Ghosts of Autumn

My father told me stories of seeing the ghosts of Indian Pow-wows in autumn. He could see the smoky shadows of teepees of the Kaposia campsite along the Mississippi. My father was born in 1906, and perhaps he did have some faint childhood recollections. Fall seems to give rise to these images and the passing of a way of life.


"In 1889 after much wrangling and questionable promises by the government, vast areas of the Sioux Reservation were signed away. A move bitterly opposed by Sitting Bull. The Lakota political organization was shattered and their religious ceremonies were suppressed. The Hunting economy was abolished, and even their children taken away to distant schools.
Thus all old values became meaningless, the conditions for self-fullfulment and attainment no longer existed. The Lakota had reached an 'anomic' state."

- Smithsonian Institute






Lakota Shamans perform a ceremony about "The white Buffalo Maiden"