Lakhota/Dahkota/Nahkota (Sioux) Literature

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Lakhota / Dakhota / Nakhota Sioux Literature "-khota" means "friends" or Allies, which is the name of all 3 (Da, La,and Na). Original Seven Council Fires "Oceti-Sakowin" Tradional Dakata Songs Lakota (Sioux) Nation Mdewakantonwan, Spirit Lake People Wahpekute, Shooters among the Leaves Sisseton, People of the Fish Ground (Sisseton) Wahpetonwan, Dwellers among the Leaves (Wahpeton) Ihanktonwana, Little Dwellers of the End (Yanktonais) Ihanktonwan, Dwellers of the End (village)(Yankton) Tetonwan, Dwellers on the Plains (Teton) DLN Nation In general, Dakhota/Nakhota (easterly) are the woodland and Lakhota the Plains peoples, so just as there are big differences in those environments and life there, there are big differences in culture and lifeways. After the so-called "great (Sioux) uprising of 1867) the eastern people merged with the Lakhota of South Dakota and Nebraska. The 4 very small plots of land (Upper, Lower, Shakopee, Prairie Island) were essentially farms that were "awarded" to Dakhota scouts. Later a few others came back to those small patches from the Nebraska Santee Dakhota. These people tended to be or soon become rather acculturated, in comparison to the much larger groups who remained on isolated Badland camps in South Dakota. The "D/L/N" sound-difference is not really a present method of dividing the larger group of "Lakhota" people from the two smaller ones. The history of the three divisions is the main difference. "The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives. There can never be peace between nations until it is first known that true peace is within the souls of men. We will be known forever by the tracks we leave."
Lahkota
	Poems/Songs "Singing, I send a voice as I walk, Singing, I send a voice as I walk, A sacred hoop I wear as I walk." Song of the Running Elk, Lakhota "My paw is Sacred, the herbs are everywhere. My paw is Sacred, all things are Sacred." *Song of the Lakhota Bear Doctors*
Lakota Creational Myth In the beginning, prior to the creation of the Earth, the gods resided in an undifferentiated celestial domain and humans lived in an indescribably subterranean world devoid of culture. Chief among the gods were Takushkanshkan ("something that moves"), the Sun, who is married to the Moon, with whom he has one daughter, Wohpe ("falling star"); Old Man and Old Woman, whose daughter Ite ("face") is married to Wind, with whom she has four sons, the Four Winds. Among numerous other spirits, the most important is Inktomi ("spider"), the devious trickster. Inktomi conspires with Old Man and Old Woman to increase their daughter's status by arranging an affair between the Sun and Ite. The discovery of the affair by the Sun's wife leads to a number of punishments by Takuskanskan, who gives the Moon her own domain, and by separating her from the Sun initiates the creation of time. Old Man, Old Woman, and Ite are sent to Earth, but Ite is separated from the Wind, her husband, who, along with the Four Winds and a fifth wind presumed to be the child of the adulterous affair, establishes space. The daughter of the Sun and the Moon, Wohpe, also falls to earth and later resides with the South Wind, the paragon of Lakota maleness, and the two adopt the fifth wind, called Wamniomni ("whirlwind"). Black Elk Quotes Black Elk Speaks Black Elk Speaks 1 Black Elk Speaks 2 Black Elk Speaks Chapter 1 Black Elk Speaks Chapter 10 Black Elk Speaks Chapter 24 Black Elk Speaks Chapter 25 Human Rights Advocacy Coalition Lakhota Language Documents Lakhota Art & Music Lakhota Maps Lakhota Prophecies Republic of Lakotah Russell Means Freedom T.R.E.A.T.Y. Total Immersion School Wowapi Oti Kin ( Information Home Page) Videos Horse Racing Lakota Dancers Lakota Lullaby Lakota Nation Cecedes Lakota Powwow Lakota Prayer Lakota Quote Lakota Song Lakota Spirituality Lakota Voices Lakota Wedding Song Lakota Woman's Power Song The Lakota Way Through Lakota Eyes Funeral Lakhota Language

Wolf, A Teton Lakhota Song

A wolf I considered myself
But
I have eaten nothing
And
From standing I am tired out.
A wolf I considered myself
But
The owls are hooting
And
The night I fear

Lakhota Prayer

Grandfather Great Spirit
All over the world
the faces of living ones are alike.

