July 1977: July 4th, Pow Wows, The Sundance, The Fool’s Dance

7-2-77 Ray and Irma’s

We told Ray and Irma that we were going to the July 4^th celebration in Zortman, and we invited them to go with us. Irma said that she wanted to go to Rocky Boy for the Sundance on Sunday and maybe stay over until Monday. Ray said that he hadn’t decided whether to go to Rocky Boy or not. Irma said that the Sundance is really not a fun time – it is a very religious occasion. “But I like to go there because I get a chance to visit with old friends and I have a few relatives there. I hardly ever get to see these people. So, this would be a good chance for me to visit them.” Ray said that he thought he might to go visit Freddie and his wife over the weekend, but they went to the Sundance in Pryor – they live on Crow. “His wife is dancing in the Sundance. If someone is sick and you pray for them to the Great Spirit for them to get better, then you promise you will dance at the Sundance if the person gets well. You can promise to dance for all sorts of reasons.

7-2-77 Ray and Irma’s

Ray and Irma said that they would be going to the Crow Fair in August and would be camping at the fair and rodeo. It goes on for almost five days, from Friday until Tuesday. Ray asked Susie and I to come down with them and to camp with them at the Crow Fair. We told them we would try to make it. Ray said you have to see it.

It is a great pow wow, rodeo and parade. The beadwork is incredible, even the horses have beadwork on them. Their reins are all beadwork. It’s a beautiful parade and it’s getting better every celebration. You should definitely bring your camera to take pictures of the whole thing and especially the parade. Then on Monday and Tuesday they have a big roast. They roast a big beef in a pit, and they have a big giveaway. We’re going to stay for the whole thing.

Ray said that he and Irma would only be going to two pow wows this summer off the reservation. “It’s so expensive to go to these pow wows from here. We’re going to the Crow Fair and the Indian Days in Browning. We got personal invitations to both of these pow wows.” Irma said she was going to the Crow Fair and looking forward to it, because one of her cousins was going to be one of the princesses. “I also like to go to the Crow Fair and see my relations down there and visit with them.”

7-4-77 trailer

Gordon, Edith and Dion came over for a visit and wanted to invite us to the house for a game of horseshoes and a July 4^th picnic. We told them that we had plans to go to Zortman for a picnic there and we asked them if they wanted to go with us to meet Brad Reynolds and Sister Laura. Gordon said that they couldn’t go because his cousin was in town and he would be coming over later to visit him.

7-4-77 Hays and Zortman 527

Today was July 4^th. There weren’t any celebrations on the reservation that specifically commemorated the holiday. It was enjoyed mostly as an extra day off, a long weekend that gave people the opportunity to travel to different places for various activities. July 4^th was an extra day off work and activities seemed more as a part of the regular schedule of summer Indian events more than any celebration of a specific holiday.

Susie and I went to Zortman. A picnic was held in town, and it was published in the Camp Crier. They had horseshoe tournaments and other games, and they had free hot dogs and pop. There were a lot of people there. Zortman is a resort town in the summer and in the fall for hunting season. People come down in trailers, and they also stay in Buckhorn Cabins. It was a very large crowd because of the long weekend.

The closest fireworks were in Havre and were planned for 10:30 this evening. It doesn’t seem like too many people from the reservation were interested in going to Havre to see it. There were people from the reservation who traveled to other reservations for activities such as pow wows (Ft. Berthold, ND, Ashland, Flathead, Arlee and Ft. Kipp) and the Sundance (Rocky Boy and Pryor-Crow). There were also rodeos held all over the state of Montana. There was an all-Indian rodeo held on Ft. Belknap at the D&D Bar about twenty miles east of Harlem and five miles west of Dodson on Rt. 2. A lot of people from the reservation rode and were spectators at the rodeo.

Quite a few people stayed home. There were family picnics at homes, up in the canyon, the meadow and King Springs. Susie and I saw people driving south of the reservation. We didn’t see many people from the reservation in Zortman. Some of the kids went swimming at the plunge and there were a lot of kids riding horses around Hays. Some kids were swimming in the water hole on JJs property. These were all summertime activities on the reservation.

At 10:30 some people started to shoot off fireworks in Hays and a few firecrackers. There were a lot of kids outside to watch.

Sundance as told by Mike

7-5-77 Rocky Boy

Mike attended the Rocky Boy Sundance (Chippewa Cree) over the July 4^th weekend. He went there to camp with Fathers Pete and Paul Schaaf. In addition to Mike’s observations, he had explanations from Father Pete. Pete has lived and worked among the Chippewa Cree for seven years on Rocky Boy. He was transferred to Ft. Peck but will return to Rocky Boy this fall. He knows all the people well and has participated in many of the ceremonies. Last year, he made the Sundance at Rocky Boy. The following is the description and explanation of the Sundance given by Mike and with the help of Father Pete.

We arrived at the Sundance grounds at noon on Friday. I met Pete and Paul there and I camped with them. Pete has had a lot of experience with the Chippewa Cree and the Sundance, and he filled me in on a lot of what was going on and what it meant.

The Sundance started on Friday (7-1) at sunset and ended at sunset on Sunday (7-3), although there was a ceremony on Thursday night. When we got there about fifty people were camped out. The evening before, on Thursday night, Pete and Paul were invited into the sacred tipi. This was the last of six prayer meetings that were held for the success of the Sundance. They held five during the year, and last night they held the last one, the sixth one. They put up this tipi specifically for this prayer meeting to pray for the success of the Sundance, and as soon as the prayer meeting was over, they took the tipi down. They smoked a pipe in there and Pete and Paul were also handed the pipe to smoke it. Pete said that this was a great honor, both to be invited into the sacred tipi and to be asked to share the pipe.

