 History
The oldest traces of Cheyenne culture are from the 13th century. This people were farmers, gatherers and hunters. There is evidence revealing that corn, tobacco, beans and pumpkins were cultivated along the rivers from South Dakota to Texas. The people were settled and seldom left their homes, except for when they went hunting buffaloes.
In the late 17th century, the Cheyennes were driven from the area by the Sioux and Ojibwa. They gradually migrated westward along the river that now bears their name. They settled on the Cheyenne River in North Dakota, living in earth lodges, and farming. The Ojibwa destroyed this settlement about 1770, and the Cheyenne moved south.
As time when on the Cheyenne people started to get a growing interest in hunting, which soon forced them to give up their feeling of security and the peaceful farmer life. During the periods of hunting they had to keep pace with the buffaloes, and therefore moved from one place to another all the time.
Language
Cheyenne comes from the word Shai-ena, meaning people with a foreign language. The language Cheyenne belongs to Algonquian, the same proto-language as Shawnee, Ojibwa and Blackfoot.
Society
Within almost every Indian tribe, the people were divided into smaller tribes or clans, all with their specific duties and rights. In Cheyenne for example, the children always got the same clan as their father. Two people within the same clan could not get married, and this system kept the people from ever worrying about wedding between those who were close relatives. The first houses of the Cheyenne was small mud houses, but they were later replaced by the tipi, which I suppose were more practical to carry along at times when they had to move often.
Clothing
The Cheyenne wore clothes in form of tanned leather, from all different kind of animals. Both men and women wore breech clothes with leggings tied to the belt and moccasins with different length depending on the season. In cold weather, they usually put a buffalo robe on.
Religion and ceremonies
It might be difficult for a "non-Indian" people to get a clear conception of what the reality of Indian belief is. What we are most familiar with, is the so-called "Indian lore", which is largely borrowed from European folklore and witchcraft, and does not have much to do with the "real" Indians.
One has to be raised as a Cheyenne to really understand all ceremonies and the cosmology of the Cheyenne beliefs.
Story telling was a common tradition among all native Americans, so also among the Cheyennes and the Haidas. Knowledge was passed on from one generation to another through the elders telling stories about creation, the animals in nature, fables, folktales and the spirits.
The highest and most sacred of the Cheyenne spirits is Maheo, manifested in the Sun and the Moon and in the spirits of cardinal directions , who are in turn represented by such lesser manifestations as the rain spirit: Hoimaha and Nemevota. In addition to the classical stories about gods and their struggles and love affairs, Cheyenne stories deal with spiritual forces with humans. One special kind of spirit is the hematasooma, which is a soul-force. It inhabits the human body, and usually a human have four of this spirit; two good ones and two bad ones. The good forces sometimes struggle physically within the body against the bad forces. Each of these four spirits can whenever they want to leave the body for a while. If all four leave, a person dies, and the immortal soul, Seoto takes over.
Most Indian groups had at least one shaman in each tribe. The shaman, or the medicine-man was one of the most important people in the tribe. The shaman could be either male or female. The shaman was the people's gate to the spirit world. He or she could among many other things heal those who got sick through indicated rituals of dance, chanting and sleight of hand. The shaman was the one to protect the village from evil spirits.
The organisation and logistics of Indian ceremonies and rituals are often very complex. The Arrow Ceremony, which is unique to the Cheyenne, is one of the most important ones built around the four sacred arrows, which are called mahuts, once given to the Prophet Sweet Medicine. These arrows represent the nation, and the purpose of the ceremony is to purify the arrows and thence the nation so that they are worthy of receiving the blessings of Maheo during the Sun Dance. During the ceremony, the participants increase their control of energy; the whole tribe becomes renewed and prepared for the Sun Dance.
The Sun Dance is unlike the Arrow Ceremony shared among nearly all Indian nations. There are three standard practices for the tribes that are celebrating the Sun Dance. They require the attendance of the whole tribe, they have a central arbor for the performance of the ceremony and they incorporate the dancing of painted, fasting supplicants. The Cheyennes do not call their ceremony a Sun Dance, except for when they are speaking to white people. They usually call it the New Life Lodge or Life Generator Lodge.
Raiding Parties: Small private raiding parties were out either to take horses or to get a scalp for revenge for the death of a friend or relative. If the main objective was horses they would sneak into camp at night. If its scalps they were after, they prefered to come across lone travelers.
Battle Tactics: It has been often said that Indians at war are a howling, unorganized mob, each man for himself. This is not true in general, and certainly not true of the Cheyennes. The tactics for battle were carefully planned by the leaders, and when faithfully carried out often resulted in success. The Cheyennes did not aim for total victory, but for glory. Set battles were therefore avoided, and the tactics were those of stealth, surprise, and maneuver. If the enemy was alerted, they withdraw and tried another time.
Horse Raids: When the enemy camp was found for the purpose of a horse raid and circumstances were favorable, at night when the camp was asleep, they crept down and took whatever horses they could. It was the work of the older men to go through camp, cut loose the more valuable horses which were tied in front of the lodges and lead them out. The horses taken by each man belonged to him. When the people of the plundered camp discovered that their horses had been taken, a force of perusers set out to overtake the raiders. Sometimes they succeeded in doing this; more often they failed. Those who were driving the horses had so many fresh animals to choose from that they had the distinct advantage over those following them, each of whom had only a single horse to ride in pursuit. Upon their return, a man who had preformed a deed of noteworthy bravery would be sent out to ride ahead of the line. The whole camp would come out a short way from the village and welcome them. They would most likely dance all night, and perhaps keep dancing for two days and two nights.
Death of a Cheyenne Warrior: When a war party lost men and came in sight of the village, they would signal their loss by waving robes the same number of robes as men that had been killed. If a member of the war party was killed, his companions left him on the ground on the battlefield unburied. The Cheyenne warrior wished to be killed, if at all, on the broad level plains, where everyone could see him. When he died he did not wish to be covered by earth, but preferred to lie on the ground where the birds and animals would devour his body, and his remains might be scattered far and wide. The quality most highly esteemed among the Indians of the plains was courage. It has been said the most notable achievement of an Indian was the taking of the scalp. This simply is not true. Among the Plains tribes, to kill an enemy was good so far as it reduced the numbers of the hostile party, but otherwise the act was regarded as relatively unimportant. Likewise to scalp an enemy was not a notable feat and in no sense especially creditable. If scalped, the skin of the head was taken merely as a trophy, something to show, something to dance over, a good thing, but no great importance. However, to touch the enemy with something held in the hand, or with the bare hand, was proof of bravery - a feat which entitled the man or boy who did it to the greatest credit. When an enemy was killed, each of those nearest to him tried to be the one to reach and touch him, usually by striking the body with something held in the hand. Those who followed raced up and struck the body. Anyone who wanted could take the scalp.
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