Bear Butte, Tourism and Sacred Space::

Mato Paha, or Bear Mountain

Mato Paha, or Bear Mountain, rises to 4,426 feet from the northern-most part of the Black Hills. Formed out of the same geological uplift as the Black Hills itself, the Butte can be seen for hundreds of miles in the surrounding, undulating prairie. Sacred to both the Sioux and the Cheyenne for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, the Butte has gathered around itself a rich mythological and spiritual presence.

According to one Lakota myth, in ancient times, a giant bear and a dinosaur-like water monster, unktegila fought a terrible battle that lasted for days. So fiercely did the two monsters fight that the valleys filled with rivers of blood. At last the unktegila severely wounded the bear with its jagged teeth, and the bear crawled away to die. Then the ground erupted and darkness covered the earth. Fire and ashes, water and mud spewed out of the ground and into the sky. As quickly as the chaos had begun, it ended, leaving the air clear and calm once again. The bear's body had disappeared. In its place there was a high hill, still rumbling and smouldering. The hill was in the shape of the 'slumbering' bear's body and thus was named after it.

Another story relating to the naming of Bear Butte occurred more recently. The region of Bear Butte, on the northern edge of the Black Hills, was a regular gathering place of the various bands of the Lakota. Grand council meetings and ceremonies such as vision quests and sundances were held there. Sometime around 1840, the father of Crazy Horse sought a vision on the top of a high hill. The older Crazy Horse was a great holy man and he had climbed the hill to seek spiritual guidance. There, Wakantanka appeared to him in the form of a bear and bestowed upon the man the power to overcome obstacles and vanquish enemies. The holy man requested that such a sacred gift be bestowed on his son, the young Crazy Horse. This was duly granted and thereafter the sharply rising hill became known as Mato Paha, or Bear Butte.

In conjunction with Devils Tower and Inyan Kara Mountain along the western edge of the Hills, Bear Butte forms the sacred triangular buffalo's head utilised in Lakota ceremony, particularly during the summer solstice sundance each year.

Tipi rings can still be found along the Butte's perimeter as well as the rocks that the Sioux placed upon the Butte's summit and in trees along the climb, to establish claims to the land, to mark distance, and to offer prayers to Wakantanka and the Taku Wakan. Indian council gatherings were held annually there, especially during the great summer solstice season, where all the bands of the Sioux gathered to celebrate, in ceremony and in council, the coming year. It was at Bear Butte, in the summer of 1857, that the great Grand Council of the Teton Sioux was held, where the Sioux swore to fight the encroaching whites to the bitter end.

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