User:JamesPegler/be bold

Cheyenne women belonged to crafting societies to oversee their art and crafting. These crafting societies had status attached to them like the men's war societies. Before beginning a new project, a woman would stand in front of the special lodge that was erected specifically for the crafting society, and she would relate her feats of crafting to the village. This is similar to the way men counted coups and told their feats on the battlefield. The most prestigious of these societies was the quilling society. Quilling is the use of dyed porcupine quills to create art and decorate hide crafts and a lodge and all its furnishings. The crafting of a lodge and its decoration were the highest status crafting feat that a woman could undertake. After contact with White traders, porcupine quills were replaced by trade beads.