Bear Butte

Shared Sacred Sites

Battle of Little Big Horn

Lakota Chiefs Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull & Elk Head

THE BATTLE OF LITTLE BIGHORN, 1876 — Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho and other tribes set aside their differences in the face of intolerable abuse by the U.S. Government, and their warriors were amassing in the thousands when General George Custer ordered his 700 soldiers of the 7th Cavalry of the United States Army to attack the Indian war party and his 700-troop regiment was subsequently annihilated in the ensuing battle. This created a prepetual bond between these Indian Nations until.

Black Hills - PaSapa

The Cheyenne people, who have lived in the northern Plains for hundreds of years, call the butte Noahvose, or “Place Where the People Were Taught.” Many years ago, according to their story, Cheyennes did not know how to live properly. A Cheyenne named Sweet Medicine killed another Cheyenne man who tried to take a buffalo kill from him. The Cheyennes banished Sweet Medicine from the village. In his wanderings, the outcast visited Noahvose, entered the butte and met Maheo, a great spirit who lived within the rock. Maheo gave Sweet Medicine knowledge to pass on to the Cheyenne people—how to organize the tribe and how to live together with respect for one another. Maheo also gave Sweet Medicine four sacred arrows to entrust to his people. The tribe accepted Sweet Medicine’s message, and ever since Cheyennes have been traveling in groups or alone to Noahvose to pray, worship and seek guidance. It remains one of the Cheyennes’ most sacred sites.

The Lakotas share that reverence. They dubbed the butte Mato Paha (“Bear Butte”), as it resembles a sleeping bear when viewed at certain angles from a distance. The Lakotas, too, have visited and lived in the area for hundreds of years. There they practice one of the seven virtues White Buffalo Calf Woman gave them—the vision quest, to seek wisdom from Wakan Tanka (their name for God). After purifying himself in inipi, a rebirth ceremony, a Lakota will climb to a sacred spot, where he will remain alone for four days and nights without food and water. During that time, he may receive visions from Wakan Tanka. He will then seek interpretation of his vision from an elder. Mato Paha remains a primary Lakota destination for vision quests and sacred ceremonies. To this day, Lakotas, Cheyennes and other American Indians leave strips of brightly colored cloth (prayer ties), tobacco, rocks and other items on Bear Butte as tokens of respect and worship.

Excerpt by Bill Markley - History.Net