Thursday, September 1, 2011

The soul would have no rainbow...

In honor of my now late mother and her Native American ancestry, I will be quoting from time to time some Native American proverbs. Many of which will be quoted from the book  "The Soul Would Have No Rainbow, If The Eyes Had No Tears" by Guy A Zona.

My grandfather claimed to be Chippewa, but his family came from the central New York area, where there were no Chippewa. Since there wasn't a lot of records kept in the 1800's, we'll let him slide and embrace ALL the Native American teachings.

For in reality,"With all things and in all things, we are relatives"
- Sioux

(Home)

Proverbs are time-honored truths which condense the collected wisdom and experience of a people and their culture. If you want to know a people, the saying goes, know their proverbs.

Proverbs often serve as a means of instruction in the rules of conduct and ethical behavior expected by all members of a society. What makes them an effective tool is that they are based on a keen observation of human nature and behavior rather than idealized and unrealistic standard.

The proverbs I'll share here are those of a people who love the land and regard it as sacred, who see daily prayer as a duty, and have no need to set apart one day out of seven as a holy day, but rather observe every day as God's day.

Feel free along the way to share a proverb of your own ancestry in the comments.


Originally published at http://brightergrave.blogspot.com/

4 comments:

MorningAJ said...

Oh Stew that's wonderful. Just what I need right now (my soul's rainbow will definitely be a bit brighter given the way I've been feeling of late)

I think it's great that you have Native American ancestry. I've always admired them for their links with the earth and their respect for the land.

I look forward to learning more from you.

John Going Gently said...

how bloody exciting to have native blood.....

wish I was so exotic......

936000 said...

[You are exotic John!]

My favorite prayer, by Black Elk:
Grandfather, Great Spirit, once more behold me on earth and lean to hear my feeble voice.

I posted it back in Sep 09 with a gorgeous sky photo. I think I shall do it again tomorrow. Thanks for the reminder Stew!
meggs.xx

Lana from Farm Life Lessons said...

I have Native American blood in my veins and there are so many things that I have been taught that were passed down through the generations. I've been told that I have "hot" healing hands as my great-great grandfather, the medicine man of the tribe had...everyone in the family thinks it is passed down and I've suffered such health issues that they've said I've absorbed the pain of others. It's interesting. And burning sage to "clean" the air was a huge thing in my family and I never even knew it was a Native American tradition until I was an adult...I just did it. Funny how traditions get passed along and we sometimes don't even realize it.