With tenderness they have
come up out of the ground.

Look upon your children that they may
face the winds and walk the good road to
the Day of Quiet.

Grandfather Great Spirit
Fill us with the Light.
Give us the strength to understand,
and the eyes to see.

Teach us to walk the soft Earth
as relatives to all that live.

Lakhota Myths and Legends Myths and Legends of the Sioux by McLaughlin, Marie L - 1916 A Guide to the Great Sioux (Lakhota) Nation Great Sioux (Lakhota) Nation - List of Tribes Powwows - Lakhota (Sioux) Oglala Sioux Tribe Community Environmental Profile Lakhota (Sioux) Heritage Association Sisseton Wahpeton College (SWCC) Sota Iya Ye Yapi Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation Weekly Newspaper Website First Nations Language Lessons: Nakota Last Ghost Dance Imaging and Imagining the Ghost Dance: James Mooney's Illustrations and Photographs, 1891-93. (Note: Google Search gave over 6,000 entries for "Nakota" !) Lakhota (Brule) Coming of Wasichu Coyote and Wasichu Ghost Dance at Wounded Knee Ghost Wife How Grandfather Peyote Came to the People How the Crow Came to be Black Iktome and the Ignorant Girl Iktome has a Bad Dream Iktome Sleeps with his Wife by Mistake Legend of Devil's Tower Legend of the Flute Man Who was Afraid of Nothing Remaking the World Stone Boy Tatanka Iyotake's dancing horse Two Bullets and Two Arrows Two Ghostly Lovers Uncegila's Seventh Spot Vision Quest Wakinyan Tanka, the Great Thunderbird	Lakhota Stories Myths and Legends of the Sioux Bashful Courtship Brave Woman Counts Coup (White River Lakota) Buffalo and the Field Mouse Comrades Coyote Dances with the Stars Dance in a Buffalo Skull Dream catcher Hermit, or The Gift of Corn How Deer Got His Horns How Devil's Tower Came to Be How Dogs Came to Sniff Under Tails How Ducks Got Their Color How Grandfather Peyote came to the people How the Fox Saved The People How the Lakota Came Upon the World How the Lakota Came To Be How People Learned To Fish How the Rabbit Lost His Tail How the Rainbow Came to Be Iktomi And The Coyote Iktomi And The Ducks Iktomi's Blanket Iya, The Camp-Eater Legend of Devil's Tower Legend of Standing Rock Legend of the Flute Legend of the Thunder God Little Brave and the Medicine Woman Morning Star Mysterious Butte Night Turned Into Day Origin of the Lakhota Peace Pipe Origin of the Prairie Rose Origin of the Lakota Peace Pipe Resuscitation of the only Daughter Sioux Who Wrestled With A Ghost Story of the Lost Wife Story of the Rabbits Sun Dance Mountain Tatanka Hunkesi : The Wisdom of Experience White Plume Whole story Why the Leaves fall
More Stories
White Buffalo Calf Woman A woman was hurt and left behind by her people. She ran out of food and nearly starved, but came upon a wolf den and crawled inside. At first the members of the pack were suspicious and afraid of her, but eventually they grew used to her. When they brought food to their pups they allowed her to share the food. Eventually she was strong enough to snare rabbits and help with the hunting. She stayed with the pack for many years. One day the oldest wolf smelled humans coming, and strangely the woman did also. They were her own people, and she realized she must return to them. She reunited herself with the village very slowly. She brought with her the skills of the wolf. She knew from the wolf talk she heard at night and from her sensitive nose, how to predict weather far in advance and to alert the village when game or other humans were nearby. Blackfoot and Lakota believe that a gun used to kill a wolf would never shoot straight again. Story of the White Buffalo Calf Woman

Dahkota

Nahkota

"Friends, with all manner of difficulties
I have been pursued. These I fear not. Still alive I am."

Council Song

The Nakhota are very much
alive and well, thanks to:

Lee Crowchild
and
Steve Fourstar

The Dakhota are more easterly,
and the "L" sound of their dialect
is more like a "d".

Those members living in Minnesota are all Dakhota. Lakhota are more westerly and survive in much greater numbers.

