Tribe: The Navajo, the largest Native American tribe in the United States.
Meaning of Name: "Navajo" is the Spanish version of the Navajo word "Naabeeho." They refer to themselves, now, as "Navajo," but prefer to call themselves the "Dine," meaning "People."
Location: Originally from eastern Alaska and northwestern Canada. In the 1400s, the Navajo migrated to, and now live in, the "Four Corners" section of the adjoining states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.
Original Language: Na-Dene Southern Athapascan ("The People's Language"), and before that, Athapascan.
Tribal Affiliations: Pueblo, Apache, Ute, Comanche and Spanish. The Navajo were once part of the nomadic hunting-and-gathering Apaches, but then met the Pueblo and learned their settled agrarian ways from them.
Traditional Enemies: United States Army, the New Mexico militia, Mexican settlers.
Traditional Style of Housing: A dome-like east-facing hut called a "Hogan" made of wood, bark and mud. Traditional Navajo, even if they live in modern housing or a mobile home, still have a Hogan on their property in order to keep themselves in balance and for ceremonial use. These Hogans can also have patios attached for cooking and working the loom. The Navajo have similar larger structures as medicine huts and smaller sweat-lodges.
Traditional Attire: According to the Navajo, they must dress in traditional Navajo clothing during ceremonies so that the Great Spirit will recognize them. Originally, they wore clothing woven out of yucca or sewn out of deerskin. Nowadays, the women wear velvet or cotton skirts, matching or coordinating long-sleeved velvet or cotton blouses, ankle-length or knee-high moccasins, a conch belt or sash, jewelry and a shawl. The men wear long pants and velveteen shirts, moccasins, vests and sometimes hats with brims. They're partial to silver and turquoise jewelry. Turquoise represents happiness, health and luck, and they are partial to the colors black (north/night), white (east/dawn), blue (south/day) and yellow (west/dusk).
Traditional Foods: The Navajo raise sheep and grow corn, so mutton and corn-based meals are the norm. They tend to avoid pork and pork products. They also eat goat-meat, drink goat-milk in their coffee, and eat a lot of fried flat-bread. Historically, they eat acorns, antelope, beans, chokeberries, sumac berries, rose hips, currants, raspberries, cedar berries, corn, deer, elk, grapes, walnuts, greens, prickly-pear, juniper berries, mescal, mountain sheep, pinion nuts, wild potatoes, prairie dogs, pumpkins, rabbits, rats, squash and yucca, which was processed into cakes and sweet breads, and was once also used for making clothing and sandals.
Position of Women: Traditional Navajo society is matrilocal; young men marry into their wives' clans and move into their wives' homes. Everything is owned by the women and bequeathed to the women. The mother's brother has a major part in raising his sister's children. Men represent their mothers' clans in tribal council meetings. They cannot date or marry someone from the same clan.
Navajo Courtship: While the wedding ceremony involves sharing corn mush out of a very symbolically-decorated wedding basket, and the wedding itself represents the union of the Earth Woman and the Sky Man, the Navajo Courtship before the wedding remains a mystery.
Interesting Tidbits: Like the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole and their "Trail of Tears" and the Potawatomi and their "Trail of Death," the Navajo had their "Long Walk" in which they were force-marched at gun-point from their traditional homeland in Arizona to Fort Sumner in New Mexico in 1864. This was an 18-day, 300-mile walk under grueling and cruel conditions in which 20% of the 1000 Navajo died on route, sometimes of gunshot wounds inflicted by US Army soldiers... The Navajo Reservation is the largest Native American reservation in the United States, is 27,000 acres and has a population of 200,000.... The Navajo Code Talkers were extremely instrumental in defeating the Germans during World War II.
Traditional Religion: Traditional tribal religion, Catholic, Mormon and Native American Church.
Slavery and the Navajo: The Navajo took captives in wars and skirmishes, while legally and technically, the captives were slaves, their Navajo masters treated them well, allowed them to come and go as they pleased, and considered them members of their families. Therefore, many of their captives stayed with them, even after their release. When the Navajo were enslaved by the non-Navajo, they were treated like slaves. It was an entirely different mentality.
Current Population: There are over 300,000 registered Navajo in the United States.
Current Sources of Tribal Revenue: Tourism, textiles, rugs, blankets, silver and turquoise jewelry, sheep, corn, pinion nuts, lumber, animal husbandry, pottery, land rental. The Navajo are probably one of the more affluent Native American tribes.
Famous Navajo: The list is long, but nobody that I have heard of.
Monday, August 3, 2015
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
The Potawatomi - The Keepers of Tradition
Tribe: The Potawatomi. They call themselves the "Bodewadmi" and "Neshnabe." There are eight federally-recognized Potawatomi tribes: the Citizen Potawatomi Nation in Oklahoma, the Forest County Potawatomi Community of Wisconsin, the Hannahville Indian Community in Michigan, the Gun Lake tribe in Michigan, the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Michigan, the Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation in Kansas, and the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi in Michigan and Indiana.
Meaning of Name: "Potawatomi" is Ojibwe for "Those who keep the hearth-fire." "Bodewadmi" means "Keepers of the Fire." "Neshnabe" is a shortened version of the word "Anishinaabe," which means "Original People." The Potawatomi were the "youngest brothers" of the "Council of Three Fires," meaning the alliance between the Ojibwe, the Ottowa and the Potawatomi tribes.
Location: Originally, they were from Wisconsin, the Upper Mississippi and the Great Lakes region, but now they live in Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Ontario in Canada.
Original Language: Potawatomi, a branch of the Algonquin language tree.
Tribal Affiliations: The Ojibwe (Chippewa) and the Ottawa tribes. Until the sixteenth century, they were all part of the same tribe. They also allied themselves with the French and the Jesuit missionaries, and did business with the Illinois tribes in order to get European goods in trade for their Potawatomi porcupine quills which were used as decoration on the Illinois tribes' clothing and moccasins.
Traditional Enemies: The Iroquois and the Sioux. Also the Miami, the Sauk, the Foxes, the Kickapoo and the Americans.
Traditional Style of Housing: Wigwams, which are dome-like bark-covered frame buildings. Their villages included wigwams, sweat-lodges, large circular menstrual lodges, lodges for smoking and drying meats, an athletic field and probably a larger wigwam or lodge that served as the town hall .
Traditional Attire: The men wore very decorated deerskin tunics, breechcloths, leggings and moccasins, and preferred red or blue clothing in the summer months. They usually wore their hair long, but sometimes got their heads shaved in a Mohawk or wore porky roaches when they went to war. Otherwise, traditionally, they wore beaded head-bands with one or two feathers in it, or turbans made of otter-fur. Before European contact, the women wore long or knee-length very decorated and stylish deerskin dresses, painted their faces in vermilion for special occasions, and wore their hair long. After European contact, once they had access to cotton material and the surplus of silk ribbon coming from post-Revolution France, they wore high-necked long-sleeved caped blouses with silk ribbons, and long skirts made of sewn-together wide strips of ribbon upon which they embroidered or put appliques. They also wore arm shawls and sashes.
Traditional Foods: The men hunted or trapped deer, bear, beaver, elk, bison, raccoons, rabbits, possum, turtles, turkey, geese, quail, ducks and other wild birds. They fished for or caught trout, bass, crayfish, catfish, paddlefish (prized for its caviar-like eggs), sturgeon (probably also prized for its eggs), eel, shad, pickerel, carp, suckers, buffalo fish, redhorse fish, crappie, walleye, drum fish and whitefish. The women gathered or grew corn, squash, beans, pumpkins, root vegetables, blueberries, cattail roots, chestnuts, walnuts, pecans, acorns, Indian potatoes, sunflowers, blackberries, strawberries, elderberries, hickory nuts, pawpaws, persimmons, crabapples, plums, wild grains, grapes, wild onions, and melons. They also processed maple syrup and made fry bread or bread made from the pounded nuts of the beech tree. The Potawatomi women also grew medicinal-herb gardens and tobacco.
Position of Women: Women were the farmers and cooks, and men were the field-clearers, the hunters and the fishermen. Either gender could serve as chief of the tribe. This seems to indicate that theirs was an egalitarian relationship, since during the warmer months, the woman supported the family with her farm, and during the cooler months, the men supported the family with his hunting and fishing. Couples were also expected to stay married for life.
Potawatomi Courtship: The Potawatomi was very strict about chastity and correct behavior. Other than that, I don't know.
Interesting Tidbits:
The Potawatomi ceded their lands in the Northern Mississippi and Great Lakes areas in 1833, and were force-marched from north-to-south, to "Indian Territory" in Oklahoma. This was referred to as the "Trail of Death," as compared to the east-to-west "Trail of Tears" taken by the Cherokee, the Choctaw, the Chickasaw, the Creek and the Seminole tribes....
They believe that song, drums, rattles, dances, pipes and fire communicate prayers and add to the connection to the Creator....
The Potawatomi say that they have been making baskets out of black ash trees for the past thousand years....
The Potawatomi believe that inappropriate actions lead to exclusion (shunning) which is the kiss of death for that misbehaving individual....
The most common Potawatomi clans are the Thunder Clan (the intellectuals), the Bear Clan (the healers) and the Turtle Clan (the environmentalists.)....
They honor the four directions: the east for understanding and rebirth, the south for fullness of youth and generosity, the west for self-acceptance and the unknown, and the north for wisdom and survival. They also honor the Seven Grandfather Teachings: Wisdom, Love, Respect, Bravery, Honesty, Humility and Truth....
The Potawatomi grew tobacco which they believed was a gift from the spirits and which had to be returned to the spirits in terms of a thank-offering....
Potawatomi grandfathers make their grandchildren's cradleboards.
Traditional Religion: Midiwiwin, Catholic, Methodist.
Slavery and the Potawatomi: Potawatomi men enlisted in the Union Army as sharpshooters during the Civil War, figuring that if they could get in good with the U.S. Government, they might be in a better political position when it came to treaties.
Current Population: 28,000, combined.
Current Sources of Tribal Revenue: Casinos, resorts, gift shops, museums, parks, language-classes, arts and crafts, clothing, and replicas of artifacts.
Famous Potawatomi: None that I have heard of.
Meaning of Name: "Potawatomi" is Ojibwe for "Those who keep the hearth-fire." "Bodewadmi" means "Keepers of the Fire." "Neshnabe" is a shortened version of the word "Anishinaabe," which means "Original People." The Potawatomi were the "youngest brothers" of the "Council of Three Fires," meaning the alliance between the Ojibwe, the Ottowa and the Potawatomi tribes.
Location: Originally, they were from Wisconsin, the Upper Mississippi and the Great Lakes region, but now they live in Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Ontario in Canada.
Original Language: Potawatomi, a branch of the Algonquin language tree.
Tribal Affiliations: The Ojibwe (Chippewa) and the Ottawa tribes. Until the sixteenth century, they were all part of the same tribe. They also allied themselves with the French and the Jesuit missionaries, and did business with the Illinois tribes in order to get European goods in trade for their Potawatomi porcupine quills which were used as decoration on the Illinois tribes' clothing and moccasins.
Traditional Enemies: The Iroquois and the Sioux. Also the Miami, the Sauk, the Foxes, the Kickapoo and the Americans.
Traditional Style of Housing: Wigwams, which are dome-like bark-covered frame buildings. Their villages included wigwams, sweat-lodges, large circular menstrual lodges, lodges for smoking and drying meats, an athletic field and probably a larger wigwam or lodge that served as the town hall .
Traditional Attire: The men wore very decorated deerskin tunics, breechcloths, leggings and moccasins, and preferred red or blue clothing in the summer months. They usually wore their hair long, but sometimes got their heads shaved in a Mohawk or wore porky roaches when they went to war. Otherwise, traditionally, they wore beaded head-bands with one or two feathers in it, or turbans made of otter-fur. Before European contact, the women wore long or knee-length very decorated and stylish deerskin dresses, painted their faces in vermilion for special occasions, and wore their hair long. After European contact, once they had access to cotton material and the surplus of silk ribbon coming from post-Revolution France, they wore high-necked long-sleeved caped blouses with silk ribbons, and long skirts made of sewn-together wide strips of ribbon upon which they embroidered or put appliques. They also wore arm shawls and sashes.
