Brulé

The Brulé are one of the seven branches or bands (sometimes called "sub-tribes") of the Teton (Titonwan) Lakota American Indian people. They are known as Sičhą́ǧu Oyáte (in Lakȟóta) —Sicangu Oyate—, Sicangu Lakota, or "Burnt Thighs Nation". Learning the meaning of their name, the French called them the Brûlé (literally, "burnt"). The name may have derived from an incident where they were fleeing through a grass fire on the plains. Many Sičhą́ǧu people live on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota and are enrolled in the federally recognized Rosebud Sioux Tribe, also known in Lakȟóta as the Sičhą́ǧu Oyáte. A smaller population lives on the Lower Brule Indian Reservation, on the west bank of the Missouri River in central South Dakota, and on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, also in South Dakota, directly west of the Rosebud Indian Reservation. The different federally recognized tribes are politically independent of each other. The term "Sičhą́ǧu" appears on pages 3 to 14 of Beginning Lakhóta. "Ká Lakȟóta kį líla hą́ske. 'That Indian (over yonder) is very tall.'" "Hą, hé Sičhą́ǧú. 'Yes, that's a Rosebud Sioux.'" It appears to be a compound word of the Thítȟųwą Lakȟóta dialect, meaning "burned thigh". Together with the Oglála Lakȟóta, who are mostly based at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, they are often called Southern Lakȟóta. They were divided in three great regional tribal divisions: Lower Brulé (Khúl Wičháša Oyáte, ′′Lowland People′′, lived along the White River to its mouth at the Missouri River (Mnišóše) as well in the Missouri River Valley in South Dakota; some ventured south to the Niobrara River). Upper Brulé (Ȟeyáta Wičháša Oyáte - ′′Highland People′′, ventured further south and west onto the Plains along the Platte River between the North and South Platte River in Nebraska in the search for buffalo. The allied Southern Cheyenne and Southern Arapaho welcomed them as strong allies to this lands which they had further claimed, along the Loup River - the former center of the Skidi or Wolf/Loup Pawnee.