Crow Warrior At Prayer, The Crow Nation, Whiskey, Scalps, and Beaver Pelts--single mounted figure -- LAST ONE!
Regular Price: $118.00
Sale: $84.99
Item Number: WSP-05
Crow Warrior At Prayer, The Crow Nation, Whiskey, Scalps, and Beaver Pelts
The Crow, called the Apsáalooke in their own Siouan language, or variants including the Absaroka, are Native Americans, who in historical times lived in the Yellowstone River valley, which extends from present-day Wyoming, through Montana, and into North Dakota, where it joins the Missouri River.
Pressured by the Ojibwe and Cree peoples (the Iron Confederacy), who had earlier and better access to guns through the fur trade, the Crow had migrated to this area from the Ohio Eastern Woodland area of present-day Ohio, settling south of Lake Winnipeg. From there, they were pushed to the west by the Cheyenne. Both the Crow and the Cheyenne were pushed farther west by the Lakota (Sioux), who took over the territory west of the Missouri River, reaching past the Black Hills of South Dakota to the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming and Montana. The Cheyenne eventually became allies of the Lakota, as they sought to expel European Americans from the area. The Crow remained bitter enemies of both the Sioux and Cheyenne.
From about 1740, the Plains tribes rapidly adopted the horse, which allowed them to move out on to the Plains and hunt buffalo more effectively. However, the severe winters in the North kept their herds smaller than those of Plains tribes in the South. The Crow, Hidatsa, Eastern Shoshone and Northern Shoshone soon became noted as horse breeders and dealers and developed relatively large horse herds. At the time, other eastern and northern tribes were also moving on to the Plains, in search of game for the fur trade, bison, and more horses. The Crow were subject to raids and horse thefts by horse-poor tribes, including the powerful Blackfoot Confederacy, Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, Pawnee, and Ute.
Their greatest enemies became the tribes of the Blackfoot Confederacy and the Lakota-Cheyenne-Arapaho alliance.
The Native Americans have always been a profoundly religious people. Every act of their lives were bound up with their religion. They trusted in a creative power that was higher than all the people and the universe. The Crows called this power “First Maker”.
The duty of prayer was taken extremely seriously.
“When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light. Give thanks for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and give thanks for the joy of living. And if perchance you see no reason for giving thanks, rest assured the fault is in yourself.”
This figure is based on the statue of a native American on a horse outside Boston’s Museum of Fine Art, called “Appeal to the Great Spirit”, by Cyrus Dallin.
OCTOBER 2020