Traditional Foods: The men hunted or trapped deer, bear, beaver, elk, bison, raccoons, rabbits, possum, turtles, turkey, geese, quail, ducks and other wild birds. They fished for or caught trout, bass, crayfish, catfish, paddlefish (prized for its caviar-like eggs), sturgeon (probably also prized for its eggs), eel, shad, pickerel, carp, suckers, buffalo fish, redhorse fish, crappie, walleye, drum fish and whitefish. The women gathered or grew corn, squash, beans, pumpkins, root vegetables, blueberries, cattail roots, chestnuts, walnuts, pecans, acorns, Indian potatoes, sunflowers, blackberries, strawberries, elderberries, hickory nuts, pawpaws, persimmons, crabapples, plums, wild grains, grapes, wild onions, and melons. They also processed maple syrup and made fry bread or bread made from the pounded nuts of the beech tree. The Potawatomi women also grew medicinal-herb gardens and tobacco.
Position of Women: Women were the farmers and cooks, and men were the field-clearers, the hunters and the fishermen. Either gender could serve as chief of the tribe. This seems to indicate that theirs was an egalitarian relationship, since during the warmer months, the woman supported the family with her farm, and during the cooler months, the men supported the family with his hunting and fishing. Couples were also expected to stay married for life.
Potawatomi Courtship: The Potawatomi was very strict about chastity and correct behavior. Other than that, I don't know.
Interesting Tidbits:
The Potawatomi ceded their lands in the Northern Mississippi and Great Lakes areas in 1833, and were force-marched from north-to-south, to "Indian Territory" in Oklahoma. This was referred to as the "Trail of Death," as compared to the east-to-west "Trail of Tears" taken by the Cherokee, the Choctaw, the Chickasaw, the Creek and the Seminole tribes....
They believe that song, drums, rattles, dances, pipes and fire communicate prayers and add to the connection to the Creator....
The Potawatomi say that they have been making baskets out of black ash trees for the past thousand years....
The Potawatomi believe that inappropriate actions lead to exclusion (shunning) which is the kiss of death for that misbehaving individual....
The most common Potawatomi clans are the Thunder Clan (the intellectuals), the Bear Clan (the healers) and the Turtle Clan (the environmentalists.)....
They honor the four directions: the east for understanding and rebirth, the south for fullness of youth and generosity, the west for self-acceptance and the unknown, and the north for wisdom and survival. They also honor the Seven Grandfather Teachings: Wisdom, Love, Respect, Bravery, Honesty, Humility and Truth....
The Potawatomi grew tobacco which they believed was a gift from the spirits and which had to be returned to the spirits in terms of a thank-offering....
Potawatomi grandfathers make their grandchildren's cradleboards.
Traditional Religion: Midiwiwin, Catholic, Methodist.
Slavery and the Potawatomi: Potawatomi men enlisted in the Union Army as sharpshooters during the Civil War, figuring that if they could get in good with the U.S. Government, they might be in a better political position when it came to treaties.
Current Population: 28,000, combined.
Current Sources of Tribal Revenue: Casinos, resorts, gift shops, museums, parks, language-classes, arts and crafts, clothing, and replicas of artifacts.
Famous Potawatomi: None that I have heard of.
Thursday, June 25, 2015
An Aside on the Bride-Price
Almost half of the tribes in the United States used to employ "bride-prices" when it came to matrimony. This bride-price, which was set by the potential bride's father, was paid by the potential groom or his family or both, to the family of the potential bride, and usually came in the form of horses, blankets, clothing, cowrie or Dentalia shells, bison meat, deer meat and other foods, animal pelts and skins, physical labor, or hard-to-get textiles, like cotton calico. The higher the bride-price, the higher the value of the bride. And in most of these tribes, it is not as though the potential bride was being bought and paid-for and had nothing to say about it. She could nix the entire agreement at any time.
The bride-price showed several things:
1.) It proved to the daughter how much she was valued by her father and by her mother as a contributing member of the family and the value of those contributions.
2.) It proved to the groom how much his intended was valued by her father and her mother as a contributing member of the family and the value of those contributions.
3.) Provided that the price was met, it proved to the bride how much the groom loved her, wanted her, and how much he would be willing to sacrifice on her behalf.
4.) Provided that the price was met, it proved to the bride's father that the groom was perfectly capable of supporting her and their children.
Because most Native American tribes did not engage in arranged marriages, the first thing that the potential couple had to do was meet each other. This wasn't easy, because in most tribes, he wasn't even allowed to speak to her without a chaperone present lest he compromise her reputation. In fact, Native American women were traditionally treated with great respect as the Givers and Sustainers of Life, and every effort was made to insure that their reputations remained intact. For this reason, in traditional Native American families, couples were not allowed to date. They might notice each other at a tribal dance or ceremony, but the impetus was on him to prove himself worthy of her attention and admiration, and not on her to prove herself worthy of him. So, like the preening birds or other animals in which the male is more attractively plumed and furred, he had to look good and be in excellent physical shape. He also had to show off his hunting, fishing and horsemanship skills, be a brave warrior, be good at sports like Lacrosse, be a good dancer, be a good flutist, drummer, or whistler, and know how to compose beautiful love-songs because she had absolutely nothing to lose by turning him down. After all, she could live in her mother's house or her grandmother's house forever, or move to her own house, and a woman who owned her own fully-furnished house had and still has power.
Once the potential groom had set his sights on a particular young woman and had managed to win her heart, and even before the subject of a bride-price had come up, he would have to run the gauntlet set up by her sisters, her mother, her aunts, her grandmother and her great-grandmother. These women would have known him for all of his life and so they knew all of his foibles, for there are no secrets in small towns, villages or reservations. They would know if he was kind, intelligent, courageous, noble, honest, decent, hard-working, disciplined, wise, spiritual, circumspect and good with children. They would also know if he was rude, brutal, arrogant, dumber than a box of rocks, cowardly, base, dishonest, lazy, short-sighted, greedy, sneaky, mean, sickly, a lousy shot, did not keep his weapons in good repair, was weak, a drunk or a womanizer. And since they were not in love with him, they could be completely objective about him, so it's unlikely that he could successfully pull the wool over their collective and skeptical eyes.
If the potential groom-in-question had managed to win the heart of yon fair maiden and had lived through her female relatives' inquisition, then the issue of the bride-price would come up. And how did the father calculate the value of his daughter? Well, it wasn't just her sentimental value to him as his daughter, or based purely on how pretty she was. Instead, traditional Native American women had many practical domestic skills and those skills determined her worth. Furthermore, those skills had monetary value, and could be used for purchasing other goods, horses, slaves, land, or acquiring cold hard cash which would benefit herself and her family, and by extension, her husband and their children. And the more skills she brought to the negotiating table, the higher her value to her family, and the higher her value to her family, the greater the bride-price to be paid by the groom as compensation for her loss.
So, just to have a little fun with what is otherwise a very serious subject, I thought that I would devise a Bride-Price Calculator. This is in no special order of importance. Please note that these are pre-European-contact, old-fashioned, traditional skills that in no way reflect modern life. Obviously, the higher the number of "Yes" answers, the higher the bride-price to be paid.
1.) Cooking Skills:
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to grow or gather fruit, ripe nuts, berries and the right greens?
Yes____ No ____ Is she a good cook?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to dry, pound and possibly acorns, tree bark, corn, mesquite seeds, water-lily seeds, or other seeds, pods or nuts into pulp and make them into tasty mush or bread?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to dry berries, fruits, vegetables and herbs?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to dry or smoke different kinds of meat?
Yes____ No _____ Does she know how to make edible pemmican if this is a food eaten by your tribe?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to plant and tend a garden and orchard?
Yes____ No _____ Does she have a "green thumb?"
2.) Parenting Skills:
Yes____ No ____ Does she want children?
Yes____ No _____ Is there a good chance that she's fertile?
Yes____ No ____ Is she maternal, protective, hard-working, wise, even-tempered, patient, and nurturing?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to use a bow and arrow and throw a tomahawk or spear in case she needs to protect the children or the tribe from attack?
3.) Sewing Skills:
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to scrape the hair off of hides, separate the sinew for use as thread, soften the hides with the animal's brains, stretch the hide, wash the hide, how long to let it dry in the sun, and how to cut it into appropriate shapes if this is a tradition of your tribe?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to separate fibers from various plants for use as thread and how to prepare said fibers for weaving into clothing or blankets if this is a tradition of your tribe?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to card wool, spin it into yarn and weave it into clothing or blankets, if this is a tradition of your tribe?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to sew tunics, shirts, breechcloths, trousers, vests, dresses, skirts and blankets?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to make moccasins out of deer or elk skin, or sandals out of rush or leather?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to do beading, make fringes, and do quill-work?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to make head-dresses, pouches, saddlebags and other accessories out of animal skins?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to weave baskets and mats?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to make pottery?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to make platters and spoons out of wood or clay?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to make jewelry out of beads, shells, feathers, teeth and/or claws?
4.) Homemaking Skills:
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to make and erect a teepee, a wigwam or wickiup out of wood, bark, branches, or skins?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to keep her home clean, aerated and comfortable?
Yes____ No _____ Does she know how to make and keep a fire burning in the hearth?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to decorate beautifully, efficiently and cost-effectively?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to pack a travois?
5.) Personal Skills:
Yes____ No ____ Does she bathe every day?
Yes____ No ____ Does she brush her teeth, get dressed and brush her hair every day?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to shave her husband's beard or head of hair, if that is the custom of your tribe?
Yes____ No ____ Does she have or know how to apply tattoos or war paint if that is the custom of your tribe?
Yes____ No ____ Is she reasonably pleasant, intelligent, wise, honest and kind?
Yes____ No ____ Is she pretty?
The bride-price showed several things:
1.) It proved to the daughter how much she was valued by her father and by her mother as a contributing member of the family and the value of those contributions.
2.) It proved to the groom how much his intended was valued by her father and her mother as a contributing member of the family and the value of those contributions.
3.) Provided that the price was met, it proved to the bride how much the groom loved her, wanted her, and how much he would be willing to sacrifice on her behalf.
4.) Provided that the price was met, it proved to the bride's father that the groom was perfectly capable of supporting her and their children.
Because most Native American tribes did not engage in arranged marriages, the first thing that the potential couple had to do was meet each other. This wasn't easy, because in most tribes, he wasn't even allowed to speak to her without a chaperone present lest he compromise her reputation. In fact, Native American women were traditionally treated with great respect as the Givers and Sustainers of Life, and every effort was made to insure that their reputations remained intact. For this reason, in traditional Native American families, couples were not allowed to date. They might notice each other at a tribal dance or ceremony, but the impetus was on him to prove himself worthy of her attention and admiration, and not on her to prove herself worthy of him. So, like the preening birds or other animals in which the male is more attractively plumed and furred, he had to look good and be in excellent physical shape. He also had to show off his hunting, fishing and horsemanship skills, be a brave warrior, be good at sports like Lacrosse, be a good dancer, be a good flutist, drummer, or whistler, and know how to compose beautiful love-songs because she had absolutely nothing to lose by turning him down. After all, she could live in her mother's house or her grandmother's house forever, or move to her own house, and a woman who owned her own fully-furnished house had and still has power.
Once the potential groom had set his sights on a particular young woman and had managed to win her heart, and even before the subject of a bride-price had come up, he would have to run the gauntlet set up by her sisters, her mother, her aunts, her grandmother and her great-grandmother. These women would have known him for all of his life and so they knew all of his foibles, for there are no secrets in small towns, villages or reservations. They would know if he was kind, intelligent, courageous, noble, honest, decent, hard-working, disciplined, wise, spiritual, circumspect and good with children. They would also know if he was rude, brutal, arrogant, dumber than a box of rocks, cowardly, base, dishonest, lazy, short-sighted, greedy, sneaky, mean, sickly, a lousy shot, did not keep his weapons in good repair, was weak, a drunk or a womanizer. And since they were not in love with him, they could be completely objective about him, so it's unlikely that he could successfully pull the wool over their collective and skeptical eyes.
If the potential groom-in-question had managed to win the heart of yon fair maiden and had lived through her female relatives' inquisition, then the issue of the bride-price would come up. And how did the father calculate the value of his daughter? Well, it wasn't just her sentimental value to him as his daughter, or based purely on how pretty she was. Instead, traditional Native American women had many practical domestic skills and those skills determined her worth. Furthermore, those skills had monetary value, and could be used for purchasing other goods, horses, slaves, land, or acquiring cold hard cash which would benefit herself and her family, and by extension, her husband and their children. And the more skills she brought to the negotiating table, the higher her value to her family, and the higher her value to her family, the greater the bride-price to be paid by the groom as compensation for her loss.
