Ute Tribe
The Ute tribe are Native Americans living in the Great Basin region of the United States of America. The Ute tribes live in New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Nevada. “Ute’ is a shortened version of “Eutah” or “Yutah” with a Spanish origin meaning people of the mountains. According to tribal history, the Ute people have lived in this area since the beginning of time.The Ute tribal membership is currently 2,970 and over half of the members live on the Reservation. The Utes have their own tribal government and oversee 1.3 million acres of land. The Ute tribe’s longevity can be attributed to the tribe being resourceful throughout their history, rich in spiritual traditions and beliefs and ecologically successful. The Ute Indians were …show more content…
The annual Bear Dance ceremony is a four day festival held in the spring at the first sound of thunder, about the middle of March. The dance is to awaken the bear and he will lead them to food. Another important spiritual ceremony is the Ute Sundance. The Ute Sundance is a quest for medicine power that is personal between the Sundancer and the Great Spirit. One of the things the Utes did at the Sundance is to stick eagle talons through a man’s chest muscles and lift him up a tree by his chest. They did this because the pain was so extreme it caused hallucinations. The eagle talons pulling out of the man and the buffalo skull hanging from the pole during the ceremony represented death and rebirth.The Utes believed ghosts and souls were real and feared. When someone died they burned the house where the death occurred. The deceased would then be washed, dressed, wrapped and burned in a rock-covered grave in the mountains. All souls are believed to go to an afterlife similar to this world. The Utes had curing ceremonies as attempts to drive evil out through songs, sucking tubes and herbal remedies. Utes used bear root to heal such things as respiratory illness. Bear root grows throughout the Rocky Mountains in elevation over 7,000 feet.The Utes respect the bear root and only harvest it when they need it and they pray before they harvest the root.Shamans held the power of healing and obtained is through dreams. …show more content…
The traditions, ceremonies and spiritual connection to the land are important to the Ute culture. The Utes were ecologically successful by moving place to place and leaving little evidence of their stay. This was important not only for the environment but also to avoid enemies being able to track them. The Utes believed that they didn’t own the land but the land owned them. The Utes were very respectful to the land and their elders. Elders were important in passing on cultural knowledge and know which plants were safe or dangerous. The Utes were the last of the western tribes to be forced onto a reservation. The Utes only used what they needed and lived in harmony with their environment. There are three different Ute tribes today and each lives on their own reservation. Most Ute people speak English with some older Utes speaking the native Uto-Aztecan language, Ute men and women join in storytelling, artwork, music and traditional medicine. Ute children play, go to school and have chores at home. Ute artists are famous for their baskets, beadwork and pottery. The Ute Chieftains Memorial is dedicated in honor of chiefs Ouray, Buckskin Charley, Severo and Ignacio and is located in the Ouray Memorial cemetery in Ignacio,
The Ute tribe are Native Americans living in the Great Basin region of the United States of America. The Ute tribes live in New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Nevada. “Ute’ is a shortened version of “Eutah” or “Yutah” with a Spanish origin meaning people of the mountains. According to tribal history, the Ute people have lived in this area since the beginning of time.The Ute tribal membership is currently 2,970 and over half of the members live on the Reservation. The Utes have their own tribal government and oversee 1.3 million acres of land. The Ute tribe’s longevity can be attributed to the tribe being resourceful throughout their history, rich in spiritual traditions and beliefs and ecologically successful. The Ute Indians were …show more content…
The annual Bear Dance ceremony is a four day festival held in the spring at the first sound of thunder, about the middle of March. The dance is to awaken the bear and he will lead them to food. Another important spiritual ceremony is the Ute Sundance. The Ute Sundance is a quest for medicine power that is personal between the Sundancer and the Great Spirit. One of the things the Utes did at the Sundance is to stick eagle talons through a man’s chest muscles and lift him up a tree by his chest. They did this because the pain was so extreme it caused hallucinations. The eagle talons pulling out of the man and the buffalo skull hanging from the pole during the ceremony represented death and rebirth.The Utes believed ghosts and souls were real and feared. When someone died they burned the house where the death occurred. The deceased would then be washed, dressed, wrapped and burned in a rock-covered grave in the mountains. All souls are believed to go to an afterlife similar to this world. The Utes had curing ceremonies as attempts to drive evil out through songs, sucking tubes and herbal remedies. Utes used bear root to heal such things as respiratory illness. Bear root grows throughout the Rocky Mountains in elevation over 7,000 feet.The Utes respect the bear root and only harvest it when they need it and they pray before they harvest the root.Shamans held the power of healing and obtained is through dreams. …show more content…
The traditions, ceremonies and spiritual connection to the land are important to the Ute culture. The Utes were ecologically successful by moving place to place and leaving little evidence of their stay. This was important not only for the environment but also to avoid enemies being able to track them. The Utes believed that they didn’t own the land but the land owned them. The Utes were very respectful to the land and their elders. Elders were important in passing on cultural knowledge and know which plants were safe or dangerous. The Utes were the last of the western tribes to be forced onto a reservation. The Utes only used what they needed and lived in harmony with their environment. There are three different Ute tribes today and each lives on their own reservation. Most Ute people speak English with some older Utes speaking the native Uto-Aztecan language, Ute men and women join in storytelling, artwork, music and traditional medicine. Ute children play, go to school and have chores at home. Ute artists are famous for their baskets, beadwork and pottery. The Ute Chieftains Memorial is dedicated in honor of chiefs Ouray, Buckskin Charley, Severo and Ignacio and is located in the Ouray Memorial cemetery in Ignacio,