Twenty-Five South Dakota Goldbacks | Laurea (Honor)

Description

The final new Virtue for the South Dakota 25 Goldback Denomination is Laurea, or Honor. This illustration was largely inspired by one of the legends told about Maiden’s Isle on Lake Kampeska, one of South Dakota’s glacial lakes. There are many legends and stories about many of the glacial lakes, but this story is about a young woman named Minnecotah who was in love with a hunter from another area. In the legend, many local men wanted to marry her, but she was waiting for her true love from Wahpeton. In order to delay their advances, she told them that she would marry the man who could throw a stone the farthest into the lake.

The men did so for days, with Minnecotah encouraging them and delaying further by saying that she could not tell who had thrown the farthest because of the waves. For a while this worked and an island began to form in the lake. Then, realizing that the contest was a ruse, her suitors kidnapped her and placed her on the island they had created, giving her no food, in an attempt to force her to either choose one of the suitors or die of starvation. Minnecotah decided to remain true to her love and honor their commitment to each other, deciding to not choose one of the suitors. While she was living on the island, waiting for her true love, a white pelican brought her fish and berries to help her survive. Eventually, the hunter that she loved returned and took her away to live with him. When the suitors from her tribe discovered that she was gone, they believed that the sun god had sent the white pelican to take her away.

For this reason Laurea stands on a stone island in the lake, representing Maiden’s Isle from Lake Kampeska. A pelican can be seen flying above her and raspberries can be seen in the foreground. Also present in this illustration are many elements from the Lakota legend of the flute, the legend of how the porcupine got its quills, and the legend of the dream catcher as told by the Aktá Lakota Museum & Cultural Center. She encourages the viewer not only to honor their commitments and keep their word, but to praise the Maker of all, even through one’s trials, by the accompanied inscription “Honor to the Giver”.