88 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



THE SIOUX MYTHOLOGY. 



Bt Dr. CHARLES A. EASTMAN. 



THE tendency of the uncivilized and untutored mind is to rec- 

 ognize the Deity through some visible medium. The soul 

 has an inborn consciousness of the highest good or God. The 

 aborigines of our country illustrate this truth. I wish to write of 

 the mythology of the Sioux nation, more particularly that portion 

 of the tribe dwelling east of the Missouri River, with which I am 

 very familiar, although the others are not distinctively different 

 in their religious customs. 



The human mind, equipped with all its faculties, is capable 

 even in an uncultured state of a logical process of reasoning. 

 Freed from the burdensome theories of science and theology, it is 

 impressed powerfully by God's omnipresence, omniscience, and 

 omnipotence. Alexander Pope's worn-out lines 



" Lo, the poor Indian ! whose untutored mind 

 Sees God in clouds and hears hhn in the wind " 



are true, in that the Indian recognized a power behind every 

 natural force. He saw God, not only in the sky, but in every 

 creation. All Nature sang his praises birds, waterfalls, tree tops 

 everything whispered the name of the mysterious God. 



The Indian did not trouble himself concerning the nature of 

 the Creator. He was satisfied that there was a God, whose laws 

 all must obey, and whom he blindly or instinctively worshiped 

 as the " Great Mystery." 



The relation between God and man he conceived from the anal- 

 ogy of Nature. His God is a gracious yet an exacting parent. 

 He punishes both the disobedient and the evil-doer, and forgives 

 and helps the penitent and the good. He hears prayers. He is 

 called Wakantanka, or the Great Mystery. The word ivakan 

 means mystery or holy, and tanka means great, mighty, or su- 

 preme. Neither of the two words signifies spirit; however, it 

 may imply that. The word wakan may also mean reverenced or 

 sacred. 



Before the coming of the missionaries the Sioux never prayed 

 or gave any offering direct to God, except at a great feast once a 

 year. It was believed that he was too great to be approached 

 directly, but that a ])rayer or a gift through some of his attributes 

 would reach him. The legend is that God occasionally descends 

 to earth in the shape of some animal, or envelops himself in a 

 great wind. If any person beholds his face he dies instantly, al- 

 though the same person may be born again as a child and become 

 a great " medicine man." 



