Story Provided by William Purcell www.lakotawritings.com

A group of warriors mounted on their ponies enter the village. They scatter a pack of dogs in all directions as they thunder along the line of tipis whooping and shouting as they urge everyone to gather outside. Men, women, and children leave their lodges and quickly make their way to the edge of the village. There we wait silently, hoping to be the first to spot the Wicasa Wakan (holy men), and the others chosen by our chief, to appear before us. For to them fell the duty of carrying back to the village the central pole that will become, during the duration of the Sun Dance, the center of our world. They have been gone many days and nights in their search for this most sacred symbol. And now to everyone’s great joy and excitement the pole has been found! Story Continues