Indian_Civilization

INTRODUCTION The American Indians have a very special relation with the nature, his house and his gods, and they venerate everything, what exists in the ground (Animals, plants, rocks, air, etc.) and out of her (stars, the Sun, moon, etc.). Our objective is to relate the education and the credence of the American Indians to the nature, taking as example the Sioux. [pic] Picture 1. Indian’s hunters. All the American Indians lived in harmony and balance with the nature for 20000 years. His ideal was to take of the nature the just and necessary thing for his survival, only satisfying his basic needs. They were looking for a sustainable development of the ecosystems. When the development of the resources of a zone was excessive, they moved allowing the regeneration of the affected zone. The Sioux are the set of Indian American peoples, belonging from same linguistic family of the same name, which they were living in the big flatness of the centre of North America, in the Atlantic region and in the low Mississippi. Picture 2. Woman fishing. Apparently the peoples Sioux were established, before arrival of the Europeans, in the region of the rivers Ohio, Illinois and high Mississippi. They emigrated towards Occident in four waves, which determined deep linguistic differences, accentuated by the existing separation between the tribes of the Atlantic Ocean and those of the Mississippi. Picture 3. Indian’s cemetery. The Sioux were practising the agriculture, but they were modifying his genre of life adopting that of the nomadic hunters; first they practised the hunting with help of the dogs and then they learned to mount the horses. They were exiled and annihilated in his great majority during good part of the XIXth century by the white colonists. [pic] Picture 4. Sioux distribution. SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF THE EDUCATION SIUX The studies about aboriginal cultures prove that the Conduction and the Development of Human resources has been a worry tied to the survival of the men of all the times. In case of the Indians Sioux, for example, the hunt and the defence were constituted his central activities. The whole rest was turning out to be to them clearly secondary. Therefore, his Politics of Development had a precise objective and a limited time. Inside the twelve to fourteen years of been born a male, they had to achieve that it was reaching the skills and own knowledge of the hunters - warriors. His work was passing along three phases. When the child was coming to the stage in which it could realize and coordinate voluntary movements, the father or the adult who will turn out to be his instructor, it was providing him with an arch and arrows adapted to his dimensions and to his force. From there it began the training up to achieving his finished domain, opportunity in which they were going out to do the hunt of the mouse. When the child was bringing his first prey, the whole family was entertaining it, was pleasing it and was encouraging it to continue developing his aptitudes. From this ceremony, the second phase was going off. With an arch and arrows more powerful and more difficult to handle, it began a new period of training that was culminating with the hunt of the deer and a similar reception on having finished the test. The third phase was asking from the weapon of the future hunter - warrior and was coming to his end when the young man was returning with his first bison to the village and was celebrated as new adult member of the tribe, now already with all his obligations and rights. Picture 5. Indian hunts. We can classify the essential in Sioux education in seven main points. They are interesting to compare with our modern theories of Management. These are: 1) The Sense of purpose. None of the beginners knew the purpose for the one that was being educated and the direct relation that this one was supporting with the success or the defeat in the life that was having him to live. 2) The absence of shameful actions. What the instructors were stimulating was the pride for the achievement, and the capacity of achievement was directly tied to the possibility of belonging. Undoubtedly these Indians did not want to generate insecure men of yes same, lacking in pride, suffered and with a weak person felt of commitment with his tribe. For it they were avoiding to make them feel like useless when still they could not handle a warrior's arch and, in consequence, the tool offered always to learn was supporting relation with his real possibilities of domain. Nevertheless, this does not mean that there did not exist potentially shameful situations that were threatening whom, for idleness, they were not devoting themselves to develop to yes same. But still in these cases it was not the humiliation of the trainer the one that was contributing a limit. The tool was much more powerful because it was consisting of the sanction of the whole social group for with whom he was not compromising himself with his principles and his valour. 