Lakota Virtues

Lakota Virtue: Wówačhiŋtȟaŋka Duane Hollow Horn Bear: Woh-wah-cheeŋ-tahŋ-kah Joe Circle Bear: Wowachinthanka, to me, it means something more than, has to do with my thought process. Duane Hollow Horn Bear: You have a great need, Woh-wah-chee-tchun-kah, and perhaps I am in need of something, and it's going to be fulfilled, but I need to persevere, and I need to be patient. I need to, patience is a virtue that many people lack, and so we need to say, be patient. These items, these things are coming around. What's coming for you is going to be, you'll receive it, you just need to have patience. Joe Circle Bear: Maybe teach them to wait, be calm, it'll be your turn, learn to raise your hand, show your honor and respect to your teacher, your other classmates. Ken Stands Fast: Let them know what's expected of them, as far as, you know, being patient. Joe Circle Bear: And learning that self-control is very important. Duane Hollow Horn Bear: Today is, I gotta have it, and I gotta have it now. I want it now. So we must teach our self-patience to, please wait. One of the values of patience is something people, it's noticeable on you, when people look at you and say, this man is a very patient person, or this woman, she patiently waits, knowing that it probably will take some time, but she's either in thoughts, or in prayer, or in a conversation with someone, to pass the time, knowing that what's going to happen will happen. So be patient.

Lakota Virtue: Wóyuonihaŋ Duane Hollow Horn Bear: Woyuonihan. Woyuonihan. It's ah, it talks about honoring. Joe Circle Bear: We honor that person, we honor that finished school. Today we honor them with feathers, but make sure they have names, spiritual names, so we give them that feather. Duane Hollow Horn Bear: Particularly when you give someone like their first Lakota name, and they're saying, you're being honored, you're being honored. And it gives the person, it heightens their self-esteem, saying, I belong. Joe Circle Bear: We honor each other no matter what, you know. We don't fail each other. Yeah, woyuonihan is big part of life, a big part of our lives, you know. Whether it's newborn, to the day they die, and immemorial, that’s woyuonihan, that's how far it goes. Duane Hollow Horn Bear: My grandmother, my grandmother would, was teaching me this when I was young. When I was feeling down, she says, you know who you are, she says, you are someone. I don't know why you are putting yourself down, and you are acting in this sadness. You're important, you're important to me. But my feelings were, yeah, because, because she's my grandmother. But as she says, no, you are but one little speck of all of creation. We looked across the prairie, and then down by the dam, the river, and she said, look at all of this, all around you. You are a part of all of this, this world, and you're important to it. How can I be important? Because you need this, you need all of this. You need creation, and creation needs you, even up there in the stars. You're that important, even though you're just one little tiny piece out of the massness of all of creation, you're that important, that all of this needs you, and you need them. That's how important you are. So to honor you, to honor you, we're going to sing you a song, we're going to give you a name. Joe Circle Bear: Compassion and love, all this connects to that. Every one of these are connected to each other, you know. Duane Hollow Horn Bear: With these teachings of these values, these morals, these modes and manners, to feed that in this child, so when that child grows, and then that flame becomes a burning inferno inside this child, and they know who they are, and that they are someone important, and you honor them saying, you've done well, you've done great.

Lakota Virtue: Wówauŋšila Duane Hollow Horn Bear: Wowaunsila. Joe Circle Bear: Wowaunsila. You’re caring so you do that. You put people in your heart because you care about them. That kindness, you show it to them. Duane Hollow Horn Bear: The greatest gift you can give is time of your own self, when someone is hurting, and then, Waunsila Yankta, you are going to have this compassion, understanding this person's need of wanting someone nearby. Rose Two Strike: Compassionate kindness, helping one another out, helping each other to figure things out or you know, bring each other up, you know, rather than criticize. Ken Stands Fast: I always tell my grandson, you know, I love him, I love your son. He understands now, you know, what I say to him, so he repeats it back to me, I love you, Papa. Duane Hollow Horn Bear: Many ways you can talk about waunsila, incorporate a lot of compassion as well, and understanding the people's needs, the other values that all intertwine with each other, respect that, and if you respect that, this individual, then you're saying, they're going to need help to do what they need, then you can come and offer your help.

