Last week I had the honor of camping with Hank and Alma Real Bird and their family at Crow Fair.
Last week I had the honor of camping with Hank and Alma Real Bird and their family at Crow Fair. Hank is a celebrated poet and conversationalist, and is funny as hell.
I’m still reeling from the sensory overload. The lush beadwork of the traditional dress and adornment, the force and precision of the music and dancing, kids racing around on bareback ponies and horses, the stark beauty of the Crow language, all of it buoyed by a powerful sense of connection — connection among and within families, connection with those who came before, and connection with the land.
I felt moved by the depth of this connection and by the rich tapestry the Real Birds are weaving with their lives. Covid has brought devastation to many tribal families and there was a current of grief under everything. But their warmth and hospitality was boundless and it was a privilege to spend time in their company.
(Thank you June for bringing me along).
1 Hank and his son John prep his granddaughter’s horse for parade.
2 Lucy prepares to parade as Harley helps arrange her and her horse’s beadwork — some of it his own fine sewing.
3 Johnee in a traditional Crow saddle, wearing her great grandmother’s elk tooth wedding dress
