Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Lakota Woman, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Activism and Resistance
Assimilation, Tradition, and Identity
Unity, Inclusion, and Equality
Racism and Sexism
Summary
Analysis
Medicine men say that the meaning behind Native American religions is to see and interpret the world through “the eye in one’s heart.” After marrying Leonard, Mary learned how to do just this. Even though she would occasionally fight with Leonard, Mary always respected his “raw power, spiritual Indian power coming from deep within.” She adds that, as he had never gone to school—Henry Crow Dog chased the school officers away when they tried to take Leonard—his thinking was largely untouched by white society’s way of thinking.
Regardless of their fights, Mary deeply respects Leonard for his religious power and wisdom and for his role as a spiritual leader—for AIM and for her. Mary’s respect for him reveals how important it is to her to learn more about Lakota and indigenous religious traditions. She credits his “raw […] spiritual Indian power” to his never having attended a white school, which suggests that, had Leonard attended a white school, the forced assimilation would have mitigated his spirituality and original thinking. In this way, Mary depicts assimilation to white society as a negative force, one that destroys indigenous cultures and traditions. Mary also shows how Henry Crow Dog’s resistance to the school officers—who tried to take Leonard to school—allowed Leonard to grow up with fewer white-society influences, which in turn made it possible for him to be such an important spiritual leader.
Themes
At first, Mary’s new role as a medicine man’s wife intimidated her, especially as she was unsure whether women participated in ceremonies. To reassure her, Leonard told Mary about how he was trained by an exceptional medicine woman named Bessie Good Road.
Mary’s insecurities regarding her role appear to come from her uncertainty about the role of women in indigenous religious ceremonies. Her doubt could be because, in her experience, women are not offered the same amount of respect or freedom as men. But Leonard reassured her that, within indigenous religious ceremonies, women can indeed have important positions. He cited Bessie Good Road as an example—he actually took direction from her, and not the other way around. The implication is that, in some indigenous religious ceremonies, women are treated with more respect and equality than they receive in the modern settings that Mary has illustrated, from the groups of youths she roamed with (in which men acted entitled to women’s bodies) to the doctors who violated Barbara’s and Mary’s mother’s reproductive rights by sterilizing them.
Themes
Leonard taught Mary how to listen to the world around her and find meaning in the sounds of plants, animals, and all natural things. He taught her the necessity of finding harmony and balance between one’s self and one’s environment.
Mary reveals that Leonard’s firm belief in the importance of coexistence and unity come from his religious beliefs. In this way, Mary shows how traditional Lakota beliefs are central to Leonard’s political activism and identity.
Themes
Mary goes on to say that she had to learn about sweat baths, which is a ceremonial purification that takes place before other ceremonies. It takes place in a lodge made of willow sticks; in the center of the lodge is a pit, into which hot rocks are placed. The rocks are heated in a fire that is outside the lodge and then passed into the lodge. Once the rocks are in the lodge and the entrance flap is closed, the leader pours cold water onto the rocks, which causes the steam. During a sweat, the participants are naked and often separated by gender (although that is not always the case for every tribe). Everyone has the opportunity to pray during the ceremony.
Mary hints that she had a lot to learn—for example, she had to learn about the ceremony that precedes all other ceremonies: the sweat bath. Because her mother and grandmother wanted Mary to assimilate to white society, they did not teach her traditional Lakota religious ceremonies. Her detailed description of the sweat ceremonies speaks to her dedication to learning more about her Lakota heritage. In describing the sweat ceremony, Mary shows how, while some tribes do separate the participants by gender, everyone still has the opportunity to take part in the ceremony by praying. This suggests that, while there are specific gender roles in Lakota culture, there are some aspects of equality between men and women in Lakota religion.
Themes
Get the entire Lakota Woman LitChart as a printable PDF.
Sweat ceremonies can get extremely hot. The first time Mary participated in a sweat, the heat was so intense that she felt unable to breathe. But after a moment, she felt the soothing force of the heat. After the sweat, she felt her skin and mind were open and that her body was “drunk with the spirit.”
Mary describes how the sweat ceremony helped her feel more connected to her Lakota identity. Not only did she find the ceremony calming, but she also felt as though her mind was more open to “the spirit” afterwards. In other words, the ceremony helped her get in touch with Lakota spirituality.
Themes
Mary goes on to tell several comedic stories about various sweat ceremonies that she or Leonard has been a part of. Once, when visiting L.A., Mary participated in a local sweat in the desert. During the ceremony, the leaders put so many rocks in that she quickly realized that “these people don’t sweat to purify themselves. They sweat to suffer.” Another time, Leonard hosted a sweat for some Native Americans on the east coast. The participants were so shocked by the heat that they raced out of the lodge at the beginning of the ceremony. Leonard laughed it off, saying that “they just don’t understand Indian ways. They have to be taught.”
