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Learning Cultural Traditions

Author


Chris and Rachel

07th of July, 2019

Category


Pine Ridge '19

On our first morning in Pine Ridge, we stood in a circle from oldest to youngest age as tradition in the Lakota heritage. Women were on one side and men on the other. To get to know each other, we went around and said each others names. Then, we took our first step into the cultural traditions of the Lakota. Uncí (grandmother) Ethleen explained that in Lakota culture, they do not call each other by their first names but rather, by their family terminology i.e. Sister, brother, uncle. They do this in order to set a foundation of respect in the community. Each person’s duty to the family member under them is to teach them and vise versa for the younger family member, where they will listen and respect their elder.
Later, our group went to a traditional Pow-Wow. It was a drum and costume competition. Our group sat under an arbor. The commentator was eager to learn more about us and through this interest we learned more about how Lakota relate to one another. He began by asking where each of us were from and as each person answered, he made jokes about our states that instead of discouraging us, made us feel more welcome. We watched them do traditional dancing, and they invited us to join in with them. We stepped into the circle with our pants and t-shirts amongst the sea of bright and traditional clothing that each Lakota wore with visible pride. We were hesitant at first but by the end, our instructors could barely get us off the dance floor. So far, we have only scratched the surface of the Lakota’s intricate heritage and culture.

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