Traditional Lakota Rituals

1. Traditional Lakota Rituals Lakota Sioux painting by George Catlin http://www.georgecatlin.org/Sioux-War-Council.html

2. The Seven Traditional Ceremonies Along with the Sacred Pipe, the White Buffalo Woman gave the Lakota people Seven Rituals • Inipi– Sweat Lodge • Hanblecheya – Vision Quest • Wiwanyankwachip– Sun Dance • Ishnatialowanpi– Making a Girl into a Women • Hunkakagapi– Making Relatives • Tapawakayapi– Throwing the Ball • Nagiuhapi– Soul Keeping

3. Ceremonial Norms • Utilized at all Lakota ceremonies was tobacco, sweet grass, and sage, which are pleasing to the spirits and contribute to the cleansing & harmony being sought • An eagle wing is commonly used to cause the smoke to pass over a person being healed, known as “smudging” • Flags/Banners in the sacred colors are widely used • A buffalo skull manifests the presence and power of the buffalo • A traditional Lakota spiritual leader known as wicasawakan, meaning holy or sacred man or winyanwakan, meaning holy or sacred women are always present during rituals because they serve as intermediaries for the people to the spirits and their powers http://www.givingspiritform.com/program.html

4. Sweat Lodge: Inikagapi, “to renew life” • Participation of the Sweat Lodge served as a ritual for purification and renewal • Conducted in preparation for participation in a great endeavor, as a means for offering thanksgiving for a blessing, or in response for a particular need such as an illness or family crisis • Both men & women participate, but not together • Participants enter the lodge without clothes because it it “Grandmother’s Womb,” a place of spiritual birth and rebirth Sweat Lodge Ceremony, Pine Ridge Reservation http://homepage.uibk.ac.at/~c603201/plains.html

5. The Sweat Lodge • The Sweat Lodge has a domed structure and is made of 16 bent willows and covered in buffalo robes & other skins • The lodge symbolizes the cosmos, the hot stones represent Grandmother Earth, and the fire is the center of the universe where WakanTankacomes to the worshipers • A path of eight paces are made running east & west that are not to be crossed during the ceremony • At the eastern end, a mound of earth dug from the fire pit inside the lodge serves as an alter • Two paces further, is “the fire without end” where the stones are heated • Entrance to the lodge is made on all fours to show they are related to the four-legged people • Participants enter clockwise around the lodge led by the person conducting the lodge, the last is the doorkeeper who assists the leader • Once all have entered, rocks are brought in: the first 7 rocks symbolize the 4 directions, sky, earth, and the center • Sage & Cedar are sprinkled over the rocks to make them “whisper” like a spirits voice • The leader then pours water on the rocks and the lodge fills with steam symbolized by the “purifying breath of the Creator” • A typical lodge has 4 rounds of song and prayer with periods of sitting in silence in which a sacred pipe is passed around • At the end of each round, the door is open, which allows for the lodge to cool, and water is passed around to drink • At the end of the Sweat Lodge, participants plunge into a nearby stream or body of water to celebrate the joy of renewal and purification experienced in the lodge

6. Vision Quest: Hanblecheya, “Crying for a Vision” • Under the guidance of a wakan, a Lakota may seek to experience communication with spirits by undertaking a Vision Quest, also known as “Going On The Hill” • By presenting oneself before the spirits, the one “crying for a vision” may receive their power • A person may seek a vision to receive guidance for his or her life or to thank WakanTankafor a special blessing they received • A warrior may “Go On The Hill” before battle • A dancer may seek a vision before a Sun Dance • A family member may go to request healing for a sick or dying relative

7. Vision Quest Ritual • After purification through fasting for typically 4 days, and participation in a Sweat Lodge, the person seeking a vision is guided to a sacred hill and is given a sacred pipe to hold during the ritual • A pit is dug in the ground and at times the seeker will climb into the pit • The 4 Cardinal directions are marked with flags one red, yellow, white, and black and are placed at each corner of the pit • The person walks to each of the flags returning to the center all day long, “crying for a vision” • This lasts for 2-4 days where the participant does not eat or drink • When the seeker lays down exhausted, the long awaited vision may come • In visions, the seeker may be spoken to by animals or visited by the Thunder Beings • These forces may become the participant’s “spirit guide” • Some visions come to people spontaneously, often in a time of illness such as Nicholas Black Elk’s famous “Great Vision” • These “power visions,” or “visions without crying,” are usually commissions to a special leadership role Depiction of Eagle Man’s vision quest http://www.native-americans-online.com/native-american-vision-quest.html

