Title: Medicine is sacred /
Authors: Niese, Henry,
Year: 2014
Subjects: Indians of North America Religion.; Indians of North America Rites and ceremonies.; Spiritual life
Abstract: Anyone seeking to understand the deeper meaning of the Sioux Nation Sundance{u2014}which centers on the most sacred piercing ritual in the Native world{u2014}will find revelation and guidance here. Henry Niese, who is entering his ninetieth year, provides a soulful testimony to the rigors and rewards of this sacred practice. He escorts the reader through a host of healing ceremonies, where the supernatural occurs as readily as the natural, including the miraculous revival of a dying newborn child, and a cancer cure through a Sundancer's sacrifice. The work concludes with observations on the role of the sacred path in everyday life, and how a non- linear perspective{u2014}a Native American way of seeing the world{u2014}may shake our very foundations. Henry Niese brings to the reader a unique experience, an insider's view of the sacred as well as the ordinary day-to-day life in Indian country. --Provided by publisher.
Contents: 1. Ground-Flattening and Give-Away -- 2. Big Crow Ceremony -- 3. "Something Grabbed Me" -- 4. Arthur's Place -- 5. Sitting Bull Was Sad -- 6. Saving Sean -- 7. Red Clay Floor -- 8. Red and Green Smoke -- 9. Tipi Tom -- 10. Black-Tail Mystery -- 11. "That Owl Saved Your Life!" -- 12. Uncle's Prophecy: The First Eagle Voice Sundance -- 13. The Cherokee Camp -- 14. Moses Big Crow and the Sacred Pipe -- 15. How the Maiden Brought the Pipe -- 16. Yuwipi/Lowanpi Moses' Ceremony