View source for Sioux

==Culture==
===Traditional social structure===
The traditional social structure of the {{Lang|dak|Očhéthi Šakówiŋ}} strongly relied on kinship ties that extend beyond human interaction and includes the natural and supernatural worlds.<ref name="Neihardt 1984">{{cite book | last=Neihardt | first=John | title=The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk's teachings given to John G. Neihardt | publisher=University of Nebraska Press | location=Lincoln | year=1984 | isbn=978-0-8032-6564-6 | oclc=45729827}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite journal |last=Robert T.F. Downes |date=2024-07-09 |title=Natural Dialectics: Māori & Sioux Ecosophy Encounters the Rule of Law |url=https://scholarworks.arcadia.edu/agsjournal/vol9/iss1/2/ |journal=The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development |volume=9 |issue=1 |issn=2429-2133}}</ref> [[Mitakuye Oyasin|''Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ'']] ({{Gloss|all are related}}) represents a spiritual belief of how human beings should ideally act and relate to other humans, the natural world, the spiritual world, and to the cosmos.<ref name="Ruml 2010"/> The {{Lang|dak|thiyóšpaye}} represents the political and economic structure of traditional society.

==== {{Lang|dak|Thiyóšpaye}} (community) kinship ====
[[File:Bird's Eye View of Sioux Camp at Pine Ridge, South Dakota - NARA - 530802.jpg|thumb|{{Lang|dak|Thiyóšpaye}} at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, c. 1890]]

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the different {{Lang|dak|Očhéthi Šakówiŋ}} villages ({{Lang|dak|oyáte}}, {{Gloss|tribe, nation}}) consisted of many {{Lang|dak|thiyóšpaye}} ({{Gloss|camp circles}}), which were large extended families united by kinship ({{Lang|dak|thiwáhe}}, {{Gloss|immediate family}}).<ref name="Deloria 1998">{{cite book | last=Deloria | first=Ella | title=Speaking of Indians | publisher=University of Nebraska Press | location=Lincoln | year=1998 | isbn=978-0-8032-6614-8 | oclc=38884640}}</ref> {{Lang|dak|Thiyóšpaye}} varied in size, were led by a leader appointed by an elder council and were nicknamed after a prominent member or memorable event associated with the band. Dakota ethnographer [[Ella Cara Deloria]] noted the kinship ties were all-important, they dictated and demanded all phrases of traditional life:

{{blockquote|"I can safely say that the ultimate aim of Dakota life, stripped of accessories, was quite simple: one must obey kinship rules; one must be a good relative. No Dakota who participated in that life will dispute that… every other consideration was secondary—property, personal ambition, glory, good times, life itself. Without that aim and constant struggle to attain it, the people would no longer be Dakotas in truth. They would no longer even be human. To be a good Dakota, then, was to be humanized, civilized. And to be civilized was to keep the rules imposed by kinship for achieving civility, good manners, and a sense of responsibility toward every individual dealt with".<ref name="Deloria 1998"/>}}

