At the heart of Lakota spiritual and cultural understanding lies the profound vision experienced by Nicholas Black Elk, an Oglala Sioux holy man. This pivotal event, which occurred when he was just nine years old, became the centerpiece of conversations between Black Elk and writer John Neihardt, ultimately culminating in Neihardt’s seminal 1932 novel, Black Elk Speaks. As the title suggests, this literary work served as the conduit through which Black Elk shared his life story, intertwining personal experiences with significant events and figures from Sioux history.
Black Elk Speaks functions as a valuable resource for those seeking to understand Lakota (Sioux) culture. It offers a window into traditional Lakota cultural, social, and religious practices, providing insights that might otherwise remain inaccessible. Black Elk is revered as one of the most profound religious thinkers to emerge from Native North America, making the novel particularly useful for its depiction of Lakota religion, most vividly portrayed through the recounting of his great vision.
Vision experiences are central to the sacred religion of the Lakota people. The content of a vision holds immense religious significance and is deeply connected to traditional religious beliefs. This article delves into Black Elk’s great vision, as presented in Black Elk Speaks, to facilitate a deeper interpretation of Lakota religion. This exploration focuses on the intricate relationship between religion, history, and the environment, providing a contextual understanding of the vision’s meaning.
However, analyzing a Native vision, or any aspect of Native American religion, is fraught with potential controversy. Native American religion, with its traditions and ceremonies, is traditionally considered sacred and is often kept private, away from those outside the tribal community. This secrecy is at the core of ongoing debates surrounding the academic study and instruction of these religions by non-Native Americans.
A central question in this debate is who, if anyone, should teach native religion in an academic setting? Both natives and non-natives have faced criticism for their involvement – non-natives for potential insensitivity and misrepresentation, and natives for potentially betraying tribal secrets. American Indians who choose to share their tribal religious knowledge with "outsiders" often face scrutiny, and Black Elk and his collaboration on the novel have been subject to this type of criticism.
Black Elk’s motivations for sharing his experiences with Neihardt stemmed not from a desire to betray his heritage, but rather from a desire to preserve "for future generations the religion, ceremonies, and philosophies of the Oglala Lakota." He hoped to leave behind a record of his people’s way of life.
Beyond his desire to document traditional Lakota life, Black Elk, in discussing his personal interpretation of his vision, sought to share the burden of unfulfilled prophecies with a kindred spirit. He felt a responsibility to understand and communicate the meaning of what he had seen.
Despite Black Elk’s noble intentions, it is essential to acknowledge that "Neihardt’s book stands as a work of art reflecting Neihardt’s impressions and understandings of the great holy man." The narrative is filtered through Neihardt’s lens, which adds a layer of interpretation to the original vision.
However, this does not invalidate the stories, histories, and religious visions that the novel contains. Despite ongoing discussions about its validity and appropriateness, the novel offers readers an account of Lakota religion, culture, and history. Black Elk Speaks remains a valuable interpretive tool, despite any potential discrepancies that may have arisen during the translation from Lakota to English or any artistic liberties taken by Neihardt.
Amidst these debates over Native American religion and the validity of the text, lies the very foundation of the novel – the interview between Neihardt and Black Elk. This interview took place at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, situated in the southwestern corner of South Dakota, approximately sixty-five miles east of the South Dakota-Wyoming state line. The reservation’s name, derived from the Lakota word Waziahanhan, directly references the physical environment, describing "rolling prairie land broken by white-faced buttes dotted with yellow pine."
The specificity of the Lakota language in describing their homeland demonstrates the profound connection between the people and their environment. However, the reservation, while located within the historical region of the Lakota, cannot truly be considered part of their original home environment. The ancestral homeland of the Sioux, or at least the region where they were first encountered by Europeans, was in Minnesota, within the upper Mississippi River valley. Around 1755, the Sioux migrated westward to the plains, specifically to the region surrounding the Black Hills, known as Paha Sapa.
The Black Hills, with their "anticipation of the Rocky Mountain Experience," are located primarily in southeastern South Dakota, between the Cheyenne and Belle Fourche rivers. Formed through a process of "unwarping of ancient rock" and "stream erosion," the Black Hills rise approximately 3,000 feet above the surrounding plains, reaching an elevation of 7,242 feet at their highest point, Harney Peak. The slopes are covered with ponderosa pine, juniper, northern spruce, and fir trees, which give them a dark or black appearance from a distance. This characteristic led the Sioux to call them Paha Sapa, translating to Black Hills. This is yet another link between Lakota language and environment.
