The Soul of an Indian: An Interpretation

THE SOUL

OF THE INDIAN

AN INTERPRETATION

By

CHARLES

ALEXANDER EASTMAN

INCLUDING THE ESSAY

The Sioux Mythology

First published in 1911

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To my wife,

Elaine Goodale Eastman

In grateful recognition of her ever-inspiring companionship in thought and work and in love of her most indian-like virtues I dedicate this book.

Contents

THE SIOUX MYTHOLOGY

An Essay by Charles A. Eastman

FOREWORD

I THE GREAT MYSTERY

II THE FAMILY ALTAR

III CEREMONIAL AND SYMBOLIC WORSHIP

IV BARBARISM AND THE MORAL CODE

V THE UNWRITTEN SCRIPTURES

VI ON THE BORDER-LAND OF SPIRITS

THE SIOUX MYTHOLOGY

An Essay by Charles A. Eastman

The tendency of the uncivilized and untutored mind is to recognize the Deity through some visible medium. The soul has an inborn consciousness of the highest good or God. The aborigines of our country illustrate this truth. I wish to write of the mythology of the Sioux nation, more particularly that portion of the tribe dwelling east of the Missouri River, with which I am very familiar, although the others are not distinctively different in their religious customs.

The human mind, equipped with all its faculties, is capable even in an uncultured state of a logical process of reasoning. Freed from the burdensome theories of science and theology, it is impressed powerfully by God's omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence. Alexander Pope's worn-out lines—

"Lo, the poor Indian! whose untutored mind

Sees God in clouds and hears him in the wind"—

are true, in that the Indian recognized a power behind every natural force. He saw God, not only in the sky, but in every creation. All Nature sang his praises—birds, waterfalls, tree tops—everything whispered the name of the mysterious God.

The Indian did not trouble himself concerning the nature of the Creator. He was satisfied that there was a God, whose laws all must obey, and whom he blindly or instinctively worshiped as the Great Mystery.

The relation between God and man he conceived from the analogy of Nature. His God is a gracious yet an exacting parent. He punishes both the disobedient and the evil-doer, and forgives and helps the penitent and the good. He hears prayers. He is called Wakantanka, or the Great Mystery. The word wakan means mystery or holy, and tanka means great, mighty, or supreme. Neither of the two words signifies spirit; however, it may imply that. The word wakan may also mean reverenced or sacred.

Before the coming of the missionaries the Sioux never prayed or gave any offering direct to God, except at a great feast once a year. It was believed that he was too great to be approached directly, but that a prayer or a gift through some of his attributes would reach him. The legend is that God occasionally descends to earth in the shape of some animal, or envelops himself in a great wind. If any person beholds his face he dies instantly, although the same person may be born again as a child and become a great medicine man.

Before the advent of the white man these people believed that the earth was flat, with a circular form, and was suspended in a dark space, and sheltered by the heaven or sky in the shape of a hollow hemisphere. The sun was regarded as the father and the earth the mother of all things that live and grow; but as they had been married a long time and had become the parents of many generations, they were called the great-grandparents. As far as I can judge, the moon seemed to be their servant; at least, she was required to watch, together with her brothers, the stars, over the sleeping universe, while the sun came down to rest with his family.

In the thunder-bird they believed God had a warrior who presided over the most powerful elements—the storm and the fearful cyclone. This symbolic creature is depicted as an impatient and wrathy god of war, at whose appearance even the ever-smiling grandfather, the sun, hides his face. In the realms of water the whale is the symbolized chief of the finny tribes. In every great lake the Sioux imagines a huge fish as ruler of its waters.

Yet none of these possess the power of speech. The Great Mystery had shown them some truths denied to man, but he did not trust them fully, therefore he made them dumb. They can only show to man some supernatural things by signs or in dreams; as, for instance, to foretell future events or explain the use of certain powerful remedies. The savage holds that the key of heaven is vested in the visible phenomena of the universe. All creatures, save man, are assigned to a peculiar paradise, in which there is a forbidden fruit—namely, the apple of speech and reasoning. Hence the animals and inanimate things are exempted from sin. Thus it is that rocks, trees, and rivers are surrounded with an atmosphere of grandeur, beauty, and mystery. Nature is the interpreter of the Great Mystery, and through her