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| The book, Black Elk Speaks, as seen on Amazon.com |
Remembering with Nebraska
Black Elk, a holy man of the Oglala Lakota, saw his vision in the Black Hills region west of Nebraska. During the Waníyetu Wi, or the Moon of the Rutting deer, the Nebraskan reading program, One Book One Nebraska (OBON), announced its 2017 selection: John G. Neihardt's Black Elk Speaks. OBON aims to demonstrate ...
"... how books and reading connect people across time and place. Each year, Nebraska communities come together through literature in community-wide reading programs to explore a classic work by one of Nebraska’s best-loved authors." (OBON 2017)
The announcement comes while the Lakotas and many others prepare to meet the new solar year from the blustery Oceti Sakowin Water Protector Camp. There the Standing Rock Sioux, descendants of the Lakotas of Black Elk's times, protest the black snake known as the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Temazcaleros Remember Black Elk
Temazcaleros, or people who go to temazcales, organize, as did many Native Americans before the Wasichu invasion, an annual sun dance and vision quest. Many also honor other events, celebrations, and traditions, including some that were not part of the Lakota traditions. The degree to which individual temazcal guides adhere to Lakotan traditions varies from circle to circle.
In my case, the couple, Oso Mario and Osa Lety (the Bear, Mario and the Bear, Lety), mentored me in the Circulo de los Osos (Circle of the Bears), on the foothills above the city of Durango, Mexico. There, Oso Mario frequently reminded us of the traditions of the Lakota's inipi (sweat lodge). From their teachings, I have a basic understanding of the relationship between the Mexican temazcal and the Lakotan inipi.
These traditions, revitalized in Mexico, as part of a Renacimiento del Temazcal, or Temazcal Revival (literally, rebirth), gave rise to a new tradition of teaching and practicing the traditions of the “Chanku Luta,” or Red Road, through the temazcal and other Native American and Native Mexican** traditions. As I understand the "Renancimiento," the popularity of Black Elk Speaks and some other factors of the mid-Twenieth Century gave birth to the post-Conquista (post-Conquest) .
"We base our temazcal ceremony on what we know of Black Elk and the Lakota traditions," Oso Mario told me. Black Elk spoke of the inipi (Lakota sweat lodge) to Neihardt. He extensively described, to Joseph Epes Brown (1953), the ways of the inipi. Three thousand kilometers (about 1,800 miles) south of his homelands, and half a century after the holy man's death, the Temazcaleros of Durango, Mexico, on the interior slope of the Sierra Madre Occidental, honor Black Elk and the Lakota way.
Why "Black Elk?"
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| Osa Lety, Oso Mario, and Jeffrey R. Bacon, on the Vision Quest. |
The sweat lodge, actually, goes beyond the traditional Lakotan lifestyle, and, worldwide, many cultures built and used sweat lodges. But Temazcaleros choose, Black Elk Speaks, as a "standard practice" text. Many Temazcaleros, like Oso Mario, consider Black Elk "la autoridad maxima" (the maximum authority) in temazcal practice and ethics.
Aside from the importance of Black Elk's words in the temazcal, I have my own reasons for having decided to review the text at InTheTemazcal.
1. It's a good read! Most simply, Michael Rea (2016), of Schuyler Public Library, touched on one of the simpler and most important reasons ...
"While the book is not without controversy regarding its depiction of Lakota beliefs and culture, it remains a fascinating read and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in the settling of the American West, the Great Plains and its people. I cannot imagine a more fitting book for the One Book One Nebraska program."
2. It's well-read. I also know that Black Elk and Neihardt produced one of the continent's most influential philosophical and spiritual texts. I would like very much for people of all cultures and races to know more about Black Elk and the practice of temazcal today. I think this book may help a broad audience connect to this little-known culture.
3. It tells a story I understand. For my likes, the book strikes a note in my interior. I feel, see, hear, taste, and smell Black Elk's words. I think many readers likewise connect readily to Black Elk's word. Along with The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk's Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux (Brown and Black Elk 1953) Black Elk Speaks has served, for me, as a gateway into Lakota thought.
4. It tells a story I'd like others to understand. If a spiritual belief system can find a logical solution to the world's problems, the Lakotan philosophy, combined with the Lakotan love for the universe, may run neck and neck with Buddhism as one of the most probable candidates. Black Elk Speaks describes the beginning of the end, and the reader who pays attention will see it full of environmental, ethical, and moral clues as to where we have gone wrong as a gifted, intelligent species on a struggling planet.
5. Temazcaleros know and practice the books words. My brothers and sisters in the Temazcal respect and practice Black Elk's word in the Temazcal, and their enthusiasm and dedication for sharing that information have been the charm that kept my interest. Black Elks narratives undoubtedly make up the most logical starting point for a blog discussing Temazcal.
6. I'm keeping a promise to myself. I have read Black Elk Speaks a number of times now. Each time, I learn something new. I'm keeping a promise to myself to know the text to the best of my ability. The research and study time I put into developing the Black Elk series for InTheTemazcal provides me with the opportunity to keep my promise.
7. I owe it to all my brothers and sisters. If one person reads my posts and decides, as a result, to read Black Elk Speaks or step into a temazcal or Lakotan inipi, I will have opened a gateway to the book and spiritual practice that have provided me the most effective means of assimilating and adapting to a world I poorly understood. I'd like anyone else to have that opportunity.
As the Wiotehika Wi (the hard moon ... our Gregorian January) crosses the sky, we'll take a look at Black Elk Speaks, here, at InTheTemazcal. Thanks for joining us and the whole state of Nebraska!
... con todas mis relaciones!
________________
* Moon names used in this post agree with those reported on the Akta Lakota Museum Cultural Center (2012).
** Although it's commonly known that Mexico is part of the North American continent, I often noted, as a plant taxonomist, back in my days of research, that Mexico and Mexicans often fall aside in reference information. For example, the name, "United States of America," some Mexicans have told me, seems a pompous claim to the continent, when both Mexican and Canadian states are just as rightfully called "States of America." Perhaps it's a triviality, but it's one that many Mexicans have brought to my attention.
References Cited
- Akta Lakota Museum Cultural Center. 2012. Thirteen Lakota Moons. Akta Lakota Museum Cultural Center website ( http://aktalakota.stjo.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8911 ), Reviewed 19 December 2016.
- Brown, J. E., and Black Elk. 1953. The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk's Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux. University of Oklahoma Press.
- Neihardt, H, and L. H. Utecht (eds.). 2000. Black Elk Lives: Conversations with the Black Elk Family: Esther Black Elk DeSersa, Olivia Black Elk Pourier, Aaron DeSersa Jr., and Clifton DeSersa. The University of Nebraska Press.
- Neihardt, J. G. 1932. Black Elk Speaks. William Morrow & Company.
- One Book One Nebraska. 2017. One Book One Nebraska @OneBookOneNebraska. On Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/OneBookOneNebraska/ ), Reviewed 15 December 2016.
- Rea, M. 2016. Your Library. 13 December 2017 post in the Schuyler Sun (http://columbustelegram.com/schuyler/news/your-library/article_7d9b6cae-bf13-5002-8da3-25a67a15909c.html#comments), Reviewed 13 December 2016.
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