Assiniboine Antelope Horn Headdress

The Assiniboines used these headdresses for hunting and ceremony. During the winter, they wore white caps made of wolf skin, even during the summer despite the heat. The headdress is made with antelope horns, and perhaps the power it carried into battle was the antelope's speed and exclusiveness. The horns are cut and thinned and tipped with dyed horsehair. Clipped black feathers sit between the horns. The horns and feathers are fastened to a leather strap that secures the headdress to the head. From this strap is a long fringe of buckskin. Each strand is held here and there with porcupine quills. Some quills are colored, and some are left their natural color.

        --Tierra, Marty Indian School