So, just to have a little fun with what is otherwise a very serious subject, I thought that I would devise a Bride-Price Calculator. This is in no special order of importance. Please note that these are pre-European-contact, old-fashioned, traditional skills that in no way reflect modern life. Obviously, the higher the number of "Yes" answers, the higher the bride-price to be paid.
1.) Cooking Skills:
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to grow or gather fruit, ripe nuts, berries and the right greens?
Yes____ No ____ Is she a good cook?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to dry, pound and possibly acorns, tree bark, corn, mesquite seeds, water-lily seeds, or other seeds, pods or nuts into pulp and make them into tasty mush or bread?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to dry berries, fruits, vegetables and herbs?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to dry or smoke different kinds of meat?
Yes____ No _____ Does she know how to make edible pemmican if this is a food eaten by your tribe?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to plant and tend a garden and orchard?
Yes____ No _____ Does she have a "green thumb?"
2.) Parenting Skills:
Yes____ No ____ Does she want children?
Yes____ No _____ Is there a good chance that she's fertile?
Yes____ No ____ Is she maternal, protective, hard-working, wise, even-tempered, patient, and nurturing?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to use a bow and arrow and throw a tomahawk or spear in case she needs to protect the children or the tribe from attack?
3.) Sewing Skills:
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to scrape the hair off of hides, separate the sinew for use as thread, soften the hides with the animal's brains, stretch the hide, wash the hide, how long to let it dry in the sun, and how to cut it into appropriate shapes if this is a tradition of your tribe?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to separate fibers from various plants for use as thread and how to prepare said fibers for weaving into clothing or blankets if this is a tradition of your tribe?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to card wool, spin it into yarn and weave it into clothing or blankets, if this is a tradition of your tribe?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to sew tunics, shirts, breechcloths, trousers, vests, dresses, skirts and blankets?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to make moccasins out of deer or elk skin, or sandals out of rush or leather?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to do beading, make fringes, and do quill-work?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to make head-dresses, pouches, saddlebags and other accessories out of animal skins?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to weave baskets and mats?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to make pottery?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to make platters and spoons out of wood or clay?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to make jewelry out of beads, shells, feathers, teeth and/or claws?
4.) Homemaking Skills:
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to make and erect a teepee, a wigwam or wickiup out of wood, bark, branches, or skins?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to keep her home clean, aerated and comfortable?
Yes____ No _____ Does she know how to make and keep a fire burning in the hearth?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to decorate beautifully, efficiently and cost-effectively?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to pack a travois?
5.) Personal Skills:
Yes____ No ____ Does she bathe every day?
Yes____ No ____ Does she brush her teeth, get dressed and brush her hair every day?
Yes____ No ____ Does she know how to shave her husband's beard or head of hair, if that is the custom of your tribe?
Yes____ No ____ Does she have or know how to apply tattoos or war paint if that is the custom of your tribe?
Yes____ No ____ Is she reasonably pleasant, intelligent, wise, honest and kind?
Yes____ No ____ Is she pretty?
Saturday, June 20, 2015
An Aside on Native American Religions
Just as there are hundreds of Native American tribes, there are probably hundreds of Native American religions with their own special touches, and hundreds of thousands of papers have been written about them in order for white grad students to try to understand them. I won't attempt to try to do that here, at least not fully and certainly not to the depth that they deserve. The best that I can do is to continue to paint Native American religions with a very broad brush to give you a very, very general idea.
The Sweat Lodge:
First, those who wish to avail themselves may visit the sweat lodge, which represents the womb. It used to be that only men could enter and participate in the sweat lodge rituals, but lately, it's been open to women who aren't in "their time of the moon." Sweat lodges can be used by men and women separately or together, but they are only for the truly serious and not for those interested in picking up a date. Nudity is not allowed; Native Americans are very modest and resent their rituals being taken lightly, just as we would.
The sweat lodge itself is usually a circular east-facing lodge, plank house, wickiup or teepee big enough to fit one to twenty people, and is very specific in design. Only specially-trained people are allowed to set one up lest the participants die of exploding rocks, smoke inhalation or heat exhaustion. Those within it are closely supervised and guided on their sacred path by someone called the "Fire-keeper." The Sweat Lodge is, after all, a place for Native Americans to purify and renew themselves, obtain enlightenment, healing, and peace, and find a spiritual refuge in an otherwise discordant and Euro-centric (White Man's) world.
Before participants can enter the sweat lodge, he or she should have fasted for the day and abstained from coffee, tea, drugs or alcohol. Then the participant is smudged. This means that a bundle of leaves and twigs is lit and the smoke is directed toward the participant with an eagle feather because eagles bring prayers to God/the Great Spirit/the Creator and God/the Great Spirit/the Creator sends him back with blessings, peace, happiness and love. Smudge bundles are made of one of the following: sage for cleansing, strength and meaning; sweet-grass (Hierochloe odorata,) for truth and purity; and cedar for healing and comfort. Smudge bundles are also sometimes made of cannabis, lavender, juniper, peppermint, spearmint or a combination thereof, but sage, sweet-grass or cedar are preferred. Some sweat lodges then offer a peace pipe, and others offer the participant the opportunity to give a gift of tobacco or possibly tobacco plus cannabis, which is placed on the sacred fire in the lodge. The smoke of the offering is supposed to carry prayers and thoughts to God/the Creator/the Great Spirit, much like regular incense in Catholic or Episcopal churches or during certain Wiccan rituals.
Once everyone has been seated around the inside edge of the sweat lodge, red hot stones, called the "Stone People" are brought in and placed in a north, east, west, and south position in a pit which is in the middle of the sweat lodge. Introductions by the participants are given, and then the first of four sessions begins. Each session lasts about 30-45 minutes for a total of two to three hours.
If I understand this correctly, at the first session, water is poured on the western rock to create steam, and prayers are offered to recognize the spirit world of the black west, symbolically the unknown and mysterious world of the Afterlife. Next, water is poured on the red-hot northern rock to create steam and prayers are offered in recognition of the courage and strength of the white North, which is interesting because the courageous indigenous peoples from Siberia migrated to the "Turtle Islands" (North America) and then headed south from the snowy North without knowing what they were in for. After that, water is poured on the eastern rock to create steam and prayers are offered in recognition of the wisdom of the Red Road (the Indian Way) or sometimes in recognition of the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ. And finally, water is poured on the southern rock to recognize the healing and growth-potential that comes from the yellow sun. Then everybody leaves the hot, steamy sweat lodge to jump into the brisk water of the nearest river or lake, or to roll around in the snow or sand in order to get all of the oil and sweat off their bodies.
The Native American Church:
The Native American Church relies on weekly gatherings which seem to be held on Saturday nights and continue through to a communal breakfast on Sunday morning. During this time, they gather for prayer, the reading of Bible verses, place an emphasis on the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ, the End of Days, the Resurrection, and baptism by water and hymns. In this way, they aren't too different from most Pentecostal churches. However, many of them also incorporate distinctly Native American touches into their celebrations, depending on the church: The Birth (Blessing) Ceremony, the Sacred Breath Ceremony, The Laying on of Hands (which has mostly to do with herbal healing) Ceremony, the Marriage Blanket Ceremony, the Passing on of the Spirit Ceremony, the Potlatch (Redistribution of Wealth) Ceremony, the Sacred Prayer Pipe to express the unity of all people as Children of the Creator or Great Spirit or God, the Sacred Peyote Ceremony, the Sweat Lodge, the Ghost Dance, the Sun Dance, the Drum Dance, the Green Corn Dance and the Vision Quest, and the use of sacred water drums and the sacred gourd rattles as part of their services. There are approximately 250,000 members of the Native American Church.
Regarding the Sacred Peyote Ceremony: Their leader/medicine man/shaman/priest is called the "Roadman," and it is he who puts the spiritual travelers on the Peyote Road to enlightenment or spiritual awareness. (Please note, you cannot legally take the Peyote Road if you are not at least certifiably one-quarter Native American.) The Sacred Peyote, the use of which goes back 6,000 years, is either ingested as a dried pod or infused in a tea, and is said to allow for communion with the Creator and for healing of any kind. It is not clear at what point the Sacred Peyote is introduced into the service or if it is used in lieu of communion wafers or wine/grape juice, but its use has been linked to a reduction in alcoholism in Native Americans.
Colors also have sacred meaning in the Native American Church. Blue represents the sky and empowerment. Green represents the river and healing. Yellow represents the earth and the Road of Life. Red represents fire and either Jesus Christ or prayer or the Sacred Pipe which is made of red pipestone. Black represents water and purification, and white represents the smoke of tobacco. It should be noted that the meanings ascribed to the colors probably vary depending on the tribe or congregation.
Traditional Tribal Religions:
These vary tribe by tribe and healer by healer, but they usually contain a few, some, most or all of the Native American rituals: the Birth (Blessing) Ceremony, the Sacred Breath Ceremony, The Laying on of Hands (which has mostly to do with herbal healing) Ceremony, the Marriage Blanket Ceremony, the Passing on of the Spirit Ceremony, the Potlatch (Redistribution of Wealth) Ceremony, the Sacred Prayer Pipe to express the unity of all people as Children of the Creator or Great Spirit or God, the Sacred Peyote Ceremony, the Sweat Lodge, the Ghost Dance, the Sun Dance, the Drum Dance, the Green Corn Dance, storytelling and the Vision Quest. Their goal is to instruct, purify, renew, obtain enlightenment, healing, and peace, to find a Oneness with the Great Spirit or the Creator and with Nature, and a spiritual refuge in an otherwise discordant and Euro-centric (White Man's) world.
Certain tribes also have interesting ceremonies and religions. The Quapaw, for example, have a Half-Moon ceremony in which tobacco is used, but not the Bible, and a Big Moon ceremony in which the Bible is read, but no tobacco is used. Those who practice Midewiwin in the Algonquin tribes engage in very secret healing ceremonies concerning the Mystery of the Sacred Medicine and the transference of souls (at least as far as I can fathom.) Certain tribes in California, like the Pomo and the Miwok, have secret underground dances in celebration of Kuksu, a red-beaked supernatural healer who lives in a sweat-lodge at the southern end of the world.
The Iroquois Nations, especially the Seneca, follow the teachings of Handsome Lake, a Seneca recovering alcoholic who saw what has happening to his people after they had been consigned to reservations and preached an updated version of The Great Law of Peace in which he outlawed drunkenness, witchcraft, sexual promiscuity, wife-beating and quarreling, all by-products of excessive drinking. Some Siouan-speakers may not believe in a Great Spirit, per se, but they believe in "Wakan Tanka," which is the divine essence in every living and inanimate thing. The famous Kachina dolls of the tribes in the Southwest are said to represent powerful male and female spiritual beings who brought forth rain and provided other blessings, but then humans took them for granted, so the Kachina left, and the Kachina costumes worn by the male dancers allow the dancers to become one with the Kachina whom they are representing. And several indigenous religions predict the end of White Man's domination of this continent and a return to Native Americans ways.
White Man's Religions:
Only 4% of the Native Americans identify themselves as Christian, which is understandable, in light of the historically brutal, imperialist, and racist efforts to convert them, not that anyone has tried those methods in several years. These White Man's Religions include the Roman Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, the Baptist Church, the Episcopal Church, the many Pentecostal churches, and the Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons.)
Unfortunately, it wasn't that long ago that Native American children were separated from their mothers and their fathers and forced to live in church-run boarding school in order to educate them, assimilate them into white society, and leech away their senses of tribal identity. Many of these boarding schools are still in operation today, but hopefully, with courses that recognize their tribal heritage.
The Sweat Lodge:
First, those who wish to avail themselves may visit the sweat lodge, which represents the womb. It used to be that only men could enter and participate in the sweat lodge rituals, but lately, it's been open to women who aren't in "their time of the moon." Sweat lodges can be used by men and women separately or together, but they are only for the truly serious and not for those interested in picking up a date. Nudity is not allowed; Native Americans are very modest and resent their rituals being taken lightly, just as we would.
The sweat lodge itself is usually a circular east-facing lodge, plank house, wickiup or teepee big enough to fit one to twenty people, and is very specific in design. Only specially-trained people are allowed to set one up lest the participants die of exploding rocks, smoke inhalation or heat exhaustion. Those within it are closely supervised and guided on their sacred path by someone called the "Fire-keeper." The Sweat Lodge is, after all, a place for Native Americans to purify and renew themselves, obtain enlightenment, healing, and peace, and find a spiritual refuge in an otherwise discordant and Euro-centric (White Man's) world.
