Buffalo Maiden

The Buffalo Maiden was about this woman who comes to the Sioux tribe to deliver messages to them. She starts telling them of the messages she brings them. First she speaks to the men, then the women, next come the children, and finally the chief. The maiden proceeds to take the pipe and use it as an offering to Wakan Tanka. She leaves the tent then turns into a white buffalo calf. In the buffalo maiden we are introduced to a God that they call Wakan Tanka. He seems to be transcendent from the tribe. He isn't there himself to take the messages to the Sioux tribe. Wakan Tanka relayed his messages to the maiden to then in turn take them to the tribe. From this myth you can see how the Native Americans are animistic. They incorporate the Earth and nature in all that they do, " I offer this to the Earth, whence come all good gifts." This is showing their belief that not only do they need to make the god's happy, but they need to bless all the things they come in contact with on a daily basis. The Native Americans are seeking a sense of balance between the Gods and reality. If the God's aren't happy then the real world suffers. From this myth it can be seen that there is also a sense of rituals. The maiden goes in and drinks the rain water off the grass which has to be a ritual of some sort. Another ritual that seems to be shown is when the pipe is lit before the maiden starts speaking and after she delivers her message. The smoke also symbolized an offering to the God Wakan Tanka. It was something to give to him as respect so he would know how grateful they are to him. A lot of what the Indians do is solely based upon ritual. When you sit down and look at it Native Americans and African Americans have religions that are quite similar to one another. Both religions can be seen to be animistic. In some of the myths read thus far we see that there is a lot of play on the Earth, moon, sun, stars, etc. It’s like in a sense they are being worshiped because they have