTON: wind
KOHANA: Sioux name meaning "swift."
KOLICHIYAW: Hopi name meaning "skunk."
KONO: Miwok name. meaning unknown
KOSUMI: Miwok name meaning "fishes for salmon with spear."
KOTORI: Hopi name meaning "screech owl spirit."
KUCKUNNIWI: Cheyenne name meaning "little wolf."
KURUK: Pawnee name meaning "bear."
KWAHU: Hopi name meaning "eagle."
KWATOKO: Hopi name meaning "bird with big beak."
LANGUNDO: peaceful
LANSA: Hopi name meaning "lance."
LANU: Miwok name. Meaning unknown
LAPU: Hopi name meaning "cedar bark."
LEN: Hopi name meaning "flute."
LENNO: man
LEYATI: Miwok name meaning "shaped like an abalone shell."
LISE: Miwok name meaning "salmon head rising above water."
LIWANU: Miwok name meaning "growl of a bear."
LOKNI: Miwok name meaning "rain falls through the roof."
LONATO: flint
LOOTAH: Sioux name meaning "red."
MACHAKW: Hopi name meaning "horny toad."
MACHK: Algonquin name meaning "bear."
MAHKAH: Sioux name meaning "earth."
MAHPEE: Sioux name meaning "sky."
MAKKAPITEW: Algonquin name meaning "he has large teeth."
MAKYA: Hopi name meaning "eagle hunter."
MANIPI: amazing
MANTOTOHPA: Cheyenne name meaning "four bears."
MASICHUVIO: Hopi name meaning "gray deer."
MASKA: strong
MASOU: myth name
MATCHITEHEW: Algonquin name meaning "he has an evil heart."
MATCHITISIW: Algonquin name meaning "he has bad character."
MATOSKAH: Sioux name meaning "white bear."
MATUNAAGA: Algonquin name meaning "fights."
MATWAU: Algonquin name meaning "enemy."
MAZA BLASKA: Dakota name meaning "flat iron."
MEGEDAGIK: Algonquin name meaning "kills many."
MELKEDOODUM: Algonquin name meaning "conceited."
MELVERN: meaning unknown
METURATO, MOKATAVATAH, MOKETAVATO, MOKETAVETO, MOKETOVETO, MOKOVAOTO, MOTAVATO: Cheyenne name meaning "black kettle."
MILAP: charitable
MINGAN: gray wolf
MINNINNEWAH: Cheyenne name meaning "whirlwind."
MISU: Miwok name meaning "rippling brook."
MOCHNI: Hopi name meaning "talking bird."
MOJAG: never silent
MOKI: Hopi name meaning "deer."
MOLIMO: Miwok name meaning "bear walking into shade."
MOMUSO: Miwok name. Meaning unknown
MONA: Miwok name meaning "gathers jimson weed seed."
MONGWAU: Hopi name meaning "owl."
MOTEGA: new arrow
MUATA: Miwok name meaning "yellow jackets inside a nest."
MUKKI: Algonquin name meaning "child."
MURACO: white moon
NAALNISH: Navajo name meaning "he works."
NAALYEHE YA SIDAHI: Navajo name meaning "trader."
NAHCOMENCE: Cheyenne name meaning "old bark."
NAHELE: forest
NAHIOSSI: Cheyenne name meaning "has three fingers."
NAPAYSHNI: Sioux name meaning "strong, courageous."
NASTAS: Navajo name meaning "curve like foxtail grass."
NAWAT: left-handed
NAWKAW: Winnebago name meaning "wood."
NAYATI: he who wrestles
NEKA: wild goose
NIGAN: ahead
NIICHAAD: Navajo name meaning "swollen."
NIKITI: round, smooth
NITIS: friend
NIXKAMICH: Algonquin name meaning "grandfather."
NIYOL: Navajo name meaning "wind."
NODIN: wind
NOOTAU: Algonquin name meaning "fire."
NOSH, NOSHI: Algonquin name meaning "father."
NUKPANA: Hopi name meaning "evil."
OCUMWHOWURST, OCUNNOWHURST: Cheyenne name meaning "yellow wolf."
ODAKOTA: Sioux name meaning "friend."
OGALEESHA: Sioux name meaning "wears a red shirt."
OHANKO: reckless
OHANZEE: Sioux name meaning "shadow."
OHCUMGACHE, OKHMHAKA: Cheyenne name meaning "little wolf."
OHITEKAH: Sioux name meaning "brave."
OMAWNAKW: Hopi name meaning "cloud feather."
OTAKTAY: Sioux name meaning "kills many."
OTOAHHASTIS: Cheyenne name meaning "tall bull."
OTOAHNACTO: Cheyenne name meaning "bull bear."
OURAY: arrow
OYA: Miwok name. Meaning unknown
PACHU'A: Hopi name meaning "feathered water snake."
PACO: eagle
PAHANA: Hopi name meaning "lost white brother."
