Being Dakota: Tales and Traditions of the Sisseton and Wahpeton

At the beginning of the twentieth century, a few members of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota community in northeastern South Dakota worked quietly to preserve the customs and stories of their ancestors in the face of federal government suppression and the opposition of organised religion. Oneroad and Skinner collected descriptions of everyday life, including material culture, tribal organisation, and ceremonies that marked the individual’s passage from birth to death. Several of the folk tales relate the exploits of Iktomi, the trickster, in rare, early, unexpurgated versions. Others tell of adventures of such figures as the Child of Love, Star Born, and the Mysterious Turtle.