Sioux: The Past and Present of the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota
Celebrating with Dance Tust outside a large circular area drummers bang a large rawhide drum Their drumbeats are strong and rhythmic like the heartbeat of their ancestors The ground has already been blessed It is their way of thanking the Creator for another wacipi _ a powwow While the drummers drum they sing in their native language They sing vocables too powerful sounds that express emotion A man carries an eagle feather staff into the arena It represents the native people Behind him an honor guard of Sioux military veterans carries American state tribal and veterans flags The Grand Entry has begun Hundreds of dancers from the Great Sioux Nation stream into the arena Each one dances in step with the drum Powwows are a time for Sioux and other native tribes to gather and celebrate life It is a time to reconnect with friends and to honor their rich culture vocable word made up of sounds without regard to meaning 4
EAGLE FEATHERS The eagle is the most loved animal of the Great Spirit according to American Indian legend It is the bravest and strongest of all birds Eagles and their feathers have long been considered sacred The dark and light feathers represent daylight and darkness summer and winter peace and war life and death Throughout history eagle feathers have been awarded for acts of bravery Grand Entry during a powwow on the Pine Ridge Reservation
Chapter 1 Early Days Artist and Army officer Seth Eastman painted Dakota spear fishing from a canoe in the mid 1800s
The ancestors of today's Sioux lived in the woodlands near the Great Lakes They hunted and fished and gathered wild rice War with the Ojibwe in the 1600s pushed the Sioux south and west They settled in present day southern Minnesota North Dakota and South Dakota Seven separate but close knit Sioux bands formed an alliance of three tribes the Dakota Nakota and Lakota Their similar cultures and beliefs made them perfect allies They were the Oceti Sakowin the Seven Council Fires Tribal name Members of an enemy tribe the Ojibwe were responsible for the Sioux name They called the tribe the na towe ssiwa It meant people of a different tribe or snakes in the Ojibwe language French fur traders mispronounced it in the 1600s and shortened it to Sioux The Sioux prefer to be called Dakota Nakota or Lakota which mean the people band group of related people who live and hunt together alliance agreement between groups to work together
