8 / Sport and Trail Magazine
Beverly Bear King Moran with Midnight Dream, Hunkpapa Lakota Beadwork Artist
Photo credit Nancy Smith, Lightning Horse Photography
of all the horses that have been abused and slaughtered inhumanely.
Following are a few highlights of our conversation:
Ozana: Thank you again for taking time to talk with me. Can you tell me about your Native background?
Beverly: I am Hunkpapa Lakota and an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. My Tribe’s reservation is in North and South Dakota. The people of Standing Rock often called Sioux, are members of the Lakota and Dakota Nations. “Lakota” and “Dakota” means “allies” or “friends”. The Hunkpapa Lakota are “Those Living at Entrance of Camp Circle” and one of the seven council fires of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota circle called the “Oceti Sakowin”. Historically, our culture revolved around the horse and buffalo, and our people were nomadic and lived in lodges. Today the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has approximately 16,000 enrolled members. My Tribe recently received international attention and support for being “Water Protectors” in our battle to stop the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
I grew up about 100 miles off the reservation in Aberdeen, SD. As a child, I spent my summers on the reservation in Fort Yates, ND with my Grandmother Clara Bear King. It was during that time spent with my Grandmother that I began to understand and learn our values and traditions of our people which I have cared my whole life. After the birth of my daughter Andrea, I became inspired and energized to learn the ways of making our traditional northern buckskin dresses. It was Andrea’s desire to dance traditional that motivated me to learn how to bead. Inspired by the geometric beadwork of the Northern Plains Tribe I now create dramatic northern traditional buckskin dresses with matching horse regalia by combining the traditions of the past with modern materials.
child, I spent my summers on the
reservation in Fort Yates, ND with my
Grandmother Clara Bear King. It was
during that time spent with my
Grandmother that I began to
understand and learn our values and
traditions of our people of which I
have cared my whole life. After the
birth of my daughter Andrea, I
became inspired and energized to
learn the ways of making our
traditional northern buckskin
dresses. It was Andrea’s desire to
dance traditional that motivated me
to learn how to bead. Inspired by the
geometric beadwork of the Northern
Plains Tribe, I now create dramatic
northern traditional buckskin dresses
with matching horse regalia by
combining the traditions of the past
with modern materials.
Ozana: What does it mean to you to
be part of the Gathering of Nations
together with your horses?
Beverly: The GON Horse Regalia
Parade provides my family the unique
opportunity to share our love of our
horses and our traditional horse
regalia with our brothers and sisters
all around the world. It’s a time to
honor the horse nation, the ancestors,
and the continued regeneration of
this spectacular and time-honored
tradition. It’s also a time to create new
relationships with other riders and
their horses. This was a very special time for us this year as my sister Valerie Moran and our horse Star were riding in the parade in honor of our cousin Tammy LaFromboise, another daughter of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation, and ALL Missing and Murdered Indigenous Woman, whose lives were taken too soon. And, our horse Midnight Dream was honored this year to carry the Thunder Hooves “Saddle of Hope” as a Spirit Rider in honor of all the horses that have been needlessly abused and slaughtered. My daughter Andrea Bear King also dressed in her traditional dress and walked with us in the parade.