Indigenous Culture

Using fire as a tool in land stewardship By Hillary Renick. Fire as a tool Fire, powerful and often feared, has been a fundamental part of the life of healthy forests throughout history.  Fire helps seeds germinate, aids in keeping meadows and grasslands balanced, and attracts healthy habitat for animals, insects and pollinators. Utilizing skills acquired by living in place for millennia and learning the rhythm of the seasons through observation, experimentation, and practice, Indigenous cultures use fire as a land management tool. By developing low-risk land management practices, Indigenous communities achieve the same effect as wildfire, but minimize the length of disruption...

This year The Crestone Eagle will be taking notes from the all-Indigenous-led newsroom, IndigiNews. The Crestone Eagle is grateful to be mentoring under IndigiNews Publisher, Eden Fineday, who will offer DEI council to staff, provide cultural sensitivity readings of published content and deepen our capacity for meaningful, sensitive, and accurate coverage of Indigenous topics.  By Eden Fineday IndigiNews Publisher My name is Eden Fineday. I am a Cree woman (nehiyaw iskwew). I live above the imaginary line that was drawn across the continent back in 1846. I come from Treaty 6 Territory, which is an agreement made by my people and the...

By Anna Lee Vargas. Nestled between expansive mountain ranges and the Río Grande, the fertile lands of the San Luis Valley (SLV) have always been a point of contact between cultures and races.  The SLV represents a multicultural tapestry, including Native Americans, Hispanic, Mormon, Asian, and other rancher-settlers, while also encompassing the most extensive wetlands system in the Southern Rocky Mountains. This long and rich history dates back to the Paleo-Indians who lived here 13,000 years ago. Our people’s Indigenous, Spanish, and Mexican roots have played a major role in influencing our food, farming practices, religion, art, culture, and language.  For example,...

By Anna Lee Vargas. The Soul Players of the Valley (SPV) is a coalition of local Latino community leaders from four towns: Antonito, Capulin, San Luis, and South Alamosa. The Soul Players of the Valley came into existence because our communities made the choice to unite as one force for change. Having witnessed revitalization efforts fail in the past, we were determined to take a different approach.  Grounded in our traditional communal ways of life inherited from our Hispano ancestors, we lead our communities in identifying ways to address our needs and building on our strengths to ensure a vibrant and...

By Daniel Hart. While the Great Sand Dunes are probably most well known as a natural and geological wonder, the shifting folds of graceful sinuous sand conceal wonders of a whole different order. Where sand slowly yields to grass, grass to bushes, then bushes to ponderosa pine trees, those with a sharp eye may notice that some of the more venerable ponderosa pine trees along Medano Pass exhibit what look like ancient battle scars where bark has been torn from their core.  These scars are not from an odd lightning strike, trail blazes, or from wild game; they are a rare...

By Daniel Hart. Between the bones of the Earth and the whimsy of the wind and sky, there is a place some call So-wop-a-wat, “where the sand is” (Ute), some call Seinanyédi, “it goes up and down” (Jicarilla Apache), others call Tsé-whíz-hosh, “sand comes back down on you” (Navajo), and yet others call The Great Sand Dunes.This place is a wonderland of surreal mountains of sand pressed up against majestic mountains of rock. It is a place of power.  Throughout the American West, 18 Indigenous tribes identify the Great Sand Dunes as a traditional cultural property, including the Southern Ute, Ute Mountain...

By Zaylah Pearson-Good. On October 14, 2023, millions gathered from across North, Central, and South America to view an annular solar eclipse, also known as a “ring of fire” eclipse. A glowing, ring-shaped sliver of the sun beamed down on earthlings as the moon temporarily passed between the sun and Earth.  Unlike a total solar eclipse, the moon does not completely cover the sun during an annular solar eclipse. This is because the moon is at its furthest point in its orbit from the Earth.  While a ring of fire eclipse is not all that rare in occurrence, happening every one to...

Photography by Matt Lit. The inaugural San Luis Valley Intertribal Powwow brought Indigenous tribes and community together in a colorful, rythmic fanfare at the Outcalt Event Center/Ski Hi Complex in Monte Vista. The three-day event opened with a grand entry of all participants. Additional dances included Fancy Dance, Traditional, Grass, Chicken, Shawl, Jingle, and Tiny Tots.