Yourself

Yourself

Have you heard of the Gluskabe myth or the Sun Dance ritual? The Gluskabe myth and the Sun Dance ritual renew the Earth. In the Native American literature, The Sun Rises in the Same Sky by Joseph Bruchac, it explains a little how the believers of the myth and the ritual live their lives. They are done each year, “so the sun can rise in the sky.” The Gluskabe myth says that elders know a lot and not to be greedy. If you catch a game animal, put it in a bag, and show an elder, be prepared to put it back for others to catch. Not sharing means that you are, so keeping the animal for yourself is being greedy. Today elders are still respected because they are older and know more. Some animals are just caught and not killed, but not all animals are treated the same. The Sun Dance is a ritual where four men stand around a pole, pierce their chest muscles, and dance around the pole slowly until the flesh rips. Now the Lakota’s get to the ceremony by an automobile, but before the Spanish came, they got there by foot and after they came, by horse. The Lakota’s don’t care how a person gets to the ceremony, just as long as they get there. Now they fast instead of flesh ripping. Fasting is when you don’t eat for a certain amount of time. The Gluskabe myth and the Sun Dance renew the Earth. These beliefs are done because the believers think that if they are not done, the sun won’t rise. If you believe in something, that’s what you live by. What belief do you follow?

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