Wakiyan Agipi at Wakiyan Paha

EAGLE BUTTE – On Thursday, March 20, 2025, Cheyenne River Lakota relatives will begin the ceremonial season with hosting Wakiyan Aglipi, the Return of the Thunder Beings ceremony. Planned activities will begin at 10:00 a.m. at the location of Wakiyan Paha (Thunder Butte). According to Dave West, Director of the Lakota Cultural Center, “The ceremony will include a cultural teaching opportunity for all those willing to participate and learn.”

To the Oceti Sakowin, the sacred Thunder Beings are known as Wakiyan. Their return on the vernal equinox marks the beginning of spring, announced by the presence of thunder, lightning, and rain. The ceremony recognizes the dual nature of the Wakiyan and acknowledges them as powerful spiritual energies that have the power to give life, but also to take it away. 

Many different Native nations, including the Lakota, have gathered for generations to celebrate the return of spring. Vital spring rains renew and nurture Mother Earth, beginning an extraordinary celebration of life. Migrating animals and birds reappear, buffalo emerge from their winter camps, hibernating creatures wake, and the plants and flowers began to bloom. At the same time, the Wakiyan can destroy with hurricanes, hail and tornadoes, cause floods and droughts, or burn with lightening.

This is the first year the Wakiyan Aglipi ceremony is planned for Wakiyan Paha (Thunder Butte). Until this year, the closest Return of the Thunder Beings ceremony to Cheyenne River takes place at Black Elk Peak in the Black Hills and can be prohibitive and inaccessible to most families.

A collaborative partnership of diverse tribal and community organizations, coordinated by the Lakota Cultural Center, have worked together to plan an event that will be meaningful and comfortably available to Cheyenne River relatives. Numerous Cheyenne River schools have pledged to transport students to the cultural event. Students from Wakpala School on the Standing Rock Reservation and Sitting Bull College also plan to attend. Selected young men will take tobacco, ties and flags up the butte to the creek to tie.

Representatives of the following organizations have attended planning meetings and have been instrumental in making preparations: the Lakota Cultural Center, Title 1 office, CRST Game, Fish and Parks, CRST Family Violence Prevention, Cheyenne River Horsemanship program, Dupree School, CRST Tribal Health, Cheyenne River Youth Project, CRST Chairman’s office, Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, The West River Eagle, CRST Tribal Council, Timber Lake School, Takini School, Dupree School, C-EB school, Missouri Breaks/MB Research Institute, the Keya Foundation, Cheyenne River Buffalo Corp., Veteran Service Corps, and Oglala Lakota College Eagle Butte.

 

At press time, a traditional buffalo harvest is scheduled in Swift Bird for Monday, March 10, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. MT in conjunction with the Wakiyan Aglipi. The harvested buffalo will then be brought to the Cultural Center for preparation for the ceremony on Thursday, March 20. The meat will be used to make bapa and wasna for the community meal shared by the relatives on that day.

Organizers request that those planning to attend the ceremony note the following:

– Bring a walking stick or snake grabber;

– Bring your own chairs and dress appropriately for the weather;

– Bring any extra gloves, hats, jackets or walking sticks to lend;

– Women of child-bearing age are respectfully asked to honor traditional guidance regarding participation in ceremony;

– Participating tribal and community programs are requested to bring snacks;

– Fruit and meat trays will be available;

– There will be plenty of parking available and assistance with parking.

– Motorized “side by side” vehicles will be available for transport of elders.

In March, 2024, 74-year-old Verlyn Long Wolf (Oglala Lakota) gathered with other Indigenous people to hike Black Elk Peak for the Return of the Thunder Beings ceremony. As she walked, she prayed for the air, the water and all living things.

“On the way up, all I could think of was my ancestors,” Long Wolf said. “My relatives endured so many hardships for me to be alive today. Surviving those taught me how to survive, how to be resilient and keep ourselves going.

“Our ancestors believed in these ways, in these ceremonies. (This is) to keep life going. We acknowledge that everything has a life, and we’re just a little, itty bit part of it. It’s about creating a balance.”

A big component of the ceremony was identity. It involves being Lakota and being proud to be Lakota, Long Wolf said.

“We get to claim our identity, who we are and what we need to do to stay focused. We were Lakota for thousands and thousands of years and then suddenly we got introduced to something that took our way of life. Now we get to say this is me, this is a part of me and I want to live this way.”

Long Wolf is the program manager for a 12-week wellbriety support group which includes culturally based programming. Participants in the wellbriety group came to the ceremony as part of their healing. A connection to one’s culture and a supportive group of people can be extremely beneficial in recovery, Long Wolf said.

The hike was an enlightening experience for everyone, Long Wolf said.

“I accomplished something really great. I’m almost 75 years old and I climbed all the way to the top. It has an exhilarating effect, people are really proud of themselves, they’re owning who they are and what they want to do in life. They’re just happy to have life.”

The next planning meeting for the Cheyenne River ceremony will take place on Wednesday, March 12th at the Lakota Cultural Center in Eagle Butte.

Donations to this event can be dropped off at the Lakota Cultural Center by Tuesday March 18, 2025. Contact the Cultural Center at (605) 964-2542 for more information.

(Contact Grace Terry at graceterrywilliams@gmail.com)

 

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SOURCES:

 

https://prairieedge.com/tribe-scribe/return-of-thunder-beings/?srsltid=AfmBOorSmn7wP_wpyah7v2slgkd_KEHi2Wf7eqJm_Cdg29PqwzJHQ7KI

 

https://www.lakotatimes.com/articles/welcoming-back-the-thunder-beings/

 

https://www.westrivereagle.com/articles/wakinyan-aglipi-welcome-back-the-thunder-beings/

 

https://www.lakotatimes.com/articles/black-elk-peak-name-change-ceremony/

 

https://ictnews.org/news/bringing-back-the-thunder

 

https://prairieedge.com/tribe-scribe/return-of-thunder-beings/?srsltid=AfmBOorSmn7wP_wpyah7v2slgkd_KEHi2Wf7eqJm_Cdg29PqwzJHQ7KI

 

Personal interview with Fran Carr

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