What are facts about kiowas?

Answer 1

Ten facts about the Kiowa people:

• The Kiowa call themselves Ka'igwu, [khoiye-goo] meaning "principal people"
• The Kiowas were a pure Plains people, meaning they were nomadic and lived in tipi-style lodges.
• Kiowa tradition says that the Pleiades (seven stars) are really seven Kiowa girls who were chased into the sky by fierce bears when they wandered away from camp.They sang to the stars for help and were changed into stars themselves.
• The unrelated Kiowa-Apache (Na-ishañ-dina, "Our People") lived with the Kiowas from a very early date; they camped with the Kiowa but always had a strictly designated area within the camp circle, they spoke their own Athapaskan language and the warriors wore their own traditional hairstyle. The Kiowas call them "Semät" - "thieves".
• The Kiowas were allies of the more numerous Comanche.
• There was no head chief of the Kiowas (as in most native American tribes) - each hunting band was headed by its own chief.
• In the Plains sign language, the sign for Kiowa refers to the traditional hair cut of the warriors, who cut a fringe around the right side of the head so the hair would not interfere with the bowstring when shooting a bow.
• Kiowa bows were made of Osage orangewood, 40 to 50 inches long and sometimes painted red and black. Strings were of buffalo sinew. Arrows were 24 to 26 inches long, fitted with iron points and low-trimmed eagle feathers about 7 inches long.
• The Kiowa kept a very sacred "medicine bundle" (called the Taime') which was used in the Sun Dance ritual; the bundle still exists today, but the Sun Dance ritual has not been performed since 1887.
• A small number of Kiowas were used as Code Talkers in World War 2, serving an extremely important communications role in the 689th Field Artillery Battalion.