Plains Nations (Indigenous)
Matȟó Thípila
Devils Tower
“The Bear Lodge, lifted from the plains as if to hold up the sky”
Photo: Alan Hinkel · CC BY-SA 3.0
Scenes
Meaning
The grey tower that was visible for a hundred miles now stands straight before you, hundreds of vertical stone columns rising toward the sky, and among the pines at its foot bright prayer cloths stir in the wind.
Many Plains nations — Lakota, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Arapaho — hold this tower sacred and call it the Bear Lodge (Matȟó Thípila). Tradition tells that the claw marks of a great bear became its vertical grooves. It was named the first national monument in the United States in 1906, and each June people set climbing aside out of respect for the nations' ceremonies.
Field notes
- Location
- Bear Lodge Mountains · Wyoming · N44.6° · W104.7°
- Best time
- At dusk, when the tower glows red and the prayer cloths sway in the wind
- Getting there
- In northeastern Wyoming; from the monument's visitor center, the Tower Trail circles the base of the tower on foot.
- Etiquette
- Climbing is set aside in June, and the prayer cloths and offerings tied in the trees are left untouched — this is a place of living prayer.
Sources
- · National Park Service — Devils Tower
- · Encyclopaedia Britannica
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