On Friday night at about 5:00 or 6:00, the traffic started to get heavy. A lot of people started coming to the Sundance. The people set up their tents in a huge circle around the Sundance lodge. There were tents mostly but there were also campers. On Friday during the day, they were still building the lodge. The Sundance lodge was circular and had a diameter of about 35-40 feet. There was brush piled up around the outside about ten feet high. Inside the brush there were about 20-25 poles that were notched or there was a notch on the top of each one. These poles were also about 10 feet high and there was a pole that ran from each of the tops to the center pole in the center of the lodge. These poles started from the perimeter poles up to the center pole, and they fit into the notch. The center pole was about 12 inches in diameter and was about 20 feet high. With the arrangement of the poles the lodge looked a lot like an arbor, but it was open to the sky. There was no covering over these poles. The poles that ran from the perimeter poles to the center pole didn’t go to the top of the center pole. They went almost to the top, but they fell short of the top by a foot or two. It was like a tent with the sky open between the cross poles. On the very top of the center pole was the “bird’s nest.” They say that this is where the Great Spirit stays during the Sundance. He’s invited to stay here during the Sundance. There was a doorway into the lodge that was about eight feet wide, and it was ten feet high, as high as the perimeter poles. No one but a few people were allowed into the lodge, but you could see what was going on inside by looking into the doorway.

Mike’s description of the construction of the Sundance lodge was so detailed, reflecting his experience as an excellent carpenter. His life experience significantly influenced his observations and what he chose to focus on in his description. He also emphasized the importance of prayer in the ceremony, right smack dab in the middle of Mike’s wheelhouse. My descriptions of the Catholic Indian Congress were heavy on the making of soup and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, as I was responsible for feeding all those people, three meals a day for three days. Mike could have been an anthropologist with all the subjectivity as the trained professional with two degrees in cultural anthropology and working on a third.

There were eight drummers and singers inside the lodge, and they sat off to the right of the center pole (looking in). They used small hand drums instead of the big drum that they sit around at pow wows. It was the same drummers throughout the whole Sundance. Inside of the lodge there was another wall about six or seven feet high; inside of the exterior wall. It was trimmed like a hedge or fence. It was made of brush, and it was inside of the perimeter poles. The people making the Sundance stayed in this area between the wall and the perimeter poles. They danced there during the Sundance, and they slept there at night. They had their bedrolls in there with them. They were only allowed to leave the area if they had to go to the bathroom. That was the only reason. The ten foot perimeter poles have brush laid against them all ten feet up. The areas the dancers are in are divided in half. The divider on one side, directly opposite the door, is a large canvas tarp, and the divider on the other side is the door. This divided the men and women; they stayed separated through the whole thing. Looking in, the women are on the right side and the men on the left.

The people who weren’t dancing camped in a huge circle around the lodge. It was a big open field, and it looked a lot like the Congress. There were ten tipis, but mostly people were in tents and campers. There were a lot more Indians than whites, but there were some whites there. At the peak, there were about 500 people there. About 100 yards away from the lodge there was a hamburger stand. They sold hamburgers, corn on the cob, chips, hot dogs, coffee, pop, gum and cigarettes. Some of the local people ran the stand. But most of the campers brought their own food and cooked outside their camp sites. They didn’t feed everyone like they do at a pow wow. Most of the people there were from Rocky Boy. There were also a lot of people from Ft. Belknap.

The Sundance started at sunset on Friday evening. The drummers started and they would chant for about three minutes. Each of the men dancers had an eagle bone whistle and each whistle had a feather tied to the end of it. The women didn’t have these whistles. As the drummers chanted, the dancers jumped up and down in one spot along with the beat of the drum. At the end of the chant, the leader of the Sundance, Kenneth Gopher, gave a loud whoop. Then the drumming stopped. The men and women bowed down low from the waist and waited until the next chant. Between each chant there was about a one-minute interval when the dancers bowed. There weren’t any words in the songs; it was all chanting.

At 11:00 the singing stopped and the people making the dance opened up their bedrolls and went to sleep. Kenneth conducted the Sundance from inside of the lodge. He’s a medicine man. There was one man there that had made the Sundance thirty-two years in a row. The people who make the Sundance are on a total fast during the Sundance; they may have no food or water.

The Sundance started again at 7:00 on Saturday morning and went until 11:00 that night. It was the same on Sunday until the Sundance ended at sunset. They did the same thing all day; the jumping with the whistles and chanting for about three minutes with a one-minute interval in between, all day with a few breaks.

There were flags wrapped around the center pole and cloths all the way from the bottom to the top. There were all different colored materials and were wrapped around from the bottom all the way to the nest. They were all solid colors and I remember white, blue and orange. The nest was about three feet in diameter and three feet high. It was made of branches and was still green. There was a meaning to all the poles leading to the center. It symbolized that everything leans on the Creator. On the perimeter poles they had pieces of cloth tied. These pieces were about three feet long. They were tied into one knot and the ends just hung down. There was no pattern to these cloths. Some poles didn’t have any cloth and some had more than one cloth. They were all different solid colors. The colors I remember were red, blue, orange, pink and white, but I think there were other colors. This is all I remember. There were also banners, colored banners that hung from each perimeter pole, one to each pole. The colored banners that hung from each pole were rectangular and were hung by a stick and two strings. They hung the banners the same way we do. There were all solid colors, and the colors I remember were orange, blue and white.

