LAKOTA RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS. Lakota, meaning "friends or allies," are Plains Indian peoples. They represent the largest of three divisions within the political body known as the Titonwan, along with the Dakota and Nakota. The Lakota are also known as the Western Sioux, although the latter is a pejorative name meaning "snakes in the grass," applied to them by Algonquian-speaking neighbors to the east. Lakota also designates the language spoken by the seven bands of the Oceti Sakowin (seven council fires): Oglala, Sicangu, Mnicoujou, Itazipco, Oohenumpa, Sihasapa, and Hunkpapa. In the past, the Lakota occupied areas of what are now Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, and Nebraska. As of the 2000 census, over 108,000 U.S. residents identify as Lakota, many living on or near reservations in South Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota.

Often represented in media and film as the typical Indians of the Plains...