A sacred bundle or a medicine bundle is a wrapped collection of sacred items, held by a designated carrier, used in
Indigenous American ceremonial cultures.
According to Patricia Deveraux, a member of the
Blackfoot Confederacy
The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bla ...
in Alberta, "These are holy bundles given to us by the Creator to hold our people together... They're the same as the relics from the Catholic Church. They are a demonstration of the holy spirit. They can heal people."
Overview
According to
Black Elk of the
Oglala Lakota
The Oglala (pronounced , meaning "to scatter one's own" in Lakota language) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota, make up the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A majority of the Oglala live ...
, the first woman chosen to care for the sacred bundle was Red Day Woman, and all women subsequently chosen to care for the sacred bundle are regarded as holy people.
To open or use a bundle without the proper ritual and ceremony portends disaster.
Mesoamerica
In
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. Wit ...
, the 'bundle' - as an idea, image and word - is seen as both the container, such as the wrapping of the bundle, and the contents, which could be any number of special objects possessing spiritual significance. Called ''tlaquimilolli'' among
Nahuatl
Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have small ...
speaking peoples, the bundles were receptacles of divine force and served as symbols of group identity.
[Olivier, Guilhem, and Susan Romanosky. "Bundles." In Davíd Carrasco (ed). ]
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures, vol 1.
' New York : Oxford University Press, 2001.
Historically, sacred bundles were also prominent among the Aztecs and the Quiché Mayas (see
Popol Vuh). The pre-Aztec
Borgia Codex
The Codex Borgia ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Borg.mess.1), also known as ''Codex Borgianus'', ''Manuscrit de Veletri'' and ''Codex Yohualli Ehecatl'', is a pre-Columbian Middle American pictorial manuscript from Central Mexico featuring calendrica ...
uniquely visualizes the mystic powers emanating from such a bundle.
See also
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Maya religion
The traditional Maya or Mayan religion of the extant Maya peoples of Guatemala, Belize, western Honduras, and the Tabasco, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Campeche and Yucatán states of Mexico is part of the wider frame of Mesoamerican religion. As is ...
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Apotropaic magic
Apotropaic magic (from Greek "to ward off") or protective magic is a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences, as in deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye. Apotropaic observances may also be practiced out of supers ...
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Medicine bag
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Mojo bag
Mojo , in the African-American spiritual practice called Hoodoo, is an amulet consisting of a flannel bag containing one or more magical items. It is a " prayer in a bag", or a spell that can be carried with or on the host's body. Alternative ...
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Gris-gris (talisman)
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Fetishism
A fetish (derived from the French , which comes from the Portuguese , and this in turn from Latin , 'artificial' and , 'to make') is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular, a human-made object that has power over o ...
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Sympathetic magic
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sacred Bundle
Native American religion
American Indian relics
Religious objects
Mississippian culture