Night Spirit
Every evening, the powerful Night Spirits leave their
island in the east to walk the land from east to
west. As they walk with their walking staffs, forcing
the Sun to bow down before them, bringing night to
that part of the land. The Night Spirits, unlike
most all other tribes, allowed their women to walk
beside them rather than behind them, for Night Spirit
women also possessed great power, including the power
to freeze even a Thunderbird in their tracks! When
the oldest Night Spirits took the evening walk, their
long silver hair flowing behind them caused long
twilights. Throughout the night, the Night Spirits
would wander throughout the human nations examining
the sleeping humans. Whomever they pointed their
walking staffs at would never wake to see the light
of day.
The Night Spirits lived in a great lodge in front of
which stood an eternally perfect evergreen tree. Inside,
the lodge floor was covered ankle deep in pure white
feathers. It was from here that the Night Spirits dispensed
their gifts of knowledge of war and medicine to worthy
humans.
This was a verbal tale told to me by an Elder at a Powwow
when they heard my Native name. And it fits as well as
her original intention of Spirit of the Night, because
in the planetarium the Sun does bow down, bringing night,
when I will it!
Sent to Dome-L by Laurent A. Pellerin, Jr.
Here is one from the Winnebago Nation of the Great
Lakes region. I know this one because my former Ojibwe/Chippewa
fiancee from that area gave me the Native name, Manidoo
Tebikuk, which means "Spirit of the Night" or "Night
Spirit," because of my love of the night sky. |
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