When asked to write about the influence of his Native American spirituality on his work as a journalist, Tim Giago — award-winning Founder, Editor and Publisher of Indian Country Today — said it was not possible, that there is no way to separate the two, that his spirituality is too integrated into his life and work. To understand an American Indian’s experience as a journalist, it is important to try to understand Indian spirituality. Here are some thoughts from Giago, a 1991 Nieman Fellow.
In Lakota the word “wakan” means many things. It means a spirituality that is either received or transmitted. Wakan means that which is hard to understand because it is filled with such mystery. It means that spirituality is within us, all around us, or sent to us through a vision or through the love and passion of another. These things are all a part and parcel of that great mystery we call our spirituality.
The Lakota and the other Indian tribes of the Western Hemisphere did not have what could be called a religion. Religion is something that is organized, dogmatic and based on the written word. The Bible and Koran, for instance, are written documents that define the parameters to which the faithful in these religions must adhere in order to be saved and served.
Instead, Indian tribes had a spiritual connection with the earth, wind, sky, water, fire, sun, moon, birds, fish and those animals that walked upon four legs. The first white settlers looked upon this spiritual connection with all natural things and labeled it paganism or heathenism. They never saw or experienced the pure natural beauty of the Indian spiritual ways.
Many of the sacred ways of the Indian are based upon interpretation. The holy men and women have the latitude to interpret dreams and actions in a sacred way. This is truly a spiritual way simply because no two holy people interpret things in the same fashion. It is a spirituality with freedom and independent thought at its foundation. Lakota men often received their adult names because of a dream or a vision while doing a hanbleyceya (vision quest) and having that vision or dream interpreted by a holy man or woman. They could also be named for a great deed or misdeed. These are more than just names such as John or Bill. They are manifested in a physical and spiritual connection to things that are inside of and outside of the person receiving the name.
This is why it is so difficult for an Indian elder to answer when a non-Indian asks, “How do you say ’tree’ in Lakota?” The elder will have in his or her mind a tree of pine, oak, willow or another. How do you say “tree” when the word itself is so non-descriptive? A tree must be described from the width of its trunk to the color of its leaves. A tree is a picture to be painted in words.
Is it a tree that played a role in this Lakota person’s life? Is it a tree that was cut down to serve as the centerpiece of the sacred Sun Dance? Is it one of the trees used as poles to support the skins that covered the home, the tipi, of this Lakota person? Or is it a tree that one sat under as a child on a torrid summer day, wrapped in the coolness of its shade while dreaming the dreams of children? The tree then becomes more than just a tree. It becomes a physical and spiritual connection.
According to the Bureau of lndian Affairs records, my great-grandmother was named Winyan Wakan. This translates as Holy Woman. A tribal Lakota elder who was also a medicine man, Pete Swift Bird, now deceased, once told me she was given this name because she was a spiritual woman, a holy woman who conducted ceremonies and healed the sick This was not a profession. It was — and is — a heredity way of life to the Lakota.
When one understands that an Indian’s spirituality begins with the morning sun and is then a part of every motion and moment all of that day and night — then one perceives there is no separation between the physical, mental or spiritual being. It is all one all of the time. Even for an Indian journalist.