The Dakota & Lakota People

The Dakota and Lakota people lived in large buffalo-hide tents called tipis (or teepees). Tipis were carefully designed to set up and break down quickly. An entire Sioux village could be packed up and ready to move within an hour. Originally tipis were only about 12 feet high, but after the Sioux acquired horses, they began building them twice that size. Here are some pictures of tipis and other Indian houses. Today, Native Americans only put up a tepee for fun or to connect with their heritage. Most Sioux families live in modern houses and apartment buildings, just like you. http://www.bigorrin.org/sioux_kids.htm The Lakota, members of the family of the Great Sioux Nation of North America, have a very rich spirituality and a deep respect for all life, visible and invisible. The word Lakota means "considered friends", or "alliance of friends". http://lakotabeliefs.tripod.com/

The original Lakota/Dakota homelands were in what is now Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North and South Dakota. The Sioux traveled freely, however, and there was also significant Sioux presence in the modern states of Iowa, Nebraska, Montana, and northern Illinois, and in south-central Canada. Today, most Sioux people live in the Dakotas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Saskatchewan. http://www.bigorrin.org/sioux_kids.htm There are Four branches to the Sioux Tribe:
The Teton (native name; Lakota) is the oldest Ancestral branch and includes; Ogalala, Brule (sicangu), Hunkpapa, Miniconjou, Oohenonpa, Itazipco (Sans Arcs), and Sihasapa. http://www.prairieedge.com/ Clothing is made beautiful with bead work and designs meant to honor the spirit world. Traditionally they were made of buckskin and elk skins. Women wore dresses and leggings and men wore shirts and breechcloths. In cold weather, they wore buffalo robes. Infants were placed in cradleboards for protection http://www.ic.arizona.edu/ic/kmartin/School/lakota12.htm

Originally the Lakota and