American Indian Culture
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MAGILL’S C H O I C E
American Indian Culture Volume 1 A...
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American Indian Culture
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MAGILL’S C H O I C E
American Indian Culture Volume 1 Acorns—Headdresses
Edited by
Carole A. Barrett University of Mary
Harvey J. Markowitz Washington and Lee University
Salem Press, Inc. Pasadena, California
Hackensack, New Jersey
Copyright © 2004, by Salem Press, Inc. All rights in this book are reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address the publisher, Salem Press, Inc., P.O. Box 50062, Pasadena, California 91115. ∞ The paper used in these volumes conforms to the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, Z39.481992 (R1997) Most of the essays appearing within are drawn from Ready Reference: American Indians (1995), Great Events from History: Revised North American Series (1997), and Racial and Ethnic Relations in America (1999); essays have been updated and new essays have been added.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data American Indian culture / edited by Carole A. Barrett, Harvey J. Markowitz. p. cm. — (Magill’s choice) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-58765-192-0 (set : alk. paper) — ISBN 1-58765-193-9 (vol. 1 : alk. paper) — ISBN 1-58765-194-7 (vol. 2 : alk. paper) — ISBN 1-58765-247-1 (vol. 3 : alk. paper) 1. Indians of North America—Social life and customs. I. Barrett, Carole A. II. Markowitz, Harvey. III. Series. E98.S7A44 2004 970.004′97—dc22 2004001362
First Printing
printed in the united states of america
Contents Publisher’s Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Contributors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii Alphabetical List of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii Acorns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Adobe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Adoption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Agriculture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Alcoholism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 American Indian Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Anasazi Civilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Appliqué and Ribbonwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Architecture: Arctic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Architecture: California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Architecture: Great Basin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Architecture: Northeast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Architecture: Northwest Coast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Architecture: Plains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Architecture: Plateau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Architecture: Southeast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Architecture: Southwest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Architecture: Subarctic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Art and Artists: Contemporary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Arts and Crafts: Arctic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Arts and Crafts: California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Arts and Crafts: Great Basin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Arts and Crafts: Northeast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Arts and Crafts: Northwest Coast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Arts and Crafts: Plains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Arts and Crafts: Plateau. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Arts and Crafts: Southeast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Arts and Crafts: Southwest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Arts and Crafts: Subarctic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 v
Contents
Astronomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Atlatl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Aztec Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Ball Game and Courts . . . . . . . Banner Stones . . . . . . . . . . . . Baskets and Basketry . . . . . . . . Beads and Beadwork. . . . . . . . Beans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Berdache. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Birchbark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Black Drink . . . . . . . . . . . . . Black Hills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bladder Festival . . . . . . . . . . Blankets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Boarding and Residential Schools Boats and Watercraft . . . . . . . . Booger Dance . . . . . . . . . . . . Bows, Arrows, and Quivers . . . . Bragskins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Buffalo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Buffalo Dance . . . . . . . . . . . . Bundles, Sacred . . . . . . . . . . .
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115 117 118 123 127 128 130 132 133 134 136 138 143 147 148 151 152 155 156
Cacique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Calumets and Pipe Bags . . . . . . . Captivity and Captivity Narratives Chantways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chickee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chilkat Blankets . . . . . . . . . . . Clans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cliff Dwellings . . . . . . . . . . . . Clowns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Codices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Corn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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160 160 162 163 167 168 173 174 178 180 182 183
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Contents
Corn Woman . . . . . . . . Cotton . . . . . . . . . . . . Coup Sticks and Counting Culture Areas . . . . . . . .
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189 190 191 192
Dances and Dancing . . . . . . . Death and Mortuary Customs . Deer Dance . . . . . . . . . . . . Demography . . . . . . . . . . . Disease and Intergroup Contact Dogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dream Catchers. . . . . . . . . . Dress and Adornment . . . . . . Drums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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202 210 214 215 225 230 231 233 242
Earthlodge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Education: Post-contact . . . . . . Education: Pre-contact . . . . . . . Effigy Mounds . . . . . . . . . . . Elderly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Employment and Unemployment Ethnophilosophy and Worldview
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243 245 254 258 260 263 270
False Face Ceremony. . . . . . . Feast of the Dead . . . . . . . . . Feasts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feathers and Featherwork. . . . Fire and Firemaking . . . . . . . Fish and Fishing . . . . . . . . . Flutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Food Preparation and Cooking .
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279 280 281 287 289 291 294 295
Gambling . . . . . . . . . . . Games and Contests . . . . . Gender Relations and Roles . Ghost Dance . . . . . . . . .
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298 303 308 319
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vii
Contents
Gifts and Gift Giving. . Gold and Goldworking Gourd Dance . . . . . . Grass Dance . . . . . . . Grass House. . . . . . . Green Corn Dance . . . Grooming . . . . . . . . Guardian Spirits . . . . Guns . . . . . . . . . . .
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323 325 327 328 329 330 332 336 337
Hako . . . . . . . Hamatsa . . . . . Hand Games . . Hand Tremblers Headdresses. . .
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Publisher’s Note American Indian Culture joins three other publications in the Magill’s Choice series of core teaching tools for public, school, and college libraries: American Indian Biographies (1 volume, 1999, to be reissued in an expanded edition in 2005), covering 329 Native North Americans from the sixteenth century to the present day; American Indian Tribes (2 volumes, 2000), with surveys of the ten major culture areas of North America and nearly 300 tribes and nations; and American Indian History (2 volumes, 2003), with 224 essays covering the major events and developments in the history of Native Americans of North America, from the earliest prehistoric traditions through the activism of the present day. The current three volumes add 275 entries to the more than 800 covered in the companion publications. These essays are a mixture of both new and old: 259 are drawn from three previous Salem Press publications: Ready Reference: American Indians (3 volumes, 1995), winner of the American Library Association’s Outstanding Reference Source Award; Great Events from History: Revised North American Series (4 volumes, 1997); and Racial and Ethnic Relations in America (3 volumes, 1999). Updating of the bibliographies of previously published essays was accompanied by the addition of more than 180 new bibliographies as well as new citations to nearly all existing bibliographies. Care was taken to review datedness among the previously published essays, and several of the more timesensitive topics—“Demography,” “Elderly,” “Gambling,” “Land Claims,” and “Pan-Indianism”—were significantly revised and updated. In addition, 16 essays were newly commissioned for this publication. Arranged alphabetically by topic, each of the essays addresses a cultural phenomenon characteristic of the indigenous peoples of North America. Essays range in length from 250 to 3,000 words and cover the range of culture from lifeways, religious rituals, and material culture to art forms and modern social phenomena. Twenty separate essays cover both “Architecture” and “Arts and ix
Publisher’s Note
Crafts” in ten North American culture areas: the Arctic, California, the Great Basin, the Northeast, the Northwest Coast, the Plains, the Plateau, the Southeast, the Southwest, and the Subarctic. In other entries, students will find everything from brief discussions of the importance of acorns or wild rice to a survey of agriculture; from a history of the atlatl to an essay on weapons in general; from entries on particular dance forms, such as the Ghost Dance, the Sun Dance, and the Buffalo Dance, to an overview of dances and dancing. Although the emphasis is on the traditional cultural heritage of North American indigenous peoples, modern social trends are surveyed and analyzed as well: such essays cover alcoholism, the impact of disease (both pre-contact and post-contact), education, family life, gaming, tourism, and urban Indians. It is perhaps as important to mention what will not be found here as what we have included: Key historic events, movements, laws, acts, treaties, organizations, reports, wars, battles, court cases, and other historical overviews are covered in the companion twovolume publication American Indian History; coverage of tribes and nations is addressed in American Indian Tribes; and more than three hundred biographies of historic Native American personages appear in American Indian Biographies. Each essay is arranged in a ready-reference format that calls out the following elements at the top: name of topic by key word; tribe or tribes affected or involved (topics are often, but not always, pantribal); and finally a brief synopsis of the topic’s significance. These reference features are followed by a description and discussion of the topic’s importance in American Indian culture. All essays end with a list of “Sources for Further Study,” which, as stated above, have been expanded and updated to offer the most recent and accessible print resources pertinent to the topic; Web sites are listed in the appendix “Web Resources.” All essays are fully crossreferenced to one another in the “See also” section at the essay’s end, where the name of the contributor also appears. The three volumes are illustrated with more than 135 photographs, drawings, maps, and tables, and several appendixes at the end of volume 3 serve as research tools: x
Publisher’s Note
• • • • • • • • •
Educational Institutions and Programs (expanded) Festivals and Pow-wows (expanded) Glossary Mediagraphy Museums, Archives, and Libraries Organizations, Agencies, and Societies Tribes by Culture Area Bibliography (expanded) Web Resources (expanded)
Subtopics addressed in the text are accessible through three indexes: • Category Index: essays by subject, from “Agriculture and Foodstuffs” through “Weapons and Warfare” • Culture Area Index: essays organized by the ten major North American culture areas as well as “Pantribal” for those of general application • Subject Index: a general and comprehensive index including concepts, forms of material culture, tribes, people, and organizations Finally, the front matter to all three volumes contains the full alphabetized list of contents for ready reference. A few comments must be made on certain editorial decisions. Terms ranging from “American Indian” to “Native American” to “tribe” are accepted by some and disapproved of by others. We have used “American Indian” in the title of this set, as it is today a widely accepted collective name for the first inhabitants of North America and their descendants. We have allowed authors to use either “American Indian” or “Native American” in their articles rather than impose a term editorially, recognizing that individual writers have their own preferences. The inclusion of line drawings, maps, and 90 photographs illustrates the social concepts and material culture presented in the xi
Publisher’s Note
text. Where available historical or rare images were not of the best quality, the editors erred on the side of inclusion. The editors wish to acknowledge the invaluable guidance and assistance of Professors Carole A. Barrett of the University of Mary and Harvey J. Markowitz of Washington and Lee University, both of whom specialize in American Indian studies. They surveyed the table of contents, recommended new entries, and generously wrote many of them. In addition, we wish to thank the contributing writers, whose names appear on the following pages.
