Lakota Culture
Lakota Legends
While Native American culture has struggled to survive through centuries of displacement and assimilation, the stories and legends passed on from generation to generation still persevere.
This is perhaps due to their common, timeless message of peace and harmony with nature and all living things.
Years ago, there were thousands of tribes, clans and people of various beliefs and customs living in tipis and other dwellings. People were hunting, fishing and farming, only taking what was needed and making the most of every animal killed or plant harvested.
While cultures and customs varied, all Native American beliefs were rooted in a common belief that the universe was bound together by the spirits within all natural life of plants, animals, humans, water, air and earth.
Lakota history was passed from generation to generation through the beautiful art of storytelling. Elders shared tales with young ones to preserve the culture and ensure the continuation of a people.
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The Legends
The following are stories told by Native American tribes of the Northern Plains.
Dreamcatcher
Native Americans of the Great Plains believe the air is filled with both good and bad dreams.
Dreamcatcher
Legend of the Dreamcatcher
Native Americans of the Great Plains believe the air is filled with both good and bad dreams.
According to legend, the good dreams pass through the center hole to the sleeping person. The bad dreams are trapped in the web, where they perish in the light of dawn.
Historically, dreamcatchers were hung in the tipi or lodge and on a baby’s cradleboard.
How the Dreamcatcher Came to Be
Long ago, when the world was young, an old Lakota spiritual leader was on a high mountain. On the mountain, he had a vision. In his vision, Iktómi — the great trickster and teacher of wisdom — appeared in the form of a spider.
Iktómi spoke to him in a sacred language that only spiritual leaders of the Lakota could understand. As Iktómi spoke, he took the elder’s willow hoop — which had feathers, horse hair, beads and offerings on it — and began to spin a web.
He spoke to the elder about the cycles of life and how we begin our lives as infants. We then move on to childhood and in to adulthood. Finally, we go to old age where we must be taken care of as infants, thus, completing the cycle.
“But,” Iktómi said as he continued to spin his web, “in each time of life there are many forces — some good and some bad. If you listen to the good forces, they will steer you in the right direction. But, if you listen to the bad forces, they will hurt you and steer you in the wrong direction.”
He continued, “There are many forces and different directions that can help or interfere with the harmony of nature and also with the Great Spirit and all of his wonderful teachings.”
All while the spider spoke, he continued to weave his web … starting from the outside and working toward the center. When Iktómi finished speaking, he gave the Lakota elder the web and said, “See, the web is a perfect circle, but there is a hole in the center of the circle.”
“Use the web to help yourself and your people … to reach your goals and make use of your people’s ideas, dreams and visions. If you believe in the Great Spirit, the web will catch your good ideas, and the bad ones will go through the hole.” (Note: Some bands believe the bad ideas are caught in the web and the good ideas pass through to the individual. Either account is acceptable.)
The Lakota elder passed his vision on to his people. Now, the Sioux use the dreamcatchers as the web of their life. Traditionally, it is hung above their beds or in their homes to sift their dreams and visions. Good dreams are captured in the web of life and carried with them … but the evil dreams escape through the center’s hole and are no longer part of them.
Lakota believe the dreamcatcher holds the destiny of their future.
Obtained from historical documents and believed to be public domain.
Origin of the Lakota Pipe
In this legend, two men encounter a beautiful woman with a strong message and important gift for the Lakota people.
Origin of the Lakota Pipe
According to legend, two young Lakota men were chosen by their tribe to find the location of the buffalo. While the men set out in pursuit, they saw someone in the distance walking toward them.
They were on the watch for any enemy, so they hid in some bushes and waited. At last, the figure came up the slope. They discovered the figure walking toward them was a beautiful woman.
When she came closer, the woman stopped and looked at them. On her left arm, she carried what looked like a stick in a bundle of sagebrush.
One of the men became consumed with desire to make her his wife; while the other warned him of such thoughts.
Though at a distance, the woman heard them talk. She laid down her bundle and spoke to them. “Come. What is it you wish?”
The man with desire went up to her and laid his hands on her as if to claim her. At once there came a whirlwind, followed by a mist, which hid the man and woman. When the mist cleared, the other man saw the woman with the bundle again on her arm. His friend was a pile of bones at her feet. Then, the woman spoke to him.
“I am on a journey to your people. Among them is a good man whose name is Bull Walking Upright. Go on ahead of me and tell your people I am on my way. Ask them to move camp and to pitch their tents in a circle. Ask them to leave an opening in the circle, facing the north. In the center of the circle, make a large tipi, also facing the north. There I will meet Bull Walking Upright and his people.”
The man saw to it that all her directions were followed. When she reached the camp, she removed the sagebrush from the gift she was carrying. The gift was a small pipe made of red stone. On it was carved the tiny outline of a buffalo calf. She gave the pipe to Bull Walking Upright, and then she taught him the prayers he should pray to the Great Spirit.
“When you are hungry, unwrap the pipe and lay it bare in the air. Then, the buffalo will come where the men can easily hunt and kill them so the children, the men and the women will have food.”
