Sicangu Scribe Scribblings

I was very fortunate to be able to attend

he Second Annual Lakota Dakota Nakota Language Summit held in Rapid City last weekend. The Lakota Country Times is one of the sponsors of the conference and

offered complimentary copies of our newspaper to many attendees. I want to personally thank Wilma Thin Elk of Manderson for assisting me on Thursday afternoon; she was lots of FUN!

The summit was sponsored by Tusweca Tiospaye and I was very impressed with

heir efforts. I saw a very well organized event. It was encouraging to see so many

oung people interested in the sessions

nd other activities.

I had time to visit with many of the people at the summit. Tribal people from

eservations in South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana and Nebraska traveled to HeSapa for the summit.

n addition, there were several Indian people from the Canadian Reserves in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan who also attended the event. Everyone seemed very excited to be there and to be talking about ways to keep the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota languages alive.

It always makes me feel good when I can attend something like this where it is obvious that our ancient languages and cultural ways are still very much alive. I heard many, many people speaking Lakota over the three day summit. This was very encouraging to me. On the other hand, some of the people listened to and visited with are feeling the pressure of the enormous challenge they face as they work very hard to keep our language alive. One high school teacher voiced his concerns over the students in his Lakota Language classes. He is putting a lot of energy into keeping them interested in learning to speak their own language. It is disheartening for a teacher to witness how our young people tend to make fun of one another when they pronounce words wrong. He sees a lot of them getting discouraged very quickly because of this. As adults I believe we should make an effort to be more supportive and encouraging to our children who take Lakota language classes as peer pressure can turn them off in an instant.

Other older teachers I heard speak about their efforts in the classroom were also enlightening and encouraging to me. Apparently those of us who are not fluent in the Lakota language are not the only ones with mental or emotional issues that can be barriers to learning. Many of the older teachers, and when I say older I mean those people who have been teaching for a number of years, were very honest about how they felt when they faced the task of teaching their own families how to speak the language. For example, one teacher shared a story of being chided by family members because he didn’t take the time to teach his own children the Lakota language even though he spent most of his adult life as a classroom teacher.

It was a very refreshing weekend for me. I attended the Lunch/Networking session on Friday and was very appreciative of Scotti Cliff. This young man provided entertainment for the group and I enjoyed the love song he sang about the sacred sun dance tree. It was another encouraging sign that our young people are paying attention to their Lakota way of life.

I appreciated Chris Eagle Hawk who acted as the Eyapaha for the Wacipi on Friday night. He kept the Wacipi moving right along with his announcing skills. A very big crowd of spectators enjoyed the music of 16 drums and a large group of colorful dancers representing all categories – traditional, fancy, grass and jingle. I even saw a chicken dancer and a hoop dancer! Area Director Tom Vocu kept the circle of dancers very organized.

I also attended the hand games on both Friday and Saturday night. This is one area where the interest of our young people is quite obvious. I had a good time just listening to them sing and watching them play. The energy created by a hand game session is second to none as anyone who has attended can tell you. It is very exciting to watch our children, teenagers, young adults and elders all come together to create the joyful energy of a hand game. I appreciated the hand games very much! The songs were beautiful and I saw so much happiness in the faces of our young people. I was very proud of everyone!

Wopila to Michael Carlow, Jr. and all who assisted in organizing a great summit, your efforts were appreciated by many and I look forward to next year’s gathering. In closing, I think a bumper sticker I picked up from one of the vendor tables sums it all up – “Treasure the Lakota Language.”

Vi Waln is Sicangu Lakota from the Rosebud

Reservation. She can be reached at editor@

lakotacountrytimes.com