Lakota Virtue: Wóohitika Duane Hollow Horn Bear: Woohitika. Ken Stands Fast: Woohitika. Joe Circle Bear: Woohitika. Duane Hollow Horn Bear: Duane Hollow Horn Bear: The bravery, the strength of mind, emotion, maybe physical, yes, but also in spirituality. The strength of the mind saying, I want to learn this, but I've got to be willing enough to pay attention. Ken Stands Fast: This little boy, he wants to sing today, and I'm going, okay, come on. So he's standing by me, I give him the drum. He starts off good, and then he stops, and then I try to encourage him, but he said no. But in his mind, he was thinking that his peers were laughing at him, and that's what he told me. So he didn't want to do it, okay. But I told him, I said, you did good, I like, your song started off real good, I like that. He goes, sits down. Week or so, I ask again, his hand goes up. This time, I tell him, you know, I want to hear your song, I want to hear it. So the second time around, he finishes it. Rose Two Strike: Having that courage to, you know, come forward and do what you have to do. Ken Stands Fast: It takes courage for these young ones to do that in front of their peers. Duane Hollow Horn Bear: Having the courage to say, it's not difficult, it's not hard, it's a challenge, and I'm willing to accept that challenge. Joe Circle Bear: We teach our warriors to be brave, meaning go hunt, you know, you hunt the skills. You don't have the skills that we teach them, the skills of whatever they're doing in the classroom. Duane Hollow Horn Bear: Wo'ohitika says, go at it, go for it. But if you fall short of it, then you stay back and you say, what am I lacking? What do I need to address in my aspects of my life that I need to work on myself? And when I strengthen that, then I can go at it again until I succeed. So you have to have that wo'ohitika, the strength and the courage to go on, to keep going.

Lakota Virtue: Wówačhaŋtognake Duane Hollow Horn Bear: Wachantognake. Ken Stands Fast: Wachantognake. Duane Hollow Horn Bear: When you use the word “wo” as a prefix, then you're creating this value in a more spiritual sense. Chantogenake, chantogenake is those that you put into your heart. So you have your children, you have your grandchildren, and you carry these little ones in your heart. So it gives that compassion. Joe Circle Bear: Chantognake means compassion, love, love the things you do. You love people. Chanteche, chanteche, you know, means I have you in my heart. Rose Two Strike: Learning.You know, you kind of take that into your heart, and you ask more questions, you know, why, why does that happen, and you know, when does that happen, and who does it affect. Duane Hollow Horn Bear: When this young boy, he was about 10, he came to me and he says, Grandpa, Grandpa, can I help them out there? And he said, uh, you want to help? And he said, yeah, I said, no, no, I says, no, don't go out there, but tell them. Don't tell them you want to help. Tell them, I need to help you. Go tell those men out there. They were digging the hole where the Sundance tree was going to stand. And I gave him a shovel, and I says, today, with being generous with our time, and feeding that flame in this little boy, he needs to know what is going on here. He needs to understand why we are digging this hole. He needs to be a part of this, because one day, he's going to be responsible for conducting this. He's going to be sitting where I'm at, or he's going to be an adult doing what you're doing. So, be generous with your time. Allow him to help you. Ken Stands Fast: Let them know that you care for, maybe, something they've done, something they've accomplished. Show that to them, verbally, gift them, you know, whatever's going to build their self-esteem. Let them know. Duane Hollow Horn Bear: Wachantognake. Giving from the heart. Putting people in the heart and giving from the heart.

Lakota Virtue - Wówaȟwala Duane Hollow Horn Bear: Wo-wa-hwala. Ken Stands Fast: That gentleness, you know, besetting the environment itself. Rose Two Strike: Wowahwala is when you kind of humble yourself. Joe Circle Bear: Wowahwala is time for yourself. You know, time to deal with yourself, a calmness of yourself. When we're praying, I ask people to put their mind and heart together as Wowahwala. Making that peace for yourself, so you know what you're doing, why you're here. Duane Hollow Horn Bear: A little story talks about “wi ikpi wi, nashpu.” If one was to rise early, early in the mornings and watch the first faintest light of the sun, and when the first light breaks in the horizon, there seems to be a serene moment all over the land. It's just so peaceful. And then a moment later, you could hear every single bird within hearing distance begin to sing their song. And at that moment, my grandfather would talk about making his morning prayer, and he would sing that morning star song and say, this is the moment of true peace, peace, harmony, and balance. Wowahwala talks about that peace, harmony, and balance. And we get that moment, it's still there, with that moment when dawn breaks. “Wi ikpi,” the moment the sun shows its very first light on the horizon, all of creation begin to greet the day and sing their songs. And so too, we the two-leggeds get, grandfather gets morning, sings the morning star song, sings the morning sun song, it's a beautiful moment. And that's, I think, the best way I can explain what Wowahwala can mean.

Lakota Virtue: Wóksape Joe Circle Bear: Wisdom, woksápe, we're developing that woksápe to this young, even before conception while they're still in their mother's womb, to start to teach them that. Duane Hollow Horn Bear: Woksápe. The mental aspect, the mental, woksápe, knowledge, doesn't say wisdom until you are in your elder years because you've lived many, many years to gather all of this information, many experiences, good and bad, how to make choices. Rose Two Strike: You learn by making mistakes, but it's best not to focus on those mistakes, you know. You always want to, you know, bring the good out of it, you know, so that they learn by it and that's what woksápe is. Ken Stands Fast: You know, the elders have the wisdom, but it's gained, it's gained, you know, each, you might say each year they age. Duane Hollow Horn Bear: Woksápe talks about the learning ages of perseverance. All of the values will lead on to one value, to another, to another. They will all relate to each other, of being generous, being smart, being brave. All of these values will intertwine with each other. We just cannot teach one value, they're going to all intertwine with each other.