Possibly the most memorable part of John Neihardt's Black Elk Speaks is Black Elk's description of the vision that he experienced as a boy. On page 93 of Steltenkamp's Black Elk: Holy Man of the Oglala, he reviews what a couple of scholars had to say about visions:In Lakota tradition, "visions of real significance could come to a child of ten and twelve years and might affect the course of his life" (Royal Hassrick, 1964). Never take...

A Brief Description of Common Lakotah Ceremonies Among the Sioux, there were, historically, seven central community ceremonial rites: 1. Canupa: The Sacred Pipe Ceremony 2. Inipi: The Sweat Lodge 3. Hanblecha: The Vision Quest 4. Wiwangwacipi: The Sun Dance 5. Hunkapi: The Making of Relatives 6. The Keeping of The Soul 7. Ishna Ta Awi Cha Lowan: Preparing a Girl for Womanhood These ceremonies occur during different stages of human...