Before participants can enter the sweat lodge, he or she should have fasted for the day and abstained from coffee, tea, drugs or alcohol. Then the participant is smudged. This means that a bundle of leaves and twigs is lit and the smoke is directed toward the participant with an eagle feather because eagles bring prayers to God/the Great Spirit/the Creator and God/the Great Spirit/the Creator sends him back with blessings, peace, happiness and love. Smudge bundles are made of one of the following: sage for cleansing, strength and meaning; sweet-grass (Hierochloe odorata,) for truth and purity; and cedar for healing and comfort. Smudge bundles are also sometimes made of cannabis, lavender, juniper, peppermint, spearmint or a combination thereof, but sage, sweet-grass or cedar are preferred. Some sweat lodges then offer a peace pipe, and others offer the participant the opportunity to give a gift of tobacco or possibly tobacco plus cannabis, which is placed on the sacred fire in the lodge. The smoke of the offering is supposed to carry prayers and thoughts to God/the Creator/the Great Spirit, much like regular incense in Catholic or Episcopal churches or during certain Wiccan rituals.
Once everyone has been seated around the inside edge of the sweat lodge, red hot stones, called the "Stone People" are brought in and placed in a north, east, west, and south position in a pit which is in the middle of the sweat lodge. Introductions by the participants are given, and then the first of four sessions begins. Each session lasts about 30-45 minutes for a total of two to three hours.
If I understand this correctly, at the first session, water is poured on the western rock to create steam, and prayers are offered to recognize the spirit world of the black west, symbolically the unknown and mysterious world of the Afterlife. Next, water is poured on the red-hot northern rock to create steam and prayers are offered in recognition of the courage and strength of the white North, which is interesting because the courageous indigenous peoples from Siberia migrated to the "Turtle Islands" (North America) and then headed south from the snowy North without knowing what they were in for. After that, water is poured on the eastern rock to create steam and prayers are offered in recognition of the wisdom of the Red Road (the Indian Way) or sometimes in recognition of the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ. And finally, water is poured on the southern rock to recognize the healing and growth-potential that comes from the yellow sun. Then everybody leaves the hot, steamy sweat lodge to jump into the brisk water of the nearest river or lake, or to roll around in the snow or sand in order to get all of the oil and sweat off their bodies.
The Native American Church:
The Native American Church relies on weekly gatherings which seem to be held on Saturday nights and continue through to a communal breakfast on Sunday morning. During this time, they gather for prayer, the reading of Bible verses, place an emphasis on the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ, the End of Days, the Resurrection, and baptism by water and hymns. In this way, they aren't too different from most Pentecostal churches. However, many of them also incorporate distinctly Native American touches into their celebrations, depending on the church: The Birth (Blessing) Ceremony, the Sacred Breath Ceremony, The Laying on of Hands (which has mostly to do with herbal healing) Ceremony, the Marriage Blanket Ceremony, the Passing on of the Spirit Ceremony, the Potlatch (Redistribution of Wealth) Ceremony, the Sacred Prayer Pipe to express the unity of all people as Children of the Creator or Great Spirit or God, the Sacred Peyote Ceremony, the Sweat Lodge, the Ghost Dance, the Sun Dance, the Drum Dance, the Green Corn Dance and the Vision Quest, and the use of sacred water drums and the sacred gourd rattles as part of their services. There are approximately 250,000 members of the Native American Church.
Regarding the Sacred Peyote Ceremony: Their leader/medicine man/shaman/priest is called the "Roadman," and it is he who puts the spiritual travelers on the Peyote Road to enlightenment or spiritual awareness. (Please note, you cannot legally take the Peyote Road if you are not at least certifiably one-quarter Native American.) The Sacred Peyote, the use of which goes back 6,000 years, is either ingested as a dried pod or infused in a tea, and is said to allow for communion with the Creator and for healing of any kind. It is not clear at what point the Sacred Peyote is introduced into the service or if it is used in lieu of communion wafers or wine/grape juice, but its use has been linked to a reduction in alcoholism in Native Americans.
Colors also have sacred meaning in the Native American Church. Blue represents the sky and empowerment. Green represents the river and healing. Yellow represents the earth and the Road of Life. Red represents fire and either Jesus Christ or prayer or the Sacred Pipe which is made of red pipestone. Black represents water and purification, and white represents the smoke of tobacco. It should be noted that the meanings ascribed to the colors probably vary depending on the tribe or congregation.
Traditional Tribal Religions:
These vary tribe by tribe and healer by healer, but they usually contain a few, some, most or all of the Native American rituals: the Birth (Blessing) Ceremony, the Sacred Breath Ceremony, The Laying on of Hands (which has mostly to do with herbal healing) Ceremony, the Marriage Blanket Ceremony, the Passing on of the Spirit Ceremony, the Potlatch (Redistribution of Wealth) Ceremony, the Sacred Prayer Pipe to express the unity of all people as Children of the Creator or Great Spirit or God, the Sacred Peyote Ceremony, the Sweat Lodge, the Ghost Dance, the Sun Dance, the Drum Dance, the Green Corn Dance, storytelling and the Vision Quest. Their goal is to instruct, purify, renew, obtain enlightenment, healing, and peace, to find a Oneness with the Great Spirit or the Creator and with Nature, and a spiritual refuge in an otherwise discordant and Euro-centric (White Man's) world.
Certain tribes also have interesting ceremonies and religions. The Quapaw, for example, have a Half-Moon ceremony in which tobacco is used, but not the Bible, and a Big Moon ceremony in which the Bible is read, but no tobacco is used. Those who practice Midewiwin in the Algonquin tribes engage in very secret healing ceremonies concerning the Mystery of the Sacred Medicine and the transference of souls (at least as far as I can fathom.) Certain tribes in California, like the Pomo and the Miwok, have secret underground dances in celebration of Kuksu, a red-beaked supernatural healer who lives in a sweat-lodge at the southern end of the world.
The Iroquois Nations, especially the Seneca, follow the teachings of Handsome Lake, a Seneca recovering alcoholic who saw what has happening to his people after they had been consigned to reservations and preached an updated version of The Great Law of Peace in which he outlawed drunkenness, witchcraft, sexual promiscuity, wife-beating and quarreling, all by-products of excessive drinking. Some Siouan-speakers may not believe in a Great Spirit, per se, but they believe in "Wakan Tanka," which is the divine essence in every living and inanimate thing. The famous Kachina dolls of the tribes in the Southwest are said to represent powerful male and female spiritual beings who brought forth rain and provided other blessings, but then humans took them for granted, so the Kachina left, and the Kachina costumes worn by the male dancers allow the dancers to become one with the Kachina whom they are representing. And several indigenous religions predict the end of White Man's domination of this continent and a return to Native Americans ways.
White Man's Religions:
Only 4% of the Native Americans identify themselves as Christian, which is understandable, in light of the historically brutal, imperialist, and racist efforts to convert them, not that anyone has tried those methods in several years. These White Man's Religions include the Roman Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, the Baptist Church, the Episcopal Church, the many Pentecostal churches, and the Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons.)
Unfortunately, it wasn't that long ago that Native American children were separated from their mothers and their fathers and forced to live in church-run boarding school in order to educate them, assimilate them into white society, and leech away their senses of tribal identity. Many of these boarding schools are still in operation today, but hopefully, with courses that recognize their tribal heritage.
The Makah - The Whale Hunters
Tribe: The Makah, also spelled "Mukkaw." They call themselves the "Kwih-dich-chuh-ahtx."
Meaning of Name: "Kwih-dich-chuh-ahtx" means "People who live by the rocks and seagulls." The name "Makah" is a mispronunciation of a Salish word meaning, "generous with food." Nonetheless, the Salish were not wrong. The Makah were and probably still are very generous with food.
Location: They own their own reservation on Neah Bay in coastal Washington State. They have been at that location for at least 3,800 years and possibly as long as 9,600 years. There is some indication that they may be related to the Jomon and Ainu people of Japan, the early Polynesians, and therefore to the Valdivians of Ecuador and the Chumash and Kumeyaay of Southern California.
Original Language: Makah, a Nootkan dialect of the Wakashan language family. It is now extinct as a first language, but survives as a second language.
Tribal Affiliations: The Klallam (or Clallam) and the Quileute who live on the same peninsula.
Traditional Enemies: Malak families sometimes fought against other Malak families, especially when it came to fishing rights and family quarrels, but they got along well with their neighbors.
Traditional Style of Housing: The Makah lived during the winter months in villages on the islands of Waadah, Tatoosh, Ozette, Cannon Ball, Bodeltas, and on the island on Lake Ozette. These villages were comprised of multi-generational gabled longhouses that were made of cedar planks which could be removed to let in more light. These longhouses were divided into living quarters for each family, rather like duplexes, triplexes and four-plexes, with mats that hung from the ceiling to set apart the sections. The longhouses could be up to one hundred feet long and often had a totem pole out front in order to advertise the family's importance and history. During the warmer months, the Makah lived in camps in Achawat, Kiddekub and Tatoosh, so that they could be close to the Spring halibut and the Summer salmon, not to mention all of the berries, nuts, seeds and greens that could be gathered during the growing season. (See Traditional Foods.) The Makah also had sweat houses, but I don't know if they were sweat-lodges, per se. They probably also had longhouses that served as town halls, and smokehouses for smoking meats and fish, and menstrual lodges.
Tradition Attire: Because the weather in coastal Washington State was very mild due to the Japanese current, the Malak were not burdened with clothing through most of the year. The women wore skirts made of pounded and softened fibrous cedar bark lined with otter fur, or skirts made out of tule, went barefoot, and wore tunics, fur capes or cloaks, moccasins when it got cold. They wore their hair in one or two long braids, and wore basket-style woven hats. The men either went naked or wore breechcloths. During cold weather, they wore fur-lined cedar-bark tunics, moccasins and their hair coiled into a bun. Some of them wore beards and mustaches (which is unusual for Native Americans) and some of them wore headbands across their foreheads or basket-style woven hats.
Traditional Foods: The men hunted seals, grey whales, right whales, blue whales, fin whales, sperm whales, humpback whales, porpoises, sea otters, beavers and river otters. Seal blubber was used as a condiment, like mayonnaise, ketchup or butter. The Makah men also fished, speared or netted salmon, halibut, lingcod, rockfish, greenling, sea bass, Pacific whiting, anchovies, eels, flounders, herring, Pollock, ray, sand dabs, sea perch, smelt, shark, sculpin, cod, rockfish, steelhead, turtles, candlefish (so called because once dried and wick-ed, it could be used as a candle), whitefish, sole, and octopus. They ate sea snails, the meat from barnacles, King crab, Dungeness crab, other kinds of crab, mussels, scallops, shrimp, geoduck clams, razor clams, other kinds of clams, and oysters. They hunted quail, pheasant, turkeys, geese, bears, deer, elk, moose if necessary, ducks, loons, grebes, pelicans, puffins, swans, hares, rabbits, and other small game when times were lean.
The women, on the other hand, prepared and cooked the meat, fish, sea mammals or shellfish or preserved it by smoking or drying it. Because the land was not conducive to farming and there was so much food around anyway, the women didn't have to rely on gardens to feed their families. Instead, they gathered chokecherries, currants, elderberries, huckleberries, salal berries, gooseberries, wild grapes, Indian plums, raspberries, strawberries, salmonberries, wild blackberries, blueberries, cranberries, camas root, wild carrots, wild onions, dandelion greens, ferns, goosefoot for quinoa, hazelnuts, acorns, miner's lettuce, seaweed, watercress and nettle leaves. The Makah people didn't take more from the land or the sea than they could use or easily trade, and they ate only two big meals a day.
Position of Women: The Chief, or "Head Man" was always a rich man, but the family leaders could be either male or female. Descent was reckoned through the mother's line. The women did the food gathering, the cooking, the meat-smoking, the food-preserving which included making dried cakes out of pulverized berries, the pottery-making, the basket-weaving, pounded the cedar bark into soft fibers and made the clothing, netting and ropes, did the housework, did the childcare, took care of the old people, did the decorating, probably made the wooden platters, and did not seem to have participated much in tribal politics.
Makah Courtship: I could not find anything specific to the Makah people in terms of traditional forms of courtship, other than their preference for musically-complex courtship songs, and the enjoyment of the boy-and-girl Swan Dance and the all-girl Snipe Dance. It is, however, probable that young Makah men had to pay a substantial bride-price demanded by the potential bride's father before he would give up his daughter and her services to the family. It is also very unlikely that Makah girls fell for moonstruck werewolves or glimmering vampires. (The Makah were featured prominently in the "Twilight" books and movies.)
