![\"The](\"http:\/\/minnesotahistory.net\/wptest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/ml-shore-web.jpg\" "\\"ml-shore-web\\"")
<\/a>In addition to Mille Lacs, Mdewakanton Dakota also described that origin as taking place at Bdote, near the mouth of the Minnesota River. The truth is that among different groups of Dakota and Lakota peoples there have been various origin stories told. Today for many Lakota the Black Hills is considered one of their most sacred sites, the center of the world, the place of the gods, where the warriors would go to wait for visions and to speak to the Great Spirit.\u201d Black Elk, famous religious leader of the Dakota people, was taken to Harney Peak in the Black Hills\u2013 the \u201ccenter of the world\u201d\u2013 in his Great Vision.\u201d A timeline<\/a> of Dakota history states that in the 1830s: \u00a0\u201cThe Oglala become more centrally organized with most\u00a0bands following Bull Bear [and]\u00a0with many of the rest following Smoke. This was a change from their previous more loosely governed bands with many leaders of comparable influence. The Bear Butte area in western South Dakota, extending west to Devil\u2019s Tower was the geographic and spiritual center of their world.\u201d<\/p>\n When addressing the subject of Lakota\/Dakota creation stories, Wilhelm K. Meya<\/a>, one of the most active anthropologists working with the Lakota today, wrote, in an email<\/a>: \u201cThe Mdewakanton are considered in the oral tradition, one of the most ancient divisions of the Sioux Nation or Ocetisakowin \u2018Seven Council Fires\u2019. The sacred lake (Mille Lacs) figures prominently in Lakota\/Dakota creation stories. The lake is considered sacred because the Dakota people emerged from it as human beings into this world.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition the Rum River originally shared the name of the lake, Wakan, but was mistranslated by early whites. In an Isanti County News<\/em> article about a 2008 Wakan Wakpa (Rum River) Canoe Expedition that provided a group of inner-city Dakota boys from Minneapolis and St. Paul an opportunity to paddle the natural artery of their ancestors, LeMoine LaPointe, director of the Healthy Nations Program at the Minneapolis American Indian Center, stated: \u201cTheir 165-mile paddle from Mille Lacs Lake to Minneapolis commemorated many important aspects of Dakota history and culture.” He further noted: \u201dThe Rum, known for centuries as Wakan Wakpa (Holy River), is an important spiritual and cultural artery to the Dakota who, until 1745, lived at Mille Lacs (Mde Wakan) and considered it the center of their world.\u201d<\/p>\n Because of my knowledge of the importance of Mille Lacs Lake and surrounding area as a Dakota homeland, I initiated and am spearheading the local, national and international movement to change the faulty-translation and profane name of Minnesota\u2019s Rum River, the river that flows from Mille Lacs Lake, back to its sacred Dakota name, Wakan. There is more about this at my website: http:\/\/www.towahkon.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mille Lacs Lake is one of many places in Minnesota that need to be acknowledged for their connection to Dakota people. Known to the Dakota as Mde Wakan or Spirit Lake, it is a place of special importance in their history and culture. The name of the most easterly group of Dakota people, the Mdewakantonwan, … Continue reading The importance of Mille Lacs Lake in the history and culture of the Dakota people<\/span>