They passed the pipe inside the lodge on two occasions. There were a few old men inside the lodge near the drummers, and they smoked the pipe. These old men sat against the inside wall, and they weren’t making the Sundance. While they smoked the pipe the singers stopped and there was no dancing. It took place during the intervals. They burned a lot of sweet grass during the Sundance. They smudged with sweet grass on two occasions, but I don’t know what they were smudging. Pete told me that if there were people who weren’t making the Sundance and they wanted a prayer said for them for some reason, they would take some sweet grass and walk up to the wall and hand the sweetgrass to someone making the dance. This is like a prayer offering, a request for prayer. The person tells the dancer what they want the prayer for and then the dancer offers the prayer on their behalf. Pete knows this because he made the Sundance here last year, and he was given sweetgrass twice, by two different people and they told him what to pray for.

There were the remnants of nine other lodges near this year’s lodge. These were lodges from previous years, and you could tell their succession of use because they were falling apart and the oldest ones had less poles standing than the younger ones. Some of them only had a center pole and the youngest one had a center pole and most of the perimeter poles. Pete said that no one would ever bother the center pole. If it decays, it does so on its own. But the other parts are not considered sacred. Campers used the brush from earlier lodges to make their campfires at night. Some people didn’t camp, and they came up in cars and trucks. They would pull up and park facing the lodge about thirty feet from the lodge.

There were about thirty people making the Sundance and they were about half men and half women. There were a few teenagers making this Sundance and the oldest was a man about fifty years old. Most of the people were middle-aged. Most of the dancers were from Rocky Boy.

The atmosphere at the Sundance for the majority of the people not dancing was the same as at a pow wow. The people weren’t especially acting like a religious ceremony was going on. They talked, visited, laughed and joked, the same as a pow wow. The kids were the same way. They were fighting and running around and playing. Some kids were riding bikes around the campgrounds.

Pete said that the Sundance was half for people to pray and they can pray for anything. But most people usually pray for the success of their crops for members of their families’ health. Everyone making the Sundance is praying for something; they are making a request of the Great Spirit for one thing or another. At the Sundance, they almost always pray for rain. If it rains on Sunday evening when the Sundance is over this is taken as a very good sign. The people making the Sundance interpret the rain as a sign that the Great Spirit was pleased with the Sundance and this must have something to do with the Great Spirit’s inclination to grant their prayers or requests. The people who were making the Sundance were fasting for those few days and also didn’t drink any water. If it rains when the Sundance is over, they catch the water and this is the first water they drink to break the fast.

7-7-77 Camie and Richards

Camie told Susie that on July 4^th, she took the boys up to Mountain Gulch, it is a picnic area in the mountains. “We started a fire there. Richard took Darian fishing earlier at one of the reservoirs and they met us at Mountain Gulch. We ate dinner out there. We ended up eating in the rain.”

7-11-77 trading post

Susie and I went to the trading post to do some shopping and to pick up the mail. We saw Frank inside and he came up to talk to us. He said that he had been in Wyoming at the beginning of the month.

I went down to the Grand Tetons with a Gros Ventre delegation for the July 4^th weekend. We were there from July 1^st to the 5^th. We put on an Indian exhibition for the tourists. Each of us worked for two hours in the morning and then two hours in the afternoon. We had singers – Davey Gone and Matthew and a group from the Agency sang, dancers, women doing beadwork and I did some drawings. People got a big kick out of my long Indian name – Cuts the Rope and were surprised that I could write it. They kept watching me sign my name when I would autograph the books. I guess those easterners thought that I couldn’t write. (He laughed). It was fun. I was kind of a celebrity for a few days. People would come and get me and take me to lunch and dinner. We got $50 a day plus per diem for the five days. I was selling my books, too. I sold 100 books, and I autographed each copy of the book.

Frank was such a good man. Susie and I really loved him. He was so sweet to us. His memory should be a blessing.

7-13-77 Hays

There have been a lot of pow wows every weekend during the summer. This weekend is no exception and people have been talking all week about going to two pow wows. A lot of people are going to the Indian Days Pow Wow in Browning, and a lot of people are going to the Iron Ring Pow Wow at Poplar. There is also a big rodeo at Browning and some people have said they are going to the rodeo.

7-26-77 trailer

I asked Edith if she and Gordon were going to the Crow Fair. She said that they were going to Crow but they weren’t going to bring a drum. “It would be a waste of time. They’ll have more than 30 drums at their pow wow and it wouldn’t be worth it, because we might only sing once a day with all those drums. But it is a good pow wow and they have a great all-Indian rodeo. Gordon and I are going down there mostly for the rodeo.”

Indian Days Pow Wow at the Agency

7-26-77 trailer

At 9 this morning on the tv program, ‘Today in Montana’ (MTN-KRTV-Great Falls), Joan Drege had an interview with George Horse Capture, a Gros Ventre. He is the Indian Curriculum Researcher at the College of Great Falls. She asked him about the Ft. Belknap Celebration this weekend. He said that this was going to be a special celebration.

The 28^th is camping day. On the 29^th in the evening, there will be dancing. On the 30^th there will be dancing and giveaways. The giveaway is an Indian ceremony that commemorates an individual or event and they give away different materials that they spend a whole year collecting. On the 31^st, Sunday, they’re holding the Fools Dance.

This is a very old ceremonial dance that hasn’t been held for about 25-30 years, and it may never be held again. The maker of the dance is going to be Al First Sound. Not just anyone can make this dance. In order to do it, the maker has to have a dream or a vision to be told they can be a Fool Dance Maker and have the dance. It’s a religious ceremony and long ago it had connections with the Sun Dance. They would kill a buffalo. Today we’ll kill a beef, and butcher it. Then they bring all the meat back and share it in the most colorful way. The dress is very colorful, burlap and canvas. The Milk River Dance Committee has arranged to have this dance, and they have taken all the efforts to have it. They should be congratulated for their foresight for having this dance.

