Lakota Values in Every Stitch

"Making star quilts enriches our emotional world and teaches compassion.  When a star quilt is wrapped around a person, they feel loved and cherished by the person who is giving them the star quilt."

Gladys Thunder Hawk-Gay (Oglala Lakota) has been making star quilts for over 80 years, since she was 6 years old. Growing up, she watched her mother Susanna Jealous of Him sew quilts. And her grandmother, Louisa Two Heart, taught her to bead. Gladys also prepares traditional foods such as papa (dried meat), tunpsila (wild turnip), canpa (chokecherries), and spiritual food for ceremonies, like wasna (dried shredded meat mix) and canpa hunpi (chokecherry juice). Gladys has led huge gatherings of her tiospaye (extended and distant family), and organized naming and honoring ceremonies. In this way, she has ensured that many Oglala Lakota people have received Lakota names, and understand the spirituality and the making of relatives process. Gladys is a 2021 First Peoples Fund Community Spirit Award Honoree.

In 1936 Life magazine debuted its all-photographic format, Stalin signed the Soviet Constitution and Gladys Thunder Hawk-Gay began sewing alongside her mother in their home along American Horse Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Life folded decades ago and the Soviet Union imploded in 1991. But Gladys is still at it, turning out her specialty star quilts for “honoring ceremonies, weddings, births, when people pass on, for graduations -- and anytime star quilts are needed,” she said. “Right now I have six orders.”

Gladys was honored recently with a First People’s Fund Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award that recognizes exceptional artists who have worked selflessly throughout their lives to weave their cultural knowledge and ancestral gifts into their communities. Honorees are selected for sustaining and growing understanding of the creative practices and cultural values of their People. 

Those words could have been written with Gladys specifically in mind.

“Gladys is a passionate quilt maker who reflects her Lakota values of generosity, humility, and virtue,” said Tawa Ducheneaux (Cherokee) who nominated Gladys for the award. “She is especially kind and generous to all who sit down to visit with her about quilting. She doesn't consider her work to be art, but a part of her life that has always been. Because star quilts are so important to contemporary Lakota life, and the community requests them, she carries on. Much like Calvin Jumping Bull stated years ago, it is ‘through art expressions that Lakota values and beliefs are retained and taught.’ Gladys would be considered to have nape waketa, fine hands that create art. She is truly deserving of this honor.”

Gladys has seen many things change in her 91 years but some things remain constant. Like her vision (“I still don’t need glasses,” she declares proudly) and her commitment to sharing her knowledge, traditions and heritage through her spirit, her generosity -- and her sewing.

She has several designs that she incorporates into her quilts, depending on the occasion: the horse, eagle, buffalo, and tipi are many of the images that reflect Lakota culture and lifeways that she uses. She began formally teaching quilting classes about twenty years ago and continues to work with youth groups. She always has an open door for anyone interested in learning the art. Her quilts are recognizable by their symmetry and handwork -- and their spirit. 

“Star quilts are given in honorings, naming ceremonies, graduations,” said Gladys, “and giveaways which were done when someone is cherished highly and material things were given away in that person’s honor. Horses and tipis were given away back then; today the star quilt [has] replaced the horse and tipi. When someone has a giveaway they are passing down an ancient tradition.”

She says she sews “love into every quilt” and knows there is a restorative force that is transmitted. “The quilt itself brings a sense of healing to the person receiving it as a gift during a troubled time,” she explains. “It brings happiness to the receiver. Star quilts decrease stress, promote healthy lifestyles, and have health benefits. Receiving a star quilt uplifts someone’s spirit, it changes their mood and makes them happy. Star quilts have a huge impact on emotions.”

And producing quilts can be restorative, also.

“Sewing a star quilt prevents dementia and promotes well-being,” she says. “Making star quilts enriches our emotional world and teaches compassion.  When a star quilt is wrapped around a person, they feel loved and cherished by the person who is giving them the star quilt.”

Does she plan to retire any time soon? The answer is, no -- in regards to both sewing and helping her People.

“I will continue to make quilts, cook for gatherings, and cook traditional foods when needed,” she said. “I will continue to do whatever is needed and what I've done as long as I am alive.” 

And her commitment to helping her People makes her a perfect recipient of the Community Spirit Award.

“Gladys quilts for (her People) and has taught many of us the understandings that go with this,” said Tawa. “She is a Lakota treasure."