Native American Blood7

The Legend of Geronimo
Geronimo ( Chiricahua : Goyaałé ; commonly spelled Goyathlay or Goyahkla in English) (June 16, 1829 – February 17, 1909) was an American Native American leader and healer of the Apache Chiricahua peoples . led the people against Mexico and the United States and their territorial expansion into Apache tribal lands for decades during the Apache Wars . The Apache tribe led the Indian revolt in Arizona against whites and the US military for self-rule. After ten years of fighting (1876-1886), he surrendered when he reached some agreement on interests with the United States government, but then the government broke the agreement, he was arrested and imprisoned in Oklahoma (during the year). Indian Concentration Camp) lived as a corn farmer for the rest of his life. American history later recognized him as a shining example of American heroism . American soldiers in World War II (especially paratroopers) often chanted his name as a volunteer slogan on the battlefield.

Geronimo was born in No-doyohn Canon, Arizona, June 1829, near Clifton, Arizona, from the Bedonkohe Apache tribe. He was the fourth in a family of four boys and four girls. In 1846, when he was seventeen, he was admitted to the Warriors ' Council, which allowed him to marry. He was soon allowed to marry a woman named Alope, and the couple had three children.
The tribe, at peace with the Mexican cities and nearby Indian tribes, moved to New Mexico in the mid-1850s where they could trade. They've been camping outside a Mexican town called Kas-ki-yeh for several days. The rest of the men went to the city to trade, leaving a few warriors to guard the camp. Many women and children who told them that Mexican troops had invaded their camp met them when they returned from town.
They went back to camp to find their guard guards killed, and their horses, provisions and weapons were gone. Even worse, there were also many women and children killed. Goyathlay's daughter, mother, and three children were among those who lay dead, and as a result he despised all Mexicans for the rest of his life.
It was his family's slaughter that made him a brave warrior from a friendly Native. He soon joined a fearsome Apache tribe known as Chiricahua and engaged in several attacks in northern Mexico and across the border into U.S. territory, now known as the New Mexico and Arizona states.

History of the Jingle Dress Dance
The Jingle Dress Dance began with the Mille Lacs Band of the Ojibwe Tribe in the early 1900s and became prevalent in the 1920s in Wisconsin and Minnesota (Great Lakes region) in the US and in Ontario, Canada.
The story is that the dress was first seen in a dream. A medicine man’s granddaughter grew sick, and as the man slept his Indian spirit guides came to him and told him to make a Jingle Dress for the little girl. They said if the child danced in it, the dress would heal her. The Jingle Dress was made, and the tribe came together to watch the child dance. At first, the child was too sick to dance alone so her tribe carried her, but after some time, the little girl was able to dance alone, cured of her sickness.
The dance has since been not only a ritual of healing but also one of pride.
What Do Jingle Dresses Look Like?
Jingle Dresses, also known as Prayer Dresses, are believed to bring healing to those who are sick. As mentioned above, the dance gets its name from the rows of ziibaaska’iganan (metal cones) sewed to the dress. These cones are traditionally made from rolled s***f can lids and hung from the dress with ribbon close to one another, so they make a melodic sound as the girls and women dance. Traditionally, the dress is adorned with 365 visible jingles, or cones. Nowadays, these cones are often machine-made.
The dresses come in every color imaginable, from yellow to bright blue, to deep red, and accented with sparkles and even neon-colored fabrics. They are often made with shiny and sparkly materials and decorated with fringes, embroidery, beading, and more.
They usually have three-quarter length to full-length sleeves and come down to mid-calf or the ankle. They are secured at the waist with a thick belt, often made of brown leather. On their feet, the dancer wears decorative moccasins embellished with the same kind of detail found on their dresses.
What are the steps for the Jingle Dance?
As the ziibaaska’iganan hit one another it sounds like rain falling, so it’s important for the dancer to be light on their feet, to move in time with the drum and stop when the beat stops. They keep their foot movements low to the ground while dancing, kicking their heels and bouncing on their toes to the music. Typically, this dance is done in a zigzag pattern, said to represent one’s journey through life—or so the story goes. Often, they keep their hands on their hips, and if they are dancing with a feathered fan (full of neutral colors, like eagle feathers) as the more modern Jingle Dress Dancers do, they will raise it into the air as they dance to receive healing.
The traditional Indian dance involves low, soft-footed steps, as could be performed by those who were sick, while the modern competitive dancers push the boundaries some as they try to out-dance their competitors. The manner in which the dance has evolved has built firmly on its origin story.
What are the songs and music for Jingle Dance?
The music for this style of dancing has a foundation of a solid drumbeat, and of course, the metal cones make a loud jingling (hence the name) as the women move, which contributes to the music you’ll hear at a Jingle Dress Dance. Jingle Dancers will usually dance to Northern drum groups. Special songs for Jingle Dance include a Side Step or Crow Hop.

