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Heše’eveesehe (Dirty Nose)
As the holiday season
approaches in America, the
Northern and Southern Cheyenne people have
different purposes for celebrating. Thanksgiving
is a celebration of the landing of the Pilgrims in Native America in 1620.
Remember the United States
did not as a political entity until the end of their revolution war against
the English crown. So why is
Thanksgiving an American holiday? It
is simple; Thanksgiving celebrates a moment in history where Europeans
actually had peace with Indians.
Anytime after and before this, Europeans were at war with American
Indigenous peoples.
Pilgrims arrived on the
Mayflower; we all learn this in our Euro-centric education. The myth is that they were escaping
religious oppression in England;
the fact is that they were searching for a new kingdom where they could rule
and dominate something they failed to do in England. Every year our Indian children hear the
lies that the Pilgrims were peaceful and that the great Indian hero Squanto
was the “white man’s friend.” Therefore all Indian boys should be nice to
their non-Indian teachers and fellow students. The truth is that Squanto’s people were all
killed because of the spread of small pox, a European sickness brought by the
“pure” Pilgrims. Squanto’s people do
not exist, but just like Pocahontas, he has become a token Indian to exploit
a farce friendship between Indians and Europeans.
The Pilgrims were the first
grave robbers as they ransacked the buried dead of the Wampanoag people. The Wampanoag held an annual harvest
ceremony and feast, something that all Indian tribes did and still do. They invited their scurvy, disease ridden
neighbors. The Pilgrims thought that all Indians were savages and heathens
even during the ceremony of sharing food.
In 1637 the English Puritans massacred some 700 Pequot men, women, and
children at Mystic
River. They burned them
alive and celebrated a “Thanksgiving” for the defeat of one of the most
powerful nations at that time. For the
next 370 years Americans still celebrate Thanksgiving as a lie, proclaiming
that it was a time when Indians and Europeans came together for peace. This was a long time ago, but Europeans still
celebrated massacring Indian people long after. They celebrated by massacring more Indian
people.
How does one celebrate the
killing of Indigenous people? How would European celebrate the murder and
rape of America’s
Indigenous people? The answers to
these questions are obvious. Europeans
celebrated Indian massacres by massacring more Indian people, plain and
simple. They did not celebrate the
“coming together” or “peaceful relations” with Indians; they instead did the
only thing they knew how to do: kill, rape, murder, and destroy Indian
people. This occurred over and over
throughout the 1700s until the mid-1800s when the invading Europeans finally
came to Cheyenne
territory to celebrate their farce holiday.
On November 29, 1864 after
celebrating Thanksgiving, Colonel John Chivington
who was a Christian Minister, led his Colorado
volunteers in the brutal massacre at Sand Creek. The village was a band of Black Kettle’s
people and they were a peaceful band who had flown the American flag along with
a white flag of peace. This did not stop the Europeans. Southern Cheyenne
George Bent testified that his Southern Cheyenne people “were scalped, their
brains knocked out; the men used their knives, ripped open women, clubbed
little children, knocked them in the head with their rifle butts, beat their
brains out, mutilated their bodies in every sense of the word.” Women were raped and children were used as
target practice. By the end of the massacre, 247 Southern
Cheyenne were murdered, more than half women and children. They
had been killed and mutilated and left exposed in the freezing Colorado plain. The Cheyenne
people must remember this massacre and be “thankful” that we have survived.
On November 27, 1868 after
celebrating Thanksgiving, General George Armstrong Custer led the Seventh
U.S. Calvary in the brutal massacre on the Washita River. Custer attacked Black Kettle’s band again.
This time Black Kettle and his entire family would be killed by the
soldiers. Women and children were
killed along with the few warriors in the village. The lodges were all burned and more Southern Cheyenne would die in the freezing winter
weather. Those families who survived
Sand Creek Massacre had endured another atrocity from the European
invaders. After Washita, Custer and
his men each selected young Cheyenne
women for their evening entertainment.
This is the time when Custer had a half Cheyenne-half European
child. A total of 207 Southern Cheyenne were murdered, and again more than
half were women and children. The Cheyenne people must
remember this massacre and be “thankful” that we have survived.
On November 25, 1876 after
celebrating Thanksgiving, Colonel Ronald Mackenzie led the Second, Third,
Fourth, and Fifth U.S. Calvary in the brutal massacre in the Bighorn
Mountains. Mackenzie was hunting the Northern Cheyenne people after they had killed Custer
and his entire brigade five months earlier.
The U.S.
soldiers were looking for revenge and showed no mercy when attacking Dull
Knife’s band. In the cold winter
weather, women and children were shot and Mackenzie reportedly blamed the Cheyennes
for not complying. Nevertheless, his
Calvary men chased away the Cheyenne
horses and shot anyone who stayed in their shelters. Those who fled watched helplessly from a
ridge as the soldiers burned everything the Cheyennes had: medicine bundles, dried meat,
buffalo robes, cloths, beadwork, eagle feathers, blankets, moccasins, furs,
weapons and everything else that was in 200 tepees and that the Cheyennes
needed to survive in the mountains.
Mackenzie and his men left with some Cheyenne prisoners. The rest were dead or left to die in the
freezing Bighorn
Mountain weather. A
total of 156 Northern Cheyennes
were killed, most were women, children, and the elderly. The Cheyenne
people must remember this massacre and be “thankful” that we have survived.
