PowWowRally

After the Powwow: Enjoy three days on the Northern Cheyenne reservation, hosted by a true Indian cowboy. With numerous bull-riding titles to his belt, Rowdy will make you feel very welcome at the tipi ranch and introduce you to his people and their lands, the history, and the culture in a concise introduction to the beauty, the sorrow and the intricacies of Tsistsistas. Explore the Little Bighorn learning the truth of both sides of the story, and finish your journey in the inspirational mountains which are home to the Medicine Wheel.

Monday: Head from the camp on a vehicular tour of the reservation which includes a foray into the historical and contemporary. You can visit the Chief Dull Knife College Cultural department and will also have chance to tour St Labre, a reservation mission school founded in 1886 whose visitor center, museum and Ten Bear Gallery are all showplaces of Cheyenne heritage and art. As you explore and enjoy the reservation landscape and panoramas, learn the story of ‘Charging Horse Hill’ site of the last act of Cheyenne defiance against the US government, see the Two Moons Monument and after visiting the site of Custer’s last camp, hear about the critical part played by the Cheyennes in defeating Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Lunch will be taken either at the College or the Charging Horse Casino. Think Indian Casinos are the ‘new buffalo’? Learn the real story. Spend your first evening by the campfire listening to traditional stories. Dinner of traditional food included.

Tuesday: An easy walk with an ethno-botany workshop; learn about the healthful and healing plants on the reservation and of traditional ways, some of which have been adopted by ‘modern science’. An optional cool evening horseback ride offers wonderful views in the reservation hills.

Wednesday: Visit the beautiful and hidden Crazy Head Springs, then you have opportunity to explore and learn about the Buffalo Jump. Spend your evening in a Cheyenne Arts camp circle where you may even learn to speak a few words of Cheyenne. Dinner included.

Thursday: Visit one of the most sacred sites on the Northern Plains – the Deer Medicine Rocks where Sitting Bull’s vision of victory at the Little Bighorn is carved in stone, then to the hallowed ground where victory against Custer belonged to the Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho.

Friday: Atop Medicine Mountain in the Bighorns is a stone formed Medicine Wheel. Many locals say it is a ‘great mystery’, but we know that’s only if you don’t know whom to ask! We discuss the Massaum Ceremony, “the medicine dance of the ancients,” a beautiful and integral part of traditional Cheyenne culture in which the wolf, and the “Wolf’s Lodge,” is essential to creation, to life, and renewal in the spiritual and physical. This tour involves some easy walking – please wear comfy shoes and take water.

Saturday - Depart

Powwow

Heartbeat of the Nations!

Sheridan, Wyoming.

17th Aug- 25th

$1249 per rig, based on double occupancy

solo price $999

additional person $400

“The Crow country is a good country. The Great Spirit has put it exactly in the right place; everything good is to be found there,” said the Crow chief Arapooish, and on this itinerary you will discover what he meant as you experience Crow Fair, Tipi Capital of the World, where thousands of tipis line the Little Bighorn River for arguably the most exhilarating powwow on the Plains. What began as an invitation from the Crows to the Northern Cheyenne to foster better relations continues to this day as a wonderful celebration of Native culture and pride, wrapped in a cascade of colors from traditional dress, song and dance.

Friday evening – dinner at the Holiday Inn, Sheridan, WY with a guest speaker to explain the various dances to be seen at the Crow Fair.

Saturday morning: Crow Fair begins at 10am every morning with a parade of horses and floats displaying families’ possessions; clothing, household items and, of course, horse gear, and that parade, which in some years has reached over a mile long, winds through the campground, finishing at a field near the entrance to the fairgrounds. In this way, the Crow evoke their traveling heritage and modern observers have opportunity to marvel at the beauty of the procession. History shows that with their innovative and artistic character Crow people turned Camp Movement into much more then simply traveling from one place to another. Crow culture created a whole new genre of artistic and symbolic expression in which Moving The Camp became a time in which Crow women could display their creative abilities and, through symbolism, describe the military accomplishments of their husbands, their social status and respect for family and group.

Saturday afternoon: The first Grand Entry of Crow Fair 2007 starts at 1pm and is the epitome of tribal pride expression. Every dancer involved in the powwow will join the line moving into the arbor and with your new knowledge of what the dances represent; your visual experience will be from the ‘insider’s’ view. Introductory ceremonies and children’s dancing complete your first encounter with Crow and Intertribal culture.

Saturday evening: Enjoy Grand Entry at approx 7pm after which dancing continues long into the night. You will have a guide on hand to explain dances, traditions, powwow-related ceremonies and cultural imperatives.

Sunday morning: Have a relaxing morning enjoying the famous Holiday Inn Sunday Brunch

Sunday afternoon: Grand Entry is at 1pm after which you may choose to stay for the children’s competition dancing, to peruse the many craft stalls around the powwow arena, or to head down the road to the Crow Rodeo where broncos and bull riders compete alongside horse-racers and barrel racers. An event which epitomizes athleticism and horse-skills better than Crow Rodeo would be hard to find!

Sunday evening: The finals of the competition dancing begin after Grand Entry at 7pm, and the battles for championship titles rage well into the night.