A seventh important understanding of North Dakota Native Americans is about native identity. It states that individual and communal identities are defined and underpinned by shared mother tongues, kinship systems, tiospai, clan structures, traditional teachings, values, sacred laws and rituals. A continuum of tribal identities unique to each individual ranges from assimilation to traditional lifestyles. There are no common American Indians.
In this episode of The Dakota Datebook, you can hear Spirit Lake Dakota Nation registered member Demuth MacDonald talk about the Medicine Wheel.
Demus MacDonald:
Red is the color of Mother Earth. It is also the color of wisdom. On the medicine wheel, black is west, red is north, yellow is east, and white is south. So red is the color of the north. Black, red, yellow and white. Red is the color of wisdom. That’s what I’ve always done with it. Now you can see how much the number of values increased. I think it’s until 8:00 now. But here is a college-educated Indian. They’ve adopted the word Brave and you’ll find it in Roget Thesaurus. They add it because there is another way to represent bravery. And generous, they would seem another way of saying generous, now there are up to eight and they all mean the same thing. And that’s what I do with the Medicine Wheel.
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To learn more about important Native American understandings in North Dakota, or hear more interviews with Native elders, visit teachingsofourelders.org.