The Lakota are the westernmost of the seven Sioux tribes . The Lakota originated near river Mississippi, where they lived a sedentary riverine lifestyle along with their Dakota relatives. The terms Lakota and Dakota are variants for “allies”. Around the 18th century, the Lakota started moving westwards to avoid conflict with neighbouring clans, avoid contact with Europeans and to follow the buffalo that roamed the plains . They then acquired the hunting and gathering lifestyle (contrary to most evolutions). They gained efficiency in their pursuit after the introduction of guns and horses by the Cheyenne people from further south.
Just like most indigenous cultures, Lakota place a huge importance on stories. When compared to the Cree creation story, the Lakota creation story shows a more direct link to the archetype of a Syzygy. The extremely condensed version of the creation story is given below to give the reader a gist of the story. Other specific details will be discussed further on in the essay. The story is as follows: The universe then started out from a singular entity, known as Inyan. It lived there (no gender attributed yet) with only Hanhepi, or darkness as his companion. Inyan realized that it would have to give a …show more content…
Though the Lakota creation story portrays both material male and female psyche as powerless, it criticizes female personality as inferior by portraying Maka, the primordial female, as infested with vices. In the Cree creation story, on the other hand, this aspect is perfectly met. As mentioned before the creation story refuses to use a gender for the offender, hence keeping both genders equally acquitted. While this also makes Lakota culture seem slightly misogynistic, other stories, such as the white buffalo calf woman, reveal that in fact a woman plays the noble protagonist in one of the most important stories in their
Just like most indigenous cultures, Lakota place a huge importance on stories. When compared to the Cree creation story, the Lakota creation story shows a more direct link to the archetype of a Syzygy. The extremely condensed version of the creation story is given below to give the reader a gist of the story. Other specific details will be discussed further on in the essay. The story is as follows: The universe then started out from a singular entity, known as Inyan. It lived there (no gender attributed yet) with only Hanhepi, or darkness as his companion. Inyan realized that it would have to give a …show more content…
Though the Lakota creation story portrays both material male and female psyche as powerless, it criticizes female personality as inferior by portraying Maka, the primordial female, as infested with vices. In the Cree creation story, on the other hand, this aspect is perfectly met. As mentioned before the creation story refuses to use a gender for the offender, hence keeping both genders equally acquitted. While this also makes Lakota culture seem slightly misogynistic, other stories, such as the white buffalo calf woman, reveal that in fact a woman plays the noble protagonist in one of the most important stories in their