You
have
noticed that everything
an Indian does is in a circle, and
that
is because the Power of the World
always
works in circles, and everything
tries to be round. In
the old days when we were a strong
and happy people, all
our power came to us from the sacred
hoop of the nation, and
as long
as the hoop was unbroken, the
people flourished. The
flowering tree was the living center
of the hoop and the circle of the
four
quarters nourished it. The east
gave peace and light, the south
gave warmth, the west gave rain,
and the north with its cold and
mighty
wind gave strength and
endurance. Everything the Power of the
World does
is in a circle. The sky is round and I have heard that the
Earth is round like a
ball, and so are all the stars. The wind,
in its greatest power, whirls.
Birds
make their nests in circles. The sun
comes forth and goes down again in a
circle.
The moon does the same, and both are round. Even the seasons
form a great Circle in their
changing, and always come back again
to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood
to childhood, and so is everything where Power
moves. Our
teepees were round like the nests of birds,
and these were
always set in a circle, the nation's hoop, a nest of
many nests, where the Great Spirit meant
for us to hatch our children.
----Black Elk
