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I’m adding the swastika info…because the inside design does remind me of the same design used by native americans….however there is 6 lines…6 directions…..which once again goes back to the medicine wheel..however the medicine wheel never bends the ends of the lines.
http://www.kalilily.net/weblog/sunbird.jpg
That is the native american sunbird swastica….the birds are on the outside….so maybe just maybe that could be whats going on with the triangles…bird tracks on the outside.
Ok now….here is what I personally say is going on….the swatica design I’ve been mentioning….that deals with the 4 winds…the 4 directions…the 4 ages…etc etc……that actually is a swastica design….now the 4 winds..4 directions etc etc….is basically the same thing as the medicine wheel when it comes down to it…..so in theory since the other pendant used the 7 direction medicine wheel….it really would seem pretty safe to say that they may have incorped the 7 direction medicine wheel into the four winds swastica design….then added the bird tracks around it for added kick so to say.
ok I know the middle part is a variation of the 4 winds…..which is basically the same thing as the medicine wheel. we know a pendant found near this was a exact copy of our cousin tribe’s Lakota medicine wheel…..we know at Town creek another medicine wheel pendant was found…..we know the medicine wheel is pretty much our religion…..it’s like our bible.
ok so now I was looking at the triangles…and creek carver’s version…..his version made it alot clearer to me…..a sun symbol.
I’ve never seen a double sun ray….but then again I’ve never seen a 6 wind either….usually the winds are 4….but once agian the basic medicine wheel is 4 directions however we know there is medicine wheels with the 6 lines as well….The Sun, giver of life, warmth, growth, all that is good. This is a style of showing the sun as the face of a kachina mask. Similar styles are seen throughout the Southwestern Indian cultures. May or may not also show “rays” signifying the four directions (this is for the first sun symbol below).
I’m pretty sure I’ve figured out what the design is 🙂
I think I may have found out one of our ritual dances also…..because if the above is true…..then once again lets go to our Siouan cousins…..and we have the “Sun Dance”.
The Sun Dance is a ceremony practiced differently by several North American Indian Nations, but many of the ceremonies have features in common, including dancing, singing and drumming, the experience of visions, fasting, and, in some cases, self-torture.
The Sun Dance was the most spectacular and important religious ceremony of the Plains Indians of 19th-century North America, ordinarily held by each tribe once a year usually at the time of the Summer Solstice.
The Sun Dance last from four to eight days starting at the sunset of the final day of preparation and ending at sunset. It showed a continuity between life and death – a regeneration. It shows that there is no true end to life, but a cycle of symbolic and true deaths and rebirths. All of nature is intertwined and dependent on one another. This gives an equal ground to everything on the Earth.
The Native American tribes who practiced sun dance were:
- The Arapaho, Arikara, Asbinboine, Cheyenne, Crow, Gros, Ventre, Hidutsa, Sioux, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibway, Sarasi, Omaha, Ponca, Ute, Shoshone, Kiowa, and Blackfoot tribes. Their rituals varied from tribe to tribe.
For many tribes of Plains Indians whose bison-hunting culture flourished during the 18th and 19th centuries, the sun dance was the major communal religious ceremony – the rite celebrates renewal – the spiritual rebirth of participants and their relatives as well as the regeneration of the living Earth with all its components – the ritual, involving sacrifice and supplication to insure harmony between all living beings, continues to be practiced by many contemporary native Americans. The most renowned priest was also the best Lodge maker. He ran the entire ceremony and would instruct the participant in building a preparatory tepee and give direction to the other tribesmen who would gather the items needed for the construction. Men known for their eminence in their tribe were chosen to look for a tree with a fork in the top. This was to be for the first and center pole of the lodge. When a suitable tree was located a special qualified person was called in to cut the tree down. The fallen tree was then treated just like a fallen enemy. Then, depending on the tribe a bundle was placed on the fork. In the Sioux tribe the bundle contained brush, buffalo hide, long straws with tobacco in them and other religious offerings.
::It showed a continuity between life and death::
This would show why there “6 winds” was added to it…..which is part of what the “4 winds or 6 winds” symbolizes.
Since the 4 winds is pretty much the same as the medicine wheel…here is a basic idea of what the medicine wheel symbolizes.
The Medicine Wheel
The medicine wheel is an ancient religious symbol. The four bars identify the four cardinal directions. The number four has mystic significance to many of the plains people. It represents the 4 seasons, the 4 quarters of the moon, the 4 winds, and the 4 elements. The outer circle represents the hoop of life, the cyclic pattern of ongoing life and death.
- YELLOW is usually the color of the EAST: symbolizing the beginning of the day and of life.
- RED is usually the SOUTHERN color: symbolizing the noon sun, the good things of life, and innocence.
- BLACK is the color of the WEST: symbolizing the end of the day and of life … a quiet time of introspection.
- WHITE is the NORTHERN color: symbolizing hardships and discomfort, but allowing also wisdom and tolerance
Medicine Wheel – Circle of Life
The medicine wheel is sacred, the native people believe, because the Great Spirit caused everything in nature to be round. The Sun, Sky, Earth and Moon are round. Thus, man should look upon the Medicine Wheel (circle of life) as sacred. It is the symbol of the circle that marks the edge of the world and therefore, the Four Winds that travel there. It is also the symbol of the year. The Sky, the Night, and the Moon go in a circle above the Sky, therefore, the Circle is a symbol of these divisions of time. It is the symbol of all times throughout creation.