There will also be a photo exhibit at the pow wow. I collected photographs from all over the country and Europe as a part of a tribal research project. Some of the photographs were taken at a celebration of the Fool’s Dance. There will be 100 photos. Part of this was funded by the Montana Arts Council. We will tour the whole state of Montana with these photographs. We will start the exhibit at the Ft. Belknap this weekend. We want to show these photographs to the non-Indians so that they can better understand the Indian people. The exhibit will start on Sunday (they showed some of the pictures on the tv show and George narrated). All the pictures were taken in 1904 (camp scene, Horn Weasel, Sun Dance Lodge, Lame Chicken, Paul Horse Capture, his grandfather and leader of the Fool’s Dance, with staff of 40 dew claws).

Joan asked George what they were trying to get across to the whites. He answered that the most difficult thing to get across to non-Indians is that the Indian has a viable and distinct lifestyle.

The Indian likes this life and doesn’t want to change it and isn’t going to change it. This makes whites mad; that the Indian doesn’t want to blend in with the white lifestyle. People would be able to live on reservations if they want and live the way they want. This is the land of the free and the home of the brave. More and more Indian people are going to school and getting college degrees, and they are becoming more aware of the situation. This is happening all over the US. They are beginning to investigate the treaties and various other things, and they are coming to some startling conclusions. A lot of these treaties are going back to court. The Indian people are fighting a lot of court battles today. This is making a lot of non-Indians very nervous, and they are upset about it. But everything we’re doing is legal. It is all a part of our treaty claims.

Joan asked what his feelings toward whites were. He answered, “I’m married to one, and my children are half white.”

The Indians and whites are both fighting and guarding their own self-interests and this is where the whites clash with the Indians. But this is unfair. The Indian people make up half of 1% of the US population. We are ineffective by numbers at the polls. We have no political power.

7-30-77 Bobby and Caroline’s

Susie and I got to the pow wow grounds at noon. The grounds were just about empty. Only kids were running around. The wind was blowing about 25 mph from the northwest and it was cold and it was blowing all over. Some of the tents were blown to the ground. The dance arbors had been messed up by the wind. The arbor was in the center of the grounds and there was an American flag next to it. There were concession stands around the arbor. One was a private concession and the other was Chief Joseph’s committee stand. There were selling fry bread, pop, Indian tacos, hamburgers, and coffee. Around the grounds in a large circle were tents, about eight tipis and a few pickup campers. Two of the tipis didn’t have covers, only the poles were standing. The covers were torn in the high winds. The grounds were deserted because of the wind and the dust. A tank truck went through the grounds and watered down the road to minimize the dust. It only helped for a little while.

We saw Gordon, Edith, Caroline and Bobby at the pow wow. Gordon said that they were moving the pow wow over to the gym tonight because of the wind.

And if this wind keeps up, the pow wow will be in the gym again tomorrow. George Horse Capture’s exhibit must be at the gym too, because I didn’t see it at the grounds. The exhibition dancing will be tonight, and the finals will be on Sunday. The Fools Dance is supposed to be done tomorrow. They were supposed to have a parade, but they never had it because of the wind. The wind was real strong last night too, but they did have a dance. There were about twenty dancers and there were three drums. We have to be over at the gym at 4:00 today because Ona Bell is having a giveaway for her husband. He died more than a year ago. She asked us to sing the honor song for her so we have to get back there. The dance will be over at the gym too.

They were getting ready to go to Caroline’s for dinner. She invited us over to eat with them so we left.

Caroline served dinner. Beef soup with potatoes and chicken soup with potatoes. She also served bread, crackers, coffee and tea. We ate and cleaned up the kitchen in about an hour and a half because Bobby, Caroline, Gordon and Edith had to be back at the pow wow by 4:00 because they were singing the honor song for Ona Bell’s give away.

7-31-77 Bobby and Caroline’s

Susie and I went to Bobby and Caroline’s this morning at 10:30. Gordon and Edith spent the night. Two friends of theirs were sitting at the kitchen table. They were from Browning. One was about 45 and his uncle who was in his 60s or 70s. Gordon said that the pow wow was real good on Saturday night. They had it outside. There were a lot of dancers and they had six drums. It went on until 1:30 and we were up pretty late. They held the elimination and the exhibition dances alternating between the intertribals and exhibition. They were all grass dance songs. Their Browning friends stayed in Gordon’s tent last night.

The old man from Browning was talking to Gordon. He said that in the old days everyone who sat around the drum used to sing. They would go around the drum and take turns starting out a song. Each person had to start a song and lead it. And the songs had to be learned by heart. Everyone had to memorize songs.

During the Fool’s Dance while the cow was being slaughtered, Caroline and Edith invited us over for lunch. Caroline said that they were going to feed some friends of theirs from Browning, so they all left to buy the food and prepare it. We told them that we’d come over as soon as the Fool’s Dance was over.

After the Fool’s Dance, we went to dinner. It was about 2:30. Edith and Caroline were preparing lunch and Bobby and Gordon went into one of the bedrooms to arrange the finances and split the cost evenly of the food. Their eight guests from Browning (Blackfeet) were in the living room. Gordon went into the living room and said, “could I please have your attention. Dinner is ready, please come into the kitchen and sit at the table.” There were three families and they came in and ate around the table. Bobby, Caroline, Edith, Susie and I stood in the kitchen and Gordon stood at the head of the table. He gave a little speech.