3) The tutorship. The reference of a human being who was enabling the learning was and it continues being indispensable. The personal initiative is basic, the academic knowledge is more and more necessary, but the transmission of experience and the support during the concrete action they do and they will always do the great difference - even if the beginner overcomes and finally it contradicts the educations of the teacher-. 4) The division of the learning process in stages. It turns out much more encouraging to know the intermediate targets and his relative value in the way towards the final target, that to propose a long way without scales to everything or nothing. 5) The relative evaluation. The Sioux were not considering to be more valuable to hunt a bison that a mouse. The evaluation was related to the capacities of the subject that realized the action. Hereby they were preventing a Beginner from considering his relative successes to be humiliating opposite to the successes of the strongest and experienced. And, especially, it was putting in ridiculous who humiliate the most inexpert for such reasons 6) The social celebration of the personal successes. All success in the process of development was considered to be a contribution to the social body of the tribe. By it was feasted and he was taking advantage of the opportunity to reinforce the commitment with the common goals and to reaffirm the interpersonal allegiances. 7) The care of the regard of the individual. The faith in yes it was, without doubts, indispensable when it was necessary to take decisions that often were implying the difference between the life and the death. To assure his strengthening not only they were avoiding embarrassed the Beginners but they were not also granting awards that they did not have to see with clear, concrete achievements and previously agreed by consensus. Hereby they were not giving place to the personal favours that spoil the faith in us themselves so much or more than the humiliations. The movement in spiral of the history does that in our days gain, the development and the care of the Strategic Human resource are so critical factors again for the success of our companies as they it were then for the permanence of the tribes Sioux. This coincidence makes me think if the same principles are not valid also today to produce the development, the confidence and the commitment that we say to need. The nation Sioux they were concerning for them because they knew that his survival in the long term was depending on them. SYMBOLISM Natural Beings The Earth (Makha) The Earth is considered under two aspects, that of Mother and Grandmother. The former is the earth considered as the producer of all growing forms, in act, whereas Grandmother refers to the ground or substance of all growing things —potentiality. Joseph Epes Brown The Earth is sacred, for upon Her we place our feet, and from Her we send our voices to Wakan Tanka. She is a relative of ours. Black Elk The Sun (Wiyo ate) The light of the sun enlightens the entire universe, and as the flames of the sun come to us in the morning, so comes the grace of Wakan Tanka, by which all creatures are enlightened. It is because of this that the four-leggeds and the wingeds always rejoice at the coming of the light. We can all see in the day, and this seeing is sacred for it represents the sight of that real world which we may have through the eye of the heart. Black Elk The Moon (Hanhepi wi) The growing and dying of the moon reminds us of our ignorance, which comes, and goes; but when the moon is full it is as if the eternal light of the Great Spirit were upon the whole world. Black Elk The moon represents a person and also all things, for everything created waxes and wanes, lives and dies. Black Elk The Stars (Wichahpi) The stars are wakan. Sometimes they come to the world and sometimes the Lakotas go to them. There is one star for the evening and one for the morning. One star never moves and is wakan. Other stars move in a circle about it. They are dancing in the dance circle. There are seven stars. This is why there are seven council fires among the Lakotas. The Spirit Way is among the stars. It begins at the edge of the world. No man can find it. Wakan Tanka keeps the bad spirits away from the Spirit Way. Ringing Shield The Morning Star stands between the darkness and the light, and represents knowledge. Black Elk The Night (Hanhepi) The night represents ignorance, but it is the moon and the stars that bring the Light of Wakan Tanka into this darkness. Black Elk The Tree (Chan) The tree represents the way of the people. Does it not stretch from the earth here to heaven there' Black Elk You are a kind and good-looking tree. Upon your the winged peoples have raised their families; from the tip of your lofty branches down to your roots, the winged and four-legged peoples have made their homes. When you stand at the centre of the sacred hoop you are as the people, and you are as the pipe, stretching from heaven to earth. The weak lean upon you, and for all the people you are a support. May we two-leggeds always follow your sacred example, for