Ute Indian prayer tree

We are fortunate to live in the ancestral territory of the Ute Indians. And one of the things left behind are scarred trees that they used in their everyday life. This is a Bent or Prayer tree. The Utes would tie down a young sapling with yucca rope to bend its growth as a permanent marker, and then offer their prayers to it knowing the tree would live many centuries and continue to hold their prayers long after they died.
Three other types of scarred trees are the Pine medicine trees , where the Utes peeled bark for medicinal purposes, the Aspen message trees, where the Utes carved messages in the bark, and Cedars that the Utes used as burial markers for their Medicine Men.