Chivington,
Custer, and Mackenzie and all of their soldiers received war medals of honor
for killing women and children. They
were praised by their superiors and honored by their people for exterminating
Indian people and everything that belong to them. They and several other European-American
murderers, all did this around their celebration of Thanksgiving. Yet our children are still taught that
November is the time when Indians and Europeans met as friends. Tell the children the truth. Tell them that
November is the time we remember our ancestors who fought and died so we
could exist today. Tell them that this is something to be thankful for. Tell
them that 200 years ago someone thought of them and was willing to sacrifice
their lives so the Cheyenne
people, culture, language, and oral tradition can survive. Don’t tell them that the Pilgrims needed
help from Indians. Don’t tell them that our ancestors were treated with peace
and respect. Don’t lie to them. Tell them the truth and make them feel proud.
Tribal
Report of the Northern Cheyenne Nation (October
2006 Vol. I No. 10), page 9.
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In the Path of Sweet
Medicine’s Arrows
Moe’ema’etatse (Red Magpie)
There is a story about Prophet
Sweet Medicine when he was of mature age.
He saw a strange bird, an animal that no Cheyenne had ever seen before. There was only one. Sweet Medicine wanted
the bird’s feathers because they looked powerful. He chased it until he finally had a clear
shot. He loaded an arrow and aimed
with his bow. At the very moment he
let go of the arrow, he had a sorrowful thought. He did not want to kill the animal because
it was so beautiful and especially because it was the only one. But it was too late; the arrow was released
and pierced the body of the holy bird. An arrow cannot be turned once it has
already been loaded, aimed, and released.
This is the teaching that Sweet Medicine learned that day. From then on he would never load, aim, and
release an arrow against an enemy because no arrow can be diverted from its
target.
In the summer of 2004, the
Fort Robinson Breakout Committee held a number of events at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. These events included memorials,
ceremonies, and visitations at various areas where Northern
Cheyennes were hunted down and killed
as they escaped imprisonment in 1879.
The date of the event was moved because of the Arrow Renewal Ceremony
that was taking place in Oklahoma. During the Renewal, Sweet Medicine’s Arrows
are pointed towards Bear Butte; their origins. No Cheyennes are to be in this
direct path, nor are they to cross it.
Fort Robinson
is in the direct path of the annual Renewal Ceremony in Oklahoma and Bear Butte. The dates were moved out of respect for
Sweet Medicine’s arrows.
The path of the Sacred Arrows
can only be stopped by Bear Butte, from whence they came. Nothing else can stop them, and they will
pierce anything in its path or anyone who steps in front of its path. These were the Arrows given from Ma’heo’e.
During the early Plains Indian
battles between the Cheyennes and other neighboring
nations, the Arrows would rarely be taken into battle. The Arrows were rarely pointed at an enemy
of the Cheyenne
people. The power of the Arrows was so
great that one could not simply aim them at any enemy for any reason. Just like the teaching of Sweet Medicine,
once an arrow is released it cannot be diverted. Therefore our Cheyenne ancestors had to be sure who or
what was dangerous enough to have these arrows pointed at; it would result in
complete destruction or death of the enemy.
We must remember that Cheyennes did not take pride in
killing their enemies. Our ancestors
counted coup, or touched them to take their spirit and humiliate an
enemy. It was never the goal for Cheyenne warriors to
completely destroy entire nations of people.
This is the white man’s way.
The Arrows were only used when it was necessary.
Do we know who are enemy is
today? The enemies of the Cheyennes
today are not people. These enemies cannot be identified as they were in the
past. They are not Crow, Pawnee, Shoshoni, nor are they Ve’ho’e. Today the enemies of the Cheyenne people are “ideas,” just like they
were when our ancestors were moved to the reservation. These enemies are greed, jealousy, envy,
hate, power-hunger, evil, and the selfish ways of thinking. These foes are much more dangerous because
they can overcome our people without them ever knowing it. Prayer and ceremony can combat these
enemies. Ceremonies like the Arrow Renewal and the Sun Dance can and should
be able to defeat these foes. This is
why Ma’heo’e gave these ways to our ancestors. Our Cheyenne
traditional ways can defeat an enemy in a way that money can never defeat an
enemy. Money will only make these evil
“ideas” stronger. Prayer and
spirituality can defeat alcoholism, drug addition, violence, depression, and
other “ideas” that our people suffer from.
The appearance of our enemies has always changed, but they all still
do the same thing. They destroy our ways and our beliefs. They destroy our people, our land, our
language, and our existence.
In 1871 the Cheyennes used
the Arrows to help protect themselves and their Kiowa neighbors from the small
pox epidemic. The Arrows were directed
towards this white man’s disease and it protected both peoples from the
sickness.
A hundred years later, in 1971
the Southern Cheyenne Arrow Keeper brought the arrows to the northern country
and pointed Sweet Medicine’s Arrows at an enemy. Unlike the living enemies during the Plains
Indian wars and the previous battles against neighboring tribes, this enemy
was an “idea.” This enemy was the idea
of oil, coal, and natural gas (CBM) exploration and development on the
Northern Cheyenne Reservation. The
Chiefs of this time must have understood how dangerous this enemy was. They must have also felt it completely and
absolutely necessary to destroy this threat.
They must have thought of protecting the future generations of Cheyennes; especially the Cheyenne children. This they thought of as Chiefs should think
of. This enemy was destroyed but has
come alive again through the actions of our own Cheyenne people; probably the only people
who could revive a foe killed by Arrows.
These people have voluntarily stepped into the path of Sweet
Medicine’s Arrows to save an enemy.
The children of the Chiefs during this time have become adults now. And
now these adults must understand how dangerous this same enemy is. They must also think of their children and
protect their land.
The 1971 Ceremony cannot be
undone, and the Arrows cannot be diverted.
They will pierce anything in their path and anyone who steps in the
path of Sweet Medicine’s Arrows. My heart is heavy, and that is all I have to
say.
Hena’ehaanehe
Tribal
Report of the Northern Cheyenne Nation (October
2006 Vol. I No. 10), page 9.
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