Comments on: Why not ‘leverage’ the DNR’s Fort Snelling State Park Dakota Concentration Camp display? http://nativeamericanminnesota.org/archives/262/ A journey of learning and understanding Tue, 30 Nov 2010 06:08:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 By: Ron Leith http://nativeamericanminnesota.org/archives/262/comment-page-1/#comment-155 Ron Leith Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:33:55 +0000 http://nativeamericanminn150.org/archives/262#comment-155 thank you for the update thank you for the update

]]> By: Griff Wigley http://nativeamericanminnesota.org/archives/262/comment-page-1/#comment-135 Griff Wigley Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:37:49 +0000 http://nativeamericanminn150.org/archives/262#comment-135 You're welcome, Monte. Good to have another WordPress blogger hanging around here! You’re welcome, Monte. Good to have another WordPress blogger hanging around here!

]]> By: Monte Asbury http://nativeamericanminnesota.org/archives/262/comment-page-1/#comment-132 Monte Asbury Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:51:04 +0000 http://nativeamericanminn150.org/archives/262#comment-132 Thanks for this informative blog. I'm an Iowan who once in a while blogs on Indigenous People and justice issues that I read about, and I'm grateful to have the chance to learn from you. I'll be watching via RSS. Thanks for this informative blog. I’m an Iowan who once in a while blogs on Indigenous People and justice issues that I read about, and I’m grateful to have the chance to learn from you. I’ll be watching via RSS.

]]> By: Thomas Dahlheimer http://nativeamericanminnesota.org/archives/262/comment-page-1/#comment-128 Thomas Dahlheimer Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:56:09 +0000 http://nativeamericanminn150.org/archives/262#comment-128 The DNR’s narrative reads: “For hundreds of years before Europeans arrived, generations of Dakota people lived in villages along the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers that meet in Fort Snelling State Park. The river confluence was believed to be the place of origin and center of the earth by the bands of Mde-wa-kan-ton-wan Dakota, the "Dwellers by Mystic Lake." Choosing to use "Dwellers by Mystic Lake" to present the meaning of the sacred name Mdewakantonwan seems to me to demean the sacredness of the name and that it diminishes the spiritual importance of Wakan (Great Spirit)/Mille Lacs Lake to the Mdewakanton people, and that it is also an advertisement for Mystic Lake Casino, a money-loving gambling business that desecrates the Mdewakanton’s sacred traditional culture. The words: 'The river confluence was believed to be the place of origin’ is not correct. The following statement is correct. According to one Mdewakanton creation story the river confluence was believed to be the place of origin. Another Mdewakanton, 'those who were born of the water', creation story says they were born of the water of the Great Spirit, or born of the water of Wakan (Great Spirit)/Mille Lacs Lake. On the DNR’s Mille Lacs Kathio State Park website the following words are displayed: "These people came to be known as the Mdewakanton, which translated means 'Water of the Great Spirit'." http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/mille_lacs_kathio/narrative.html More about this topic can be found at http://www.towahkon.org/Dakotahistory.html The DNR’s narrative reads: “For hundreds of years before Europeans arrived, generations of Dakota people lived in villages along the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers that meet in Fort Snelling State Park. The river confluence was believed to be the place of origin and center of the earth by the bands of Mde-wa-kan-ton-wan Dakota, the “Dwellers by Mystic Lake.”

Choosing to use “Dwellers by Mystic Lake” to present the meaning of the sacred name Mdewakantonwan seems to me to demean the sacredness of the name and that it diminishes the spiritual importance of Wakan (Great Spirit)/Mille Lacs Lake to the Mdewakanton people, and that it is also an advertisement for Mystic Lake Casino, a money-loving gambling business that desecrates the Mdewakanton’s sacred traditional culture.

The words: ‘The river confluence was believed to be the place of origin’ is not correct. The following statement is correct. According to one Mdewakanton creation story the river confluence was believed to be the place of origin. Another Mdewakanton, ‘those who were born of the water’, creation story says they were born of the water of the Great Spirit, or born of the water of Wakan (Great Spirit)/Mille Lacs Lake.

On the DNR’s Mille Lacs Kathio State Park website the following words are
displayed: “These people came to be known as the Mdewakanton, which translated means
‘Water of the Great Spirit’.”

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/mille_lacs_kathio/narrative.html

More about this topic can be found at
http://www.towahkon.org/Dakotahistory.html

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