The Arapaho placed some emphasis on age grades, mainly for ceremonial purposes. Their annual sun dance was a major tribal event, and later the Arapaho adopted the Ghost Dance religion. There are three major divisions—the Atsina or Gros Ventre, who were allied with the Blackfoot and now live with the Assiniboin on the Fort Belknap Reservation in Montana; the Southern Arapaho, now living with the Cheyenne in Oklahoma; and the Northern Arapaho, who retain all of the sacred tribal stone articles and are considered by tribal members to represent the parent group. Since 1876 they have lived with their former enemies, the Shoshone, on the Wind River Reservation, occupying some 2 million acres in Wyoming, near Yellowstone National Park. The Arapaho depend on tourism for much of their income. There were close to 7,000 Arapaho in the United States in 1990.
See G. A. Dorsey and A. L. Kroeber, Traditions of the Arapaho (1903, repr. 1974); V. C. Trenholm, Arapahoes, Our People (1970).
The Columbia Encyclopedia. Copyright © 2001-09 Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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