BUFFALO HORN CHIPS’ HERBS for HEALING
Buffalo Horn Chips, also called Horn Chips, Chips, or Woptuha collected herbs/plants used for healing by Lakota Sioux. Chips stated 405 plants, also 405 creatures, can heal disorders. As a powerful medicine man of the later 1800s, Chips taught that long ago there was a quarrel by creatures against mankind for killing the animals. In retribution, each animal cast a disease on man. But trees, and buffalo, were a friend of man and negotiated a peace so each animal provided a cure for the disease they cast, when appeased, such as with tobacco. Horn Chips used the power of plants and animals to become a powerful medicine man for many chiefs, including his cousin, Crazy Horse.
Each medicine man or woman knew specific plants gifted them for healing. During the Buffalo Days, Chips cut and shaped rawhide cutouts showing plants to treat disorders. Godfrey, his grandson, and Victory Chips, placed these dried herbs into a cedar box to show plants for healing. Long ago, and today, Lakota trust their traditional healing over modern medicines.
Chips made this purple coneflower effigy on a rawhide left hand to heal Crazy Horse’s mouth, after shot point-blank in the face by No Water for taking his wife, Black Buffalo Woman.
Harold Thompson White Horse, Spiritual Leader on the Brule Sioux Rosebud reservation, wrote on bags the Lakota names for plants from the medicine box and their Lakota uses. He noted different bands of Sioux might have other names for the same plants. In the box are “medicines” Chips used to “activate” a plant during a healing ceremony. These include a multi-face rock from a blue pouch with tobacco inside. Nearby is a box with sliding lid housing a tiny buffalo horn knife with sinew-wrapped handle and a rawhide rattlesnake with forked tongue. A brass bell tied to a buffalo hide thong is for suspension during ceremonies. In the corner is a favorite item used by Chips—a dried puffball mushroom.
SPECIAL HEALING PLANTS used by HORN CHIPS
Pejuta to cicala (verbena/vervain) Vervain made a fine tonic in small doses to treat all forms of fever during convalescence. Lakota made tea from the leaves for the stomach. They also roasted the nutlets and ground them into flour. Recently, a health care provider told me his sister took a daily tincture of the blue vervain to treat stomach problems. This led to naming a restaurant they started, “Blue Vervain”.
Mato we-gli (bear grease) This rendered fat of a bear was rubbed on the body (like Vicks) for swelling. This oil was rubbed on the hair to make it shine. It was also mixed with red ochre (clay) and rubbed on the face to prevent sunburn. It was common for some tribes to paint the face red. (Perhaps this practice is where the term “red man” originated).
Canli aehaka/Mato Ho/Osha/Pa-la-ni Canli/Sinkpe Ta-wo-te (Pawnee tobacco/bear root, sweet flag) A leaf was applied to the head to relieve headaches/migraines. A decoction of powdered leaves was drunk as an emetic (to cause vomiting). It is an immune booster and aid for coughs, pneumonia, cold and flu. It was used for treating diabetes and digestive problems. It is chewed by drummers during pow-wows to ease their throats for singing.
Can-sisila (pilot-compass plant) Powdered root tea for debility. Resinous sap was chewed by children in various tribes. The smoke was inhaled for congestion and insomnia.
Ceyaka (mint tea) Catnip, spearmint and peppermint leaves are aromatic and used as a beverage drink. The tea helps relieve gas and soothe an upset stomach. A wet poultice was applied to the chest to relieve congestion. The leaves were sometimes chewed to ease chest pain and strengthen the heart. Mint was packed with dried meat as a flavoring. It was also used as a deodorant and air freshener.
Wakpe Waste mna (sweet leaf, bergamot, horsemint, elk medicine) Wild bergamot contains thymol, a natural antiseptic compound commonly used in mouth washes. The tea was drunk to help with colds and coughs. Poultices and other topical preparations of wild bergamot were applied to wounds, skin infections and sore eyes. Bergamot tea was also drunk to treat fever, stomachache, gas, headaches and congestion. Native Americans used the leaves in boiling water for vapor treatment of colds and bronchial disorders. This sweet-smelling plant was used as a perfume to rub over the body or placed among clothes for its pleasant scent. This plant was believed by Lakota men that bergamot’s strong fragrance would entice women; so was considered a love medicine, calling it “Elk Medicine”, since bull elk could call female elk from miles away.
