Closed Captions

Burton Pretty On Top, a Crow spiritual leader, discusses Crow (Apsáalooke) history, language, and traditional spirituality. He shares his experience representing indigenous peoples at a 1986 world peace gathering in Assisi, Italy, where he met Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa. Pretty On Top explains Crow creation stories, sacred practices including vision quests and sweat lodges, the seven clan system, and the importance of preserving the Crow language and traditional teachings for younger generations.

Transcript

0:08 well good afternoon everyone and Welcome to our final program here in the tenam Min voices for today and welcome to core Discovery 2 core Discovery 2 is a national traveling exhibit it's been on the road since January of 2003 traveling on the Lewis and Clark Trail and we're actually now on our return
0:32 Journey we're on the home stretch we'll finish up in September in St Louis and that'll wrap up core Discovery too as we travel all these different communities along the Lewis and Clark Trail we set up this 10 many voices and we invite in a wide variety of people to share different aspects of that Lewis and Clark expedition but also to share
0:55 the history and the culture of all these indigenous Nations all these American Indian nations along the Lewis and Clark Trail and we have with us this afternoon Burton pront and verton is a crow spiritual leader uh he was telling me back in 1986 he represented the indigenous peoples of
1:19 the Americas in a c Italy for a world peace and prayer day was it World Day of Prayer world day of prayer and he was there with the dolly llama with Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa and representing the crow people and the American Indian people in general he's going to talk about Crow history and culture religion and spirituality so
1:43 let's give buron a warm welcome to the ten many voices thank you very much first of all I'd like to welcome all the visitors that came to abala Country we call ourselves abala in our own language our traditional name abala back in the day when a fur trapper
2:07 came out here our first encounter with the non-indian was a fur trapper that came to our people before mon existed before Wyoming existed at that time the fur trapper came to us and connected with us and asked us who we are what are we called and we told him that we're called abala in our traditional language and
2:31 then he said what does that mean and we told him it means very simply Children of the long beaked bird the long beak bird so from that encounter he went back east and told the other non-indian people back East that he met a group of Indians out in the Plains area that call themselves abala then they asked him
2:56 what does absalan mean and he was very proud he says children of long beak bird and then they asked him one other question they said which bird is that and a Gentleman says you know scratching his head he says I I forgot to ask him that question but you know there's a lot of crows out there so they must be the talking about the Crow tribe
3:20 so today 2006 we're still called the Crow tribe the correct interpretation of the long beak bird is the Raven we are always called The Raven people by the other planes Indians so at least that fur trael didn't misinterpret it that long beak bird as being the turkey right somehow Crow sounds a little
3:44 better than turkey otherwise we' would call The Turkey tribe today anyway as a gentleman introduced me I was part of uh a world gathering for peace in a CZ Italy in 1986 Pope John Paul II at that time had gathered the different traditions of the world to assemble in ay Italy to pray for world peace I found it very
4:07 interesting that that day in October of ' 86 a selection let me go back just a little bit a selection committe in New York City knowing that the PO had invited the indigenous people from the Americas to represent them nominations were made of about 75 people spiritual leaders across the Americas
4:30 from January of 1986 they met several times in New York City where there was a kind of an elimination process eventually in June of 1986 they selected the two individuals to represent the indigenous people from the Western Hemisphere my uncle John pretty on top myself were the two that were selected so in in order to prepare myself for this big
4:54 undertaking for World gathering for peace in a SE Italy I followed my Crow tradition as a child growing up by my grandfather I was told that our leaders in the past Chief PLU died 1932 uh medicine Crow two leans um bellrock all of our great
5:16 Chiefs among the obala went and fasted up in the mountains receiving a vision from the Creator they came back home and became prophets for our people this is pretty much the same way as the one that was nailed to the cross that you call Jesus Christ he too went into the desert didn't he for 40 days and 40 nights fasted thought food and water eventually receiving a vision came back and became
5:41 a prophet became the savior of all people with that in mind there was a connection with that spirituality and our spirituality here in abala country because of our history as a child growing up with my grandfather him sharing the stories with me how these individuals in the past leaders of the crow went and fasted for 4 days and four
