National | Sports

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe welcomes brother and sister back home

Thursday, August 23, 2018

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe held a welcoming and naming ceremony for two descendants whose mother was adopted at a young age.

NBA All-Star and Boston Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving was given the name Hela, which means "Little Mountain" in the Lakota language. His older sister, Asia Irving, a fashion designer and model, was named Tatanka Winyan, meaning ""Buffalo Woman."

"We're welcoming home two of our own," Chairman Mike Faith said at the Prairie Knights Casino, on Thursday morning, ESPN reported. "This definitely is history."

Kyrie Irving was welcomed home and given the named “Little Mountain” today. Wophila! #StandingRock @TMZ_Sports pic.twitter.com/pagt75Ly2q
— Juliana {J.R.} White Bull (@JRose_WB) August 23, 2018

Kyrie's and Asia's mother, the late Elizabeth Ann Larson, was from Standing Rock. Though she was adopted at a young age, her children still have relatives on the reservation, many of whom attended the ceremony.

"I started crying," Jewel Felix, who is an aunt of the siblings, told The Associated Press of the ceremony. "I can't believe it's happening."

The siblings' grandmother was Meredith Marie Mountain, and their great-grandparents were Moses Mountain and Edith Morisette-Mountain, the tribe said last week in announcing the ceremony. Their family is from the South Dakota portion of the reservation.

Kyrie Irving has known about his tribal heritage and was an active supporter of the movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline. He recently released a Nike N7 shoe he designed to honor the water, his tribe and his late mother.

"Irving approached Nike and asked for the tribal seal to be incorporated into the shoe, to pay tribute to his mother’s heritage and to reflect his pride in the Standing Rock Sioux community," the apparel giant says on its website.

Irving also sports a tattoo of the Standing Rock tribal logo on the back of his neck.

Elizabeth Ann Larson, seen in a photo on Asia's Instagram feed, was a basketball standout as a high school student in Washington, The Tacoma News-Tribune reported last year. Her father believes Kyrie caries on her focus and drive when he's on the court.

Larson was 29 years old when she died, the paper reported. Kyrie was only 4 at the time.

The tribe has posted a series of videos from the ceremony on Thursday. The tribe asked for no video or photography during the naming portion of the event.