Lakota Rituals and Ceremonies::

Yuwipi

Few people have written about the healing ceremony Yuwipi. As such, this account summarises a single source - William K. Powers' description, published in 1982.¹

Yuwipi is a curing ritual performed by Sioux groups all over South Dakota. It is performed in conjunction with two of the oldest Sioux ceremonies: the vision quest and the sweat lodge. Although the yuwipi ritual was not described in anthropological literature until 1946, its origins can be traced back to a mentor of Crazy Horse - Horn Chips, a medicine man who lived from 1836 until 1916.

The yuwipi man is trained by the spirits to diagnose and treat 'Indian sickness' - that is, those illnesses generally common to the Indians before the white man arrived. The yuwipi man is the sole mediator between the people and the spirit world; he can communicate directly with them; he can understand the languages of all creatures and can communicate with them; he is the sole curer of Indian sickness.

Powers describes a yuwipi ceremony conducted on the Pine Ridge Reservation. A room in a house is completely emptied of removable furniture and it is blackened. The success of the meeting is ensured by the other following restrictions: menstruating women and disbelievers are forbidden to enter the yuwipi because they will offend the spirits. Blankets and cushions are placed around the periphery of the room leaving enough space in the centre for the yuwipi man to construct a sacred place, a 'camp circle', a hocoka. The adepts file in: the men enter clockwise and sit on the south side of the room and the women sit on the north side. The west side facing the door is left for the singers.

Six coloured flags are brought in along with strings of tobacco offerings, cans of half-filled earth and a case filled with ritual paraphernalia. In the hocoka the yuwipi man arranges the cans around him and sticks in the flags. The black flag is placed in the west can, the red flag in the north can, the yellow flag in the east can, the white flag in the south can, the blue flag in the zenith can, and the green flag in the nadir can.

In the hocoka the yuwipi man places a pasteboard and covers it with earth from a mole hill:

"Mole dirt is used because moles are members of a sacred, omniscient community of creatures endowed with knowledge of both the surface of the earth and its subterranean parts. Like ants, who push earth and stones to the surface, moles, prairie dogs, wolves, coyotes, and other burrowing animals bring clean earth from underground. This subterranean earth has not been contaminated by humans and is thus preferred for sacred rituals" (Powers 1982:57).

This pasteboard of flattened mole earth is makakagapi or 'made of earth' and will later serve as a representation of the patient. The makakagapi is then circumscribed by a short string of tobacco offerings. Each offering represents the various personalities, attributes, and behaviours of one of the yuwipi man's most powerful spirit helpers.

The yuwipi man draws a face in the mole earth representing the patient's face. He draws an 'X' under the chin to represent the Four Winds. Left of the face he draws the symbol for a pipe. Directly over the face he makes three indentations representing Morning Star, the Sun and the Moon. Tobacco and gourd rattles are placed around the makakagapi. The sounds of the rattles will be produced by the spirits when they arrive and will sound like thunder. Evil spirits cannot tolerate such sound and will hastily leave the room upon sound of it. These sounds are the sounds of the Thunder Beings - the spirits of thunder and lightning who live in the west. Though noisy and raucous they are beneficent beings who rid the earth of evil and filth through their cleansing rains.

The spirits of the universe are believed to like the aroma of sage and so sage is placed around and inside the hocoka as well as around the room. Each adept in the room is handed a sprig and he or she places it behind the right ear to identify him or herself as a believer to the spirits. The spirits have a reputation not only for curing but also for injuring people, so everyone takes care not to offend the spirits in any way. Finally the people are smudged with the sacred scent of sweet grass.

The yuwipi man brings forth the sacred pipe bag and places it on a bed of sage. 'Red willow' tobacco (cansasa) is brought forth. A folded star quilt lies nearby. Now it is time to fill the pipe and start the yuwipi. "Sacred time" (Powers 1982:60) has arrived.

The yuwipi man fills the pipe, and pointing it in the appropriate direction he prays to each one of the sacred powers of the Oglala universe saying: "I pray to them with this pipe so that I may gain knowledge" (Powers 1982:61).