6:06 nights without food and water came back and became leaders for our people I was fascinated as a child growing up so I too at the age of 27 or 28 I went up the mountains and fasted since that time until the present day I'm standing in front of you I have fasted 12 times without food and water and each time there was a different experience that the Creator blessed me with on the
6:30 fourth morning with that in mind before I went to AI back in 1986 I went to the Crazy Mountains behind Big Timber Montana before Big Timber existed before Montana existed the abala that was one of our sacred mountains The Crazies we call in our traditional language aaia translation means Jagged Mountains
6:55 if any of you are familiar with the Crazy Mountains there are about 11,000 th000 ft high and it's above the timber line those Jagged Granite Peaks our language is very Des descriptive so that back in the day absal called that sacred Mountain aaia Jagged Mountain often times our young
7:19 leaders at that time went up in the mountains faster and came back home our connection with that sacred mountain is very strong going back in our human history to the point point where being a small tribe tribal people other Plains tribes would often come and challenge us for our what we considered as absalan land our hunting areas at that time when
7:43 we were outnumbered and chased by the enemy we would often go into the Crazy Mountains aaria and knowing the other tribes knowing of our connection with that sacred Mountain they would turn away and leave us so that was kind of like a fortress for us with all that in mind I went up the crazies before I went to Ay Italy and fasted for four days and four
8:06 nights to prepare myself mentally physically and spiritually to represent the indigenous people that day I was very fortunate to be selected so I went in that way after my fast we traveled to AI landed there the Vatican came and welcome us at the Rome airport and the Vatican picked up our
8:29 tab of going and coming back also uh 10 years previous in 19 we went in 1986 so 19 I think no no I take that back a short two years before that time which would have been about 1984 Omar Gaddafi had went to Rome airport with his terrorists and shot everybody up and there was over 100
8:54 people that were killed that time Omar kenafi made a threat in 1986 that he was going to come back to Rome and do the same thing so when we arrived in Rome all the people that were there welcome us from the Vatican representing the pope and they took us to the side area where the normal entry into that country they took us to the side area and they
9:18 put us into limousines and they drove us to the Vatican during that time of N9 days they had three plain clothed Italian police they with us so they were with us for the N9 days we were there eventually we came back now I met Mother Teresa the doy Lama John Paul II all the
9:42 Archbishop runs from canbury England was there but we gathered together with one voice the Buddhist the Hindu the Muslim the Shinto Faith zorran the Jewish the Christian churches into one and we represented the indigenous people from West hemisphere with that in mind the respect that was shown to us was something that
10:07 I didn't expect they laid out the red carpet for us that day when we wore our headdress and our buckin outfits and we raised our pipe in prayer for peace I can always remember the audience I can remember the the cameras flashing all around us and when we prayed in in our tradition
10:30 language when we raised the pipe in that outdoor Plaza outside of St Francis Basilica you could hear a pin drop the media couldn not come near us because of the security we're a section off I sat here Mother Theresa sat right across from me that was quite an experience afterwards I met Mother Teresa and I told her I says Mother
10:51 Teresa Native American I come to you in peace she she was only about this tall very small lady she says Americano IND Diego and I said that's close enough and I extended my hand I said it's an honor for me to meet you I extended my hand she took one step away from me like this put her hands together
11:15 and went like this she was greeting me in her way so I took a step back from her and a both of us are going like this now with all the media around us and she had that big smile on her face and then she went like this so I took a step forward we shook hands and she gave me a bear hug I always remember that she gave me a bear hug and I told
11:39 her I says Mother Teresa can you please give me a blessing and for such a small lady she's my color for such a small lady she had big hands she put her hand on my forehead I had my headdress on I went like this so she touched my H head and gave me a blessing then she took a step back and says you give me a
12:04 blessing I said yeah I can so I asked her open your hands like this which she did and I had my pipe with me so I took out my pipe and I stood in front of her like this and I pointed at her forehead and I made a circle around her and at the conclusion we gave each
12:28 other a bear hug and about that time security took her away and took me away but that was what an experience also I want you to know this that our C culture has taught us that all people on the face of this Earth our brothers and sisters our elders have taught us that there's no distinction between God and all of his children on this
