I sometimes get asked about the “Sweat Lodge” because people are generally curious (including Native people who were not brought up around their cultural ways). I come across this version of the very first Sweat Lodge Ceremony or “Inipi” in our Dakotah language. Here from “Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions” as told to Richard Erdoes by John (Fire) Lame Deer is that story.

“Inipi — Grandfather’s Breath: In speaking of sacred things, I will tell you first about the Inipi — the sweat bath. I do this because we always purify ourselves in the sweat house before starting one of our ceremonies. Whether we celebrate the sun dance or a vision quest, the Inipi comes first. It could be that the Inipi was our first rite, that all the other ceremonies came later. We have an old tale which makes many of us believe that this is so. It is the story of Inyan Hoksi — the Stone Boy.

“The tale begins with a young girl who had five brothers. They lived together. The girl did the cooking, made robes out of hides and stayed with her brothers all through the seasons. Each day the five brothers went out to hunt. They followed the game. As soon as one place was hunted out they moved their tipi to another one. One day, they came to a creek which flowed through a canyon. This place made them feel strange and uneasy, though they did not know why. The brothers went out to hunt in the morning, each one choosing his own path, but when night fell only four came back. They did not know what happened to the one who did not return. Four went out the next day, but only three came back. They were scared, but still they had to hunt if they wanted to eat. Every time they went out one brother failed to come back.