Editing Sioux (section)

==== Religion ====
{{see also|Lakota mythology|List of Lakota deities|Wocekiye|Sun Dance|Ghost Dance}}
[[File:Blackhawk-spiritbeing.jpg|thumb|right|[[Ledger art]]work by [[Lakota people|Lakota]] artist [[Black Hawk (artist)|Black Hawk]] representing a [[Heyoka|heyókȟa]], (dreamer of a [[Wakíŋyaŋ]], thunder being), c.1880]]
The traditional social system extended beyond human interaction into the [[supernatural]] realms.<ref name="Ruml 2010">{{cite journal | last=Ruml | first=Mark | title=Mitákuye Owás'į (All My Relatives): Dakota Wiconi (Way of Life) and Wicozani Waste (Well-Being) | journal=Aboriginal Policy Research| publisher=Thompson Educational Publishing | volume=6 | issue=3–4 | year=2010 | pages=187–202}}</ref> It is believed that [[Wakan Tanka|''Wakȟáŋ Tháŋka'']] ({{Gloss|Great Spirit/Great Mystery}}) created the universe and embodies everything in the universe as one.<ref name="Neihardt 1984"/> The preeminent symbol of Sioux religion is the [[medicine wheel|''Čhaŋgléska Wakȟaŋ'']] or medicine wheel ({{Gloss|sacred hoop}}), which visually represents the concept that everything in the universe is intertwined.<ref name="Elk 1953"/> The creation stories of the {{Lang|dak|Očhéthi Šakówiŋ}} describe how the [[List of Lakota deities|various spirits]] were formed from {{Lang|dak|Wakȟáŋ Tháŋka}}.<ref name="Dooling 2000">{{cite book | last=Dooling | first=D. M. | title=The sons of the wind: the sacred stories of the Lakota | publisher=University of Oklahoma Press | location=Norman | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-8061-3224-2 | oclc=42708159}}</ref> [[Black Elk]] describes the relationships with {{Lang|dak|Wakȟáŋ Tháŋka}} as:
{{blockquote|"We should understand well that all things are the works of the Great Spirit. We should know that He is within all things: the trees, the grasses, the rivers, the mountains, and all the four-legged animals, and the winged peoples; and even more important, we should understand that He is also above all these things and peoples. When we do understand all this deeply in our hearts, then we will fear, and love, and know the Great Spirit, and then we will be and act and live as He intends".<ref name="Elk 1953">{{cite book | last=Elk | first=Black | title=The sacred pipe: Black Elk's account of the seven rites of the Oglala Sioux | publisher=University of Oklahoma Press | location=Norman | year=1953 | isbn=978-0-8061-2124-6 | oclc=772729}}</ref>}}

Prayer is believed to invoke relationships with one's ancestors or spiritual world.<ref name="Deloria 1998"/> The Lakota word for {{Gloss|prayer}}, [[Wocekiye|''wočhékiye'']], means {{Gloss|to call on for aid, to pray, to claim relationship with}}.<ref name="Neihardt 1984"/> Their primary cultural prophet is Ptesáŋwiŋ, [[White Buffalo Calf Woman]], who came as an intermediary between {{Lang|dak|Wakȟáŋ Tháŋka}} Tȟáŋka and humankind to teach them how to be good relatives by introducing the Seven Sacred Rites and the [[Chanunpa|''čhaŋnúŋpa'']] ([[ceremonial pipe|sacred pipe]]).<ref name="Elk 1953"/> The seven ceremonies are [[Inipi|''Inípi'']] (purification lodge), {{Lang|dak|Haŋbléčheyapi}} ([[Vision quest|crying for vision]]), {{Lang|dak|Wiwáŋyaŋg Wačhípi}} ([[Sun Dance]]), {{Lang|dak|Huŋkalowaŋpi}} (making of relatives), {{Lang|dak|Išnáthi Awíčhalowaŋpi}} (female puberty ceremony), {{Lang|dak|Tȟápa Waŋkáyeyapi}} (throwing of the ball) and {{Lang|dak|Wanáǧi Yuhápi}} (soul keeping).<ref name="Elk 1953"/> Each part of the sacred pipe (stem, bowl, tobacco, breath, and smoke) is symbolic of the relationships of the natural world, the elements, humans and the spiritual beings that maintain the cycle of the universe.<ref name="The Pluralism Project">{{cite web | title=Sacred Pipe of the Lakota Sioux | website=The Pluralism Project | url=https://pluralism.org/sacred-pipe-of-the-lakota-sioux | access-date=June 20, 2020 | archive-date=June 22, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622081039/https://pluralism.org/sacred-pipe-of-the-lakota-sioux | url-status=live }}</ref>

Dreams can also be a means of establishing relationships with spirits and are important to the {{Lang|dak|Očhéthi Šakówiŋ}}.<ref name="Ruml 2010"/> One can gain supernatural powers through dreams. Dreaming of the [[Wakíŋyaŋ]] (thunder beings) is believed to involuntarily make someone a [[Heyoka|''Heyókȟa'']], a sacred clown.<ref name="heyoka">{{cite journal | last=Lewis | first=Thomas H | title=The Heyoka Cult in Historical and Contemporary Oglala Sioux Society | journal=Anthropos | publisher=JSTOR | volume=69 | issue=1/2 | year=1974 | pages=17–32 | jstor=40458509}}</ref> [[Black Elk]], a famous {{Lang|dak|Heyókȟa}} said: "Only those who have had visions of the thunder beings of the west can act as heyokas. They have sacred power and they share some of this with all the people, but they do it through funny actions".<ref name="ElkNeihardt2008">{{cite book|author1=Black Elk|author2=John G. Neihardt|title=Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, the Premier Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7p9VqRLiKqcC&pg=PA149|date=16 October 2008|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-1-4384-2540-5|pages=149–|access-date=June 20, 2020|archive-date=March 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319061526/https://books.google.com/books?id=7p9VqRLiKqcC&pg=PA149|url-status=live}}</ref>