The woman also told him how the people should behave in order to live peacefully. She taught them the prayers they should say when praying to their Mother Earth. She told him how they should decorate themselves for ceremonies.
“The earth,” she said, “is your mother. So, for special ceremonies, you will decorate yourselves as your mother does — in black and red, in brown and white. These are the colors of the buffalo also.”
The woman said, above all else, remember the peace pipe.
“You will smoke it before all ceremonies. You will smoke it before making treaties. It will bring peaceful thoughts into your minds. If you will use it when you pray to the Strong One Above and to Mother Earth you will be sure to receive the blessings you ask.”
When the woman completed her message, she turned and slowly walked away. All the people watched her in awe. Outside the opening of the circle, she stopped for an instant and then lay down on the ground. She rose again in the form of a black buffalo cow. Again she lay down and then arose in the form of a red buffalo cow. A third time she lay down, and arose as a brown buffalo cow. The fourth and last time she had the form of a spotlessly white buffalo cow. Then she walked toward the north into the distance and finally disappeared over a far-off hill.
Bull Walking Upright kept the peace pipe carefully wrapped most of the time. Every little while he called all his people together, untied the bundle, and repeated the lessons he had been taught by the beautiful woman. And he used it in prayers and other ceremonies until he was more than 100 years old.
When he became feeble, he held a great feast. There he gave the pipe and the lessons to Sunrise, a worthy man. In a similar way the pipe was passed down from generation to generation.
“As long as the pipe is used,” the beautiful woman had said, “your people will live and will be happy. As soon as it is forgotten, the people will perish.”
This legend has been edited from historical documents and is believed to be of public domain.
Devils Tower
Devils Tower National Monument is an astounding geologic feature protruding out of the prairie surrounding the Black Hills. It is considered sacred by people of the Northern Plains.
Devils Tower
The Lakota were great travelers, their journeys covering much of North America. They lived by the hunt, so they followed the grazing herds of buffalo, and from early springtime to autumn they gathered fruit and edible vegetation.
According to legend, a caravan of Teton Lakota was slowly moving toward the Black Hills to harvest the many varieties of fruit abounding there. The excitement of new country, new experiences and the prospect of what lay beyond the hill held a thrill of expectation for all.
The vanguard scouts went far ahead. Their task was to blaze a trail for the others to travel, while also scouting for water facilities, hunting prospects, natural protective fortifications and good camping sites.
After many days of marching, the Lakota caravan encountered rugged terrain. To the southeast the Black Hills appeared, hazily black. Bears were numerous in the rough piney hills, but as they rarely attacked human beings unless wounded, sick or hungry. No one feared them.
Then one day, an alarm was quickly relayed through the column. Several young girls had wandered off and now were presumed to be lost. Search parties were hurriedly formed and dispatched in all directions. Finally the girls were spotted, but they were surrounded by a pack of hungry bears. The frightened children screamed for help. No one was near enough to save them. The rescuers, still too far away, looked on in horror as the growling bears closed in on the girls.
Suddenly a voice from the sky spoke to the little girls, saying pahá akíli — climb the hill. It had a strange effect on the attacking bears. For a time they stood paralyzed, giving the little girls a chance to scramble up a small hill.
The girls huddled together and hid their faces from the angry bears. Then, the earth shook and groaned as the little hill began to rise out of the ground, carrying the children high into the air. Higher and higher the mound rose, as the frustrated bears growled and clawed at its sides. Sharp pieces of rock broke away from the rising spire and crashed down upon the angry bears.
That was how Devils Tower came to be, according to Lakota legends. To prove it, the Lakota point to the deep crevices along the walls of the tower and the claw marks made by the huge bears of long ago. Devils Tower is also known as Matȟó Thípila to the Lakota (Sioux) which translates to the bears lodge.
Source: LaPointe, James. Legends of the Lakota. San Francisco: Indian Historian Press, 1976
Sacred Ceremonies
The Seven Lakota Rites
As legend states, long ago, the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman came to Earth and gave the Lakota people a Sacred Pipe and a small round stone. These gifts would be used for the Seven Lakota Rites.
After presenting the gifts and teachings, the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman left the people saying, “There will be four ages, and I will look in on you once each age. At the end of the four ages, I will return.”
As she left, she changed from a beautiful woman into a black buffalo. Her coat then changed to red, and then to yellow, until finally changing to white. She then disappeared into the clouds.
The bowl of the pipe she gave the Lakota people was made of red stone, representing the Earth. A buffalo head was carved on the pipe, symbolizing all of the four-legged animals that roam the earth. The pipe’s stem was made of wood, representing nature. Twelve eagle feathers hung from the place where the bowl joined the stem; this symbolized all the birds.
The round stone was made out of the same red earth as the pipe and had seven circles on it, representing the seven rites.
When a Lakota person smokes a sacred pipe, his or her voice is sent to Wakȟáŋ Tȟáŋka — the Great Spirit.