During the [[North American fur trade|fur trade era]], the {{Lang|dak|thiyóšpaye}} refused to trade only for economic reasons. Instead the production and trade of goods was regulated by rules of kinship bonds.<ref name="dakotaeconomics">{{cite journal |last1=Whelan |first1=Mary |title=Dakota Indian Economics and the Nineteenth-Century Fur Trade |journal=Ethnohistory |date=Spring 1993 |volume=40 |issue=2 |page=249 |publisher=Duke University Press| doi=10.2307/482203|jstor=482203 }}</ref> Personal relationships were pivotal for success: in order for European-Americans to trade with the {{Lang|dak|Očhéthi Šakówiŋ}}, social bonds had to be created.<ref name="dakotaeconomics"/> The most successful fur traders married into the kinship society, which also raised the status of the family of the woman through access to European goods.<ref name="Sundstrom 2002">{{cite journal | last=Sundstrom | first=Linea | title=Steel Awls for Stone Age Plainswomen: Rock Art, Religion, and the Hide Trade on the Northern Plains | journal=Plains Anthropologist | publisher=Plains Anthropological Society | volume=47 | issue=181 | year=2002 | pages=99–119| doi=10.1080/2052546.2002.11949234 | s2cid=162616450 }}</ref> Outsiders are also adopted into the kinship through the religious {{Lang|dak|Huŋkalowaŋpi}} ceremony. Early European explorers and missionaries who lived among the Dakota were sometimes adopted into the {{Lang|dak|thiyóšpaye}} (known as "huŋka relatives"), such as [[Louis Hennepin]] who noted, "this help'd me to gain credit among these people".<ref name="Ruml 2009 pp. 507–531">{{cite journal | last=Ruml | first=Mark | title=The Dakota Little People and the Tree-Dweller Dreamers: A matter of respect | journal=Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses | publisher=SAGE Publications | volume=38 | issue=3–4 | year=2009 | issn=0008-4298 | doi=10.1177/00084298090380030601 | pages=507–531| s2cid=143879263 }}</ref> During the later [[Indian reservation#Rise of Indian removal policy (1830–1868)|reservation era]], districts were often settled by clusters of families from the same {{Lang|dak|thiyóšpaye}}.<ref name="Pickering 2000 p. 8">{{cite book | last=Pickering | first=Kathleen | title=Lakota culture, world economy | publisher=University of Nebraska Press | location=Lincoln | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-8032-3690-5 | oclc=50699906 | page=8}}</ref>

====Religion====
{{see also|Lakota mythology|List of Lakota deities|Wocekiye|Sun Dance|Ghost Dance}}

[[File:Blackhawk-spiritbeing.jpg|thumb|right|[[Ledger art]]work by [[Lakota people|Lakota]] artist [[Black Hawk (artist)|Black Hawk]] representing a [[Heyoka|heyókȟa]], (dreamer of a [[Wakíŋyaŋ]], thunder being), c.1880]]

The traditional social system extended beyond human interaction into the [[supernatural]] realms.<ref name="Ruml 2010">{{cite journal | last=Ruml | first=Mark | title=Mitákuye Owás'į (All My Relatives): Dakota Wiconi (Way of Life) and Wicozani Waste (Well-Being) | journal=Aboriginal Policy Research| publisher=Thompson Educational Publishing | volume=6 | issue=3–4 | year=2010 | pages=187–202}}</ref> It is believed that [[Wakan Tanka|''Wakȟáŋ Tháŋka'']] ({{Gloss|Great Spirit/Great Mystery}}) created the universe and embodies everything in the universe as one.<ref name="Neihardt 1984"/> The preeminent symbol of Sioux religion is the [[medicine wheel|''Čhaŋgléska Wakȟaŋ'']] or medicine wheel ({{Gloss|sacred hoop}}), which visually represents the concept that everything in the universe is intertwined.<ref name="Elk 1953"/> The creation stories of the {{Lang|dak|Očhéthi Šakówiŋ}} describe how the [[List of Lakota deities|various spirits]] were formed from {{Lang|dak|Wakȟáŋ Tháŋka}}.<ref name="Dooling 2000">{{cite book | last=Dooling | first=D. M. | title=The sons of the wind: the sacred stories of the Lakota | publisher=University of Oklahoma Press | location=Norman | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-8061-3224-2 | oclc=42708159}}</ref> [[Black Elk]] describes the relationships with {{Lang|dak|Wakȟáŋ Tháŋka}} as:
{{blockquote|"We should understand well that all things are the works of the Great Spirit. We should know that He is within all things: the trees, the grasses, the rivers, the mountains, and all the four-legged animals, and the winged peoples; and even more important, we should understand that He is also above all these things and peoples. When we do understand all this deeply in our hearts, then we will fear, and love, and know the Great Spirit, and then we will be and act and live as He intends".<ref name="Elk 1953">{{cite book | last=Elk | first=Black | title=The sacred pipe: Black Elk's account of the seven rites of the Oglala Sioux | publisher=University of Oklahoma Press | location=Norman | year=1953 | isbn=978-0-8061-2124-6 | oclc=772729}}</ref>}}

