Description
Mni Sota (Minnesota) is centered as the birthplace for the Dakota, with Bdote (where the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers meet) and Bde Wakan (Spirit Lake, now also known as Lake Mille Lacs) highlighted in Dakota creation stories. The Dakota are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultures of the Sioux people, and are typically divided into the Eastern Dakota and the Western Dakota. The Dakota are the keepers of the eastern door to the greater D/L/Nakota Nation. The Dakota are comprised of four bands; Mdewakanton, Sissetonwan, Wahpetonwan, and Wahpekute. Located in Minnesota and western Wisconsin, the Dakota have lived for countless generations along the wooded shores of the region’s lakes and rivers. The story of survival is highlighted within the US-Dakota War of 1862. Dakota people survived extermination policies following the war; though some were able to stay in their homelands of the Mni Sota region, most were forced out of the state.
Language
The Dakota language, also referred to as Dakhota, is a Siouan language spoken by the Dakota people of the Ochethi Sakowi?, commonly known in English as the Sioux.
Culture
In Dakota society women have always held an essential role. They gathered wood, processed hides, farmed, made clothes, and were the central keepers of the home. Men hunted and fished to provide game for the entire village, while also securing community safety. Men hunted and fished to provide game for the entire village, while also securing community safety. In the spring, men left on hunting parties while women, children, and the elderly moved into sugaring camps to make maple sugar and syrup. During the summer months families gathered in villages to hunt and fish. They processed the game and harvested traditional medicines and indigenous plants, as well crops such as corn, squash, and beans. They also gathered wild rice along the vast lakes throughout Mni Sota. Dakota kinship created an extensive social and communal structure that extended across the Dakota nation, ensuring that no matter the village or community visited, a Dakota would likely find a relative.