Ohiya Casino opens with a drum beat, prayer, and song

A drum begins to thunder outside the Ohiya Casino and Resort in Niobrara.

Monday is the soft reopening of the casino, a chief employer for the Santee Sioux Nation, which has been closed for over two months.

It’s a step toward restoring normalcy for the tribe, announced with song and prayer. It’s a celebration and a demonstration with multiple meanings.

“It was illegal until 1978 to pray that way, and to use a drum, and to sing. To pray that way of our people,” said Ron Thomas, who performed the prayer at the ceremony.

“We’re going to keep moving forward and build up our nation,” Thomas said. “To help our neighbors in Knox County and wherever they come from. To help each other.”

“When the Ohiya had their final victory with the United States of America, a song was composed to celebrate their victory,” said Redwing Thomas, one of the drum players and singers at the ceremony.

“That song that was sung it says ‘my friend, we are the Dakota People. And not everybody can stand with bravery that the Isanti came to do. And it’s with that bravery that we continue to be. Because we are the Dakota.”

With the prayer ended, the casino’s first patrons in months make their way in.