12:50 Earth no distinction between color races of people nor there's any distinction between male and female therefore with that in mind I went with open arms to pray in the C traditional way using the pipe it's a experience in my life I will not forget thereafter I met John Paul two more times John Paul
13:13 II it's history now because John Paul has passed on Mother Teresa also has passed on so that's part of history now in the November 10th issue of the Time Magazine if you open it up right in the center of that article November 10th issue of the time you'll see a full page it calls a summit for peace in a Cy Italy John Paul is pictured with
13:37 Archbishop runy from Canterbury England Russian Greek Orthodox priest on either side of him picture of Mother Teresa down at the bottom as a picture of my uncle and myself and I'm the one with the white buck skin raising that sacred pipe that's something that is part of history and I'm I'm very proud of that and I thank the Creator for that
14:01 in our cow culture and in our history going back to our C creation story Upsala creation story we're told that God has made us the Absa people out of Earth formed us into his image and breathed life into us and set us on this Earth at that
14:24 time he put us in this place where we exist today this is our c human history our Origins our beginnings as human beings our creator blessed us and put us here with that in mind the Creator told us in our human history that there will be times when there are skirmishes coming into other people
14:46 coming into our area of land to try to take it away from us but he told us in the Covenant that one of our great Chiefs back in the 1700s Chief no vitals sheep de Chief noal was one of our great leaders and from that Vision Quest that he had made as young man God gave him the gift of
15:10 tobacco told him that if you use this tobacco to pray with me and to smoke with me I will listen to you that Covenant that he had made as long as you are a people on this Earth you're not going to number in big population wise but rather other people will come to your neck of the wood to take away the land that I have given to you because it is the best that I
15:33 have created so with that in mind in our human history our encounters with our surrounding Plains tribe the Su the shine the arap would often team up and come to our neck of the woods to annihilate us but through The Graces of the Creator there was a battle that occurred outside of PR
15:57 Montana all the s had come to us to annihilate us they had us cornered and it was the creator of that day that saved us riding a pinto horse a red pinto horse when they had us completely surrounded this gentleman that rode a red pinto horse rode fearlessly and attacked the enemy went into their ranks
16:22 killing the Su the sh and rapo came came back to us joined us and the second time he went in there the people knew that the second time he came that their arrows could not touch this person it hit and fell he went through killing some came back and the third time he attacked all the crows being outnumbered some have said
16:46 20 to1 that day some have said 17 to1 but we were completely surrounded and on the third attack all the crows gathered their courage and follow follow behind all those people they chased back to the dtas and that's part of our history that we still exist today and from that Covenant of the Creator
17:09 blessing us in that way that he will come to us in time of need for us to call him by his first name IG Bala his name translated means first maker that he has blessed us in that way and that Covenant that he has said with our people still exist today back in the uh after our first encounter
17:33 with the non-an people that came to us we're told that the B the yellow eyes that came to us came to us in big numbers it was best for us to make agreement with them become allies with these people which we've done PLU on his vision quest was told that you need to
17:56 shake hands with the Bosa and be friends and be out I with them therefore you have a better chance to exist in this world for x amount of years so survival we shook hands with the US government 1825 we signed the Friendship treaty with the US government that day we
18:19 became allies with the US government by shaking hands we helped them when they came across our abala land in turn when we had a skirmish with other tribes they too would support us so this friendship treaty was put in place in 1825 in 1851 our first treaty with US Government Fort larmy Treaty of
18:42 1851 set aside what we considered as absal land at that time the four areas that set aside the absal land would be the Three Forks area going in a direction where it meets the Big River we call OBS solid Big River would be the Missouri to the north it goes downward to the Powder River into
19:06 the Black Hills so that was our boundary to the east to the South was the area that what is called Wind River today which takes you halfway into Wyoming that was our boundary to the South and to the West the boundary was the headwaters of the Yellowstone River which takes you into Yellowstone National Park that covers 38 million
