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Lippman School 7th and 8th graders recently visited the Northern Cheyenne Nation in Montana, as part of the school's continuing cultural exchange program. The program, which began three years ago, includes visits to Montana for Lippman students, and visits from Northern Cheyenne students to our school in Akron, OH.

 

The week's activities started out with tipi building on the campus of Chief Dull Knife College. Burt Medicine Bull, who spent a lot of time teaching our students about Cheyenne history and culture, explained that in the days when the Cheyenne hunted and roamed the plains; tipis were made from heavy buffalo pelts. 

  

Today, tipis are made with lightweight tent canvas, but they are still supported by heavy poles made from Lodge Pole pines, which have been stripped of bark and branches. 

 

   

Also on the reservation, students learned the art of Northern Cheyenne beading, rode horses, participated in a sweat lodge ceremony, and danced to traditional Northern Cheyenne music.

   

Deer Medicine Rock, a national historical site with religious significance to the Northern Cheyenne and Sioux tribes, was of particular interest to our students. There, they learned that Cheyenne and Sioux believe that prophesies are inscribed on the stone, including one that foretold General Custer's defeat at Little Bighorn, on June 25, 1876.

   

With that in mind, our students traveled next to the Little Bighorn Battlefield Memorial. That site, which features a stone monument to General Custer and his men, was also at the center of a of a great political battle in the 1990's.

  

 

Several tribes, including the Northern Cheyenne, held that because it was not only the site of the US Army's greatest defeat during the Great Sioux War, but was also the site of their ancestor's greatest victory;  a memorial to their fallen heroes should also be included. That part of the memorial was completed in 2003, and is pictured below.

  

But that wasn't the end of our students' Montana adventure.

 

They also visited Lewis & Clark Caverns, where they saw three million year old rock formations hundreds of feet below ground, and Yellowstone park, where they camped, hiked, and took pictures of a vast array of wildlife.

   

The students were particularly excited about seeing several different kinds of bears, including a Grizzly,  a Cinnamon (Brown) Bear, and a Black bear with three little cubs.They also had an unexpectedly up close and personal encounter with bison in a parking lot near some bubbling hot springs, and marveled at the sight of Old Faithful geyser shooting high up into the air. 

 

It was quite an adventure, and sure to be the source of many fond memories for years to come!