Excerpt from The Religion of the Crow Indians Some had dreams while out lost in a storm at night or under Similar circumstances. In these dreams beings would come to them while they were not asleep and Showed them what kind of medicine to have. Others, having lost a Sister or brother or some other close relative, would chop off a finger and go to the mountains to have dreams. All this comes from old-woman's-grandson. In their dreams they would see a bird or some other animal transformed into a man who had painted his face and tied certain feathers to his head and would tell the visionary to imitate him. Those who herded horses would stay out at night with their herd and sometimes had dreams of horses. Then they went out to the enemy and brought back so many head of horses. In their vision they would see a horse turn into a man, who would talk to the dreamer. First the visionary would see a man who showed him some medicine, then the visitant would turn into an animal. Those who dreamt of a bear were not shot in battles, or even if they were shot, the arrows or bullets would fall to the ground. Badger dreams are the same. I know of two men who dreamt of a badger. One of them would not eat the young of any animal. I saw the other deliberately shoot himself in the breast, but the bullet fell on the ground and he was not killed. Sometimes people dreamt of stones or rocks; these would be like the bear and badger dreamers. Some times the bear was thought to be a real bear, sometimes he would come out of the clouds. These were larger than real bears, I don't know what they were. Old woman's-grandson told all the animals to help the people of the earth, and that is why they appeared in these dreams. The animals gave power to these Indians. Scratches-face's views on old-woman's-grandson were shared by some other informants, but not by all (see p. It will be noted that he assigns a specific character to visions of bears, badgers, and rocks, to wit, that of bestowing immunity to missiles. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

For nearly ten years between 1907 and 1931, anthropologist Robert H. Lowie lived among the Crow Indians, listening to the old men and women tell of times gone forever. Lowie learned much about what had been, and still was, a society remarkable for its variability and cohesion, and for its resistance to the encroachments of white civilization. Written with clarity and vigor, Lowie's study makes instantly accessible what had taken him years to discover. He sacrificed neither personal sensitivity nor narrative skill to scientific scruples, but brought his scientific work to life. Crow religion, ceremonies, taboos, kinship bonds, tribal organization, division of labor, codes of honor, and rites of courtship and wedlock receive their due. The Crow Indians is a masterpiece of ethnography, foremost for Lowie's portrayal of the different personalities he encountered: Gray-bull and his marital troubles; the great visionary Medicine-crow; Yellow-brow, the gifted storyteller; and many more.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Crow Christianity speaks in many voices, and in the pages of Crow Jesus, these voices tell a complex story of Christian faith and Native tradition combining and reshaping each other to create a new and richly varied religious identity. In this collection of narratives, fifteen members of the Apsáalooke (Crow) Nation in southeastern Montana and three non-Native missionaries to the reservation describe how Christianity has shaped their lives, their families, and their community through the years. Among the speakers are elders and young people, women and men, pastors and laypeople, devout traditionalists and skeptics of the indigenous cultural way. Taken together, the narratives reveal the startling variety and sharp contradictions that exist in Native Christian devotion among Crows today, from Pentecostal Peyotists to Sun-Dancing Catholics to tongues-speaking Baptists in the sweat lodge. Editor Mark Clatterbuck also offers a historical overview of Christianity’s arrival, growth, and ongoing influence in Crow Country, with special attention to Christianity’s relationship to traditional ceremonies and indigenous ways of seeing the world. In Crow Jesus, Clatterbuck explores contemporary Native Christianity by listening as indigenous voices narrate their own stories on their own terms. His collection tells the larger story of a tribe that has adopted Christian beliefs and practices in such a way that simple, unqualified designations of religious belonging—whether “Christian” or “Sun Dancer” or “Peyotist”—are seldom, if ever, adequate.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Beginning in 1907, the anthropologist Robert H. Lowie visited the Crow Indians at their reservation in Montana. He listened to tales that for many generations had been told around campfires in winter. Vivid tales of Old-Man-Coyote in his various guises; heroic accounts of Lodge-Boy and the Thunderbirds; supernatural stories about Raven-Face and the Spurned Lover; and other tales involving the Bear-Woman, the Offended Turtle, the Skeptical Husband--all these were recorded by Lowie.