What does the Lakota word Wopila mean?

Answer 1

Wopila is a noun in the native American Lakota language referring to a sharing and/or a giveaway (Wopila).

It is an offering of giving/sharing, a thanks given for all of existence and the blessing inherent in each

moment of it. A Wopila is often offered in ceremony and as a broad statement of Thanksgiving within a

community. A Wopila can be part another ceremony wherein memories, stories, and songs are shared and

then accompanied by the material giveaway of significant gifts, both new and previously used, to

individuals attending the ceremony.

The early practice of Wopila (the giveaway ceremony) also ensured a distribution of wealth wherein no one

person's or one family's wealth dominated the others. Today it can be a powerful medicine (a transformative

process) for an individual to to grieve loss or tragedy and move on or continue on with one's life.

The plains people roamed and hunted the Great Plains of North America for centuries. Today, the Great Sioux

Nation continues the tradition of offering Wopila. Other individuals, non-native Americans, recogizing the value

of indigenous peoples' traditions also offer Wapila.