The Crow IndiansFirst published in 1935, The Crow Indians offers a concise and accessible introduction to the nineteenth-century world of the Crow Indians. Drawing on interviews with Crow elders in the early twentieth century, Robert H. Lowie showcases many facets of Crow life, including ceremonies, religious beliefs, a rich storytelling tradition, everyday life, the ties of kinship and the practice of war, and the relations between men and women. Lowie also tells of memorable individuals, including Gray-bull, the great visionary Medicine-crow, and Yellow-brow, the gifted storyteller. The Crow nation today is vital and active, creatively blending the old and the new. The way of life recounted in these pages provides insight into both the historical foundation and the enduring, vibrant heart of the Crow people in the twenty-first century. |
Contents
TRIBAL ORGANIZATION | 3 |
KINSHIP AND AFFINITY | 18 |
FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE | 33 |
THE WORKADAY WORLD | 72 |
LITERATURE | 104 |
SELECTED TALES | 119 |
OLD WOMANS GRANDCHILD | 134 |
TWINEDTAIL | 158 |
RITES AND FESTIVALS | 256 |
THE BEAR SONG DANCE | 264 |
THE SACRED PIPE DANCE | 269 |
THE TOBACCO SOCIETY | 274 |
THE SUN DANCE | 297 |
WORLDVIEW | 327 |
I SOURCES | 335 |
II CLAN NAMES | 340 |
Common terms and phrases
according adopted arrows asked berdache Big Dogs bird Blackfoot blanket body buffalo bull bundle camp ceremony Cheyenne chief child chokecherries Cirape clan club coup Crazy Dog Crow Indians Crow language crying Dakota drum elder brother enemy face father four Foxes gave girl grandmother Gray-bull Gray-bull's ground hair hand head herald Hidatsa hide horses husband incense killed Leforge lodge Lodge Grass Lodge poles look Lumpwoods Mandan married meat medicine Medicine-crow moccasins mother night officers Old Man Coyote Old Woman's Grandchild once painted parfleche party pemmican Piegan pipe poles rattle rawhide robe sacred sang side sing sister skin sleep smoked snake society sometimes song spoke stick story strike struck Sun Dance supernatural sweat-lodge taboo tion tipi Tobacco told took tree tribe Twined-tail vision warriors weasel Whistler wife wife's willow wives woman women Yellow-brow young younger brother