Prayer is believed to invoke relationships with one's ancestors or spiritual world.<ref name="Deloria 1998"/> The Lakota word for {{Gloss|prayer}}, [[Wocekiye|''wočhékiye'']], means {{Gloss|to call on for aid, to pray, to claim relationship with}}.<ref name="Neihardt 1984"/> Their primary cultural prophet is Ptesáŋwiŋ, [[White Buffalo Calf Woman]], who came as an intermediary between {{Lang|dak|Wakȟáŋ Tháŋka}} Tȟáŋka and humankind to teach them how to be good relatives by introducing the Seven Sacred Rites and the [[Chanunpa|''čhaŋnúŋpa'']] ([[ceremonial pipe|sacred pipe]]).<ref name="Elk 1953"/> The seven ceremonies are [[Inipi|''Inípi'']] (purification lodge), {{Lang|dak|Haŋbléčheyapi}} ([[Vision quest|crying for vision]]), {{Lang|dak|Wiwáŋyaŋg Wačhípi}} ([[Sun Dance]]), {{Lang|dak|Huŋkalowaŋpi}} (making of relatives), {{Lang|dak|Išnáthi Awíčhalowaŋpi}} (female puberty ceremony), {{Lang|dak|Tȟápa Waŋkáyeyapi}} (throwing of the ball) and {{Lang|dak|Wanáǧi Yuhápi}} (soul keeping).<ref name="Elk 1953"/> Each part of the sacred pipe (stem, bowl, tobacco, breath, and smoke) is symbolic of the relationships of the natural world, the elements, humans and the spiritual beings that maintain the cycle of the universe.<ref name="The Pluralism Project">{{cite web | title=Sacred Pipe of the Lakota Sioux | website=The Pluralism Project | url=https://pluralism.org/sacred-pipe-of-the-lakota-sioux | access-date=June 20, 2020 | archive-date=June 22, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622081039/https://pluralism.org/sacred-pipe-of-the-lakota-sioux | url-status=live }}</ref>

Dreams can also be a means of establishing relationships with spirits and are important to the {{Lang|dak|Očhéthi Šakówiŋ}}.<ref name="Ruml 2010"/> One can gain supernatural powers through dreams. Dreaming of the [[Wakíŋyaŋ]] (thunder beings) is believed to involuntarily make someone a [[Heyoka|''Heyókȟa'']], a sacred clown.<ref name="heyoka">{{cite journal | last=Lewis | first=Thomas H | title=The Heyoka Cult in Historical and Contemporary Oglala Sioux Society | journal=Anthropos | publisher=JSTOR | volume=69 | issue=1/2 | year=1974 | pages=17–32 | jstor=40458509}}</ref> [[Black Elk]], a famous {{Lang|dak|Heyókȟa}} said: "Only those who have had visions of the thunder beings of the west can act as heyokas. They have sacred power and they share some of this with all the people, but they do it through funny actions".<ref name="ElkNeihardt2008">{{cite book|author1=Black Elk|author2=John G. Neihardt|title=Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, the Premier Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7p9VqRLiKqcC&pg=PA149|date=16 October 2008|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-1-4384-2540-5|pages=149–|access-date=June 20, 2020|archive-date=March 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319061526/https://books.google.com/books?id=7p9VqRLiKqcC&pg=PA149|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Governance====
'''Historical leadership organization'''
[[File:1854 Catlin Sioux Black Rock mit Familie anagoria.JPG|thumb|Sioux chief with family, by [[George Catlin]], 1854]]

[[File:Red Cloud and other Sioux.jpg|thumb|right|Chief [[Red Cloud]] and other Lakota leaders, c. 1865–1880]]

