Lak̇olya Waoniya -‘Breathing Life into the Lak̇ota Language

Haylee Quick Bear gathering material to build a tipi. A large part of Lakolya Waoniya’s curriculum is participating in Lakota-based cultural activities.

Despite being a high achiever with a stack of college acceptance letters, Natalie Bordeaux felt she needed time for personal reflection before taking the next big step in her life. Two years later, she could never have imagined how her life has changed.
Bordeaux is one of seven learners in the first cohort of Lakolya Waoniya, which translates roughly to “Breathing Life into the Lakota Language.” The program pays members of the Siċaŋġu Oyate – or Rosebud Sioux Tribe – a full-time salary to study the Lakota language and cultural teachings.
“I was born Lakota, but I didn’t feel Lakota,” said Bordeaux. “I didn’t grow up traditionally and all I knew was what my parents and grandparents had taught me. I saw this program as a chance to put all of those different puzzle pieces together.”
Launched in spring of 2022 by Sicangu Co, an organization that weaves together cultural and economic revitalization, Lakolya Waoniya’s primary goal is to increase the number of fluent Lakota language speakers, which has reached a crisis level. However, leaders of the program had seen other efforts fail, so they knew they had to try something new.
Paying learners isn’t the only thing that is unique about this initiative. Leaders of the program have also integrated cultural knowledge, spiritual well-being, and ceremonies into the program. Students attend weekly sweatlodge ceremonies, seasonal rituals, and those who had not previously been given a Lakota name went through a naming ceremony. “You can’t have our language without our culture, and you can’t have our culture without our language,”
said the program’s instructor, Henry Quick Bear, Sr. “We’re getting to be in a bad spot and it’s really concerning. I hate to say this but one day, we might lose our language.” With fewer than 500 fluent speakers – the vast majority of
whom are considered elders – on the Rosebud Reservation and none under the age of 25, the language could go silent for the Sicangu people in a generation. Chauncina Poor Bear is also enrolled in the Lakolya Waoniya
program. Poor Bear had worked in early childhood education for almost 20 years before joining. Similar to Bordeaux, Poor Bear had a desire to learn the language and grow closer to her culture as well as teaching the language to others after mastering it herself. However, Poor Bear had a different perspective. Both of her parents spoke Lakota, but because of the way they were treated in school, they never taught their children to speak it. Lakota students in boarding schools often received harsh punishments for speaking any language other than English. “After the way they were punished in school for speaking Lakota instead of English, they never taught any of us,” she said.
“Learning the language has been a spiritual thing for me. The more you know the language, the more it draws you into the culture and that is helping me learn how to heal from all of the trauma that has happened to us before.” Poor Bear worked in the Head Start program on the Rosebud Reservation before and never had the tools to teach language and culture to the students. She sees the Lakolya Waoniya program as a chance for her to bring what she has learned back into the classroom when she is finished. For the learners, the program creates opportunity beyond a deeper connection to their Lakota identity. Becoming a fluent speaker opens doors for their future careers as teachers, mentors, or even translators. Quick Bear said the program is quickly and effectively creating conversational speakers and is gaining attention locally. “Our learners have already been contacted by other programs to come and work with them. It shows how much they have learned in just a year,” he said. In fact, all of the learners have made a commitment to share what they are learning in some form or another with hopes of creating a ripple effect of renewed interest in learning the language. Some learners are already hosting free public classes both in-person and over Zoom. Others will be participating in a summer institute to receive
their teaching certification. One is even lending his voice to Thor in the Avengers Lakota language dub. “When you learn the language, you get a brighter view of our culture and our future,” Quick Bear said. “It kind of centers us so I think it’s really important.”

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