Archive for the ‘Native American Culture’ Category

The Rope

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

It’s summer in Montana and that means it’s time to hit the open road and play, play, play. My last adventure had me visiting the Blackfeet Nation for North American Indian Days.

This year, NAID attracted more than 500 dancers and had members from 50 different tribes throughout the United States and Canada in attendance. During the festivities, we attended the dancing, stick games and rodeo. (And trust me, this Montana girl loves a good rodeo).

The parade at North American Indian Days in Browning

The parade at North American Indian Days in Browning


North American Indian Days in Browning

North American Indian Days in Browning

We also spent time in East Glacier and were able to head out and “help” (ok, we watched) the cowboys round up bucking horses for Sunday’s main rodeo event in Browning. And boy did we enjoy watching the roundup!

The part that sticks out is my mind the most is the sound of the herd–we could hear them before we could see them–as they stampeded toward us with five cowboys on horseback wooping and hollering bringing them in.
wild horses

mom and colt

"Mouse" Hall, a true Montana cowboy.

And the icing on the cake?
TJ

This cowboy gave me his rope. We may be in love.

TT

Tags:
Posted in Blackfeet Indian Reservation, Native American Culture, Summer, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Glacier Centennial: First Peoples, Two Countries, Three Voices

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

September 16, 2009
First Peoples, Two Countries, Three Voices
Flathead Valley Community College in partnership with the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) kicked off their Crown of the Continent Centennial Lecture Series last night.

The evening consisted of a conversation with leaders of the Blackfoot Confederacy, Salish-Pend Oreille, and the Kootenai/Ktnuxa nations. Speakers included Herman Many Guns from the Piikani Blackfoot Tribes, Tony Incashola from the Salish Tribes, and Vernon Finley from the Kootenai Tribes.  

Herman Many Guns commenced the conversation with a traditional prayer, a perfect opening to what followed. The dialogue spanned a great deal of wisdom and story telling. Values of each culture were shared- such as that of Vernan Finely’s grandmother’s teaching of the importance of using our five senses to Tony Incashola’s comments on remembering where we all come from.

It was acknowledged by each of the tribes that this was an ideal space for such a series– the location is known as the Village Center to the Kootenai peoples. It happens to be the center of the Crown of the Continent National Geographic Geotourism Map, as well.

The lecture ended with wise words encouraging all people to work together to protect these resources and the special culture that exists here in the Crown of the Continent. Each tribal member expressed their gratitude for their invitation to the table. Vernon regarded that it is not of their interest that such an event exists– instead it is the interest of each of the audience members that the conversation has taken place, suggesting that it is up to us to continue the discussion.

 

 
Join us on Monday for the second lecture:
Sep 21, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Setting the Stage- Describing the Crown Region
Speaker: Dr. Jim Byrne
Flathead Valley Community College Continuing Education Center
For more information on Glacier’s Centennial, please visit www.glaciercentennial.org  

 

Tags:
Posted in Glacier National Park, Native American Culture | No Comments »