1) The document discusses a famous Leonid meteor storm that occurred in November 1833 and was recorded by many Native American tribes in their winter counts. 2) Winter counts were pictorial calendars used by Plains Indian tribes to record significant annual events. Many winter counts included an image depicting the meteor storm of 1833 with stars or a star cluster. 3) The meteor storm was so spectacular that it left a lasting impression and was commemorated in winter counts, rock art, and other artistic traditions of Native Americans across North America for generations after the event.

5. Pioneering naturalist Alexander Von Humboldt.

7. Many Native American records exist of this meteor storm as entries in Winter Counts, a form of pictorial calendrical record common among tribes of the Great Plains. Many different tribes created these records, among them Lakota, Blackfoot, Mandan, and Kiowa. Winter counts were often originally painted on animal hides but with the availability of the white man’s materials many later examples were drawn on cloth and even paper. The pictographic symbols used in most winter counts represented the mnemonic imagery that the count keeper used to prompt memories of the memorable event for that year.

9. Lakota Winter Counts Of known Winter Counts the largest number were painted by members of various bands of Lakotas. One name for Lakota pictographic calendars is waniyetu wowapi , literally, “winters they count,” meaning “counted winters” or “winter count.” Following this second designation, they are known in English as “winter counts.” Winter counts were drawn and cared for by Keepers and depict the most significant yearly experience of a tiyošpaye (extended kinship group).” There are more than 150 currently known winter counts. In Dakota the word for winter, waniyetu , is also the word employed for the English “year”.

21. Kiowa Winter Counts Sett’an Winter Count, 1833 – 1892. Sett’an (Little Chief) The symbol for 1833-1834 from Sett’an Winter count shows Sett’an as a child, standing atop a black bar which denotes the year, with stars above his head.

23. Canyon de Chelly Star Ceiling, Navajo With so many examples of the 1833 Leonid Meteor Storm found in Ledger Book Art, it seems likely that examples in rock art should have been created too. Perhaps some of the known Navajo star ceilings represent this.

26. Other rock art panels featuring groupings of stars might also represent “When the Stars Fell.” - Star Panel, Picture Canyon, Baca County, CO. Photo: Michael Maselli.