In the first anecdote, Mary shows how, while multiple tribes use the sweat ceremony for religious purposes, they perform it differently. For example, in L.A., Mary thought that the ceremony took on a more masochistic meaning than one of purification. During the east coast sweat that Leonard performed, it appears that the participants were not accustomed to sweats, potentially because their tribes did not traditionally perform sweat ceremonies or because their tribes had been forced to assimilate to white society and lost their religious traditions. Either way, the book suggests that they had sought out Leonard to perform a sweat ceremony, likely with the goal of feeling reconnected with their indigenous culture. But the anecdote shows that learning how to embrace indigenous religious traditions takes time—as Leonard said, the participants in the east coast sweat “have to be taught” before they will truly appreciate the ceremony.
Themes
Leonard also leads yuwipi ceremonies. During a yuwipi ceremony, a medicine man acts as a moderator between spirits and living people. During the ceremony, people are able to pose questions to the spirits, who answer through the leader of the ceremony. Mary had never been to a yuwipi ceremony prior to meeting Leonard—she was scared before her first one, and she describes her behavior as “reacting like a white woman.”
Mary admits that she also didn’t always react well to traditional Lakota ceremonies. She even says that she was “reacting like a white woman,” which calls to mind how she had been raised to assimilate to white society, so that, as an adult, Lakota ceremonies felt foreign, or even frightening. The book hints that she finds this behavior regrettable, suggesting that she wishes that white society had not forced so many Lakota like herself to abandon their culture.
Themes
Mary describes the various parts that go into a yuwipi ceremony. A dog-meat feast is traditional. Women make 405 tobacco bundles by using colored cloth and tobacco. A room is prepared for the ceremony by installing blankets over windows and removing any item that reflects light. After covering the floor with sage, the tobacco ties are placed in a square, into which only the yuwipi man can step. At the top of the square is a large can of earth into which a sacred staff is placed. A buffalo skull serves as an altar, against which rests the sacred pipe. Three rattles are used to communicate the voices of the spirits.
Again, Mary’s detailed description of a Lakota ceremony—this time, the yuwipi ceremony—reveals her dedication to learning more about her Lakota heritage.
Themes
The yuwipi man is then bound in a blanket and placed face-down onto the floor. The lamps are extinguished, plunging the participants into total darkness. Singers and drummers begin to perform yuwipi songs. Mary then describes her first yuwipi meeting, during which she could hear the spirits’ voices as the rattles flew through the air and sparks of light flashed through the air. When the lamp was relit, Leonard was already unbound. He then relayed the messages of the spirits, after which the feast took place.
Mary describes the yuwipi ceremony as a ritual in which people can communicate with the dead. This sought-after connection reflects a desire for unity, one in which people can communicate with the spirit world to better understand something happening in the world of the living.
Themes
Mary interjects to add that white missionaries have always dismissed yuwipi ceremonies as “hocus-pocus.” Once, during the mid-20th century, government agents tried to “expose” a medicine man by the name of Horn Chips as a charlatan by having him perform the ceremony in front of them. To their chagrin, the mysterious sparks and flying rattles took place nonetheless, which encouraged many of the watching Lakota to return to their Lakota religion.
Mary describes a failed attempt of white missionaries trying to coerce Lakota into assimilating to Christianity. The attempt backfired, as the missionaries only gave Horn Chips a chance to prove to many people that yuwipi ceremonies are real encounters with spirits. The fact that many Lakota reconverted to their traditional religion upon seeing the ceremony suggests that they felt more at peace when embracing their cultural traditions.
Themes
In May 1974, Leonard and his father hosted another Ghost Dance, his second Ghost Dance after the siege of Wounded Knee. Although originally intended to be for Lakota only, many indigenous people from across the continent arrived to participate in the ceremony. Additionally, several government agents also tried to secretly observe the ceremony before the participating dancers forced them away, even arresting two meddling FBI agents. Despite these disturbances, the dance was successful—a shockingly large number of eagles (which are sacred birds to the Lakota) flew over the dancers.
The fact that many non-Lakota indigenous people participated shows how strongly they wanted to learn about and participate in indigenous customs. Even if the ceremony wasn’t one that their tribe would have traditionally performed, Mary suggests that participating was a way to engage with their indigenous identity. At this same event, government agents tried to spy on the dancers, which shows the governmental animosity toward indigenous cultures and religions.
Themes
Mary interrupts her story to add that the Crow Dogs still feel weighted by the first Crow Dog chief’s killing of Spotted Tail, even though the event happened about a hundred years ago. At last, in 1989, the Crow Dog and Spotted Tail families had a ceremony to officially recognize the end to their feud.
This anecdote speaks to how connected the Crow Dogs are to their heritage—they still carry the guilt of their ancestor. Mary has already described how the Crow Dog clan carries on the first Crow Dog’s spirit of resistance by isolating themselves from white society and maintaining traditional Lakota customs—their decision to have a ceremony to recognize the end to their feud with the clan of Spotted Tail only emphasizes how they deliberately recognize their ancestry.
Themes