19:30 Acres at that time consequently in 1851 when we signed that treaty with our leaders thumb imprints back in 1868 the G government came back and told us that they gave us too much of land so from that treaty that they had broken with us they took away 30 million left us with 8 million
19:52 from other sessions of land with the government today we have 2.2 million acres and also today we have 11,000 Pro enrolled members we've never been big we've always been small compared to the Navajo over 250,000 navajos in Arizona and New Mexico area compared with them
20:15 we've always been small but the Lord has blessed us the creator has blessed us in a way that we still speak our absal language today which is other Plains tribes have lost their languages and losing their language they have lost pretty much their culture as well here
20:34 in abala we still speak the ABS language my brothers and sisters what I just said with you inala is very simply along with the color of the skin
20:58 that God has blessed blessed me with is my language and my spirituality we're told that our language is sacred because it came from him so we still speak our language today probably 90% of our people that are 35 and over speak the absalan language our challenge today is a 34 down to the newborns they'd rather speak English
21:22 than they would Absa because we have technology that has kind of put a r B in front of our our people because from early morning we turn the television on our children watch television they hear the English language up until the night when it's time for bedtime we shut it off so today our challenge is our young children we
21:44 need to somehow get in touch with them and have them speak the Absol language that's so important for us part of our history we have Rich human Traditions among the Absa and and strong in spirituality that too has a place within us this morning there was a dance presentation that I
22:08 MCD and we saw little babies that were 2 years old with their little traditional outfits out here dancing that's the emphasis we put forth to our children emphasizing that it is good to near your culture and your traditional teachings as I speak today I have in my computer I'm the public public relations director for the
22:30 co- tribe in my computer today I have put in place the traditional teachings of our elders given to us from generation to generation oral history oral Traditions teachings and those that I remembered for my grandfather when he was still alive and I was a little boy growing up with him I remember the dos and
22:54 don'ts do this do this do this he just don't do this don't do this don't do this I call them the dos and don'ts of our traditional teachings and I put into my computer the ones that I remembered number one listing number two and I have 92 dos and don'ts at this time we no longer teach them among the
23:17 abala today the reason I recorded all this is that in time when I'm finish with that project I'm going to get a copyright have it printed and I'm going to sell that but I'm going to make that free for the abala so they will never go without our traditional teachings today within our culture we emphasize not only
23:42 our language but our traditional celebrations such as dancing such as Indian hand games Indian games that we compete against each other within our cruel spirituality today and within our culture ladies and gentlemen we have seven clans that we follow each and every Tribal member belongs to one of
24:05 these seven clans were a tribe that followed their mother's Clan at Birth I belong to the whistling water because my mother is a member of the whistling water so all of her children including myself are a member of the whistling water at Birth but our father's Clan has are pretty much like in the Catholic church I'm also a Roman Catholic by the
24:29 way being asked to be a Godfather a God parent at baptism we have that responsibility when we stand next to a child or an infant during that baptism that we will be their spiritual directors with that in mind within our structured Society we live in today the clans of our father become our spiritual
24:54 advisers and those people that pray for us we call them our clan uncles and aunts of that same Clan so with myself my mother being whistling water at Birth I became a whistling water but my father's Clan belonging to the big Lodge the big Lodge Clan within the obala today are my extended family of spiritual advisers and spiritual people that pray for
25:18 me it is often times when we go into the sweat lodge within our spirituality that we go to cleanse oursel mind physical the four beings so so that once we cleanse ourselves in that extreme heat in that Dome that looks like an looks like one of them Igloo from Alaska that round Dome this one that's made out of
25:41 Willow covered with u canvas and blankets and rocks are taken into that small area enough for about seven or eight people in that one area they dig the ground about this deep heat the Rocks outside they bring it in and put it into the that deep cut off area and when the men all go in there together
26:05 the men would say a prayer and splash water on top of that to provide this sauna for us this is a cleansing that we do for ourselves today anyone that is going and traveling and doing something extraordinary often would use that way to pray for each other to give guidance for that individual another way of prayer also among our people as youth
