The Brulé are one of the seven branches or bands (sometimes called "sub-tribes") of the Teton (Titonwan)
LakotaAmerican 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.
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).[4]
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. They went south to plunder enemy Pawnee and Arikara camps, and were therefore also known as: Kheyatawhichasha - ″People away from the (Missouri) River″)
(Upper) Brulé of the Platte River (a splinter group of the Upper Brulé and the southernmost Brulé group, generally along the
South Platte River in Colorado, with hunting bands south to the
Republican River - home to the enemy Kithehaki / Kitkehaxki of the
South Bands Pawnee, also known as: Kheyatawhichasha - ″People away from the (Missouri) River″)
According to the Brulé Medicine Bull (Tatȟą́ka Wakȟą́), the people were decentralized and identified with the following thiyóšpaye, or extended family groups, who collected in various local thiwáhe (English: camps or family circles):
The Brulé give pulverized roots of Asclepias viridiflora to children with diarrhea. Nursing mothers take an infusion of the whole plant to increase their milk.[5] They brew the leaves of Ceanothus herbaceus into a tea.[6]
^Rogers, Dilwyn J, 1980, Lakota Names and Traditional Uses of Native Plants by Sicangu (Brule) People in the Rosebud Area, South Dakota, St. Francis, SD. Rosebud Educational Society, page 34
^Rogers, Dilwyn J., 1980, Lakota Names and Traditional Uses of Native Plants by Sicangu (Brule) People in the Rosebud Area, South Dakota, St. Francis, SD. Rosebud Educational Society, page 56