Cowboy Corncakes

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups cornmeal

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs (beaten)

1 tablespoon butter or margarine (melted)

1/2 cup milk

Grease for cooking

Method:

1. Place the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.  Mix.
2. Stir in the beaten eggs and the melted butter or margarine.
3. Using a fork (not a whisk) slowly add the milk, beating until the mixture makes a thin, smooth batter.
4. Spoon into rounds on a hot, greased skillet or griddle.
5. Cook briefly.
6. Turn over.  Evenly brown the reverse side.
7. Serve hot.

The Cheyenne

1. The word Cheyenne is thought to come from the Sioux Shai-ena, meaning People of a different speech.
2. They call themselves Tsitsistas (Our People).
3. The Cheyenne originated in Minnesota, but moved through the Dakotas and onto the Great Plains when they acquired horses from the Spaniards.
4. Their farming communities switched from harvesting corn, beans, and squash to become nomadic hunters who followed after the huge buffalo herds.
5. They soon became superb riders who shot antelope, deer, elk, and bison from the backs of their horses.
6. If they needed to cross water the men crafted tub-shaped boats from a frame of branches covered with buffalo hide.
7. Around 1832 the tribe split to become the Northern Cheyenne (now based in Montana), and the Southern Cheyenne (now in Oklahoma).
8. The Northern Cheyenne guard the Sacred Buffalo Hat – an important religious artifact.
9. The Southern Cheyenne protect the equally-revered Sacred Arrows.
10. Both tribes worship two main deities: Heammawihio (The Wise One Above), and Ahktunowihio (The Divine Spirit of the Earth).  They also honor four powerful spirits associated with the North, South, East, and West.
11. The Cheyenne believe in ghosts and underwater monsters.
12. Eagles symbolize strength and power.
13. Bears bring good fortune.
14. Deer represent endurance.
15. The buffalo was considered a sacred animal because it provided almost everything the Plains Indian needed.
16. Traditionally, the men hunted, made tools, and defended their tribe.
17. Dog Soldiers were the fiercest of the Warrior bands that also included Fox Soldiers, Chief Soldiers, and Bowstring Soldiers.
18. Women were responsible for setting up their mobile tipi homes, gathering and cooking food, making clothes, caring for the young, sick, and old, and for preparing animal skins.
19. Girls were chaperoned by older women to protect their virtuous reputations.
20. Boys were allowed to go to war after they had completed their first buffalo hunt.
21. The Cheyenne were a polygamous society where a man could wed many wives.  But if one of them wished for a divorce she simply placed her husband’s belongings outside her tipi and the marriage was over.
22. One of the most important ceremonies still practiced is the annual eight-day Sun Dance.
23.  Their mourning rites include traditional prayer and song.  Female family members often cut off their hair as a mark of respect.  Some women slice their legs with hunting knives too.
24. The Cheyenne fought several major battles in the Indian Wars, most notably at Sand Creek, Washita River, and Little Bighorn.
25. Like many other Native American Tribes, the Cheyenne were forced onto reservations during the late nineteenth century.

Want to know more?  Watch this wonderful documentary about the Sun Dance  and how the Sacred Circle is passed on to a new generation:

Sources:

Debo, Angie.  A History of the Indians of the United States (London: Folio Society, 2003)

De Capua, Sarah.  The First Americans: The Cheyenne (New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2007)

Wikipedia, “Cheyenne” at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheyenne

“Spread happiness where you go –

not when.”

Lozen (c. 1840-1889)

• Lozen was an Apache Warrior Woman, born sometime around 1840.
• Her childhood name was Little Sister, which later became Lozen – meaning spirited.
• Her brother was Chief Victorio.
• Her Apache band resisted confinement on the San Carlos Reservation (Arizona) and sought refuge in Mexico.
• Lozen fought alongside the men and accompanied Geronimo in the last campaign of the Apache Wars.  After they were forced to surrender, she was taken prisoner by the U.S. military.
• Victorio called Lozen the “shield to her people,” admiring her military strategies and skills.
• She was a gifted horsewoman.
• Lozen was also considered to be a Shaman or Medicine Woman.  Legend claims she could predict an enemy approach and that she had magical healing powers.  She was often called on to act as a midwife.
• One of her famous acts of bravery was to lead her people to safety across the dangerously swollen Rio Grande River.
• She died from tuberculosis in a military prison in Alabama.