It makes my heart glad to see you here. We’re glad that you came here. You were Pete’s friends (Edith’s brother) and you’re our friends. We feel like you are our brothers and sisters. We feel close to you. When we go to the pow wow, we look for you. This hasn’t been a good year. These have been hard times. But Bobby just started working again, and I just found a job. And we want to share what we have with you. This man, Sandy, came here a year ago. We took him in and he’s like a son to us, and his wife, Susie, is like a daughter to us. (He introduced us to all the people). We are happy to see you here. (Then he asked one of the men to say a prayer. He asked him to do it in his own language. So, he said a prayer softly in Blackfeet and ended, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen). Thank you for coming here. Now, enjoy your food and start eating.

While the guests ate, everyone stood around. No one had anything until they finished eating. They served boiled meat, fried chicken, baked beans, fruit, salad, macaroni salad, and potato chips, pickles, rolls, watermelon, tea and Kool-Aid, When the guests finished dinner and were still sitting at the table, Gordon walked up and gave another short speech. He was holding money in his hand.

We just had a short meeting. We don’t have much. It’s been a hard year for us, but we want to share what we have. Caroline said that she was very happy. She looked out of the window and saw all the cars lined up outside their house and she said it made her feel good. The last time she saw all the cars lined up outside their mother was lying in the living room in a coffin. But this is a happy occasion for us.

Gordon gave each of the three couples $10 and the two older boys each $5 and he shook their hands. “I asked the Great Spirit to take you home safely. Now eat some more.” They all laughed. The guests sat in the living room and the rest of us sat down at the table and we had dinner. The guests went back to the pow wow and we cleaned up the kitchen. Edith said that they had to be back at 4:00 to sing for Fiddle’s giveaway for Angy.

Bobby took out a thermos and filled it with broth from the boiled beef. He heated it over the stove and added some salt. He said that he wanted it to cut the phlegm for his singing voice.

Gordon said that yesterday afternoon there was a giveaway for Clementine Horse Capture. “It was put on by her family. She was George’s mother. Then Ona Bell had a giveaway and feed for her husband. They were two separate giveaways but they combined their feeds. The giveaways and feeds were at the gym.” Caroline said, “people do like us. We’re an old group. The Hays Singers have been around for a long time, and we’re well known all over.  Pete used to be the leader of the whole group. He had friends and we have friends from all over, like the people from Browning. People give us presents and money all the time. Caroline showed us a Pendleton blanket that was given to the group this summer and a star quilt that was given to her. She said it was small, but it was a star quilt (a valuable gift). Then Bobby showed us a medallion that was given to him. Caroline said that they go to pow wows and sing almost every weekend in the summer. So far we’ve been to Missoula, Idaho (Nez Perce), Crow Fair, and Oil Days celebration at Ft. Peck. That’s about the last pow wow of the summer.

7-31-77 Indian Days Pow Wow

I saw George Horse Capture at the pow wow. He told me that he was working on the Gros Ventre language workshop. It was going to be on August 13 and 14. “At the workshop we’re going to work on the Gros Ventre language dictionary. Father Sifton started the original dictionary, and this is what we have started on. We are going to have a linguist with us and Elmer is going to help. When only a small number of people speak a language and especially when the people are old people, the language changes and it changes pretty fast. That’s why we’re having the workshop. We want to get as many people together as possible to work on the dictionary all at the same time. That way we can get some different opinions about words and punctuation. We have a preliminary dictionary done now that we’re selling copies of. Joyce Horvath did a lot of work on it.” 

The grand entry – parade – at the pow wow was at 3:00. All the dancers were dancing in the arbor. The dance began soon after. There were about six drums, Hays Singers, a group from Browning, two from Ft. Peck and other drums. During the dance, the drums played intertribals and then interchanged with the exhibition dancing contests. The eliminations took place on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and the finals on Sunday night. There were several categories of dancing, traditional girls, boys, men and women fancy dancing. Cash prizes went to the winners. The dancers wore numbers on their dance outfits or shawls so the judges could distinguish the dancers. The contestants were from Ft. Belknap and from other reservations and Indians from all over the country and Canada. The men’s fancy dancing and traditional dancing took place on Sunday night. All six drums played together the same song for this dance, the Hays Singers were excited about this. Merle Grey was in charge of the dance contests. He said he wasn’t going to dance but just was running it. “The Milk River Dance Committee asked me to do this for them. I’m not on the committee. I’m on the dance committee from Lodge Pole.”

At 5:00 in the evening the announcer asked everyone to stand for the retiring of the colors for the 1977 Indian Days Pow Wow. A drum from Ft. Peck sang the flag song and the American flag was lowered. Gilbert Horn, a member of the tribal council, announced most of the giveaways at the pow wow. Fiddles and Mary Agnes had a giveaway for Angy. He had been really sick and was much better after multiple surgeries. The Hays Singers sang the honor song. Fiddles, Mary Agnes, Angy and Gerard danced in front. Quentin and Lilly were behind them and then family and friends filed in behind. They had a giveaway.

The Ft. Belknap princess gave up her position because she was going away to school and couldn’t give her responsibilities her full attention. So, she wanted to give up her position early. The announcer explained all of this. Her mother had a giveaway for her and one of the drums from Ft. Peck did the honor song while they danced. The princess gave her crown and shawl to the Milk River Dance Committee to give away to the next princess.