Xante blas ska (flat cedar) Lakota prefer flat cedar as purifying incense since this type of cedar has the sweetest aroma when burned for ceremonies. It was also drunk as tea.
Pejuta She ca mna (western wall flower) Lakota used the entire plant, either chewed or in tea, to treat stomach and bowel cramps.
Pejuta Niga Tanka (morning glory) The Lakota used the bush morning glory to relieve diarrhea and digestive problems. The burned root was used to cure nervousness and bad dreams. The taproot (often 18 inches in diameter and 4 feet long) was pulverized and dusted on people to relieve pain or revive someone who had fainted. Lakota ate the root to relieve stomach problems and treat diabetes. When under 5 years old, it is palatable and used as food. Additionally, its dried root was used as a punk to start fires. A glowing ember from a fire was placed into a morning glory tuber to smolder during the four days of a Sun Dance ceremony. Meriwether Lewis in his journal recorded the ember could burn for 6 months. The deep taproot of the bush morning glory can attain the size of a man. The small taproots of smaller plants were cooked and dried for food.
Can-zila (sumac) Its red leaves were added to tobacco to enhance the flavor and add color. Lakota steeped the bright red fruits at the top for tea. The plant was also used as a wound salve and dye. Its leaves were used in a tobacco mix.
Grendelia Pte eci juha Pejuta (resin weed, grindelia, gum plant) This sticky plant root was boiled and drunk as a tea for the liver; a decoction of leaves was made for running sores; flowering tops collected in the spring were used for a blood purifier, relieve throat and lung trouble such as asthma and bronchitis; a half cupful daily was for measle treatment. A hot half cupful was good for pneumonia. Used for stomach and kidney problems (in low dosages of tea and for only several days due to its resin). Dakota tribes prepared a decoction of the plant in treating children with colic. The resin was rubbed to ease itching from poison ivy.
Pejuta ska (4 o’clock) The juice was mainly used to treat swelling and broken bones. Also used to treat diarrhea, fever and indigestion, constipation, diabetic, urination and colic problems. The plant was used as a hallucinogen in ceremonies.
Can sa sa ecahi (red willow mix) The red bark was scraped off and its inner layer used long ago, and purists today, for smoking rather than tobacco leaves. Willow bark has properties as an aspirin to cure headaches by chewing the stem. Its limbs were preferred by some Lakota for arrow shafts.
Peji cota (white sage, winter fat) Used in many ceremonies, such as worn around the wrist and head in the Sun Dance. Also used as a tea beverage and medically to cure night sweats and purify the blood. Its leaves were commonly placed on hot rocks during a sweat lodge ceremony for its fragrance. There is a “male” and a “female” sage. There are many types of sage, but none were used by Lakota in cooking.
Tokala ta pejuta/Iktomi pejuta (rabbit brush) Often called rubber rabbitbrush due to its sticky top. Its stem and leaves have been used as a crude type of chewing gum. It also was a medicine, source of yellow dye and fuel for fire. The slender leaves were used in basketmaking.
Wag mu Pejuta (wild gourd) This plant was used to treat cancer, but one must be cautious since it is toxic and tastes bitter as tea. Lakota crushed root and pith of fruit for soap to wash clothes and were careful to rinse several times due to its prickly hairs. The ground seeds were eaten, and portions of the gourd made a strong purge, though it could prove fatal. They made tea for bloat in horses, also for worms. The top of the plant was thought to cure ailments of the head and roots to treat the feet. Some tribes would grind roots and mix this with water as a laxative. The Navajo used the dried gourds as rattles in their dances.
Wa ca ga (sweet grass) This grass was pulled and 3 or 4-braided to offer a sweet smell when placed with clothing. The braided grass was lit at its end and its smoke used to smudge objects and people.
We-ca hpi Ho (star root, purple cone flower or echinacea) This was one of the most important and heavily used plants by the Lakota. When the root is chewed, it has a numbing, anesthetic effect on the mouth. The root has also been widely used by Plains Indians to treat snakebite, stings, toothache, coughing and arthritis. Recently drug companies sought Black Hills echinacea due to its higher potency, as compared to other areas. There are two types of cone flower; the type growing in the Black Hills has potency, but flowers growing elsewhere do not.
By Larry Belitz, caretaker of the Chips Collection
December 12, 2023