Sources:

McWilliams, John P. Against the Wind: Courageous Apache Woman.  New York: Page, 2016.

Wikipedia, “Lozen,” at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lozen

Black Elk Speaks

(John G. Neihardt)

Black Elk was a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux.  He told his life story to a Nebraskan poet called John Neihardt, when he visited the Great Sioux Reservation in the 1930s.  Black Elk Speaks has since become an American classic.

Although this biography records Black Elk’s personal memoir – “My friend, I am going to tell you the story of my life” – it is also an enduring record of the Plains Indians’ belief system.  It describes the Ghost Dancers and the Messiah Craze that led to the massacre at Wounded Knee in South Dakota, December 1890.  This battle symbolized the end of the Sioux’s struggle for a return to their old lives: “A people’s dream died there.  It was a beautiful dream.”

Black Elk Speaks is a poignant account of the transition from the ancient spiritual world into the mechanized Twentieth Century.  In his Introduction, Vine Deloria, Jr. explains how the Holy Man “speaks to us with simple and compelling language about an aspect of human experience and encourages us to emphasize the best that dwells within us.”

This is an important, inspirational, historical record.  Highly recommended for readers of all ages.

Oklahoma!

(Oscar Hammerstein)

“Don’t pack hardware for bluff or balance!”

Moving Robe Woman (1854 – c. 1931)

• Moving Robe Woman was a member of the Hunkpapa Sioux.
• She was also called Thasina Mani, Mary Crawler, Her Eagle Robe, She Walks With A Shawl, and Walking Blanket Woman.
• Her father was Chief Crawler.
• She was the sister of One Hawk or Deeds, a warrior killed at the start of the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
• At the age of 17 she had taken part in a Sioux raid against the Crow, in Montana.
• Moving Robe Woman gained fame when she rode alongside her father – against Lt. Colonel Custer – to avenge her brother’s death.
• A brave named Fast Eagle claimed he held Custer’s arms while Moving Robe Woman stabbed him.  She was also credited with the death of a black soldier called Isiah Dorman.
• Charging into battle this Warrior Woman rode a black horse, painted her face crimson, and braided her hair.
• In an interview in 1931 she claimed, ” . . . I have not boasted of my conquests.  I am a woman, but I fought for my people.”

Sources:

AmericanTribes.com, “Mary Crawler,” at http://www.american-tribes.com/Lakota/BIO/MaryCrawler.htm

Geni.com, “Moving Robe Woman, Thasina Mani,” at https://www.geni.com/people/Moving-Robe-Woman-T%C8%9Fa%C5%A1%C3%ADna-M%C3%A1ni/6000000031182145889

Wikipedia, “Moving Robe Woman,” at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_Robe_Woman

Battlefield Pork and Beans

Ingredients:

2 large cans of baked beans (with or without pork)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup tomato ketchup / catsup

2 tablespoons dry mustard

6 – 8 slices uncooked bacon (chopped)

Outdoor Fire-pit Method:

1. Mix the baked beans, sugar, ketchup, and mustard in a large cast iron pot.  Stir well.
2. Add the bacon.
3. Heat over the fire, stirring every 15 minutes.
4. Cook for 2-3 hours until the bacon is thoroughly done.
5. Serve with cornbread.

Indoor Oven Method:

1. Heat the oven to 325 / 165 / Gas 3.
2. Mix the baked beans, sugar, ketchup, and mustard in a large casserole / baking dish.  Stir well.
3. Sprinkle the bacon on the top.
4. Bake without covering for 1 hour.  Stir well.
5. Cover with foil.
6. Bake for a further 1 and 1/2 hours.
7. Stir well.
8. Serve with cornbread.