The Sicangu are one of the seven ''oyates'', nations or council fires, of

Lakota people The Lakota (; or ) are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people. Also known as the Teton Sioux (from ), they are one of the three prominent subcultures of the Sioux people, with the Eastern Dakota (Santee) and Western D ...

, an Indigenous people of the Northern Plains. Today, many Sicangu people are enrolled citizens of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of the Rosebud Indian Reservation and Lower Brule Sioux Tribe of the Lower Brule Reservation in

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

Distribution

Many Sičhą́ǧu people live on the

Rosebud Indian Reservation The Rosebud Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in South Dakota, United States. It is the home of the federally recognized Rosebud Sioux Tribe, who are Sicangu, a band of Lakota people. The Lakota name ''Sicangu Oyate'' translates as th ...

in southwestern South Dakota and are enrolled in the

federally recognized This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes are legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United States.

Rosebud Sioux Tribe, also known in Lakȟóta as the ''Sičhą́ǧu Oyáte.'' A smaller population lives on the Lower Brule Indian Reservation, on the west bank of the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

in central South Dakota, and on the

Pine Ridge Indian Reservation The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (), also called Pine Ridge Agency, is an Oglala Lakota Indian reservation located in the U.S. state of South Dakota, with a small portion extending into Nebraska. Originally included within the territory of the ...

, also in South Dakota, directly west of the

. The different

federally recognized tribe A federally recognized tribe is a Native American tribe recognized by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs as holding a government-to-government relationship with the US federal government. In the United States, the Native American tribe ...

s are politically independent of each other.

Name

The Sicangu Lakota are known as Sičhą́ǧu Oyáte in Lakȟóta, which translates to "Burnt Thighs Nation". Learning the meaning of their name, the French called them the ''Brûlé'', also Brulé, meaning "burnt". The name may have derived from an incident where they were fleeing through a grass fire on the plains. The term "Sičhą́ǧu" appears on pages 3 to 14 of ''Beginning Lakhóta''.

"Ká Lakȟóta kį líla hą́ske. 'That Indian (over yonder) is very tall.'"
"Hą, hé Sičhą́ǧú. 'Yes, that's a Rosebud Sioux.'"

It appears to be a compound word of the Thítȟųwą Lakȟóta dialect, meaning "burned thigh".

Historic Sicangu Thiyóšpaye or bands

Together with the

Oglála Lakȟóta The Oglala (pronounced , meaning 'to scatter one's own' in Lakota) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota, make up the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A majority of the Oglala live on the Pi ...

, who are mostly based at the

, they are often called ''Southern Lakȟóta''. They were divided in three great regional tribal divisions: * Lower Brulé (''Khúl Wičháša Oyáte'', "Lowland People", lived along the White River to its mouth at the

(Mnišóše) as well in the Missouri River Valley in South Dakota; some ventured south to the

Niobrara River The Niobrara River (; , , literally "water spread-out horizontal-the" or "The Wide-Spreading Water") is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. Many early settlers, such as Mari Sandoz, referred to the rive ...

). * Upper Brulé (''Ȟeyáta Wičháša Oyáte'' - ″Highland People″, ventured further south and west onto the Plains along the

Platte River The Platte River () is a major American river, in the state of Nebraska. It is about long; measured to its farthest source via its tributary, the North Platte River, it flows for over . The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, w ...

between the North and South Platte River in Nebraska in the search for buffalo. The allied

Southern Cheyenne The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes are a united, federally recognized tribe of Southern Arapaho and Southern Cheyenne people in western Oklahoma. History The Cheyennes and Arapahos are two distinct tribes with distinct histories. The Cheyenne (Ts ...

and

Southern Arapaho The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes are a united, federally recognized tribe of Southern Arapaho and Southern Cheyenne people in western Oklahoma. History The Cheyennes and Arapahos are two distinct tribes with distinct histories. The Cheyenne (Ts ...

welcomed them as strong allies to this lands which they had further claimed, along the

Loup River The Loup River (pronounced /lup/) is a tributary of the Platte River, approximately long, in central Nebraska in the United States. The river drains a sparsely populated rural agricultural area on the eastern edge of the Great Plains southeast ...

- the former center of the

Skidi Pawnee The Skidi is one of four bands of Pawnee people, a central Plains tribe. They lived on the Central Plains of Nebraska and Kansas for most of the millennium prior to European contact. The Skidi, also known as the Wolf band lived in the northern pa ...

