Religion and the Environment Ute Indian Beliefs About the Environment

Religion and the Environment

Ute Indian Beliefs
About the Environment

by

Forrest S. Cuch

First, I do not claim to know the beliefs of my people. I can only share what I have experienced growing up among them and watching them interact with their environment.

My experience is that the Ute Indian people have always loved nature. My experience has been that they attribute the wonders of nature and the blessings of their environment to their God, the Creator. They are one with their nature and the environment. Hence, they are one with God. Even though they do not live as close to nature as they once did, they continue to appreciate all aspects of their environment.

At one time, their entire life evolved around interacting with nature and the environment. They were a nomadic people who moved from campsite to campsite, high mountain parks and valleys in the summer to lowlands and desert in the winter months. Moving from campsite to campsite prevented the area from being harmed in any way.

At one time the Ute people were masters of their destiny. The even took pride in their lifestyle and their homelands. The following is a famous quote from Chief Ouray at a council meeting in 1866:

“Long time ago, Utes had plenty. On the prairie, antelope and buffalo, so many Ouray can’t count. In the mountains, deer and bear everywhere. In the streams, trout, duck, beaver, everything. Good Mantou gave all to red man, Utes happy all the year. Whiteman came, and now Utes go hungry a heap. Game so much every year hard to shoot now. Old man often weak for want of food. Squaw and papoose cry. Only strong brave live, white man grows a heap;
Red man no grow – soon die all.”

They were one with it and they considered it to be alive. From the rocks to the trees to all the various living creatures, the Indian people believed the Creator had blessed them with all and abundance.

One of the things that I appreciate about the Ute people is their practice of ceremonies that acknowledge and recognize the importance of the various elements, most importantly the appreciation of water. Perhaps the most sacred of Ute ceremonies is most connected to ‘water.’ In the Sundance ceremony, men placed in a circular corral made of lodge poles and brush, dance to the center pole for three days without food or water. It is a very demanding, difficult, and grueling ceremony that takes a person to their limits of suffering, pain tolerance, endurance, and other limitations of body and mind. After two hot days without water, one begins to appreciate water very much. You become so thirsty that you cannot spit; you see water in your dreams. After a while you become desperate and if you do not call upon the power of your spirit, you are doomed. Interestingly enough, this appreciation gets extended to appreciation for your family, your wife, the children, the elders, food, a cool fresh breeze, the warmth of the sun, etc.

There are those who believe every word of Chief Seattle. And although more credit should go to his interpreter and writer for the articulation, Chief Seattle’s basic premises about the earth are still correct and appropriate when applied to concerns for the environment. To Seattle, the world was an intricate web that was interconnected. What happened in one corner of the universe affected other parts as well. The original dance of the Ute, the Bear Dance, is very illustrative of this concept. The Ute Bear dance commemorates spring and the blessings associated with the end of a long winter and the new beginnings or the beginning of the spring season. It is a time of celebration and joy, the Ute’s version of the square dance. In this dance, two lines are formed, one side the men and one side are the women, in a circular structure or corral made of brush. At various times, they can pair off or be cut apart from the others by a man with a stick who is referred to as “Cat man” or “Moosuch.” They must continue to dance back and forth until someone falls down to end the dance. The bear reminds people that they must rejoice and appreciate the passing of the cold winter season. Like the bear, the people begin to eat and at one point they must eat enough to store up in preparation for the coming year.

Consequently, the Ute ceremonies are tied in with nature and the changes that occur. There is an acknowledgement of the cause and effect principle of nature that was so eloquently elicited by Chief Seattle. The Ute people are constantly watching nature and the changes that occur. They are quite aware of the changes that are occurring as a result of the extremely high carbon dioxide levels and the effects of global warming. The droughts that have been occurring more than usual have them very concerned. I am convinced that the elders of the tribe are contemplative of the warnings of the ‘Hopi Prophesy’ and the ‘Mayan Calendar.’ I am certain that they are taking heed and beginning to discuss these manifestations of earthly change. The Ute believe there was a time when the animals spoke language and communicated with man and with each other. I think the animals are beginning to speak to us once again.

Forrest Cuch

Forrest Cuch is an enrolled member of the Ute Indian Tribe. He was born in 1951 and raised on the Uintah and Ouray Ute Indian Reservation in northeastern Utah. He attended public schools until grade nine wherein he attended and graduated from Wasatch Academy, Mt. Pleasant, Utah. In 1973, he graduated from Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah with a Bachelors of Arts Degree in the Behavioral Sciences. He is married to Carla Giles, a Wampanoag businesswoman from Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. They have one son, Cameron.

Forrest has contributed to his tribe and to the education of the public in multiple ways. He has served as Education Director for the Ute Indian Tribe, developing many educational programs. His efforts led to the publication of the book, A History of the Northern Ute People. Recently, he was editor of the book, A History of Utah's American Indians. He has served as planner for a newly recognized tribe, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head, Massachusetts. At this time, he designed and developed service programs contracted by the tribe from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He managed the first two major building projects constructed on tribal lands. In 1994, Forrest was appointed Social Studies Department Head at Wasatch Academy at Mt. Pleasant, Utah. He has also served as a trustee, representing American Indians on the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. He has given many presentations on Indian history. Forrest currently holds the position of Executive Director, Utah Division of Indian Affairs.

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