The Star in the Cottonwood

Chateau de Mores

I have always loved trees and leaves...

While on our Montana trip this summer I heard a very interesting story about the Star in the Cottonwood.

We were visiting the Chateau de Mores in Medora, North Dakota. It was built by the Marquis de Mores for his wife and family in 1883 so he could pursue his ranching and cattle shipping enterprises. The existing community of Medora is named after his wife.

The house museum contains furniture and artifacts belonging to the family and their servants. It is operated by the State Historical Society of North Dakota. Several well informed guides walk you through the house and tell the story of both the family and the times.

Because I can't climb stairs very well, I was offered a seat downstairs to wait for my group to tour the upstairs. In front of me was a video screen with views of the rooms upstairs along with detailed descriptions. But best of all, the guide who stayed with me pointed out the "touch and learn" table at which I was seated! This was the one spot in the house where you were invited to touch and hold artifacts and items and I had an informed personal guide all to myself!

My eye was immediately drawn to a collection of cut branches. On closer examination, I noticed there was a small star in the center of each one! I asked the guide about it and heard a shortened story of the Native American legend regarding this little star. Back home, after a bit more research on the subject, I share with you the story of:

The Star in the Cottonwood.

Star in cut branch

There is a traditional Lakotah Native American story about how the stars in the night sky came from Mother Earth breathing wind into the Cottonwood tree. The stars all flew from the branches of the Cottonwood and took up their heavenly abode. But one curious little star came back to hide in a Cottonwood tree so it could always be near the people on earth and listen to their beautiful music, their laughter, and the kind words they say to one another.

Inside each cottonwood branch is indeed a little star. If you cut a 3/4" branch from a Cottonwood tree with a saw, you will find a little star in the center of that branch. Also, if you snap a cottonwood tree twig right on the growth lines, you can find a star hiding inside. You won’t see the star in every branch; if the twig is too green or too old, it won’t appear.

Heart-shaped Cottonwood leaves

The Cottonwood was known as "waga chan, the rustling tree." Any breeze at all makes the heart-shaped leaves twist and turn on their stem creating a glimmering effect and a rustling sound. These Cottonwoods provided them with large logs for their dugout canoes. The trees offered places to hunt and fish for food. The young branches and tender bark provided feed for the horses and medicine for the people. The large branches from the Cottonwoods were used for fires that kept them warm and cooked their food. Long slender poles of the Cottonwood were used to construct their shelters. Musical notes could be produced by cupping the leaves in the hand, amusing young and old alike. The Cottonwood was integral to all parts of their daily lives.

Lakota Warriors Gather

Cottonwood trees have many sacred associations with the Lakota, the most interesting being their use in the Sun Dance ceremony. The Cottonwood sticks were used to pierce a warrior's skin and muscles in the Sun Dance ceremony. The Cottonwood was chosen because of the five-pointed star in cross-section. In effect, they contain a sign from the star nations inside it…. The Cottonwood tree honored for use in the ceremony had to be tall, straight, and slender, with a small fork near the top. After the tree was selected and cut down it was to remain untouched by human hands until it was blessed for ceremonial use by the Medicine Man, for it was sacred.

We also met a Native American named "Max" at the Glendive RV Camp where we stayed. He was a remarkably spiritual man who has amassed an amazing collection of artifacts from battlegrounds and encampments in and around Little Big Horn, Spring Creek Battle areas and Glendive. He also has showcased several items from his own family heritage. Pieces of Cottonwood used in both his own and his grandfather's Sun Dance Ceremony were displayed in his collection. Knowing a little more about the Star in the Cottonwood made that display even more intriguing!


Cottonwood seeds

Female Cottonwoods (cottonwoods are either male or female) produce fluffy white seeds during the early summer that are quickly dispersed by the wind. To find the tree in the summer that is blowing “cotton” all through the air awakes the child in you. It is easy to envision stars flying up into the sky! It’s amazing to think that these tiny, light seeds will grow into one of North America’s largest trees. During their 100 to 200 year growing period, Cottonwoods can grow up to 190-feet high and develop massive trunks over 5-feet in diameter. They generally grow very close to water, a fact that was used by pioneers and explorers to locate water as they crossed the plains.


Cottonwoods along river bank

Cottonwoods in the Fall

The Cottonwood trees change into beautiful colors in the Fall, turning pockets of the landscape many blazing points of red, orange and gold!

Wonderful stories hidden within one of nature's miracles; a simple, simply amazing Cottonwood tree!

(c) CHRobinson 2010