Prior to the Lakota migration, the Black Hills were inhabited by the Crow, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Arapaho, and Mandan tribes. By the time of Black Elk’s vision in 1872, the Black Hills had become the sacred homeland of the Sioux.
Black Elk experienced his great vision at the young age of nine, which is approximately thirty years younger than the average age for vision seeking. While childhood visions are not uncommon among holy men, they are typically "not acted upon" until the individual reaches maturity.
There are two pathways for a Lakota to experience a vision, an integral aspect of Sioux religion. According to Lakota theology, humans, while part of nature, are "innately powerless." During times of crisis, they appeal to Wakan Tanka (the closest concept to the Christian God in Lakota religion) for pity and guidance, which often comes in the form of a vision.
In this instance, the Lakota is actively seeking a vision, an act known as hanbleceya. During hanbleceya, only the "worthy" receive a vision, which must then be interpreted by a holy man, or Wicasa Wakan.
However, a Lakota individual does not always need to embark on a vision quest to receive a vision. "When Wakan Tanka wishes one of mankind to do something he makes his wish known…in a vision."
This is precisely what occurred in the case of Black Elk’s vision. When viewed from this perspective, the vision becomes a prophecy, perhaps a warning of the death, destruction, and sorrow that the Sioux would endure in the years following 1872. The bleakness expressed in certain parts of the great vision holds historical relevance and significance.
In 1874, U.S. General George A. Custer discovered gold in the Black Hills. This discovery triggered an influx of white settlers, miners, and a growing military presence in the region. The U.S. government attempted to purchase the Black Hills from the Lakota nation for $6 million, but the Lakota refused. This refusal ignited the Sioux Wars, which lasted for approximately sixteen years.
The culmination of these conflicts, including the infamous Battle of Little Bighorn (1876), was the Battle of Wounded Knee (1890), which resulted in the massacre of Sioux women and children and the eventual removal of the Lakota nation from the Black Hills. The tragedy endured by the Lakota nation was foreshadowed in Symbolism of Black Elk’s Vision.
In the vision, during his encounter with the six grandfathers, the fourth grandfather foretells that the Lakota nation will walk down a "fearful road…of troubles and of war." Later, during his mystical journey, Black Elk witnesses men, women, and children dying in their tipis.
Beyond their historical significance, these scenes and others within the vision also hold religious meaning. While the vision is filled with complex images with religious and cultural importance to the Lakota, certain elements demand particular attention in any analysis of the vision’s significance. The recurring symbol of importance is the number four and its multiples. Throughout the vision, these numbers are prominent; for example, Black Elk initially sees four horses, and then twelve. The recurrence of the number four is not coincidental, as four is a sacred number in Oglala theology. According to Oglala religious beliefs, "the Great Spirit caused everything to be in fours, mankind should do everything possible in fours."
There are four cardinal directions: north, south, west, and east. There are four divisions of time: day, night, moon, and year. There are four stages in human life: babyhood, childhood, adulthood, and old age. And there are four kinds of gods: "the great, the associates of the great, the gods below them, and the spirit kind."
The traditional power structure of the Sioux tribe reflected this four-part logic. There was one supreme chief, advised by a council of warrior chiefs with slightly less power. This body of the Tezi Tanka, or "big bellies," elected seven lesser chiefs, who in turn selected four chiefs who "essentially controlled the camp."
The number seven, while not directly represented in Black Elk’s great vision, is also a sacred number for the Lakota. In fact, the Lakota originally referred to themselves as the Seven Fireplaces.
Twenty-eight, the product of four and seven, is also a sacred number. There are twenty-eight days in a Lakota month, based on the moon’s cycle. Buffalo have twenty-eight ribs, and a Lakota war bonnet has twenty-eight feathers.
Here, the connection between Lakota religion, their environment, and their culture becomes undeniably clear.
Black Elk’s vision further illustrates this relationship through its consistent references to environmental factors: weather conditions, flora, fauna, and color. In Lakota theology, weather conditions such as wind, rain, thunder, and hail—all of which are present in the vision—are manifestations of the powers of the gods. Both thunderstorms and wind were created by the four supreme gods of the Lakota. Inyan, god of "all mountains, rocks, and high hills," created thunderstorms, with Wakinyan as his messenger. Skan, the "source of all power and all spirit," created wind, with Tate as his messenger, and also created the stars to provide Tate with light during the night.