xii
Contributors Thomas L. Altherr
Richmond Clow
Metropolitan State College of Denver
University of Montana
T. J. Arant
University of Arkansas
Richard G. Condon
Appalachian State University
Michael Coronel
Mary Pat Balkus
University of Northern Colorado
Radford University
Patricia Coronel
Carl L. Bankston III
Colorado State University
Tulane University
LouAnn Faris Culley
Russell J. Barber
Kansas State University
California State University, San Bernardino
Michael G. Davis Northeast Missouri State University
Carole A. Barrett
Jennifer Davis
University of Mary
University of Dayton
Bette Blaisdell
Ronald J. Duncan
Independent Scholar
Oklahoma Baptist University
Kendall W. Brown
Dorothy Engan-Barker
Brigham Young University
Mankato State University
Gregory R. Campbell
James D. Farmer
University of Montana
Virginia Commonwealth University
Byron D. Cannon
Michael Findlay
University of Utah
California State University, Chico
Thomas P. Carroll
Roberta Fiske-Rusciano
John A. Logan College
Rutgers University
Cheryl Claassen
William B. Folkestad
Appalachian State University
Central Washington University xiii
Contributors
Raymond Frey
Helen Jaskoski
Centenary College
California State University, Fullerton
Lucy Ganje
Joseph C. Jastrzembski
University of North Dakota
University of Texas at El Paso
Lynne Getz
Bruce E. Johansen
Appalachian State University
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Marc Goldstein
Marcella T. Joy
Independent Scholar
Independent Scholar
Nancy M. Gordon
Charles Louis Kammer III
Independent Scholar
The College of Wooster
William H. Green
Nathan R. Kollar
University of Missouri, Columbia
St. John Fisher College
Eric Henderson
Philip E. Lampe
University of Northern Iowa
Incarnate Word College
Donna Hess
Elden Lawrence
South Dakota State University
South Dakota State University
C. L. Higham
Denise Low
Winona State University
Haskell Indian Nations University
Carl W. Hoagstrom
William C. Lowe
Ohio Northern University
Mount St. Clare College
John Hoopes
Kenneth S. McAllister
University of Kansas
University of Illinois at Chicago
Andrew C. Isenberg
Heather McKillop
University of Puget Sound
Louisiana State University
M. A. Jaimes University of Colorado at Boulder
Kimberly Manning
Jennifer Raye James
California State University, Santa Barbara
Independent Scholar xiv
Contributors
Harvey Markowitz
William T. Osborne
Washington and Lee University
Florida International University
Lynn M. Mason
Martha I. Pallante
Lubbock Christian University
Youngstown State University
Patricia Masserman
Zena Pearlstone
Independent Scholar
California State University, Long Beach
Howard Meredith University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma
Victoria Price
Linda J. Meyers
Jon Reyhner
Pasadena City College
Montana State University, Billings
Lamar University
David N. Mielke
Jennifer Rivers
Appalachian State University
Brigham Young University
Laurence Miller Western Washington State University
Moises Roizen
David J. Minderhout
John Alan Ross
Bloomsburg University
Eastern Washington University
Molly H. Mullin
Richard Sax
Duke University
Madonna University
Bert M. Mutersbaugh
Glenn J. Schiffman
Eastern Kentucky University
Independent Scholar
Gary A. Olson
Michael W. Simpson
San Bernardino Valley College
Eastern Washington University
Nancy H. Omaha Boy
Sanford S. Singer
Rutgers University
University of Dayton
Max Orezzoli
Roger Smith
Florida International University
Linfield College
West Valley College
xv
Contributors
Daniel L. Smith-Christopher
Gale M. Thompson
Loyola Marymount University
Saginaw Valley State University
Pamela R. Stern
Leslie V. Tischauser
University of Arkansas
Prairie State College
Ruffin Stirling
Diane C. Van Noord
Independent Scholar
Western Michigan University
Leslie Stricker
Mary E. Virginia
Independent Scholar
Independent Scholar
Harold D. Tallant
Susan J. Wurtzburg
Georgetown College
University of Canterbury
Nicholas C. Thomas
Clifton K. Yearley
Auburn University at Montgomery
State University of New York at Buffalo
xvi
Alphabetical List of Contents Volume 1 Arts and Crafts: Plains . . . . . 90 Arts and Crafts: Plateau . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Arts and Crafts: Southeast . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Arts and Crafts: Southwest. . . . . . . . . . 100 Arts and Crafts: Subarctic . . . . . . . . . . 104 Astronomy . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Atlatl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Aztec Empire. . . . . . . . . . 110
Acorns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Adobe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Adoption . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Alcoholism . . . . . . . . . . . 14 American Indian Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Anasazi Civilization . . . . . . 26 Appliqué and Ribbonwork . . . . . . . . . 31 Architecture: Arctic. . . . . . . 35 Architecture: California . . . . 40 Architecture: Great Basin . . . 43 Architecture: Northeast . . . . 45 Architecture: Northwest Coast . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Architecture: Plains. . . . . . . 53 Architecture: Plateau . . . . . . 56 Architecture: Southeast . . . . 58 Architecture: Southwest . . . . 61 Architecture: Subarctic . . . . . 66 Art and Artists: Contemporary . . . . . . . . 67 Arts and Crafts: Arctic . . . . . 71 Arts and Crafts: California. . . . . . . . . . . 75 Arts and Crafts: Great Basin. . . . . . . . . . 79 Arts and Crafts: Northeast. . . . . . . . . . . 83 Arts and Crafts: Northwest Coast . . . . . . 86
Ball Game and Courts. . . Banner Stones . . . . . . . Baskets and Basketry . . . Beads and Beadwork . . . Beans . . . . . . . . . . . . Berdache . . . . . . . . . . Birchbark . . . . . . . . . . Black Drink . . . . . . . . Black Hills . . . . . . . . . Bladder Festival . . . . . . Blankets . . . . . . . . . . Boarding and Residential Schools . . . . . . . . . Boats and Watercraft . . . Booger Dance . . . . . . . Bows, Arrows, and Quivers . . . . . . . . . Bragskins . . . . . . . . . . Buffalo . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
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115 117 118 123 127 128 130 132 133 134 136
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Alphabetical List of Contents Buffalo Dance . . . . . . . . . 155 Bundles, Sacred . . . . . . . . 156 Cacique . . . . . . . . . . Calumets and Pipe Bags . . . . . . . . . . Captivity and Captivity Narratives . . . . . . Chantways . . . . . . . . Chickee . . . . . . . . . . Children . . . . . . . . . Chilkat Blankets . . . . . Clans . . . . . . . . . . . Cliff Dwellings. . . . . . Clowns . . . . . . . . . . Codices . . . . . . . . . . Corn. . . . . . . . . . . . Corn Woman. . . . . . . Cotton . . . . . . . . . . Coup Sticks and Counting . . . . . . . Culture Areas . . . . . . Dances and Dancing . . Death and Mortuary Customs. . . . . . . . Deer Dance. . . . . . . . Demography . . . . . . . Disease and Intergroup Contact . . . . . . . . Dogs . . . . . . . . . . . Dream Catchers . . . . . Dress and Adornment . Drums . . . . . . . . . .
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225 230 231 233 242
Earthlodge . . . . . . . . . . . 243 Education: Post-contact. . . . 245 Education: Pre-contact . . . . 254
Effigy Mounds . . . . . Elderly . . . . . . . . . Employment and Unemployment . . Ethnophilosophy and Worldview . . . . . False Face Ceremony . Feast of the Dead . . . Feasts . . . . . . . . . . Feathers and Featherwork . . . . Fire and Firemaking. . Fish and Fishing . . . . Flutes . . . . . . . . . . Food Preparation and Cooking . . . . . . .
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287 289 291 294
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Gambling. . . . . . . . . Games and Contests . . Gender Relations and Roles. . . . . . . . . . Ghost Dance . . . . . . . Gifts and Gift Giving . . Gold and Goldworking . Gourd Dance. . . . . . . Grass Dance . . . . . . . Grass House . . . . . . . Green Corn Dance. . . . Grooming . . . . . . . . Guardian Spirits . . . . . Guns . . . . . . . . . . .
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308 319 323 325 327 328 329 330 332 336 337
Hako . . . . . . Hamatsa . . . . Hand Games . . Hand Tremblers Headdresses . .
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339 343 344 346 348
xviii
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Alphabetical List of Contents
Volume 2 Hides and Hidework . . Hogan . . . . . . . . . . Hohokam Culture . . . . Horses . . . . . . . . . . Humor . . . . . . . . . . Hunting and Gathering. Husk Face Society . . . .
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Igloo . . . . . . . . . . . . Incest Taboo . . . . . . . . Indian Police and Judges . Irrigation . . . . . . . . . .
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Maru Cult . . . . . . . . Masks . . . . . . . . . . . Mathematics . . . . . . . Mayan Civilization . . . Medicine and Modes of Curing: Post-contact . Medicine and Modes of Curing: Pre-contact . Medicine Bundles . . . . Medicine Wheels . . . . Menses and Menstruation . . . . . Metalwork . . . . . . . . Midewiwin. . . . . . . . Midwinter Ceremony . . Military Societies . . . . Missions and Missionaries . . . . . Mississippian Culture. . Moccasins . . . . . . . . Mogollon Culture . . . . Money . . . . . . . . . . Morning Star Ceremony Mosaic and Inlay . . . . Mother Earth. . . . . . . Mounds and Mound Builders . . . . . . . . Music and Song . . . . .
353 355 356 362 365 366 369 370 371 372 374
Joking Relations . . . . . . . . 375 Kachinas . . . . . . Kinnikinnick . . . . Kinship and Social Organization . . Kivas . . . . . . . . Knives . . . . . . . Kuksu Rituals and Society. . . . . .
. . . . . . 377 . . . . . . 379 . . . . . . 380 . . . . . . 388 . . . . . . 390 . . . . . . 391
Lacrosse . . . . . . . Lances and Spears. . Land Claims . . . . . Language Families . Lean-To . . . . . . . . Longhouse . . . . . . Longhouse Religion .
