Afraid of Bear - American Horse Tiospaye

Dear Sun Dancers, Relatives, Friends and Supporters,

Here we are two months from Tree Day at the Black Hills summit and time to review tasks before us.

All was going well until we discovered weeks ago that two of our longtime supporters are unable to help our Sun Dance this year. One of our longest and strongest supporters, a charity in Scotland, has been on shutdown status and is non-operational. They had assisted us with $15,000 last year and $10,000 for each ceremony before that, starting in 1998. https://www.onaway.org/projects/sun-dance/

And another past funder from CA is unable, so far, to help us this year. This puts us at a disadvantage for upcoming tasks. Fortunately, we still have proposals under consideration and expect (hope) for positive word back on those.

Meanwhile, we must renew and invigorate efforts like last year to find support; particularly through GoFundMe, our website and individuals that, last year, contributed over $30,000.

Among so much going on in preparation for the dance, here’s what I’m asking from the dancers this year: prepare and bring 405 willow sticks and 405 red tobacco ties for the dance perimeter. These are offerings to each spirit in our world that has to do with human life. Give those a gift and they’ll give you attention. Fundamental.

Keep to ceremonies, prayer and physical exercise as often as you can. All are essential.

Our prayers and offerings accompany you. Clear to the Tree.

Tom & Loretta Cook

(With thanks to Bill Arena, our Facebook admin, for posting our updates on FB)

Help me raise funds this birthday/graduation season to support the resurgence and resilience of indigenous culture in the United States! *Im also inviting gifts marking my Graduation from law school & Yale! <3 *

These funds will go towards purchasing members of the Oglala Sioux nation a truck and provide travel scholarships for Tribal youth travel from throughout the region to the Sundance.

Over the past year, struggling with the weight of my sister Jane's mental health crisis, I've had the honor of building relations with Oglala Sioux Elder Loretta Afraid of Bear Cook and members of her family, called her Tiospaye in the Lakota language, which extends to the Mohawk tribe in Akwesasne, New York. This family has taught me so much, drawing from their roots into the ancient ecological and medicinal practices of the Lakota and Mohawk nations.

I am part of a growing group of youth leaders called the Congress for a Declaration of Interdependence who are in conversation about how, on the eve of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, we might reconnect to, uplift and raise awareness around the Indigenous lifeways that have been present on this continent for millennia. These lifeways had a profound influence on American Democracy, showing European settlers from harsh governance conditions a living, peaceful democratic system. Our conversations are leading us to gain a deeper understanding of the ecological and cultural brilliance of these lifeways and their potential to lead development models that can achieve and inspire widespread climate resilience. Our project goal is to collaborate with the Afraid of Bear-American Horse Tiospaye on an indigenous-led development guiding text to circulate within our diverse networks, which we will call the Declaration of Interdependence.

Foundational to the emergence of indigenous-led climate-resilient development is ensuring that traditional Indigenous ceremonies and rituals, which place all living things on equal footing, are preserved. Central among them is the Oglala Sioux’s annual Sun Dance, which takes place on the days surrounding Summer Solstice (June 17 - 21, 2024). The Sun Dance is a microcosmic demonstration of a profound understanding of the connection between humans and the earth system. Throughout my journey losing Jane, numerous new friends have come into my life whose mental health crises have been healed by this ceremony. More information can be found here: https://www.onaway.org/projects/sun-dance/

Loretta's non-profit, Afraid of Bear – American Horse Tiospaye, provides critical support and resources for this tradition to continue, including scholarships for youth to take time to attend and subsidize the travel costs to the Black Hills (gas, food and lodging for attendees for five days), purchase key infrastructure for the ceremony to take place (this year they need truck repairs to transport the ceremonial tree and other investment in the ceremony grounds), and film, document and preserve the rites of passage rituals. Their usual donor has dissolved, leading them to launch a GoFundMe. I want to support their efforts as much as possible with an appeal to my own network to help me raise with gifts marking my 28th birthday AND graduation from a Yale master's program. I understand this is ambitious, but it's a fun experiment! Any range of donation size would be profoundly helpful!

I have come to believe that this ceremony is a cornerstone of preserving the profound wisdom of the Lakota nation, which has the power to heal many struggling with the psychological burdens of these times. Your support would be so very meaningful. I will attend the Sundance this year, and share stories of the impact the funds have with all donors - by way of a Blog series.

Lynn Van Housen, who is supporting the effort as Administrator for the sponsoring non-profit organization Afraid of Bear American Horse Tiospaye, administers the central GoFundMe, and can be reached out to for further questions. https://www.gofundme.com/f/35th-annual-afraid-of-bear-american-horse-sun-dance?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer

My name is Loretta Afraid of Bear Cook. I am Oglala Sioux 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 33rd annual Sun Dance in the Black Hills. We welcome over 100 dancers plus supporters, drummers, singers, and firekeepers from the four directions to join us in this most sacred of our seven Lakota ceremonies. To learn about the Sun Dance and our work, visit www.Tiospaye1847.org.

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 sundancing.

We are trying to raise $10,000 towards the $50,000 cost of the annual Sun Dance. Your help allows us to feed our supporters and volunteers over the five days, help defray travel costs of the 200 mile round trip journey from the Pine Ridge area to the Black Hills, and provide honoraria to the elders who guide our dancers and our youth.

For our dancers who live on Pine Ridge, a place with great people but difficult circumstances, 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 by the US Government. 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