36th Annual Tiospaye Sun Dance

My name is Loretta Afraid of Bear Cook. I am Oglala Lakota originally from the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. My husband, Tom Cook, is Wolf Clan of the Akwesasne Mohawk nation. Together, we have dedicated our lives to practicing our native ways and ensuring that these ways are not lost to future generations.

From June 17th to 21st, our Afraid of Bear and American Horse Tiospaye (extended family) will host our 36th annual Sun Dance in Paha Sapa, the sacred Black Hills. We welcome our dancers plus supporters, drummers, singers, and firekeepers from the four directions to join us in this most sacred of our seven Lakota ceremonies.

For 95 years, the Sun Dance was made illegal by the U.S. government to encourage “assimilation.” During this time, our people were left with no option but to pray in our homes at night, or in faraway places like the Badlands, to evade persecution. When our rights were restored by the Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, our Tiospaye elders decided we would hold a Sun Dance every year. We are now in our fourth decade of sponsoring Sun Dance.

We are trying to raise $15,000 towards the $80,000 cost of the annual Sun Dance. Your help allows us to feed our supporters and volunteers over the five days, provide travel stipends to all who need it, and provide honorariums to the elders and ceremony leaders who guide our dancers and our youth.

For all of our community, the Sun Dance represents a time of renewal. It’s a place to gather positive energy, send prayers, and continue the traditions of our ancestors that were almost lost when three generations were prohibited from dancing. We hope to continue dancing for many years to come, so that our children and their children may know the ways of the Lakota.

Our Elders, who taught me to speak Lakota and to perform ceremony, tell us not to pray for money. We pray for Big Help.

Wopila, thank you, for your Big Help.

Loretta Afraid of Bear - Cook

www.Tiospaye1847.org