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395 396 397 402 412 414 415
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425 427 431 432
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456 457 459 460 462
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463 468 473 474 479 481 482 483
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Names and Naming. . . . . . 496 Native American Church . . . 498 Ohio Mound Builders. . . . . 501 Okeepa . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506 Olmec Civilization . . . . . . 507
Manibozho . . . . . . . . . . . 418 Maple Syrup and Sugar . . . 420 Marriage and Divorce. . . . . 422 xix
Alphabetical List of Contents Oral Literatures . . . . . . . . 512 Oratory . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520 Ornaments . . . . . . . . . . . 523
Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . 614 Rite of Consolation . . . . . . 617 Rites of Passage . . . . . . . . 618
Paints and Painting . . Pan-Indianism . . . . . Parfleche . . . . . . . . Pemmican . . . . . . . Petroglyphs . . . . . . Peyote and Peyote Religion . . . . . . . Pictographs . . . . . . Pipestone Quarries . . Pit House . . . . . . . . Plank House . . . . . . Pochteca . . . . . . . . Political Organization and Leadership. . . Potlatch . . . . . . . . . Pottery . . . . . . . . . Pow-wows and Celebrations . . . . Praying Indians . . . . Projectile Points . . . . Puberty and Initiation Rites . . . . . . . . . Pueblo . . . . . . . . .
Sachem . . . . . . . . . . Sacred, the . . . . . . . . Sacred Narratives . . . . Salmon . . . . . . . . . . Salt . . . . . . . . . . . . Sand Painting . . . . . . Scalps and Scalping . . . Sculpture . . . . . . . . . Secotan . . . . . . . . . . Secret Societies. . . . . . Serpent Mounds . . . . . Shaker Church . . . . . . Shaking Tent Ceremony Shalako . . . . . . . . . . Shells and Shellwork . . Shields . . . . . . . . . . Sign Language . . . . . . Silverworking . . . . . . Slavery . . . . . . . . . . Snake Dance . . . . . . . Social Control . . . . . . Societies: Non-kin-based Spirit Dancing . . . . . . Sports Mascots. . . . . . Squash . . . . . . . . . . Star Quilts . . . . . . . . Stereotypes . . . . . . . . Stomp Dance. . . . . . . Subsistence . . . . . . . . Suicide . . . . . . . . . . Sun Dance . . . . . . . . Sweatlodges and Sweatbaths . . . . . . Syllabaries . . . . . . . .
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524 526 531 532 533
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536 540 544 545 547 549
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Quetzalcóatl . . . . . . . . . . 582 Quillwork . . . . . . . . . . . 583 Ranching . . . . . . . Religion. . . . . . . . Religious Specialists. Relocation . . . . . . Repatriation . . . . . Resource Use: Pre-contact . . . .
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585 586 595 603 608
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xx
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622 623 630 633 635 636 638 641 642 644 645 647 649 651 651 654 658 659 662 666 667 670 678 679 683 684 686 691 692 702 703
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Alphabetical List of Contents
Volume 3 Weapons . . . . . . . . Weaving . . . . . . . . Weirs and Traps . . . . Whales and Whaling . White Buffalo Society . White Deerskin Dance Wickiup. . . . . . . . . Wigwam . . . . . . . . Wild Rice . . . . . . . . Windigo . . . . . . . . Wintercounts . . . . . . Witchcraft and Sorcery Women . . . . . . . . . Women’s Societies. . .
Symbolism in Art . . . . . . . 713 Tanning . . . . . . . . . Tattoos and Tattooing . Technology . . . . . . . Tipi . . . . . . . . . . . Tobacco . . . . . . . . . Tobacco Society and Dance . . . . . . . . Tomahawks . . . . . . Tools . . . . . . . . . . Torture . . . . . . . . . Totem Poles . . . . . . Totems . . . . . . . . . Tourism. . . . . . . . . Toys . . . . . . . . . . . Trade . . . . . . . . . . Transportation Modes Tribal Colleges . . . . . Tribal Councils. . . . . Tribal Courts . . . . . . Tricksters . . . . . . . . Turquoise. . . . . . . . Twins . . . . . . . . . .
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715 715 717 725 727
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728 730 731 737 739 741 743 746 747 751 754 759 761 763 766 768
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791 794 799 801 803 804 805 806 808 810 811 812 814 822
Educational Institutions and Programs . . . . . . . 829 Festivals and Pow-Wows . . . . . . . . . 857 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . 874 Mediagraphy . . . . . . . . . 888 Museums, Archives, and Libraries . . . . . . . . 938 Organizations, Agencies, and Societies . . . . . . . . 976 Tribes by Culture Area . . . . 985 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . 991 Web Resources . . . . . . . . 1019
Visions and Vision Quests . . . . . . . . . . . . 774 . . . . .
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Zapotec Civilization. . . . . . 824
Urban Indians . . . . . . . . . 769
Walam Olum . . . . . Wampum . . . . . . . War Bonnets . . . . . Warfare and Conflict Wattle and Daub. . .
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777 778 781 783 790
Category Index . . . . . . . . 1029 Culture Area Index . . . . . 1037 Subject Index . . . . . . . . . 1043
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American Indian Culture
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Acorns
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Acorns Tribes affected: Tribes in California and the prehistoric Northeast Significance: Acorns provided a starchy food staple for various Indian groups. Acorns, the nuts of oak trees, average 40-50 percent carbohydrates, 3-4 percent protein, and 5-10 percent fat, making them a nutritious foodstuff providing about 168 calories per ounce. This abundant and easily collected nut became the dietary mainstay for various Indian groups, particularly in the Northeast and California. The earliest unequivocal evidence of the dietary use of acorns comes from the Lamoka culture of New York, probably around 3500 b.c.e. Archaeological sites in Massachusetts dating from a millennium later also have produced clear evidence of the eating of large quantities of acorns. By the historic period, however, Northeastern Indians were using acorns only sparingly as food.
Seven Oak Trees Used by California Indians Common Name
Species
Desirability Rating
Tan oak
Lithocarpus densiflora
1.0
Black oak
Quercus kelloggii
1.5
Blue oak
Quercus douglasii
1.5
Valley oak
Quercus lobata
1.9
Coast live oak
Quercus agrifolia
2.0
Oregon oak
Quercus garryana
2.0
Engelmann oak
Quercus engelmannii
2.2
Source: Heizer, Robert F., ed., California. Vol. 8 in Handbook of North American Indians, edited by William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1978. Note: Acorns were of great importance to California Indians even in areas in which not many were available. “Desirability rating” scale created by Martin A. Baumhoff (1963); the lower the number, the more preferable the acorns.
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Adobe
In California, major use of acorns began later, around 1000 b.c.e., but it ultimately was more important, often forming the bulk of the diet. Six species of acorn were gathered, and families commonly obtained enough in one season to last them two years. The acorns typically were stored in baskets or wooden granaries, some as much as 5 feet in diameter and 8 feet high. To reduce infestation by vermin, the base of a granary might be painted with pitch, or fragrant laurel leaves might be included. The acorns were ground as needed, and bitter tannin was leached out by washing the acorn meal repeatedly with hot water. The acorn meal was boiled into gruel or baked into pancake-biscuits on heated rocks. This staple supported many California Indians into the late nineteenth century. Russell J. Barber See also: Hunting and Gathering; Subsistence.
Adobe Tribes affected: Pueblo peoples Significance: Adobe, an energy-efficient building material, made possible the typical buildings of the Puebloans of the Southwest. “Adobe” comes from the identical Spanish word, which in turn is taken from the Arabic word attoba, meaning “the brick.” Adobe bricks are made of clay and straw mixed with water and dried in the sun. The word can be used to describe the bricks themselves or the clay or soil from which they are made, as well as the mortar sometimes made from them and the structures built with them. Adobe is used as a building material primarily in the southwestern United States by the Pueblo peoples, which include such well-known tribes as the Hopi and Zuñi. They build large community dwellings of masonry and adobe that endure, in some cases, for centuries. Some of the oldest standing structures in the United States are
Adoption
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A single-family Zuñi adobe dwelling in 1879. (National Archives)
made of this material. Adobe is energy-efficient, as it insulates well against both heat and cold. Buildings made of adobe can rise up to five stories in height. It is a building material well suited to the desert environments in which it is most commonly used. Michael W. Simpson See also: Architecture: Southwest; Pit House; Pueblo.
Adoption Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Native Americans had very different ideas about family from those now accepted in America; many more people were considered family to begin with, and adoption was a widespread practice. In most American Indian cultures, a family was not only the nuclear family but also parents, parents-in-law, aunts, uncles, cousins, and other related individuals who might need the “sponsorship”
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Adoption
of a family. An example of one to be adopted would be a great aunt whose children had died or moved to another camp or tribe. Individuals who had been adopted became part of the family. Adoption could be temporary or permanent. For example, the Ute allowed their children to live with Spanish-speaking residents of trading partners so that the children would learn a second language and culture. These children then belonged to both families, although they continued to identify themselves as Ute. Among most nations, related children, such as a cousin’s child, might be reared by the parents until a certain age and then allowed to live with relatives who might have special skills or children of similar age. While these were not considered adoptions by Indians, they are frequently cited in the non-Indian literature about Indians as adoptions. A Cheyenne girl who showed particular interest in quillwork at nine years of age might go to live with an aunt who was skilled in this work. Her parents, brothers, sisters, and cousins often continued to interact with her on a daily basis. Adoptions, as defined by American society, also took place with orphans or captives. When a person of any age was claimed as a relative, full family status was accorded to him or her by all members of the family, and the person was treated as though he or she had been born into the family. That may be the reason that some children who had been captured and reared by Indians preferred to stay with them, even when “rescued.” Indian families were very loving and supportive; children were cherished, and adults gave freely to all children. Among the Lakota, children without parents were taken in by relatives, but other adults continued to give them horses and beaded clothing and to treat them kindly throughout their lives. In another form of adoption, a bereaved parent mourning the death of a beloved child might be offered another child by a friend or relative. The Winnebagos were known to have done this. Again, these children were not considered as “belonging” to the receiving family. The giving family was extending to the receiving family the right to love, educate, adore, make gifts for, share stories with, and train the child. The child did not give up his or her birth family so
Agriculture
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5
much as he or she added another family. The child might reside in one home or the other at different times. The benefits of both families were stronger relationships, resulting in a stronger support system. Nancy H. Omaha Boy Sources for Further Study Bensen, Robert, ed. Children of the Dragonfly: Native American Voices on Child Custody and Education. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2001. Holt, Marilyn Irvin. Indian Orphanages. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2001. See also: Captivity and Captivity Narratives; Children; Slavery.
