Lakota express concerns over misuse of ceremonies in Yellowstone TV series

Arvol Looking Horse, Keeper of the keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe and Bundle, Lakota Nation (Courtesy photo)

By Clara Caufield,
Native Sun News Today Staff writer

“Yellowstone” – the hot new television series featuring Kevin Costner is hitting top of the charts, making big bucks by featuring cowboys and Indians in the west. But, in the view of some highly regarded Native spiritual leaders, the series has seriously errored while representing the ceremonies of the Oglala Sioux and other Great Plains Tribes.
Recently, Native Sun News Today was contacted by Mark Lone Hill, Oglala, at the request of his cousin, esteemed Lakota spiritual leader, Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe to express concerns about recent episodes of the television series “Yellowstone”. The major star, Kevin Costner is still considered a good friend to the Oglala after producing “Dancing with Wolves which was culturally appropriate due to the guidance of several Oglala advisors said Looking Horse. On the other hand, the new series Yellowstone seems to provide non-Indians with a “Hollywood” view of the West and Native people, Looking Horse noted.
This article will be sent to and shared with the producers of Yellowstone.
Looking Horse and spiritual leaders from many other Tribes are sorrowful about this development, requesting that Native Sun News Today help them share their strong concerns about the wrong depiction of sacred Native ceremony and ritual in that new the Yellowstone series. “Kevin never used to be like this,” Looking Horse noted “but I don’t think he is in charge of that.”
Recent Yellowstone episodes have depicted several Lakota/Dakota/Nakota ceremonies including smudging, sweat lodge and the vision quest, played by non-native actors. Although the producers of the show employ an Oglala advisor for this purpose, Looking Horse and other traditional spiritual leaders object that the portrayal made on that show of such ceremony is unacceptable. The paid Oglala advisor Moses Brings Plenty could not be reached for comment. “This is not just about Yellowstone. A lot of our ceremonies have been used for personal gain by tribal members and non-Indians in other films and social media,” Looking Horse commented. “There has been abuse of our ceremonial ways, charging people to participate, making money etc. and not following protocol. We will not violate our songs and ceremonies. It hurts my heart to see all this abuse of our ceremonies. Originally, only those of good heart were to see the Pipe. It takes many ceremonies and four years of training to prepare yourself, not an easy thing.”
This is not a new issue. Back in March 2003, Looking Horse first convened a meeting of tribal spiritual leaders and medicine bundle keepers representing 21 different Tribes to discuss the “protection from the abuse and exploitation of our ceremonies.” The meeting was held at Eagle Butte and hosted by the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, where Looking Horse is an enrolled member. The delegations of ceremonial men represented a wide cross-section of the Great Plains including several Oglala; Northern Cheyenne, Southern Arapahoe, Prairie Island Dakota, Yankton, Spirit Lake, Assiniboine Nakota, Rosebud, Cheyenne River, Cree from Canada and Manitoba Dakota. Though expressed in slightly different protocols, these Tribes share a core of common and basic beliefs – the religion “that holds us together.”
Discussions included sexual molestation which has sometimes taken place in ceremony, indecent mockery, mixing of new age beliefs, charging for ceremonies and accidental deaths, never heard of before when led by those who have not been trained or accepted to conduct those rites. The ceremonies in question were the I-ni-pi (purification ceremony/sweat lodge); Wi-wanyang-was-c’i-pi (Sundance Ceremony) and Han-ble-c’i-ya (vision quest) sacred rites. Those are the only ones which Looking Horse feels qualified to address.
After long discussion and testimonies of the concerns and issues at that long-ago meeting, the group delegated Looking Horse, as Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe to make a decision about appropriate protocols. “It was a good feeling to feel the beginning of a Unity among our People. This had been my concern for decades. We need to stand strong with our ceremonies,” he wrote for prosperity. Looking Horse is the 19th Generation Keeper of the Original Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nation of the Sioux. He was born in 1954 of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota. At the age of 12, he became the 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe, the youngest ever. He is acknowledged as the spiritual leader of all three branches of the Sioux tribe.
Throughout his tenure, he has primarily worked towards religious freedom, cultural survival and revival. Some notable aspects of his career include in 1993 traveling to New York with Elders of different Nations for the United Nations “Cry of the Earth” Conference where he did the opening prayer. In 1995, Looking Horse met with the Dalai Lama to establish a relationship between Tibet and the Lakota Nation. He is an active participant in World Peace and Prayer Day and has guided those ceremonies over several decades. Furthermore, Looking Horse was the spiritual leader for the Big Foot Riders for the first four years, that commemorative ride founded by Birgil Kills Straight (now passed) which memorializes the massacre of Big Foot’s band at Wounded Knee.
In future issues look for more information about the work which spiritual leaders are pursuing to protect the ceremonies and rituals which are past, present and future for the people of the Great Plains Tribes.

(Clara Caufield can be reached at acheyennevoice@gmail.com)

The post Lakota express concerns over misuse of ceremonies in Yellowstone TV series first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

Visit Original Source