8. Keeping of the Soul, Wanagiyuhapi • When a Lakota dies, their ghost or “wanagi” normally travels south along the Milky Way known as the “ghost road,” or “spirit trail” where an old woman, named Maya Owichapahadecides its fate – either sending it to the spirit world or returning it to earth where it lives as a shade • Sometimes the family may decide to “keep the soul” particularly if the deceased is a beloved son • The ghost is kept for a period of time the its is ritually released, which is then assured to make it to the spirit world • Keeping of the Soul keeps the family and band mindful of the fragility of life

9. Keeping of the Soul Ritual • To represent the soul, a sacred leader cuts a lock of hair from the deceased person and wraps it along with a sacred pipe in a buckskin bag, this becomes what is known as the Soul Bundle • The soul has its own tipi and the bag is placed inside on a special tripod • On the final day of the soul keeping when the soul is released, the family holds a great feast • The Soul Bundle was then brought outside. As soon as it touched the air the soul was released • Gifts are given to the family and the family’s old processions are shared with the needy to honor the departed soul http://www.squidoo.com/lakota-sacred-rites?utm_source=google&utm_medium=imgres&utm_campaign=framebuster

10. The Sun Dance: Wiwanyangwachipi, “dancing while gazing at the sun” • Lakota began observing the annual ceremony as early as 1700 • Performed during the “moon of the ripening chokecherries” (June or July) when bands gathered for a national camp circle in preparation for a communal buffalo hunt • Also undertaken for the well being and harmony of the Lakota people • Individuals may have their own person motivations for taking a vow to participate in the Sun Dance, some for spiritual help in a time of danger, a soldier before battle may take a vow to ensure his safe return, or a family member may take a vow in behalf of a sick family member • During the 1870’s so many Lakotas gathered for the ceremony that the diameter of the encampment could reach 4-7 miles Pine Ridge Reservation http://www.oglalalakotaplan.org/tag/pine-ridge/

11. The Sun Dance • The Sun Dance is lead by the “intercessor,” a wakan, who determines how the Sun Dance will be conducted • Therefore, no two Sun Dances are the same although there are common traditional elements • The dance itself is preceded by up to 8 days of preparation of gathering, socializing, and instruction of the dancers • The preparation of the dancers are held under the guidance of a wakan where they engage in fasting, sweat lodges, holding feasts, and making offerings to the spirits • Dancers are expected to represent the Lakota virtues of integrity, generosity, bravery, and endurance

12. Sun Dance Preparation: Day 1 • The area where the Sun Dance will be performed is made • A hole is dug in the center of the camp circle and a large arbor is built around it • In the east, a special lodge is constructed for the Sun dancers, as well as a few sweat lodges • A Cottonwood tree, which becomes the Sun Dance pole is symbolically hunted and a Buffalo Dance is held Men's sweat lodge, Pine Ridge Sundance, 2012. Photo by Marisol Villanueva

13. Sundance Circle 1890 Denver Public Library Digital Collections

14. Sun Dance Preparation: Day 2 • The Cottonwood tree is ritually captured as an enemy would be, but by a selected group of virtuous women rather than warriors • A procession makes its way to the tree which is then marked with red paint • The wakan leading the Sun Dance conducts a pipe ceremony before the tree is cut • Eight specially chosen boys and girls then strike the first blows to cut down the tree • Strong men then finish the job and fell the tree without its touching of the ground • The procession the stops 4 times before arriving to the Sun Dance circle Sun dance tree, Pine Ridge Reservation 1998 http://homepage.uibk.ac.at/~c603201/plains.html

15. Sun Dance Preparation: Day 3 • The Cottonwood tree is stripped of most of its branches and is raised at the center of the circle • It is then painted red on the west side, blue on the north, green on the east, and yellow on the south side • At the base of the pole a buffalo skull is placed • A bundle of cherrychoke brush, sweetgrass, sage, bison hair, and a red cloth banner are places in the tree • Rawhide effigies of a man who represents the Gods Iya & Gnaske are hung from the pole and arrows are shot until they are hit Sun Dance pole 1909 Denver Public Library Digital Collections

16. The Dancers • Male dancers enter the circle naked from the waist up • Their hands and feet are painted red with blue symbols of Sky on their shoulders, other symbols related to the manner in which the participants have vowed to dance and their animal mentor are also painted on his body • 19th century dancers wore white deerskin skirts, strips of rabbit fur around their wrists and ankles, armlets of bison hair, and a rawhide “sunflower” disk around his neck, painted blue • Some dancers sport their war paraphernalia; high ranked warriors wear or carry the buffalo horn and eagle feather headdress • Dancers typically carry sprigs of sage in their hands and wreaths of sage around their necks • They may carry blue willow hoops symbolizing Sky • The wear 4 decorated sticks pinned into their hair and crossed to represent the 4 sacred directions • In their mouths they carry eagle bone whistles wrapped in porcupine quills and downy feathers which they blow to call spirits while they dance • The men also hold long stakes to which cloth banners are tied, which they stick into the ground to define the sacred space of the Sun Dance arena