Agriculture Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Although the North American Indians have a long tradition of agriculture, it has not been successfully integrated with white agriculture; Indian agriculture has steadily declined. The beginnings of agriculture among the Indians of North America stretch far back into prehistory, perhaps as far back as seven thousand years. Exactly when it began—when the native peoples of North America began relying on deliberately cultivated crops for a portion of their caloric requirements—is a matter of debate. What is not in debate is where it began: Mexico is clearly the location of the earliest efforts to produce cultivated crops. From there, knowledge and seeds appear to have radiated outward, notably northward. The progress of agriculture was very slow. It began with the domestication of one or two wild plants, the gathering of their seeds, and deliberate planting and raising of them at a prepared site in order to be able to harvest the resulting crop. Most likely the first efforts were more like gardens than agricultural fields, for the Indi-
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Agriculture
ans were constrained by two factors that did not affect residents of the Old World: The Indians lacked metal tools and they lacked domesticated animals. All agriculture was hand labor, with tools that lacked the precise usefulness of modern, metal tools. In time, however, the Indians were able to produce larger and larger portions of their caloric requirements from agriculture. That reduced their dependence on fruits and nuts they could gather and on game they could kill. By the time of European contact, some Indian tribes were supplying as much as 50 to 60 percent of their nutritional requirements from crops they planted, cultivated, and harvested. The story of Indian agriculture falls naturally into three phases. The first phase, covering perhaps five thousand years, is all the time that transpired before Christopher Columbus initiated the flood of Europeans into the Western Hemisphere. The second phase (at least in North America) is that covering the period from Columbus’ discovery to the close of the American Revolution, roughly from 1500 to 1783. The third phase, in the United States, is the period after 1783, when the Indians were wards of the federal government. Pre-contact Agriculture. The pre-contact agriculture of the North American Indians began in the highlands of Mexico. There, the earliest cultivated plants were the gourds, the cucurbits. In the earliest adaptations from wild plants, gourds were used as containers; the pulp was too bitter to eat. The seeds, however, did become a regular foodstuff, constituting the “peanuts” of Indian agriculture. As new varieties of cucurbit emerged (from careful seed selection by the Indians), squashlike vegetables were produced and eaten regularly. During much of the millennium prior to European contact, most Indians lived in relatively permanent villages. They came to specialize in the production of food for the group. The women were responsible for the planting, cultivation, and much of the harvesting work; the men remained the hunters, going off on hunting expeditions, sometimes for weeks at a time.
Agriculture
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The Indians settled in places where the soil could be easily worked with simple tools, often only a digging stick. The favored locations were stream bottoms, alluvial plains, and, to a lesser extent, ridge tops. These places generally had light, sandy soil that could be easily worked with tools made from forked sticks, clam shells, and stone. If the land chosen for cultivation had shrubs and trees growing on it, the Indians generally girdled the trees and uprooted the shrubs. The latter, together with the herbaceous cover, were burned; the crops were planted around the stumps of any remaining trees. In most cases, the Indians burned over a field assigned to be cultivated each year; in this way they provided some lime and potash for the new crop. Once the land was cleared for cultivation, a process carried out by the men of the tribe, the women took over. Planting was done with the aid of a dibble stick, thrust into the ground and worked around to provide a hole into which the seed could be dropped. Once the planted vegetables had come up, the Indian women weeded the crop at least once, sometimes twice. In the rare cases where irrigation was practiced, in the Southwest, the men were responsible for the construction and the maintenance of the irrigation ditches; otherwise agriculture was women’s work. The harvesting was also largely women’s work, though the men sometimes helped with it. Depending on the crop, the harvested material needed to be prepared so that it would keep; this was usually accomplished by drying. The material was hung up in the sun until all the moisture was gone. It was then packed, often in baskets made from plant material (corn stalks, willow withes, and other flexible plant materials), and stored, frequently in pits. By the end of the prehistoric period, the Indians were cultivating a wide variety of crops. The most important of these, squashes, beans, and corn, had all come from central Mexico. The squashes came first; beans came later, probably around 1000 c.e., but in time came to constitute an important part of the Indian diet. Their usefulness depended on the possession of pottery vessels in which they could be cooked.
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Agriculture
Without a doubt, the most important Indian crop was maize, a cultivated version of the wild plant teosinte, a native of the central Mexican highlands. How early a cultivated maize had developed in North America is under dispute among archaeologists. There is, however, evidence that maize as a cultivated crop was widespread among Native Americans by 1000 c.e. Prior to the development of maize, there is archaeological evidence of the cultivation of some native grasses that produced seeds rich in oil. Sumpweed (Iva annua), goosefoot (Chenopodium bushianum or berlandieri), and sunflower (Helianthus annus) were the most important of these native plants that were domesticated by the Indians. Cultivation of these native species declined after the arrival of maize, as the latter fulfilled far more easily the carbohydrate nutritional needs of the Indians. One important food plant that was never fully domesticated (although there is some evidence of domestication by the Chippewas) but was harvested for many centuries by the Indians of the northern tier of the United States was wild rice. The Indians of Minnesota to this day have exclusive rights to the wild rice growing in those northern swamps. Two important crops that were not food crops were tobacco and cotton. Tobacco was grown (mostly by men, not women) for its ceremonial use. Tobacco was being grown all over what is now the United States by the resident Indians at the time of European contact. Cotton was grown only in the Southwest, generally in irrigated plots; it was developed as a crop sometime after 500 c.e. The southwestern Indians also developed the necessary skills to convert the fiber to cloth. 1500-1783. The arrival of the European colonists profoundly altered Indian agriculture in two principal ways: The Europeans, by trading manufactured items with the Indians for agricultural products, turned a portion of Indian agriculture into commercial agriculture. Additionally, the Europeans brought many new crops, some of which were eagerly adopted by the Indians. The story of how the first Europeans to arrive as colonists sur-
Agriculture
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9
vived only because they acquired food from the Indians is familiar to every American schoolchild. The Europeans brought with them manufactured products, notably axes, whose use the Indians could readily appreciate, and they were eager to acquire them. The Indians themselves had two things to offer: crops they had grown and skins from wild animals. The latter were in demand in Europe and financed much of the early development of the European colonies; the former were needed by the colonists for survival until they could develop their own fields. One of the most important crops brought by the Europeans was wheat. The Spaniards introduced wheat to the Indians of the Southwest, and it became a major crop for the Indians of that area. The Indians of the Mississippi Valley also began growing wheat, as did the Plains Indians. The Spaniards also introduced the plow, and although some Indians (notably the Cherokee) were initially reluctant to use plows, many other tribes readily adopted plow agriculture. In some areas Indians actually traded plow services from the colonists for skins and agricultural products. The Europeans added crops other than wheat to the traditional Indian produce. Both potatoes and tomatoes became part of the Indian diet as a result of European introduction. Watermelons and cantaloupes were also introduced by the Europeans. The Europeans introduced the idea of orchards, particularly peach orchards, and some tribes took to the idea. Peach orchards were particularly popular with the Indians of the Southwest. Apricots and apples were also grown in orchards after being introduced. A major agricultural change introduced by the Europeans was the raising of livestock. The Indians had obtained all their meat from game prior to European contact. The Europeans brought horses, mules, cattle, sheep, and goats. Sheep and goats became particularly popular with the Indians of the Southwest, where grazing is the only possible agricultural use of much of the dry land of that area. It is widely known that the Plains Indians acquired horses from the Spaniards and that the acquisition profoundly altered their lifestyle. Some of the midwestern and eastern Indians recognized the value of oxen and began to use them for plowing.