PAJACKOK: Algonquin name meaning "thunder."
PALLATON: warrior
PANNOOWAU: Algonquin name meaning "he lies."
PAT: fish
PATAMON: tempest
PATWIN: man
PAYAT, PAY, PAYATT: he is coming
PAYTAH: Sioux name meaning "fire."
PINON: myth name
PIVANE: Hopi name meaning "weasel."
POWWAW: Algonquin name meaning "priest."
QALETAQA: Hopi name meaning "guardian of the people."
QOCHATA: Hopi name meaning "white man."
ROWTAG: Algonquin name meaning "fire."
SAHALE: falcon
SAKIMA: king
SANI: Navajo name meaning "the old one."
SEGENAM: Algonquin name meaning "lazy."
SEWATI: Miwok name meaning "curved bear claw."
SHILAH: Navajo name meaning "brother."
SHIRIKI: Pawnee name meaning "coyote."
SHIYE: Navajo name meaning "son."
SHIZHE'E: Navajo name meaning "father."
SHOEMOWETOCHAWCAWEWAHCATOWE: Cheyenne name meaning "high-backed wolf."
SICHEII: Navajo name meaning "grandfather."
SIK'IS: Navajo name meaning "friend."
SIKE: Navajo name meaning "he sits at home."
SIKYAHONAW: Hopi name meaning "yellow bear."
SIKYATAVO: Hopi name meaning "yellow rabbit."
SIWILI: tail of the fox
SKAH: Sioux name meaning "white."
SONGAN: strong
SOWI'NGWA: Hopi name meaning "black-tailed deer."
SUCKI: Algonquin name meaning "black."
SUNUKKUHKAU: Algonquin name meaning "he crushes."
T'IIS: Navajo name meaning "cottonwood."
TAHKEOME: Cheyenne name meaning "little robe."
TAHMELAPACHME: Cheyenne name meaning "dull knife."
TAIMA: thunder
TAKODA: Sioux name meaning "friend to everyone."
TANGAKWUNU: Hopi name meaning "rainbow."
TAREGAN: Algonquin name meaning "crane."
TASUNKE: Dakota name meaning "horse."
TATANKA-PTECILA: Dakota name meaning "short bull."
TATE: he who talks too much
TEETONKA: Sioux name meaning "talks too much."
TELUTCI, TUKETU: Miwok name meaning "bear making dust."
TIHKOOSUE: Algonquin name meaning "short."
TOCHO: Hopi name meaning "mountain lion."
TOGQUOS: Algonquin name meaning "twin."
TOHOPKA: Hopi name meaning "wild beast."
TOKALA: Dakota name meaning "fox."
TOOANTUH: Cherokee name meaning "spring frog."
TSE: Navajo name meaning "rock."
TSIISHCH'ILI: Navajo name meaning "curly-haired."
TUPI: Miwok name meaning "to pull up."
UZUMATI: Miwok name meaning "bear."
VAIVEAHTOISH, VAIVE ATOISH: Cheyenne name meaning "alights on the cloud."
VIHO: Cheyenne name meaning "chief."
VIPPONAH: Cheyenne name meaning "slim face."
VOHKINNE: Cheyenne name meaning "Roman nose."
VOISTITOEVITZ, VOISTTITOEVETZ: Cheyenne name meaning "white cow."
VOKIVOCUMMAST: Cheyenne name meaning "white antelope."
WAHANASSATTA: Cheyenne name meaning "he who walks with his toes turned outward."
WAHCHINKSAPA: Sioux name meaning "wise."
WAHCHINTONKA: Sioux name meaning "has much practice."
WAHKAN: Sioux name meaning "sacred."
WAKIZA: desperate warrior
WAMBLEE: Sioux name meaning "eagle."
WAMBLEESKA: Sioux name meaning "white eagle."
WAMBLI-WASTE: Dakota name meaning "good eagle."
WANAGEESKA: Sioux name meaning "white spirit."
WANAHTON: Sioux name meaning "charger."
WANIKIYA: Sioux name meaning "savior."
WAPI: lucky
WAQUINI: Cheyenne name meaning "hook nose."
WEAYAYA: Sioux name meaning "setting sun."
WEMATIN: Algonquin name meaning "brother."
WEMILAT: of wealthy parents
WICASA: Dakota name meaning "sage."
WIKVAYA: Hopi name meaning "one who brings."
WILNY: meaning unknown
WOHEHIV: Cheyenne name meaning "dull knife."
WOKAIHWOKOMAS: Cheyenne name meaning "white antelope."
WUYI: Miwok name meaning "soaring turkey vulture."
WYNONO: firstborn
YAHTO: Sioux name meaning "blue."
YANCY: Englishman
YANISIN: Navajo name meaning "ashamed."
YAS: Navajo name meaning snow."
YISKA: Navajo name meaning the night has passed."
YOSKOLO: meaning unknown
YUMA: son of a chief

