Lakota Sioux Creation Mythology::

Conclusion

From the mythological record, we can see how crucial relationship and interrelation are to Lakota religious philosophy. They are important factors in the unfolding of the universe and all that resides in it. Creation unfolds itself. It does so through the interactions of the different cosmic elements - through their unions, their conflicts and their desires. The blood of Inyan, for example, formed Maka. She in turn divided the waters to create the seas, lakes and running streams in order to wear them as ornaments. At Maka's insistence, Skan created day and night. The ancestors of both the buffalo and the Lakota were created out of the very fabric of the universe: from the earth was created flesh, from the waters came blood, from stone came bones, and from sky was created spirit and energy. With Iktomi as co-creator of the universe, it was ensured from the very beginning that weakness, struggle, conflict, chaos and unpredictability would be as much a part of life as harmony and stability. Indeed, without his cunning deceptions, various conditions of the world - languages, darkness and light, the four seasons, for example - would not have come to exist.

© 2002 by Bornali Halder

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