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Agriculture
1783-1887. The victory of the colonists in the American Revolution had a profound impact on Indian agriculture. The federal government, as soon as it was well organized, developed a definitive policy with respect to the Indians still living in the territory ceded by the British in 1783. That policy essentially involved separating the two groups—pushing the Indians into areas not inhabited by white Americans so as to open up more of the land for settlement by the colonists. With the Louisiana Purchase, this policy of separating the Indians from the white Americans became more explicit. By acquiring vast lands in the trans-Mississippi region, the federal government obtained western areas where it could establish new reservations to which the Indians could be “removed,” thus effectively separating them from the European Americans. At the same time, considerable effort was devoted to inculcating white agricultural practices. In the 1790’s, Congress passed what were known as the Trade and Intercourse Acts, defining the relationship between Indians and white Americans. These acts stressed the development of white farming practices among the Indians and provided funds for tools (mostly plows and hoes) and even livestock to enable the Indians to become typical small farmers like the vast majority of white citizens of that time. The Indian agents appointed by the federal government for each tribe were instructed to promote such agricultural practices among the Indians. 1887-1934. In 1887, however, an abrupt change occurred in the Indian policy of the federal government. Although agriculture had been slowly gaining among the Indians, Congress became convinced that it could significantly lessen the costs of Indian support (needed to supplement the produce of Indian agriculture) if it created the incentive of private property. It therefore passed what was widely known, from its author, Senator Henry Dawes, as the Dawes Severalty Act, otherwise called the General Allotment Act. This act authorized the president to divide reservation land into individual allotments: Each head of household was to receive 160 acres, a single man 80 acres, and a child 40 acres. The title to the land was held in trust by the federal government for twenty-five
Agriculture
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11
years, at the end of which time full title to the land would be transferred to the Indian owner. If that owner should die before the twenty-five years had elapsed, the land was to be divided among all his heirs. If the reservation contained more land than was needed to allot each member of the tribe his prescribed share, then the remainder of the land was opened to white settlement. The funds derived from selling these “surplus” lands to whites were to be set aside in a trust fund for the benefit of the tribe. Although the underlying concept of the General Allotment Act and the allotment policy was that it would hasten the time when all Indians would become at least subsistence farmers, it in fact had the opposite effect. There were a number of reasons for this failure. Most critics of the policy stress the fact that it attempted to impose, by legislation, a private-property culture on peoples whose own culture largely lacked such a concept. To Indians, the land was made available by the Great Spirit for the use of his children; that it should be used to amass individual wealth was wholly outside their sense of the appropriate. Also crucially important was the fact that the land assigned to the Indians under the allotment system was incapable of providing subsistence for a family in the amount allotted. An allotment of 160 acres was simply too little land in an area of light rainfall, where tillage agriculture, if it could be carried on at all, depended on heavy capital investment in plows and harvesting equipment. Raising livestock was a practical option, but it required many more acres than the 160 allotted. The allotment policy discouraged the development of tribal herds run on a cooperative basis, actually the most hopeful revenue for Indian agriculture in the plains states. The result was, instead, that the Indians gave up attempts at agriculture and instead began leasing their land to whites who had the capital and the expertise to farm it. By the 1920’s, it was clear that the allotment policy was a failure. The secretary of the interior commissioned a report to be produced by a group of specialists headed by Lewis Meriam. Their report, known as the Meriam Report (1928), had three principal recommendations regarding agriculture. First, any notion of remaking
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Agriculture
the Indians into commercial farmers should be abandoned—the most that could be hoped for would be subsistence agriculture. Second, more government programs should be directed toward women to encourage subsistence gardening, poultry raising, and modern methods of food preservation. Third, the focus of Indian agriculture should shift from tillage to livestock raising, for which Indian men showed greater aptitude. The report recognized that most Indian land was only suitable for grazing anyway. These recommendations laid the basis for a reversal of Indian agricultural policy under the New Deal of President Franklin Roosevelt. The Roosevelt Administration appointed a new commissioner of Indian affairs, John Collier, who had new ideas about how to conduct Indian policy. Collier pushed tribal initiatives, particularly cooperative agricultural efforts. These efforts had some success among Plains Indians. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 ended allotments for any tribes that agreed with the new policy. Any former reservation land that had been opened to white homesteading but not taken would be returned to the tribe, and some funds were provided for the purchase of additional land. Since 1934. The steady decline in Indian land under the allotment policy was reversed, but only a modest portion of the more than 50 million acres once assigned to Indians but lost under allotment was recovered. Prior to allotment, Indians had had more than 100 million acres under their control; by the 1970’s that figure had dropped to around 50 million. The period since World War II has seen vacillating Indian policy on the part of the government. Agriculture has continued to decline among Indians, so that now no more than 10 percent are agriculturally active. In most recent years, the federal government, although recognizing its continuing responsibility to the Indians, has largely given up attempting to encourage agriculture among them. Nancy M. Gordon
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Sources for Further Study Carlson, Leonard A. Indians, Bureaucrats, and Land: The Dawes Act and the Decline of Indian Farming. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1981. An intensive study of the effect of the allotment system on the participation of Indians in agriculture. Carlson includes an economic model of the behavioral response that might be expected to allotment-type inducements. Selected bibliography. Ford, Richard I., ed. Prehistoric Food Production in North America. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1985. A collection of papers by archaeologists involved in seeking data on prehistoric agriculture. The detail is fairly exhaustive, but the general picture is clear. Notes and bibliography. Hurt, R. Douglas. Indian Agriculture in America: Prehistory to the Present. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1987. A good general survey. The bulk of the book is devoted to discussing the Indian policy of the federal government as it relates to agriculture. The author is critical of the policy pursued as lacking in consideration for the special constraints imposed by Indian culture. Bibliographic note, extensive notes to text. Lewis, David Rich. Neither Wolf nor Dog: American Indians, Environment, and Agrarian Change. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. An examination of the effects of the federal agrarian system on three Native American groups—Hupas, Northern Utes, and Tohono O’odhams. Russell, Howard S. Indian New England Before the Mayflower. Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1980. The author of the preeminent history of New England agriculture looks at the culture that preceded it. Part 4, “The Bountiful Earth,” describes the agriculture of the New England Indians. Notes, extensive bibliography, and index. Smith, Bruce D., with contributions by C. Wesley Cowan and Michael P. Hoffman. Rivers of Change: Essays on Early Agriculture in Eastern North America. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992. An alternate view of how prehistoric North Ameri-
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can cultures evolved from hunting and gathering societies to agricultural-based societies. Thomas, Peter A. “Contrastive Subsistence Strategies and Land Use as Factors for Understanding Indian-White Relations in New England.” Ethnohistory 23 (1976): 1-18. A thoughtful consideration of the thorny question of whether the Indians or the European settlers were more efficient and effective users of the land. References. See also: Anasazi Civilization; Beans; Corn; Food Preparation and Cooking; Irrigation; Squash; Subsistence; Technology.
Alcoholism Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: American Indians, whether living on or off reservations, have extremely high rates of alcoholism; many Indian problems with crime, health, and poverty are related to heavy drinking. The most severe health problem among contemporary American Indians is alcoholism. The reasons for the problem are complex, but central among them are poverty, a pervasive sense of despair (particularly among young reservation Indians), and the stresses involved in adjusting to non-Indian life. Both Indian and nonIndian sources, contemporary and historical, also point to drinking as one reaction to the profound disruption of Indian societies that began soon after Europeans landed in the Americas and which intensified through the years. Early Contact Years. With the exception of parts of the Southwest, alcoholic beverages did not exist in North America before the Europeans came, though they were widely used by Central and South American natives. Early French and English explorers, trappers, and merchants often gave Indians liquor as a gift or ex-
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changed it for food or furs. By the early 1600’s, for example, French Canadian traders were encouraging the use of alcohol among the Huron, even though the Catholic church deplored such practices and the French government outlawed the sale or use of liquor in trade. As early as 1603, French priests in Canada reported that many natives were drinking alcohol heavily during their ceremonies and dances. Whiskey and rum quickly became prime items of trade—and killers of Indians. European traders cultivated the desire for liquor among Indians, creating a market; they realized that trading liquor was a cheap way to obtain valuable furs. John Stuart stated in 1776 that English traders obtained five times as many animal skins from the Choctaws of the Southeast through trading alcohol than through the trade of English manufactured goods of any real value. This situation, he said, was making the Choctaws “poor, wretched, . . . and discontented.” The white stereotype of the dangerous firewater-drinking Indian became established early. Regardless of what some whites believed, the truth is simply that some Indians drank and others did not. Drinking patterns varied by individual and by tribe; a number of cultures, among them the Pawnee, were known for not drinking at all. Eighteenth century accounts suggest that, among the Iroquois, there were occasional drunken revels that would essentially engulf a whole village or town and end when the liquor was gone; life would then return to normal. Indian drinking behavior was no more dangerous or violent than that of the Europeans who lived along the frontier. A difference, however, was that Indian cultures, having no previous experience with alcohol intoxication, did not have a set of social norms or expectations governing drinking, as European cultures did. There were no religious strictures or stigma attached to being under the influence of alcohol, and being drunk may have developed religious overtones in some Indian cultures. The Lakota Sioux called alcohol “the magic water,” for example, and some scholars have noted a link between drinking liquor until drunk and the traditional Indian practice of going on a vision quest seeking wisdom and strength through fasting, meditation, and prayer until a state of altered consciousness is achieved. Alco-
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hol intoxication may also have been considered akin to being influenced or possessed by a supernatural being. Many tribal political and religious leaders soon recognized the danger that alcohol posed to traditional culture. Many tribal leaders tried to ban alcohol from their villages, but such efforts rarely succeeded. A number of post-contact religious movements, or revitalization movements, among American Indians included abstinence from liquor as a central tenet: One was the Longhouse religion established by Handsome Lake; another was the PanIndian movement led by Tenskwatawa. In the Indian Trade and Intercourse Acts of 1834, the United States government prohibited the sale of alcohol to Native Americans, but enforcing the law proved impossible. Smugglers made huge profits, and bootlegging became one way of becoming very rich on the frontier. Alcohol remained illegal on Indian reservations until 1953, when Congress permitted its sale if local tribal governments voted to allow it. Easier access to alcoholic beverages led to a steady increase in cases of alcoholism among Native Americans. Impact on the Indian Population. A report issued by the American Indian Policy Review Commission, established by Congress in 1975 to survey major reservation problems, concluded that alcohol abuse was the most severe health care problem faced by Native Americans. It found that almost one-half of Indian adults had some sort of chemical dependency, with alcohol being the chemical most often abused. Statistics at the time of the commission’s report emphasized the prevalence of the problem: Seventyone percent of all arrests on reservations involved alcohol, and the death rate from drunk driving on reservations was three times the rate for the general population. Death from cirrhosis of the liver, almost always caused by alcoholism, was more than four times greater for Indians (27.3 per 100,000) than for other Americans (6.1 per 100,000). The suicide rate among Native Americans— which drinking undoubtedly influences—was more than double the national rate. Another alcohol-related health problem, one which has been recognized relatively recently, is fetal alcohol syn-
Alcoholism
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drome (FAS), a disease that stunts growth and interferes with brain development in the babies of alcoholic mothers. Native American women have been found to have babies born with fetal alcohol syndrome at a rate greater than ten times that of the rest of the U.S. population. A 1985 study reported that one-third of all Indian deaths were related to alcohol—three times as many as the U.S. average. In 1986, recognizing the severity of the problem, Congress enacted the Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. Those who have studied Indian drinking generally believe that alcohol abuse among Native Americans results from the same factors that lead to high levels of alcoholism among other populations: It is a means of coping with unemployment, poverty, and alienation. The economic situation of American Indians, particularly those on isolated reservations, is grim compared with that of most Americans. In the late twentieth century, following the awakening (and suppression) of Indian activism in the 1960’s and 1970’s, younger Indians became increasingly aware of past injustices toward Indians and increasingly desperate regarding what seemed to be the lack of future opportunities. Other aspects of Indian alcoholism are the social factors thought, by some, to encourage drinking actively. It has been suggested that drinking may amount to a form of social protest: By not obeying the rules of white society, a Native American displays contempt for those who destroyed his or her culture and who now do not offer opportunities in theirs. Drinking is tolerated by many adults on reservations, and there is little pressure put on alcoholics to seek help or change their ways. One study of a reservation in North Dakota found that most residents faced almost daily pressure from friends and family members to drink. Many adults supported the idea that individuals have the right to become publicly intoxicated. In addition, drunkenness was seen as a way of acknowledging that one is no better than one’s neighbor and that one knows how to have a good time; viewed in this way, drinking may be seen as representing a sense of community.
