Lakota Rituals and Ceremonies::

Sweat Lodge (Inipi)

The Lakota term for sweat lodge is inipi which means 'to live again'. Epes Brown (1992) points out that inipi is a purificatory rite and is necessary in order to help the novice vision quester enter into a state of humility and to undergo a kind of spiritual rebirth.¹

The sweat lodge is made of cloth and willow saplings and Powers remarks how profane sweat lodges look when not in use. "The sweat lodge reflects the Oglala principle of austerity and simplicity: the entire universe is a cathedral; everything is permanently sacred unless desecrated by human foibles that cause disharmony between humans and the rest of nature" (Powers 1982:39).²

The sacred saplings represent and honour the various aspects of Wakantanka. Before willow saplings are cut for the inipi the cutter should stand before them and say, "There are many kinds of trees but it is you whom I have chosen to help me. I shall take you, but in your place there will be others!" (Epes Brown 1953:48).³ Similarly the rocks, sage and sticks must be gathered in a sacred manner.

The sacred fireplace in the centre of the lodge is known as peta-owihankeshni, or 'eternal fire' or 'fire of no end'. Construction of it is very particular: first four sticks are placed running east and west; four more sticks are laid on top of these running north and south. Then sticks are leaned tipi-style first on the west side, then on north, east and south sides. Finally rocks are placed at these four quarters (Epes Brown 1953).

When not in use, the sweat lodge that Powers attends, on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, becomes a playground for children, dogs, ants, spiders, grasshoppers, flies and occasionally a cow or a horse. The sweat lodge, writes Powers, tolerates all kinds of intrusions!

To begin the ceremony a fire must be started and allowed to burn down so that the stones are white hot. Blankets and tarps are draped over the sapling framework and the participants strip down naked. They crawl in through the doorway at the east end of the lodge and crawl clockwise around the central fire-pit. The shaman takes his place on the north side of the doorway and the main participant, if any, on the west side of the lodge at the place of honour (catku), directly opposite the doorway. All sit on beds of fresh sage. "All sat Indian style, legs crossed in front and heels pulled close to their bodies to keep them as far as possible from the central hole" (Powers 1982:41). The sacred pipe is not present inside the lodge but has been placed on a sacred hill to the east of the lodge. In McGaa's account of the inipi ceremony all the participants are smudged with sage or cedar as these are sacred plants and their aroma pleases Wakantanka (1992).⁴

When the shaman cries "Wana! Now!" the fire-tender who is standing outside the lodge near the fire-pit, picks up a large glowing stone with his pitchfork and passes it carefully through the doorway of the lodge, dropping it to the east of the hole. Heat fills the lodge and the men inside begin to perspire. The shaman calls for the next stone and then another until seven stones have been rolled in to the hole and formed a base in the pit. Then the smaller stones are brought in. Intense heat fills the lodge and the doorway is closed so that the lodge is darkened.

Black Elk states that "this darkness represents the darkness of the soul, our ignorance, from which we must now purify ourselves so that we may have the light. During the course of the Inipi, the door will be opened four times, letting in the light; this reminds us of the four ages, and how through the goodness of Wakan-Tanka we have received the Light in each of these ages" (Epes Brown 1953:36).

The shaman begins to pray and the pipe is brought in and offered many times. The shaman gives thanks to Wakantanka. After each prayer the participants reply "Hau!" Water is poured over the hot coals so the lodge is filled with heat and steam and the participants clear their throats and nostrils noisily and slap their bodies with their hands.

Singing begins in which the participants express their desire to be with their relatives. They shout out, "Mitakuye oyasin". According to Powers this means "All my relations" (1982:43). For McGaa this can be translated as "We are all related" or "We are related to all things" (1992:27). For Epes Brown (1992), this phrase affirms the belief that there is an essential, mysterious and most sacred bond between people, animals, the earth, and all that is.

