OCR Text |
Show 22 Ute Lands events with dances, amusements, and marriages, usually taking place in the summer. The most important gatherings, however, was religious in nature â€" the occasion of the Bear Dance which brought bands together in late March or early April. There was not a central political structure for the entire Ute tribe. Too many natural barriers â€" rivers, mountain ranges, canyons â€" separated the several bands. There was not enough food in one area to support all of the bands. But all the Utes recognized themselves to beNoochee or "the People." They all shared language, rites, traditions, life styles, and a beautiful land. The eastern borders of the land were along the eastern portion of the Rocky Mountains stretching from Wyoming to New Mexico. The richness of this area is the richness of both the mountains and the plains. The Sangre de Cristo and San Juan Mountains and the foothills of the Rockies meet the plains of eastern Colorado, western Kansas and Oklahoma. The productivity of the area is great, not only to the people who live there now, but also to the Ute People who dwelt there before their coming. Group of Ute People, probably in Colorado, 1857. The three men on the left are wearing buffalo robes. The People became good horse riders and ranged out onto the Plains hunting buffalo and other big game animals. (Photograph from the Smithsonian Institution National Anthropological Archives) |