The Sacred Tobacco Ceremony
Oil on Barnwood 15" x 23.5"

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.

The Crow Reservations
Farming, as known today, was not traditionally practiced by Native Americans.  Wild crops were harvested, nothing sown and planted.  It was the duty of the women and girls to harvest the necessary wild foods such as sweet sage, bear root, wild turnips, and choke cherry berries.

Ranching Nature's Herd
Oil on Barnwood, 3-dimensional, 23.5" x 20"

The Crow Reservation
Ranching, as known today, was unthinkable to the Native Americans.  Animals were wild and were slaughtered only when needed by the tribe for food, skins, and bladders for holding water.  The men would track and kill the buffalo, while the women’s job was to process the meat and hides.  To use the skin the woman had tediously to  scrape all the scraps of meat from the hide before processing ever began.

The Sweat Lodge on the Little Bighorn
Oil on Barnwood 20.75" x 16"

The Crow Reservation
A sweat lodge is used to this day for medicinal and spiritual purposes, rather a re-birth or purification ceremony.  The lodge is made of twelve hides with the floor covered in sweet sage.  The owner of the lodge invites those he wishes.  The right to pour water is an honor earned and given by a relative or bought. Between the rocks and the fire pit is a symbolic umbilical cord which is not to be crossed.  Using a pitchfork the owner transports the rocks inside, and when placed in the lodge the pourer closes the door and pours water on top of the stones to fill the lodge with steam.  The owner offers bear root to the rocks with short prayers.  The guests, nude and seated, smudge themselves with the smoke and switch themselves with sticks. They stay within the sweat lodge until they feel cleansed.  Then they exit and drink water, usually from a creek, to cool themselves,  before returning to repeat the ceremony.  This they do four times. After the men have been rejuvenated, it is the women’s turn.

The Crow Reservation
Once the Crow Nation signed the treaty to give them the land they desired, the Federal Government wanted Chief Plenty Coups to appoint the first native police officer. Bear Claw was the one honored, and he proudly discharged his duties. After his death his badge was lost, and years later it was discovered in Texas.

To Jordan

Back to Ghost Ranches Index