Term
| Describe the Sioux's belief in Spirits. |
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Definition
| The Sioux believed in Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit. He created world and all that lived. All living things had spirits. They believed spirits could influence their lives. |
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Term
Describe the Sioux's belief in Circles. |
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Definition
| The Sioux believed in the circle of nature. Circles can be seen around them in the horizon, their village, their tipi, their shield, the sun, the moon, the sky etc. They lived through the circle of birth, childhood, adulthood, old age and death. |
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Term
Describe the Sioux's belief in Sacred Land. |
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Definition
| They believed all living things came from the Earth. When they dies they returned to the land. They were part of the land. Land could not be owned. The land was part of life itself. They called the land their mother and they said that ploughing the land was like ripping out their mother's breast. |
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Term
Describe the Sioux's belief in Visions. |
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Definition
| A vision was a way to contact the spirt world and every Indian wanted one. Young boys were expected to go in search of theirs by cleaning their bodies, praying, fasting. Once they recieved their vision, it would be interpreted by the shaman and the adult name would be given based upon their vision. |
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Term
Describe the Sioux's Sun Dance. |
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Definition
| This was danced to get help and guidance from the spirit world. It involved having incisions in the chest or bak, wood or bone pegs being inserted into the incisions, then being lifted off the ground with ropes attached to the pegs. |
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Term
| Name a piece of land that was especially sacred to the Plains Indians. |
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Definition
| High places such as the Black Hills of Dakota which they thought were close to the spirit world. |
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Term
| What was the Ghost Dance? |
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Definition
| Holy man Wovpka recieved a vision that an Indian messiah was coming. If Indians remained peaceful and danced the ghost dance, a new world would come. All the whites would dissapear, the dead Indians will be alive again and the buffalo would return |
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Term
| Who tried to ban the Ghost Dance? |
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Definition
| Indian Agents (unsuccessfully). |
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