12 Ethics of Walking the Red Road

As mentioned and posted before at different times and places here once again as a whole. In order to be a part of NDN culture and socitey, or if you are learning about NDN traditions, one must be able to walk the Red Road or the Good Red Road. Here is some Ethic's of traveling the Red Road. There are lesson's to be learned form them so I hope you injoy them. Let me finish by quoting a woman I have come to greatly respect. Traveling along the path of the Red Road, is not an easy one, it is full of disappointments, obstacles, and temptations. But we must continue on it, for we know it is the right path to follow.” -Grandma Rosetta, White Eagle, OK.







Ethic 1

Honor the Great Spirit



Every element of creation expresses the Creator. Within each mountain, each stone, and each heart lies the Great Spirit. All are of the Creator, each particle of the universe is equally deserving of respect and admiration. When looking upon a sunset, the trees, or even your worst enemy, you are looking at the Creator. Know this and give praise and prayer.



“A wee Child toddling in a wonder world, I prefer to their dogma my excursions into the natural gardens where the voice of the Great Spirit is heard in the twittering of the birds, and the sweet breathing of flowers. If this is Paganism, then at present, at least, I am a Pagan...” - Zitkala-Sa, (Red Bird), Sioux author and activist. 1876-1938



Ethic 2

Honor Mother Nature



Mother Nature is not for us…she is part of us and we, like everything else that lives and breathes upon her, are her children. Your own direct connection with Mother Earth is to be encouraged daily. Paint her portraits, swim in her waters, tend to her flowers, stroll through her glorious forest, and care for her many children: all plants, people, and animals. We must live according to her principals and choose not to pollute her body. The alternative is death to our Mother - and death to her children.



“The Great Spirit is our father, but the Earth is our mother. She nourishes us; that which we put into the ground she returns to us, and healing plants she gives us likewise. If we are wounded, we go to our mother and seek to lay the wound part against her, to be healed.” - Bedagi (Big Thunder), Wabanaki Algonquin, 1900’s



Ethic 3

Search for Yourself, by Yourself



Do not allow others to make your path for you. It is your path road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you. Accept yourself and your actions. Own your thoughts. Speak up when wrong, and apologize. Know your path at all times. To do this you must know yourself inside and out, accept your gifts as well as your shortcomings, and grow each day with honesty, integrity, compassion, faith and brotherhood.



“I have made myself what I am.” - Tecumseh, Shawnee, 1768-1813



Ethic 4

Community Code of Conduct



Treat the guests in your home with much consideration. Serve them the best food, give them the best bed, and treat them with respect. Honor the thoughts, wishes, and words of others. Never interrupt another or mock or mimic them. Allow each person the right to freedom of opinion. Respect that opinion. Never speak ill of others. As you travel along life’s road never harm anyone, nor cause anyone to feel sad. On the contrary, if at any time you can make a person happy, do so.