He prays:

"To Wakinyan Oyate, the Thunder-Beings, who live in the west and who cleanse the earth of evil and sickness...To Tatanka Oyate, the Buffalo nation, who live in the north, in the place of the pines, and of life, and breath, so that they may come to look upon us favourably...To Anpo Wicahpi, the Morning Star; Hanhepi Wi, the Moon; and Anpetu Wi, the Sun, who come from the east and who change the darkness of winter into light...To Wamakaskan, the Animals, who come from the south and travel about the earth with the power to cure sickness...To the Above, where somewhere between the sky and the earth, my animal helpers will come to aid me...To Pejuta, Medicine; Inyan, Rock; Can, Wood; and Wowasake Iyuha, All Powers, who live in the earth and give us the power to heal...To Wanbli Gleska, the Spotted Eagle, who is chief of Zintkala Oyate, the Bird Nation, who flies the highest of all the birds, and who carries our prayers to Wakantanka" (Powers 1982:61-62).

He continues to pray inaudibly whilst the singers begin to beat their drums and sing the words of a song that the spirits themselves taught the yuwipi man in a vision. Whilst they sing the yuwipi man places a sprig of sage in the pipe. The pipe now contains all the powers of the universe: the Four Winds, the Above, the Earth and the Spotted Eagle. So now the 'vision talk' (hanbloglaka) can begin.

The vision talk is a reinstatement of the yuwipi man's original vision which gave him the powers of a sacred person. After this he addresses the problems of the patient and presents them to Wakantanka, asking Wakantanka for his help and guidance. The yuwipi man prays for all those people present at the yuwipi ritual and all those not present. He ends each prayer with: "We offer you this pipe so that we may gain knowledge" (Powers 1982:66).

It is time to call upon the spirits. The yuwipi man's helpers get up, rub their hands with sage in an act of purification and tie up the yuwipi man securely and from head to foot in the star quilt. At each half-hitch is inserted a sprig of sage. He is then lifted and placed face down on the large bed of sage with his head facing west. It is time for the singers to begin the song that will invite the spirits into the meeting: "In the west, I call a black stone friend...In the north, I call a red stone friend...In the east, I call a yellow stone friend...In the south, I call a white stone friend...On earth, I call a Spider friend...Above, I call a Spotted Eagle friend" (Powers 1982:69-70). Once again these are sacred songs that have been taught to the yuwipi man in his visions.

More songs are sung and a cacophony of rattles ensues. Presently, in the darkness of the room, tiny sparks appear from the rattles as they hit the floor. These sparks notify the people in the room that the spirits have arrived at the yuwipi meeting. Silence descends. The yuwipi man begins communicating with the spirits and only he can see and hear them. He interprets to the people what the spirits are saying as it is his duty to do so. During this communication the spirit helpers advise him on an appropriate cure for the patient.

The singers sing, asking Tunkasila to pray for them all. Now it is time for the curing ritual to begin. The patient is ordered to stand up, grab a flag and turn to face the wall. The singers sing lively songs and the rattles (representing the spirits) join in. The rattles approach the patient and 'dance' and dart about his or her feet and head before beginning to touch him or her all over his or her body. The patient will then smell sweet grass, the aroma of the spirits, or the patient may feel a wind fanning his or her face. "Once the contact has been made, the spirits return to their violent dancing" (Powers 1982:80), clattering all around the room until the song closes. Then the patient is ordered to resume his or her seat.

As the rattles dance they emit sparks. They dance around the tobacco offerings accepting these gifts as they prepare to leave the meeting and return to their homes. One by one they take the tobacco and leave. The singing ends, the rattles have stopped their clatter and the lights are turned on to reveal a chaotic alter strewn with mole earth, sage, tobacco and so forth, "as if the spirits had gleefully overturned the sacred space, trampling on hallowed relics, disrupting the very aura that had been so carefully constructed for their edification" (Powers 1982:81).

The lights also reveal that the yuwipi man is no longer tied up and instead the quilt and thong lies neatly folded by his side. The pipe is lit, smoked and passed around with a "Mitakoyasin" ('All my relations') from the smoker and a response of "Hau" by everyone else.

The ceremony has ended and everything is put away. The ball of tobacco offerings is given to the patient "with instructions to keep it for good luck. The tobacco offerings represented all the living species that associate with mankind, and they were still sacred even though their essence had been taken away to be smoked by the spirit helpers" (Powers 1982:82).

Notes::

• 1 - William K. Powers. Yuwipi: Vision and Experience in Oglala Ritual. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982.