The Nakota consist of three main bands today:

Ihanktonwan- Reservations at: Yankon, Standing Rock, Spirit Lake

Ihanktonwanna- Reservations at: Yankon, Crow Creek, Fort Peck

Assiniboin- Reservations at: Fort Peck, Fort Belknap

The French traders referred to the Nakhota as the "Assiniboine".

Nakhota:
Native Peoples of Minnesota

The Nakhota of Canada (Assiniboine/Nakota)

Ihanktonwan Nakota Oyate
Established: Treaty of Washington, 1858
(Yankton Sioux People)

Great Lakhota Leaders / Chiefs

Three Noted Chiefs of the Sioux

Sitting Bull

Red Cloud

Rain in the Face

American Horse	Little Crow	Spotted Tail
Big Foot	Little Horse	Standing Bear
Black Elk	Low Dog	Stranger Horse
Buffalo Medison	Rain in the Face	Struck by the Ree
Crazy Horse	Red Cloud	Tokacon
Crow Dog	Red Hawk	Touch The Clouds
Crow King	Red Horse	Trembling Earth
Flat Iron	Red Iron	Two Strike
Gall	Running Antelope	Wanata
Hole in the Day	Sitting Bull	Wapasha
Iron Shell	Sleepy Eyes	White Bull
Jack Red Cloud	Spotted Eagle	Young Man Afraid of His Horses

Chief Hollow Horn Bear

Descendents

Seth Hollow Horn Bear
great-grandson of Chief Hollow Horn Bear

Michael B. Davis,
Joseph Brown Thunder
Great-great grandsons of American Horse

Gilbert Walking Bull
Descendant of Crazy Horse

Greg McGaa
Hakikte Narjin Jordan (Sicanju)
Great-great-great grandsons of Red Cloud

Quotes

"Buffalo Nation, The People are depending upon you, so
we pray you will be healthy."

"I have attended dinners among white people.
Their ways are not our ways."

"We eat in silence, quietly smoke a pipe, and depart.
Thus is our host honored."

"This is not the way of the white man. After his food has been eaten,
one is expected to say foolish things. Then the host feels honored."

Four Guns, Oglala, Lakhota

"Children are our greatest treasure.
The new generation coming up.
We won't disappear. We shall live!"

Pete Catches, Oglala, Lakhota

"The reason Wakan Tanka does not make two birds or animals or
human beings exactly alike is because each is placed here by
Wakan Tanka to be an individual and to rely on itself."

Shooter, Teton

"Tell your people that since the Great father promised that we should
never be removed, we have been moved five times.
I think you had better
put the Indians on wheels and you can run
them about wherever you wish."

White Bull

"We are all poor because we are honest."

Red Dog, Oglala, Lakhota

Are we then to give up their sacred graves
to be plowed for corn.
Dakhotas, I am for war."

Mahpiua Luta, Oglala, Lakhota

Return to Indigenous Peoples' Literature

Compiled by: Glenn Welker
ghwelker@gmx.com

Copyright @ 1993-2016

This site has been accessed 10,000,000 times since February 8, 1996.

To view this page in another language, please click here:

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Lakhota / Dakhota / Nakhota
Sioux Literature

Lakota (Sioux) Nation

Lahkota

Poems/Songs

Black Elk Quotes

Videos

Lakota Dancers
Lakota Lullaby
Lakota Nation Cecedes
Lakota Powwow
Lakota Prayer
Lakota Quote
Lakota Song
Lakota Spirituality
Lakota Voices
Lakota Wedding Song
Lakota Woman's Power Song
The Lakota Way
Through Lakota Eyes

Funeral

Lakhota Language

Lakhota Language

Wolf, A Teton Lakhota Song

Lakhota Prayer

Lakhota Myths and Legends

Lakhota (Brule)

Lakhota Stories

More Stories

White Buffalo Calf Woman

Dahkota

Nahkota

Dakhota Stories

Nakhota Stories

Dakhota Pages

Nakhota Pages

Other Stories

Great Lakhota Leaders / Chiefs

Descendents

Quotes

Lakhota / Dakhota / Nakhota Sioux Literature

Poems/Songs

Lakhota (Brule)

Dakhota Stories

Nakhota Stories

Dakhota Pages

Nakhota Pages

Descendents

Quotes

Lakhota / Dakhota / Nakhota
Sioux Literature