North American Indians.

'You ask me to plough the ground! Shall I take a knife and tear my mother�s bosom?

Then when I die she will not take me to her bosom to rest.

You ask me to dig for stone! Shall I dig under her skin for her bones?

Then when I die I cannot enter her body to be born again'...

The Nomadic Indians:

Although some Indian tribes had become sedentary by the time of the European arrival, many tribes, in particular the plains Indians, still followed a nomadic lifestyle, following the seasons and the availability of food. This meant that they had to pack up the belongings of whole tribe several times a year and travel until they found more abundant sources. In particular, they followed the buffalo herds which they depended on and which also migrated according to the seasons. Until the arrival of the Spanish with their horses, this was carried out manually and on foot (apart from using dogs to pull the travois), making it an important and integral part of the Indian lifestyle. Since a large surplus of supplies cannot be kept if one wanders continuously, nomadic tribes face many challenges and must by necessity lead very simple, efficient lives in order to survive.

The nomadic lifestyle is often suggested to have kept the Indian population in check, and lies at the heart of the Indian philosophy of 'Wakan Tanka', the great spirit and provider, as without agriculture or the development of the infrastructure provided by towns, cities, roads, or industry, they remained dependant on natures harvest for their survival. There are still an estimated 30 - 40 million nomadic peoples in the world today. (9)

Indian Healing and Medicine:

Attempting to describe the whole spectrum of American Indian healing methods in a few words is an almost impossible task. Put simplistically, there are two main belief systems that were adopted by the Indians in their healing practices: The first is seen primarily amongst the Plains groups, where healing power was a characteristic that individuals obtained through personal 'shamanic' experiences, such as in encounters with animal spirit helpers. The well-known "vision quest" is a manifestation of this principle. The success of a healer in this context is based in large part, on personal power obtained through direct encounters with sacred powers. In contrast, Woodlands groups associate power, including the ability to heal, with possession of esoteric knowledge that exists outside the experience of the individual. (7)

These differences are illustrated by the fact that animals are the source of healing power on the Plains, where healers were often identified on the basis of their animal helpers, for instance, as an "eagle doctor." By contrast, among Woodland peoples, the spirits of animals were often considered the source of illness, with specific plants being created with the power to cure such animal illnesses, a belief that was confirmed with the arrival of Europeans who brought with them a variety of diseases including the introduction of the ailments of contemporary life, such as diabetes, cancer, and heart disease since the medicine of their ancestors did not have to cope with these ailments.

In their training, Woodland healers were taught how to diagnose illness and which plants to use to counter them. These healers also learnt procedures, rituals, and songs that activated the curing power of plants. Woodland medicine and the knowledge to use it was not discovered anew by spiritually powerful practitioners but was considered to have been provided to tribal ancestors by the Creator in the ancient past and subsequently handed down across the generations.

(More about Herb-Lore)

The common characteristic to all tribal and regional American Indian medicine traditions is that they were founded on an ecological basis. In Native America, wild plants were of fundamental importance in medicine, and the species distribution greatly influenced the content of medicinal repertoires. This impact was significant for changes wrought by the forced migration of Indian tribes to unfamiliar environments which meant that many of the traditionally known medical plants were unavailable in new homelands. This process contributed greatly to the demise of the Indians who were suspicious of the 'White-man's medicine', and therefore found themselves bereft of any substantial form of medicinal treatment.

(More about Shamanism)

The Reintroduction of the Horse:

The early American horse had been game for the earliest humans on the continent. They are believed to have been hunted to extinction about 7,000 BC, just after the end of the last glacial period. In the 16th century, Spaniards and other Europeans brought horses to Mexico. During this process horses invariable escaped and began to breed until their numbers increased in the wild.

The reintroduction of the horse to north America had a profound impact on Native American culture of the Great Plains. It allowed them primarily to extend their nomadic ranges for hunting. They trained and used horses to ride and to carry packs or pull travois. The people fully incorporated the use of horses into their societies and expanded their territories. They used horses to carry goods for exchange with neighbouring tribes, to hunt game, especially bison, and to conduct wars and horse raids.

Indians and Buffalo:

The buffalo was used an essential part of the Indian way of life, so much so that the Sioux believed that the Buffalo was the physical manifestation of the wisdom and generosity of the great spirit 'Wakan Tanka'. It was used in everything from religious rituals to building theirs tepee. In fact just about every part of the buffalo was used:

The Mandan Tribe used the Skull as a religious altar, the horns were carved into cups, spoons and ladles. The teeth were used for tools and decoration and were used in ceremonial rattles. The Cheyenne used their brains to treat leather. Bones were made into knives, arrowheads, sleds, clubs. Hides became Tepee covers, clothes, shoes, bags and arrow quivers, The Lakota nations used the hair to stuff pillows, headdresses and to weave rope. The tongue, heart and liver were eaten right away. Muscle was cut into strips and preserved as Jerky. The four-chambered heart was formed into buckets, cups and pots. Kiowa hunters used sinews as bowstring. Tails were used as whips and brushes. Fat was used in soap, cooking oil and candles. Hooves were boiled down for glue. Dung was dried and burnt as fuel.

Over 60 million buffalo roamed the Americas at the turn of the 19th century, even though the Indians had successfully hunted them for millennia. By 1910 only 5,000 survived.

The recognition of the inter-dependence of the Indians on Buffalo led to the following comments being made in congress: In 1874, Secretary of the Interior Delano testified before Congress, "The buffalo are disappearing rapidly, but not faster than I desire. I regard the destruction of such game as Indians subsist upon as facilitating the policy of the Government, of destroying their hunting habits, coercing them on reservations, and compelling them to begin to adopt the habits of civilization." (The Military and United States Indian Policy, p. 171) Two years later, reporter John F. Finerty wrote that the government's Indian allies "killed the animals in sheer wantonness, and when reproached by the officers said: �better kill buffalo than have him feed the Sioux.'" Although Sheridan added that "If I could learn that every buffalo in the the northern herd were killed I would be glad" (8)

Left: Buffalo hunter, seated on a �rick� of 40,000 Buffalo hides in 1878. Right: Bison skulls to be ground into fertilizer at around 1870

The Black Hills. (Paha Sapa)

The Black hills, or 'Paha Sapa' were considered the sacred heart of the Indian nations. At over 65 million years in age, they are also the oldest mountainous region in the nation. In 1923, Doane Robinson, the aging superintendent of the South Dakota State Historical Society, had a vision of a massive mountain memorial carved from stone so large it would put South Dakota on the map. Robinson told all who would listen of his dream of giant statues of Western figures such as Chief Red Cloud, Buffalo Bill Cody, Lewis and Clark, and legendary Sioux warriors marching along South Dakota's skyline. Robinson spoke to local organizations and wrote letter upon letter. By the time congress had agreed to the monument, and under pressure from the sculptor, Glutzon Borglum, it had been decided that the sculpture should represent four renowned American Presidents. The work occurred on and off between 1927 and 1941 and was finished by his son following his death.