Chapter 3 - Dakota
**The Dakota have lived in MN the longest!
**Oral Tradition - the Dakota's way of remembering history
- 3 reasons for Oral tradition:
1) tell stories from long ago
2) use stories to teach children a lesson and to explain something that has happened in nature
3) what will happen if you don't listen to your elders - respected older member of tribe
**Dakota way of viewing history: history is a circle where past, present, and future all affect each other.
- 3 stories: Storytellers are honored and respected
*(Wakinyan) Thunder Bird and (Unktehi) Water Spirit - story about storms and the rainbow after the storm
*(Wicanhpi Hoksidan) Star Boy and (Tate Waziyata) North Wind - story about how the seasons came about
*The Invisible Warrior - Cinderella-type story, rags to riches, being honest
Spring:
- place they lived: sugar camps - near maple trees in the forest
- type of home: bark houses - rectangular shape covered with bark
- food source: maple sugar and syrup, muskrats, beaver, ducks
- women and children activities: making sugar and syrups
- men activities: hunting muskrats, beaver, ducks
Summer:
- place they lived: villages by riverbanks with fertile soil
- type of home: bark houses - good for hot weather lets breeze through
- food source: corn, squash, beans, rice, blueberries, cranberries, fish, small game (duck, venison)
- women activities: planted and tend crops of corn, squash, beans, harvested rice
- men activities: fished and hunted (small animals)
**WILD RICE HARVEST
1. Host a celebration and make offering
2. Tie the stalks into bundles; and let them dry
3. Strike the bundles - knock off the rice
4. Dry the rice in the sun
5. Roast rice over a fire
6. Place rice in a pit and the boys step on it to remove the husks
7. Shake the rice so husks and chaff will blow away
Fall:
- place they lived: hunting grounds that chief has chosen
- type of home: tipis - keep warm air inside; easy to put up and take down
- food source: large animals - deer, bison, bear
- women activities: cooking, preserving foods for winter, making clothes from the hides
- men activities: hunting large animals
Winter:
- place they lived: deep in the woods near a lake or river
- type of home: tipis - cone shaped house - animal skins stretched over frame
- food source: fish, small game, dried meat, corn, rice - stored food from fall
- women activities: tan hides, sew clothes
- men activities: some hunting, rest, ice fishing, play
Kids' Life:
- sugar camp, chores, play in the woods, listen to stories, learn lessons, helped with rice harvest, play in the snow, sleds, skates-moccasins, respected elders, lived with extended families, lived in different homes as seasons changed.
Dakota Words:
1. ohanwaste - generosity toward everyone. This is an important part of the Dakota hunter's life.
example: share 1st kill of the day
2. tiyospaye - extended family including grandmothers, grandfathers, cousins, aunts, uncles
example: whole family slept in a tipi
3. wohoda - respect and courtesy
example: honor privacy by keeping eyes down
example: children respect when talking to elders - uncle would be My Uncle Bob, not just Bob
YouTube
Buffalo Hunt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPzeY9itfLE
Story: Inner Peace: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK-HPUCzie8
Story: Invisible Warrior: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHJySa7jkJA
Website: Mission - A Cheyenne Odyssey
- about the mission info: info for teachers about mission