Sicangu

Siċaƞġu / Sičháŋǧu / Sičhą́ǧu
Brulé
Janeen Antoine (Sičhą́ǧu Lakóta), curator and educator
Regions with significant populations
United States
(South Dakota)
Languages
Lakȟóta, English
Religion
traditional tribal religion, Sun Dance,
Native American Church, Christianity
Related ethnic groups
other Lakȟóta people

The Sicangu (also spelled Siċaƞġu or Sičháŋǧu or Sičhą́ǧu) are one of the seven oyates, nations or council fires, of Lakota people, 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.

Distribution

Many Sičhą́ǧu people live on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota and are enrolled in the federally recognized 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 in central South Dakota, and on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, also in South Dakota, directly west of the Rosebud Indian Reservation. The different federally recognized tribes 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 that occurred on the Coteau des Prairies while migrating from the Mississippi to the Missouri in 1762-1763 according to Brown Hat’s winter count.

Sičhą́ǧu on page 3.-14 of Beginning Lakhóta, 1976.

The term "Sičhą́ǧu" appears on page 3-14 of Beginning Lakhóta, using the Colorado University spelling.

"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".

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe official 2012 orthography, based on Albert White Hat’s orthography, uses the spelling Siċaƞġu (also sometimes Siċaŋġu). The Lakota Language Consortium orthography used in New Lakota Dictionary uses the spelling Sičháŋǧu.

Historic Sicangu Thiyóšpaye or bands

Together with the Oglála Lakȟóta, who are mostly based at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, they are often called Southern Lakȟóta.

They were divided in three great regional tribal divisions:

According to the Kul Wicasa (Lower Brulé) 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):

Ethnobotany

The Sicangu give pulverized roots of green comet milkweed 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 into a tea.

Notable Sicangu

Chief Iron Nation

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Also spelled A-a-ko-za or Aakoza.

References

  1. ↑ "Native American Heritage Month: S.F. gallery director wins praise for breaking with past." San Francisco Chronicle. 12 Nov 1995 (retrieved 20 Dec 2009)
  2. ↑ "Native Contemporary Arts Festival." Yerba Buena Gardens. 1 May 2026 (retrieved 13 May 2026)
  3. ↑ Howe, Craig; Katz, Abe (Spring 2015). "Traditional Lakota Governance". Rootstalk. Center for Prairie Studies. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  4. ↑ Hyde, George E. (1961). Spotted Tail’s folk: a history of the Brulé Sioux. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 5–8.
  5. ↑ Beginning Lakhóta, Volume 1 (Boulder: University of Colorado Lakhóta Project, 1976).
  6. ↑ Famous Indians of Northwest Nebraska. Chadron Centennial Committee. 1983. p. 34.
  7. ↑ "Language Resources". Siċaŋġu Co. Retrieved 2026-09-30.
  8. ↑ "Lower Brule". Archived from the original on 2015-05-02. Retrieved 2010-02-06.
  9. ↑ Clark, Patricia Roberts (21 October 2009). Tribal Names of the Americas: Spelling Variants and Alternative Forms, Cross-Referenced. McFarland. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-7864-5169-2.
  10. ↑ 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 34
  11. ↑ Rogers, Dilwyn J., 1980, Lakota Names and Traditional Uses of Native Plants by Sicangu (Brulé) People in the Rosebud Area, South Dakota, St. Francis, SD. Rosebud Educational Society, page 56
  12. ↑ Brown, Dee (1970). Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, ch. 6. Bantam Books. ISBN 0-553-11979-6.