Page 11 - Demo

The Lakota Sioux Of The Sioux NationOf all the features upon the earth there are some ascribed with special significance. These features, whether caves, lakes, deserts, outcroppings, or something else entirely, hold tremendous relevance for the groups that dwell near them. Such beliefs in the worth and importance of such sites are entrusted from one passing generation to the next. These beliefs, and the physical objects they rest upon, become increasingly vital to that group s identity as a people. One such group is the Teton Lakota of the SiouxNation in South Dakota, an area that has been home to them for hundreds of years and, while their entire homeland is precious to them, of particular importance are the Black Hills, or Paha Sapa as they are called in Lakota.The Black Hills are an isolated mountain range rising 3000 to 4000 feet above the surrounding plains of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana (Sundstrom et al. 1996). The importance of this land to the Sioux Nation goes beyond dedication to the place they have lived in for generations. The Lakota creation story itself incorporates the Black Hills in particular as central to their identity as a people. The Black Hills are not only regarded as the birthplace of Sioux culture in religious songs and legends, but as the first place created on Earth literally the heart of the Earth, which is seen as Mother. Sioux spiritual lore utilizes metaphor both to explain and to embody the thing signified the Black Hills are the heart of the Earth, and that concept is