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Native American Legends: Wakan Tanka (Wakataka)
Name: Wakan Tanka
Tribal affiliation: Lakota,
Dakota
Alternate spellings: Wakantanka, Wakan-Tanka, Wakataka
Pronunciation: wah-kahn tahn-kah
Also known as: Great Mystery
Type: High god,
Creator
Related figures in other tribes: Wakanda (Omaha),
Earth-maker (Ho-chunk),
Gitche Manitou (Ojibway)
Wakan Tanka is the great Creator power of the Lakota and Dakota tribes. Wakan Tanka is an abstract, omnipresent creative force
who is never personified in traditional Siouan legends, and in fact did not even have a gender before the introduction of English with
its gender-specific pronouns.
Wakan Tanka Stories
Wakantanka:
Wikipedia article about the Great Mystery.
Recommended Books of Related Native American Legends
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The Sons of the Wind:
Good collection of Sioux legends told by a Lakota author.
Sponsored Links
Additional Resources
Sioux mythology
Sioux Indians
Dakota language
South Dakota tribes
Native American Plains Indians
Lakota words
Sioux language family
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