Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2017 15:01:31 GMT -5
Writing of his interview with Finger, James Riley Walker wrote, “My interpreter was an educated man, and well informed, but he had never before this interview heard the words Skan [Škáŋ], Wohpe [Woȟpá], sicun [Šíčʼuŋ], or ton [Tȟúŋ], used to convey the concepts as given by Finger, though he recalled having heard them used with an allusive [implied, inferred] sense.”
This statement about the secret nature of words applied to sacred [Wakȟáŋ] matters that are regarded as incomprehensible by the common man is consistent with the words of Blue Horse regarding the Huŋká adoption ceremony, “The young people do not become Hunka now. It is of no use to them. The old people do not pay attention to the Hunka now. The Hunka are not what they were in old times. Some old Indians could perform the ceremony right. An old Indian who wears the gee string and leggings could perform it. He might be afraid to talk like the Indians did before they lived on a reservation. It would not be right to teach the young Indians what was taught to the Hunka in old times. There are some secret things taught to a Hunka. These secrets are not good now. They are not about the spirits. The spirits will not come now.”
books.google.com/books?id=PYwV956P_UgC&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq=James+R.+Walker+Lakota+belief+and+ritual+My+interpreter+was+an+educated+man&source=bl&ots=1KxHUh1EhA&sig=20a7-470wSOQic2VuTfpEDIsFxU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEx97VmtTSAhUMv7wKHVZfBbYQ6AEIJzAC#v=onepage&q=James%20R.%20Walker%20Lakota%20belief%20and%20ritual%20My%20interpreter%20was%20an%20educated%20man&f=false
This statement about the secret nature of words applied to sacred [Wakȟáŋ] matters that are regarded as incomprehensible by the common man is consistent with the words of Blue Horse regarding the Huŋká adoption ceremony, “The young people do not become Hunka now. It is of no use to them. The old people do not pay attention to the Hunka now. The Hunka are not what they were in old times. Some old Indians could perform the ceremony right. An old Indian who wears the gee string and leggings could perform it. He might be afraid to talk like the Indians did before they lived on a reservation. It would not be right to teach the young Indians what was taught to the Hunka in old times. There are some secret things taught to a Hunka. These secrets are not good now. They are not about the spirits. The spirits will not come now.”
books.google.com/books?id=PYwV956P_UgC&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq=James+R.+Walker+Lakota+belief+and+ritual+My+interpreter+was+an+educated+man&source=bl&ots=1KxHUh1EhA&sig=20a7-470wSOQic2VuTfpEDIsFxU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEx97VmtTSAhUMv7wKHVZfBbYQ6AEIJzAC#v=onepage&q=James%20R.%20Walker%20Lakota%20belief%20and%20ritual%20My%20interpreter%20was%20an%20educated%20man&f=false