Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
In Lakota spirituality, Wakan Tanka (Standard Lakota Orthography: Wakȟáŋ Tȟáŋka) is the term for the sacred or the divine. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] This is usually translated as the " Great Spirit " and occasionally as "Great Mystery".
From 1640, Europeans referred to the Oceti Šakowin as the Sioux, a term borrowed from the Ojibwe, in whose language it was a pejorative word meaning "lesser, or small, adder." [ 372 ] The Oceti Šakowin spoke three mutually intelligible dialects of what came to be called the Sioux language: Dakota, Nakota, and Lakota. [ 372 ]
In the Lakota tradition, the Great Spirit is known as Wakan Tanka. [1] [2] According to Lakota activist Russell Means, a more semantically accurate translation of Wakan Tanka is the Great Mystery. [3] Often, Lakota language prayers begin with the phrase “Tunkasila”, which translates to “grandfather, Great Spirit.” [4]
According to Lakota belief, Inyan (Rock), was present at the very beginning, and so was the omnipresent spirit Wakan Tanka, the Great Mystery, and the darkness Han.Inyan wanted to exercise his powers, or compassion, so he created Maka (the Earth) as part of himself to keep control of his powers.
Though Black Hawk has been described as a medicine man, Berlo notes: "The term medicine man is rather a simplisitic designation for a variety of ritual specialists". [1]: 9 The creator of the Lakota universe is referred to as Wakan Tanka meaning "Great Spirit." Lakota holy men are thought to have a greater connection to this force.
The term Dakota has also been applied by anthropologists and governmental departments to refer to all Sioux groups, resulting in names such as Teton Dakota, Santee Dakota, etc. This was mainly because of the misrepresented translation of the Ottawa word from which Sioux is derived.
Wakan may refer to: Wakan, Oman, a village in Oman; Wakan, meaning "powerful" or "sacred" in the Lakota language; Wakan, the original Dakota name for the Rum River of Minnesota; Wakan Tanka (variant name), the "Great Spirit," "sacred" or the "divine" as understood by the Lakota people; A Japanese word (和館, lit. "Japan hall/building") used ...
He worked among the Dakota Sioux for the remainder of his life, producing a grammar and dictionary [2] and a translation of the New Testament [3] In his autobiography Mary and I, or Forty Years with the Sioux, Riggs describes his life. [4] In 1862, he served as interpreter at the trials of the Sioux Uprising. He died in Beloit, Wisconsin. [1]