Yum, the fifth child of the wind father
By Ralf Ittermann · last reviewed on
Yum is a spirit of Lakota tradition.
The whirlwind without a direction of its own.
Yum, also Yumni, is the whirlwind among the Lakota, the youngest, fifth child of the wind father Tate. Unlike the four wind sons, he receives no direction of his own; he embodies the unpredictable and playful nature of the whirlwind and stands outside the ordered structure.
Yum can be traced almost exclusively through James R. Walker, popularised in the collection The Sons of the Wind. Even in Walker’s own material, the record remains notably thin; he mostly appears only as the unusual youngest child.
Type: Whirlwind, youngest of the five wind children
Origin: Lakota, northern Plains
Texts: almost only in Walker, popularised in The Sons of the Wind
Period: Lakota tradition, documented around 1900
Appearance: the whirlwind itself, youngest brother of the winds
Context of Tradition
Period of the Texts
Lakota tradition, traceable almost exclusively in Walker’s records around 1900 and popularised through The Sons of the Wind.
Area of Diffusion
The Lakota of the northern Plains; Yum belongs to the cosmology of the wind family around the wind father Tate.
Sources
Very thin and Walker-dependent: even within Walker’s material, Yum is notably sparsely documented.
Name and variants
Lakota: Yumni means whirlwind, a shortened form of Wamniomni; Yum is the short form. The name denotes the phenomenon itself, the swirling wind.
Description
Appearance
Yum is the whirlwind itself, a small, erratic, unfinished youngest brother. He embodies the unpredictability of the wind.
Effect
In the narrative context, Yum is associated with play, courtship and unpredictability. He stands outside the ordered four-directions structure, as he receives no direction of his own; not malicious or destructive, but restless.
Profile: Yum
The most important aspects of the whirlwind at a glance.
Youngest child of the wind family around Tate in Walker’s cycle; a thinly attested minor figure of Lakota cosmology.
The wind family and its order: as the fifth child, Yum falls outside the structure of the four directional sons.
The whirlwind itself: small, erratic and unfinished, the youngest brother among the winds.
Embodiment of the unpredictable and playful side of the wind; in the narrative context linked to play and courtship.
No reliable independent cult or protective form is attested; restraint and non-invention are called for here.
Not a directional wind like his brothers, and not to be confused with the historical Oglala chief Whirlwind, Wamniomni, a real person.
The unusual youngest child in Walker
Yumni means whirlwind, a shortened form of Wamniomni; Yum is the short version. The figure is documented almost exclusively through James R. Walker, popularised in the collection The Sons of the Wind. In his cycle, Yum is the youngest, fifth child of the wind father Tate.
While the four elder brothers are sent out to establish the cardinal directions, Yum receives no direction of his own: he remains the whirlwind, evading order. Even within Walker’s material he is notably thinly documented and appears mainly as the unusual youngest child.
Minor figure and confusion
Yum is a minor figure and is occasionally confused with the historical Oglala chief Whirlwind, Wamniomni, a real person, not a spirit being.
From a religious-studies perspective, Yum shows the motif of the whirlwind as the youngest, unruly wind child. An important clarification: he is not a broadly and independently attested deity, but a thinly documented secondary figure dependent on Walker, and should not be confused with the historical chief Whirlwind.
Restraint instead of invented rituals
No reliable independent cult or protective form connected to Yum is attested. Restraint and non-invention are called for here; this must be stated honestly. Those who encounter the whirlwind of the Plains will find in tradition not a warding formula, but a narrative figure who places the wind’s erratic nature within the wind family.
Yum within the wind family and beyond
Yum embodies the motif of the youngest, wild wind child outside of order. Within the Lakota wind family he stands alongside the four directional sons of Tate; above them all stands the sky and movement force Taku Skanskan. As an embodied whirlwind of a quite different kind, the Buhawi appears in Philippine tradition.
Frequently asked questions about Yum
Who is Yum?
The whirlwind and the youngest, fifth wind child of the wind father Tate among the Lakota.
Why does he have no cardinal direction?
Unlike the four wind sons, as a whirlwind he stands outside the ordered four-direction structure.
Is Yum well documented?
No. He is a thinly documented secondary figure dependent on Walker, and should not be confused with the historical chief Whirlwind.
Further links
Further reading:
- Tate – the wind father and father of the five wind children
- Taku Skanskan – the sky and movement force of the Lakota
- Buhawi – the Philippine whirlwind for comparison
- Amulet, Sage, Protective candle – traditional protective means for the home
Literature (selection)
Further standard works in the bibliography.
So Yum remains the Lakota whirlwind in the literal sense: a small, erratic figure who, as the youngest wind child, received no direction, and precisely in this embodies the unpredictability of the wind.
