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Well some of y'all know my given name is Tom, but what some of y'all don't know is that I prefer Yvsa or why I do or even that I do.
All of my closest friends call me Yvsa.
And many of my closest friends are on this forum.
I was given the name Yvsa Gigagei by a respected Cherokee grandmother who is also an Elder. Grandma served on the ndn board here in Tulsa for a while and was skilled in some different arts.
I was given the name after I had a vision and told grandma about it.
I have talked a bit about my name here in the past but to refresh or to help some of the new forumites as to what the name means.....
Prairie Fire was called the Red Buffalo by many of the ndns and especially the plains ndns because of the sound it makes when burning before a swift prairie wind.
It does sound like a herd of stampedeing buffalo and it brought
destruction.
But_ after the destruction the rains soon followed and nourished the earth. Many of the prairie plants need fire to start the process of growing.
My name represents a lot of what I do. I was given the right to lead a Sweatlodge a few years back and being of a traditional mind in my belief's it fits.
I gave up on Christianity as not being something for me and found that there are many others of the same mind.
So the name Yvsa Gigagei is more about new growth than it is about the destruction since a way is provided at our place for those who like myself have came back to the traditional ways.
Not everyone who comes to our Lodge is ndn but those who have found their tribal roots to be deeper than the beliefs that they have been taught by the predominant society.
And that's the how and why I got my name. I do the best I can to live up to it and I wear it with pride an honor.
The reason I don't like to be called Tom is that I don't like him much nor would many of you had you have known him in the past. Tom was too dayumed much like his father who wasn't worth the powder to blow him to hell.
And in reality Tom no longer exists as he once was.
It took me many years to meet and face my enemy which was myself and to accept and bring the darkness into the light embraceing both and creating an entirely new person.
I like to think the world is better off with Yvsa in it than the Tom whom he once was.
I have to use my given name in the non-ndn world because of legalalities and the numbers like Social Security.
And I sometimes get my mail in my ndn name, but sometimes to let someone know both sides of me I give them my given name.
And it's a matter of trust that I do so.
But most of the time I don't have to live in the predominant society's world and I like it that way.
I can be who and what I say I am and that's a huge improvement over what once was.
To all my friends here I ask you to please use Yvsa. It's who I really truly am.
Wado Equa Walosi for posting this thread!!
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Yvsa.
"VEGETARIAN".............
Indin word for lousy hunter.