In fact, all aspects of the environment illustrate the interconnectedness between Lakota religion and nature. Like the wind and thunderstorms, all aspects of nature were created by the Lakota gods. In this way, humans and their environment are intertwined and related, fostering a mutual respect for one another as a result of their shared connection to the gods and their common origin.
Color is another significant indicator of the Lakota gods’ connection to nature that plays a vital role in the vision. In the Lakota creation myth, the four principal gods are assigned colors: yellow, green, red, and blue. These colors, along with black, white, and brown, are present throughout Symbolism of Black Elk’s Vision. The horses in the vision represent the colors red (sorrel), white, brown (bay), black, and yellow (buckskin); blue and green are also represented. The colors black, red, yellow, and white—the colors of the primary groups of horses in the vision—are perhaps the most important in Lakota religion, as they are associated with the four directions.
Black, the color of the west, represents war and confrontation. Red, representing law and control, is associated with the north. White, the color of renewal and spirit, is linked to the east. Finally, yellow, associated with unity and quiet, is the color of the south.
The theme of unity is arguably the most crucial message within Black Elk’s vision, and it is also strongly connected to Lakota religion. As mentioned earlier, the Lakota nation, because of their religious beliefs, emphasized the interconnectedness of all things. This bond linked humans with animals and humans with each other. The Lakota nation’s strong kinship system forms the base of their social structure, founded on respect for elders and the interrelationship of all tribe members. This is emphasized in Symbolism of Black Elk’s Vision, as Black Elk learns spiritual secrets from men referred to as "grandfathers," although their actual kinship relationship, in Western terms, is unknown.
Along these lines, in Lakota religion, Wakan Tanka is sometimes addressed as Ate Wakan Tanka, or grandfather Wakan Tanka, and the environmental manifestations of the god’s power are referred to as mother or father.
The unity and strong interrelationships of the Lakota people are also evident in their use of the circle formation and imagery, a symbol strongly utilized in the vision. The circle symbolizes unity and social solidarity and is therefore the formation of the Lakota camp. The space within the camp circle, or sacred hoop (cangleska wakan), is the hocoka, a space where everything is "safe, knowledgeable, auspicious," and "irrefutably Oglala." Outside the sacred hoop, on the other hand, lies a world filled with "enemies…evil spirits, and later the white man."
The worlds on either side of the sacred hoop were irreconcilable, and the destruction of the sacred hoop would result in the mixing of the two worlds and the ultimate destruction of the hocoka. This, in essence, is what occurred with the end of the Sioux Wars, and it is also what occurred in the vision when Black Elk witnessed the destruction of his tribe.
However, this destruction of the sacred hoop, and thus the Lakota, was not the final image of Black Elk’s great vision. After the destruction of his people, Black Elk’s grandfathers bestowed upon him the tools and knowledge necessary for the reconstruction of the sacred hoop and therefore the revitalization of the Lakota nation: "Give them…the flowering stick that they may flourish, and the sacred pipe that they may know the power that is peace, and the wing of the white giant that they may have endurance and face all winds with courage."
The vision takes the unity of the Lakota one step further, prophesying a pan-Indianism, or potentially even a pan-humanism, oneness: "I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that made one circle…it was holy."
Black Elk’s vision, therefore, remained ultimately unfulfilled during his lifetime, as the unity and revitalization of the Lakota nation, or humankind for that matter, had not yet occurred. The pan-Indian movement that culminated in the 1970s with the second Battle of Wounded Knee was perhaps an attempt at fulfilling Black Elk’s vision, but it ultimately failed.
Regardless of its unfulfillment, the great vision of Black Elk holds significant importance for Lakota history, even if its historical accuracy and worth are questioned. The vision, as recounted in Black Elk Speaks, is significant because its recording provides documentation of Lakota life, culture, and religion. Through the interpretation of Symbolism of Black Elk’s Vision, aspects of Lakota religion are illuminated – aspects traditionally kept as sacred secrets. Once parts of Lakota religion are revealed and examined, the link between Lakota religion, culture, and environment becomes clear.
This was the purpose of this article, and while it may be an analytical exercise, one perhaps too analytical for a subject as personal and emotional as religion, it is useful nonetheless. As Black Elk’s ultimate purpose was to impart information about the Sioux to future generations in an attempt to create an extended sacred hoop, his vision must be studied from all perspectives.
AUTHOR: Mariama Diao