~Inipi, or The "Sweat" Ceremony~

"Before a Lakota undertakes anything of importance," explained George Sword to Dr. James Walker through an interpreter in 1896, he should strengthen his life by Inipi (taking a vapor bath). This may be done to refresh one, or as a medicine to cure the sick, or as a part of any ceremony. It must always be done in an Ini ti (sweat lodge), which must be made of slender saplings thrust into the ground in a circle so that their tops can be bent and fastened together so as to form a dome, which must be covered so the smoke can not pass through the covering. The door must be large enough for a man to creep through and so that it can be closed tightly. The vapor is made by pouring water or other things on hot stones inside the lodge. To take the bath one must go inside the lodge and when it is closed tightly he must make the vapor. He must be naked and while pouring the water he must sing or pray. When he has made the vapor, he should come out and wash himself with cold water.... Nothing should be permitted in an Ini ti but that which is necessary for the ceremony.... Wakan Tanka is pleased by Inipi, for it strengthens the life and purifies the body (in Walker 1991: 78-79).

The Inipi, or vapor purification ceremony, like smoking the pipe, is fundamental to Lakota ritual. The purpose and meaning of the Inipi is to purify one's spirit, or ni, through the spirit of the vapor. Though Inipi is commonly called "sweating" by English speakers, the ceremony has little to do with actually sweating. George Sword once wrote to Walker in Lakota and explained it this way:

The white people call it a sweat lodge. The Lakotas do not understand it so. The Lakota think of it as a lodge to make the body strong and pure. They call it initi. This means a tipi to do ini in. When a Lakota does the ini, he makes his ni strong and helps it to bring all out of the body that is hurtful to it. The ni of a Lakota is that which he breathes into hid body and it goes all through it and keeps him alive. When a Lakota says Inipi, he means he does the ini. The ni goes all through the body all the time. Sometimes it is weak and then hurtful things get into the body. When this happens, a Lakota should Inipi in an initi.

The spirit of the water mni, or mini] is good for the ni and it will make it strong. Anything hot will make the spirit of water free and it goes upward. It is like the ni which can be seen with the breath on a cold day. An initi is made close so that it will hold the spirit of water. Then one in it can breathe it into the body. It will then wash it and it comes out on the skin like te mini. Te mini is sweat. It is water on the body. A Lakota does not Inipi to make the water on the body. He does it to wash the inside of the body....

When a Lakota says ni, or ini or Inipi, or initi, he does not think about sweat. He thinks about making his ni strong so that it will purify him (quoted in Walker 1991: 100).

Inipi offers Lakotas a way to strengthen and heal as well as to purify one's body, mind and spirit. "Inipi," explains Sword, "makes clean everything inside the body... Inipi cause a man's ni to put out of his body all that makes him tired, or all that causes disease, or all that causes him to think wrong" (in Walker 1991: 83-84). As a purification ritual it is also an integral component of other rituals. In order to perform Hanbleyapi, Wiwanyang wacipi, or any of the other Lakota ceremonies, strength and purification must be sought through Inipi.

Lakotas believe that the wakan qualities of the water vapor have the power to cleanse one from the inside, to strengthen and to purity. This power does not, however, derive simply from the steam; it is achieved and activated through the symbolic architecture of the initi or ini kaga, the "purification lodge," and through symbolic meanings in the ritual action of Inipi. Arval Looking Horse describes the symbolic construction of the initi, and the ritual actions of the Inipi in this way:

The sweat lodge [ini kagapi, or "purification lodge"] is a world half on top of the earth, half under it. Probably it means day and night, I don't know. The center is the fireplace where the sacred rocks (inyan wakan) are placed. They build a fire some distance away to heat the rocks for the sweat lodge. When the fire is lit they use the smoke from burning sage to purify the path from the fire to the sweat lodge. This is the inyan canku, "road for the rocks." Once they start the fire, people should not cross this path. The first four heated rocks are placed in the sweat lodge fireplace in the pattern of the four directions. The next three represent up, down, and center. So the first seven rocks represent all seven directions. The other rocks represent different spirits and are placed in any order on top of the first seven....

The sweat lodge is very sacred. It is the mother's womb. They always say when they come out of the sweat lodge, it's like being born again or coming out of the mother's womb (in DeMallie 1987: 71-72).

Like the pipe ceremony, Inipi reinforces relationships between the people and the wakan beings. The placement of the first four stones in the center of the lodge signifies relationship to the Four Winds who themselves represent the powers of the four directions and passage of the seasonal cycle. The placement of the next three rocks reiterates and reactivates kinship relationships with Grandfather Sky,Taku Skanskan (up), Grandmother Earth, Maka (ground), and Wakan Tanka (center). The descriptions of the symbolic architecture of the purification lodge and its ritual actions given by Black Elk to Joseph Epes Brown illustrate further:

The sweat lodge is made from twelve or sixteen young willows.... The willows which make the frame of the sweat lodge are set up in such a way that they mark the four quarters of the universe; thus, the whole lodge is the universe in an image, and the two-legged, four-legged, and winged peoples, and all things of the world are contained within it, for all these peoples and things too must be purified before they can send a voice to Wakan-Tanka.

The rocks which we use represent Grandmother Earth, from whom all fruits come, and they also represent the indestructible and everlasting nature of Wakan-Tanka. The fire which is used to heat the rocks represents the great power of Wakan-Tanka which gives life to all things; it is as a ray from the sun, for the sun is also Wakan-Tanka in a certain aspect.

The round fireplace at the center of the sweat lodge is the center of the universe, in which dwells Wakan-Tanka, with his power which is the fire. All these things are wakan to us and must be understood deeply if we really wish to purify ourselves, for the power of a thing or an act is in the meaning and the understanding (in Brown 1953: 31-32).

In addition to the meanings given to Inipi through the symbolic construction of the purification lodge itself, the pipe ceremony may also be performed to further emphasize these relationships to space, time and the Wankanpi. Black Elk illustrates as relates:

He who leads the purification rite, now enters the lodge alone and with his pipe. He passes around sun-wise and sits at the west and makes an altar of the central hole by placing pinches of tobacco at its four corners. A glowing coal is passed into the lodge and is placed at the center. The leader then burns sweet grass and rubs the smoke all over his body, feet, head, hands, and the pipe too is purified over the smoke; everything is made sacred, and if there is anything in the lodge that is not good it is driven away by the Power of the smoke.

The leader should now offer a pinch of tobacco to the winged Power of the place where the sun goes down, from which the purifying waters come; this Power is invoked and is asked to help in the rite. After this the sacred tobacco is offered to the Powers of the north, whence come the purifying winds; to the east, the place where the sun comes up, and from whence comes wisdom; to the south which is the source and end of all life; above to the heavens, and finally to Mother Earth. As the aid of each Power is invoked and as each pinch of tobacco is placed in the pipe, all those outside the lodge cry "How!" for they are glad and satisfied that this sacred thing has been done....

The person at the west now offers the pipe to heaven, earth, and the four directions, and then he lights it, and after a few puffs (rubbing the smoke all over his body) he hands the pipe to the one at his left, saying : "Ho Ate," or "Ho Tunkashila," according to their relationship..., and in this manner the pipe is passed sun-wise around the circle. When the pipe comes back to the man at the west, he purifies it, lest some impure person may have touched it, and carefully empties the ashes, placing them at the edge of the sacred altar. This first use of the pipe within the lodge reminds us of the holy White Buffalo Cow Woman, who long ago entered our lodge in a sacred manner, and then left (in Brown 1953: 34-36).