Fatherhood Is Sacred: Heartwarming Pictures of Indigenous Fathers With Their Children

Tall Bull (1830 - July 11, 1869) (Hotóa'ôxháa'êstaestse) was a chief of the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers. Of Cheyenne and Lakota parentage, like some of the other Dog Soldiers by that time, he identified as Cheyenne.
He was shot and killed in the Battle of Summit Springs in Colorado by Major Frank North, leader of the Pawnee Scouts.
Tall Bull was a major Southern Cheyenne Chief, war chief and Dog Soldier leader. In 1864, under his leadership he had approximately 500 people following him in the eastern Colorado and western Kansas and Nebraska area. He participated in the 1864-65 Arapaho-Cheyenne War, the retaliation that followed the Sand Creek massacre, but gave up the fight after seeing the futility of winning the war. In 1868, he participated in the Beecher Island battle. During the battle he warned Roman Nose not to go into battle until he fixed his broken medicine and to do it quickly so that he could join the fight. During 1869, Tall Bull was shot dead, during an ambush by Maj Frank North at a ravine near White Butte.
At a peace council in 1867 he argued that the whites and the soldiers should stop making war upon the Cheyenne by invading the Cheyenne land and instigating further calamities. Furthermore, they should stop telling the Cheyenne that they should give up their land to have peace. Their Indian agent Edward Wynkoop tried bartering a peace with direct tones that were none too conciliatory. During one peace talk Tall Bull personally stopped the great Cheyenne warrior Roman Nose from killing Gen. Winfield Hancock.
Tall Bull was killed in the Battle of Summit Springs on 11 July 1869. Not even a year had passed after the death of his fellow Dog Soldier, the great Roman Nose, on September 17, 1868. Also dead was Chief Black Kettle. The war societies were devastated due to their loss of leadership. The Cheyenne never recovered and were no longer a threat on the southern Great Plains.

