Northern Cheyenne Pow Wow

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th. I went to a little town named Laurel where they had one of the only fireworks displays in the area. A couple of the girls from work and I drove out there. It was a great display, but nothing can beat watching the fireworks reflecting over the water. It was interesting, however, that in the middle of the show they had us all stand and we did a little salute to the country/military. They played "Amazing Grace" and had lit up crosses around the field. That would certainly never happen in Florida.

Last weekend I went out to visit my friends, Lu and Molly, in Lame Deer again. I went to PT school with Lu and he and his family moved out here to MT a little over a year ago. They told me that on the reservation there was going to be a real Pow Wow over the course of the week and weekend. The Northern Cheyenne tribe has a pow wow every year where dancers and drum groups compete. It was pretty hot out there that evening. I can't even imagine dancing around in their traditional regalia.
There were a lot of people there, but it did not feel like a touristy thing at all. Most of the people there were either performing or were related to the performers. It was a legitimate pow wow with mostly Native Americans from the Cheyenne and Crow tribes in the audience; not a whole lot of unconnected spectators. I really enjoyed seeing the culture!

The pictures above and first video are of Grand Entry when all the dancers (over 700) entered the field and all danced together before the competitions began. The girls you'll see toward the end of the video are wearing Jingle dresses. They were my favorite. :) The other video is of the dancers performing a traditional dance called the Chicken Dance.

On Sunday, we went to the Little Bighorn Battlefield. I learned all about the history of the battle, most of which, I was totally ignorant to. We took a bus tour with a Crow guide. It was interesting to hear the story of the battle from their perspective. He went into some descriptions of what the natives would do to the men after they were dead. We would say they mutilated the men, but according to the group of natives that did this (which were not the Crows as our guide pointed out) it was necessary to do certain rituals so that their enemy could not harm them in the after life. They believed that if you fought someone in this life they could continue to pursue you in the afterlife. Due to these religious beliefs they would cut off the pointer finger (so they could not shoot), cut the inner thigh muscles (so they could not ride a horse), and scalp the person because they believed strength and the spirit was in the hair. I had never heard this before and it was eye-opening. Not that it makes it right, but at least they had a rational and were not just cruel for cruelties sake.

 
These were the big things we did over the weekend, but the best part was just getting to hang out with old friends. I can't tell you how nice it is to have a piece of home out here with me. I am so blessed to have gotten the job in Billings. Right where I wanted to be!