Whirling Logs, an ancient symbol from many cultures, the North American symbol depicted the cyclic motion of life, seasons and the four winds. Taken from the image of a tree in a whirlwind, this image is found in Navajop sand paintings frequently. It is considered a powerful medicine.This is the 4 winds.
Knowing this…you may now understand why it was found inside a burial.
Now another name for the 4 winds is the “4 ages”. Infancy, youth, middle age, and Old age.
Now some people may not be aware but before the settlers came….the sun was thought to be the “creator” or as the settlers reffered to as “god”…because the sun brings life in all things around us….so the sun was very sacred. a sun symbol could in a way be thought of in the same way we would see a picture of Jesus in today’s times……also just how today we see so many different people with the cross or jesus tattooed on their body….well before the settlers came here you would see sun symbols tattooed on the body. Now it’s not like a worshiping a false god type thing….alot of people get that idea when they think oh these people thought the sun was god…it’s not like that at all……today we say god is the greatest thing and gives life…..now if we look around and was to point out one thing like that today we would probally have to say the sun…god/creator is great so to symbolize him or her with something then you would have to find the greatest thing around i.e the sun. Even today in pictures of Jesus you’ll notice alot of times the sun behind him or a great light behind him. All the native teachings was basically the same as what the christian bible teaches and this is why christianity caught on when the settlers came.
The plains siouans even thought hair to be sacred and not to be cut except in time of someone’s death…..alot of people may not know this but in the christian bible there is a passage which says hair is sacred and not to be cut. The bible also teaches us that all people are euqal and that we are all brothers and sisters…..that is what the Medicine wheel teaches as well. There is also alot in the bible which mentions the great light….great light….sun.
North, East, South, West, Above, and Below/Here
These are the six directions.
The sun symbol and worship was very much a part of the Southeast for all tribes. The Moundbuilder culture has at its center the worship of the Sun and the directions in harmony with all the cycles of life. If you want to gain some insight into the Southeastern Siouan cultural outlook you may do well to study the Moundbuilder Culture, the Mississipean Ceromonial Complex, and the Woodland Culture. The Saponi as well all the other Southeastern Siouans were moundbuilders. This was how the dead were buried. In some circumstances the dead may have been kept in or near the home for a time.
From my understanding the centeral motif in the Saponi gorgets are whirlwind designs which may signify a connection between the wind, the sun, and thus the seasons. The triangular designs have been thought to represent the home or mountains, however this motif of triangles around a central fire has been linked to the order in which the people often sleept or regarded their societal stratification. Men to the outside, women on the next ring, and children nearest the center. Is this design a medicine wheel? Maybe, it could be viewed as such. Unfortunatly there is no 100% conclusive answer since the intent of the artists and much of the culture and religon was wiped out early on. We have some hints and corralations.
Well the pendant found next to this one was a exact copy of the medicine wheel found out in Wyoming…also at the town creek mound dig there was the 4 direction medicine wheel pendant found.
When I first looking at the triangles…I did think they was triangles…but earlier today when I was looking at it….I noticed it looked like the Sun symbols which just so happens likes to add the mdicine wheel or 4 winds/4 ages inside.
The mounds are cool also….they symbolize the pregnaunt lady……we are thought to all be born from mother earth…..so the mounds symbolize this.
I also find it interesting at the number of triangles…..I think there is 26…hard to see exactly because some is rubbed off…..but I’d say that number is extremely close to what is at the Wyoming stone medicine wheel….28 lines. with the 6 dots for the directions. We have the 6 direction lines….and we are 2 numbers off from having that number 28 (could have ran out of space for 27 and 28).
On top of the Bighorn Range in Wyoming, a desolate 9,642 feet high and only reachable during the warm summer months, lies an ancient Native American construction — an 80′ diameter wheel-like pattern made of stones. At the center of the circle is a doughnut-shaped pile of stones, a cairn, connected to the rim by 28 spoke-like lines of stones. Six more stone cairns are arranged around the circle, most large enough to hold a sitting human. The central cairn is about 12 feet in diameter and 2′ high.
The wheel has 28 spokes, the same number used in the roofs of ceremonial buildings such as the Lakota Sundance lodge. These always includes an entrance to the east, facing the rising Sun, and include 28 rafters for the 28 days in the lunar cycle. The number 28 is sacred to some of the Indian tribes because of its significance as the lunar month. In Bighorn’s case, could the special number 28 also refer to the helicial or dawn rising of Rigel 28 days past the Solstice, and Sirius another 28 past that?
http://solar-center.stanford.edu/AO/bighorn.html
Look at the design on the buffalo robe with the tag underneath that says, “Sioux. Date unknown. Cat. No. 167,147. National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution”. This is the design in my opinion that mirrors the gorgets.
http://americanhistory.si.edu/kids/buffalo/abouthides_frmset.html
There is alot of stuff missing from that one though.
I posted this on page 9…but this is the Lakota stone medicine wheel….and the other pendant found next to the one from page 1. Follow the lines on the pendant…then look at the placements of the circles on the medicine wheel.
Then if you look on post #140 above….them two black and white photos on the right are on the same type of conch shell material….you can also see one of them has the 2 holes for placement. the one on the top left of them two shows the triangles and 4 lines…also you’ll see the sunbirds facing the exact same direction as the lines in the center of the pandant on page 1……
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