Goldie Jamison Conklin, a Seneca from the Allegany Reservation
See the Addendum at the bottom of this posting for some new information on Goldie. This posting will feature a number of old postcard images of Goldie Jamison Conklin, a Seneca of the Heron Clan, from the Allegany Reservation, in Western New York. In most of these images Goldie is wearing a beaded bag, presumably of her own manufacture. Records indicate that she was born in Salamanca, New York on November 30, 1892 and died in 1974. Her parents were Jacob J. Jamison & Eliza D. Jamison. She was baptized at the St. Andrews Church in Irving, New York on July 7, 1921. For some undetermined period of time she worked as a model for the Cattaraugus Cutlery Co. of Little Valley, New York, as some of the postcards are advertisements for the company’s line of “Indian Brand” knives. Goldie’s Seneca name was Ah-Weh-Eyu which means Pretty Flower.Most of the images appear to have been taken by Jesse Lynn Blessing of The Blessing Studio, Salamanca, New York. He was the son of J. H. Blessing who was born around 1850 and died in 1933 in Salamanca, New York. Jesse took over the photography studio from his father and retired in 1945. Except were noted, all the images are circa 1910 real photographic postcards. This first image is an advertising postcard for the Cattaraugus Cutlery Company. It's postmarked Nov. 4, 1912. The printed advertising text on the back reads: I expect to call on you on or about Friday evening, November 8th with a full line of Cattaraugus "Indian Brand" cutlery. If you will keep this card in sight and hold your cutlery order for me, I will send you with your order a beautiful 10 x 14 photograph of this "Cattaraugus" Indian Princess. This was the 11 x 14 photographic premium that the company sent you of Goldie. A hand-written, period note on the back of this postcard reads: Goldie Jemison [sp] in Costume, niece of the interpreter. I killed three big ones up in the hills in Salamanca. This girl tied the ribbon on them. Will send you a nice hide in a few days and you can put it in your den. E.W. J. In a number of these images she is either holding a painted bow or there is one at her feet. The style of the bow is either Modoc, Hupa or Miwok from northern California. It may have been a ceremonial dance bow though some sources indicate it was a hunting bow. It appears to be the same bow in all the images and might have been a prop that was owned by the photographer that took most of these photographs. A close-up of Goldie's beaded bag. The different shades of grey in the fringe suggests that multi-colored beads were used to make it. This postcard is unused. The bow at her feet was used in several of the postcards in this series. This postcard is postmarked August 2, 1910. This postcard is postmarked June 2, 1909. A hand-written note on the back reads: Dear Little George Frederick - We are sleeping in Salamanca tonight. In the morning we go to Jamestown there to Lawtons Station. Hope you are well and having a good time. Love to all the youngsters and some smacks from Uncle Paul and Aunt Anna. It was mailed to an address in Ohio. This is an unused advertising postcard from the Cattaraugus Cutlery Company. The printed advertising text on the back reads: Never before have we shown such a splendid line of cutlery as this year. Greater assortment, better values and lots of new things. It will pay you to hold your order until you have seen the Cattaraugus "Indian Brand" cutlery. I expect to call about ___________. Keep this card. It has value for you. Yours truly, R.D.R. Sullivan. The bag in this image is missing the flap and suggests that it's construction may have been concurrent with her modeling career. This is a printed advertising postcard for the company. No date but looks to be circa 1910. An unused card of Goldie. In 2003, I painted a portrait of Goldie, titled Made of Thunder that was exhibited in conjunction with the beadwork exhibit by the same name. This was the image of her that I used as my model. Her portrait is illustrated below. The most famous legend in Niagara Falls is that of the Maid of the Mist and the Thunder God Hinum, who was believed to live behind the Falls. In an apocryphal version of this myth, an Indian maiden is sacrificed annually by sending her over the cataract in a canoe, laden with fruit to appease Hinum. In my portrait of Goldie, she is represented in a symbiotic relationship with the Falls, as a Native artist attuned to her surroundings and one proud of her heritage. From her waist belt she wears a beaded bag of her own manufacture. The bag that hangs from her neck has a large, central heart motif that is often seen in Iroquois work. This postcard was postmarked from Salamanca, NY in 1914. A hand-written note on the back reads: Dear Hazell, I received your card about the pictures of "Creation." I always go home on Sundays so was not here the first day they (the Indians) were here and didn't find out where they were

Three Fingers. A Cheyenne man. 1898. Photo by F.A. Rinehart

Sacagawea
May c. 1788 – December 20, 1812 or April 9, 1884)was a Lemhi Shoshone woman who, in her teens, helped the Lewis and Clark Expedition in achieving their chartered mission objectives by exploring the Louisiana Territory. Sacagawea traveled with the expedition thousands of miles from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean, helping to establish cultural contacts with Native American people and contributing to the expedition's knowledge of natural history in different regions.
Reliable historical information about Sacagawea is very limited. She was born c. 1788 into the Agaidika ('Salmon Eater', aka Lemhi Shoshone) tribe near present-day Salmon, Lemhi County, Idaho. This is near the continental divide at the present-day Idaho-Montana border.
In 1800, when she was about 12 years old, Sacagawea and several other children were taken captive by a group of Hidatsa in a raid that resulted in the deaths of several Shoshone: four men, four women, and several boys. She was held captive at a Hidatsa village near present-day Washburn, North Dakota.
At about age 13, she was sold into a non-consensual marriage to Toussaint Charbonneau, a Quebecois trapper. He had also bought another young Shoshone girl, known as Otter Woman, for a wife. Charbonneau was variously reported to have purchased both girls from the Hidatsa, or to have won Sacagawea while gambling.
The National American Woman Suffrage Association of the early 20th century adopted her as a symbol of women's worth and independence, erecting several statues and plaques in her memory, and doing much to recount her accomplishments

A Native-American runner. 1914. Taos, New Mexico. Photo by Carl Moon.

