North Dakota Native American essential understanding. Number one is about sacred relatives. It states, "Native people practice a deep interconnectedness with the land, the resources, the water, all living things, and all human beings, land stewardship, respect for all two-legged, four-legged winged crawlers and swimmers, and a strong belief in the sacredness of all human beings are key elements of our spirituality.”
In this episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll listen to Catherine Froelich, enrolled member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation talk about traditional ways and values.
Catherine Froelich:
Spirituality has been the anchor for my family that's always helped us through all kinds of difficult challenges in life. And everything that you mentioned in there, my mother taught us about the traditional perspectives on that. For example, she even says to this day, "Remember, on Easter morning, go out and get a cup of water from the pond or whatever, because everything is holy. Remember, water is holy." And we've always believed that, not just Easter time.
And then at giveaways, she said, "Remember, when you give away a blanket, remember that that blanket should touch the ground, because our earth is holy and sacred. And so, you want to give that blanket and you make sure that blanket is touching the ground before you give it to that person as a blessing." I mean, she taught us these things and she was taught by her grandma, and her grandma. So, all of that was handed down. And then respect for animals. In the creation stories, all our tribes have creation stories. And she shared the Arikara creation story with us as I was growing up. And it talked about our relationship with all elements of our earth, the animals, and that at one time we could talk to the animals and they could talk to us, We could communicate with them. And so, yeah, growing up, I remember her talking about that, so I think it's really an important value that our kids are missing.
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If you'd like to learn more about the North Dakota Native American essential understandings, and to listen to more Indigenous elder interviews, visit teachingsofourelders.org.
