Cult, as used in this book, means a system of religious belief and worship, especially the rites and ceremonies employed in such worship. The present book treats of the cults of a few of the Siouan tribes—that is, with two exceptions, of such tribes as have been visited by the author. "Siouan" is a term originated by the Bureau of Ethnology. It is derived from "Sioux," the popular name for those Indians who call themselves "Dakota" or "Lakota," the latter being the Teton appellation. "Siouan" is used as an adjective, but, unlike its primitive, it refers not only to the Dakota tribes, but also to the entire linguistic stock or family. The Siouan family includes the Dakota, Assiniboin, Omaha, Ponka, Osage, Kansa, Kwapa, Iowa, Oto, Missouri, Winnebago, Mandan, Hidatsa, Crow, Tutelo, Biloxi, Catawba, and other Indians.

Individuals of all persuasions have become deeply interested in contemporary Sioux religious practices. These essays by tribal religious leaders, scholars, and other members of the Sioux communities in North and South Dakota deal with the more important questions about Sioux ritual and belief in relation to history, tradition, and the mainstream of American life. Contents: (1) "Lakota Belief and Ritual in the Nineteenth Century," by Raymond J. DeMallie; (2) "Lakota Genesis: The Oral Tradition," by Elaine A. Jahner; (3) "The Sacred Pipe in Modern Life," by Arval Looking Horse; (4) "The Lakota Sun Dance: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives," by Arthur Amiotte; (5) "The Establishment of Christianity Among the Sioux," by Vine V. Deloria, Sr.; (6) "Catholic Mission and the Sioux: A Crisis in the Early Paradigm," by Harvey Markowitz; (7) "Contemporary Catholic Mission Work Among the Sioux," by Robert Hilbert, S.}.; (8) "Christian Life Fellowship Church," by Mercy Poor Man; (9) "Indian Women and the Renaissance of Traditional Religion," by Beatrice Medicine; (10) "The Contemporary Yuwipi," by Thomas H. Lewis, M.D.; (11) "The Native American Church of Jesus Christ," by Emerson Spider, Sr.; (12) "Traditional Lakota Religion in Modern Life," by Robert Stead, with an Introduction by Kenneth Oliver; Suggestions for Further Reading; Bibliography.

For many people the Sioux, as warriors and as buffalo hunters, have become the symbol of all that is Indian colorful figures endowed with great fortitude and powerful vision. They were the heroes of the Great Plains, and they were the villains, too. Royal B. Hassrick here attempts to describe the ways of the people, the patterns of their behavior, and the concepts of their imagination. Uniquely, he has approached the subject from the Sioux's own point of view, giving their own interpretation of their world in the era of its greatest vigor and renown –the brief span of years from about 1830 to 1870. In addition to printed sources, the author has drawn from the observation and records of a number of Sioux who were still living when this book was projected, and were anxious to serve as links to the vanished world of their forebears. Because it is true that men become in great measure what they think and want themselves to be, it is important to gain this insight into Sioux thought of a century ago. Apparently, the most significant theme in their universe was that man was a minute but integral part of that universe. The dual themes of self-expression and self-denial reached through their lives, helping to explain their utter defeat soon after the Battle of the Little Big Horn. When the opportunity to resolve the conflict with the white man in their own way was lost, their very reason for living was lost, too. There are chapters on the family and the sexes, fun, the scheme of war, production, the structure of the nation, the way to status, and other aspects of Sioux life.

Reviews the tribal life of the Sioux during the nineteenth century, from contemporary sources and anthropological studies

"Frances Densmore's modestly titled Teton Sioux Music and Culture is one of the many volumes that resulted from her prolific life-long project to record and transcribe the traditional music of American Indian peoples. The book explores the role of music in all aspects of Sioux life, and is a classic of the descriptive genre produced by members of the Smithsonian's Bureau of American Ethnology. Music serves as the vehicle for organizing this detailed account of traditional religion, warfare, and social life, enriched by first-person narrations by the Lakota men and women who worked with Densmore from 1911 to 1914 to preserve their songs by means of a wax cylinder recorder, the modern technology of that period. The evident quality of the narratives (translations from Lakota) as well as the complete transcription and translation of all the Lakota lyrics to the songs, resulted from Densmore's close collaboraton with Robert P. Higheagle, who shared her dedication to the project and was an exceptionally capable translator and cultural mediator. The material recorded here on such topics as dreams and visions, healing, the Sun Dance, and buffalo hunting -- all with appropriate musical transcriptions and song lyrics -- makes Teton Sioux Music and Culture one of the most significant ethnographic works ever published on the Sioux, as well as an important landmark in the study of ethnomusicology." -- Raymond J. DeMallie, author of The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk's Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt (1984), also available in a Bison Books edition. Book jacket.

