It begins with the drums. This is the signal for the dancers to enter into the dance arbor, usually led by dancers carrying the eagle feather staff. This marks the Grand Entry which starts each powwow session. This is a powwow: the most common form of Indian celebration. The powwow itself is not a religious … Continued
The 1877 Nez Perce War ended with the Battle of the Bear Paw in Montana. After a five-day siege the five non-treaty bands of Nez Perce surrendered with the understanding that they were to be sent to the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho. A total of 418 Nez Perce surrendered: 87 men, 184 women, and … Continued
A thousand years before the Spanish invasion of the Americas began, American Indians were living throughout North America. Furthermore, they had lived on this continent for many thousands of years before this. There was no single, unified American Indian culture: people adapted to the many different environments of North America in many different ways. One … Continued
It is often said that the European invasion of the Americas was driven by three things: Gold, Glory, and God. Gold-fever often resulted in genocide or displacement of Indian nations. Concepts of law, of morality, of respect for others usually disappeared when gold was discovered on Indian land. One example of this can be seen … Continued
For thousands of years Indian people left evidence of their presence on the land with rock art: pictographs and petroglyphs. Pictographs are created by painting on rock surfaces with natural pigments while petroglyphs are pecked, carved, or abraded into the surface of the rock. Pictographs are usually found under protective ledges or in caves where … Continued
Please leave a comment if you are attending or if you’ve applied for a scholarship. Attending: 1. navajo 2. Meteor Blades 3. 4freedom 4. Oke 5. rfall as MacGuyver 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
While King Philip’s War is probably the best-known Indian war of colonial Massachusetts, there were a number of other Indian wars during the colonial period. One of these was the war against the Abenaki which started in 1722. This was not just an “Indian” War, more importantly it was a religious war: it was a … Continued
During the 1600’s and 1700’s, the European invasion of North America intensified. With the growing interest in the continent and its aboriginal inhabitants, numerous books were published describing the Native peoples, their customs, histories, religions, and languages. Some of these books were based on personal observations, while some were simply speculation. Some of these books … Continued
This is part three of my continuing coverage of Aaron Huey’s Pine Ridge Billboard Project. Below is Ernesto Yerena’s latest screenprint made for this project and based on one of Aaron Huey’s images from Pine Ridge. Information about Ernesto and his first illustration for this project is featured below the fold. I’m truly amazed at … Continued
The Great Plains is a huge American Indian culture area which is generally sub-divided into the Northern, Central, and Southern Plains. Among the Indian nations of the Central and Southern Plains, the customs regarding names-their use as well as the naming process-varied greatly among the different cultures. Central Plains The Central Plains lie south … Continued
