On the last day of the ceremony, the girls, one at a time, go into the teepee with their mother or their auntie who bathes them and dresses them and does their hair. One of the grandmothers makes each girl a special dress. They are being treated as babies for the last time in their lives. They are not allowed to touch food or feed themselves for four days they are fed and given water by their mother or other women at the ceremony. The girls learn to set up their own teepee, collect traditional herbs and flowers used for remedies.
The Braveheart Women’s Society, a group of Yankton Sioux grandmothers and tribal elders, have re-established an almost forgotten coming of age ritual for young girls-the Isnati, a four day traditional ceremony on the banks of the Missouri River in South Dakota. To stay up to date on the stories that matter. The Society celebrated their 25th anniversary with a visit from long-time sponsor and friend, Billy Mills, and decorated their Lodge with a brilliant outdoors mural depicting an enormous thunderbird, a herd of buffalo led by their matriarch, and a running river.WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Today the Brave Heart Society hosts Dakota language nests, the Waterlily Storytelling Institute, a 3-acre community garden, and an intertribal lacrosse team in addition to coming-of-age ceremonies and retreats available to both young women and young men.
Initially the Society formed in 1994 to revive the near-extinct historic rites of passage for young Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota women called Isnati Awica Dowanpi. Spotted Eagle is one of the original founders of the Society alongside a larger group of grandmothers referred to as the Unci Circle.īilly Mills and Spotted Eagle have worked together for several decades in the advancement and defense of indigenous rights and ways of life. “In a way, we are doing the same thing today with the modern day Brave Hearts – bringing our people back from emotional death,” says Faith Spotted Eagle. The Brave Hearts historically were the women to retrieve the dead and wounded from the battlefield and help the families.
Located in Lake Andes, SD, the Brave Heart Society has been one of Running Strong’s longest partnerships – dating back to 1994 when the Society was still the Yankton Sioux Women’s Society. December 16th, 2019 marked the Brave Heart Society’s 25th anniversary.
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