The Lakȟóta are among the best-known Native American peoples. In popular culture and even many scholarly works, they were once lumped together with others and called the Sioux. This book tells the full story of Lakȟóta culture and society, from their origins to the twenty-first century, drawing on Lakȟóta voices and perspectives. In Lakȟóta culture, “listening” is a cardinal virtue, connoting respect, and here authors Rani-Henrik Andersson and David C. Posthumus listen to the Lakȟóta, both past and present. The history of Lakȟóta culture unfolds in this narrative as the people lived it. Fittingly, Lakhota: An Indigenous History opens with an origin story, that of White Buffalo Calf Woman (Ptesanwin) and her gift of the sacred pipe to the Lakȟóta people. Drawing on winter counts, oral traditions and histories, and Lakȟóta letters and speeches, the narrative proceeds through such periods and events as early Lakȟóta-European trading, the creation of the Great Sioux Reservation, Christian missionization, the Plains Indian Wars, the Ghost Dance and Wounded Knee (1890), the Indian New Deal, and self-determination, as well as recent challenges like the #NoDAPL movement and management of Covid-19 on reservations. This book centers Lakȟóta experience, as when it shifts the focus of the Battle of Little Bighorn from Custer to fifteen-year-old Black Elk, or puts American Horse at the heart of the negotiations with the Crook Commission, or explains the Lakȟóta agenda in negotiating the Fort Laramie Treaty in 1851. The picture that emerges—of continuity and change in Lakȟóta culture from its distant beginnings to issues in our day—is as sweeping and intimate, and as deeply complex, as the lived history it encompasses.

In The Dream Seekers, Lee Irwin demonstrates the central importance of visionary dreams as sources of empowerment and innovation in Plains Indian religion. Irwin draws on 350 visionary dreams from published and unpublished sources that span 150 years to describe the shared features of cosmology for twenty-three groups of Plains Indians. This comprehensive work is not a recital but an understandable exploration of the religious world of Plains Indians. The different means of acquiring visions that are described include the spontaneous vision experience common among Plains Indian women and means such as stress, illness, social conflict, and mourning used by both men and women to obtain visions. Irwin describes the various stages of the structured male vision quest as well as the central issues of unsuccessful or abandoned quests, threshold experiences during a vision, and the means by which religious empowerment is attained and transferred.

This fascinating account tells what the Sioux were like when they first came to their reservation and how their reaction to the new system eventually led to the last confrontation between the Army and the Sioux at the Battle of Wounded Knee Creek. A classic work, it is now available with a new preface by the author that discusses his current thoughts about a tragic episode in American history that has raised much controversy through the years. Praise for the earlier edition: "History as lively and gripping as good fiction." "One of the finest books on the Indian wars of the West."--Montana "A well-told, easily read account that will be the standard reference for this phase of the Indian 'problem.'"--American Historical Review "A major job . . . magnificently researched."--San Francisco Chronicle "By far the best treatment of the complex and controversial relationship between the Sioux and their conquerors yet presented and should be must reading for serious students of Western Americana."--St. Louis Dispatch (on the earlier edition) Winner of the Buffalo Award

This volume, first published in 2004, presents an overview of the history of the Plains Sioux as they became increasingly subject to the power of the United States in the 1800s. Many aspects of this story - the Oregon Trail, military clashes, the deaths of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, and the Ghost Dance - are well-known. Besides providing fresh insights into familiar events, the book offers an in-depth look at many lesser-known facets of Sioux history and culture. Drawing on theories of colonialism, the book shows how the Sioux creatively responded to the challenges of US expansion and domination, while at the same time revealing how US power increasingly limited the autonomy of Sioux communities as the century came to a close. The concluding chapters of the book offer a compelling reinterpretation of the events that led to the Wounded Knee massacre of December 29, 1890.

"Traditions in Contact and Change" was the theme of the fourteenth quinquennial congress of the International Association for the History of Religions. This selection from 450 papers by scholars form all over the world address the theme. Section One, "Indian Traditions and Western Interactions," treats subjects ranging from the flood story in Vedic ritual to a s study of the women of the Nehru family. Section Two, "Buddhist, Chinese, and Japanese Studies," includes discussions of the origin of the Mahayana, William James and Japanese Buddhism, and lyrical imagery and religious content in Japanese art. Section Three, "Mediterranean Cultures," covers a broad range of topics, from foster children in early Christianity to "the transformation of Christianity into Roman religion" to the change in the status of women in Iceland from pagan to Christian times. Section Four, "Islamic, African, and Amerindian Developments," examines such subjects as religions in conflict and change in the works of African novelists, tradition and change in Indian Islam, and religious acculturation among Oglala Lakota. Section Five offers "Methodological and Theoretical Discussions" of women's studies, Western perceptions of Asia, structure in Jung and Lévi-Strauss, among others. The essays provide ready access to the leading edge of scholarship across a wide range of religions and cultures and should be of interest to students of religion, anthropology, sociology, psychology, and philosophy.