Sacred Rainbow Nation Songs of Light, Peace and Love · Living addition · First-person source

Makpia Glegleika Oyate Wakan

Sacred Rainbow Nation — the Rainbow Unity Song

key D minor (detected) tempo ≈129 origin Katuah Solstice, 1991 language Lakota

It was given to the songbook by Inila Wakan (“Quiet Spirit”), Lakota, Pine Ridge — at the Katuah Solstice Gathering (Southern Appalachians), June 1991, after a sweat lodge and vision. Asked to teach “Rainbow people” in Lakota, he returned from his tipi and corrected: “No! Not Rainbow people — Makpia Glegleika Oyate Wakan!” — Sacred Rainbow Nation — and asked that it be taught “so they will remember who they truly are”. The melody line is credited to Deborah Dorland (Rainbow Dancer), who set the phrase to a simple melody to make it teachable, with the hand movements and standing dance. It spread through gatherings in the summer of 1991 and was adopted by consensus at the European World Rainbow Gathering in Poland that August as the worldwide Rainbow Unity Song — reaching Vermont, and the Danish island of Avernakø ahead of its own carrier. It is documented here from first-person correspondence with Deborah Dorland, 2024–2025, including sung voice memos and the dance. The song is also carried independently: Sierra Apaniiwa Felicidad — Sacred Rainbow Nation, an Indigenous singer’s recording of “a song that was shown to me by my rainbow brother” — the same melody, sung with hand drum.

Melody — transcribed from the carrier's voice memo

The chant — canonical form, from the carrier

Makpia Glegleika Oyate Wakan,

Makpia Glegleika Oyate Wakan.

Makpia Glegleika Oyate Wakan,

Makpia Glegleika Oyate Wakan.

Then some add, rhythmically, like a round —

Sa-cred Rainbow Nation, Sacred Rainbow Nation,

— while everyone else continues singing and dancing:

Makpia Glegleika Oyate Wakan,

Makpia Glegleika Oyate Wakan.

What the words mean

Makpía: “Sky Father” — Lakota makȟpíya, cloud / sky
Glégléika: the over-arching “Rainbow” that unites us — as taught by Inila Wakan; compare Lakota gleǧá “striped”, reduplicated glegléǧa “striped all over”
Oyáte: “Nation”, people — many tribes united into one
Wakȟáŋ: “Sacred” — the Great Mystery is so very sacred

Together: “Sacred Rainbow Nation” — or more fully, the Sky Father Rainbow Nation: the one large sky rainbow above that unites all the small rainbows swirling on the Earth. The teaching that came with the song is kept deliberately simple: sing the Lakota, and let the English chorus be the heartbeat underneath.

The standing dance — one movement per word

Makpía: both arms straight up, wrists bent down, fingers waving downward like rain sprinkling from the sky — the Sky Father’s gift of rain
Glégléika: cross hands overhead and arch them out and down to the sides — twinkling finger-colors spreading a rainbow from overhead to the hips
Oyáte: the finger-colors swirl together at the sides and twist into gentle fists of strength over each kidney — many grounded into one
Wakȟáŋ: head bowed (or raised) a little in respect; the fists open into palms together in a praying pose, sliding up the center line over the heart and mind, and the arms rise back overhead to raining blessings — to begin again

Continuous, connected, symbolic — danced standing in place, it cycles with each repetition of the line and “can go for hours”.