My Winter Count
For generations, Lakota communities kept history with a winter count. Each year, measured from one first snow to the next, was named for one important or memorable event. A keeper, usually a respected elder, chose the event together with other elders, painted a small picture for it, and memorized the longer story behind each picture.
Early winter counts were painted on bison hides with charcoal and natural colors. Later keepers used cloth, muslin, and paper. On the Lone Dog winter count, the pictures spiral outward, counterclockwise, from the center, with the newest winters on the outside.
The Year the Stars Fell
Many winter counts mark the winter of 1833 with a picture of falling stars. That November, a huge meteor shower lit up the night sky across North America. Because newspapers and scientists also recorded it, historians can use this one picture to match winter counts to calendar years.
Make Your Own Winter Count
Choose one picture for each year of your life. Your count spirals out from the center, just like Lone Dog’s.
Think About It
- A keeper could choose only one event for each year. How did you decide which event to pick?
- Winter count keepers memorized the story behind every picture. Choose one picture from your count and tell its story to a partner.
- Why do you think the meteor shower of 1833 appears on so many different winter counts?
- How is a winter count like a timeline? How is it different?
Make a Paper Winter Count
Materials
- a brown paper grocery bag
- colored pencils or markers in earth colors: brown, black, red, yellow
Directions
- Cut open the bag and tear the edges so it looks like a hide. Crumple it into a ball, then smooth it flat to make it soft and wrinkled.
- Starting near the center, draw one small picture for the year you were born.
- Moving counterclockwise in a spiral, add one picture for each year after that.
- On the back, list the years and the story behind each picture, or memorize them as a keeper would.
