Ta Tanka

by Gerald Musinsky

Ta Tanka, the "great beast" or Great Buffalo is the spirit of the Buffalo Bull. He is the patron of ceremonies, health, and provisions, and is the primary guardian of young women and women during menstruation. Ta Tanka is constantly at odds with Coyote (see Mica).

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It was considered, erroneously, by certain early anthropologists that the remains of North American mammoths were believed by the Lakota to be Ta Tanka.