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A sweat lodge is a low profile hut, typically dome-shaped or oblong, and made with natural materials. The structure is the lodge, and the ceremony performed within the structure may be called by some cultures a purification ceremony or simply a sweat.
Heȟáka Sápa, commonly known as Black Elk, was a wičháša wakȟáŋ and heyoka of the Oglala Lakota people. He was a second cousin of the war leader Crazy Horse and fought with him in the Battle of Little Bighorn. He survived the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. He toured and performed in Europe as part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West.
White Buffalo Calf Woman or White Buffalo Maiden is a sacred woman of supernatural origin, central to the Lakota religion as the primary cultural prophet. Oral traditions relate that she brought the "Seven Sacred Rites" to the Lakota people.
The American Indian Movement (AIM) is an American Indian grassroots movement which was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 1968, initially centered in urban areas in order to address systemic issues of poverty, discrimination, and police brutality against American Indians. AIM soon widened its focus from urban issues to many Indigenous Tribal issues that American Indian groups have faced due to settler colonialism in the Americas. These issues have included treaty rights, high rates of unemployment, the lack of American Indian subjects in education, and the preservation of Indigenous cultures.
A vision quest is a rite of passage in some Native American cultures. It is usually only undertaken by young males entering adulthood. Individual Indigenous cultures have their own names for their rites of passage. "Vision quest" is an English-language umbrella term, and may not always be accurate or used by the cultures in question.
The Sun Dance is a ceremony practiced by some Native Americans in the United States and Indigenous peoples in Canada, primarily those of the Plains cultures. It usually involves the community gathering together to pray for healing. Individuals make personal sacrifices on behalf of the community.
Plastic shamans, or plastic medicine people, is a pejorative colloquialism applied to individuals who are attempting to pass themselves off as shamans, holy people, or other traditional spiritual leaders, but who have no genuine connection to the traditions or cultures they claim to represent. In some cases, the "plastic shaman" may have some genuine cultural connection, but is seen to be exploiting that knowledge for ego, power, or money.
The Oglala are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota, make up the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ. A majority of the Oglala live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the eighth-largest Native American reservation in the United States.
Joseph Epes Brown was an American scholar whose lifelong dedication to Native American traditions helped to bring the study of American Indian religious traditions into higher education. His seminal work was a book entitled, The Sacred Pipe, an account of his discussions with the Lakota holy man, Black Elk, regarding the religious rites of his people.
The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers is an international alliance of indigenous female elders that focuses on issues such as the environment, internationalism, and human rights. The group met for the first time in October 2004 at the Dalai Lama's Menla Retreat Center on Panther Mountain in Phoenicia, New York, during which time they declared themselves a council. Academic Suzanne Bouclin described them as "an alliance of thirteen women elders from across the globe that was organized to uphold indigenous practices and ceremonies and affirm the right to use plant medicines free of legal restriction."
Agnes Emma Baker Pilgrim was a Native American spiritual elder from Grants Pass, Oregon. She was the oldest member of her tribe, the Takelma. She was also the granddaughter of Jack Harney, the first elected Chief of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz. Pilgrim was Elected Chairperson of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers at its founding in 2004. "She was honored as a "Living Treasure" by the Confederated Tribes of Siletz, and as a "Living Cultural Legend" by the Oregon Council of the Arts."
Margaret Behan is a Native American artist and a former member of the International Council of 13 Grandmothers.
Rita Pitka Blumenstein was the first certified traditional doctor in Alaska. She worked for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. Blumenstein was a member of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers—a group of spiritual elders, medicine women and wisdom keepers—since its founding in 2004.
Tsering Dolma Gyaltong was a Tibetan spiritual leader living in exile in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Tsering was a Founding Member of the Tibetan Women's Association and participated in its re-establishment in 1984.
Beatrice Long Visitor Holy Dance was an Oglala Lakota speaker and activist from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, best known for her participation in the group known as the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, which was founded in New York in 2004. In 2008, The 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, including Beatrice, hand delivered a petition to Pope Benedict XVI asking to revoke the three papal bulls authorizing the conversion and subjugation of the Indigenous Peoples of America. This letter went unanswered.
Mona Polacca is a Native American spiritual elder from Arizona. She has worked to further social justice for indigenous people from an early age. She is an author in the field of social sciences, has held posts of responsibility as Treasurer for her tribe, served on several committees for Indigenous Peoples within the United Nations. and is widely known for her "leadership in the Native American revitalisation movement."
Leonard Crow Dog was a medicine man and spiritual leader who became well known during the Lakota takeover of the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in 1973, known as the Wounded Knee Incident. Through his writings and teachings, he has sought to unify Indian people of all nations. As a practitioner of traditional herbal medicine and a leader of Sun Dance ceremonies, Crow Dog was also dedicated to keeping Lakota traditions alive.
Jacqueline Left Hand Bull, member of the Sicangu Lakota of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, was brought up in her view in a traditional Lakota way by her grandparents and parents. She became a member of the Baháʼí Faith in 1981, appointed a Continental Counselor in 1988, and was elected as Chair of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of the United States in 2007. The family history of the name "Left Hand Bull" involves the elder brother of a family who had done the difficult task of hunting a Buffalo from the left side and was known to provide for more than his family in his hunting. Years later the younger brother reconnected with the elder and undertook to greatly honor the elder in a ceremony and in return the elder brother traded his name. She shares a short stature with this younger brother who was given the name "Left Hand Bull".
The Wolf Award is an accolade conferred by a non-profit organization known as The Wolf Project to individuals, organizations, and communities in recognition of their efforts to reduce racial intolerance and to improve peace and understanding. The Wolf Award, which has also come to be known as The International Wolf Award, consists of a certificate of appreciation and a sculpture of a howling wolf, presented in ceremonial fashion to the recipient.
Arvol Looking Horse is a Lakota Native American spiritual leader. He is the 19th keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe and Bundle.
References
- Chittister, J, April 24, 2009, Blog on National Catholic Reporter website, The past is a very living thing: Try not to forget it.
- Grandmothers' Council website about the Grandmothers
- Native Village Publications, Grandmother Rita Long Visitor Holy Dance [usurped]
- Sacred Studies, Grandmother's Biographies.
- Schaefer, C, (2006) Grandmothers Council the World: wise women elders offer their vision for our planet. Trumpeter Books 978-1-59030-293-4