Native Wisdom

by Joseph Bruchac

Overview

Another book in the Little Books of Wisdom series: portable, elegantly packaged inspiration from around the world — irresistible for the impulse buyer and the serious reader alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062511720
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/14/1994
Series:	Little Books of Wisdom
Edition description:	1st Edition
Pages:	112
Product dimensions:	4.25(w) x 5.00(h) x 0.31(d)

About the Author

Joseph Bruchac is the author of Skeleton Man, The Return of Skeleton Man, Bearwalker, The Dark Pond, and Whisper in the Dark, as well as numerous other critically acclaimed novels, poems, and stories, many drawing on his Abenaki heritage. Mr. Bruchac and his wife, Carol, live in upstate New York, in the same house where he was raised by his grandparents. You can visit him online at www.josephbruchac.com.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

The East

The start of life's journey, the new day, is in the East. Just as it is the place on this continent where the European world first came into contact with the Native people of North America, it is the place of beginnings, flrst light -- and the possibility of starting again.

These days people seek knowledge, not wisdom. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future.
Vernon Cooper (Lumbee), 1990

This chant is part of a healing ceremony incorporating sand painting, singing, and the gathering of a large number of people who lend support to the healing of the person who is ill. Among the Navajo, health is regarded as natural and sickness is a result of imbalance. Thus the ceremony restores balance to the person who is ill. The Navajo word hozhoni, which is translated here as "beauty" or "happily," combines the concepts of beauty, peace, harmony, and happiness.

The House Made of Dawn,
from The Night Chant

In Tsegihi,
In the house made of dawn,
In the house made of evening twilight,
In the house made of dark cloud,
In the house made of male rain,
In the house made of dark mist,
In the house made of female rain,
In the house made of pollen,
In the house made of grasshoppers,
Where the dark mist curtains the doorway,
The path to which is on the rainbow,
Where the zig-zag lightning stands on top,
Where the he-rain stands high on top,
Oh, male divinity!
With your moccasins of dark cloud, come to us.
With your leggings of dark cloud, come to us.
With your shirt of dark cloud, come to us.
With yourheaddress of dark cloud, come to us.
With your mind enveloped in dark cloud,
come to us.
With the dark thunder above you,
come to us soaring.
With the shapen cloud at your feet,
come to us soaring.
With the far darkness made of the dark cloud over your head,
come to us soaring.
With the far darkness made of the male rain over your head,
come to us soaring.
With the far darkness made of the female rain over your head,
come to us soaring.
With the zig-zag lightning flung out on high over your head,
come to us soaring.
With the rainbow hanging high over your head,
come to us soaring.
With the far darkness made of the dark cloud
on the ends of your wings, come to us
soaring.
With the darkness on the earth, come to us.
I have made your sacrifice.
I have prepared a smoke for you.
My feet restore for me.
My limbs restore for me.
My body restore for me.
My mind restore for me.
My voice restore for me.
Today, take out your spell for me.
Today, take away your spell for me.
Away from me you have taken it.
Far off from me it is taken.
Far off you have done it.
Happily I recover.
Happily my interior grows cool.
Happily my limbs regain their power.
Happily my head becomes cool.
Happily I hear again.
Happily I walk.
Impervious to pain, I walk.
Feeling light within, I walk.
with lively feelings, I walk....
Happily the old men will regard you.
Happily the old women will regard you.
Happily the young men will regard you.
Happily the young women will regard you.
Happily the boys will regard you.
Happily the girls will regard you.
Happily the children will regard you.
Happily the chiefs will regard you.
Happily, as they scatter in different directions,
they will regard you.
Happily, as they approach their homes,
they will regard you.
Happily may their roads home be on the trail of
pollen.
"Happily may they all get back.
In beauty I walk.
With beauty before me, I walk.
With beauty behind me, I walk.
With beauty below me, I walk.
With beauty above me, I walk.
With beauty all around me, I walk.
It is finished in beauty.
It is finished in beauty.
Traditional (Navajo), Translated In 1897⁵

Native Wisdom. Copyright © by Joseph Bruchac. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.