12/12/2025
Mashtinska is the Lakota word for a jackrabbit, who are tough to spot in the day but you can see them sometimes at Mako Šíča (Badlands) or the Wakpá Wašté/Mníšoše (Cheyenne River/Missouri River) basins after dusk. Long ago, it was not uncommon for families blessed with twins to lose at least one of the twins in infancy. There is a story about a family who had twin boys, losing one very early on. The other followed soon after, his brother returning for him as he slipped away and they rode off to Matho Paha (Bear Butte) together on the backs of mashtinska, as it was said the spirits of twins will if they leave their family in that early part of their lives. Twins have a special relationship to their spirits. Once, very late at night near čhaŋpȟá wakpála (Cherry Creek) my own twins and I were trekking back to the Black Hills to see my Unci at the end of her life when we happened on a few mashtinska along the highway. I stopped, woke my twins so they could see. I put some to***co out for them.
