It is interesting to read about how some of these stories are meant to be interpreted! We have inquired already to what religious contexts may intertwine and relate some of these stories to christianity or other religions. One story that I found recurring in studies was “The White Buffalo Woman.” The more I read, the buffalo presented itself as a key and core figure in the Lakota Indian nation. Buffalo, aka Tatanka, was both physically and spiritually connected to the Lakota. They were a tribe that followed as the Buffalo roamed across North America. This entails that they did indeed survive off of Buffalo for a long time.
One reason you can find so many Lakota tribes spreading around the North America’s in vastly different climates and locations is simply because early on, the buffalo would roam everywhere from Canada to Mexico and from the Pacific Northwest the Mountains on the east coast.
When you think about the importance of a single creature being that high simply because they provided food, it sounds crazy. But what we tend to overlook is that the buffaloes would provide absolutely everything for the Lakota. They would create weapons from bones, clothes from hides, etc. They considered the buffalo a spiritual ancestor or relative, thus they were meant to be with the beasts and vice versa. They lived in a simple harmony and the buffalo would receive respect from the tribes. After a death of a buffalo they would have a ceremony, sort of like a funeral. Cool Stuff.
The relevance of the buffalo made this story one I would choose as a opening story in a collection if I could only choose 3. It exemplifies how the American Indians were supposed to live, guidelines on how to be kind and respectful to everything. It also touches on the history of how these tribes traveled and nomadic tribes survived.
I find it hard to choose many, as a lot of the ones we read here seem illogical, and very non descriptive for moral or religious meaning. I enjoy the stories of which a “God” like figure creates man or animal from rolling balls of clay or dirt. For instance Well-Baked Man. This story also includes the trickster, (coyote) which I believe would be an important aspect of a true re-creation of good myths. It is hard to find lots of physical aspects of why the coyote became a trickster per say. But I would think that if you for instance killed a buffalo and were saving meat, coyote’s would most likely prove to be a burden, cleverly sneaking in and snagging meat from your village. This is a mere assumption but one I like to think is possible.
I digress some, as I know I am exceeding my word limits but I did find it most interesting that most of my research consisted in finding assumptuous materials. I believe that can lead to our ideas we discussed of how myths and stories may have been changed over the years.
Comments are closed.