SITTING BULL WOUNDED BY THE CROW
By One Bull
About the year 1873 while the Hunkpapa were camped on the banks of the Little Missouri River, they suffered considerable owing to the severity of the winter season. Horses were afflicted with the mange and by spring there was a heavy loss of horses. So on account of this a party of warriors started on foot in quest of Crow horses. Sitting Bull was in this party. They walked a long distance during the night and lay in ambush somewhere during the day-time. On the fourth day, the war-party reached a place where there was a little running stream with some timber on it, evidently a tributary of the Powder River. The Crow village was nestled on the west side of the stream.They sized up everything and after a conference among themselves, decided to keep out of sight till night fall. They selected the shrewdest scout to watch the movements of the village. The Crows had plenty of horses which they kept a very close watch on. Boys and young men were taking care of them.It was noticed that during the day time these horses were taken away some distance from the village to feed. They had a special scout who rides up on the top of the highest hill watching any intruders that may venture toward the village. About evening, just about dusk the Lakota scout reported that all the horses had been driven to the camp except one bunch still grazing in the care of two young boys. The warriors decided to charge upon this immedia-tely. Preliminaries were made and Sitting Bull was assigned to attack the Crow boys in charge of the horses. Now they started at the word Hoka hey. Down the hill they ran toward where the boys were holding the horses. By the time the Lakota warriors had reached the place a party of 'crow warriors' rushed forward from the camp in defense. They shot promiscuously in the dusk and Sitting Bull was shot in the wrist. The other members of the party succeeded getting the horses and one of them -- Kangi nunpa, Two Crows caught a well brokehorse and took it to Sitting Bull, who mounted quickly and succeeded getting away in safety before the Crows had arrived.The Sioux made a clean get-away with nearly fifty head of Crow horses.One of the warriors dug up herb and root medicine, dressed Sitting Bull's wound. He was the only one wounded in that dangerous undertaking. When they reached home the old timers said, "Sitting Bull surely has the endurance of a buffalo bull experiencing all kinds of hardships on the war-path.

A Cherokee woman and baby. Oklahoma. 1920s or '30s?

Embark on a journey through time as we traverse the rugged landscapes of New Mexico in 1898. Along dusty trails and winding paths, we witness the timeless beauty of the Southwest unfolding before our eyes.

In this captivating photograph, taken en route across New Mexico, we are transported to an era of exploration and adventure. The vast expanse of the desert stretches out before us, dotted with sagebrush and mesas, under the endless blue skies of the Southwest.

As travelers make their way across this rugged terrain, they are enveloped by the solitude and grandeur of the New Mexican landscape. Each step forward brings them closer to their destination, yet the journey itself is filled with wonder and discovery.

In 1898, New Mexico was a land of promise and opportunity, beckoning pioneers and adventurers to explore its vast expanses and rich cultural heritage. Today, this photograph serves as a window into the past, allowing us to glimpse the beauty and majesty of the Southwest as it once was. 🌵🗺️📸

In the final months before his surrender in 1877, Crazy Horse retreated alone to the Powder River country and pleaded for a vision that would show him how to preserve his people and their homeland.
Compounding the Lakota war chief’s grief during that long winter was the ill health of his wife, Black Shawl. As he fasted and prayed in the hills near the present-day Montana-Wyoming line, a red-tailed hawk, his spirit helper, descended with an eagle.
Crazy Horse took the eagle’s message to holy men and together they created a healing ceremony. Although Crazy Horse was killed within months of his surrender, Black Shawl — thought at the time to have tuberculosis — lived to be an old woman.
The eagle, chief of birds — the one who could fly the highest and carry messages to and from First Maker — was intricately woven into life on the Northern Plains.
Two Leggins, a chief of the River Crow in the last of the buffalo days, was protected by the medicine of an eagle feather painted with six white spots. It gave him the power to direct the wind, he said in his dictated autobiography.
“After the proper ceremony, the wind would blow from the direction pointed by the feather in my hair,” he said. “The six spots meant the owner could cause a sudden hailstorm between myself and a pursuing enemy. Later I used the feather many times and it always worked.”
Who could doubt the spiritual power of such a magnificent bird?
Once, on a hunting trip in the Bighorn Mountains, Cheyenne warrior Wooden Leg watched as an eagle swooped down on a buffalo calf and carried it far up a cliff to its nest.
“Ordinarily a capturing eagle would drop its prey from high in the air, so that it would be killed by the fall to the ground,” Wooden Leg told his biographer Thomas Marquis. “But this did not happen in this case. As long as we stayed there watching, we could see the buffalo calf standing up there on the cliff and wiggling its tail.”
In 1875, at the end of his grueling vision quest on Otter Creek in southeastern Montana, the 17-year-old warrior was presented with an eagle wing bone flute by his father.
“It was to be worn about my neck, suspended at the mid-breast by a buckskin thong during times of danger,” Wooden Leg said. “If I were threatened with imminent harm I had but to put it to my lips and cause it to send out its soothing notes. That would ward off every evil design upon me. It was my mystic protector. It was my medicine.”
Warriors sought the courage and protection of the eagle in battle and wore eagle feathers as a testimony of honors earned. Each tribal group had its own traditions.
“An eagle’s feather worn in the hair was a mark of distinction and told the world that the wearer had counted coups,” Crow Chief Plenty Coups said in his biography by Frank Linderman.
If a Crow warrior was wounded counting coups — a lesser honor than returning from the field of battle without a scratch — the feather would be painted red to show that he bled, Plenty Coups said.
Four eagle feathers were attached to the shield given to Sitting Bull by his father after exploits against the Crow at Powder River. The four feathers boasted of his success in all four directions.
Warriors couldn’t just claim to have counted coups. The deeds had to be witnessed and attested before the right to wear an eagle feather was earned.
Even after intertribal warfare ceased and tribes have been relegated to reservations, the eagle continues to hold its power.
Joseph Medicine Crow, a Crow historian and World War II veteran, wrote in “Counting Coups” that before he went to war, a Shoshone sun dance chief gave him a white eagle feather. When battle loomed, he stuffed it inside his helmet. He credits the feather with protecting him during the bloody invasion of Germany.
Then he passed the feather on to one of his cousins.
It was carried by members of Medicine Crow’s family to Africa, Germany, Italy and later to Korea.
Photo: Crow Chief Plenty Coups in eagle feather headdress.