. They went south to plunder enemy Pawnee and Arikara camps, and were therefore also known as: ''Kheyatawhichasha'' - ″People away from the (Missouri) River″) * (Upper) Brulé of the Platte River (a splinter group of the Upper Brulé and the southernmost Sicangu group, generally along the

South Platte River The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwestern United States, Midwest and the American Sou ...

in Colorado, with hunting bands south to the

Republican River The Republican River is a river in the central Great Plains of North America, rising in the High Plains of eastern Colorado and flowing east U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map acce ...

- home to the enemy ''Kithehaki / Kitkehaxki'' of the South Bands Pawnee, also known as: ''Kheyatawhichasha'' - ″People away from the (Missouri) River″) According to the Kul Wicasa (Lower Brule) Medicine Bull (Tatȟą́ka Wakȟą́), the people were decentralized and identified with the following ''thiyóšpaye'', or extended family groups, who collected in various local ''thiwáhe'' (English: camps or family circles): * Apewantanka * Chokatowela * Ihanktonwan * Iyakoza * Kanghi yuha * Nakhpakhpa * Pispiza wichasha * Shawala * Shiyolanka * Wacheunpa * Waleghaunwohan

Ethnobotany

The Sicangu give pulverized roots of green comet milkweed ('' Asclepias viridiflora'') to children with diarrhea. Nursing mothers take an infusion of the whole plant to increase their milk flow. They brew the leaves of prairie redroot ('' Ceanothus herbaceus'') into a tea.Rogers, Dilwyn J., 1980, ''Lakota Names and Traditional Uses of Native Plants by Sicangu (Brule) People in the Rosebud Area, South Dakota, St. Francis, SD''. Rosebud Educational Society, page 56

Notable Sicangu

Bob Barker Robert William Barker (December 12, 1923 – August 26, 2023) was an American media personality, game show host, and animal rights advocate. He hosted CBS's '' The Price Is Right'', the longest-running game show in North American television ...

Game Show Host * Pappy Boyington, WWII Marine Corps fighter ace and Medal of Honor recipient * Mary Brave Bird, author *

Leonard Crow Dog Leonard Crow Dog (August 18, 1942 – June 5, 2021) was a medicine man and spiritual leader who became well known during the Lakota takeover of the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in 1973, known as the ...

, spiritual leader,

American Indian Movement The American Indian Movement (AIM) is an Native Americans in the United States, American Indian grassroots movement which was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 1968, initially centered in urban areas in order to address systemic issues ...

activist * Paul Eagle Star (1866-24 August 1891), performer with

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), better known as Buffalo Bill, was an American soldier, Bison hunting, bison hunter, and showman. One of the most famous figures of the American Old West, Cody started his legend at t ...

* Hollow Horn Bear, chief * Iron Nation, chief * Iron Shell, chief * Little Thunder, chief * Arnold Short Bull, a well-known Sicangu holy man, who brought the

Ghost Dance The Ghost Dance (, also called the Ghost Dance of 1890) is a ceremony incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. According to the millenarian teachings of the Northern Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka (renamed Jack Wilson), pro ...

to the Lakota in

in 1890 * Lone Feather, Republican public administrator from South Dakota, first Lakota elected to the U.S. House of Representatives * Michael Spears, actor * Eddie Spears, actor *

Spotted Tail Spotted Tail (Siŋté Glešká pronounced ''gleh-shka''; birth name T'at'aŋka Napsíca "Jumping Buffalo" ; born c. 1823 – died August 5, 1881) was a Sichangu Lakota tribal chief. Famed as a great warrior since his youth, warring on Ute, Pa ...

or "Sinte Gleska", 19th-century chief * Nellie Star Boy Menard, quiltmaker *

Moses Stranger Horse Moses Stranger Horse (1890–1941) was a Brulé Lakota people, Lakota realist painter from the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota.Lester, 532 Background A Brulé Lakota from Rosebud, Stranger Horse was born outside of Wood, South Dakota ...

, artist * Two Strike, chief *

Albert White Hat Albert White Hat (November 18, 1938June 13, 2013) was a teacher of the Lakota language, and an activist for Brulé, Sičháŋǧu Lakȟóta traditional culture. He translated the Lakota language for Hollywood movies, including the 1990 movie ''Danc ...

, Lakota language teacher * Dyani White Hawk, contemporary painter and former curator of All My Relations Arts gallery * Rosebud Yellow Robe, folklorist, educator and author * Frank Waln, rapper

References

External links

Official website of the Sicangu Oyate
Rosebud Sioux Tribe

Official website of the Kul Wicasa Oyate (Lower Brule)
{{Authority control Great Sioux War of 1876