The Crow Reservation
Native Americans are the original ranchers and cowboys of the west. Their crops were the native plants found in abundance and which the girls and women harvested. Their livestock were the buffalo which the men killed by ambushing the beasts into a jump, where they were killed with rather small arrowheads. The bladders were cleaned and used by the woman to carry water, the tongue and hump were a delicacy enjoyed by all, the hides were prepared by the women for use as tents and clothing, and as much of the meat as they could carry and eat was taken san smoked while the rest was left for the coyotes and wolves. Our ranch actually has a buffalo hump, and buffalo teeth surface every year. We have been told by old residents that if we dig deep we shall find whole skulls and arrowheads. In the direct a short distance from the jump there are still the stories and indentations of a teepee ring.
The tobacco plant is sacred to the Crown Nation, for it is a gift from the Creator. Tobacco is an offering, a sacrificial blessing, and this ceremony depicts the finding of the wild tobacco plant. A leader told his son, No Intestines, to go find a certain Sacred Tobacco Plant and his people would prosper. This exodus established the great Apsaalooke (Crow) Nation. Many hardships were endured as the people migrated into Canada, the southwest, then the Canadian River, to Chief Mountain in Glacier National Park, and south to the Big Horn Mountains. Near the present site of Story, Wyoming, the plant was found. No Intestines had died, but his son initiated the first Sacred Tobacco Society by spiritually adopting his own son. The song sung at that ceremony is still used today, and the Ceremony is full of symbolism showing the rejuvenating of the people and is a ritual of adoption. The drum is used only for this ceremony, the duck is significant, for the Creator told the birds to go into water and bring mud, and the head piece has exactly 48 pigeon feathers.
