You have heard that everything an Indian does is in a circle , and that
is because the power of the world always works in circles , and
everything tries to be round. In the old days when we were a strong and
happy people , all our power came to us from the Sacred Hoop of the
nation and so long as the Hoop was unbroken the people flourished.
The flowering tree was the living center of the Hoop , and the circle of
the four quarters nourished it .....The East gave peace and light , the
South gave warmth , the West gave rain , and the North with its cold and
mighty wind gave strength and endurance.
This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion.
Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle....the sky is
round and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball and so are
all the stars.....the wind , in its greatest power , whirls....birds
make their nests in circles , for theirs is the same religion as ours .
The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle....the moon does the
same , and both are round.
Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing , and always come
back again to where they were . The life of a man is a circle from
childhood to childhood and so it is in everything where power moves.....
Our tipis were round like the nests of birds and these were always set
in a circle , the nation's Hoop.....a nest of many nests where the Great
Spirit meant for us to hatch our children.
Passage taken from the autobiography of Black Elk which
He dictated to Flaming Rainbow in 1930 - 31 stating that the circle
Has a fundamental place in Indian life.
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A chief of one of the principal bands of the northern Blackfoot Nation ,
upon being asked by U.S. Delegates for his signature to one of the first
land treaties in his region of the Milk River , responds with a
rejection of the money values of the white man.
Our land is more valuable than your money.....it will last forever . It
will not even perish by the flames of fire.....As long as the sun shines
and the waters flow , this land will be here to give life to men and
animals . We cannot sell the lives of men or animals ; therefore we
cannot sell this land.....It was put here for us by the Great Spirit and
we cannot sell it because it does not belong to us.
You can count your money and burn it within the nod of a buffalo's head
.
But only the Great Spirit can count the grains of sand and the blades of
grass of these plains .
As a present to you , we will give you everything we have that you can
take with you....but the land....never!
Yours in Love and Light
Nah ' Hak (Melanie)
