The word circle has many meanings. According to dictionary.com, it has approzimately twenty definitions. Two meanings are: a closed plane curve consisting of all points at a given distance from a point within it called the center and a series ending where it began, especially when perpetually repeated. These previous two definitions are coherent in Lakota religion. One of the most profound symbols in the Lakota culture is the circle. Being keen observers, the people realized the circle appears on many things no matter where you look in the world and beyond. The sun is round. The moon is round. The earth is round. The seasons follow each other in a perpetual circle. Thes examples are abundant throughout te seven rites, which Joseph Brown describes, according to Black Elk. Black Elk is a wicasa wakan, closely translated as a"holy man" of the Lakota Soiux Indians. In this paper, I briefly as possible, will describe some of the rites and show how the circle is important by its representation.
First, I must explain the Lakota (sioux) concept of "wakan". In the world of the Lakota, the word wakan means many things. Joseph Brown translates this word as "holy" or "sacred" (3, fn.1). In the beginning, he explains how the pipe came about, of course, as according to Black Elk. The knowledge of the pipe is vatl in understanding the nature and spirituality of the Lakota. There is more to the meaning of the pipe, but for now I must limit this to its interpretation of being sacred. It is the shape of the bowl of the pipe, which is of course round, hence "bowl", but consequently is made of a round red stone (from the earth), which means more than the construction of the ...