Pete Catches, Sr. (Petaga Yuha Mani)

was born on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1912, his father Paul Catches was a 36th Generation Medicine Man, who practiced Snake Medicine. They lived in an era when the Lakota Nation’s traditional culture was being oppressed; they were taught that the Snake represented “the Devil” instead of the sacred life force that is shown in the symbol of medicine. Native spiritual practices were against the law, enforced with 10 years of imprisonment for being suspected of participating in or caught performing a ceremony. When he saw more and more people were afraid of his medicine, Paul started to turn the people towards Christianity. He became the first catechist on Pine Ridge; Nicholas Black Elk, a heyoka medicine man living in the same community was soon to follow.

During this dark time, children were forcibly taken away from their parents and homes and put into boarding schools. This was the era of “Kill the Indian, save the man.” Pete’s parents passed away when he was very young. He was raised by his uncle, Cedar Face. At this time, all the children on the reservation were collected and put into Holy Rosary Boarding School on the Pine Ridge Reservation, where he was taught that “…Indian ways… were heathen ways…and devil worship. Being young minds, we believed it. I believed it.” In his own words, he was “brainwashed” by the church and although he was disgusted by the ways the boys were treated by the Jesuit missionaries, he said, “I believe in Jesus Christ as the greatest of Medicine Men.”

Pete had a sacred vision of being a lone sundancer – “In the Lakota way, you are supposed to act out a sacred vision. But I did not want it. In fact, I tried hard to avoid it” He ran away from his vision for 17 years. When he finally enacted his vision, bringing the spiritual into the physical reality, the power to heal others became a part of his medicine.

Pete Sr. believed the first step in healing his people was to bring them back into balance with how the Creator created them as Lakota. He is beloved in Lakota country because he and three other medicine men were instrumental in bringing back out into the open the Sundance to serve the people. It is the most powerful of the Seven Sacred Rites of the Lakota, and they brought it back in the early 1960’s at Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations. This was while it was still illegal to practice Native ceremonies. He was also responsible for bringing Sitting Bull’s Buffalo Sundance back to the Standing Rock Reservation. He taught them for eight years and had his son Peter teach them the 9th year. In 1964, Pete was named Sundance Chief by the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council, the only such distinction in tribal history.

In 1989 Pete, with his son Peter, created Oceti Wakan – Sacred Fireplace, a 501(C) 3 nonprofit organization contributing to the preservation of the Lakota culture, language, and the healing of the people. Oceti Wakan is a response to events that have devastated the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota Nation over the past seven generations and is focused on creating a place for the healing of the family as a whole by rekindling Lakota spiritual values and culture.

Pete passed away in 1993 leaving his son, Peter Catches (Zintkala Oyate) and his wife, Cindy Catches, to complete their work.

Peter Catches (Zintkala Oyate)

was born in 1955 in Pine Ridge, the seventh child born to Pete and Amelia Catches. Pete asked the Spotted Eagle Nation to bring him a medicine child, as he knew the people needed the healing to continue. As a 38th generation medicine man, he was the Keeper of the Spotted Eagle Ways and Medicines. He touched hundreds of lives; aiding their healing and growth on their spiritual journeys. Peter was beloved by people all over the world for all that he did to preserve Lakota culture and language during his lifetime.

When he was 19, he started his own Sundance which he ran for 44 consecutive years, until his passing in 2018. His family has continued that Sundance, July of 2024 marks the 50th consecutive year of the longest-running Sundance in Lakota Country. He also helped to start and conduct Sundances at the Cheyenne River Reservation, Rosebud Reservation, Standing Rock Reservation, and Lower Sioux Reservation, totaling 56 Sundances.

He authored six Lakota Language books and CDs, a CD for the young people to understand the timeless symbolism of the Seven Sacred Rites given to the Lakota, co-authored a book with his father ‘Sacred Fireplace,’ and wrote ‘Realities Within.’ He and his wife Cindy have written a book, ‘Intertwined Destinies‘ due to come out in the coming years.

Between 2010 and 2013, alarmed by the number of children who were attempting suicide on Pine Ridge, Peter brought back an old prayer song. He continued to pray to Wakan Tanka (Great Mystery, Great Spirit, Creator, God) to give him inspiration and answers. Within a few months, he was invited to a panel discussion at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that the Surgeon General was moderating. Peter spoke to them about the extremely high rate of suicide attempts by children on the reservation. Over 500 children (ages 9-24) in one year attempted suicide on the Pine Ridge reservation. The Surgeon General told Peter, “We have been in the health business for over 60 years. And here is what we have found, the best money spent is on prevention. The earlier, the better. Ideally, you would want the parents to heal from trauma and other health issues before the mother gets pregnant.”

This conversation is what inspired Oceti Wakan to develop, create and institute a whole-body Wellness Prevention Program for children from K to 12th grades called Life Skills for the Young Lakota and Wolakota Life Skills for Teens which he co-created with his wife, Cindy Catches.

The founder’s vision of building a healing center is taking shape. Learn more about this important project and how you can support it!

Cindy Catches 

has a long history of working with Indigenous Tribes. In the 1980’s, she worked with James Billy doing projects with the Seminole Tribe, which led to working with USET (United Southern and Eastern Tribes). As a partner with USET, they created a new headquarters for USET and IHS (Indian Health Service) in Nashville, a 70-room Best Western Motel. She raised money and designed the Calumet Cultural Center. Once Cindy and Peter were married, they visited the keepers of their culture and the medicine people of each of these 20 tribes together to create a booklet for each tribe with their creation story and homesite. Calumet is a Cherokee word for the “sacred pipe,” what many people refer to as the Peace Pipe.

In the late 1980’s she was asked if she could bring Native American spiritual, educational and political leaders to the National Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration and Ceremonies. The King Center had been helping oppressed peoples throughout the world with human rights but had never worked with their Native brothers and sisters here in this country. Because of her work with USET and the Baha’i community, she was asked to invite Native Americans to join the celebration; this is how she was introduced to Pete Catches. She was so inspired by his vision that she started fundraising for Oceti Wakan. Pete had shared with her a vision of a cultural healing center for Pine Ridge and with her experience, she was the perfect person to help Pete bring his vision to life. Over the next year, they developed a close friendship. Cindy set up nationwide speaking engagements for Pete. He told Peter before Peter and Cindy ever met: “Cindy is going to help you build Oceti Wakan.”

Several months later, Pete experienced a health crisis, and Cindy went out to Pine Ridge to be of assistance. It was there that she met Peter, and within a year, they were married.

It was the union of Pete, Peter, and Cindy that developed Oceti Wakan over the past 33 years. Each of them brought their own gifts for the betterment of the whole. Oceti Wakan would not be where it is today if it were not for their coming together in unity to serve the people.

Today Cindy Catches carries on their work with the leadership of the Oceti Wakan Board.