The {{Lang|dak|thiyóšpaye}} of the {{Lang|dak|Očhéthi Šakówiŋ}} assembled each summer to hold council, renew kinships, decide tribal matters, and participate in the [[Sun Dance]].<ref name="life and customs">{{cite book |last1=Hassrick |first1=Royal B. |last2=Maxwell |first2=Dorothy |last3=Bach |first3=Cile M. |title=The Sioux: Life and Customs of a Warrior Society |url=https://archive.org/details/sioux00roya |url-access=registration |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=1964 |isbn=0-8061-0607-7 }}</ref> The seven divisions selected four leaders known as {{Lang|dak|Wičháša Yatápika}} from among the leaders of each division.<ref name="life and customs"/> Being one of the four leaders was considered the highest honor for a leader; however, the annual gathering meant the majority of tribal administration was cared for by the usual leaders of each division. The last meeting of the Seven Council Fires was in 1850.<ref name="life and customs"/> The historical political organization was based on individual participation and the cooperation of many to sustain the tribe's way of life. Leaders were chosen based upon noble birth and demonstrations of chiefly virtues, such as bravery, fortitude, generosity, and wisdom.<ref name="life and customs"/>
* Political leaders were members of the {{Lang|dak|Načá Omníčiye}} society and decided matters of tribal hunts, camp movements, whether to make war or peace with their neighbors, or any other community action.<ref name="dog soldiers">{{cite book |last=Mails |first=Thomas E. |title=Dog Soldiers, Bear Men, and Buffalo Women: A Study of the Societies and Cults of the Plains Indians |publisher=Prentice-Hall, Inc. |year=1973 |isbn=0-13-217216-X |url=https://archive.org/details/dogsoldiersbearm00mail }}</ref>
* Societies were similar to [[Fraternal and service organizations|fraternities]]; men joined to raise their position in the tribe. Societies were composed of smaller clans and varied in number among the seven divisions.<ref name="life and customs"/> There were two types of societies: {{Lang|dak|Akíčhita}}, for the younger men, and {{Lang|dak|Načá}}, for elders and former leaders.<ref name="life and customs"/>
* {{Lang|dak|Akíčhita}} (Soldier) societies existed to train warriors, hunters, and to police the community.<ref name="dog soldiers"/> There were many smaller {{Lang|dak|Akíčhita}} societies, including the Kit-Fox, Strong Heart, Elk, and so on.<ref name="dog soldiers"/>
* Leaders in the {{Lang|dak|Načá}} societies, per {{Lang|dak|Načá Omníčiye}}, were the tribal elders and leaders. They elected seven to ten men, depending on the division, each referred to as {{Lang|dak|Wičháša Itȟáŋčhaŋ}} ("chief man"). Each {{Lang|dak|Wičháša Itȟáŋčhaŋ}} interpreted and enforced the decisions of the {{Lang|dak|Načá}}.<ref name="dog soldiers"/>
* The {{Lang|dak|Wičháša Itȟáŋčhaŋ}} elected two to four shirt-wearers, who were the voice of the society. They settled quarrels among families and also foreign nations.<ref name="life and customs"/> Shirt-wearers were often young men from families with hereditary claims of leadership. However, men with obscure parents who displayed outstanding leadership skills and had earned the respect of the community might also be elected. [[Crazy Horse]] is an example of a common-born shirt-wearer".<ref name="life and customs"/>
* A {{Lang|dak|Wakíčhuŋza}} {{Gloss|pipe-holder}} ranked below the "Shirt Wearers". The pipe-holders regulated peace ceremonies, selected camp locations, and supervised the {{Lang|dak|Akíčhita}} societies during buffalo hunts.<ref name="dog soldiers"/>