Interesting Tidbits:
The Makah are permitted to kill one baleen whale per year under very specific conditions. They are the only tribe with whaling rights in the United States. The harpoonist gets the saddle-cut, which is the choicest part, and the tribe divides the rest of the carcass according to designated areas, each family getting the same section every year. Every bit of the whale is utilized, prayers are offered for its spirit, and afterwards, there is a huge tribal party and potlatch. Even dead whales that wash up on shore are prayed for and processed for whale oil and bones, since the meat has usually already gone bad....
They used different sizes and types of painted cedar-wood dugout canoes, some with sails, for fishing, whaling, sealing, cargo and war. The larger canoes could hold up to sixty people, and could go twenty miles out to sea where the big whales were. Inflated seal carcasses were hooked up to the dead whale so that it would stay afloat while it was being towed to shore....
Sea otter fur was a valuable trading commodity, and was used to line their clothes. Whale oil was also a valuable trading commodity, and the bones of whales could be used to make a variety of items that were used on a daily basis....
Potlatches were big parties to celebrate different occasions, to boast about accomplishments, to relate oral history, to tell stories, to dance, to sing, to eat a lot of food, to redistribute wealth, and to acquire social status, because the host's social currency went up the more stuff he gave away or destroyed....
White people tried to get the Makah to assimilate by outlawing the Makah language, dances, ceremonies and potlatches and forcing them to move out of their multi-generational longhouses and into single-family dwellings, which did much to destroy the social fabric of the tribe....
The ancient Makah used to play Ping-Pong or table tennis with large paddles, and they took or take daily baths, which, again, made them different than the white people who rarely bathed at all....
While the Makah did not seem to have clans, the crow, the heron, the eagle, the kingfisher, the mink, the raven and the seal seemed to have a special place in their religious story-telling. They are often used in their wooden tribal masks and colorful totem poles....
The entire village of Biheda had to be abandoned because too many people died of smallpox and measles, diseases that did much to wipe out the Makah....
Traditional Religion: The Makah believed in guardian spirits, animals or people who had given special abilities to the living. On the other hand, when a homeowner died, his or her longhouse was either burned to the ground or sold to another family, for fear that his or her ghost would linger on the premises.
Slavery and the Makah: Those who had lost their fortune through bad habits or bad luck, or those who had been captured in war, were sometimes used as slaves to serve in the richer households where they could be made to do the smellier, more disgusting or more tedious jobs.
Current Population: There are over 1200 registered members of the Makah tribe, most of whom live on the reservation.
Current Sources of Tribal Revenue: Fishing, tourism, small businesses, a museum, native arts and crafts, a fish hatchery, several resorts, a marina and sports-fishing, but the poverty-rate of the Makah is still at 51%.
Famous Makah: None.
Meaning of Name: "Kwih-dich-chuh-ahtx" means "People who live by the rocks and seagulls." The name "Makah" is a mispronunciation of a Salish word meaning, "generous with food." Nonetheless, the Salish were not wrong. The Makah were and probably still are very generous with food.
Location: They own their own reservation on Neah Bay in coastal Washington State. They have been at that location for at least 3,800 years and possibly as long as 9,600 years. There is some indication that they may be related to the Jomon and Ainu people of Japan, the early Polynesians, and therefore to the Valdivians of Ecuador and the Chumash and Kumeyaay of Southern California.
Original Language: Makah, a Nootkan dialect of the Wakashan language family. It is now extinct as a first language, but survives as a second language.
Tribal Affiliations: The Klallam (or Clallam) and the Quileute who live on the same peninsula.
Traditional Enemies: Malak families sometimes fought against other Malak families, especially when it came to fishing rights and family quarrels, but they got along well with their neighbors.
Traditional Style of Housing: The Makah lived during the winter months in villages on the islands of Waadah, Tatoosh, Ozette, Cannon Ball, Bodeltas, and on the island on Lake Ozette. These villages were comprised of multi-generational gabled longhouses that were made of cedar planks which could be removed to let in more light. These longhouses were divided into living quarters for each family, rather like duplexes, triplexes and four-plexes, with mats that hung from the ceiling to set apart the sections. The longhouses could be up to one hundred feet long and often had a totem pole out front in order to advertise the family's importance and history. During the warmer months, the Makah lived in camps in Achawat, Kiddekub and Tatoosh, so that they could be close to the Spring halibut and the Summer salmon, not to mention all of the berries, nuts, seeds and greens that could be gathered during the growing season. (See Traditional Foods.) The Makah also had sweat houses, but I don't know if they were sweat-lodges, per se. They probably also had longhouses that served as town halls, and smokehouses for smoking meats and fish, and menstrual lodges.
Tradition Attire: Because the weather in coastal Washington State was very mild due to the Japanese current, the Malak were not burdened with clothing through most of the year. The women wore skirts made of pounded and softened fibrous cedar bark lined with otter fur, or skirts made out of tule, went barefoot, and wore tunics, fur capes or cloaks, moccasins when it got cold. They wore their hair in one or two long braids, and wore basket-style woven hats. The men either went naked or wore breechcloths. During cold weather, they wore fur-lined cedar-bark tunics, moccasins and their hair coiled into a bun. Some of them wore beards and mustaches (which is unusual for Native Americans) and some of them wore headbands across their foreheads or basket-style woven hats.
Traditional Foods: The men hunted seals, grey whales, right whales, blue whales, fin whales, sperm whales, humpback whales, porpoises, sea otters, beavers and river otters. Seal blubber was used as a condiment, like mayonnaise, ketchup or butter. The Makah men also fished, speared or netted salmon, halibut, lingcod, rockfish, greenling, sea bass, Pacific whiting, anchovies, eels, flounders, herring, Pollock, ray, sand dabs, sea perch, smelt, shark, sculpin, cod, rockfish, steelhead, turtles, candlefish (so called because once dried and wick-ed, it could be used as a candle), whitefish, sole, and octopus. They ate sea snails, the meat from barnacles, King crab, Dungeness crab, other kinds of crab, mussels, scallops, shrimp, geoduck clams, razor clams, other kinds of clams, and oysters. They hunted quail, pheasant, turkeys, geese, bears, deer, elk, moose if necessary, ducks, loons, grebes, pelicans, puffins, swans, hares, rabbits, and other small game when times were lean.
The women, on the other hand, prepared and cooked the meat, fish, sea mammals or shellfish or preserved it by smoking or drying it. Because the land was not conducive to farming and there was so much food around anyway, the women didn't have to rely on gardens to feed their families. Instead, they gathered chokecherries, currants, elderberries, huckleberries, salal berries, gooseberries, wild grapes, Indian plums, raspberries, strawberries, salmonberries, wild blackberries, blueberries, cranberries, camas root, wild carrots, wild onions, dandelion greens, ferns, goosefoot for quinoa, hazelnuts, acorns, miner's lettuce, seaweed, watercress and nettle leaves. The Makah people didn't take more from the land or the sea than they could use or easily trade, and they ate only two big meals a day.
Position of Women: The Chief, or "Head Man" was always a rich man, but the family leaders could be either male or female. Descent was reckoned through the mother's line. The women did the food gathering, the cooking, the meat-smoking, the food-preserving which included making dried cakes out of pulverized berries, the pottery-making, the basket-weaving, pounded the cedar bark into soft fibers and made the clothing, netting and ropes, did the housework, did the childcare, took care of the old people, did the decorating, probably made the wooden platters, and did not seem to have participated much in tribal politics.
Makah Courtship: I could not find anything specific to the Makah people in terms of traditional forms of courtship, other than their preference for musically-complex courtship songs, and the enjoyment of the boy-and-girl Swan Dance and the all-girl Snipe Dance. It is, however, probable that young Makah men had to pay a substantial bride-price demanded by the potential bride's father before he would give up his daughter and her services to the family. It is also very unlikely that Makah girls fell for moonstruck werewolves or glimmering vampires. (The Makah were featured prominently in the "Twilight" books and movies.)
Interesting Tidbits:
The Makah are permitted to kill one baleen whale per year under very specific conditions. They are the only tribe with whaling rights in the United States. The harpoonist gets the saddle-cut, which is the choicest part, and the tribe divides the rest of the carcass according to designated areas, each family getting the same section every year. Every bit of the whale is utilized, prayers are offered for its spirit, and afterwards, there is a huge tribal party and potlatch. Even dead whales that wash up on shore are prayed for and processed for whale oil and bones, since the meat has usually already gone bad....
They used different sizes and types of painted cedar-wood dugout canoes, some with sails, for fishing, whaling, sealing, cargo and war. The larger canoes could hold up to sixty people, and could go twenty miles out to sea where the big whales were. Inflated seal carcasses were hooked up to the dead whale so that it would stay afloat while it was being towed to shore....
Sea otter fur was a valuable trading commodity, and was used to line their clothes. Whale oil was also a valuable trading commodity, and the bones of whales could be used to make a variety of items that were used on a daily basis....
Potlatches were big parties to celebrate different occasions, to boast about accomplishments, to relate oral history, to tell stories, to dance, to sing, to eat a lot of food, to redistribute wealth, and to acquire social status, because the host's social currency went up the more stuff he gave away or destroyed....
White people tried to get the Makah to assimilate by outlawing the Makah language, dances, ceremonies and potlatches and forcing them to move out of their multi-generational longhouses and into single-family dwellings, which did much to destroy the social fabric of the tribe....
The ancient Makah used to play Ping-Pong or table tennis with large paddles, and they took or take daily baths, which, again, made them different than the white people who rarely bathed at all....
While the Makah did not seem to have clans, the crow, the heron, the eagle, the kingfisher, the mink, the raven and the seal seemed to have a special place in their religious story-telling. They are often used in their wooden tribal masks and colorful totem poles....
The entire village of Biheda had to be abandoned because too many people died of smallpox and measles, diseases that did much to wipe out the Makah....
Traditional Religion: The Makah believed in guardian spirits, animals or people who had given special abilities to the living. On the other hand, when a homeowner died, his or her longhouse was either burned to the ground or sold to another family, for fear that his or her ghost would linger on the premises.
Slavery and the Makah: Those who had lost their fortune through bad habits or bad luck, or those who had been captured in war, were sometimes used as slaves to serve in the richer households where they could be made to do the smellier, more disgusting or more tedious jobs.
Current Population: There are over 1200 registered members of the Makah tribe, most of whom live on the reservation.
Current Sources of Tribal Revenue: Fishing, tourism, small businesses, a museum, native arts and crafts, a fish hatchery, several resorts, a marina and sports-fishing, but the poverty-rate of the Makah is still at 51%.
Famous Makah: None.
Friday, June 19, 2015
The Powhatan of Virginia
Tribe: The Powhatan. They and other Native American tribes have lived in Virginia since 15,000 BC. In the late 1500's AD, a Powhatan Chief named Wahunsenacawh formed a Confederacy (more like an Empire) of more than thirty smaller chiefdoms. The chiefs of these smaller chiefdoms paid an annual tribute in the form of fish and game to Chief Wahunsenacawh as "The Mamanatowick," the Supreme Chief. Now there are only seven or so remnants of the once mighty Powhatan Confederacy: The Pamunkey, the Mattaponi, the Upper Mattaponi, the Chickahominy, the Eastern Chickahominy, the Nansemond, and the Rappahanock, none of whom have federal tribal recognition. The Pamunkey and the Mattaponi, who have state recognition, still live on ancestral land, but now, instead of sending annual tribute of fish and game to the Mamanatowick, they send fish and game as annual tribute to the Governor of Virginia in accordance with treaties written in 1646 and 1677.
Meaning of Name: "Powhatan" means "Waterfall" in Algonquin.
Location: Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The main chiefdom of the Powhatan was called "Tsenacommacah," (think "Camelot,") which was where the Mamanatowick and his family lived, specifically, in a longhouse large enough to need hallways.
Original Language: Powhatan-Algonquin, a dialect of Algonquin.
Tribal Affiliations: At one time, the Powhatan Confederacy included the Powhatan proper, the
Arrohateck, the Appamattuck, the Pamunkey, the Mattaponi, the Chiskiack, the Kecoughtan, the Youghtanund, the Rapahannocks, the Morgaughtecund, the Weyenoak, the Paspahegh, the Quiyoughcohannock, the Warraskoyack, the Nansemond, the Chickahominy, the Accawmacke, and some fourteen others. These tribes joined the Powhatan Confederacy either by choice, by conquest or because they had married into Chief Wahunsenacawh's family. The Wicocomoco were also their allies.
