Deep Tradition Rooted in the Black Hills

Deep Tradition Rooted in the Black Hills

The Native American Indians and the white settlers that eventually kicked the Indians off their lands quite obviously did not share the same idea of what it meant to own an area of land. The Native Americans viewed the land that they lived on as sacred, spiritual, even religious. The white settlers who forced them away from their homes, however, did not have this same concept of the land that they chose to live on; these people viewed land as a way to make money or as another pillar of their personal wealth.
There are multiple accounts of Native Americans expressing their confusion and dislike of the fact that the white settlers were willing to both buy and sell land. In a quote from Crazy Horse, whose Native name is Tashunka Witko, this sentiment is expressed quite thoroughly: “One does not sell the earth upon which the people walk” (Brown 274). Though the United States government initially attempted to acquire the lands by means of compensation and treaty (by an offer to purchase the mineral right for the Black Hills or simply purchase the land that made up the area), we find again that the white settlers used force to take what was not theirs for their own prosperity, which would be found in the gold and minerals that were located in the Black Hills.
The arrival of General Custer and his army to the Black Hills (1874), in which it was formally announced that gold had been discovered in the area, was the first time that the Lakotas had even encountered intruders on their land. Eventually, the United States government, on February 28, 1877, passed a Congressional Act which officially claimed and removed the Black Hills from the ownership of the Native American Lakotas. What the white settlers that power-grabbed these lands from the Native Americans did not take into account is that by taking their land, they were also taking pieces of their ancestral and mythical history. Many Native American tribes, like the Lakotas, lay claim to the Black Hills because of their sacred ties to these lands that are located in western South Dakota and extend into Wyoming. The Native American tribes that most commonly associate themselves with sacred claims to the Black Hills are the Lakotas, Cheyennes, Arapahos, Kiowas, Kiowa-Apaches, Madans and Arikaras. The Lakotas were the last tribe to occupy the land before the United States government seized it in 1877. A court ruling in 1980 ruled that the seizure of these lands was, in fact, illegal and awarded the Lakota tribe over $100 million dollars. The money was certainly no compensation for the loss of their sacred land, and the tribe denied the award. Understanding the reason behind the sacred ties to the Black Hills may help one to understand their outrage at the seizure of their beloved Pahá Sápa (which means Black Hills in Lakota) and the refusal to accept monetary compensation. The Lakota claim to the Black Hills goes deeper than the earth, trees and the natural properties of the land. The Lakota claim is more of a direct correlation between the Hills and the heavens above by “identifying several natural features in the black hills with constellations” (There are areas in the Black Hills that are mirror images of constellations). The idea of the constellations being related to these natural features is later explained:
“Each constellation was associated with one story in the Falling Star myth cycle. Ideally, people’s seasonal movements and retelling of the myths corresponded with these landscape features” (Sundstrom 179).
These so-called Falling Star myths were “associated…with the seven stars of the Big Dipper… the villages are thus both in the Black Hills and in the heavens” (Sundstrom).
The Lakotas viewed the land of the Black Hills as part of their oral, mythical traditions. The Lakotas believed that the Black Hills were part of a dual universe with the heavens, “wherein star people in the sky and humans on earth occupied analogous and sometimes interchangeable roles”. They also believe that “souls of the unborn and of the dead dwell among the stars” (Sundstrom 181). Having the land that they were so deeply rooted in through tradition pulled from their hands by the US government had to be not only a great defeat, but a true, heart-breaking experience for this group of people. The Cheyenne, Suhtai and Arapaho tribes have sacred ties to the Black Hills that differ from the ties made by the Lakotas. One example of these tribes’ sacred ties includes an area referred to as Bear Butte. This area “is the most sacred location in the traditional Cheyenne belief system… and was central to many Cheyenne beliefs and ceremonies…” Furthermore, it is believed that this area of the Hills is “a spirit lodge and that it is associated with sacred caves and the underground caverns where animal souls reside” (Sundstrom 182). There is a belief in the concept of sweat lodge (located within Bear Butte) that is a direct belief that the sweat lodge will renew and cleanse the spirit. Another tie comes from medicines that were brought by a Native American, Sweet Medicine, from the gods that reside in Bear Butte. These medicines given to the Cheyennes allowed for their prosperity. Though the ties to the Black Hills are very different for these tribes as compared to the Lakota, they are still deeply rooted in tradition.
Whether it be spiritual, cosmic, medicinal or practical, these Native American ties to the land are worth more than the monetary assessment made by the white intruders that invaded and took their sacred place.

Bibliography
Brown, Dee Alexander., and Hampton Sides. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: an Indian History of the American West. New York: Picador, 2007.
Hendrix, Burke A. “Memory in Native American Land Claims.”Political Theory , Vol. 33, No. 6 (Dec., 2005), pp. 763-785. Published by: Sage Publications, Inc.
Sundstrom, Linea. “Mirror of Heaven: Cross-Cultural Transference of the Sacred Geography of the Black Hills.” World Archaeology , Vol. 28, No. 2, Sacred Geography (Oct., 1996), pp. 177-189. Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.

Bibliography: Brown, Dee Alexander., and Hampton Sides. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: an Indian History of the American West. New York: Picador, 2007. Hendrix, Burke A. “Memory in Native American Land Claims.”Political Theory , Vol. 33, No. 6 (Dec., 2005), pp. 763-785. Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. Sundstrom, Linea. “Mirror of Heaven: Cross-Cultural Transference of the Sacred Geography of the Black Hills.” World Archaeology , Vol. 28, No. 2, Sacred Geography (Oct., 1996), pp. 177-189. Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.