By Chandra Colvin/MPR
Dakota-led nonprofit Owámn-iyomni Okhódayapi recently started a video series aimed to share Dakota culture with both Native and non-Native people. The goal is to ensure access to education about Dakota land, culture and community.
The organization is working to transform St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, a significant site for Dakota people, into a place of healing and restoration.
Sage Yeager is the organization’s communications coordinator and video series producer. She says the series will help those who live far from St. Anthony Falls, also known as Owámniyomni to better understand Dakota traditions.
“We are of the belief that these videos and sharing Dakota lifeways strengthen connections and help foster a deep sense of community for everybody that is going to be utilizing the site,” Yeager said.
Following the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, Congress revoked treaties with Dakota tribes in Minnesota. Thousands of Dakota were exiled from the state and pushed into surrounding states.
Yeager says now there are ways to enhance awareness.
“Social media is a really big tool for that, and I think that really helps reach others and helps them feel more connected back to their original homelands,” Yeager said.
However, the goal is not only to connect with Native communities but with non-Native ones as well.
“It’s also an invitation to non-Native people to learn more about Dakota culture and help build a relationship with that culture,” she said.
The series’ first videos are centered on food preservation, a topic relevant to the fall season says Kahomy Weston, who appears on-screen in the videos and is Owámniyomni Okhódayapi’s program and project coordinator.
“We decided to do it seasonally, so that way our videos coincide with the season, and it would make sense,” Weston said. “You would be drying corn when the corn harvest is ready, or we’ll be drying meat to preserve for the winter around now.”
In one video, Weston demonstrates the process of making dried meat, or bapa in the Dakota language. In another, she demonstrates the process of making wóžapi, or berry pudding.
“We just kind of go through a quick step-by-step process of mashing the berries or boiling them and sweetening them and how to thicken them into this berry pudding that we would traditionally eat, either at home with our families or at gatherings,” she said.
Weston says upcoming videos in the winter season will focus on beadwork, quillwork and storytelling, all of which are wintertime activities in Dakota culture.
“Sharing these teachings, we’re also like strengthening our identity and encouraging inter-generational learning, creating space for everyone to engage meaningfully and really give Dakota presence in a place that was taken from us,” Weston said.
The organization plans to release one video per month. Videos and information can be found on Owámniyomni Okhódayapi’s website.
