This entry records that Lakota religion, the spiritual tradition of the Lakota people of the northern Great Plains, structures prayer around a recognized set of sacred ceremonies, including the sweat lodge, the vision quest, and the sun dance, among others, understood within Lakota tradition as gifts given by White Buffalo Calf Woman, a central figure in Lakota sacred narrative, without presenting the specific prayers, songs or ceremonial protocols associated with these rites here.
Lakota religious leaders and ceremonial specialists, including recognized medicine people who undergo lengthy training and hold specific ceremonial responsibility within their communities, have in various contexts explicitly and publicly objected to the commercial appropriation and unauthorized teaching of Lakota ceremony by unaffiliated individuals and organizations, a documented pattern of concern this entry takes as directly relevant guidance for how a general reference source should treat this material. Consistent with that concern, this entry limits itself to noting that Lakota religion possesses a rich, specific prayer and ceremonial tradition rather than describing or summarizing its actual liturgical content.