Image 19
Woman's Dress
United States (Lakota)
20th century
Leather, cotton, copper, and glass beads
51 inches long
gift of James David and John David 74.64.5

• The turtle figures prominently in the Lakota story of the remaking of the world.
• Because of her role in the Lakota creation story, the sacred turtle is associated with women and their gift of creating human life.
• The beaded yoke of this Lakota woman's dress features the traditional turtle-by-the-shore-of-the-lake design. The ABSTRACT U-shape represents the sacred turtle.

There was another world before this one. But the people of that world did not behave themselves. Displeased, the Creating Power set out to make a new world. He sang several songs to bring rain, which poured stronger with each song. As he sang the fourth song, the earth split apart and water gushed up through the many cracks, causing a flood. By the time the rain stopped, all of the people and nearly all of the animals had drowned. Only Kangi the crow survived.

Kangi pleaded with the Creating Power to make him a new place to rest. So the Creating Power decided the time had come to make his new world. From his huge pipe bag, which contained all types of animals and birds, the Creating Power selected four animals known for their ability to remain under water for a long time. He sent each in turn to retrieve a lump of mud from beneath the floodwaters. First the loon dove deep into the dark waters, but it was unable to reach the bottom. The otter, even with its strong webbed feet, also failed. Next, the beaver used its large flat tail to propel itself deep under the water, but it too brought nothing back. Finally, the Creating Power took the turtle from his pipe bag and urged it to bring back some mud.

Turtle stayed under the water for so long that everyone was sure it had drowned. Then, with a splash, the turtle broke the water's surface! Mud filled its feet and claws and the cracks between its upper and lower shells. Singing, the Creating Power shaped the mud in his hands and spread it on the water, where it was just big enough for himself and the crow. He then shook two long eagle wing feathers over the mud until earth spread wide and varied, overcoming the waters. Feeling sadness for the dry land, the Creating Power cried tears that became oceans, streams, and lakes. He named the new land Turtle Continent in honor of the turtle who provided the mud from which it was formed.

The Creating Power then took many animals and birds from his great pipe bag and spread them across the earth. From red, white, black, and yellow earth, he made men and women. The Creating Power gave the people his sacred pipe and told them to live by it. He warned them about the fate of the people who came before them. He promised all would be well if all living things learned to live in harmony. But the world would be destroyed again if they made it bad and ugly.

The Lakota were once part of a much larger group of people, the Dakota, who lived in the northern woodlands, including the southern two-thirds of Minnesota. Within the Dakota were three closely related language groups - the Dakota-speakers, the Nakota-speakers, and the Lakota-speakers. All shared a sedentary life-style, living in bark lodges in the forests, harvesting wild rice, and making maple sugar. Invasions by the French in the 1640s and ensuing battles with their own Indian enemies forced many Nakota and Lakota to move westward. They developed distinctive Plains cultures. The Lakota acquired horses, introduced to North America by the Spanish in the 17th century, and by the 18th century were nomadic buffalo hunters.

By the mid-19th century, Euro-American settlers had overrun the sacred lands of the Lakota, and white hunters had decimated the buffalo herds on which the Plains Indians depended. Eventually the United States government confined the Plains Indians to designated lands called reservations. Although reservations deprived them of their traditional way of life, the Lakota struggled to preserve many of their cultural traditions.

Quilling and Beading
QUILLWORK was the primary art form of traditional Lakota women. They decorated clothing and other surfaces with GEOMETRIC designs elaborately embroidered with dyed porcupine or bird quills. When colorful glass beads became readily available from Euro-American traders, they began to replace quills in embroidered ornamentation. Beads were easier to acquire, easier to use, and came in a wide variety of bright colors. Beadworkers strung several beads onto a thread and then stitched them down at intervals to create colorful and often SYMBOLIC patterns. The forced immobility and economic hardships of reservation life spurred a golden age in Lakota beadwork, especially as beaded objects became valued items in the tourist market.

Turtle
Lakota dance dresses are traditionally decorated with a beaded yoke that incorporates the turtle-by-the-shore-of-the-lake design. Because of her role in the creation story of the Lakota, the turtle is a sacred animal. The Lakota associate women with the sacred turtle because of their gif t of creating human life. Lakota women aspired to be like the turtle - resilient and long-lived. Turtle MOTIFS (moe-TEEFS) were beaded on women's dresses, leggings, and bags and on cradle boards and protective umbilical amulets for baby girls.

