Honoring Youth
Through Native Heritage
By Mark Thiel

More Information

     First and foremost, consult local Native American elders and other local experts on Indian culture. Many intertribal songs are appropriate for use as honoring songs. Most songs on recordings are for general purposes and not intended solely for honoring specific individuals, families, or groups. Recordings and writings may be borrowed via interlibrary loan or see Supply Sources for places to buy them.

•     Badland Singers- Live at Santa Fe. Indian House, Taos, New Mexico, no date. Includes Assiniboine and Lakota honoring songs.

•     Black Bear, Ben Sr. and R. D. Theisz, Songs and Dances of the Lakota. Sinte Gleska University, Rosebud, South Dakota, 1976. 137 pp. with 4 audio cassettes. Includes Lakota honoring songs.

•     Blacklodge Singers, Vols. 7, 12. Canyon Records and Indian Arts, Phoenix, Arizona, 1992 and 1995? Includes Blackfoot honoring songs.

•     Calf Robe Singers, Vol. 2. Canyon Records and Indian Arts, Phoenix, Arizona,1994? Includes Blackfoot honoring songs.

•     Callahan, Alice A. The Osage Ceremonial Dance I’n-Lon-schka. University of Oklahoma Press, 1990. Includes Osage honoring ceremonies and giveaways. 172 pp.

•     Dakota/Lakota Singing, http://www.turtletrack.org/tamakoce/ Includes Lakota and Ojibwa honoring songs and others plus general information about singing and related topics. Accessed May 24, 2001.

•     Full Circle Videos. How to Dance Native American Style: Beginning Steps. Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1997. Shows the basic steps for men and women, the parts of a war dance song, and how to dance "on the song" for ages five and up. Video, VHS, 30 min.

•     Grayhorse, Spirits Who Dance. Sound of America Records, Albuquerque, New Mexico, no date. Includes Kiowa honoring songs.

•     Kehoe, Alice B. “The Giveaway Ceremony of Blackfoot and Plains Cree.” Plains Anthropologist, 25:87(1980): 17-26.

•     Northern Cree Singers, Vol. 4. Canyon Records and Indian Arts, Phoenix, Arizona, 1993. Includes Cree honoring songs.

•      Powers, Marla N., Lakota Naming: A Modern-day Hunka Ceremony, Lakota Books, Kendall Park, New Jersey, 1991, 48 pp. A Lakota honoring ceremony in a private context.

•     Powers, Marla N., The Star Quilt: Symbol of Lakota Identity, Lakota Books, Kendall Park, New Jersey, 1990, 10 pp. An exhibit catalog on Star quilts, which are popular gifts to honorees and giveaway recipients.

•     Porcupine and Brotherhood Singers, Vols. 7, 8. Lakota, Canyon Records and Indian Arts, Phoenix, Arizona,1990? Includes Lakota honoring songs.

•     Powwow Dancing, www.powwows.com. Provides general information on contemporary performing arts.

•     Severns, Will and Linda, video photographers. Farewell and Naming Ceremony, of Rev. Jim Kubicki, Sioux Spiritual Center, Plainview, South Dakota, 1995. VHS video recording. A Lakota honoring ceremony in a private context, not within a public celebration. Copy available from Marquette University Libraries Special Collections.

•     Swope, Ellen and Kaysee Tsuji. "Star Quilts," Moccasin Tracks, 6:10(1981): 4-8. Star quilts are popular gifts to honorees and giveaway recipients.

•     Theisz, R. D. “Acclamations and Accolades: Honor Songs in Lakota Society Today,” Sending Their Voices: Essays on Lakota Musicology, pp.7-18. Lakota Books, Kendall Park, New Jersey, 1996. Includes several Lakota honor songs. 51 pp.

•     Thiel, Mark, video photographer. Hunka (Adoption) Ceremony, of Dave Petrush and Billy Menard (Lakota), Black Hills Powwow, Rapid City, South Dakota, 1999. VHS video recording. A Lakota honoring ceremony when not the main event in a public celebration. Copy available from Marquette University Libraries Special Collections.

•     Thiel, Mark, Indian Way: A Reference Guide to the Heritage of Native North America, Noc Bay Trading, http://www.nocbay.com/, Escanaba, Michigan, CD-ROM

•     Walker, Bill. "Powwow Circle, Honoring a Dancer," Whispering Wind, 28:1(1996): 30. General information on an honoring situation.

•     Walker, Bill. "Powwow Circle, The Special," Whispering Wind, 29:6(1998): 34-35. On the importance of following local traditions.

•     Young, Gloria A and Erik D. Gooding. "Celebrations and Giveaways," Handbook of North American Indians, Smithsonian Institution, 13: 2:(2001): 1011-1025.

•     Young, Gloria A "Music," Handbook of North American Indians, Smithsonian Institution, 13: 2:(2001): 1026-1038.