Gordon said that there wasn’t any feed at the pow wow. The dance committee didn’t feed. The only feeds were with the giveaways which were put on by the families. They were held at the gym and not everyone at the pow wow attended these. Rations were distributed every morning to the people at the pow wow each day. And people did their own cooking at their camp sites.

There were about 700 people at the pow wow. People from all over the reservation came to the pow wow and there were a lot of people there from Ft. Belknap. There were also a lot of people from different tribes all over the plains and from all over the country and Canada. Most of the people considered it a very successful pow wow. Gordon said that the pow wow would go on pretty late tonight. People will stay until 4:00 in the morning at a pow wow and then will travel home and still be at work on Monday morning. Some travel a long way, too.

There were a lot of whites at the pow wow from communities surrounding, Malta, Chinook, Harlem, Havre, Dodson. They observed the Fools Dance and the dancing. Many of them were taking pictures.

When Susie and I left the pow wow on Sunday night, Gordon and Edith asked us to take home the contents of their tent, and we also drove home Junior. There were pillows, blankets, air mattresses, water containers, ice chest, clothes, plates and utensils, folding chairs, cookware and food. They were going to take the tent down themselves later.

This is Catcher dancing for the first time. He is with his Aunt Cecilia and Grandma Matilda. Could someone please let Catcher know so that he can download this photograph for himself. Thank you!

Another photograph of Catcher, Cecilia and Matilda. A very special day for the Cuts the Rope Family.

Catcher, Cecilia and Matilda

Gerard

Gerard and Darian

Gerard and Catcher

The Hays Singers - Bobby and Gordon

The Hays Singers - Bobby, Caroline and Edith

The Fools Dance

7-25-77 Clarence and Margaret’s

Margaret said that they were going to have the Fools Dance at the Indian Days Pow Wow at the Agency. It should be really interesting. It’s like the Crazy Dance. They do everything backwards. They cut up a beef, and they throw meat at you and if the meat hits you, you get to keep the meat. Clarence said that he didn’t know much about it.

7-28-77 Ray and Irma’s

I asked Cyndee and Ray if they were going to the pow wow. They said, yes. Ray said it will be better on Saturday. He said, “Sandy, you should bring your camera to the Fool’s Dance because old Al First Sound, “Big Toe” is the only one who can lead it and he’s getting pretty old.”

This might be the last one they have. They didn’t have these dances at every celebration. It was a special thing. But it was passed down to Al. I guess he feels like times are changing, and he’s not going to pass it on to anyone. Let me just warn you, when they cut up that beef, they pull out all the parts and throw them around, including the insides. So, you folks stay back or you’ll get messy. You’ll see the crowd scatter in all directions every so often.

“There is going to be a kettle dance too. I don’t know what that is.” Cyndee said, maybe it is an Assiniboine dance. Ray said, so is the Fool’s Dance. “Al is one hundred percent full blood Assiniboine.” Cyndee said that she thought it was Gros Ventre.

To determine who are going to be the fools in the Fools Dance, Al will go around with a stick and he’ll poke it in different people’s tents. If he pokes it in there, they have to be a fool. Then they meet in a medicine lodge before they dance that is set up by the arbors.

7-30-77 Indian Days Pow Wow

Raymond said that he could remember seeing the Fool’s Dance when he was a kid.

They usually have it on April 1^st. We saw it up in Lodge Pole. They put on masks and they act scary and silly. They throw meat at people. Marilyn was leaning on the hood of my grandfather’s car, it was a 1949 Ford. She got hit right in the face with a piece of meat. She got a nose bleed from it. It was a long time ago. It was before Lyle and Cyndee were even born. But I can remember it.

7-31-77 Indian Days Pow Wow

At the pow wow, we went to Frank and Matilda’s tent at 11:00. They were outside with Evie and Tammy. Frank was making holes in pop and beer cans and was stringing them on a wire. He made two loops of cans and then tied cans onto his blanket. Evie said that he was picked to dance in the Fool’s Dance. Matilda said that if the dance maker comes around and touches you with his stick then you have to do it or something bad will happen to you. “I’m happy to be here. It’ll be good to get good laughs from this dance. I’m so happy to be here. They can dance any way they want around in a circle. It’s sure funny. I’ll get a laugh from this.”

While we walked around and waited for the Fools Dance to start, we talked to a lot of different people. Most of them said that they could remember going to the last dance about 20 or 25 years ago in Lodge Pole. And they talked mostly about the dancers throwing meat at people and warned us to watch out. Pat said that she remembered going to the last dance in Lodge Pole about 25 years ago. She thought it was Al First Sound who was the maker then too.

Bertha told us the story about why they do this dance, the Assiniboine. The meaning behind the dance.

There was a small group of Assiniboine warriors out and they were down in a valley. Up above on a knoll walked up a group of enemies. The worst thing is to be caught down in a valley like that and they were out-numbered. They were doomed. But some Indians – not me – have a good wit. They can think real quick. Indians are superstitious about people who are dingy (she pointed to her head). They won’t bother people like this and they kind of stay away from them. They leave them alone. So, they decided to act dingy. They laughed and laughed and rolled around on the ground. They would roll closer and closer to the enemy warriors. And then every once in a while, they would get into a huddle and talk and start to laugh and roll around and do crazy things and then huddle and talk again. They did this over and over again. The enemy warriors didn’t do anything but watch. They didn’t know what to make of it. The Assiniboine warriors played on the superstitions about dingy people. Finally, the Assiniboines got close enough to the enemy and they attacked. The enemy was so caught off guard by the surprise that some ran away. The ones that didn’t run were killed. The Assiniboines got a lot of trophies, they took scalps and since there weren’t enough scalps to go around, they took the hands and feet. And they put all these trophies on the end of their coup stick and went back to their camp.

