Yuwipi is a Lakota ceremony that’s performed when a person “wants to find something—something that can be touched, or something that exists only in the mind.” In her memoir, Mary explains that people may request a yuwipi ceremony to heal an illness or to find a loved one who is missing. The medicine man who leads the ceremony is called a yuwipi man, and he acts as a medium between living people and the spirits of the dead.
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Yuwipi Term Timeline in Lakota Woman
The timeline below shows where the term Yuwipi appears in Lakota Woman. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7: Crying for a Dream
...Leonard Crow Dog. Leonard is a peyote priest, as well as a Sun Dancer, a yuwipi, and a Lakota medicine man. While some people criticize him for practicing so many different...
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Chapter 10: The Ghosts Return
In addition to the occasional peyote or yuwipi ceremonies, the sweat lodges were operating daily. After one evening sweat, federal officers started firing...
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Chapter 14: Cante Ishta—The Eye of the Heart
Leonard also leads yuwipi ceremonies. During a yuwipi ceremony, a medicine man acts as a moderator between spirits and...
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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...
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The yuwipi man is then bound in a blanket and placed face-down onto the floor. The lamps...
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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...
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