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There is hope that the situation will begin to improve. Groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous have opened chapters in Indian communities. In addition, the search for an Indian answer to alcoholism has involved the reawakening of interest in Indian spiritual and cultural traditions. Because Indian alcoholism so often involves group activity, approaches involving groups and entire communities have proved more beneficial than have private counseling and treatment. As Indian cultural pride and solidarity increase, as more Indians themselves work for the Indian Health Service (which serves reservation communities), and as sufficient funding becomes available, new possibilities exist for stemming the tide of alcoholism. Leslie V. Tischauser Sources for Further Study Dorris, Michael. The Broken Cord. New York: Harper & Row, 1989. Fixico, Donald Lee. The Urban Experience in America. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2000. French, Laurence Armand. Addictions and Native Americans. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2000. _______. Counseling American Indians. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1997. Indian Health Service, Task Force on Indian Alcoholism. Alcoholism: A High Priority Health Problem. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1977. Kunitz, Stephen J., and Jerrold E. Levy. Drinking, Conduct Disorder and Social Change: Navajo Experiences. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Mancall, Peter C. Deadly Medicine: Indians and Alcohol in Early America. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1995. Mihesuah, Devon A. American Indians: Stereotypes and Realities. Atlanta, Ga.: Clarity, 1996. See also: Employment and Unemployment; Medicine and Modes of Curing: Post-contact; Relocation; Stereotypes; Urban Indians.
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American Indian Studies Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: American Indian studies programs, which began in the late 1960’s, seek to preserve and understand American Indian history and culture. Since the late 1960’s, American Indian studies (or Native American studies) programs have served as the most important scholarly approach to knowing and understanding American Indian culture. Traditional teachings of tribal and village elders remain the solid foundation of American Indian and Native American studies. These culture bearers provide the understanding essential to legitimate study of the native peoples of the Americas. Establishment of Programs. Dependence upon European American (notably Anglo-American) source materials has made for distortion in scholarly studies. As professor Henrietta Whiteman has stated, “Cheyenne history, and by extension Indian history, in all probability will never be incorporated into American history, because it is holistic, human, personal, and sacred. Though it is equally as valid as Anglo-American history it is destined to remain complementary to white secular American history.” This specific difficulty led in large part to the creation of American Indian studies programs in existing institutions of higher learning. Despite limited funds, Native American programs began to emerge as interdisciplinary curricula. Most American Indian studies programs focus on long-term goals involved with cultural preservation, unlike Western, objective academic disciplines such as history and ethnology. American Indian studies use teaching, research, and service to cross cultural boundaries and create an atmosphere for understanding. In many instances, the American Indian studies degree programs are the only non-Western courses of study on campus. American Indian or Native American studies programs vary considerably in method and subject matter. These also represent
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different degrees of institutional support, budget size, and quality of program leadership. In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, various programs began to emerge at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Los Angeles. Other programs developed in the California State University system on campuses at Long Beach, Fullerton, and Northridge. At that time, California had the largest Native American population in the United States. Oklahoma had the second-largest native population. Two degree programs were created in Oklahoma in the early 1970’s, one at Northeastern State University at Tahlequah, the capital of the Cherokee Nation, and one at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in Chickasha. The Native American studies degree program at the University of Oklahoma was accepted by the higher regents in 1993. Other American Indian studies degree programs were created at the University of Minnesota, the University of Washington, Evergreen College, Washington State University, the University of Arizona, the University of Illinois (Chicago), Dartmouth College, the University of North Dakota, Montana State University, the University of New Mexico, and Cornell University, among others. By the mid-1980’s, eighteen programs offered a major leading to a bachelor’s degree. Of these, six programs also offered a master’s degree. Tribally Controlled Colleges. Tribally controlled colleges added new energy to American Indian studies. In 1968, the Navajo Nation created the first tribally controlled institution of higher learning. Navajo Community College was a success and led to the passage of the Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act of 1978. This act provides for some federal support for tribally controlled colleges initiated by tribes in the western United States. Initially, this helped support thirteen tribally controlled colleges. Since the act’s passage, at least nine additional colleges have been initiated. Colleges that followed the creation of Navajo Community College include Sinte Glista College, Standing Rock College, Blackfeet Community College, Dull Knife Memorial College, Salish Kootenai College, Little Bighorn College, and Stone Child
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College, among others. Lummi College of Aquaculture in Washington has expanded to become the Northwest Indian College. Sinte Glista College on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation has grown to become the first fully accredited tribally controlled four-year institution of higher learning. In all these examples, the tribally based community colleges have not only aided the education of individual Indian young people but also improved the development of the tribal communities that they serve. Of primary importance is that Indian people are now controlling institutions that directly affect them. The tribally controlled colleges are far outstripping the state-supported and private colleges and universities in retention of American Indian students. The tribally controlled colleges have become important centers of research. These colleges are proving to be better suited to the needs of American Indian students and communities than their state-supported and private counterparts. The tribally controlled colleges offer hope to tribes that have, all too often, survived in a climate of despair. Issues and Concerns. In the early 1990’s, American Indian studies emerged in a period of questioning current methods and practices concerning spirit, philosophy, structures, roles, contexts, and intent. The quest for meaning appeared in many guises. The interest in the emotional component of community life, the expansion of traditional approaches to knowledge and wisdom, the acceptance of grammar and logic stemming from native languages, and the hope of differentiating Western-based interpretation from traditional knowledge all reflected the aim of uncovering purpose, meaning, and perspectives on truth in presentation. There was pervasive anxiety that the individual is being submerged in community. There was additional attention being given to the way people feel as well as the way they behave. There was also a movement in American Indian studies toward narrative storytelling in the literature. American Indian studies places human beings and the comprehensible societies in which they live into the story. These are real stories, however, not dry and forbidding pieces of analysis.
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The quest for meaning only multiplies the pluralism of current research and teaching. The very process of recovering deeper motivations and attitudes, dragging the latent out of the manifest, requires such personal feats of imagination and use of language that questions about plausibility and proof are bound to arise. Senior faculty at one state-supported university in Oklahoma challenged the continuation of a bachelor’s degree in American Indian studies, stating, “While the program is inessential to a liberal arts education, it is not inconsistent with one.” This type of Euro-American bias makes it difficult to pursue knowledge and wisdom in an atmosphere with freedom of thought and feeling. The obverse of the quest for meaning is an uneasiness with the material conditions of life that until recently seemed so compelling. A clear, single idea emerges from the doubts that have been expressed about the power of economic development. As American Indian studies turns to more emotional content, the demand is for a more elusive process of comprehension. Analytical and technical research is increasingly limited, as mental patterns, attitudes, and symbolic acts become more prominent. Questions of the use of quantification arise because of the almost exclusive use of United States and Western social science data. What is at stake is a profound epistemological question, not just a disagreement over collection of data. American Indian studies many times are very personal and intuitive. The insights are justified within a specific tribal context with powerful rhetorical and imaginative methods. They appeal to an interest in behavior that is very different from Anglo-American intellectual concerns, but never claim to be definitive. The establishment of an agenda for American Indian studies, of a set of methods or purposes indigenous to the Americas, or of a special task for its practitioners, hardly seems plausible. American Indian studies is united in its respect of tribal traditions. There is observation of certain fundamental rules for using evidence so as to be intelligible across cultural boundaries. None of these skills is difficult to learn; neither is the telling of a sustained story, which is a special mark of scholars and teachers in American Indian stud-
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ies. The one form of synthesis used most often by those in American Indian studies blends the disparate methods of current research in examinations of tribally specific localities. This synthesis convincingly links physical conditions, economic and demographic developments, social arrangements, intellectual and cultural assumptions, and political behavior, with mythic patterns and images. Archives and Tribal Records. The most important repository of American Indian knowledge remains with the tribal elders. There is no substitute for this significant information. This knowledge and wisdom can be gained only with real commitment over a significant period of time. Tribal elders have become wary of “instant experts,” whether Indian or non-Indian. All scholarship must access this wisdom and knowledge to reflect tribal tradition and history. Once removed from this vital core of information are the tribal archives and records. These are held in a variety of ways. For example, the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes maintain their tribal archives as a part of the Wichita Memory Exhibit Museum at the tribal complex on reserve land north of Anadarko, Oklahoma. A second example is that of the Navajo Nation, which collects and preserves its records as a part of the Navajo Tribal Council Reference Library in Window Rock. A third example is that of the Cherokee Nation, which maintains a portion of its records in the Archives of the Cherokee National Historical Society in Tahlequah, while the records of the Cherokee Nation from 1839 through 1906 are held in the Indian Archives of the Oklahoma Historical Society, which functions as a trustee for the United States government. These records were placed in trust in 1906, just before Oklahoma statehood, before the National Archives of the United States was created. Each tribe maintains its records in an individual way. Contact with the tribes is the best means to understand their respective record-keeping systems.
