Wakpala, My Father's Homeland on Standing Rock

· Reflection

Wakpala is where my father was born and lived his early life. Wakpala, on the Standing Rock, and White Swan on the Ihanktowan Nation, one or the other, and a couple of times, included both homelands, in Summer Pilgrimages back home. As well, on my Mother's side, we also had regular Chickasaw Family Reunions in Oklahoma and beyond. Great relatives, great people!

Two men in feathered regalia with bustles lead a grand entry at a powwow, followed by flag bearers carrying the U.S. flag and other flags.

An elder in a full eagle-feather headdress and patterned ribbon shirt dances alongside girls in jingle dresses, one wearing a Miss Wakpala sash.

Close-up of an elder in a full feather headdress with colorful ribbons, wearing a patterned shirt and holding a red blanket.

Black-and-white view of an elder in a headdress leading young dancers and royalty in jingle dresses past a stand reading 57th Annual Wakpala Wacipi.

An elder dancer with a porcupine roach, glasses and fringed blue regalia carries an eagle feather fan, wearing a Wakpala Wacipi contest number.

A line of women and girls in colorful jingle and traditional dresses stands on the powwow grounds beneath flags and a cloudy sky.

A young woman fancy shawl dancer in purple with bright red, green and yellow fringe spins near a flag-draped pole.

Two elders stand together by an SUV, one in a red Wakpala Youth Water Protectors T-shirt, the other in a patterned ribbon shirt.