Ute Medicine Trees

There is nothing so sacred as a tree. It joins the above and the below. During the day, it takes the energy from the Sky and gives it to the Earth. At night it takes energy from the Earth and gives it to the Sky.

Northern Ute Elder

Prayer Tree

Trees were an integral part of Ute culture. They were a source of many things to the Utes - fuel for fires, poles for tipis and travois, food. But many trees were also a source of medicine, used as message boards or were used in spiritual practices. These trees are sacred to the Utes, they see the Trees as ancestors. A project is currently underway whose goal is to locate and map these trees. 

Ute culturally scarred trees can be divided into four categories - Medicine Trees, Prayer Trees, Burial Trees, Message Trees. Ponderosa Pine were usually used for Medicine Trees and Prayers Trees. Cedar Trees are Burial Trees and Aspen Trees are Message Trees.

Medicine Tree

Medicine Trees can be identified by the patch of missing bark. When Ute Medicine People needed to do a healing, they would first have a dream or vision in which a specific tree would speak to them. Trees or Tree People were spiritual helpers of The Ute. The Medicine People would then go to that tree and slice off a section of bark in the area where the person was afflicted. The inner bark was used to make medicine for the patient and the fire to make the medicine was started with wood and bark from the cut.

Medicine Tree

Prayer Trees were selected at an early age, usually when they were saplings, and bent or twisted using yucca rope. The leaves of the yucca plant are fibrous and can be used to make rope or baskets or mats. Once the tree was tied into position, everyone would circle the tree and pray. The members of the band would know that the tree would survive and hold their prayers for 800 years and each breeze would give their prayers new breath.

Prayer Tree

Burial Trees ~ Ute Medicine People carried the seeds of the cedar tree with them. Whenever a Medicine Person or a Chief died, a seed or seeds would be planted nearby. Should a seed be planted on or near rock outcroppings, rain catch pools and canals would be etched into the rock to ensure the trees survival.

Message Trees had Ute Signs or Glyphs carved into their bark. Utes did not have a written language but used pictures to tell a story.

*** I was unable to find any pictures of Burial Trees or Message Trees on the web ***

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The Utes

The Utes were the indigenous Native American tribe to most of Colorado and several of its neighboring states. They were not a large cohesive tribe but numerous nomadic bands that followed the migration of the herds. The Utes lived primarily in the Four Corner states but roamed further out when hunting buffalo, antelope, deer or elk. Many of the roads and highways in these regions follow old Ute migratory paths.

  

It is estimated that the Utes have lived in this area for a thousand years, having migrated from regions of northern Mexico. Their language belongs to the Uto-Aztecan language found in that same region. The Utes were skilled warriors who specialized in horse mounted combat.

Chief Ouray and his wife Chepeta are two of the more famous Utes. The town of Ouray in western Colorado is named after this Ute Chief. Chief Ouray was known as the Great Peacemaker and he negotiated several treaties with the U.S. Government.

The Tabeguache Band of the Ute traveled through the Pikes Peak region. They called Pikes Peak, Tava, which means "Sun" and took their name from the same word. Thus they were known as "People of the Sun or People of Sun Mountain".  They are one of  a few tribes which have an emergence myth rather than a creation myth. The Utes believe they originally came from the Pleiades constellation and emerged into this world on the slopes of Pikes Peak.

Pikes Peak Tidbits

Pikes Peak - America's Mountain

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Pikes Peak and downtown Colorado Springs

• Pikes Peak is a mountain in Colorado's Front Range and also a part of the Rocky Mountains
• At an elevation of 14, 110ft. it is the eastern most 14,000ft. peak in the U.S.
• Pikes Peak ranks 31st out of the 54 mountains in the state of Colorado that are over 14,000 ft. in elevation

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• At sunrise the shadow cast by Pikes Peak can extend as far as 50 miles to the west
• Pikes Peak is composed of pink granite called Pikes Peak granite
• In the early Spring and early Autumn, some of the shadows cast by Pikes Peak resemble Abe Lincoln. Though some say it looks more like Uncle Sam. Best viewing times: mid-day in late February and late October

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• A trip to the summit of Pikes Peak inspired English professor, Katharine Lee Bates to write a poem - America the Beautiful, which was later put to music and became the song by the same name
• The first American credited with seeing Pikes Peak is Zebulon Pike

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Pikes Peak as seen from about 30 miles away to the East

• When gold was first discovered in Colorado (in an area of present day Denver) in 1858, eastern newspapers referred to the mining area as "Pikes Peak". This was because Pikes Peak was one of the first things travelers saw as they came across the eastern plains of Colorado. Thus, "Pikes Peak or Bust" became the slogan for the Colorado Gold Rush, even though gold wouldn't be discovered in the Pikes Peak area until 1890.
• Pikes Peak can be seen as far away as 80 miles to the east

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Old photo of Pikes Peak from the west near Cripple Creek

• Pikes Peak is a designated National Historic Landmark
• Pikes Peak is the most visited mountain in North America and the second most visited mountain in the world! Second only to Mt. Fuji in Japan.
• At the summit, the oxygen level is about 60% of that at sea level

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• The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, also known as The Race to the Clouds, is an annual automobile and motorcycle race to the summit of Pikes Peak. It is the second oldest automobile race in the U.S. The track measures approx. 12 1/2 miles over 156 turns & climbs over 4, 720 ft. The track used to be dirt but now the Pikes Peak highway is fully paved

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Pikes Peak as seen from the Garden of the Gods

• The Ute Indians, native to this area, called Pikes Peak, Tavakiev (Sun Mountain). Pikes Peak is a sacred place to the Utes (more on this next week), believing that their people emerged into this world from the slopes of this majestic mountain.

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