Moving Robe Woman (Tȟašína Máni) — The Hunkpapa Lakota Woman Who Rode Into The Battle Of Little Bighorn After Learning Her Brother Had Been Killed

SITTING BULL AND THE SPIRITUAL PREPARATION

The battle of Little Bighorn did not happen in isolation.

It was the culmination of a spiritual and political preparation that had been building for months.

In the spring of 1876, Sitting Bull — the great Hunkpapa holy man and war leader — had undergone the Sun Dance, the most important ceremony in the Lakota religious calendar.

The Sun Dance is a profound and physically demanding ritual of sacrifice, prayer, and spiritual renewal, through which participants offer pain as a form of prayer and seek visions from Wakȟáŋ Tȟáŋka, the Great Mystery or Great Spirit.

During the Sun Dance of 1876, Sitting Bull received a vision.