Description

Black Elk of the Sioux has been recognized as one of the truly remarkable men of his time in the matter of religious belief and practice

Black Elk was the only qualified priest of the older Oglala Sioux still living when The Sacred Pipe was written This is his book he gave it orally to Joseph Epes Brown during the latters eight months residence on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota where Black Elk lived Beginning with the story of White Buffalo Cow Womans first visit to the Sioux to give them the sacred pip Black Elk describes and discusses the details and meanings of the seven rites which were disclosed one by one to the Sioux through visions He takes the listener through the sun dance the purification rite the keeping of the soul and other rites

The wakan Mysteries of the Siouan peoples have been a subject of interest and study by explorers and scholars from the period of earliest contact between whites and Indians in North America but Black Elks account is without doubt the most highly developed on this religion and cosmography The Sacred Pipe published as volume thirtysix in the Civilization of the American Indian Series will be greeted enthusiastically by students of comparative religion ethnologists historians philosophers and everyone interested in American Indian life