time of war
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- Most men in Arapaho society were warriors, but you were not required to become one
- Warriors also acted as guards among the tribe and helped keep the peace in the community
- They were also required to provide food and wealth for the tribe as a whole.
- Each tribe had its own particular warrior initiation process, its own ceremonies, and its own fighting technique
- Warriors would often paint their faces, bodies and horses (at the time when they had horses) to empower and glorify themselves and their tribes.
- Each man had a specific painted design on his hoarse or himself which symbolized his family or a religious belief.
- Feathers and trinkets such as carved animal bones were also worn into battle for the same reasons as war paint
- War chiefs must earn their title by committing a number of brave acts in battle. these acts were known as Counting coup
- Used a viriaty of weapons (listed in "Homelands")
Arapaho ENEMYS/ aLLIeS
- Allies of the Arapaho Indians included the Cheyenne, the Lakota and the Dakota
- These were also plains tribes and they shared a similar way of life with the Arapaho
- Enemies of the arapaho include the Pawnee, the Omaha, and the Ponca
- The arapaho fought with these tribes on and off mostly about boarder disputed and rouge killings
- There is no exact recording of when the Arapaho first met European settlers, although we know contact occurred around the 1800's
- In 1851, the Treaty of Fort Laramire was signed between the U.S.A and 7 other indian nations, recognizing Native American land rights.
- This was one of the many attempts and failures of peace between westerners and Native americans
- In 1858 the U.S government encouraged the California gold rush by offering free land to settlers in the west, knowingly offering up Native american Inhabited territory.
- Arapaho indians traded with the Europeans, and also fought with them over territory and raids
- The largest of these battle occurred in November 1864 when a small village of Arapaho indians was attacked by the seven hundred man force of the Colorado Militia in an attempt to capture the resource rich land in the Denver area.
- An estimated 70, 163 Native Americans were brutally slaughtered, about two thirds of which were women and children and the loss of Arapaho lives is still remembered and mourned
children and women of the tribe
- Children in the tribe had basic duties of washing clothes, starting fires, and gathering food and fire wood
- As children got older, they would have greater duties such as taking care of the younger children, and hunting small game
- Women of the tribe were for the most part in charge of cooking and house keeping, as well as caring for the children
- Arapaho women owned the houses and were in charge of medicine
- Women could not become chiefs or war leader, but they actively participated in the storytelling, artwork and music