Fort Yates, N.D. • Standing on a bison pelt, Boston Celtics star Kyrie Irving was smudged with sacred grasses, presented with traditional quilts and eagle feathers and given a Lakota name that means “Little Mountain” as he was welcomed Thursday into his mother’s Standing Rock Sioux tribe.
The All-Star guard and his sister, model Asia Irving, visited the tribe’s reservation that straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border for a daylong celebration recognizing their tribal heritage and support for the tribe’s long battle against the Dakota Access oil pipeline.
In front of a packed auditorium, they were honored with Lakota names during a ritual that tribal spokeswoman Danielle Finn said “is a very special rite of passage for a Lakota person.