26:29 the piote the Native American church this too is held in the teepe we go inside we pray all night and within this sacred way I'm because I'm a Catholic I'm going to use the comparison of the two ways being a Catholic when I enter the the church we sit down often times the priest will pray and then smudge the
26:53 area with incense to purify US during that Mass the Catholics believe and I too believe that the bread that he puts into that sacred cup and blesses it and becomes the body of Christ much in the same way when he blesses that wine becomes the blood of Christ with that same analogy
27:16 in the Native American church when we take that peity button and we bless it it becomes the body of Christ when we bring in water and bless that water that too becomes the blood of Christ so we we take that in that sacred way there are sacred songs that are sung and prayers that are used for that night we give up our sleep so in exchange the Creator
27:39 will bless us with our prayers for our family and relatives among the abala to day not only the the Clans but there's individuals that go into the sun dances they will Fast for three or four days without food and water that too is used today as I speak Again part of our spirituality the
28:01 tobacco society that God gave a covenant made a covenant with us that if we use the tobacco to pray to him that he will bless us that too is being used today I am one that goes up in the mountains and fast for four days and four nights and that too is part of my spirituality to me if I go into a Catholic Church in St
28:23 Peter's Basilica in Rome or St Patrick's and billings Montana or St Dennis Parish here in cow agency when I prayed to the Creator in that environment or whether I'm outside on top of the Crazy Mountains when I pray to the Creator it is to the one creator that I have I'm praying to whether I'm in a Catholic church or up
28:48 on top of a mountain so with that in mind God is everywhere he is near us as in those special times God as we pray to him will connect with us and bless us in that good way this is our spirituality also on the flip side we have the games that I mentioned we have the hand game
29:12 tournament uh every year around April and May we have the hand game tournament where all the six different districts among the abala will go and represent each district with a team by team I mean young men and women some young men will sing the guessers up on the main floor right up in front and
29:36 back will be all the women that participate so it's for men and women they have the junior category which will be 30 and under 31 on up is the adult category we have the arrow throwing tournament each spring they have arrows about this long with a pointed iron attached to the the base which is
30:00 pointed then feather is attached to the top so when they throw they throw out a Target arrow that they throw first and everybody throws their Arrow to try to hit that Target Arrow there again this is a game that the Absol used there are many others like that that we still use today going back to our human history our first encounter that I shared with
30:24 you with a nonin person that came among us we call him BOS cheeta today standing here 2006 we still call the non-an people B translation means yellow eyes apparently that individual at fur chop that came Among Us that day that connected with us asked us who we were and went back East apparently had some
30:47 type of disease where the yellow of his or the white of his eyes were yellow so they call him Bida translation means yellow eyes so to this day it's not a put down it's just the way that things happened back then that we still call the non- people Bia yellow Wise It's not a put down don't take me in the wrong way also
31:11 today in our history as in the past to the present day animals are very important for us we have horses before the horses arrival we use dogs dogs would often be used in transferring one from one location moving camp following the Buffalo herds to another Camp the dogs were used in that way to car the
31:34 travels with personal belongings that were put on top of travels and then when the horses was introduced to us it meant easier for us to move from place to place because horses are bigger and much stronger than the than the dog so with that in mind during that time when the horses were introduced to us it was like getting
31:58 into to the new era of our people we went from the dog days to the horse days and then from there we went another step forward and that was the introduction of elala goes by itself the word that we have for cars Vehicles the old modalities that you crank up front like
32:21 this back far as they start up and use those automobiles Fords were out here before John Dillinger was John Dillinger was out here but those are different transitions between one generation to another from the modalities today we have what is used by
32:44 everyone Vehicles four-wheel drives and all this one of our traditional teachings is to respect aawa the mountains were told that back in the day before the arrival the Europeans out here the medicine herbs that were taken from the ground to doctor each other with different ailments we would often go to the ohawa
