Post by Tulameen on Jun 11, 2005 14:32:43 GMT -5
Buffalo Jim, Seminole elder speaks on the "end of the world"
from "Travels in a Stone Canoe: The Return to the Wisdomkeepers " by Harvey Arden and Steve Wall
"The earth is like an animal. When an animal's sick, it wiggles and twitches. And just before it dies it shakes even harder, it shakes all over. That's what we call the earthquake and the volcano and the hurricane. Yes, its already starting to happen. And it'll get worse -- you'll see! The world is wiggling and twitching and shaking just before it dies!
He continued: "The Creator told us there will be three signs just before the world ends. The first sign, he said, is that we would lose our language. And already our young people can't speak the old language anymore. They don't know how to pray. And the second sign, he told us, is that we'd lose our way of dressing, our original beautiful costume of many colors that the Creator gave us. And, you see, now we were cowboy hats and boots and white man's clothes. Only a few of us wear the old costume anymore. We still weave some of the old colors and patterns into our clothes -- like my many-colored vest here -- but for most Seminole people today the color has gone out of our lives. And the third sign, the last sign the creator told is about, is that we'd forget how to make our sacred fire. And, see, we've forgotten. No one really knows how do it anymore. They may try, but they don't really know if they're doing the right way. I can barely remember myself how the Old Ones did it. I was just a boy then in the 1890s. Here let me show you."
He took some dead fibrous material, the inner bark of the cypress tree -- the traditional sacred kindling used in Seminole ceremonies -- and held up in the air with be little fingers of his left hand. With his left thumb and index finger he held a small rock he had picked up off the ground. With his right hand he then grabbed an aluminum fork from the table and, with a grunt, sharply struck the aluminum fork against the rock. Again and again he struck the two together as if somehow expecting a spark to shoot out from the meeting of soft metal and soft stone. "That's how we did it in those days", Buffalo said apologetically. "That's how we used the Flint and the steel to make a spark to light the sacred fire. It... It doesn't work anymore..." His voice seemed infinitely sad.
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from "Travels in a Stone Canoe: The Return to the Wisdomkeepers " by Harvey Arden and Steve Wall
"The earth is like an animal. When an animal's sick, it wiggles and twitches. And just before it dies it shakes even harder, it shakes all over. That's what we call the earthquake and the volcano and the hurricane. Yes, its already starting to happen. And it'll get worse -- you'll see! The world is wiggling and twitching and shaking just before it dies!
He continued: "The Creator told us there will be three signs just before the world ends. The first sign, he said, is that we would lose our language. And already our young people can't speak the old language anymore. They don't know how to pray. And the second sign, he told us, is that we'd lose our way of dressing, our original beautiful costume of many colors that the Creator gave us. And, you see, now we were cowboy hats and boots and white man's clothes. Only a few of us wear the old costume anymore. We still weave some of the old colors and patterns into our clothes -- like my many-colored vest here -- but for most Seminole people today the color has gone out of our lives. And the third sign, the last sign the creator told is about, is that we'd forget how to make our sacred fire. And, see, we've forgotten. No one really knows how do it anymore. They may try, but they don't really know if they're doing the right way. I can barely remember myself how the Old Ones did it. I was just a boy then in the 1890s. Here let me show you."
He took some dead fibrous material, the inner bark of the cypress tree -- the traditional sacred kindling used in Seminole ceremonies -- and held up in the air with be little fingers of his left hand. With his left thumb and index finger he held a small rock he had picked up off the ground. With his right hand he then grabbed an aluminum fork from the table and, with a grunt, sharply struck the aluminum fork against the rock. Again and again he struck the two together as if somehow expecting a spark to shoot out from the meeting of soft metal and soft stone. "That's how we did it in those days", Buffalo said apologetically. "That's how we used the Flint and the steel to make a spark to light the sacred fire. It... It doesn't work anymore..." His voice seemed infinitely sad.
This article is from wovoka.com. Please visit their site and maybe even donate a couple of bucks.
www.wovoka.com