Indian Dancers

[Ytmsn]

Seems like the season is winding down and you guys are getting quiet, so I wanted to throw this out here for you. My wife and I went to the Oklahoma State Fair this weekend and saw some Indian dancers in formal dance attire. The lady's do a shawl dance and the guys do a war dance, spirit dance and a few others. These costumes they have are very elaborate and decorated with eagle feathers, elk teeth, colored buffalo hair and mink, and who knows what else.

We kind of grew up with this sort of thing from back when I did living history and Old West reenactments, so it's always been a normal thing for me, but I thought some of you northern guys might find this interesting. I grew up around these folks so I never stop to appreciate how unusual it is, but then I look around and see how many people are watching and realize it's not something you don't see everyday, so I thought I'd share.

We've known the lady in green that runs this dance every year for over 30 years. She's full blood Cheyenne and a GEM of a person! Her husband (Jerome Bushyhead) was a famous Indian artist and also a very dear friend. We have a few of his paintings in our house. He passed several years ago, but you can Google him and still buy his prints after almost 20 years of his passing.

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[cmattj]

What a great share. Like you mentioned growing up in that culture around you is special but sometimes goes un noticed. It’s so important to see the history, and recognition of this country’s founders.

[Ytmsn]

You're right Matt. We're all immigrants when it comes to these folks. One of the announcers mentioned that the Indian population at one time was one hundred percent in this country, and now it's down to 3% for full-bloods. I thought that was pretty

These are plains Indians representing the Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. They were nomadic tribes following the Buffalo herds, and their warriors were bad ass!

The word Oklahoma means land of the Red Man in the Indian language. Before we became a state in 1907 Oklahoma was known as Indian Territory. After the Civil War of the 1860s our country went into the Indian Wars of the 1870s. Our government wanted to designate this entire State as an Indian Reservation. The first tribes they gathered up were The 5 Civilized Tribes, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek (Muscogee), and Seminole.
Some of these tribes had houses, schools and crops, and the Cherokee tribe had a written alphabet. The Cherokees were forced marched in the winter from the Carolinas 2 eastern Oklahoma. That's where the Trail of Tears came from. Lots of folks died on that Journey.

To this day Oklahoma still has designated Indian reservations that are sovereign Nations. These tribes are exempt from many federal laws and regulations.

So that's your history lesson for this morning!

[DCLfan]

Thanks for the lesson.