Traditional Enemies: The Iroquois-speakers, specifically the Tuscarora, the Susquehannock, the Cherokee, the Nottoway and the Meherrin. They also fought with the Monacan and the Manahoac, who spoke Siouan, and the British settlers who spoke English.
Traditional Style of Housing: The Powhatan lived in tall windowless longhouses, called "yehakins," of various sizes that were similar in design to those of the Iroquois, but covered in woven mats which could be removed when the weather got too hot and stuffy. The longhouses were made by the men as part of the bride-price, and were given to and owned by the brides. Their villages were of various sizes, some as small as two longhouses, and others as large as one hundred longhouses, and were set on the high ground to guard against flooding, and enclosed in a 10-to-12-foot tall wooden palisade to guard against wild animals and other tribes. Like the Iroquois, they also had farms, orchards, sweat-lodges, smokehouses, storehouses, and probably a menstrual lodge and a longhouse that was used as a town hall.
Traditional Attire: Virginia is very humid through much of the year, so the Powhatan usually went shirtless, and otherwise wore fringed deerskin skirts and moccasins. Both men and women wore earrings and necklaces, and the men wore a headband across their foreheads with one or two feathers in it. The women wore their hair long, or in braids with bangs, or cut all the same length, and the men wore their hair long and in a knot on the left side, and shaved on the right side so that their hair wouldn't get tangled in their bowstrings. In the cold weather, they wore fur-line or turkey-feather-line blankets and mantles, and when they were in the forest, they wore leggings to protect their legs against the forest undergrowth.
Traditional Foods: The Powhatan were a settled, agrarian people who had very large fields outside of their villages. There, the Powhatan women grew their own corn, beans, squash, gourds and pumpkins. They also gathered or grew their own hazelnuts, filberts, black walnuts, acorns, chestnuts, sunflowers, a wild grain called "chechinquarnins," mulberries, paw paws, persimmons, huckleberries, wild grapes, muskmelon, peaches, melons, cucumbers, peas, peanuts, Indian potatoes, goosefoot for quinoa, knotweed (tastes like rhubarb), wild barley and maygrass, a kind of grain. The men hunted, netted, speared or trapped oysters, crab, scallops, clams, flounder, stingray, skate, crayfish, bear, beaver, panther, skunk, wildcats, possums, rabbits, squirrels, deer, turtles, turtle eggs, water-fowl, and turkey. Once the Europeans arrived in the early 1600's, the Powhatan added beef, mutton, lamb, and pork to their diet. The Powhatan also cultivated tobacco and hemp for making cords and ropes, smoked their meats in smokehouses in order to preserve them, and saved the surplus food in separate longhouses for the lean times.
Position of the Women: The Powhatan women were incredibly busy. They were the barbers, the farmers, the gatherers, the food-producers, the meat processors, the mat-weavers, the tanners, the cooks, the home-owners, the midwives, the herbalists, the healers, the wood-gatherers, the water-carriers, the child-raisers, the clothing manufacturers, the basket-weavers, the potters, the rope-makers, and the carvers of wooden spoons, platters, mortars and pestles. Descent was matrilineal, but unlike the Iroquois, they did not seem to have had clans, Clan Mothers or an active voice in Powhatan government, and a Powhatan husband did not need to seek his wife's permission for anything, although it was advisable since divorces were easy to get and he could soon find himself homeless. The common men weren't terribly powerful either, since the Powhatan Chief seemed to have ruled as something of a tyrant, and his word was law. The common men kept themselves busy by hunting, fishing, making dugout canoes, clearing woodland, keeping their hunting and fishing equipment repaired, playing sports and waging war.
Powhatan Courtship:
Powhatan marriages, for commoners, were of two kinds: romantic or contractual. In a romantic marriage, when a young Powhatan man was interested in a young Powhatan woman, he would bring her family a gift of food, probably fish or game. If it was accepted by her and her family, the father of the prospective bride would discuss the bride-price with the suitor. The higher the bride-price, the greater the value of the bride. As part of the bride-price, the young Powhatan man would build his beloved her own longhouse and provide those things that they would need to start their lives together: a mortar and pestle, mats, pots and bedding. These things would be retained by his bride in the case of a divorce. Then, when everything was completed, the bride would be brought to the groom's father's house, and the groom's father or another male relative would join their hands and they were considered married. Adultery was not uncommon, but in an interesting quirk, the wife did need her husband's permission to take a lover.
In the Marriage by Contract, which was like the Half-Marriage of the Klamath, Modoc and the Yurok tribes on the other side of the continent, if the suitor couldn't meet the full price demanded by the bride's father, or provide the house and furnishing, her father allowed his daughter to marry him, anyway, and the groom moved into his in-laws' longhouse. This marriage was renewed on a year-to-year basis. If they stayed together and didn't renew their vows or get a divorce, their marriage was considered still in effect. This probably also gave the groom time to build his wife her house, and for her to get pregnant, since child-bearing was a large part of the reason to get married. And again, adultery was not uncommon, but the wife did need to have her husband's permission to take a lover.
The marriage of the Powhatan Chief, the Mamanatowick, was a little different. He could marry as many women as he wanted, from any village in his domain or from neighboring tribes if he wanted to form an alliance with the other tribe's chief. Chief Wahunsenacawh, Pocahontas' father, was said to have had as many as one hundred wives. The village girl or princess was joined in marriage to the Mamanatowick, lived in his longhouse until she delivered his child, and then the mother and the child were returned to the tribe from hence she had come. For the next few years, she and the baby were fully supported by the Mamanatowick, and then, when the child had come of age, said child was taken back to the Mamanatowick to be raised in his longhouse as his son or daughter. At that time, the Chief and the mother were considered divorced and she was free to marry again. The only requirement was that she could not take any lovers until she and the Chief were formally divorced.
Interesting Tidbits:
The English were not the first Europeans whom the Powhatan had met. Their land was "claimed for Spain" by Spanish explorer Esteban Gomez in 1525. Other Spaniards followed and a few of them managed to kidnap and enslave the young son of a Powhatan chief. Jesuit missionaries established a mission called "Ajacan" in 1570 which was burned to the ground by the Powhatan who were probably tired of their attempts to exploit them, enslave them, and convert them to Catholicism by using techniques advanced during the Spanish Inquisition.
The Powhatan bathed in the rivers in the morning, which was quite unlike the 16th Century Spanish Jesuits or the 17th Century Brits who rarely if ever bathed at all.
The Powhaitan recognized and celebrated five seasons: The Budding Season, the Earing of Corn Season, the Highest Sun Season, the Corn Harvest Season and "Cohonk," which was winter, when migrating geese made their "honking" sounds. They observed a lunar calendar and reckoned time by the sun's position: Rising, Power, and Lowering. This probably made the British a little crazy when it came to making appointments with the Powhatan.
Self-control and respect for other people were of paramount importance to the Powhatan. This led to problems with the British, because when they saw the Powhatan listening quietly to their demands, they took their silence as consent, and in reality, the Powhatan were merely being polite. The Powhatan also tended to retreat after an attack in order for their enemies to come to their senses and surrender or leave the territory, but the British tended to interpret this lull as an opportunity to counter-attack.
By the early 1700's, most of the Powhatan had died of diseases brought from by the British settlers. The population was partially increased by the addition of escaped African slaves and escaped white indentured servants whom the Powhatan welcomed into their tribe, and the end result was considerable mixing of ethnicities. This later resulted in the 'paper genocide" of the Powhatan people, since under the Racial Integrity Law of 1924, people were classified as either "White" or "Colored" (meaning having at least one drop of African blood). This deprived many Powhatan of their tribal heritage and benefits thereof, since they were now considered 100% black. The birth certificates, marriage licenses, census records, and death certificates of the Powhatan and other Native American tribes were destroyed to remove all traces of Native American blood in Virginia. This meant that Native American children who lived in Virginia could not get high school diplomas, and that young Native American adults could not marry whom they wanted until the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Loving vs. Virginia in 1967.
The Powhatan added many words to the American and English vocabulary: Caucus, chipmunk, hominy, moccasin, opossum, pecan, persimmon, Powwow, raccoon and tomahawk, to name a few.
Traditional Religion: Traditional tribal religion and Christianity.
Slavery and the Powhatan: The British, when they arrived in Virginia, followed in the footsteps of the brutal Spanish Jesuits and abused the hospitality that they were offered by the Native Americans. Captain John Smith informed his men to treat the natives badly, to compel them to drudgery, work and slavery, and to take by force that which they wanted. It is no wonder that Chief Wahunsenacawh wanted to have him executed, because after John Smith's life was saved by Pocahontas, the situation between the British and the Powhatan did not improve until she married John Rolfe, and after she died in 1617 and Chief Wahunsenacawh died in 1618, the hostilities resumed and then got worse.
As stated before, because escaped white indentured servants and escaped African slaves were welcomed on Powhatan land, there was considerable intermarriage. Unfortunately, racism was rampant, and an "Indian" was considered an "Indian" only as long as he or she were on the reservation. If they stepped off of it, or if the reservation was sold out from under them and they lost their tribal status, the Powhatan were considered "Colored" and liable to become enslaved and transported to the Deep South. Not surprisingly, the Powhatan fought on the side of the Union, probably in otherwise black companies, during the Civil War.
Current Population: There are currently over 3800 registered Powhatan.
Current Sources of Tribal Revenue: Revenue gained from renting duck blinds and duck hunting on tribal land, museums, tourism, a fish hatchery, and a winery.
Famous Powhatan: Pocahontas, the favorite daughter of Chief Wahunsenacawh, who was the Mamanatowick of the Powhatan. She was actually married to Englishman John Rolfe, not John Smith, Disney movie notwithstanding, but is said to have been instrumental in saving John Smith from execution when she was eleven years-old. Her marriage at age eighteen to tobacco-planter John Rolfe was the first interracial marriage in Virginia, and possibly in the Colonies, and allowed peace to exist between the British and the Powhatan for at least three years. Her father, Chief Wahunsenacawh, gave the happy couple hundreds of acres of land as a wedding present which I believe John Rolfe turned into a tobacco plantation.
Meaning of Name: "Powhatan" means "Waterfall" in Algonquin.
Location: Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The main chiefdom of the Powhatan was called "Tsenacommacah," (think "Camelot,") which was where the Mamanatowick and his family lived, specifically, in a longhouse large enough to need hallways.
Original Language: Powhatan-Algonquin, a dialect of Algonquin.
Tribal Affiliations: At one time, the Powhatan Confederacy included the Powhatan proper, the
Arrohateck, the Appamattuck, the Pamunkey, the Mattaponi, the Chiskiack, the Kecoughtan, the Youghtanund, the Rapahannocks, the Morgaughtecund, the Weyenoak, the Paspahegh, the Quiyoughcohannock, the Warraskoyack, the Nansemond, the Chickahominy, the Accawmacke, and some fourteen others. These tribes joined the Powhatan Confederacy either by choice, by conquest or because they had married into Chief Wahunsenacawh's family. The Wicocomoco were also their allies.
Traditional Enemies: The Iroquois-speakers, specifically the Tuscarora, the Susquehannock, the Cherokee, the Nottoway and the Meherrin. They also fought with the Monacan and the Manahoac, who spoke Siouan, and the British settlers who spoke English.
Traditional Style of Housing: The Powhatan lived in tall windowless longhouses, called "yehakins," of various sizes that were similar in design to those of the Iroquois, but covered in woven mats which could be removed when the weather got too hot and stuffy. The longhouses were made by the men as part of the bride-price, and were given to and owned by the brides. Their villages were of various sizes, some as small as two longhouses, and others as large as one hundred longhouses, and were set on the high ground to guard against flooding, and enclosed in a 10-to-12-foot tall wooden palisade to guard against wild animals and other tribes. Like the Iroquois, they also had farms, orchards, sweat-lodges, smokehouses, storehouses, and probably a menstrual lodge and a longhouse that was used as a town hall.
Traditional Attire: Virginia is very humid through much of the year, so the Powhatan usually went shirtless, and otherwise wore fringed deerskin skirts and moccasins. Both men and women wore earrings and necklaces, and the men wore a headband across their foreheads with one or two feathers in it. The women wore their hair long, or in braids with bangs, or cut all the same length, and the men wore their hair long and in a knot on the left side, and shaved on the right side so that their hair wouldn't get tangled in their bowstrings. In the cold weather, they wore fur-line or turkey-feather-line blankets and mantles, and when they were in the forest, they wore leggings to protect their legs against the forest undergrowth.
