Lakotas

The history of a great people always begins with a great story. The Lakotas of the northern Plains are no exception. A very long time ago, two Lakota men were searching for buffalo. On reaching the crest of a high hill, they gazed to the north and noticed a woman coming toward them. According to Black Elk, a prominent Lakota spiritual leader, the two scouts saw that the woman “wore a fine white buckskin dress, that her hair was very long and that she was young and very beautiful.” One of the men lusted after the young woman and was consequently cursed, quickly turning into a “skeleton covered with worms.” The woman informed the other Lakota that she was coming to visit his people and that they should prepare a large teepee for her arrival. When she came, she presented to the people a sacred pipe and taught them seven sacred ceremonies, which serve as the foundation of Lakota culture. As she left the people, she was transformed into a white buffalo cow and disappeared over the horizon.

The story of White Buffalo Calf Woman is the founding story of the Lakotas. Her gift of the sacred [Page 375]pipe, as aptly pointed out by scholar Raymond J. DeMallie, “established kinship between the buffalo and the people; when it was smoked, the spirits would hear the prayer and send buffalo.” The seven sacred ceremonies of the Lakotas, including the vision quest, the naming ceremony for children, the Sun Dance, and the purification ceremony of the sweat lodge, have all experienced a renaissance during the last forty or so years. Lakotas today, just as in ancient days, adhere to the culture given to them by their sacred visitor long ago. The account of White Buffalo Calf Woman, along with numerous other stories, defines Lakota culture and identity.

The Lakotas are but one tribe within a larger grouping of Siouan-speaking peoples collectively known as the Sioux. The name “Sioux,” a term rarely, if ever, used by Lakotas, is a French corruption of the Ojibwa word nadoweis-iw, meaning “enemy” or “little snakes.” Instead, the Sioux refer to themselves as Ocheti Sakowin or the “Seven Council Fires.” More commonly, depending on their dialect, the Sioux call themselves “Dakota” or “Lakota,” both of which mean “allies” or “friends.” The westernmost Sioux tribe is the Lakota. Furthermore, the Lakotas divide themselves into seven separate bands, the largest of which is the Oglala (“they scatter their own”). The remaining six bands are the Sicangu (“burnt thighs”) or Brule, the Hunkpapa (“those who camp at the entrance”), the Miniconjou (“those who plant by the stream”), Sihasapa (“blackfeet”), Itazipco (“without bows”), and Oohenonpa (“two kettles”).

The origins of the Lakotas and their Dakota relatives have been a source of controversy, one with significant political implications. In general, anthropologists contend that the ancestors of the Sioux were originally from the lower Ohio and middle Mississippi valleys. By the 16th and 17th centuries, some of these peoples journeyed northward into Wisconsin and Minnesota. About this time, it is believed, these migrants separated into seven tribal groups, constituting the Seven Council Fires. During the 18th century, many of these fanned out into what are now the Dakotas, western Nebraska, and eastern Wyoming. Those who traveled furthest to the west, the Lakotas, eventually made forays into Montana and western Wyoming. In this manner, the Lakotas were expanding their territory at the same time the United States of America was formed.

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