Traditional Lakota Rituals
Lakota Sioux painting by George Catlin
http://www.georgecatlin.org/Sioux-War-Council.html
The Seven Traditional Ceremonies
Along with the Sacred Pipe, the White Buffalo
Woman gave the Lakota people Seven Rituals
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2.
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4.
5.
6.
7.
Inipi – Sweat Lodge
Hanblecheya – Vision Quest
Wiwanyank wachip – Sun Dance
Ishnati alowanpi – Making a Girl into a Women
Hunka kagapi – Making Relatives
Tapa wakayapi – Throwing the Ball
Nagi uhapi – Soul Keeping
Ceremonial Norms
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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 wicasa wakan, meaning
holy or sacred man or winyan wakan,
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
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
The Sweat Lodge
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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 Wakan Tanka comes 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
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 Wakan Tanka for 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
Vision Quest Ritual
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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/nativeamerican-vision-quest.html
Keeping of the Soul, Wanagi yuhapi
• 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
Owichapaha decides 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
Keeping of the Soul Ritual
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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-sacredrites?utm_source=google&utm_medium=imgres&utm_campaig
n=framebuster
The Sun Dance: Wiwanyang wachipi,
“dancing while gazing at the sun”
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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/
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
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
Sundance Circle 1890
Denver Public Library Digital Collections
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
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
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
Sun Dancers 1928
Denver Public Library Digital Collections
Sun Dancers 1928
Denver Public Library Digital Collections
Blacks Hawks depiction of the Sun Dance, one of many of his
drawings published in Janet Catherine Berlo’s Spirit 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
The Sun Dance: Process
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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
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/tribescribe/stories-of-native-american-women/
The Sun Dance: Process
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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
Pierced Sun Dancer, 1892
http://homepage.uibk.ac.at/~c603201/plains.html
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 Wakan Tanka
• 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
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
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”
Preparing a Girl for Womanhood: Ishnati
awicalowapi, “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
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
Throwing the Ball: Tapa wankayeyapi,
“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 Wakan Tanka 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