"Oceti Wakan (Sacred Fireplace) is a vision shared by Pete Catches Sr. (Petaga Yuha Mani) and his son Peter V. Catches (Zintkala Oyate), both Spotted Eagle medicine men of the Oglala Lakota. In Pete's words, Oceti Wakan is a response to events that have devastated the Dakota people over the past six generations, and is focused on creating a place "for the healing of the family as a whole by rekindling Lakota spiritual values and culture." Sacred Fireplace is part of Pete Catches' contribution to making his vision a concrete reality. A healer and teacher, Petaga Yuha Mani (He Walks With Hot Coals) was credited with reviving the traditional Sundance ceremony among the Lakota. In 1964 he was named Sundance chief by the Oglala Sioux tribal council, the only such distinction in tribal history. Pete Catches lived on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota throughout his life, and for decades healed and instructed both Native and non-Natives near his home and off the reservation. This book describes his struggles to embrace the Spotted Eagle medicine way, Lakota legends and ceremonies, and reflections on the history and culture of his people and on his own life. Long awaited by those who knew Pete Catches and his work, Sacred Fireplace is a major legacy of his exemplary life and the essence of his teachings in his own words"--Back cover.

Black Elk of the Sioux has been recognized as one of the truly remarkable men of his time in the matter of religious belief and practice. Shortly before his death in August, 1950, when he was the "keeper of the sacred pipe," he said, "It is my prayer that, through our sacred pipe, and through this book in which I shall explain what our pipe really is, peace may come to those peoples who can understand, and understanding which must be of the heart and not of the head alone. Then they will realize that we Indians know the One true God, and that we pray to Him continually." Black Elk was the only qualified priest of the older Oglala Sioux still living when The Sacred Pipe was written. This is his book: he gave it orally to Joseph Epes Brown during the latter's eight month's residence on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, where Black Elk lived. Beginning with the story of White Buffalo Cow Woman's first visit to the Sioux to give them the sacred pip~, Black Elk describes and discusses the details and meanings of the seven rites, which were disclosed, one by one, to the Sioux through visions. He takes the reader through the sun dance, the purification rite, the "keeping of the soul," and other rites, showing how the Sioux have come to terms with God and nature and their fellow men through a rare spirit of sacrifice and determination. The wakan Mysteries of the Siouan peoples have been a subject of interest and study by explorers and scholars from the period of earliest contact between whites and Indians in North America, but Black Elk's account is without doubt the most highly developed on this religion and cosmography. The Sacred Pipe, published as volume thirty-six in the Civilization of the American Indian Series, will be greeted enthusiastically by students of comparative religion, ethnologists, historians, philosophers, and everyone interested in American Indian life.

Based on Black Elk's account of the seven rites of the Oglala Sioux as originally recorded and edited by Joseph Epes Brown.

Published by the South African colonial administration in the late 1920s, the purpose of this book was to present to the League of Nations a short sketch of each of the principal "tribes" in Namibia. Three of the chapters were written by Heinrich Vedder ("The Herero", "The Namas", "The Berg Damara"), while the chapters on "The Owambos" and "The Bushmen" were written by C.H.L. Hahn and L. Fourie, two South African colonial officials. The articles are mainly concerned with "anthropological zoo-ism",and are quite interesting as a distillation of the prejudices of colonial officials and as a reflection of the knowledge they thought they had on the historical/ethnological background of the peoples in the territory. The interest of the authors lie in magico-religious beliefs and "superstition", physical characteristics, puberty and initiation rites, laws and customs, the holy fire, and marriage and courtship, while there is less information on social conditions, material culture, production and trade.The contributions by Vedder contain some sections on history, based on premises such as that "the history of the Berg Damaras commences with the history of missionary activities amongst them". There are several photos and a brief bibliography at the end of each chapter. (Eriksen/Moorsom 1989).

A powerful story of one man's redemption through the Lakota Sun Dance ceremony. • Written by the only white man to be confirmed as a Sundance Chief by traditional Lakota elders. • Includes forewords by prominent Lakota spiritual leaders Leonard Crow Dog, Charles Chipps, Mary Thunder, and Jamie Sams. The Sun Dance is the largest and most important ceremony in the Lakota spiritual tradition, the one that ensures the life of the people for another year. In 1988 Michael Hull was extended an invitation to join in a Sun Dance by Lakota elder Leonard Crow Dog-- a controversial action because Hull is white. This was the beginning of a spiritual journey that increasingly interwove the life of the author with the people, process, and elements of Lakota spirituality. On this journey on the Red Road, Michael Hull confronted firsthand the transformational power of Lakota spiritual practice and the deep ambivalence many Indians had about opening their ceremonies to a white man. Sun Dancing presents a profound look at the elements of traditional Lakota ceremonial practice and the ways in which ceremony is regarded as life-giving by the Lakota. Through his commitment to following the Red Road, Michael Hull gradually won acceptance in a community that has rejected other attempts by white America to absorb its spiritual practices, leading to the extraordinary step of his confirmation as a Sun Dance Chief by Leonard Crow Dog and other Lakota spiritual leaders.