Black Elk Speaks is a personal narrative that encompasses an autobiography of Black Elk’s life as a holy man and healer coupled with the tribal history of the lifestyle, and tough challenges that Native Americans faced during the westward expansion movement of white settlers. In the beginning of the book unravel the first unique cultural practice of the Lakota people. That is, before telling his story Black Elk invites Neihardt (the author of the book) to smoke with him the red willow bark in the holy pipe as an offering to the great spirits. The four ribbons tied to the holy pipe represented the divine powers of the four quarters or seasons. The Black color characterized as the west stood for the source of rain, the White for the north
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Nigeria a country suited in the western part of Africa is often times described as a country of unity in diversity due to over 400 linguistic groups, fascinating cultural traditions, and customs. When I travelled to Nigeria in 2012 I was quite fascinated by the rich traditions and cultural practices that they shared. One of the cultural practice in Nigeria that shows similar correlation to that of the Horse dance in Black Elk speaks is the ‘Ekpe masquerade’. The Ekpe masquerade originated from the Efiks people from the cross river state of Nigeria. In this festival dance villagers carefully handcrafted using dyed raffia and wood various types of masquerade such as the Okukum masquerade and Okpen Ibot masquerade. These masquerade are often used in festival ceremonies and dance to commemorate their ancestors and great spirits. I found this cultural practice quite interesting, because while reading Black Elk I found a lot of similarities of it to the Horse dance by Native Americans. The horses which were carefully painted black with blue lightning strikes, white with red streaks of lightning, red with straight back lines of lightning, and yellow streaked with black lightning signified the various colors of the four quarters and six grandfathers. These two cultural practices by the Efiks people and the Sioux people was one that I chose to talk about because even though they vary in geographical location, their cultural practice tend to showcase striking
Nigeria a country suited in the western part of Africa is often times described as a country of unity in diversity due to over 400 linguistic groups, fascinating cultural traditions, and customs. When I travelled to Nigeria in 2012 I was quite fascinated by the rich traditions and cultural practices that they shared. One of the cultural practice in Nigeria that shows similar correlation to that of the Horse dance in Black Elk speaks is the ‘Ekpe masquerade’. The Ekpe masquerade originated from the Efiks people from the cross river state of Nigeria. In this festival dance villagers carefully handcrafted using dyed raffia and wood various types of masquerade such as the Okukum masquerade and Okpen Ibot masquerade. These masquerade are often used in festival ceremonies and dance to commemorate their ancestors and great spirits. I found this cultural practice quite interesting, because while reading Black Elk I found a lot of similarities of it to the Horse dance by Native Americans. The horses which were carefully painted black with blue lightning strikes, white with red streaks of lightning, red with straight back lines of lightning, and yellow streaked with black lightning signified the various colors of the four quarters and six grandfathers. These two cultural practices by the Efiks people and the Sioux people was one that I chose to talk about because even though they vary in geographical location, their cultural practice tend to showcase striking