ABSTRACT
The Rocky Mountain region in America’s West, with its snowcapped peaks and golden Aspens, has cast an immense and awe-inspiring image in the popular imagination. The folk traditions of the mountain dwellers mirror the region’s complexity and diversity. Among its many inhabitants are such indigenous peoples as the Tiwa Pueblo, Ute, Wind River Arapaho, Shoshone, Flathead, Kootenai, and Blackfeet. The region today also includes such other ethnic groups as Basques, Chinese, Germans from Russia, Icelanders, Mexicans, Sicilians, and Welsh. Religious groups include Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Mormons, Buddhists, Hutterites, and members of the Native American Church. A wide array of occupational groups known for their hardiness in the rugged environment also have made the Rocky Mountains their home, ranging from miners and cowboys to crop dusters and “sky pilots.” Considering the sheer enormity of the Rocky Mountain region, there is ample room for ethnic, religious, and occupational diversity, partly because people who move there tap into a traditional belief that the region enables one to leave
the past behind and gain a “fresh start,” or, inspired by the mountains, have a spiritual rebirth.
