Copyright © 1997-1999 NLThomas
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First! Please understand that while I am a traditional...(religion)... Native American my definition and explanation is not going to be exactly the same as every other...tribal differences...and differences of practice do exist among us.

The Sacred Hoop is a SYMBOL...a way to visualize a very complex yet simple concept. This concept underlies a form of thinking that is foreign to most modern Americans (even a lot of us Injuns :-). It is sometimes necessary to work hard at setting aside modern cultural adaptations to encompass it.

The Sacred Hoop represents the "Circle of Life" I like to call it "interconnectedness"...remember, a hoop or circle has no beginning and no end...when you reach the end you are at the beginning...just as the seasons evolve from Spring to summer to fall to winter to spring , so our lives evolve with the seasons. From conception, to youth to middle age to old age...We do not know from whence we come at conception, nor do we know exactly whence we go at death...but it is most likely the same place, thus completing the circle.

For some Native Americans it also represents the "Hoop of the Nation" the interconnectedness of each member of the tribe to every other member of the tribe. By modern extension this can also mean the same relationship between races, religions, countries, etc.

Another form of this is our interconnectedness to the earth we live on, like any circle, if you touch a part of the edge you effect every other part of the circle. Holding to a belief that everyTHING (as opposed to person) has a spirit of some sort this can be extended to say that everything you do effects everyTHING on the spiritual plane as well as the physical. Thus, it is incumbent upon us to consider well each thing we do as we are the beginning AND the end of the circle. In other words it comes around "full circle" and back to us, sometimes over and over. Let me use the example of air pollution (not to be ecological but for clarity). What we put into our atmosphere, we must breathe, but it does not stop there. Later it washes out of the air and into our water supply and we drink it. The fish and animals must also breathe and drink it. It goes into our soil where our food plants take it up and we eat it. Thus by breathing, eating, and drinking we have gone around the circle of our action not once, but THREE times and the cycle is as inexorable as the turning of the seasons or the rising and setting of the sun.

For our native american ancestors this was a natural way of thinking... circular rather than the customary Linear style of thinking that was predominant in most of the early white settlers who arrived here. The responsibilities conveyed by the concept of the Sacred Hoop are enormous. If the cycle is disturbed all LIFE is disturbed in some way.

This concept underlies all of Native American religion and culture. The HOOP is SACRED because it represents the entirety of survival...both physical and spiritual. The representations of the HOOP which are found in the art and crafts of the Native American are SACRED SYMBOLS of LIFE itself.

There are legends among various tribes relating to the SACRED HOOP. Most of them are warnings against breaking the hoop..and the consequences of such a break. Several Native American spiritual leaders through the "indian wars" saw such a break and warned that it would have dire consequences for "The People".

Those of us who continue to carry on the old beliefs try always to heal the nicks and cracks that appear in the Sacred Hoop, so that it will not break.

I could go on for days with examples...and this has gone on far too long as it is...but the concept of the Sacred Hoop is far more than a bit of Native American religion...it is a fundamental foundation to a way of life.

Joeline