“Even as you desire good treatment, so render it. -Handsome Lake, Seneca, C. 1735-1815



Ethic 5

Banish Fear from Your Life



Fear stunts your soul and limit’s the amount of road needed to travel to reach the Tree of Life, and to know the Great Spirit. Fear is nonbeneficial and body, and leads to an unbalanced mind, body, and spirit. To banish fear you must know your path and trust yourself and the world around you. With trust comes confidence. Self-confidence banishes fear.



“I fear no man, and I depend on the Great Spirit.” - Kondiaronk, Huron, late 17th century.



Ethic 6

Respect



Respect is to be given for all beings placed upon this earth by the creator.

Respect is to be given to elders, who are rich with wisdom.

Respect one’s privacy, thoughts, and wishes.

Respect human siblings by only speaking of their good qualities.

Respect one’s personal space and belongings.

Respect another’s spiritual path and do not judge their choices.



“Trouble no one about their religion; respect others on their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, and beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and it’s purpose in the service of your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and bow to one….” - Tecumseh, Shawnee, 1768-1813



Ethic 7

Speak the Truth



Speak only the truth and do right always. You are what you say and what you say needs to be honest, forthright, and of your own personal belief. Without truth you cannot achieve inner balance - balance within yourself, with other beings, with Mother Earth, and with the Creator.



“Good words do not last long until they amount to something.” - Chief Joseph (..Hin-..Mah-..Too-..Yah-Lat-Kekt), Nez Perce, 1840-1904



Ethic 8

Reject Materialism



When one is materialistic, one is not right with the Red Road. To value and appreciate what you have to know that you are loved and save under the limbs of the Tree of Life, is to reject materialism and to live a life of virtue and appreciation. Materialism only fills your heart with envy and greed, while appreciation breeds contentment, balance, and true happiness.



“… These are young men. I am their Chief. Look among them and see if you can find among them who are rich. The are all poor because they are all honest.” - Red Dog, Oglala Sioux, 1870



Ethic 9

Seek Wisdom



Those who are wise have lived a lifetime with ears open and a willingness to not only experience truth, but to pursue it well.

Wisdom is gained by:

Listening to your elders. They have walked a longer path than you.

Seeking all that is true. Wisdom lies within honesty, not deception.

Realizing education is never-ending. Even death is a final lesson.

Learning from Mother Nature. Her wisdom is infinite.



“The greatest obstacle to the internal nature is the mind. If it relies on logic such as the white man’s mind, the domain of the inner nature is inaccessible. The simple fact is man does not challenge the wisdom of the Holy Mystery.” - Turtleheart, Teton Sioux.



Ethic 10

Practice Forgiveness



Your journey upon the Red Road will be filled with acts requiring forgiveness - forgiveness of others and forgiveness of yourself. Mindfully practice this incredible act of humanity and the Red Road will be an easy path to follow. Also, absolution breeds the same in others. Be quick ot forgive and others will grant you the same kindness.



“Indians love their friends and kindred, and treat them with kindness.” - Cornplanter Seneca, 1736-1836



Ethic 11

Practice Optimism

It is easy to live within the shadow of fear, procrastination and pessimism. But these are bad habits and stumbling blocks the keep you from experiencing life, the Red Road, and the Great Spirit. It is well know to the Native people that optimism is the key to good health. Worry makes you sick - as do bad thoughts. Replace them with happiness and optimism and you shall live a long and healthy life.

“Oh hear me, Grandfather, and help us, that our generation in the future will live and walk the good road with the flowering stick of success. Also, the pipe of peace, we will offer it as we walk the good road to success.Hear me, and hear our plea……” - Black Elk, Oglala Sioux, 1863-1950



Ethic 12

Take What You Need, Leave the Rest Be

There is nothing placed on this Erath that deserves to be destroyed or wasted for the purpose of human convenience. To destroy trees and leave them unused because they simply block the graden, or to kill animals only for their fur, is not a rightful way to share the world with another. To waste or discard due to own selfishness is an act that goes against the Creator, and strays you from the good Red Road.

“Now tell me this one little thing, if thou hast any sense: Which of these two is the wisest and happiest - he who labors without ceasing and only obtains, and that great trouble, enough to live on, or he who rest in comfort and finds all that he needs in the pleasure of hunting and fishing? - Gaspesian Chief



Taken from 365 Days of Walking The Red Road by Terri Jean