The
Heyoka belong to a certain type of Lakota medicine man
clan and is roughly
translated as meaning contrarian.
They derive their powers of medicine, prophecy, healing
and teaching through the 7 ancient ceremonial rites and
from the wakinyan (thunder beings)
Heyoka
portray and symbolize aspects of the sacred in a special
way, a way in which their teachings get through to us
without even thinking about them. Heyoka in their
actions don’t seem to care about concepts and
definitions taboos or boundaries, but paradoxically and
simultaneously define the concepts at the root of
societal guidelines for moral and ethical behavior, and
the theories of balance and imbalance.
They are
the ones who can ask why of dangerous subjects, and ask
why of people who are specialists in advanced knowledge
and positions of authority. They ask in their satire by
fooling around. They ask the difficult questions and say
things others would like to say but are too afraid to
speak.
By
reading between the lines, the audience is able to think
about things not usually thought about or cause them to
look at things in a different way.
Heyoka,
thought of as being upside-down, backward forward,
contrary, says things like yes when he actually means
no. They teach, philosophize and communicate backwards
through nonsense, jokes satire and threats. *When it is
baking hot during a heat wave, a Heyoka will shiver with
cold and put on mittens and cover himself with a
blanket. Build a big fire and complain that he is
freezing to death. When it is subfreezing at 40 degrees
below, he will wander around naked for hours complaining
it’s too hot.
There was
a clown called the straighten outner, he was always
running around trying to flatten round and curvy things,
making them straight, things like soup, dishes, eggs,
rings or wagon wheels.
*For
people who are as poor as us, who have lost everything,
who had to endure so much death and sadness, laughter is
a precious gift. When we were dying like flies from
white mans disease, when we were driven into
reservations, when the government rations did not arrive
and we were starving, watching the pranks and capers of
heyoka were a blessing.
The
Heyoka have many functions, like healing through
laughter and opening people’s eyes to deeper meaning and
underlying truth and first and probably foremost is to
prepare the people with laughter for disaster
Most
notable Heyoka were Black Elk and John Fire Lame Deer.
*John
(Fire) Lame Deer and Richard Erdoes / Lame Deer Seeker
of Visions