Traditional Foods: The Powhatan were a settled, agrarian people who had very large fields outside of their villages. There, the Powhatan women grew their own corn, beans, squash, gourds and pumpkins. They also gathered or grew their own hazelnuts, filberts, black walnuts, acorns, chestnuts, sunflowers, a wild grain called "chechinquarnins," mulberries, paw paws, persimmons, huckleberries, wild grapes, muskmelon, peaches, melons, cucumbers, peas, peanuts, Indian potatoes, goosefoot for quinoa, knotweed (tastes like rhubarb), wild barley and maygrass, a kind of grain. The men hunted, netted, speared or trapped oysters, crab, scallops, clams, flounder, stingray, skate, crayfish, bear, beaver, panther, skunk, wildcats, possums, rabbits, squirrels, deer, turtles, turtle eggs, water-fowl, and turkey. Once the Europeans arrived in the early 1600's, the Powhatan added beef, mutton, lamb, and pork to their diet. The Powhatan also cultivated tobacco and hemp for making cords and ropes, smoked their meats in smokehouses in order to preserve them, and saved the surplus food in separate longhouses for the lean times.
Position of the Women: The Powhatan women were incredibly busy. They were the barbers, the farmers, the gatherers, the food-producers, the meat processors, the mat-weavers, the tanners, the cooks, the home-owners, the midwives, the herbalists, the healers, the wood-gatherers, the water-carriers, the child-raisers, the clothing manufacturers, the basket-weavers, the potters, the rope-makers, and the carvers of wooden spoons, platters, mortars and pestles. Descent was matrilineal, but unlike the Iroquois, they did not seem to have had clans, Clan Mothers or an active voice in Powhatan government, and a Powhatan husband did not need to seek his wife's permission for anything, although it was advisable since divorces were easy to get and he could soon find himself homeless. The common men weren't terribly powerful either, since the Powhatan Chief seemed to have ruled as something of a tyrant, and his word was law. The common men kept themselves busy by hunting, fishing, making dugout canoes, clearing woodland, keeping their hunting and fishing equipment repaired, playing sports and waging war.
Powhatan Courtship:
Powhatan marriages, for commoners, were of two kinds: romantic or contractual. In a romantic marriage, when a young Powhatan man was interested in a young Powhatan woman, he would bring her family a gift of food, probably fish or game. If it was accepted by her and her family, the father of the prospective bride would discuss the bride-price with the suitor. The higher the bride-price, the greater the value of the bride. As part of the bride-price, the young Powhatan man would build his beloved her own longhouse and provide those things that they would need to start their lives together: a mortar and pestle, mats, pots and bedding. These things would be retained by his bride in the case of a divorce. Then, when everything was completed, the bride would be brought to the groom's father's house, and the groom's father or another male relative would join their hands and they were considered married. Adultery was not uncommon, but in an interesting quirk, the wife did need her husband's permission to take a lover.
In the Marriage by Contract, which was like the Half-Marriage of the Klamath, Modoc and the Yurok tribes on the other side of the continent, if the suitor couldn't meet the full price demanded by the bride's father, or provide the house and furnishing, her father allowed his daughter to marry him, anyway, and the groom moved into his in-laws' longhouse. This marriage was renewed on a year-to-year basis. If they stayed together and didn't renew their vows or get a divorce, their marriage was considered still in effect. This probably also gave the groom time to build his wife her house, and for her to get pregnant, since child-bearing was a large part of the reason to get married. And again, adultery was not uncommon, but the wife did need to have her husband's permission to take a lover.
The marriage of the Powhatan Chief, the Mamanatowick, was a little different. He could marry as many women as he wanted, from any village in his domain or from neighboring tribes if he wanted to form an alliance with the other tribe's chief. Chief Wahunsenacawh, Pocahontas' father, was said to have had as many as one hundred wives. The village girl or princess was joined in marriage to the Mamanatowick, lived in his longhouse until she delivered his child, and then the mother and the child were returned to the tribe from hence she had come. For the next few years, she and the baby were fully supported by the Mamanatowick, and then, when the child had come of age, said child was taken back to the Mamanatowick to be raised in his longhouse as his son or daughter. At that time, the Chief and the mother were considered divorced and she was free to marry again. The only requirement was that she could not take any lovers until she and the Chief were formally divorced.
Interesting Tidbits:
The English were not the first Europeans whom the Powhatan had met. Their land was "claimed for Spain" by Spanish explorer Esteban Gomez in 1525. Other Spaniards followed and a few of them managed to kidnap and enslave the young son of a Powhatan chief. Jesuit missionaries established a mission called "Ajacan" in 1570 which was burned to the ground by the Powhatan who were probably tired of their attempts to exploit them, enslave them, and convert them to Catholicism by using techniques advanced during the Spanish Inquisition.
The Powhatan bathed in the rivers in the morning, which was quite unlike the 16th Century Spanish Jesuits or the 17th Century Brits who rarely if ever bathed at all.
The Powhaitan recognized and celebrated five seasons: The Budding Season, the Earing of Corn Season, the Highest Sun Season, the Corn Harvest Season and "Cohonk," which was winter, when migrating geese made their "honking" sounds. They observed a lunar calendar and reckoned time by the sun's position: Rising, Power, and Lowering. This probably made the British a little crazy when it came to making appointments with the Powhatan.
Self-control and respect for other people were of paramount importance to the Powhatan. This led to problems with the British, because when they saw the Powhatan listening quietly to their demands, they took their silence as consent, and in reality, the Powhatan were merely being polite. The Powhatan also tended to retreat after an attack in order for their enemies to come to their senses and surrender or leave the territory, but the British tended to interpret this lull as an opportunity to counter-attack.
By the early 1700's, most of the Powhatan had died of diseases brought from by the British settlers. The population was partially increased by the addition of escaped African slaves and escaped white indentured servants whom the Powhatan welcomed into their tribe, and the end result was considerable mixing of ethnicities. This later resulted in the 'paper genocide" of the Powhatan people, since under the Racial Integrity Law of 1924, people were classified as either "White" or "Colored" (meaning having at least one drop of African blood). This deprived many Powhatan of their tribal heritage and benefits thereof, since they were now considered 100% black. The birth certificates, marriage licenses, census records, and death certificates of the Powhatan and other Native American tribes were destroyed to remove all traces of Native American blood in Virginia. This meant that Native American children who lived in Virginia could not get high school diplomas, and that young Native American adults could not marry whom they wanted until the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Loving vs. Virginia in 1967.
The Powhatan added many words to the American and English vocabulary: Caucus, chipmunk, hominy, moccasin, opossum, pecan, persimmon, Powwow, raccoon and tomahawk, to name a few.
Traditional Religion: Traditional tribal religion and Christianity.
Slavery and the Powhatan: The British, when they arrived in Virginia, followed in the footsteps of the brutal Spanish Jesuits and abused the hospitality that they were offered by the Native Americans. Captain John Smith informed his men to treat the natives badly, to compel them to drudgery, work and slavery, and to take by force that which they wanted. It is no wonder that Chief Wahunsenacawh wanted to have him executed, because after John Smith's life was saved by Pocahontas, the situation between the British and the Powhatan did not improve until she married John Rolfe, and after she died in 1617 and Chief Wahunsenacawh died in 1618, the hostilities resumed and then got worse.
As stated before, because escaped white indentured servants and escaped African slaves were welcomed on Powhatan land, there was considerable intermarriage. Unfortunately, racism was rampant, and an "Indian" was considered an "Indian" only as long as he or she were on the reservation. If they stepped off of it, or if the reservation was sold out from under them and they lost their tribal status, the Powhatan were considered "Colored" and liable to become enslaved and transported to the Deep South. Not surprisingly, the Powhatan fought on the side of the Union, probably in otherwise black companies, during the Civil War.
Current Population: There are currently over 3800 registered Powhatan.
Current Sources of Tribal Revenue: Revenue gained from renting duck blinds and duck hunting on tribal land, museums, tourism, a fish hatchery, and a winery.
Famous Powhatan: Pocahontas, the favorite daughter of Chief Wahunsenacawh, who was the Mamanatowick of the Powhatan. She was actually married to Englishman John Rolfe, not John Smith, Disney movie notwithstanding, but is said to have been instrumental in saving John Smith from execution when she was eleven years-old. Her marriage at age eighteen to tobacco-planter John Rolfe was the first interracial marriage in Virginia, and possibly in the Colonies, and allowed peace to exist between the British and the Powhatan for at least three years. Her father, Chief Wahunsenacawh, gave the happy couple hundreds of acres of land as a wedding present which I believe John Rolfe turned into a tobacco plantation.
Monday, June 15, 2015
The Sauk and Fox of the Upper Midwest
Tribe: The Sauk and Fox, also called the "Sac and Fox" and the "Sauk/Fox." There are three federally-recognized tribes: The Sakiwaki (the Sac and Fox Nation), the Meskwaki (the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa) and the Nemahahaki (the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska.)
Meaning of Names: The Sauk call themselves the "Osa'kiwug" which means "People of the Outlet," or "Sak," "Sac" or "Sauk" for short. They consider themselves the "People of the Yellow Earth." The Fox call themselves the "Muskwakiwug," which means "Red Earth People." The Fox were called "Outagamie" by their enemies, the Chippewa (Ojibwe), who were allies of the French. The Chippewa had told the French that the clan of the Muskwaskiwug that they were pointing to, the Fox Clan, was called the "Fox" and the French thought that they were talking about the entire tribe, so they called the Muskwaskiwug the "Renards," which is "Fox" in French. Apparently, the Chippewa didn't bother to correct them, so the name "Fox" stuck.
Location: The Fox tribe lived in the Michigan and Wisconsin side of the Great Lakes area for several thousand years as part of the Eastern Woodland/Algonquin culture. In the 1700's, over a period of several wars and several years, they were forced out by the French and their allies (see "Traditional Enemies), and took sanctuary with their neighborly allies, the Sauk, many of whom lived in the city of Saukenuk in Illinois. After that, both the Sauk and the Fox were shuffled around by white men to live in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas and finally, Oklahoma. Most of the Sauk/Fox people now live in Oklahoma, but some live in Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and Canada. Those who had entered Canada following the French/Fox wars, had done so as slaves of the French colonists.
Original Language: Meskwaki-Sauk, a dialect of the Algonquin family tree.
Tribal Affiliations: The Sac and Fox people have been allies since the Sauk offered them sanctuary. Their other allies included or include the Mascoutens, the Kickapoo, the Winnebago and the British, who didn't like the French, either.
Traditional Enemies: The French, the Iroquois, the Ottawa, the Neutrals, the Miamis, the Sioux, the Ojibwe, the Huron, the Potawatomi, the Iowas, the Assiniboine and the Cree.
Traditional Style of Housing: Traditionally, the Sauk and Fox had a summer home, which was near the wives' parents and grandparents, and a winter home, which was near the husbands' parents and family. Their large dome-shaped buffalo-skin-covered wigwams, which were made and owned by the wives, were used as temporary housing during the winter, and their rectangular bark-covered lodges, which were also made and owned by the wives, and were in villages near their fields, were used in spring, summer and fall as their permanent homes. These homes and their contents were passed down to the oldest daughters when their mothers died. Within the villages were even larger lodges that were big enough for five fire-pits or hearths. These were probably used for meeting places and as tribal town halls. The Sauk and Fox also probably had sweat-lodges, menstrual huts, fields for crops and sports, and smokehouses in their villages.
Traditional Attire: The Sac and Fox seemed to have picked up whatever style of native clothing was adopted by the other tribes. The women historically wore wraparound skirts, and then long cotton dresses. The men went shirtless, and wore breechcloths, leggings, moccasins, beaded collars or yokes, face paint, and animal hides draped across their chests. They either shaved their heads into a Mohawk, or wore porky roaches, or wrap-around hats of otter-fur with feathers.
