Four Days in the Isnati Tipi

James R. Walker, a physician who worked among the Oglala Lakota at Pine Ridge in the early twentieth century and recorded ceremonial knowledge directly from holy men and elders, set down a detailed account of the isnati rite in the material later published as Lakota Belief and Ritual. At the onset of a girl's first menstruation, a special tipi is raised and she is secluded within it for four days, a number carrying deep significance throughout Lakota ceremonial life, under the close guidance of an older female relative or a respected woman chosen for the role.

Within the tipi the girl is instructed in the skills and conduct expected of an adult Lakota woman, including quillwork or other handwork, food preparation and the moral bearing she will be expected to keep for the rest of her life. A holy man conducts ceremony on her behalf during this period even though he does not enter the women's space himself, invoking White Buffalo Calf Woman and praying for the girl's health, fertility and good character. The four days close with the girl's emergence, a community feast, and often a giveaway in which her family distributes gifts in her honour, a public act that both celebrates her and obligates the community's continued regard for her.