Margot Astrov

Beginning with a chapter on "The Power of the Word", as a means of bringing about change, either in the narrator or in others. After touching upon the creation themes, the author notes that Healing songs--"intended to support the powers of germination and of growth in all their manifestations", fairly outnumber all other songs of the American Indian. [19]

Before presenting the actual prose and poetry and songs of the Indians, the author provides a brief essay on "The Influence of Christianity upon the Aboriginal Cultures of America". [53] This is because in this collection "there is hardly a passage or a verse which is not faintly touched by the white man's influence". The songs should be understood in a background of transition and resulting from a tragic clash of cultures. I give her some credit for suggesting that perhaps some day the cultures "will fuse into "a creative whole".

By drawing from actual records of "conversion"--and quoting both Indian and clergy -- the author documents the unassailable conclusion that very few Indians converted to Christianity. Most of them held the concept of Hell in contempt, and felt that the "Dios"/Yoshti was not powerful or "particularly well-disposed toward the people". Morever, the Indians particularly in the southern regions, adapted Christianity to their traditional fertility-healing cult, converting Christianity into a hierarchy dominated by "Jaticu", a benign mother, whose breath is felt wherever a prayer is spoken. [56] An autobiographical account of Sword, the Oglala warrior, notes his adoption of Christianity (Wakan Tanka) in manner and power, but he continued to treasure his shamanistic bundle, the wasicun.[57]

Astrov seems to approve Dr. Spier's demonstration that the Ghost Dance religion of 1890 arose as a reaction to Christianity, and that many Indians believed in impending destruction, in which the dead would return and renew the world. [58] This was a wholly aboriginal concept as practiced. And "on the whole, Christianity only seldom touches the deepest core of the indigenous religious life, in spite of intense missionary work". [58] This has been my own observation as well, and I can only add that with the exception of a few missionaries and "saints" (I have met hundreds caught in raptures of hope and longing) most of the "Christian" populations white or red seem remarkably oblivious to Scripture or the teachings of Christ.

Some of the major speeches by the great orators are included, Chief Joseph, Red Jacket. And this work documents the fact that CREDIT was at the heart of the Indian Trade from the beginning, as was known to Black Hawk. [136] The breaches of trade agreements and outright theft were the causes of the Black Hawk War of 1830s [140].

In their own letters the colonial and post-Union American frontier generals and conquistador Spanish priests have admitted the outright theft which lies at the heart of the European invasion of America. The evidence presented here has never been contradicted and is scientific fact.

Originally published in 1949 as "The Winged Serpent". That famous book was the first anthology of American Indian prose and poetry. It demonstrated that the continent and its many races had a body of literature equal in stature to those of other people and places. Poetry, exquisite songs, sublime prayers, wonderful stories, and of course, "dangerous spells". Mostly it is about caring for each other and healing sorrows and wounds.… (más)