Traditional Foods: Once the Sauk and Fox moved out of the Great Lakes area and set up their villages and farms in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, the women grew corn, beans and squash, including pumpkins. They also gathered or grew whatever grew naturally in the area: Indian potatoes, sunflowers, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, elderberries, pecans, hickory nuts, paw paws, persimmons, crabapples, plums, wild grains, and wild roses. The men hunted or trapped geese, ducks, turkeys, pheasants, grouse, quail, loons, pelicans, brants, snipes, rails, woodcocks, partridges, gulls, teals, doves, pigeons, armadillos, otters, beaver, possums, bears, skunks, rabbits, elk, squirrels, groundhogs, deer and occasionally buffalo. They fished for or speared lampreys, pickerel, sturgeon, gar, eels, shad, paddlefish, shiners, chubs, suckers, buffalo-fish, catfish, trout, perch, sculpin, bass, sunfish, crappie and walleye. As always, they took what they needed from the land and left the rest unharmed, and shared with all members of the community. Even today, the Sauk and Fox have a generous food distribution program. They also grew tobacco.
Position of Women: Neither the Sauk and the Fox were completely patriarchal nor completely matriarchal. The women did the farming, made the clothes, did the childcare, did the cooking, built the homes, tanned the hides, and did the majority of the work. On the other hand, they owned their homes which they passed onto their oldest daughters when they died, and they insured the smooth running of life in the tribe. Meanwhile, the men hunted, fished, and defended their homes and villages. It is probable that traditionally, only the men could be chiefs and that lineage was reckoned through the father's line, which seems to be more in keeping with the Algonquin ways, but nowadays, women can be chiefs, too. Two-Spirit tribes-members were accepted, valued and celebrated in ceremonial dances.
Sauk and Fox Courtship: Although I could not find anything specifically on the Sauk and Fox courtship traditions, I did find out that the men, like other Woodland cultures, played flutes in order to court the woman of their dreams. There were specific love-songs and melodies that were employed by the young men who played said cedar, sumac, pine or cottonwood flutes, some with fancy feathers, beads and inlaid work, and some as long as four feet in length. The men played their flutes while outside of their beloved's mother's house just out of sight. (It is also possible that he communicated his unseen love for her by whistling his love-songs, instead, especially if he were not a skilled flutist.) If she was impressed by his flute-playing or whistling, and went outside to seek him out, there she could find him, sitting with his legs crossed on his courting blanket. If they followed the traditions of similar tribes, she would sneak him into her parents' lodge to spend the night and if her parents found them in the morning, they were considered married, whereupon the groom would live with and labor for his in-laws until his first child was born. During this period, his new wife would build her house, and once it was completed, it was hers but she shared it with her husband and their children.
Interesting Tidbits: Both the Sac and the Fox used to have two chiefs: the peace chief and the war chief. The peace chief inherited his position from his father, and the war chief was elected to the position. The peace chief was probably a remnant of the old matriarchal system of Clan Mothers.... The Sauk and Fox each have four clans: The Bear Clan, the Sturgeon Clan, the Thunder Clan and the Wolf Clan.... Because the U.S. Government deemed them fully assimilated, the Sauk and Fox were set for termination (meaning, losing their reservation, tribal lands, scholarships, medical care, and sense of identity as members of the Sauk and Fox tribes) in 1953, but with a concerted effort, got a reprieve.... The term "Red-Earth People" comes from the Meskwaki creation story that the Creator made the first man out of red earth or clay....
Traditional Religion: Native American Church, Christianity, Drum Dance, traditional tribal religion.
Slavery and the Sauk and Fox: Over one thousand men, women and children of the Sauk and Fox tribes were captured by the allies of the French during the two Fox Wars in the 1700's and were sold into slavery to the French colonists. As slaves, they were bartered in trade for goods and credit by their Native American captors, and then used by the French-Canadian colonists and administrators for unpaid, unskilled labor, domestic servants and as field hands. The Shawnee also participated in the slave trade, as did other Native American tribes. From the early 1700's to the 1800's, slaves living in Canada were forcibly converted to Catholicism and called "servants," and there were twice as many Native American (including Fox) slaves in Canada as there were black slaves. However, unlike chattel slavery in the American South, the marriages between slaves in Canada were legally recognized, families were not separated, and slaves could learn how to read and write. Gradually, slavery declined as a wide-spread institution, and after it was outlawed in Canada in 1834, one could be still a slave for life, but no new slaves could be imported from the United States or other countries and the children of slaves had to be granted their freedom as soon as they reached age 25. On the other hand, slavery has extended beyond abolition in Canada, is still ongoing, and is now called "Human trafficking" which is a much fuzzier and less incendiary term.
Current Population: There are over 3800 registered members of the Sauk and Fox nations in the United States.
Current Sources of Tribal Income: Casinos, golf courses, RV parks, truck stops, restaurants, tribal museum, hotels and smoke shops.
Famous Sauk and Fox: Jim Thorpe, the All-American Athlete; Saginaw Grant, actor; Black Hawk, Sauk and Fox leader.
Meaning of Names: The Sauk call themselves the "Osa'kiwug" which means "People of the Outlet," or "Sak," "Sac" or "Sauk" for short. They consider themselves the "People of the Yellow Earth." The Fox call themselves the "Muskwakiwug," which means "Red Earth People." The Fox were called "Outagamie" by their enemies, the Chippewa (Ojibwe), who were allies of the French. The Chippewa had told the French that the clan of the Muskwaskiwug that they were pointing to, the Fox Clan, was called the "Fox" and the French thought that they were talking about the entire tribe, so they called the Muskwaskiwug the "Renards," which is "Fox" in French. Apparently, the Chippewa didn't bother to correct them, so the name "Fox" stuck.
Location: The Fox tribe lived in the Michigan and Wisconsin side of the Great Lakes area for several thousand years as part of the Eastern Woodland/Algonquin culture. In the 1700's, over a period of several wars and several years, they were forced out by the French and their allies (see "Traditional Enemies), and took sanctuary with their neighborly allies, the Sauk, many of whom lived in the city of Saukenuk in Illinois. After that, both the Sauk and the Fox were shuffled around by white men to live in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas and finally, Oklahoma. Most of the Sauk/Fox people now live in Oklahoma, but some live in Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and Canada. Those who had entered Canada following the French/Fox wars, had done so as slaves of the French colonists.
Original Language: Meskwaki-Sauk, a dialect of the Algonquin family tree.
Tribal Affiliations: The Sac and Fox people have been allies since the Sauk offered them sanctuary. Their other allies included or include the Mascoutens, the Kickapoo, the Winnebago and the British, who didn't like the French, either.
Traditional Enemies: The French, the Iroquois, the Ottawa, the Neutrals, the Miamis, the Sioux, the Ojibwe, the Huron, the Potawatomi, the Iowas, the Assiniboine and the Cree.
Traditional Style of Housing: Traditionally, the Sauk and Fox had a summer home, which was near the wives' parents and grandparents, and a winter home, which was near the husbands' parents and family. Their large dome-shaped buffalo-skin-covered wigwams, which were made and owned by the wives, were used as temporary housing during the winter, and their rectangular bark-covered lodges, which were also made and owned by the wives, and were in villages near their fields, were used in spring, summer and fall as their permanent homes. These homes and their contents were passed down to the oldest daughters when their mothers died. Within the villages were even larger lodges that were big enough for five fire-pits or hearths. These were probably used for meeting places and as tribal town halls. The Sauk and Fox also probably had sweat-lodges, menstrual huts, fields for crops and sports, and smokehouses in their villages.
Traditional Attire: The Sac and Fox seemed to have picked up whatever style of native clothing was adopted by the other tribes. The women historically wore wraparound skirts, and then long cotton dresses. The men went shirtless, and wore breechcloths, leggings, moccasins, beaded collars or yokes, face paint, and animal hides draped across their chests. They either shaved their heads into a Mohawk, or wore porky roaches, or wrap-around hats of otter-fur with feathers.
Traditional Foods: Once the Sauk and Fox moved out of the Great Lakes area and set up their villages and farms in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, the women grew corn, beans and squash, including pumpkins. They also gathered or grew whatever grew naturally in the area: Indian potatoes, sunflowers, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, elderberries, pecans, hickory nuts, paw paws, persimmons, crabapples, plums, wild grains, and wild roses. The men hunted or trapped geese, ducks, turkeys, pheasants, grouse, quail, loons, pelicans, brants, snipes, rails, woodcocks, partridges, gulls, teals, doves, pigeons, armadillos, otters, beaver, possums, bears, skunks, rabbits, elk, squirrels, groundhogs, deer and occasionally buffalo. They fished for or speared lampreys, pickerel, sturgeon, gar, eels, shad, paddlefish, shiners, chubs, suckers, buffalo-fish, catfish, trout, perch, sculpin, bass, sunfish, crappie and walleye. As always, they took what they needed from the land and left the rest unharmed, and shared with all members of the community. Even today, the Sauk and Fox have a generous food distribution program. They also grew tobacco.
Position of Women: Neither the Sauk and the Fox were completely patriarchal nor completely matriarchal. The women did the farming, made the clothes, did the childcare, did the cooking, built the homes, tanned the hides, and did the majority of the work. On the other hand, they owned their homes which they passed onto their oldest daughters when they died, and they insured the smooth running of life in the tribe. Meanwhile, the men hunted, fished, and defended their homes and villages. It is probable that traditionally, only the men could be chiefs and that lineage was reckoned through the father's line, which seems to be more in keeping with the Algonquin ways, but nowadays, women can be chiefs, too. Two-Spirit tribes-members were accepted, valued and celebrated in ceremonial dances.
Sauk and Fox Courtship: Although I could not find anything specifically on the Sauk and Fox courtship traditions, I did find out that the men, like other Woodland cultures, played flutes in order to court the woman of their dreams. There were specific love-songs and melodies that were employed by the young men who played said cedar, sumac, pine or cottonwood flutes, some with fancy feathers, beads and inlaid work, and some as long as four feet in length. The men played their flutes while outside of their beloved's mother's house just out of sight. (It is also possible that he communicated his unseen love for her by whistling his love-songs, instead, especially if he were not a skilled flutist.) If she was impressed by his flute-playing or whistling, and went outside to seek him out, there she could find him, sitting with his legs crossed on his courting blanket. If they followed the traditions of similar tribes, she would sneak him into her parents' lodge to spend the night and if her parents found them in the morning, they were considered married, whereupon the groom would live with and labor for his in-laws until his first child was born. During this period, his new wife would build her house, and once it was completed, it was hers but she shared it with her husband and their children.
Interesting Tidbits: Both the Sac and the Fox used to have two chiefs: the peace chief and the war chief. The peace chief inherited his position from his father, and the war chief was elected to the position. The peace chief was probably a remnant of the old matriarchal system of Clan Mothers.... The Sauk and Fox each have four clans: The Bear Clan, the Sturgeon Clan, the Thunder Clan and the Wolf Clan.... Because the U.S. Government deemed them fully assimilated, the Sauk and Fox were set for termination (meaning, losing their reservation, tribal lands, scholarships, medical care, and sense of identity as members of the Sauk and Fox tribes) in 1953, but with a concerted effort, got a reprieve.... The term "Red-Earth People" comes from the Meskwaki creation story that the Creator made the first man out of red earth or clay....
Traditional Religion: Native American Church, Christianity, Drum Dance, traditional tribal religion.
Slavery and the Sauk and Fox: Over one thousand men, women and children of the Sauk and Fox tribes were captured by the allies of the French during the two Fox Wars in the 1700's and were sold into slavery to the French colonists. As slaves, they were bartered in trade for goods and credit by their Native American captors, and then used by the French-Canadian colonists and administrators for unpaid, unskilled labor, domestic servants and as field hands. The Shawnee also participated in the slave trade, as did other Native American tribes. From the early 1700's to the 1800's, slaves living in Canada were forcibly converted to Catholicism and called "servants," and there were twice as many Native American (including Fox) slaves in Canada as there were black slaves. However, unlike chattel slavery in the American South, the marriages between slaves in Canada were legally recognized, families were not separated, and slaves could learn how to read and write. Gradually, slavery declined as a wide-spread institution, and after it was outlawed in Canada in 1834, one could be still a slave for life, but no new slaves could be imported from the United States or other countries and the children of slaves had to be granted their freedom as soon as they reached age 25. On the other hand, slavery has extended beyond abolition in Canada, is still ongoing, and is now called "Human trafficking" which is a much fuzzier and less incendiary term.
Current Population: There are over 3800 registered members of the Sauk and Fox nations in the United States.
Current Sources of Tribal Income: Casinos, golf courses, RV parks, truck stops, restaurants, tribal museum, hotels and smoke shops.
Famous Sauk and Fox: Jim Thorpe, the All-American Athlete; Saginaw Grant, actor; Black Hawk, Sauk and Fox leader.
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