Bits of hair, horn, and other parts were used as decoration because of the protection it offered. Most bison cultures believed that the bison was a gift from the sun, the giver of life. The Cheyenne, Commanches, Blackfeet, and Crow all have their legends of how the bison came to be on Earth. The Crow story tells of how there was a race of giants who used bison as horses. They gave four men bison they had kept in a hole in the ground.
Many tribes use similar explanations for how herds of bison seemed to appear on the prairie.
To the Cree the bison made the greatest medicine of all the animals. When bison were hunted and killed, they would be thanked for giving up their lives. Bison hides covered sweat lodges that faced towards an ancient bison skull. When the sweat was finished the man smoked to the bison and asked that the bison be plentiful, flesh itself and return to the herds. Others would leave the dead animal un-skinned to rot and only count coup upon it.