This Fool’s Dance commemorates this event. The cow represents the enemy warriors and they reenact what happened. This dance has changed though. A lot of these dancers don’t know what they’re doing. Many of them have never seen it before and Al is giving the directions in Assiniboine. He doesn’t speak much English at all. So, some of these dancers don’t understand what they’re supposed to be doing and they’re not doing it right. That’s why the dance has changed. Only a few of the dancers know what to do. Al isn’t going to pass the dance on. He says that things have changed so much and he isn’t going to pass it on. He bought the dance himself. He might sell it to someone, but he said he wouldn’t sell it to anyone who didn’t speak Assiniboine.

Thank you, Bertha!

George Horse Capture said that Al bought the dance a long time ago. He doesn’t care to pass it down. He doesn’t think it’s good to pass down the dance because things have changed so much. It’s been about 20-30 years since he put this dance on last.

The Fool’s Dance began at 10:30. Al had a tipi at the northwest side of the campgrounds. He came out of this tipi with a white staff (coup stick?) and he began walking around the camp, the tents, tipis and campers. He wore a cloth mask and a white cloth robe. He walked around and he chose his dancers as he walked around the camp. He chose them by touching them with his stick. He chose about ten dancers. The dancers he picked were not all Assiniboines even though this was an Assiniboine dance. Wimpy Shortman and Frank were picked as dancers and they are Gros Ventre. So at least two of them weren’t Assiniboine. All the dancers were male. Most were men, some young men, and two of the dancers were young boys. After the dancers were chosen they worked for about an hour preparing their dance outfits. They worked at their own camp sites on these dancing outfits. Frank collected cans, pop and beer from the ground all over the campsite. Then he took some wire and punched holes in the cans and strung the cans on the wires. He made two small rings of cans and one long ring. Then he took the blanket he had and strung three cans onto the back of it.

At about noon, all the dancers walked to the special lodge or tipi that was set up just inside the camp circle (but outside of the dance arbor) on the northwest side of the camp. And they walked into the tipi. Inside the tipi, they changed into the dance outfits and put on a mask which was provided by Al. They also received instructions from Al about the dance. While the dancers and Al were in the tipi, the announcer at the head of the arbor kept making the announcement that kids must stay away from the tipi. Everyone must stay away from this tipi. He repeated this on the PA system a few times. “Kids stay away from that tipi. Please parents, keep control of your children. Don’t let them near that tipi. This is a religious occasion. Please keep your kids under control.” He announced that the kids should not go in front of the dancers. “Parents, please keep your kids behind the dancers when they dance around the camp.”

Then at about 12:15, Al walked out of the tipi and the dancers followed him out behind him in a single file line. He walked around the tipi clockwise, halfway around the tipi to the back of the tipi opposite the door side and he stopped there. The dancers followed him in a single file line. Then they all stopped and stood in a single file line behind Al when everyone was outside of the tipi.

The dancers each wore a white cloth mask that completely covered their head. The eyes were cut out and some of the masks had a long nose (like an elephant – Al’s and Frank’s did) and some had ears and horns. They wore pants but these were barely visible under the cloth or blanket robes that each of them wore. The blanket or cloth was draped around their shoulders and hung down below the knees. The cloths and blankets were all kinds of colors and designs. Some of the robes had cans attached to them and most of the dancers had ankle bracelets of cans and belts of cans. They wore their own boots or shoes. Al began walking with his staff in a clockwise direction around the camp, inside the camp sites and outside of the arbors (between them). He walked very slowly and the dancers walked behind him in a single file. As the dancers walked behind Al, they did crazy and funny things. They would stop and do something and then catch up with the group walking. They came to a mud puddle once and as each dancer passed it, they jumped into the mud puddle and splattered mud or tiptoed over it and picked up some mud in their hands and smelled it. People really laughed when they did these things. Some of the dancers got down on the ground and clawed at the ground and dug a hole. They also play fought a few times and rolled around on the ground. This went on all the way around the camp until they got to the cow. Whenever kids got near to the dancers or in front of the dancers, they would chase the kids with arms flailing and the kids would run screaming. As the dancers would walk around the camp, most of the people/spectators walked along and followed along at the dancer’s sides, but never in front of the dancers. Some people stayed at their camp sites and watched as the dancers passed, mostly older people who could not easily walk around with the dancers. There were about 200-300 people following along with the dancers. Sometimes when a lot of kids got near the dancers or especially in front of the dancers, someone from the crowd would shout for them to keep away, the front of the dancers was always kept open, people always stayed behind them. If the kids didn’t listen and got too close, one or two of the dancers would chase them away. Whenever the dancers stopped and did something crazy, everyone in the camp would laugh and really enjoyed their antics. They walked all the way around the camp (about a quarter mile) in a single file behind Al. Every so often they would stop and the second man, the man behind Al in the line would stand next to Al and would point out to the cow and show Al where the cow was. As the dancers walked around the camp, every 25 or 30 feet, Al would blow an eagle bone whistle. Then he would walk to the center, and the dancers would keep in a single file and would walk around Al until a circle was formed around him. Then he would start to sing in Assiniboine and holding his staff would pound it on the ground with a beat in time to the song. As he sang the song and pounded the staff, the dancers danced around him. They danced in various ways. Some just stopped or walked or jumped. When he finished singing, a couple minutes, the dancers stopped dancing and Al walked out of the circle and the dancers formed a single file line behind him again and they continued walking. They stopped at his whistle and danced like this every 25 or 30 feet. So, it took almost 45 minutes to an hour for the dancers to get all the way around the camp. They walked around the whole camp this way. The crowd followed the dancers all the way around camp, kids and adults. A lot of people had cameras, and they took pictures of everything the dancers did. In addition to the Indian people who were taking pictures, there was a photographer from the Great Falls Tribune, and a reporter, and an anthropologist – a graduate student from the University of Indiana who was planning on doing research on the Assiniboine of Ft. Peck. And George Horse Capture took a lot of pictures.

The dancers finally arrived at the west side of the camp grounds. All the cars had been moved and the west side opened out to the prairie next to New Town. They stopped here, south of the road leading into the pow wow grounds. They then turned out and walked west. The crowd of people was stopped here, and everything was watched from here. No one could walk any further. The dancers walked out into the prairie about twenty feet and then stopped. About 100 yards due west of them a cattle truck was parked and five men stood out there. They were in regular dress and there were three horses. A cow was tied – the legs – and was lying on the ground. Three men mounted the horses and after tying ropes to the cow, two of them dragged the cow along the ground to about twenty feet away from the dancers. The other rider rode alongside. Then they took their ropes off the cow and all rode back to the truck. The cow remained tied up and on its side on the ground. While this was being done, the dancers fought, rolled around on the ground and joked around. The crowd laughed at them. We were standing next to Matthew (Gone) and Susie asked him what was going on. He said that the dancers were supposed to make everyone laugh. Then the dancers got down on their hands and knees and crawled toward the cow with Al in the front. They weren’t in single file anymore but were spread out. The other dancers stopped about ten feet away from the cow and Al stood up and walked over to the cow. Two men came down from the truck. He took his coup stick and moved it back and forth over the cow four times and on the fourth time, dropped it on the cow. Then the two men came up to the cow, and one hit the cow over the head with an ax killing it and the other slit its throat with a knife. Then Al went back ten feet to the dancers, and they all sat down facing the cow. It was very hot and Al took off his mask. The others left their masks on. They remained seated like this until the cow was butchered. Then the announcer on the PA asked the whole crowd to return to the camp while the cow was butchered. Most people went back to the camp. The announcer asked the drums to get up for the dance and people went to the arbor. But some people stood far back and watched the butchering. The five men who were not dancers, took about an hour and a half to butcher the cow. The whole cow was cut up, including the hide. And then the meat, the insides, including the tripe, was cut into pieces. When the butchering was done, the dancers stood up and one of the butchers moved the meat back and forth a few times and then handed the meat to Al. Then the pieces of meat, all that could be carried, were passed out to all of the dancers. The rest was put into the back of the truck. Then Al started to walk back to the camp the way they came, and the dancers followed single file. They were carrying the meat.

When Al and the dancers got to the border of the camp, they stopped. By this time the crowd had reformed, but some people knew what events were about to occur and went to their cars and trucks, some inside with their doors and windows locked. Some were outside and ready to jump inside. But a lot of people were outside watching the dancers. I was standing next to a woman who was related to Bob Mount. She told me that if you sit down and get down on one knee when the dancers run up to you that they won’t throw anything at you. They’ll just give you some meat.

Susie was sitting in a pick up with Pat and Charlie Bear and their baby. Then Al blew his bone whistle, and the dancers ran into camp after people. They hit people with meat. Everyone scattered when the dancers ran up. Some people were hit and if it hit you, you got to keep the meat. Some meat missed and hit the ground. The announcer was hit by a piece of meat. The dancers also snuck around the cars and trucks and hit people. Everyone laughed and screamed when they were being chased and really laughed hard when someone was hit. One dancer snuck up on a man standing by an open car door and he literally wrapped a piece of meat around his neck. Some people ran into their tents but if the tent door was open or a car or truck door or window was open, a piece of meat could be thrown in. After about ten minutes of this meat throwing, Al went back to the tipi and blew the eagle bone whistle. The dancers returned to the tipi. Some didn’t have meat and some of the dancers still had meat left. Some of this meat was put into the back of the truck that drove up to the tipi door and some of the meat was taken into the tipi. All the dancers went back into the tipi and stayed in there. The ceremony was over and the crowd went back to the arbor. Everyone was laughing and finding out who was hit and joking about it. The ceremony ended at 2:15. Gordon said that a person who was hit by meat couldn’t change his clothes until after the sun goes down. No matter how bad it smelled.

Chief Joseph Battlefield

7-26-77 Hays Trading Post

Susie and I went into the store to do some shopping for Sister Germaine and to pick up the mail. Tootsie was working behind the counter and we visited with her for a while. Tootsie said that she and her husband, Morris Doney – Richard’s brother – were going to ride in the Chief Joseph’s ride to the battlefield.

It’s going to be from August 8-12 and we’ll get to the battlefield on the 12^th. Every year they ride part of the distance, and they got up to the breaks last year. That’s where we’re leaving from this year. We’ll start from James Kipp Park. Chief Joseph didn’t go there but they needed a place where people could park and unload their horses. They’re going from here to the battlefield because this is the centennial year of the Chief Joseph surrender. We’ll be going along the western border or the reservation. Only appaloosas are allowed to be in this ride, because Chief Joseph’s Nez Perce only had appaloosas. The Appaloosa Association and the Nez Perce tribe are putting on this ride. She showed us the brochure they sent to her. It cost $125 to enter the ride. That included all meals and feed for the horses. Tootsie said that they were expecting a lot of people. They’re even going to have a couple of doctors and a couple of vets along. They expect about 6,000 people at the battlefield when we get there. The brochure had a list of books about Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce escape. Tootsie said that she’s reading some of the books.