The Piegan are one of the three groups that make up the Blackfoot Confederacy. They were the most dominant group in the northern Great Plains during the 19th century. The Piegan used to live in the Rocky Mountain Front, the place where the Rocky Mountains meet the Plains, for thousands of years before moving further into the Plains. They lived a nomadic and semi-agricultural life before the introduction of guns and horses into their society. The introduction of European goods facilitated the hunting of bison and prompted them to move into the northern Plains, where they went on to dominate the region. Their first encounter with white people occurred in the 1787-88 winter, when they let a fur trader James Gaddy and an explorer David Thompson camp with them. The Piegan numbered around 3,700 in 1858, a small population previously decimated by smallpox and starvation. Today there are around 27,000 full blooded Piegan Blackfeet, and around 80,000 of Piegan descent. The Piegan population is split between the U.S.-Canada border, as they were historically forced to pick a side when the borders were drawn. These divisions, however, only physically split up a nation, as the bonds of its people are that of blood and are thus stronger than any barrier between them.
Photo: Weasel Tail
Piegan Blackfoot, circa 1900

Excellent picture of a wonderful Comanche family, cira 1900.
The Comanche man named Tree Top is standing on the far right. He is shown with his beautiful family. On his right side, his daughter named Utah is sitting down along with his other children. The boy standing on the left side is Bert Seahmer. Photograph by Alice Snearly and Lon Kelley. Courtesy of Clay County Historical Society and the University of North Texas Libraries.
The friendliness and character of Comanche people was always clear within their villages. They enjoyed plenty of good conversation and great humor. It was certainly clear that Comanches lived life with a fondness for their community.
In 1857, the American western artist George Catlin observed their strong adoration for the spoken word.
Catlin penned the following:
" the wild, and rude and red - the graceful (though uncivil), conversational, garrulous, story-telling and happy, though ignorant and untutored groups that are smoking their pipes - wooing their sweethearts and embracing their little ones about their peaceful and endeared fire-sides; together with their pots and kettles, spoons, and other culinary articles of their own manufacture, around them; present altogether, one of the most picturesque scenes to the eye of a stranger, that can possibly be seen; and far more wild and vivid than could ever be imagined."

Guipago (Lone Wolf)(~1820-1879) was a distinguished chief of the Kiowa, and also the last principal chief of the tribe. Little is known about his early life, but we know for certain that he was a signee of the Little Arkansas Treaty of 1865 which predicted the creation of large reservations for all the Plains tribes, which were never created. Around that time there was a split in Kiowa foreign affairs policy. On one side there was Kicking Bird, who wanted to lead a peaceful policy with the U.S. government, expecting that they would take care of the Kiowa. On the other side there were the hostile anti-treaty Kiowas led by Dohasan, Satanta and old Satank, with whom Guipago affiliated. The latter group led many raids into Texas and Oklahoma, scouring the peace policy because they believed that there would be no more buffalo for the Kiowa to hunt due to U.S. expansionism. In 1867, the pro-treaty Kiowas signed the Medicine Lodge Treaty which moved them onto a reservation at Fort Sill. The U.S. government decided to wipe out all Plains Indians that weren't settled on a reservation.

