The Yuwipi Cult of the Oglala and Sicangu Teton Sioux

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The Yuwipi Cult of the Teton Sioux falls into the category of the Plains darkened room or darkened tent ceremonies involving monsters, usually diminutive. This type of ceremony with the tieing and subsequent freeing of the shaman by his personal spirits is old on the Plains but is also a circumpolar complex. A Woodland past, with some elements surviving from the even earlier southeastern home, is evident in various practices and artifacts connected with the cult. The author takes issue with a previous statement that Yuwipi is like the Peyote cult marginal to the Teton religion. Rather, Yuwipi embodies all the basic elements of Teton cultism while peyotism lacks many of these. A specific Yuwipi meeting is described in detail the preliminary arrangments with the shaman, sweat bath procedures, food preparation for the ceremony, preparation of the meeting room, as well as the altar and sacred area, scarification of volunteers, and finally the lightsout sessions of the Yuwipi ceremony. It is concluded that, despite rrany stories of trickery common throughout the Sioux country, Yuwipi devotees continue to believe in the power of the Yuwipi men.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: