Mariah Gladstone spent 11 hours making this homage to a traditional Blackfeet buffalo jump. She won the People's Choice Award at a local gingerbread making contest just outside her Blackfeet reservation in Montana. Buffalo jumps are a traditional Plains hunting technique that allowed communities to slaughter dozens, if not more, buffalo at once. In a traditional buffalo jump, a lead runner will dress as a calf and imitate calls to draw the herd toward a cliff. Other hunters will exploit the herd’s poor vision and surround them from behind, scaring them toward the cliff. The frightened herd’s momentum will then force them over the cliff.
