Crazy Horse Country
Greatness resides in the heart of a man and the heart of a man is forged in the Soul of his people. We are the Sioux. The story of our people has for the most part been filtered through the prejudice of a conquering culture who seems to want to see us as either heathen savages or ennobled innocents. Like all peoples, we are both… and we are neither. We are men and women living as all men and women – in the culture of our times. Here is the story through our eyes.
From the extraordinary clash of Indian and nonIndian values rose extraordinary leaders. This is the story of our westward migration and of Red Cloud, who drove the nonIndians from his land, shut down their forts and secured the treaty of 1868.
This is the Story of Crazy Horse, one of the truly great men of the 19th century, who never lost a battle with nonIndians. This is the story of Sitting Bull, whose bravery is legend even as he watched his world crumble around him. Here is the holy vision of Black Elk. When Bill Moyers asked noted mythologist, Joseph Campbell, for his best example of spiritual imagery, Mr. Campbell immediately replied, “Without question, Black Elk’s vision!” We stand today in the very midst of the future that Black Elk saw as a nine year old boy. We hope that this story will help to plant his sacred herb of understanding so that all of us may once again see the great tree flower in the center of the hoop of nations.
Beauty of the Big Horns
Esther McWilliams has spent decades traversing the Big Horn Mountain country. Her photographs capture the awe and reverence, the peace and balance one finds in the presence of such beauty. From a tiny drop of water on a lupine leaf to the grand sweep of a flaming sunset, Esther has captured it all. Her unique gift is her ability to find beauty anywhere she stands. In addition to breathtaking vistas and spectacular, flower-filled meadows, Esther will show you the unique hieroglyphs on a worm eaten dead branch, the splash of glory that fireweed that brings to a stand of fire-ravaged forest and the one-of-a-kind pattern in a frozen mud puddle. Esther uses no special filters or lenses. What you see is what is available to the casual tourist. All that is required when you travel through the Big Horns is that you take the time to notice.
Finding Wakan Tanka
A Sioux recaptures the time of his youth when the Sun Dance came back. His Grandmother tells him, “We’re all going to be there; they’re going to bring the piercing back.. you have to be there, Grandson. Takoja, you’re gonna have to be there.” Thus begins his journey into his culture at a time when his tribe is struggling to bring back its spirituality. He relates his fear which has been implanted in him by the oppressive reservation missionaries in league with the Federal Government. Two brave Holy Men, Chief Fools Crow and Chief Eagle Feather, become his mentors and send him upon the sacred mountain to Vision Quest where he finds he is not alone. Surrounded by the flags of the four directions, he hears a gifted voice singing in his Lakota language, revealing each of the Six Powers to him. The boy becomes a man. Fools Crow’s Yuwipi ceremony delivers a special Wotai Stone which he will carry with him to faraway Vietnam.
In gratitude for his safe return, now a combat warrior, he fulfills a Sun Dance vow; overzealous missionaries interfere. The warrior is directed to stand, carrying Black Elk’s pipe, beside his mentors to defend the return of their spirit. He discovers it is for Ina Makah Awanyauke (to protect Mother Earth) that he had to find Wakan Tanka.
Catherine Bode Friederich’s soprano voice hauntingly guides this odyssey. She calls out distinctly in Sioux, to Wakan Tanka, and each of the Six Powers. Beautiful drumming accompanies the songs, verse, and narration.
This is an excellent way to learn beseechment within the Natural Way.
Copyright © 2007 Mountain Eagle Productions. All rights reserved.