Like the Ojibwe, the Sioux consider the Road of the Spirits—their name for the Path of Souls—a portal to the afterlife. The seven stars of the Big Dipper lift souls onto the road, making 7 a sacred number. The number 4 is also sacred, and the two numbers form the tribes’ numerical systems. Political and cultural divisions are made in sevens. The Sioux nation is divided into seven tribes. Each tribe is divided into seven bands. Bands changed their names so often in the 1700s that explorers ten years apart documented what they thought were completely different groups. The number 4 is associated
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Like the Ojibwe, the Sioux consider the Road of the Spirits—their name for the Path of Souls—a portal to the afterlife. The seven stars of the Big Dipper lift souls onto the road, making 7 a sacred number. The number 4 is also sacred, and the two numbers form the tribes’ numerical systems. Political and cultural divisions are made in sevens. The Sioux nation is divided into seven tribes. Each tribe is divided into seven bands. Bands changed their names so often in the 1700s that explorers ten years apart documented what they thought were completely different groups. The number 4 is associated with nature, people, and place. There are four divisions of time: day, night, moon phase, and year. There are four kinds of animals on land: creatures that crawl, fly, walk on four legs, and walk on two. There are four celestial entities: sun, moon, sky, and stars.