17. Sun Dancers 1928 Denver Public Library Digital Collections

18. Sun Dancers 1928 Denver Public Library Digital Collections

19. Blacks Hawks depiction of the Sun Dance, one of many of his drawings published in Janet Catherine Berlo’sSpirit Beings and Sun Dancers that show his vision of the Lakota world. Living on South Dakota’s Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, Black Hawk completed the pencil and ink drawings in the winter of 1880-81

20. The Sun Dance: Process • In the time of the dance, they are lead into the circle by the “intercessor” who carries a buffalo skull and places it to face the pole • At an alter across from the pole, a pipe ceremony is held to bring harmony • Sweet grass is placed on a fire of buffalo chips to purify the scene and its participants • Children who have been selected to have their ears pierced lie on a bed of sage: the act of piercing ears manifests the opening of the childes ears to the voices of the spirits • The dancers and others supporting their vows then may give flesh offerings taken by an elder qualified to do so Sun Dancer, 1928 Denver Public Library Digital Collections

21. The Flesh Offering In her novel Waterlily Ella Deloria describes a young man fulfilling a vow of giving flesh offerings after his father has been spared from death: “The old man rubbed cold water over Lowanla’s shoulders and down his arms. Then, using a cactus spike, he pricked the skin and pulled it out while with the sharp knife he quickly snipped off a tiny piece and laid it on the hide spread out to retrieve it. Starting near the neck and alternating from one side to the other, he made a line of cuts along the shoulders. Blood trickled down in parallel streams, but the youth only bit his lip and frowned and did not flinch nor utter a sound.” http://www.prairieedge.com/tribe-scribe/stories-of-native-american-women/

22. The Sun Dance: Process • With guidance from their spiritual mentors, the dancers have vowed to dance gazing at the sun, pierced and attached to the pole suspended in the center of four smaller poles or dragging buffalo skulls • While special Sun Dance songs are periodically sung to the rhythm of drums, the dancers who have been chosen to gaze into the sun do so throughout the day • The pierced dancers do so until the pressure causes the throngs they are attached to to break free • During intermissions, the dancers rest and have their wounds cleansed • The dance ends when the last dancer succeeds in breaking the hold of the throngs • All dancers are then honored and the pole is left in place until it deteriorates and returns to Mother Earth Indian Sun Dance by George Catlin

23. Pierced Sun Dancer, 1892 http://homepage.uibk.ac.at/~c603201/plains.html

24. The Sun Dance Spiritual Significance • According to Nicholas Black Elk, the Sun Dance was introduced as a rite of penance, when the people began to forget WakanTanka • The Sun Dance strengthens the sacred hoop of the Lakota nation and creates a closer relationship with all things of the universe • The dancers subject themselves to suffering for the sake of well being with everything and everyone • With the establishment of reservation life and the demise of the traditional life on the Plains, the Sun Dance became a memorial of a life no longer lived rather than a celebration of life as it was lived

25. Making of Relatives Ritual, Hunkapi • Creates a special bond between two people that is stronger than kinship • The two people promise to die for one another is necessary • One of the two people is older and is referred to as “Hunka,” meaning father • The event takes place in a specially erected structure and is precided over by a wakan Lakota Hunka Ceremony Black Hills, South Dakota http://www.oneworldinconcert.com/node/10

26. Making of Relatives • Another type of Hunkapi might also be held to honor a beloved child • An eagle plume, is put on the child to affirm that they are loved • Overtime the ceremony has become a rite of initiation onto the Lakota nation where a young person is given a special name, which is why it has become known as the “naming ceremony”

27. Preparing a Girl for Womanhood: Ishnatiawicalowapi, “they sing over her menses” • This puberty ritual occurs after a young woman’s first menstruation and marks her coming to be a woman • It is also called the Buffalo Ceremony because of the belief that the buffalo guards a woman’s chastity and fertility • As mothers of Lakota society, women are equated with the buffalo who give life to the Lakota people

28. Preparing a Girl for Womanhood Ritual • In the ceremony the young women is told that like Mother Earth, she will be able to bear children • She is instructed that during her menstruation she possess an especially potent sacred influence that must be carefully guarded • She is also taught the rituals of purification in which she will need to engage during her menstruation through out her period of fertility Sioux Mother and Baby, c.1830 by George Catlin

29. Throwing the Ball: Tapawankayeyapi, “throwing the ball upward” • In this ritual, a young girl stands in a field surrounded by many people standing at the 4 directions • She throws a ball made from buffalo skin that symbolizes the universe of WakanTanka and knowledge • The ball is then attempted to be caught by the people standing in the 4 directions • Whoever catches the ball is considered fortunate and good luck will follow them