From Wikipedia:
The Uncompahgre Ute Indians from Central Colorado are one of the first documented groups of people in the world known to utilize the effect of mechanoluminescence through the use of quartz crystals to generate light, likely hundreds of years before the modern world recognized the phenomenon. The Ute constructed special ceremonial rattles made from buffalo rawhide which they filled with clear quartz crystals collected from the mountains of Colorado and Utah. When the rattles were shaken at night during ceremonies, the friction and mechanical stress of the quartz crystals impacting together produced flashes of light which partly shone through the translucent buffalo hide. These rattles were believed to call spirits into Ute Ceremonies, and were considered extremely powerful religious objects.
If someone next says the Ute used indigenous herbs to create primitive vapor jelly that they put under their noses while dancing to precise thumping beats and chewing on rawhide pacifiers, I’m calling hoax.
Also:
Anthropologist Hermann Baumann documented male-to-female transsexual priestesses among the Ute, although two-spirit expression has been discouraged by Christian influence.
These guys could throw a party!
How nifty! Makes you wonder what else they may have done with crystal technology.
The Utes are not the only culture with a tradition of a transgender priestly caste. There are also traditions in the West (Gallae, Korybantes) and in Asia (Hijra) that go back several millenia.