Learning About The Lakota Culture

By Ruth Ross


One of the main things that you will hear people talk about whenever they mention this group of people is the fact that their stories are passed down orally without many exceptions. This is something that people in the Lakota culture take very seriously, and it is easy to understand that when you've grown up around people your whole life who do things this way, you're going to follow that same tradition. You have probably heard of or even seen this tradition in action when an elder or a group of elders are telling the younger people a story so that they can learn it and one day pass it on to their children, and that is how the oral tradition perpetuates itself for as long as the people who tell the stories are around for.

When settlers were coming to North America from Europe, they were not exactly sure what to do about all the troublesome people who already lived on this land and were very different from them. One of the ways that these Europeans tried to cope, besides just committing mass genocides, was to try to force these Native Americans to abandon their own traditional ways and start doing things the European way, which they considered civilized. In the process of doing this, they ended up destroying a lot of beautiful artifacts and traditions.

This is something that has lasted a long time. It is still alive to this very day, in fact, which is something that the people who are still living and teaching this lifestyle are certainly quite proud of. This is just a merit of how effective their oral tradition is, and that is why the people who carry it on are so serious about continuing it and not deviating from what their ancestors have done.

Traditionally, one of the best times to hear these types of stories is in the wintertime. This is mainly because there is not a lot else to do in the winter. It is too cold to work or play outside, so most of the time people would be huddled around the fire telling stories of the past.

The key to having an oral tradition is that you repeat the same stories time and time again. That way, all of the tiniest details of the tale will sink into the memories of the young ones. This is essential for the stories to be properly passed down, otherwise, their histories and legends might degenerate or mutate over time.

One of the older ways that these people would record a year in the life is with pictorial diagrams. Unfortunately, this was one of the many things that were destroyed by European settlers. It just goes to show how traditions other than oral ones are more vulnerable.

An amazing thing about the stories of these people is that they have been keeping track of their histories and beliefs as far back as their people go. This means they can have some pretty hard-to-find historical information. It is interesting to hear things from their perspective.

According to their many stories, these people came into this world via a range of hills. The first people to arrive were turned into buffalo. After hearing this, you'll probably never look at that animal the same way again.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment