The Train of Thought Journal

The Cheyenne

The Cheyenne believe that if you want to know what's going to happen, you should pay attention to what birds are doing. For the Cheyenne, birds can predict whether something good or bad is around the corner, and can even tell you what people or animals are nearby.

The Cheyenne respect the eagle, the hawk, and the thunderbird. They especially revere magpies and ravens, which live near human communities and can therefore carry messages to the spirits.

The Cheyenne hunt buffalo and eat them year round. The women gather wild roots, like turnips, and dry them in the sun. When the Cheyenne can get them, they also like to gather prickly pears. They use these fruits in soup and stew.

The Cheyenne roam the land between the North Platte and the Arkansas Rivers. Officially, their territory is on the south side of the North Platte, but they are always crossing the river to hunt.

The Cheyenne live in tipis made out of buffalo skins. You can tell a Cheyenne settlement from other Native American communities by how white their tipis are. They use a special tanning process and then cover the hides with white clay. This makes their tipis sparkle in the sun. A few of the tipis will be decorated. That's because important warriors live in them or because the Cheyenne are keeping important ceremonial items there, like their sacred arrows and buffalo hat.

It's easy to spot an excellent Cheyenne warrior. He'll be wearing a buckskin shirt decorated with the hair of his enemies. He might also be wearing a war bonnet made out of eagle feathers, and sometimes human hair, trailing all the way to the ground. Warriors wear a breechcloth that is long in the front and back. This is different from the Pawnee, who usually wear theirs short in the front and back.

The Cheyenne are partial to the following patterns: squares, triangles, stripes, sometimes a square cross or diagonal checkers. They don't wear anything decorated with a diamond, a prong, a feather, a fork, or a dragonfly pattern. Cheyenne men wear their hair long, and wrap their braids in fur. The Cheyenne like to wear metal decorations and jewelry. They really like brass and what's known as "German silver," an alloy of nickel, zinc, and copper. They often wear metal hairplates.