Subcategories

Lakota Sites

3 of 427 entries in Sacred Sites. Click any to see everything it connects to.

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "Lakota Sites." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/subcategories/sacredsite/lakota-sites.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). Lakota Sites. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/subcategories/sacredsite/lakota-sites

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-lakota-sites,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {Lakota Sites},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/subcategories/sacredsite/lakota-sites},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Sacred lands of the Lakota and other Plains nations, among them He Sapa (the Black Hills), Mato Paha (Bear Butte) and Mato Tipila (Devils Tower). They remain places of prayer and ceremony for those peoples.

Facts

Overview

What Defines This Grouping

Named landscape features of the northern Plains - buttes, hills and the Black Hills as a whole - used for prayer and for fasting. They are places rather than structures, and nearly all of them stand on land taken from the nations that use them and now held by federal or state agencies. 2

Peoples and Traditions Covered

Northern Plains sacred places are typically held in common. The same butte is sacred, under different names, to several nations at once, so grouping a site under one people's name records one custodian among several rather than an exclusive claim. 3

Contested Use

Contested or Appropriated Modern Usethe subject's own account

The Declaration of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality, adopted at Lakota Summit V in June 1993, objects by name to the conduct and sale of Lakota ceremony by people without standing. It is a standing objection and it covers what is done at these places. 4

Learn More

Lakota sacred sites

This group holds sacred sites of the Lakota people of the North American plains, places bound to their spiritual life and ceremony, including the sacred hills and landscapes central to their tradition and history. These are sites of a living culture.

The browser will find the places the atlas gathers. The entries describe each with respect for Lakota tradition, noting the continuing religious and cultural importance of these sites.

Cross-Tradition Connections