====Gender roles====
Within the Sioux tribes, there were defined gender roles. The men in the village were tasked as the hunters, traveling outside the village.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Medicine|first=Beatrice|date=1985|title=Child Socialization among Native Americans: The Lakota (Sioux) in Cultural Context|journal=Wíčazo Ša Review|volume=1|issue=2|pages=23–28|doi=10.2307/1409119|jstor=1409119}}</ref> The women within the village were in charge of making clothing and similar articles while also taking care of, and owning, the house.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/topic/plains_indian|title=Plains Indian – Credo Reference|website=search.credoreference.com|access-date=2019-06-30|archive-date=June 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630223630/https://search.credoreference.com/content/topic/plains_indian|url-status=live}}</ref> However, even with these roles, both men and women held power in decision-making tasks and sexual preferences were flexible and allowed.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> The term ''[[winkte|wíŋtke]]'' refers to men who partook in traditional feminine duties while the term {{Lang|dak|witkówiŋ}} ({{Gloss|crazy woman}}) was used for women who rejected their roles as either mother or wife to be a prostitute.<ref name=":1" />

===Funeral practices===
====Traditional funeral practices====
[[File:Funeral scaffold of a Sioux chief 0044v crop.jpg|thumb|Funeral scaffold of a Sioux chief ([[Karl Bodmer]])]]

It is a common belief amongst Siouan communities that the spirit of the deceased travels to an [[afterlife]]. In traditional beliefs, this spiritual journey was believed to start once funeral proceedings were complete and spanned over a course of four days. Mourning family and friends took part in that four-day [[Wake (ceremony)|wake]] in order to accompany the spirit to its resting place.<ref name=":02">{{cite news |last=Koskan |first=Danie |url=https://rapidcityjournal.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/native-american-funerals-have-changed-but-retain-unique-qualities/article_1a401652-917b-5368-807e-b24c47b665ff.html |title=Native American funerals have changed but retain unique qualities |work=[[Rapid City Journal]] |date=November 15, 2014 |access-date=May 6, 2019 |archive-date=May 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506190501/https://rapidcityjournal.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/native-american-funerals-have-changed-but-retain-unique-qualities/article_1a401652-917b-5368-807e-b24c47b665ff.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In the past, bodies were not embalmed but put up on a [[burial tree|burial tree or scaffold]] for one year before a ground burial. A platform to rest the body was put up on trees or, alternately, placed on four upright poles to elevate the body from the ground.<ref>Doyle, Susan B. (2000): ''Journeys to the Land of Gold. Emigrant Diaries from the Bozeman Trail, 1863–1866''. Helena</ref> The bodies were securely wrapped in blankets and cloths, along with many of the deceased personal belongings and were always placed with their head pointed towards the south. Mourning individuals spoke to the body and offer food as if it were still alive.<ref>Wood, W. Raymond and Thomas D. Thiessen (1987): ''Early Fur Trade on the Northern Plains. Canadian Traders Among the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians, 1738–1818''. Norman and London</ref> This practice, along with the [[Ghost Dance]], helped individuals mourn and connect the spirits of the deceased with those who were alive.<ref name="MooneyJ">Mooney, James. ''The Ghost Dance Religion and Wounded Knee''. New York: Dover Publications; 1896</ref> The only time a body was buried in the ground right after their death was if the individual was murdered: the deceased were placed in the ground with their heads towards the south, while faced down along with a piece of fat in their mouth.<ref name="MooneyJ"/>

====Contemporary funeral practices====
According to Pat Janis, director of the [[Oglala Sioux Tribe]]'s Burial Assistance Program, funeral practices of communities today are often a mix of traditions and contemporary Christian practices. While tree burials and scaffold burials are not practiced anymore, it is also now rare to see families observe a four-day wake period. Instead, the families opt for one- or two-day wake periods which include a funeral feast for all the community. Added to the contemporary funeral practices, it is common to see prayers conducted by a medicine man along with traditional songs often sung with a drum. One member of the family is also required to be present next to the body at all times until the burial.<ref name=":02"/> Gifts are placed within the casket to aid with the journey into the afterworld, which is still believed to take up to four days after death.<ref name=":02"/>

===Music===
{{main|Sioux music}}