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05 Wolakota Project Video Transcripts and URLs.docx · WP-0203. Imported source record; individual Elder status and tribal affiliation are not inferred.
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Interview transcript
Being in the sacred place that we are here in the Black Hills… one of the origin stories, of course, is that we came from Wind Cave… and that we came from underground… and that we are actually descended from the Buffalo people, the LAKOTA WORD….and that we still have that kinship to them. And there have been some further links that tie us to the blood of the buffalo. And so, I think that having said that about animals and their ties to the buffalo, we observe natural law. And I'll give you an example of natural law. When I talk to my children and when my grandparents and my father talked to me about becoming a young woman, I remember my father sat me down and he said, “Okay,” he said. “Since you know so much and you're 16 now and you know everything in the world,” he said. “I want you to sit on this porch and I'm going to go to the post office. And when I come back, I want you to tell me the state of the world and how smart you are and what you think you need to do as a potential mother?” And I said, “Well.” And I thought, “Oh no, he's going to be right again and I'm not going to know it.” And so he gets in his car and he drives up to the post office… and I'm waiting for him and I'm sitting on my grandma's porch… and I'm looking all over and looking out at the trees and I'm thinking, “What am I supposed to be seeing?” Then he comes back and he says, “Did you see it?” And I said, “No.” And he said, “Okay.” He said, “All the time that you've been sitting here, there's this little bird up on this branch, and that little tiny bird is carrying ten times its weight. It's going over here and it's getting a piece of a branch. It's taking it back over there somehow it's making this little nest.” And he said, “You can be assured that that little bird is not going to lay an egg until that nest is done.” So he looked at me and he said, “Okay, Miss Smart, know it all.” He said, “Do you have a nest?” And I said, “No.” And he said, “Well, that's what you have to learn.” He said, “Look outdoors. And you watch the animals and the birds and their behavior essentially tells you how to behave.” So that's an example of natural law. And so, the relationship that we have is with almost everything in nature, the stars, we have stored star knowledge. And I'm sure that you'll be interviewing people about star knowledge. Almost every single tribe has a connection to the star people. And so, there's some connection out in the universe that really supports our star knowledge and our connection to the stars. But… and there's no mystery about that. It's something that probably will reveal itself as we go further into the future. I think the other thing is that many of our rites of passage were also tied to the outdoors. So, our whole scheme of life that worked well before we were under captivity, was related to the outdoors. And so, lessons were to be learned every single day like we are today on summer solstice. For us, it's a beginning, and the outer world in the Western Cup is saying that the world is going to end today. Two different… very different worldviews. So yeah.