Cheyenne People - Culture

Culture

Over the past 400 years, the Cheyenne have gone through four stages of culture. First they lived in the Eastern Woodlands and were a sedentary and agricultural people, planting corn, squash beans, and harvesting wild rice. Next they lived in present-day Minnesota and South Dakota and continued their farming tradition. They started hunting bison of the Great Plains. During the third stage, the Cheyenne abandoned their farming lifestyle and became a full-fledged Plains horse culture tribe. The fourth stage is the reservation phase.

The traditional Cheyenne government system is a politically unified North American indigenous nation. Most other nations were divided into politically autonomous bands, whereas the Cheyenne bands were politically unified. The central traditional government system of the Cheyenne was the "Arrow Keeper" followed by the "Council of Forty-Four". The name denotes the number of seated chiefs on the council. Early in Cheyenne history, three related tribes known as the Heviqsnipahis, the Só'taeo'o and the Masikota, unified themselves to form the Tsé-tsêhéstâhese or the "Like Hearted People" who are known today as the "Cheyenne." The unified tribe then divided themselves into ten principal bands:

• Heviksnipahis (Iviststsinihpah)
• Hévhaitanio (Heévâhetaneo'o)
• Masikota
• Omísis (Ôhmésêheseo'o, the Notameohmésêhese proper)
• Só'taeo'o (Suhtai or Sutaio, Northern and Southern)
• Wotápio
• Oivimána (Oévemana, Northern and Southern)
• Hisíometanio (Hesé'omeétaneo'o or Issiometaniu)
• Ohktounna (Oqtóguna)
• Hónowa (Háovôhnóva)

Each of the ten bands had four seated chief delegates; the remaining four chiefs were the principal advisers of the other delegates. Smaller bands or subbands had no right to send delegates to the council. This system also regulated the Cheyenne military societies that developed for planning warfare, enforcing rules, and conducting ceremonies. By the time the Cheyenne reached the Great Plains, they had developed this government.

Anthropologists debate about Cheyenne society organization. When the Cheyenne were fully adapted to the classic Plains culture, they had a bi-lateral band kinship system. However, some anthropologists reported that the Cheyenne had a matrilineal band system. Studies into whether the Cheyenne developed a matrilineal clan system are inconclusive.