For other uses, see Great Spirit (disambiguation).
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"Appeal to the Great Spirit," statue by Cyrus Dallin before the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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The Great Spirit, called Wakan Tanka among the Sioux [1] and Gitche Manitou in Algonquian, is a conception of universal spiritual force, or supreme being prevalent among some Native American and First Nation cultures.[2] According to Lakota activist Russell Means a better translation of Wakan Tanka is the Great Mystery.[3]
References
- ^ Ostler, Jeffry. The Plains Sioux and U.S. Colonialism from Lewis and Clark to Wounded Knee. Cambridge University Press, Jul 5, 2004. ISBN 0521605903, pg 26.
- ^ Thomas, Robert Murray. Manitou and God: North-American Indian Religions and Christian Culture. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007. ISBN 0313347794 pg 35.
- ^ Means, Robert. Where White Men Fear to Tread: The Autobiography of Russell Means. Macmillan, 1995. ISBN 0312147619 pg 241.
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