Chief Flying Hawk was a Lakota historian and authored a "winter count" covering nearly 150 years of Lakota history.
Lakota years are conceived as extending from the first snow of a winter to the first snow of the next winter.
Years are given names based upon significant or unique event that would be easy to recall.
For example, Chief Flying Hawk's Winter Count for 1866 records the Fetterman Fight during Red Cloud's War as "Wasicu opawinge wica ktepi" or "They killed one hundred white men."
Likewise, 1876 is "Marpiya llute sunkipi" or "They took horses from Red Cloud" (the U.S. Army did after the Battle of the Little Big Horn), 1877 is "Tasunka witko ktepi" or "When they killed Crazy Horse" and 1890 is "Si-tanka ktepi" or "When they killed Big Foot" (the Wounded Knee Massacre).
Chief Flying Hawk specifically requested that his Lakota calendar be included the commentaries.
Chief Flying Hawk was a Lakota historian and authored a "winter count" covering nearly 150 years of Lakota history. Lakota years are conceived as extending from the first snow of a winter to the first snow of the next winter. Years are given names based upon significant or unique event that would be easy to recall. For example, Chief Flying Hawk's Winter Count for 1866 records the Fetterman Fight during Red Cloud's War as "Wasicu opawinge wica ktepi" or "They killed one hundred white men." Likewise, 1876 is "Marpiya llute sunkipi" or "They took horses from Red Cloud" (the U.S. Army did after the Battle of the Little Big Horn), 1877 is "Tasunka witko ktepi" or "When they killed Crazy Horse" and 1890 is "Si-tanka ktepi" or "When they killed Big Foot" (the Wounded Knee Massacre). Chief Flying Hawk specifically requested that his Lakota calendar be included the commentaries.
Flying Hawk