Sam and Aimee with Traditional Crow Dancers.
Sami here again-
We’ve had a few days of sunshine! I’m so happy to see the nice weather. It makes it a lot easier for us to go out and explore a little. Yesterday, we went down to Sheridan Wyoming, which is south of Garryowen Montana about 65 miles, to watch Crow Tribal Dancers at the Sheridan Inn. The Sheridan Inn itself was a pretty cool thing to see, since it was bought by Buffalo Bill Cody soon after it was built and used for his Wild West Show. It is also in the Guiness Book of World Records for being the structure with the most gables. We were invited down there by a member of the Real Bird family, Pius Real Bird, the second oldest Crow Elder, to watch the dances. Chris said he would man the desk at the museum so we could have the experience and we headed that way around four thirty for the dancing at five thirty.
On our way, of course, we stopped at the state line to take a picture of the Wyoming state welcome sign. Which was neat. That and the red roads. Aimee had driven through Wyoming to come to Garryowen, and Kiley said it was something they quarried, but I think it just makes everything look all picturesque…the red road against the mountains and the sky.
The Inn wasn’t that hard to find, and we managed to get there just before they started dancing. Their outfits were so pretty! I remember the announcer saying things about how many of them were either handed down through the generations, or made by elders in their families… the amount of work that went into them is simply breathtaking. According to Kiley, this would be the closest we could get to the dancers- since at powwow’s they are surrounded by their families, drum circles, and bleachers for extra seating. There was only one drum circle here and they danced around it instead, while the people playing the drum were singing. It was amazing just to hear their voices, and watch the dancers circle them- it’s so different than what I have ever seen before and in a bigger setting it could probably be pretty overwhelming! So I’m glad we got to see it up close, even if in a smaller setting, before going to a powwow. Now we kind of know what’s going on.
Aimee here! I just want to add a few more things on our trip to Sheridan. I really enjoyed watching the Crow Tribal Dancers. The best part to me about the ceremony was the clothing worn by the dancers. The women were wearing traditional Elk Tooth Dresses; this means that the dresses had elk teeth sown onto the fabric. It seems that every part of their clothing at the dance held meaning, like the elk teeth, the intricate beading, the feathers and the bags they carried. The announcer told us that one of the male dancers is actually a champion dancer who participates in various competitions across the country. The fact that we were watching a champion dancer made the experience even better!
One of the dances performed was a “welcoming home” dance. The announcer told the crowd that it was a celebratory dance performed when the Crow warriors arrived home. Everyone was invited to participate and dance with them so Sam and I joined in. Basically, we just walked around the drum circle to the beat. I had never done anything like this before and we had a great time doing it!
After the dance, we took time to explore Sheridan. First of all, the town is adorable. The main street in the town looked exactly like I thought a Western town should (small, cute stores and many places to buy Cowboy boots!). We went to The Mint Bar which had mounted bears, mountain sheep, and other animals lining the wooden walls. We ate dinner at a place called The Pony. The food was good, but the best part about it was that they had the New York Yankees/Boston Red Sox game on the TV. That’s an everyday occurrence back home, but it was comforting to watch it in Wyoming!
We’ve had a few days of sunshine! I’m so happy to see the nice weather. It makes it a lot easier for us to go out and explore a little. Yesterday, we went down to Sheridan Wyoming, which is south of Garryowen Montana about 65 miles, to watch Crow Tribal Dancers at the Sheridan Inn. The Sheridan Inn itself was a pretty cool thing to see, since it was bought by Buffalo Bill Cody soon after it was built and used for his Wild West Show. It is also in the Guiness Book of World Records for being the structure with the most gables. We were invited down there by a member of the Real Bird family, Pius Real Bird, the second oldest Crow Elder, to watch the dances. Chris said he would man the desk at the museum so we could have the experience and we headed that way around four thirty for the dancing at five thirty.
On our way, of course, we stopped at the state line to take a picture of the Wyoming state welcome sign. Which was neat. That and the red roads. Aimee had driven through Wyoming to come to Garryowen, and Kiley said it was something they quarried, but I think it just makes everything look all picturesque…the red road against the mountains and the sky.
The Inn wasn’t that hard to find, and we managed to get there just before they started dancing. Their outfits were so pretty! I remember the announcer saying things about how many of them were either handed down through the generations, or made by elders in their families… the amount of work that went into them is simply breathtaking. According to Kiley, this would be the closest we could get to the dancers- since at powwow’s they are surrounded by their families, drum circles, and bleachers for extra seating. There was only one drum circle here and they danced around it instead, while the people playing the drum were singing. It was amazing just to hear their voices, and watch the dancers circle them- it’s so different than what I have ever seen before and in a bigger setting it could probably be pretty overwhelming! So I’m glad we got to see it up close, even if in a smaller setting, before going to a powwow. Now we kind of know what’s going on.
Aimee here! I just want to add a few more things on our trip to Sheridan. I really enjoyed watching the Crow Tribal Dancers. The best part to me about the ceremony was the clothing worn by the dancers. The women were wearing traditional Elk Tooth Dresses; this means that the dresses had elk teeth sown onto the fabric. It seems that every part of their clothing at the dance held meaning, like the elk teeth, the intricate beading, the feathers and the bags they carried. The announcer told us that one of the male dancers is actually a champion dancer who participates in various competitions across the country. The fact that we were watching a champion dancer made the experience even better!
One of the dances performed was a “welcoming home” dance. The announcer told the crowd that it was a celebratory dance performed when the Crow warriors arrived home. Everyone was invited to participate and dance with them so Sam and I joined in. Basically, we just walked around the drum circle to the beat. I had never done anything like this before and we had a great time doing it!
After the dance, we took time to explore Sheridan. First of all, the town is adorable. The main street in the town looked exactly like I thought a Western town should (small, cute stores and many places to buy Cowboy boots!). We went to The Mint Bar which had mounted bears, mountain sheep, and other animals lining the wooden walls. We ate dinner at a place called The Pony. The food was good, but the best part about it was that they had the New York Yankees/Boston Red Sox game on the TV. That’s an everyday occurrence back home, but it was comforting to watch it in Wyoming!
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