Hi, my name is Donna. My Comanche name is Dawn of the Sun because I was born when the sun was rising.
I live on the edge of the Great Plains of North America, a huge, flat, grass-covered land in the middle of the continent.
My ancestors, the Comanche tribe, have been living on, or near, these plains for three hundred years.
My mother gave me a necklace made from buffalo teeth.
It was passed down to her from my grandmother, who got it from her mother.
When I put on this necklace, I imagine what the plains were like in my great-grandmother's time.
In those days buffalo roamed the plains.
Sometimes the herds were so huge, the land appeared black!
And it was amazing to experience a buffalo stampede.
The earth shook as the animals galloped by, and their pounding hooves sounded like thunder!
My people once followed the buffalo as they traveled across the plains.
We lived in tepees made of buffalo hide, which were easy to put up, take down, and carry around.
We had great respect for the buffalo.
They were considered sacred, a powerful symbol of food and shelter.
Did you know that the buffalo is the largest land animal in North America─it can weigh over 900 kilograms!
Buffalo are also called American bison and are part of the cow family.
They travel as a herd, which means they sleep, eat, and move together.
When the seasons change, they migrate to different areas.
Before a buffalo hunt, my people took time to thank the buffalo.
A medicine man offered prayers and sang songs, to make the hunt a success.
The men in our tribe performed a sun dance, wearing buffalo masks and moving like the buffalo.
As they danced they carried their favorite spears, to bring them luck on the hunt.
We told stories about great hunts or brave hunters.
After the hunt the camp bustled with activity.
Everyone was busy with something to do.
The medicine man offered the best part of the meat to the Great Spirit as a token of thanks, and then buried it in the ground.
The women prepared the remaining meat, leaving some strips to hang and dry for use in the cold winter months.
The meat was shared among all the members of the tribe.
But the hides were most prized, and were claimed by the hunter's family.
It took a lot of work to prepare the hides.
The women had to scrape off the flesh and dry the hides in the sun.
With the fur left on, the thick winter hides were used to make warm caps, mittens, robes, and blankets.
The summer hides were used for leather, so the hair was scraped off, and they were smoked over fires to make them waterproof.
Then they could be made into tepees, clothing, and moccasins.
Many accessories and utensils could also be made from the buffalo.
We enjoyed wearing necklaces, like my great-grandmother's, made from buffalo teeth.
Some of the buffalo organs were used as containers—the stomach became a water jug.
Horns were carved to make cups and spoons.
And the bones were shaped into many useful tools, such as knives, paintbrushes, and spears.
Even though life was hard for us, we still had fun.
Comanche children made rattles from buffalo hooves, tying them together with cords cut from rawhide.
We made spinning tops from horns. We stuffed leftover hair into leather to make balls and dolls.
And in the winter, we loved to race down snowy hills, using buffalo ribs as sleds.
We also played with the buffalo calves, which sometimes followed us back to our camp.
We chased each other around for hours, and then fell down from exhaustion.
My people had been living this way, in harmony with the buffalo, for hundreds of years.
But then settlers from Europe came and took over our land.
They killed over fifty million buffalo, and the species almost became extinct!
By the nineteenth century there were only a few hundred of these amazing animals left.
By the 1900s people began trying to save the buffalo by increasing their numbers.
Conservationists took care of the remaining buffalo and were able to breed them.
Over time their numbers grew, and today, there are about 200,000 buffalo living on farms and ranches, and in special buffalo preserves.
I have a dream that one day I will become a teacher and educate people about the buffalo and our culture.
When the buffalo herds disappeared, we Comanches lost our main source of food, clothing, and shelter.
But each time I wear my great-grandmother's necklace, it reminds me of this sacred animal and all it brought my people.