My name, "Pankanli", was given to me by my
GrandPa Mack. He is part Choctaw and his
Indian name is "Nashoba Baleli"; meaning
Running Wolf. Pankanli means, not yet in
full bloom, blossoming. Pankanli symbolizes
me because I am a young woman, still blooming
and growing, and learning.
I'm not yet a woman.
It is told that a group of young girls had to be left behind in hiding as the tribe had to pack up and move quickly due to imminent danger. When the girls came out of hiding and went in search of the tribe, they came upon an injured wolf. After nursing the wolf back to health, they became adopted by the entire pack of wolves, who saved them from danger many times as the girls continued their search for the rest of their tribe.
The warrior fathers, upon returning to find the girls, saw the wolves surrounding their daughters from a distance. Not understanding that the wolves were actually protecting their daughters, they slew them one and all.
After being told of their grave mistake, they vowed to honor the wolf as protector throughout time. This became tradition and continues today.
Native Americans helped the first colonists to settle and reap harvests until the white
men tryed to push them off the land which they belonged to. Then the warriors who loved nature and the spirits fought, along with their war chiefs, to keep their way of life.
The shamans of the tribes, or in white man's
words, the medicine man, prayed to the gods to strengthen the tribe physically, emotionally,
spiritually, and mentally. The tribes performed
rituals to their gods and believed that
spiritual contact often came in dreams or by
trials of will.
Natives believed in manitou, that all nature
pulsates with life. They believed that every animal, rock, plant, and grain of sand has
life and that they as humans were only a
thin thread in the web of life. When they
would hunt, they would pray to the soul
of the animal and ask for allowance to
kill it, they would also only hunt what was substantial for life.
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