preview

Tapestry of a Tribe: The Story of the Ute Indians Essay

Better Essays

“You think you own whatever land you land on
The earth is just a dead thing you can claim
But I know every rock and tree and creature
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name.”
~Disney's Pocohontas And so it is with the Ute Indians, a people whose great respect and admiration for the land and its inhabitants weaves in and out of their culturally rich heritage like threads in a tapestry. Not unlike other Native American tribes, the Utes feel a deep connection to the land that is their home. Everything they believe and all they do is a direct result of this connection. The story of the Utes is one that spans over a thousand years. It is a mystery, an action adventure, a love story, a drama, and a tragedy all rolled into one. Theirs is …show more content…

Some speculate that the Utes, Paiutes, and Shoshoni forced the Fremonts and Anasazi out of the Great Basin area, while others claim that climatic changes affecting their ability to farm may have forced these two groups out of the Great Basin (Madsen 1). Nevertheless, over time, the Ute people claimed this region as their home and thus began the love story of the Utes and the Colorado Plateau.
2. Cosmology – The Mystery Solved As with many of the Native American tribes, the Utes believe in a great spirit, a singular deity who created the land and its inhabitants. In the Ute tradition, the great creator is called Sinawaf who, along with his brothers, Coyote and Wolf, “kept the world in balance” (Utah 1). Many of the animals including Eagle, Hawk, Bear, Coyote, and Wolf participated with Sinawaf in creating the world and designing the seasons (Lewis 25). When it finally came time to create people to inhabit the world, Sinawaf took all kinds of sticks and put them in a bag that magically turned them into people. From inside the bag, Coyote could hear the people singing and talking in different languages and, in general, being very noisy. This prompted him to cut a hole in the bag so he could peek inside and see what was going on. When Sinawaf eventually picked up the bag and began his journey North to the high mountain, the people began jumping out of the bag through the hole Coyote had cut. When he finally arrived at the high mountain, Sinawaf found only a

Get Access