Pte He Woptuha/ Horn Chips

[Henri]

For those who might be interested in the items Horn Chips made during his life for others like Crazy Horse etc.
Here is a link to order the book by Franz Karl Brown, Talking to Spirits: Talismanic Relics of the Lakota Medicine Man, Pte He Woptuha

www.lulu.com/product/lulustudio-fotoboek/talking-to-spirits-talismanic-relics-of-the-lakota-medicine-man-pte-he-woptuha/12427332

Henri

[Historian]

There was an Oglala Lakota man, back in the buffalo days, whose name was Ptehe Woptuh'a (aka Buffalo Cow Horn Chips). His name's implied meaning was told to me by Victoria Chips, the wife of his son Ellis Chips, during the time I participated in a number of Yuwipi ceremonies Grandpa Ellis was conducting for a friend of mine. Grandma Victoria said the name of Ptehe Woptuh'a referred to a buffalo cow horn that was so old, it would crumble into little pieces in your hand like a dried leaf. Most people now refer to him as Horn Chips. Born in 1836, Horn Chips was originally known in his youth as Tahunska (aka His Leggings).

It is well known that Horn Chips family died when he was a young child, and he went to live with his grandmother who raised him. Horn Chips and Crazy Horse were childhood friends and later it is said that Horn Chips was adopted by the uncle of Crazy Horse. The relationship between Horn Chips and Crazy Horse became stronger around 1862 or 1863, after Horn Chips, now a medicine person, made a war medicine for Crazy Horse. A small white stone with a hole through it, suspended from a deerhide thong, worn over his shoulder, so that it was under his left arm, which was said to protect him from harm from enemy bullets.

Later, it was said that a man named Black Horse dreamed of thunder and worried he would be struck by lightning. He sought out Horn Chips, considered by then to be a special type of holy man known as Heyoka. Horn Chips then put Black Horse on the hill on Eagle Nest Butte, in what is now South Dakota. Afterwards, Horn Chips interpreted Black Horse's vision, stating that Black Horse would become Heyoka also. Black Horse continued to learn from Horn Chips until he became a powerful healer himself.

Horn Chips was said to have been a member of Chief Lip's band of Wajaje, who were Upper Brule' or Sicangu who joined the Oglala around 1854. Originally, Chief Lip's camp was east of Pass Creek on the Rosebud Reservation. It was in the vicinity of Eagle Nest Butte, an old site used for trapping Golden Eagles and a sacred site used for vision quests known as Hanblechia, and the present community of Wanblee, which Chief Lip's band settled around 1880, about 5 miles north of Eagle Butte.

However, in the summer of 1890, the boundary between Pine Ridge Reservation and Rosebud Reservation was moved farther east to the mouth of Black Pipe Creek, which placed Chief Lip's camp on the Pine Ridge Reservation. While Lip's band of Wajaje were technically Sicangu Lakota originally, they continued to live and interact with the Oglala Lakota, even insisting that they be counted on the Pine Ridge Rolls as Oglala. This was the home of Horn Chips, and throughout his life he helped many people through the night ceremony now referred to as Yuwipi, until Horn Chips died in 1916.

Old man Horn Chips had two sons, Ellis Chips and Joe Chips, a cousin named Joe Ashley, and a half-brother named Sam Moves Camp, all of whom studied with Horn Chips and later became powerful Yuwipi men themselves. During this next generation of Yuwipi healers, others had also become prominent Yuwipi healers on Pine Ridge as well, such as Mark Big Road, Frank Fools Crow, George Flesh, John Iron Rope, Willie Wounded (the Uncle of my Lakota Mom), and George Plenty Wolf (the step-father of my Lakota Mom).

[Dietmar]

Henri has sent me this photograph of Horn Chips and his wife in 1907:




Thanks Henri!

[Historian]

Very interesting pattern on his leggings.

[Henri]

They are cool ain't they??

[lamuarc]

Beautiful.

[lamuarc]

Now we have dropped the horn and added a P to the chips, does any one know why and why were names always changed?

[ladonna]

All names were changed our shorten by the indian agent

[Historian]

For those who would like to learn more about the night ceremony known as Yuwipi ("to wrap up"), I can suggest a book about one of my Lakota relatives titled, "Yuwipi: Vision and Experience in Oglala Ritual" by William K. Powers, originally published by the University of Nebraska Press in 1982. In this book, it details a Yuwipi ceremony conducted by George Plenty Wolf, the husband of Julia (Dirt Kettle)(Clown Horse) Plenty Wolf, and the step-father of Celeste (Clown Horse) Brings, who lived in the Red Cloud Community on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. I might add that while there are some who believe the Lakota term Yuwipi or "to wrap up," describes the method of wrapping up the Sacred Person conducting the ceremony in a special twine with special knots and a Buffalo Robe, or now a Star Quilt over their body, I was told that it the term Yuwipi actually describes the method of wrapping up tobacco offerings in Buffalo intestines, and later wrapping the tobacco offerings in colored cotton cloth. To find the book, you can go to: Yuwipi on Amazon; or you can go to: Lakota Books

[Dietmar]

I got a message regarding Horn Chips name and genealogy:

Greetings,

Despite the many books and articles that claim Horn Chips was a childhood friend of Crazy Horse, his name was actually Woptuka and later he was referred to simply as Old Man Chips once they wrongly translated Woptuka into English. According to your online version Ellis Chips was one of his sons. Well, Ellis was born in 1909, meaning his father would have been 73 at the time. That never happened.

Woptuka had two sons—James, who changed his name to Moves Camp, and Charles, who was also known at Horn Chips. Charles was born in 1873. The photo you display is of Charles Horn Chips, but not of Woptuka as claimed.

All of the above information came to me via Godfrey Chips. And, yes, I asked him no less that five times over ten years to make sure Woptuka was not Horn Chips.

I hope you can help set the record straight.

Cheers, Bill Lyon

[hreinn]

Aug 18, 2016 5:17:46 GMT -5 Dietmar said:

his name was actually Woptuka

What is the correct translation of the name Woptuka ?

How was Godfrey Chips related to Woptuka ?

[carlo]

Aug 18, 2016 5:17:46 GMT -5 Dietmar said:

I got a message regarding Horn Chips name and genealogy:

Charles was born in 1873. The photo you display is of Charles Horn Chips, but not of Woptuka as claimed.
Bill Lyon

If the photo was indeed taken in 1907, in my humble opinion there is no way that the man in the photo is 34 years old.

[gregor]

Carlo, I agree.

[hreinn]

Valid observation Carlo

[Dietmar]

www.lakotacountrytimes.com/news/2011-01-19/Headlines/SNAPSHOT_OF_THE_PEOPLE.html