Native American bone breastplate

VANDOO · 9th March 2013, 05:38 AM

NOTE IN THE PICTURE OF THE KIOWA GATHERING THESE WERE TRULY THEIR UNIFORMS AS THEY HAVE THEIR MEDALS AND AT LEAST ONE APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN IN THE 101 AIRBORNE JUDGING FROM THE PATCH. IT LOOKS LIKE A LOT OF LANCES I WONDER WHAT THE CEREMONIE OR DANCE WAS. SOME ARE NOT DANCES BUT PRAYERS FROM WHAT I WAS TOLD IT DEPENDS ON IF IT GOES CLOCKWISE OR COUNTER CLOCKWISE. I WILL STOP BEFORE I STEP IN IT DUE TO MY IGNORANCE.

aiontay · 9th March 2013, 06:02 PM

It is the Kiowa Black Leggings; the more accurate translation would be Black Legs. They are one of the old Soldier Societies that was revived after WWII as a veterans organization, hence the modern military insignia. However, the other items are part of their “uniform” which is depicted in 19th Century ledger art. The red cape comes from an incident in which a society member rode through a line of Mexican soldiers and killed their commander who was wearing a red cape. They are also one of those societies that took a vow to stake themselves out to cover the retreat of others, hence the lances, but I can’t recall of any accounts of that actually happening. I suspect once we got horses that became rather obsolete. It was probably too easy to just ride by the guy who had pinned himself to the ground.

9th March 2013, 05:38 AM	#1
VANDOO (deceased) Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: OKLAHOMA, USA Posts: 3,138	NOTE IN THE PICTURE OF THE KIOWA GATHERING THESE WERE TRULY THEIR UNIFORMS AS THEY HAVE THEIR MEDALS AND AT LEAST ONE APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN IN THE 101 AIRBORNE JUDGING FROM THE PATCH. IT LOOKS LIKE A LOT OF LANCES I WONDER WHAT THE CEREMONIE OR DANCE WAS. SOME ARE NOT DANCES BUT PRAYERS FROM WHAT I WAS TOLD IT DEPENDS ON IF IT GOES CLOCKWISE OR COUNTER CLOCKWISE. I WILL STOP BEFORE I STEP IN IT DUE TO MY IGNORANCE.

9th March 2013, 06:02 PM	#2
aiontay Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 88	It is the Kiowa Black Leggings; the more accurate translation would be Black Legs. They are one of the old Soldier Societies that was revived after WWII as a veterans organization, hence the modern military insignia. However, the other items are part of their “uniform” which is depicted in 19th Century ledger art. The red cape comes from an incident in which a society member rode through a line of Mexican soldiers and killed their commander who was wearing a red cape. They are also one of those societies that took a vow to stake themselves out to cover the retreat of others, hence the lances, but I can’t recall of any accounts of that actually happening. I suspect once we got horses that became rather obsolete. It was probably too easy to just ride by the guy who had pinned himself to the ground.