In this third part of the series of blogs on Plains weaponry, I will talk about lances… Read part 1 Read part 2 The lance—wahúkeza—is another weapon commonly used on the plains. Like the bow, it is used both in hunting buffalo and in combat. The shafts can be constructed from various kinds of wood, […]
In this second part of the series of blogs on Plains weaponry, I will introduce the stone-headed war club. Read part 1 Read part 3 There are many types of clubs, hatchets, tomahawks, etc. used across the Americas. On the Plains, however, we developed a particular style of stone club that is both distinctive and […]
In a series of blogs on men’s weaponry on the plains, I will discuss several different weapons, beginning with perhaps the most well-known: the bow and arrow. Read part 2 Read part 3 For the Nakoda, like most Plains Nations, the bow, idazipa, and the arrow, wohiŋkpe, are indispensable weapons. Their origins are sacred, as the use […]
In the Nakoda (Assiniboine) language, the border separating the U.S. and Canada is sometimes referred to as the Ĉaŋgú Wakaŋ, which can be roughly translated as the “mysterious road/trail.” When this border was created in the second half of the 19th century, it cut through the middle of lands that the Nakoda have called home […]