Happy Indigenous People’s Day. I’ve never done much to commemorate this holiday. That can change. This year, while reading up on the creation stories and afterlives of multiple belief systems, my co-worker introduced me to the “Black Elk Speaks”. It’s a collection of dictations by the Ogala Lakota religious elder, Nicholas Black Elk, recorded by John Neihardt. . I’m posting the section with which I’m most familiar: The recitation of the Great Vision of the cosmology of the universe. On the small scale, it contains cultural associations and symbolism unfamiliar to me I was not familiar: Red, as “…the color of good and of plenty…” (124), the significance of cardinal directions. I lost track of who transforms into what. It’s also elegiac. The books was published in 1932, but the two sections in the PDF come from two moments in his life. Age four, when he describes wasichus (in this case, “white colonists”, but the term has broader meaning) making treaties with the Ogala chief, Red Cloud, to guarantee the land as theirs. The next section, at age nine, he describes wasichus setting down railroads that “…had cut the bison herd in two, but those that stayed in our country with us were more than could be counted, and we wandered without trouble in our land.” . Just now, I started looking more up on Black Elk, Neihardt, and the book and discovered that Black Elk is actually up for canonization by the Catholic Church. I’m unfamiliar with this part of his life and would like to know more. I hope that this reading inspires you to learn more, as well! . If anyone notices any unfortunate phrasing or complete ignorance on my part, please let me know so that I can correct it! . #indigenouspeoplesday #ogala #lakota #nicholasblackelk https://www.instagram.com/p/CU5URpYLKtB/?utm_medium=tumblr