Circa-Mid-1850s. One of the earliest photos of a Native American, this one showing a pet wolf. Unlike the many fearsome myths created about wolves by settlers, Native Americans maintained a close and respectful relationship with wolves and had domesticated them to become pet and working animals for hunting and carrying packs.
Source : Indians and Thier Dogs.

Chief Sitting Bull of the Hunkpapa Lakota and his family at Ft. Randall, South Dakota. 1883. Rear L–R Good Feather Woman (sister), Walks Looking (daughter) front L–R Her Holy Door (mother), Sitting Bull, Many Horses (daughter) with her son, Courting a Woman

Remembering Frank Fools Crow
Birthdate/Place: ca. 1890 – Porcupine Creek, Pine Ridge Reservation
Death date/Place: November 27, 1989 – Kyle, South Dakota
Best known for: A nephew of Black Elk, Frank Fools Crow was a Lakota Sioux spiritual leader and Yuwipi medicine man. He was instrumental in negotiating the end of the insurrection at Wounded Knee in 1973 and the subject of a biography by Thomas Mails.

Low Dog. A Dakota Chief. 1880s. Photo by D.F. Barry.

Chief Garfield. Jicarilla Apache. 1893. Santa Fe, NM. Photo by Jesse H. Bratley. Source - Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

A LAUGH FOR TODAY❤
When NASA was preparing for the Apollo moon landings of the late 60s and early 70s, they did some astronaut training along a Navajo Indian reservation in the SW. One day, a Navajo elder and his grandson were herding animals and came across the space crew. The old man, who only spoke Navajo, asked a question, which the grandson translated: "What are the guys in the big suits doing?" A member of the crew said they were practicing for their trip to the moon." Then, recognizing a promotional opportunity for the spin-doctors, added, "We will be leaving behind a special record with greetings in many languages and such. Would the old man be interested in giving us a greeting to include?"
Upon translation, the old man got really excited and was thrilled at the idea of sending a message to the moon with the astronauts. The NASA folks produced a tape recorder and the old man recorded his message at which the grandson fought back the urge to laugh... but he refused to translate.
After Apollo 11 had successfully landed on the moon and brought its astronauts homes, a new group were training in the desert when one of the NASA officials recognized the Navajo elder and his grandson and went to tell them that the old man's message was indeed on the moon which was met with laughter.
Finally, the NASA rep caught on that not everything was as simple as he had originally thought and asked for a translation. With a chuckle the youngster replied: "Beware of white man; they come to steal your land!"

Apache babe and cradle, Native American camp, Wichita Mountains, Oklahoma. 1880-1900. Photo by Bates.

From the Battle of Little Big Horn
“I had sung the war song, I had smelt power smoke, my heart was bad--I was like one who has no mind. I rushed in and took their flag; my pony fell dead as I took it. I cut the thong that bound me; I jumped up and brained the sword flag man with my war club, and ran back to our line with the flag. I was mad, I got a fresh pony and rushed back shooting, cutting and slashing. This pony was shot and I got another. This time I saw Little Hair (Tom Custer)--I remembered my vow, I was crazy; I feared nothing. I knew nothing would hurt me for I had my white weasel tail on. I didn't know how many I killed trying to get at him. He knew me. I laughed at him and yelled at him. I saw his mouth move but there was so much noise I couldn't hear his voice. He was afraid. When I got near enough I shot him with my revolver. My gun was gone. I didn't know where. I got back on my pony and rode off. I was satisfied and sick of fighting."
Itoηagaju (Rain-in-the-Face) Lakota , 1835-1905

Rights of passage. A time when a young boy is becoming a man he will shoot a buffalo and provide meat for his family and tiospaye.
It begins when he is a baby to 10 yrs old, he is shown from his women relatives how to be a compassionate and have humility. The women teach him these values he will carry into manhood. He is taught to care for self and others. How to kabla the meat and make and dry foods. Hard work.
The men will take him from there and teach him his responsibilities and duties. He will provide safety and sustainability for self and others. He is taught to use the tools and weapons of the warriors. He will be mentored and looked after by his older male relatives until he starts a family.
He will recieve Wahokunkiya to ensure he stays on the right path.
Lena ciscila epa wacin.
We are still here, our ways are still here, take heart.
Photo- Charles American Horse. 1901