Four Generations Honor Relatives in Winter Solstice Ceremony

On December 21st, the Winter Solstice, Anita Afraid of Bear and 12 Tiospaye members made a pilgrimage to the Wind Cave (Maka Oniye) of the Black Hills (Paha Sapa) as part of the Waniyetu Wospi Waglukthatapi ceremony.

Maka Oniye is the Point of Origin and Emergence of the Lakota People. The first people and herd of bison emerged from this cave onto the surface of the Earth, and for this reason, special times of the year — such as equinoxes and solstices — are commemorated here.

At Maka Oniye, food and tobacco offerings were made. Sacred foods — ground chokecherries, corn, and bison meat — were given as offerings to past ancestors and future descendants so that they may eat. Prayers and thoughts wrapped in positive intentions were released in the form of smoke upwards to the Creator from tobacco-loaded pipes. And, through all of this, four generations of the Tiospaye participated so that these sacred rites may continue to be passed down for many generations to come.

Waniyetu Wospi Waglukthatapi honors the sacred changing of the seasons as a time to make offerings to relatives and ancestors. Waniyetu, which means ‘winter count’, indicates the unique and sacred time that this ceremony calls attention to. Wospi alludes to the food offerings made for visitors and relatives during this special time. One shares sacred foods so that relatives may wospi from the trees, plants, and animals represented on the table. Ancestors, too, wospi and get to remember what sunshine tastes like. Waglukthatapi, which means ‘sacred offerings’, encapsulates the overarching purpose of this winter ceremony.

The Afraid of Bear Tiospaye hopes that the sharing of these ceremonies, and the initiation of younger generations into the rites themselves, will work to continue and preserve our ancestors’ ways for generations to come.