Presently the shaman orders the front and back tarp doorway to be opened up so cool air fills the lodge. "Mitakuye oyasin" each one calls out again and again as they drink water and pass round the cup to the shaman, who then orders for the doorways to be closed again. Heat once more fills the lodge.

The shaman prays again, this time specifically addressing the main participant's problems. The sacred pipe is constantly offered. The shaman in Powers's account of the sweat lodge ceremony says, "Wakantanka, in these dark days one of our common boys lives upon this earth knowing that his body is one with this earth. We know that this body comes from you, Wakantanka" (1982:44) and "And so, Tunkasila Wakantanka, we pray to you this way with the pipe. So let the thunders work for you, and the four winds, and all the animals and things that watch over the earth" (1982:45). The shaman also says, "Tunkasila Wakantanka, all these animals that watch over the earth are my friends; that is why I am walking with this pipe" (1982:46).

Then once again the doorflaps are opened and the cool breeze leaps inside. Then they are closed again and heat and steam fill the lodge. The specific prayers addressing the specific problems of the main participant continue.

Finally a long silence descends and there is no more praying. The shaman is deep in spiritual communication with the spirits who have arrived and are instructing him in sacred matters. The silence is broken only when the shaman is ready to tell the participants what the Tunkasila have been telling him.

The flaps are opened again. The sacred pipe is brought in, lit and smoked ritually. Then it is taken outside and the flaps are closed. Water is poured onto the stones as the heat intensifies. A last song is sung. The flaps are pulled back and the sweat lodge has ended.

In McGaa's account the inipi ceremony utilises the four elements of the universe: fire, air, water and earth. The lodge represents 'Mother Earth'. Fire heats the stones and water is poured on top of them. This water produces steam which mixes with the sweat of the participants and the air. The four winds then carry this mixture of steam and sweat to the four corners of the world. "This carrying forth of a part of ourselves out to the four directions tells us we are partaking in a universal ceremony" (McGaa 1992:83).

For Black Elk the entire universe is represented in the sweat lodge: the four quarters of the universe are marked (north, south, east and west); the rocks represent 'Grandmother Earth'; the fire represents the great power of Wakantanka; the water represents the Thunder-Beings whose cleansing rains purify us as does the steam in the inipi ceremony; the fireplace at the centre of the lodge is the centre of the universe in which Wakantanka dwells. Furthermore, the door of every sweat lodge is always constructed to the east as "it is from this direction that the light of wisdom comes" (Epes Brown 1953).

In Powers's description of inipi only Wakantanka was addressed. But in McGaa (1992) the four directions are also beseeched - the west, the north, the east and the south. The lodge leader calls out to the four directions in turn and then each participant calls out a respectful greeting. To each in turn they sing, "Look to the West/North/East/South and pray to them. Pray to them because those people are your relatives" (McGaa 1992:84).

The east power is beseeched in recognition of its power of knowledge and this is a time when everyone present expresses their own personal beseechments or prayers and each person gains strength and knowledge from their prayers. The south power is beseeched for its power of healing, growth, abundance and "holistic strength" (McGaa 1992:85).

For Epes Brown (1992) the sweat lodge ritual allows a novice to begin establishing relationships with the elements of earth, air, fire and water and with all of life on earth. Such relationships are strengthened through use of the sacred pipe - "the communal and sacramental smoking of which establishes a ritual relationship with all of creation and with the very source of life" (Epes Brown 1992:xi).

Notes::

• 1 - Joseph Epes Brown. Animals of the Soul: Sacred Animals of the Oglala Sioux. Shaftesbury, Dorset: Element Books Ltd, 1992.
• 2 - William K. Powers. Yuwipi: Vision and Experience in Oglala Ritual. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982.
• 3 - Joseph Epes Brown, ed. The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk's Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1953.
• 4 - Ed McGaa. Rainbow Tribe: Ordinary People Journeying on the Red Road. San Francisco: Harper SanFrancisco, 1992.