33:09 the mountains to get those herbs the medicine people would take those herbs with the different mixture of things that they would help each other with common coals coughs and others that was among our people back then so as you can imagine people today going to the pharmacy get their medicine the mountain back in the day was our Pharmacy that's where our leaders went
33:33 to get those herbs and plants to mix and to help people we're told to respect the ohawa Crazy Mountains the Big Horns the wolf mountains the big horns on reservation also we're told in our tradition to respect each other and to respect all people this is again one of
33:56 our traditional teachings one must respect themselves and respecting others and we're told in our tradition I said earlier to respect all people because the white race the yellow the black and the red all those four races of people are brothers and sisters this is what is taught to us as children
34:19 growing up so with that in mind the oriental people the yellow the white people the black people the African-Americans and the red the indigenous people of this land were told that all these four colors are created by Him and put on this Earth to live in peace and harmony with each other so that is our traditional teachings which
34:43 we've still follow today so when we see our brothers and sisters that come among us we welcome them we embrace them sharing good things with them our culture has taught us that our history is so important that it has to be printed today this oral history that we have used from day one up until up until
35:06 recently of oral history has often changed so with that in mind we're told and reminded we need to record it on paper black and white and we have done this I'm very happy that we're starting to do all this also we're told in our tradition that every morning when the sun comes up from the East all people are on this Earth need to recognize that
35:30 God has blessed you with another brand new day that has never been used by anyone be thankful to the Creator that he has blessed us with a beautiful day again raise your hands to the Creator and say ah hope thank you and be the best that you can be not necessarily for yourself but for other people around you it is good when you share good stories
35:52 and use your words very carefully in a way not to hurt anyone but rather rather build someone up it is good that we do this in that pipe ceremony I'm going to emphasize the importance of understanding about that ritual when I use the sacred pipe in prayer and I pray to the
36:13 sun people often ask oh these uh abala or these indigenous people must have many gods that's untrue when I raise that pipe to the sun my question is this who created the sun some rocket scientist and Einstein the Creator made that sun and put it in its place therefore because
36:38 God created the sun his spirit is within that son when I lure to the mother earth I smoke with Mother Earth when I smoke with her who made the Earth God his fingerprints on Earth therefore God's spirit is within that Earth when I prayed to the
37:01 water with that pipe who created the water e first maker I prayed to the winds in the four directions who created the air Peter therefore his spirit is within them so it's through them that we reach the Creator with our prayers much like
37:26 in the Catholic Church being a Catholic when he used the Rosary in prayer it is through that Rosary that we reach the Creator when we open up the Bible read the scriptures the Sacred Scriptures it is through that we reach the Creator much in that same way our interpretation of life and our spirituality is in within those elements sacred elements of those four sacred
37:51 elements if God at this moment took all the air from the atmosphere who can survive what can survive nothing if all the water that's here that God has put in place if the water has all disappeared who can survive nothing and if the sun quit coming up from the
38:13 East to provide us with this heat give us energy without fire we're nothing all those four sacred elements including the Earth is within our bodies when you touch each other hold hands you feel the heat that is inside us that fire is within us the water when you move around sometimes you feel the
38:36 water slushing around you can feel that as well how does Earth come into us all of our food comes from Earth into our bodies therefore Earth is part of us and all of us as we sit and breathe that sacred air is within all of us this is our spirituality I'm going to leave a portion of this time for questions and
39:00 answers at this time I'm going to conclude see if there's any questions at this point from anyone if you have a question for Burton please do raise your hand I'll bring the microphone around that way everybody can hear your question any questions for Burton pretty on
39:22 top any part that I that you like for me to talk about that I have not discussed please bring it out and I will share that with you all right well it doesn't look like any questions Burton okay I'm going to pass off the question here at this time they have to take a test and if they
39:46 pass it they can go they fail it they have to stay here for another hour I'm just easy all right well that's