Dakhóta Floral Iyá
Flowers Speak Again
Flowers Speak Again
By Dakota Wind
Long ago, the Ochéti Shakówiŋ said that the flowers used to speak to people. When they walked by the Prairie Rose she used to call out "Haŋ!" A bashful flower, she stopped greeting the people when they didn't hear her or ignored her.
The Ochéti Shakówiŋ revered the flowers of their traditional homelands from the lakes and woodlands to the vast open plain. Many of their traditional medicines are taken from plants and bushes that blossom. Flowers were never picked just because they were beautiful. They also say that the rainbows are the spirits of last season's flowers. They beautify places and make the air sweet.
In August 2021, I was inspired by the revival of the Dakhóta Floral tradition in beadwork, quillwork, ribbon dresses, and graphic media. One night I dreamt of flowers too. I sketched out flowers and vines in a linear fashion left to right but the execution never seemed natural. Then a reader contacted me about the direction of thought and communication. Dakhóta Floral patterns are stacked. It became obvious that I needed to change the direction to capture the design elements of this tradition. It needed to be vertical.
It may seem impractical to have complicated characters representing sounds in this alphabet. The designs and patterns in Dakhóta Floral are thought out and reflected upon, however, and are carefully applied in practice onto the medium of leather, paper, cloth, etc. It is a mindful practice to beautify an everyday apparel or tool.
Long ago, the Ochéti Shakówiŋ said that the flowers used to speak to people. When they walked by the Prairie Rose she used to call out "Haŋ!" A bashful flower, she stopped greeting the people when they didn't hear her or ignored her.
The Ochéti Shakówiŋ revered the flowers of their traditional homelands from the lakes and woodlands to the vast open plain. Many of their traditional medicines are taken from plants and bushes that blossom. Flowers were never picked just because they were beautiful. They also say that the rainbows are the spirits of last season's flowers. They beautify places and make the air sweet.
A guide (above) explains the flowers used to construct the Dakhóta Floral alphabet.
In August 2021, I was inspired by the revival of the Dakhóta Floral tradition in beadwork, quillwork, ribbon dresses, and graphic media. One night I dreamt of flowers too. I sketched out flowers and vines in a linear fashion left to right but the execution never seemed natural. Then a reader contacted me about the direction of thought and communication. Dakhóta Floral patterns are stacked. It became obvious that I needed to change the direction to capture the design elements of this tradition. It needed to be vertical.
It may seem impractical to have complicated characters representing sounds in this alphabet. The designs and patterns in Dakhóta Floral are thought out and reflected upon, however, and are carefully applied in practice onto the medium of leather, paper, cloth, etc. It is a mindful practice to beautify an everyday apparel or tool.
A key (above) to the Dakhóta Floral Iya. Image by author.
After drafting the characters on paper, I constructed them in a desktop publisher program, created an account at Calligraphr, imported the alphabet in their format, and the online app created the font and file. The font will not automatically type vertically in your Word doc. Here are the steps I take to use this font.
Download the True Type Dakhota Floral here. Download the Open Type Dakhota Floral here.
After installing the Dakhóta Floral font for Windows users:
1. Create text boxes. You can adjust them as you go along.
2. Write your Lakhota text in the Txakini orthography.
3. Select your text and change the font to Dakhóta Floral.
4. Adjust your text box/es so that one letter is on one line, one letter atop the other.
5. Adjust your paragraph spacing "after" to "0 point." Adjust your line spacing to whatever you are comfortable with. I set mine to "multiple" at "0.85."
After drafting the characters on paper, I constructed them in a desktop publisher program, created an account at Calligraphr, imported the alphabet in their format, and the online app created the font and file. The font will not automatically type vertically in your Word doc. Here are the steps I take to use this font.
Download the True Type Dakhota Floral here. Download the Open Type Dakhota Floral here.
After installing the Dakhóta Floral font for Windows users:
1. Create text boxes. You can adjust them as you go along.
2. Write your Lakhota text in the Txakini orthography.
3. Select your text and change the font to Dakhóta Floral.
4. Adjust your text box/es so that one letter is on one line, one letter atop the other.
5. Adjust your paragraph spacing "after" to "0 point." Adjust your line spacing to whatever you are comfortable with. I set mine to "multiple" at "0.85."
Here's a reading from Genesis 1:11 (above) transcribed from the Bible History in the Language of the Teton Sioux Indians (1924). By author.
