Interview · South Dakota · Duane Hollow Horn Bear · OSEU 2
Themes: Kinship & family, Storytelling & oral tradition, Spirituality & ceremony, Values & generosity, Food & plants, Community & responsibility, Listening & observation, Children & young people, Humor & play, Intergenerational learning
Learn About questions
How is time viewed differently by the Lakota people in comparison to the Western world?
How did the moon guide time?
In what ways does the time clock get you old too fast?
Learn From questions
What role does time play in my life?
Have I ever purposely avoided the clock for an extended period? How does it feel?
How has time changed for me over my life? Ex: How did time feel as a child compared to how it feels now?
Transcripts
The Story of Time - Duane Hollow Horn Bear - OSEU 2
Watch this interview on YouTubeThere was a time period when a Lakota individual could not promise where he was going to be on any particular day, at any particular time like we do today. We have technology that just guides our lives. Like Sharla sends me an email…”We chose November 17th. 9AM. Be here.” We follow…it seems our lives are always guided by that clock. A Lakota person, a long time ago, wasn’t guided by this. If there was something that needed to be done, they took the time to address it. They would sometimes take days…sometimes they would…particularly in the line of our ceremonies…if you chose to do a particular gathering, there was no particular hour that was set. We went by the time period of the moon. This is the time period…living by the seasons…this is the time period that the gathering was going to happen. We would come together by word of mouth. We would…people would come…and gather and camp…and stay together.
Everybody had a role…everybody had a responsibility to the doings that they contributed. And no one was pressured…saying “You gotta have that here by two o’clock. You got to be here. We’ve got to be done by four o’clock.” No. If it took another day, then they took another day. If they took another two days…then there was no set time period. It’s a way of life that our people found very fitting. A long time ago…our grandfathers…the way that life was out here…there was plenty of buffalo…a lot of elk…plenty of deer. The rivers were full of fish. A man could get up in the morning and decide whether today, “I think today, I’ll go track an elk. Go hunt an elk.” “Or maybe today, I’ll go fishing.” “Or maybe today, I’ll stay home with the wife.” “Or maybe I’ll just kick back and relax today.” “Or maybe I’ll be a problem for the Crows over there today.” He could decide what he wanted to do…lived out his life and…go hunting and go fishing…decide not to do anything. Then Western civilization came out here and thought they could improve upon a system like that…with their time clock. It’s a strange world we live in today where we have to follow the clock. You know…rush rush rush. It gets you old too fast.
So, slow down and enjoy your youth as you are growing up. Life gets faster as you get older. Some days you’re feeling your days are boring. I used to feel that way when I was young…that there was nothing to do. Believe me, when you get older, the days are not long enough to get what you want to do in one day.
Resource text
Learn ABOUT Learn FROM
(deep listening, information) (deep sharing, transformation)
1. Howis time viewed differently by the 1. What role does time play in my life?
Lakota people in comparison to the 2. Have | ever purposely avoided the clock
western world? for an extended period of time? How
2. How did the moon guide time? does it feel?
3. In what ways does the timeclock get you 3. Howhas time changed for me over my
old too fast? life? Ex: How did time feel as a child
compared to how it feels now?
be OSEU 2: INTERVIEW WITH DUANE HOLLOW HORN BEAR
2 A WoLakota Project
From the current WoLakota source page:
The Story of Time
Duane Hollow Horn Bear
Transcript
(deep listening, information)
(deep listening, transformation)
Some indexed text was extracted from scanned material. Check the original source for exact wording and spelling.
Source materials
Supplied transcript document. Text preserved as supplied; spellings and transcription uncertainties have not been corrected.
Additional source transcripts
The Story of Time
The Story of Time - Duane Hollow Horn Bear - OSEU
2
There was a time period when a Lakota individual could not promise where he was
going to be on any particular day, at any particular time like we do today. We have
technology that just guides our lives. Like Sharla sends me an email…”We chose
November 17th. 9AM. Be here.” We follow…it seems our lives are always guided by
that clock. A Lakota person, a long time ago, wasn’t guided by this. If there was
something that needed to be done, they took the time to address it. They would
sometimes take days…sometimes they would…particularly in the line of our
ceremonies…if you chose to do a particular gathering, there was no particular hour that
was set. We went by the time period of the moon. This is the time period…living by the
seasons…this is the time period that the gathering was going to happen. We would
come together by word of mouth. We would…people would come…and gather and
camp…and stay together.
Everybody had a role…everybody had a responsibility to the doings that they
contributed. And no one was pressured…saying “You gotta have that here by two
o’clock. You got to be here. We’ve got to be done by four o’clock.” No. If it took another
day, then they took another day. If they took another two days…then there was no set
time period. It’s a way of life that our people found very fitting. A long time ago…our
grandfathers…the way that life was out here…there was plenty of buffalo…a lot of
elk…plenty of deer. The rivers were full of fish. A man could get up in the morning and
decide whether today, “I think today, I’ll go track an elk. Go hunt an elk.” “Or maybe
today, I’ll go fishing.” “Or maybe today, I’ll stay home with the wife.” “Or maybe I’ll just
kick back and relax today.” “Or maybe I’ll be a problem for the Crows over there today.”
He could decide what he wanted to do…lived out his life and…go hunting and go
fishing…decide not to do anything. Then Western civilization came out here and thought
they could improve upon a system like that…with their time clock. It’s a strange world
we live in today where we have to follow the clock. You know…rush rush rush. It gets
you old too fast.
So, slow down and enjoy your youth as you are growing up. Life gets faster as you get
older. Some days you’re feeling your days are boring. I used to feel that way when I was
young…that there was nothing to do. Believe me, when you get older, the days are not
long enough to get what you want to do in one day.