we see that you are always looking upwards into the heavens. Black Elk We consider the cottonwood very sacred, because long ago it was the cottonwood who taught us how to make our tipis, for the leaf of the tree is an exact pattern of the tipi, and this we learned when some of our old men were watching little children making play houses from these leaves. (This too is a good example of how much grown men may learn from very little children, for the hearts of little children are pure, and therefore the Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss.) Another reason is that if you cut an upper limb of this tree crosswise, there you will see in the grain a perfect five-pointed star, which to us represents the presence of the Great Spirit. Also, even in the lightest breeze you can hear the voice of the cottonwood tree. This we understand is its prayer to the Great Spirit, for not only men, but all things and all beings pray to Him continually in differing ways. Black Elk The Fire (Peta) The fire represents the great power of Wakan Tanka, which gives life to all things. It is as a ray from the sun. Black Elk The Rocks (Inyan) The rocks that we use represent Grandmother Earth, from whom all fruits come, and they also represent the indestructible and everlasting nature of Wakan Tanka. Black Elk O you ancient rocks who are sacred, you have neither ears nor eyes, yet you hear and see all things. Black Elk The Eagle (Wanbli) Since Wambli Galeska flies the highest of all creatures and sees everything, he is regarded as Wakan Tanka under certain aspects. He is a solar bird, his feathers being regarded as rays of the sun, and when one is carried or worn by the Indian it represents, or rather is, the "Real Presence". In wearing eagle-feathered "war-bonnet", the wearer actually becomes the eagle, which is to say that he identifies himself, his real Self, with Wakan Tanka. The Spotted Eagle corresponds exactly, in the Hindu tradition, to the Buddhi, which is the Intellect, or the formless and transcendant principle of all manifestation. Further, the Buddhi is often expressed as being a ray directly emanating from the Atma, the spiritual sun. From this it should be clear what is really being expressed in the often misunderstood Ghost Dance song: "Wambli Galeska wana in he o who e", "The Spotted Eagle is coming to carry me away." Joseph Epes Brown The Buffalo (Tatanka) Tatanka represents the people and the universe and should always be treated with respect, for was he not here before the two-legged peoples, and is he not generous in that he gives us our homes and our food' Black Elk The buffalo was to the Sioux the most important of all four-legged animals, for it supplied their food, their clothing, and even their houses, which were made from the tanned hides. Because the buffalo contained all these things within himself, and for many other reasons, he was a natural symbol of the universe, the totality of all manifested forms. Everything is symbolically contained within this animal: the earth and all that grows from her, all animals, and even the two-legged peoples; and each specific part of the beast represents for the Indian, one of these "parts" of creation. Also the buffalo has four legs, and these represent the four ages, which are an integral condition of creation. Joseph Epes Brown Tatanka is the closest four-legged relative that we have. Black Elk The buffalo teaches us honesty, kindness, sharing, and courage. It has been told that the buffalo gives all of itself to us, not just the meat, but every part is given to help us live. He was so kind to give himself. He was sharing. He had the courage to give himself. Every part of the buffalo teaches us something. The skull looks like a woman's reproductive organs. That's why it is used to represent life. It is our altar. Gary Holy Bull The hair of a live buffalo is very wakan because it has been taken off a living tree, for you see, the buffalo people too, have a religion, and this is their offering, which they have made to the tree. Black Elk The buffalo bladder is, for many peoples, as sacred as our pipe, for it also may contain the whole universe. Black Elk Sage (Peju ota) The spirit in the smoke of the sage is very offensive to all evil beings and they will fly from it. They even fear the herb of sage and will not stay where it is. So if anyone carries sage, or keeps it near, the evil beings fear to come near such a one. George Sword To wear a wreath of sage upon our heads is a sign that our minds and hearts are close to Wakan Tanka and His Powers, for the wreath represents the things of the heavens -the stars and planets, which are very mysterious and wakan. Black Elk Cedar (Hante) If a Lakota is doing a ceremony relative to Wakinyan, he should make an incense of the leaves of the cedar tree. This is because the cedar tree is the favorite of Wakinyan, and he never strikes it with lightning. The smell of the smoke of the cedar is pleasing to him. When a thunderstorm is coming, one should make an incense of cedar leaves to propitiate Wakinyan. George Sword Sweetgrass (Wachaga) In all ceremonies that have to do with Wakan Tanka, after smoking the pipe an incense of sweetgrass should be made. This is because the spirit that is in the smoke of sweetgrass is pleasing to Wakan Tanka, and will incline Him to hear the ceremony with favour. The incense is also distasteful to all evil beings and thwarts their powers. George Sword Corn (Wagmiza) The ear of corn that you see here has twelve important meanings connected with it, for there are twelve rows of kernels, which it receives from the various powers of the universe. The tassel, which grows upon the top of the ear of corn, represents the presence of the Great Spirit, for, as the pollen from the tassel spreads all over, giving life, so it is with Wakan Tanka, who gives life to all things. The swinging of the corn-stalks is very wakan, for it represents the corn when the breath of the Great Spirit is upon it, since, when the wind blows, the pollen drops from the tassel upon the silk surrounding the ear, through which the fruit becomes mature and fertile. Black Elk The Rabbit (Mashtincala) The rabbit represents humility, because he is quiet and soft and not self-asserting. Black Elk [pic] Picture 6. Indian warriors. Chief Seattle’s Message (1854) Non-violence did not appear in this land with the arrival of European immigrants. Native Americans had a reverence for life, respected human dignity, and understood the interconnection of all things to an extent that has yet to be surpassed. The genocide perpetuated by the united States on the Indian tribes and cultures - a pattern which still continues today - remains one of the most thorough indictments of white civilization. In 1854, Chief Seattle, leader of the Suquamish tribe in the Washington territory, delivered this prophetic speech to mark the transferral of ancestral Indian lands to the federal government. [pic] Picture 7. Chief Seattle. The Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. The Great Chief also sends us words of friendship and good Will. This is kind of him, since we know he has little need of our friendship in return. But we will consider your offer. For we know that if we do not sell, the white man may come with guns and take our land. How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land' The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them' Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap, which courses through the trees caries the memories of the red man. The white man's dead forget the country of their birth when they go to walk among the stars. Our dead never forget this beautiful earth, for it is the mother of the red man. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters; the deer, the horse, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony, and man -- all belong to the same family. So, when the Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land, he asks much of us. So, the Great Chief sends word he will reserve us a place so that we can live comfortably to ourselves. He wills he our father and we will be his children. So we will consider your offer to buy our land. But it will not be easy. For this land is sacred to us. This shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you land, you must remember that it is sacred, and you must teach your children that it is sacred, and that each ghostly reflection in the clear water of the lake tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my fathers father. The rivers are our brothers, they quench our thirst. The rivers carry our canoes, and feed our children. If we sell you our land, you must remember, and teach your children, that the rivers are our brothers, and yours, and you must henceforth give the rivers the kindness you would give any brother. The red man has always retreated before the advancing White man, as the mist of the mountain runs before the morning sun. But the ashes of our fathers are sacred. Their graves are holy ground, and so these hills, these trees, this portion of earth is consecrated to us. We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on. He leaves his fathers graves behind, and he does not care. He kidnaps the earth from his children. He does not care. His fathers graves and his children's birthright are forgotten. He treats his mother the earth, and his brother, the sky as things to be bought, plundered, sold like sheep or bright heads. His appetite will devour the earth and leave behind only a desert. I do not know. Our ways are different from your ways. The sight of your cities pains the eyes of the red man. But perhaps it is because the red man is a savage and does not understand. There is no quiet place in the white man's cities. No place to hear the unfurling of leaves in spring or the rustle of insects' wings. But perhaps it is because I am a savage and do not understand. The clatter only seems to insult the ears. And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lonely cry of the whippoorwill or the arguments of the frogs around a pond at night' I am a red man and do not understand. The Indian prefers the soft sound