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U.S. National Archives. Large numbers of records about American Indian peoples are held by the National Archives of the United States. These are housed in the Washington National Records Center, Suitland, Maryland, and in eleven regional Federal Archives and Records Centers throughout the United States. Additional records holdings concerning American Indian peoples are contained at the presidential libraries administered by the National Archives and Records Service. The papers of the presidents and many of those of other high officials, including the files of individual members of Congress, are regarded as their personal property. These personal papers are collected in large part by state-supported university manuscripts collections. The basic organizational unit in the National Archives collections is the record group. This refers to the records of a single agency, such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs and its predecessors. The National Archives endeavors to keep records in the order in which they were maintained by the respective agency. The agency filing system was designed for administrative purposes, not for the benefit of researchers. There are important guides to assist in research efforts, however. The two most important of these are Guide to the National Archives of the United States (1974) and Guide to Records in the National Archives of the United States Relating to American Indians (1981). Another useful volume is Indian-White Relations: A Persistent Paradox (1976), which includes papers and proceedings of the National Archives Conference on Research in the history of Indian-white relations. Additional materials concerning Indian-white relations are contained in the United States Supreme Court decisions, the research that was used in the Indian Land Claims Act of 1946, and in the manuscript collections of major universities throughout the western United States. American Indian studies has long been limited in perspective because of the heavy dependence upon documents generated by Euro-American policymakers, businesspersons, and military personnel. Scholarly works accepted many of the assumptions of those who produced these sources. American Indian people were
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perceived either negatively as an enemy or romantically as part of the environment. In the last decade, scholarship in American Indian studies has changed significantly from this approach. More balanced efforts are being made by American Indian scholars utilizing native languages and tribal sources. All American culture and society is being shown in a new light as a result of the creative images and ideas of American Indian studies. Howard Meredith Sources for Further Study Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Tribal Colleges: Shaping the Future of Native America. Princeton, N.J.: Author, 1989. Reviews the colleges that have been established for Native Americans. Grounds, Richard A., George E. Tinker, and David E. Wilkins, eds. Native Voices: American Indian Identity and Resistance. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2003. A scholarly examination of law, politics, and religion as related to Native American studies programs. Heth, Charlotte, and Susan Guyette. Issues for the Future of American Indian Studies. Los Angeles: American Indian Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles, 1985. Examines the field of American Indian studies. Hill, Edward E., comp. Guide to the Records in the National Archives of the United States Relating to American Indians. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Service, G.S.A., 1981. Helps researchers find information contained in the archives. See also: Education: Post-contact; Ethnophilosophy and Worldview; Language Families; Oral Literatures; Tribal Colleges.
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Anasazi Civilization Significance: This Basket Maker civilization of the Southwest emerged, advanced architecture and agriculture, and then vanished. The Anasazi, believed to be descendants of ancient Desert Archaic people, are the best known of the Southwest prehistoric cultures, flourishing about 200-1250 c.e. in what is now the Four Corners area (the junction of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado). Different groups of Anasazi spoke at least six languages, which were not mutually understood. The term “Anasazi” derives from an Englishlanguage corruption of a Navajo term, Anaasa’zi, which describes the many stone ruins of the Four Corners region and may mean “ancient ones,” “enemies of the ancient ones,” or “ancient enemy.” The earliest Anasazi are known as the Basket Makers because of their extraordinary skill in basketry. These early people were indistinctive initially, with a few cave sites and rock shelters along the San Juan River and open sites in the Rio Grande Valley. Inhabitants of these early villages planted maize and squash, a skill learned from their ancestors, but also hunted and foraged. The villages, perhaps occupied seasonally, comprised a few pit houses: low, circular houses dug into the ground, approximately seven feet across. Stone slabs were used for some houses. Upper walls and roofs of many dwellings were made of wood and adobe or wattle and daub. The houses had fire pits and were entered by ladders placed in the smokehole of the roof. Tunnellike side entries faced the east. Larger pit houses were for ceremonial use. Smaller slab-lined structures were used for storing food. Baskets (some woven tightly enough for cooking), sandals, and other articles were of high caliber, highly stylized with geometric motifs. These designs gave rise to later Anasazi pottery painting traditions. Anasazi rock art of the period illustrates humans with broad shoulders, trapezoid-shaped bodies, and very large hands and feet. Elaborate headdresses, hair ornaments, necklaces, earrings, and sashes adorn the figures. Found near the villages, the art appears to have been part of community life.
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As the Basket Maker Anasazi population grew and their territory expanded, their villages became larger. Almost all had ritual rooms, which the later Hopi called “kivas.” Pit houses became deeper, more complex, and spacious. Earth-covered wooden roofs were supported by four posts with crossbeams. Some houses were dome-shaped. Storage bins, benches, a central fire pit, and a draft deflector between the fire and the ventilator shaft were found in many dwellings. Roof or side entrances were retained. Within the village were many outdoor work and cooking areas. Slab-lined storage buildings and ramadas—roofed, open-walled structures shading work and living areas—were built on the surface. Some kivas were modified houses, but many were larger, some thirty-five feet across. Excavated holes called sipapu were
Area of Anasazi Culture UTAH
COLORADO
r iivveer o RR
do raad
C
lloor Coo
San Juan Ri ve
r
Mesa Verde Mesa Verde
Canyon Canyon de de Chelly Chelly
Cha co R
iv e r
Chaco Canyon Chaco Canyon
NEW MEXICO
o Pe c
Gila River
NEW MEXICO ve r s Ri
ARIZONA
Rio Gr a nde
Rive r o ra do Co l
Kayenta Kayenta
MEXICO
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dug near the center of the floor in many homes and in most kivas. Turquoise or other offerings were placed in the sipapu, the opening to the underworld from which people emerged. Farming became increasingly important to the Anasazi. To ensure successful crops, check dams and devices were used in fields near villages. By 600 c.e., beans, introduced from Mexico, were cultivated. By 700 c.e., cotton, the bow and arrow, and stone tools were used generally. Maize was ground on large stone mortars using two-handed grinding stones. Basketry, sandalmaking, and weaving also became increasingly elaborate. Feathers and rabbit fur were woven into robes. Pottery making developed as both an occupation and a basis for trade. Pots were used for rituals, storing food and water, and cooking and serving food. The quantity and variety of rock art increased. Rock art was near or in villages, on mesa boulders, near hunting trails, or in other open locations. Subjects included birds, animals, hunting scenes, and figures playing the flute. Human handprints covered some cliff walls in massed profusion. Home, village, and the kiva were the focus of community life, which endeavored to encourage and ensure agricultural prosperity. The Pueblo period of the Anasazi began about 700 c.e. Villages varied in size from small complexes to those with more than a hundred dwellings. Architecture gradually developed into rectangular surface buildings of dry masonry or stone and adobe that followed a linear arrangement with multiroom units. Buildings usually faced a plaza located to the south or southeast. One or more kivas were built in the plaza. Kiva architecture included an encircling bench attached to the wall, roof support poles, a central fire pit, a ventilator shaft, and a sipapu. The kiva was entered by ladder through a roof opening that also allowed smoke to escape. Jars, bowls, and ladles were frequent forms for pottery. Turkeys and dogs were domesticated. Infants were bound to cradle boards so that the child could be near the mother. By 900 c.e., trade activities and movement of the people had engendered a certain amount of cultural uniformity, although some local dif-
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ferences occurred in agriculture, architecture, and pottery. The Anasazi realized their cultural apogee between 1000 and 1300. The building of Chaco Canyon, the cliff houses of Mesa Verde, and the ruins of Kayenta date from this time. Many communities of this period and virtually all of the Chaco-style “great houses” were planned or renovated into single, self-enclosed structures. New rooms were attached to older ones. Linear units grew into L-shapes when a room was added at the end of a row to enclose space. L-shapes became U’s and U’s turned into rectangles. If a village grew or became old enough, the public space of the plaza was enclosed. “Great kivas” were usually built in the Chaco plazas in addition to smaller ones. Rooms were organized into units of two or three, with a doorway facing the plaza. Ladders led to upper-level units. The Chaco Canyon district included nine great houses and eighteen great kivas within an eight-mile area. Families occupied suites of rooms in the great houses. Other rooms were for storage, turkey pens, trash, or sometimes burial chambers. Anasazi ate stews of meat, corn mush, squash, and wild vegetables and cornmeal cakes. Beginning about 1050, the Chaco Anasazi built a complex of twelve elaborate towns that became their religious, political, and commercial center. Grandest of all the great houses was Pueblo Bonito, a five-story D-shaped structure with eight hundred rooms and thirty-seven kivas, covering three acres. It took 150 years before the planned village of Pueblo Bonito realized the conceptions of the original designers. Skilled as astronomers, the Anasazi built celestial observatories on clifftops. Of these, Fajada Butte is the most famous. Three stone slabs lean against a vertical cliff face on which two spiral petroglyphs are carved. Each day before noon, sun daggers fall through the slabs onto the spirals in different places and, depending on the time of year, mark the solstices and equinoxes. The Chaco Anasazi built an elaborate road system of about fifteen hundred miles. The thirty-foot-wide roads were paved and curbed. Straight paths cut through or were built over gullies, hills,
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or cliffs. Roadside shrines were constructed in widened parts of the road. These roads may have served some ceremonial purpose. By 1150, the Chacoan culture began to decline. The peace-loving people of Pueblo Bonito walled up the doors and windows facing the outside of the great houses. Stones closed the entrance to the pueblos, leaving access by ladder only. Slowly the people left the basin, never to return. About 1100, the Mesa Verde Anasazi began to abandon many small settlements in the mesa. Large pueblos developed, which initially followed the traditional Mesa Verde pattern with the kiva in front of the main dwelling. Soon, the kivas were enclosed within the circle of houses and walls. Stone towers were built, perhaps as watchtowers. Walls were made of large rectangular sandstone blocks with little mortar. Mud plaster was applied inside and out. One hundred years later, the Mesa Verde Anasazi moved into the caves below the mesa, although they continued to farm the mesa. Some of the cliff dwellings became quite large. Cliff Palace numbered two hundred rooms with twenty-three kivas. The Mesa Verde Anasazi prospered for some time in their cliff dwellings, but decline fell upon these Anasazi, too. A savage, twenty-three-year drought occurred in the Southwest. The Mesa Verdeans left as the crisis intensified. By 1300, few Anasazi remained in their once-large domain. As their legacy they left descendants who became the Hopi, Zuñi, and other Pueblo peoples, as well as some of their religious and social traditions. Today the adobe pueblos of the Southwest serve as reminders of the great stone houses of their Anasazi forebears. Mary Pat Balkus Sources for Further Study Brody, J. J. The Anasazi. New York: Rizzoli International Press, 1990. Presents a definitive view of the Anasazi, from prehistoric tribes to modern Pueblo people. Color photographs and illustrations. Frazier, Kendrick. People of Chaco: A Canyon and Its Culture. Rev. and updated ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1999. Concentrates
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on the Anasazi of Chaco Canyon, with details of each archaeological site. Photographs and illustrations. Gabriel, Kathryn. Roads to Center Place. Boulder, Colo.: Johnson Books, 1991. Provides insight into the development of the Chaco roads. Photographs and illustrations. Lister, Robert H., and Florence C. Lister. Those Who Came Before. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1983. Focuses on historical events that led to exploration, excavation, and interpretation of artifacts. Photographs and illustrations. Pike, Donald. Anasazi: Ancient People of the Rock. Palo Alto, Calif.: American West, 1974. Illustrated with color photographs by David Muench. Stuart, David E. Anasazi America. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2000. An examination of the Anasazi people. See also: Agriculture; Architecture: Southwest; Baskets and Basketry; Cliff Dwellings; Hohokam Culture; Kivas; Mogollon Civilization; Pottery; Pueblo.
