The feathers were widely used decoratively and ceremonially. This is probably the single most important and powerful bird for the Arapaho. Because the Eagle flies highest in the sky of any bird, it is seen as most powerful. The Eagle often secondarily represents the Thunderbird. When fasters are fasting and praying, either as part of individual vision quests or as part of larger group ceremonies, such as during the Sun Dance or formerly at the Medicine Wheel in the Bighorn Mts, they call out to the Eagle with their prayers and wishes. Bone whistles, made of the hollow wing bone of the Eagle, are blown, in imitation of the bird’s call, as a way of communicating with it. The bird then calls back its response to the fasters. Such whistles are never blown in non-ceremonial contexts, such as at a Pow-wow.
According to Paul Moss, the Medicine Wheel in the Bighorn Mountains belonged specifically to the Eagles, and the ceremony performed there - which was similar to that of the Sun Dance in many ways - was likewise considered as belonging to the Eagles. Fasters would remain for seven days high on the mountain. The eagles would soar in around them, then dive at them in rapid attacks, to “test their strength.” If the fasters could stand up to this final test, after seven days of fasting, and continue calling back to the Eagles with their whistles, then they would receive the things they had asked for during the fast (Paul Moss, “The Buffalo Wheel”).
Eagles were trapped on high ridges and mountain tops. After undergoing the proper ritual purification, the trapper would dig a pit, then cover it with sticks and grass. A piece of meat was placed on top of the trap, and sometimes even a stuffed coyote skin. When an eagle landed, the person below had to reach up and pull the eagle into the pit by the legs. It was then wrapped in a blanket and either taken back to camp (if young) or killed by strangling or breaking the neck - never by cutting or stabbing. Arapaho elders in 1914 said that this was done on the top of Long’s Peak in RMNP.
Young eagles were often taken down from nests, and then raised so that their tail feathers could be obtained. The white feathers of the young, with dark tips, were especially valued. There were restrictions on how many times this could be done (no more than four times by a single person), and if this was violated, the person faced supernatural sanction. One Arapaho story tells of the origin of the Thunderbird as occurring when a man violated this restriction, and was turned into a bird (Paul Moss, “The Eagles”).
An (imitation) Eagles’ nest, along with the Buffalo skull and robe, is the most important animal icon used in the Sun Dance. It is placed in the Center Pole, and dancers look at it as they dance. Eagle-wing fans are also important in the Sun Dance. They are used in Pow-wow dances as well. Eagle-wing feathers are associated with the Sacred Flat Pipe as well. The corner wing feathers - the shortest feathers on the wing, closest to the bird’s body - were used by the original creator of the Earth. The Eagle donated these feathers (called hee3-iii ‘onward or chief weapon’ - Dorsey, p. 202; more literally ‘forward direction-plume’) and the creator pointed with them to form the mountain ranges to the west, and the rivers running down from the mountains, and the earth was then covered in green grass.
The Eagle donates his whole body at the time when the Sacred Wheel is created: “I am a bird of great flight and besides my body is pure and holy. It is spotless in appearance. You may know that I have strength and power. In view of the facts above-mentioned, I desire to be used for symbols of the Old-Men, and that my whole body may be utilized at all sacred rituals” (Dorsey, p. 205).
An area to the west of Thunder Pass in RMNP, near Sawtooth Peak, was called nii’eihii-nohuux (‘Eagle’s nest’) by the Arapaho. A large rock formation on the road from Ft. Collins to Estes Park was called nii’eihii 3ii’okut (‘an eagle sits there’).