of the wind darting over the face of a pond, and the smell of the wind itself, cleansed by a midday rain, or scented with the pinon pine. The air is precious to the red man, for all things share the same breath -- the beast, the tree, the man, they all share the same breath. The white man does not seem to notice the air he breathes, like a man dying for many days, he is numb to the stench. But if we sell you our land, you must remember that the air is precious to us that the air shares its Spirit with all life it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh. And the wind must also give our children the spirit of life. And if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where even the white man can go to take the wind that is sweetened by the meadow's flowers. So we will consider your offer to buy our land. If we decide to accept, I will rank one condition: The white man must treat the beasts of this land as his brothers. I am a savage and do not understand any other way. I have seen a thousand rotting buffaloes on the prairie, left by the white man who shot them from a passing train. I am a savage and I do not understand how the smoking iron horse can be more important than the buffalo that we kill only to stay alive. What is man without the beasts' If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected. You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ash of our grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit upon the ground they spit upon themselves. This we know. The earth does not belong to man. man belongs to the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood, which unites one family, all things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. But we will consider your offer to go to the reservation you have for my; People. We will live apart, and in peace. It matters little where we spend the rest of our days. Our children have seen their fathers humbled in defeat. Our warriors have felt shame, and after defeat they turn their days in idleness and contaminate their bodies with sweet foods and strong drink. It matters little where we pass the rest of our days. They are not many. A few more hours, a few more winters, and none of the children of the great tribes that once lived on this earth or that roam now in small bands in the woods will be left to mourn the graves of a people once as powerful and hopeful as yours. But why should I mourn the passing of my people' Tribes are made of men, nothing more. Men come and go like the waves of the sea. Even the White man, whose God walks and talks with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all; we shall see. One thing we know, which the white man may one day discover: our God is the same God. You may think now that you own him as you wish to own our land; but you cannot. He is the God of man, and his compassion is equal for the red man and the white. This earth is precious to him, and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator. The white too shall pass; perhaps sooner than all other tribes. Continue to contaminate your bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste. But in your perishing you will shine brightly, fired by the strength of the God who brought you to this Land and for some special purpose gave you dominion over this Land and over the red man. That destiny is a mystery to us, for we do not understand when the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses are tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with the scent of many men, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires. Where is the thicket' Gone. Where is the eagle gone. And what is it to say goodbye to the swift pony and the hunt' The end of living and the beginning of survival. So we will consider your offer to buy our land. If we agree, it will be to secure the reservation you have promised. There, perhaps, we may live out our brief days as we wish. When the last red man has vanished from this earth, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, these shores and forests will still hold the spirits of my people. For they love this earth as the newborn loves its mother's heartbeat. So if we sell you our land, love it as we've loved it. Care for it as we’ve cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the Land as it is when you take it. And with all your strength, with all your mind, with all your heart, preserve it for your children. and love it . . . as God loves us all. One thing we know. Our God is the same God. This earth is precious to him. Even the white man cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We shall see. BIBLIOGRAPHY Spence, L., Indios de Norteamérica, Edimat Libros, 2000. Curtis, E. S., Los beduinos de América, La pipa sagrada, 1998. Brown, J. E. & Alce Negro, La pipa sagrada, Miraguano S.A. Ediciones, 2003. Jefe Seattle, Nosotros somos una parte de la tierra, Hesperus, 1997. www.temakel.com/textmitgranvision.htm www.paniego.com.ar www.editorialjuventud.es http://perso.wanadoo.es/miguelpou/homenaje_a_la_fauna.htm www.fabiozerpa.com/CEIA