Native American Day - 4th Friday in September
In 1989 the South
Dakota legislature unanimously passed legislation proposed by Governor George
S. Mickelson to proclaim 1990 as the “Year of Reconciliation” between Native
Americans and whites, to change Columbus Day to Native American Day.
I must apologize to my Native American friends for not posting this event on its day.
The following comes from my dear Native American friend, Dandelion
"Even the trees have spirits - everything has a spirit."
-- Mary Hayes, CLAYOQUOT
"The trees are great teachers. The trees are great listeners. That is why we should meditate in their presence. The Great spirit is in every rock, every animal, every human being, and in every tree. The Great Spirit has been in some trees for hundreds of years. Therefore, the trees have witnessed and heard much. The trees are the Elders of the Elders. Their spirits are strong and very healing.
Great Spirit, teach me to respect for all spiritual things
-- Mary Hayes, CLAYOQUOT
"The trees are great teachers. The trees are great listeners. That is why we should meditate in their presence. The Great spirit is in every rock, every animal, every human being, and in every tree. The Great Spirit has been in some trees for hundreds of years. Therefore, the trees have witnessed and heard much. The trees are the Elders of the Elders. Their spirits are strong and very healing.
Great Spirit, teach me to respect for all spiritual things
Here is some information about the man known as...... Sitting Bull
Mrs. Fanny Kelly was taken captive in July 1864 by a war party of Hunkpapa Sioux in Wyoming. During most of the five months she was held prisoner, Mrs. Kelly stayed in the lodgings of Sitting Bull, the famous leader "as a guest," of his family, "and I was treated as a guest," she wrote:
Mrs. Fanny Kelly was taken captive in July 1864 by a war party of Hunkpapa Sioux in Wyoming. During most of the five months she was held prisoner, Mrs. Kelly stayed in the lodgings of Sitting Bull, the famous leader "as a guest," of his family, "and I was treated as a guest," she wrote:
"He was uniformly gentle, and kind to his wife and children and courteous
and considerate in his interactions with others. During my stay with them food
was scarce more than once, and both Sitting Bull and his wife often suffered
with hunger to supply me with food. They both have a very warm place in my
heart."
A teacher and missionary among Sitting Bull's people, Catherine Weldon,
once described him,
"As a friend...sincere and true, as a patriot devoted and incorruptible. As a husband and father, affectionate and considerate. As a host, courteous and hospitable to the last degree."
The Ashcroft family, white settlers who lived nearby, valued Sitting Bull as "one of their oldest friends." They often told the story of how, on one of his frequent trips to buy produce and chickens from Grandmother, he stopped for potatoes.
Grandfather was busy and did not want to take the time to dig them, so his
"As a friend...sincere and true, as a patriot devoted and incorruptible. As a husband and father, affectionate and considerate. As a host, courteous and hospitable to the last degree."
The Ashcroft family, white settlers who lived nearby, valued Sitting Bull as "one of their oldest friends." They often told the story of how, on one of his frequent trips to buy produce and chickens from Grandmother, he stopped for potatoes.
Grandfather was busy and did not want to take the time to dig them, so his
daughter Ethel, ten years old, slipped away and dug a half-sack of
potatoes and dragged them up to the house for Sitting Bull. He was so pleased
that he promised her a pony, and soon a little bay horse was delivered to her.
Yet when Sitting Bull was killed on December 15, 1890, newspapers throughout the nation echoed the Minneapolis Tribune whose one regret was that he "should have been hung higher than Haman (who was the villain of the biblical story of Esther who was hung on a specially prepared gallows) and with less ceremony than is observed by a Texas lynching party towards a horse thief."
It seems the fact was lost, to a press that kept whipping up a hatred towards the Indians, as it sold papers, that Sitting Bull had been residing in friendship and peace with his white neighbors, his only "crime" taking part in a religious worship, the Ghost Dance, labeled the "Messiah craze" by the press.
It is important today, in our own times, to step back and not be whipped up into a frenzy against each other. We are a global community, we all have different ways of living, but that does not make the way we live wrong just because others do not understand our ways.
Let us not repeat the mistakes that were done upon this land to the American Indian by making these same type of mistakes to others who live around the world, just because we do not understand their dress, language, or the way they worship.
It has been such a blessing to be able to speak to others from around the world via this C2 site. I do feel that if we all just take the time to be respectful to each other we can build the bridges that others have tried to tear down. By truly opening our hearts to one another we will find that we all have more in common with each other than is our differances.
Let us show more of the heart of a Sitting Bull, who despite what had happened to him, he still never allowed it to take away from the good human being he was inside. Let us all show the same type of hospitality towards each other; be it within our homes or from our homes across the spider web to reach many within their homes across this Earth."
Mitakuye Oyasin...
May we all live as one people in Love and Light!
Yet when Sitting Bull was killed on December 15, 1890, newspapers throughout the nation echoed the Minneapolis Tribune whose one regret was that he "should have been hung higher than Haman (who was the villain of the biblical story of Esther who was hung on a specially prepared gallows) and with less ceremony than is observed by a Texas lynching party towards a horse thief."
It seems the fact was lost, to a press that kept whipping up a hatred towards the Indians, as it sold papers, that Sitting Bull had been residing in friendship and peace with his white neighbors, his only "crime" taking part in a religious worship, the Ghost Dance, labeled the "Messiah craze" by the press.
It is important today, in our own times, to step back and not be whipped up into a frenzy against each other. We are a global community, we all have different ways of living, but that does not make the way we live wrong just because others do not understand our ways.
Let us not repeat the mistakes that were done upon this land to the American Indian by making these same type of mistakes to others who live around the world, just because we do not understand their dress, language, or the way they worship.
It has been such a blessing to be able to speak to others from around the world via this C2 site. I do feel that if we all just take the time to be respectful to each other we can build the bridges that others have tried to tear down. By truly opening our hearts to one another we will find that we all have more in common with each other than is our differances.
Let us show more of the heart of a Sitting Bull, who despite what had happened to him, he still never allowed it to take away from the good human being he was inside. Let us all show the same type of hospitality towards each other; be it within our homes or from our homes across the spider web to reach many within their homes across this Earth."
Mitakuye Oyasin...
May we all live as one people in Love and Light!
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