Woman's Dress
This was the "best dress" of a Lakota woman, worn for dancing or for special occasions. When a woman danced in this dress, the beaded yoke sparkled in the sunlight, the fringe swung up and down, and the bells jingled.

The beaded designs on the yoke have spiritual power and significance. At the lower center of the yoke, resting directly over the wearer's heart, is a multicolored U-shaped design representing the sacred turtle. The narrow white strip across the width of the yoke is the lakeshore. The blue-and-gold design in the white strip above the turtle may represent a morning star, and the checkered designs around it may suggest mountains or hills. Above the white strip, the broad blue area punctuated by SYMMETRICAL designs represents the sky's reflection in the waters of the lake, the home of the sacred turtle. While the meaning of most of these designs is no longer known, designs in this part of a Lakota dress traditionally referred to spiritual beings who lived in the sky and on the lakeshore. By the early 20th century, when this dress was made, Lakota artists often used such designs for aesthetic or visual effect alone.

Look
1. Tell the Lakota story of the remaking of the world. Show image 19. This dress has a SYMBOL for turtle on it. Can you guess which symbol refers to turtle? (The U-shape at the center of the yoke is a symbol for turtle.) Show image 19a for a close up of the turtle symbol. The design on the yoke of this dress is called turtle-by-the-shore-of-the-lake design. What represents the lakeshore in the design? (The narrow white strip directly above the turtle symbol.) How is the lake itself represented? (With the color blue suggesting the reflection of the sky.)

2. What is this dress made of? (Hide.) How can you tell? (Natural hide has this color and texture; the folds suggest its heavy weight.) If you have a piece of leather or hide you might pass it around as an example. Show detail of image 19. What is the bright colored area of the dress made of? (Beads.) How can you tell? (TEXTURE and precise rows suggest beadwork.) If you have an object that is beaded you might pass it around as an example.

3. How many different colors of beads would you need to make this dress? (Sky blue, dark blue, white, red, green, and yellow.) Which color would you need the most of? (Sky blue.) How many beads would you need to make this dress? (Thousands!)

4. What other decorations do you see on this dress? (Fringe, hanging beads, buttons below the beaded white strip on the yoke, bells in the beaded border on the hem.) Using the fringe, hanging decorations, and bells as clues, what do you think this dress was worn for? (Dancing!)

5. Show image 19. The Lakota artist who beaded this dress made an ABSTRACT SYMBOL that stands for the turtle. Abstract means that certain features are exaggerated and other details are left out. What features of the turtle did this artist exaggerate? (The oval shape and colored patterns of a turtle's shell.) What features or details did she leave out? (Legs, eyes, and tail, detailed pattern on the shell.)

Think
1. Women beaded turtle MOTIFS on their dresses, leggings, bags, and on cradle boards and AMULETS for their baby girls. Why do you think turtle is associated with women in Lakota culture? (Recall the story - turtle's association with creation makes it an animal associated with women's power to create life.)

2. The characteristics of a turtle were prized by Lakota people. Women aspired to be like the turtle and hoped their children would also take on the qualities of the turtle. What qualities do turtles have that women might want for themselves and their children? (Turtles live long, are resilient, and are always protected by their shell.)

3. Lakota mythology surrounding the turtle has to do with the re-creation of the world. Can you think of another popular story about a turtle? (The Hare and the Tortoise.) What qualities were associated with that turtle? ("Slow and steady always win the race.") Can you think of other animals that exhibit qualities that people find desirable? (Lions are courageous; foxes are sly and smart; elephants have great memory; owls are wise; mice are quiet; bees are busy; oxen are strong.)

4. This Lakota dress was made to be worn while dancing. If we were to see it as it was meant to be used, we would hear music, the beads would reflect the light, the bells would jingle, and the fringe would swing and sway with the dancer's movements. Is it possible for us to appreciate this dress as a work of art even though we cannot see it being worn in a dance? Why or why not? Would we appreciate the dress more if we could see the dress on a dancer? Why or why not? (No right answer.)