Appliqué and Ribbonwork Tribes affected: Northwest Coast, Eastern Woodlands, Southeast tribes Significance: The personalized designs for these traditional garment decorations both express individual style and maintain group identity. Clothing is a silent communication of personal or cultural values and beliefs. Observers may not understand the meanings being expressed, but they are usually aware that a certain style is not accidental. Decorations such as appliqué and ribbonwork may lend similarity (if not uniformity) to the clothing of a people. Styles of clothing and decoration may be maintained over time as part of a people’s culture; some garments themselves are literally passed down through many generations. Since such garments are usually
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Appliqué and Ribbonwork
handmade, they are a visible history of a family, clan, or a people and are thought to carry the essence of the original wearer. Appliqué. Appliqués are cutout decorations of contrasting color or fabric stitched to a garment. They are often embellished with stitching, beads, or shells. The Kwakiutl people of the Northwest Coast are famous for their appliquéd button blankets. Worn as ceremonial shawls, the red blankets carry large blue or black appliquéd crests of Raven, Wolf, or Eagle Clans. Outlines of gleaming mother-of-pearl and abalone buttons (as many as three thousand) emphasize the crests and trim the edges of these magnificent blankets. In addition to expressing wealth, the wearing of these blankets imparts the qualities of clan animals. The Kwakiutl people are well known for the ceremonial potlatch, an extravagant giveaway once banned by the Canadian government. On the eve of the potlatch, women wear button blankets as they dance in the smoke-filled great house. While the women sing mourning songs, the iridescent buttons sparkle in the firelight, helping to drive away sadness so the celebration can proceed. The next day, the men in their crested button blankets perform the Chiefs’ Dance to begin the potlatch. After contact with Europeans provided new fabrics, Eastern Woodlands women put aside their deerskin outfits and decorated their cotton shawls and skirts with wide borders of silk appliqué. These formal outfits are worn in ceremony and at social gatherings. In the mid-twentieth century, younger Woodlands women adapted this style to create the cape dancer’s outfit now often seen at pow-wows. The young dancers whirl in their one-of-a-kind satin shawls decorated with bright, bold appliqués and yards of fringe. For ceremonies and pow-wows, Woodlands men wear aprons and leggings of black velvet decorated in stylized nature designs. These are typically rendered in colorful combinations of appliqué, embroidery, and beads. Ribbonwork. Seminole and Miccosukee women of Florida have raised the use of decorative ribbons to an art form. One of the
Appliqué and Ribbonwork
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most recognizable styles in North America, some of these attractive designs have been used for many decades. The practice may have begun after contact with Spanish officials who wore striped brocade on dress uniforms. In the trading days of the late 1800’s, the hand-cranked sewing machine was readily adopted by Southeast women to adorn calico skirts and shirts. The early patterns of wide bands of single contrasting colors soon evolved into elaborate multicolored patchwork strips. The strips are combined with bands of ribbon in a manner similar to that used in quilting and sewn together. Both men and women wear garments of this distinctive type. The early tradition was knee-length shirts for elderly men and longer shirts for younger men. Women and girls wore full-length ribbon skirts topped with a lightweight cape edged in ribbons. Later a popular waist-length jacket was rendered in a Seminole ribbon style for men. Traditional Seminole patterns are still used and are often altered as the tailor expresses her own ideas. Complex designs have names, such as checkers or rattlesnake, suggested by something they resemble. Designs are treasured but are not claimed as personal property. They are shared with friends and handed down within families. Copying of designs by those who admire them is considered an honor to the originator. The use of ribbons in ceremonial dress was carried to Oklahoma by the Creek, formerly of the Southeast. In the Ribbon Dance, women wear rainbow-colored headdresses of cascading ribbons as they parade through the public square. The annual ceremony reaffirms and honors the role of women within the community. Gale M. Thompson Sources for Further Study Billard, Jules B., et al. The World of the American Indian. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1974. More than 440 color illustrations, maps of culture areas, poems and chants, and tribal location supplement. Back-pocket map, index, and acknowledgments.
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Garbarino, Merwyn. The Seminole. New York: Chelsea House, 1989. Culture, history, and effect of European contact on the Seminole people; Seminole resistance under leader Osceola; color and black-and-white photographs; and designs of Seminole ribbonwork clothing. MacCauley, Clay. The Seminole Indians of Florida. Foreword by Jerald T. Milanich, introduction by William C. Sturtevant. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2000. A definitive report on the Seminole people which provides an examination of their clothing and ornaments, crafts, housing, and other features of their daily existence. Maxwell, James A., et al. America’s Fascinating Indian Heritage. Pleasantville: Reader’s Digest, 1978. Comprehensive account of culture areas, prehistory (including Mesoamerican), cultural, political, and social issues of early twentieth century. Includes more than seven hundred color illustrations as well as descriptions of ceremonies. List of museums, historic villages, and archaeological sites. Owen, Roger G., et al. The North American Indians: A Sourcebook. Macmillan: New York, 1967. Collection of original (edited) articles dating from 1888 to 1963 and arranged by culture areas; history, evolution, and demography; and social perspectives of the mid-twentieth century. Includes references, additional reading list, and a directory of 250 educational films. Underhill, Ruth M. Red Man’s America: A History of Indians in the United States. Sixth impression. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960. Surveys origins, history, social customs, material culture, religion, and mythology. Written from the perspective of the first peoples of North America. See also: Arts and Crafts: Southeast; Beads and Beadwork; Dress and Adornment; Headdresses; Quillwork; Shells and Shellwork.
Architecture: Arctic
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Architecture: Arctic Tribes affected: Aleut, Inuit, Yupik Significance: Although the domed snow house is the most widely recognized Arctic habitation, a number of other types of structures have been used by groups in the Arctic culture area. Throughout the Arctic, housing styles were largely a function of four factors: local weather conditions, availability of raw materials, requirements for mobility, and household size and organization. While the domed snow house (in common parlance, the igloo) is the form of shelter most commonly associated with the Arctic, it actually had a very limited distribution. Many Arctic groups, such as the Yupik of south-western Alaska, the Aleut, and the West Greenlanders, never built snow houses. Rather, there was a wide range of architectural styles, including aboveground plank houses, semi-subterranean log houses, semi-subterranean sod and rock houses, and walrus-skin houses elevated on stilts. Snow Houses. Without a doubt, the dome-shaped snow house was the most remarkable architectural achievement of Arctic populations. At the time of European contact, the snow house was the primary winter shelter in most areas of the Central and Eastern Canadian Arctic. In these areas, a typical strategy involved building large snow house communities on the ocean ice from which hunters would depart daily to engage in breathing-hole seal hunting. It was essential that the right kind of snow be used: hard-packed, granular snow that was uniformly compressed by blowing winds. The snow house was built by arranging the snow blocks, cut with a large snow knife, in a circular pattern spiraling upward. The spiral ensured that each snow block placed in line had another block to lean against. This made the construction process easier and maximized the structural integrity of the shelter. Any snow house that was to be occupied for more than one or two nights would have a porch attached to provide storage space and protection from the wind. The entrance generally sloped
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Architecture: Arctic
The Arctic Culture Area Saint Lawrence Island Eskimo
Siberian Eskimo
West Alaskan Eskimo Aleut
North Alaskan Eskimo
Polar Eskimo East Greenland Eskimo
Yupik
South Alaskan Eskimo
Mackenzie Eskimo Netsilik Copper Eskimo Caribou Eskimo
West Greenland Eskimo
Iglulik
Baffin Island Eskimo Sallirinuit Quebec Inuit
Labrador Coast Eskimo
downward so as to create a cold trap. At least half of the interior included a raised sleeping and sitting platform, which provided protection from the cold air on the floor below. Caribou skins or musk ox skins would be placed on the sleeping platform for additional insulation. Often, a small hole would be punched through the roof to provide some air circulation and hence a guarantee against asphyxiation. A piece of ice might also be placed into the wall to provide natural lighting. Semi-Subterranean Houses. Far more common than the snow house was the semi-subterranean house, found from East Greenland to South Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. Excavated several feet into the ground, these shelters generally consisted of a wood, stone, or whalebone framework covered with insulating sod. Because of the great effort involved in building and maintaining such shelters, they tended to be used by groups with year-round or seasonally occupied villages. In North Alaska, houses were rectangu-
Architecture: Arctic
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lar and constructed of a whalebone and driftwood frame covered by sod. A wood planked floor marked the main living area, which included a raised sleeping platform. Entrance to the house was through a passageway which sloped from ground level downward to a depth of about 4 to 5 feet. On either side of this passageway were side rooms used for storage, cooking, and food preparation. The long tunnel ended under the main living area, which was entered through a trapdoor in the floor. This main living area was usually kept warm by a soapstone lamp, although body heat alone was sometimes adequate to keep it warm. A membrane-covered skylight provided light to the interior. In the Bering Sea region, easier access to wood resulted in this material being a more significant component in house construction. These houses tended to be slightly larger and were often made with a frame of whole logs covered with sod. The main living areas often had sleeping platforms on all three sides as opposed to the single sleeping platform of the North Alaskan house. A central fireplace fueled by wood and placed under a square smoke hole in the roof was the primary source of heat. Such dwellings occasionally had two entrances: a ground-level entrance for summer use and an underground passageway for winter use. Farther south, among Chugach and Koniag Eskimos, wood was even more evident in house construction. Although these houses were semi-subterranean, they lacked the sloping entranceways characteristic of more northern groups. Even in winter, entry was generally through a ground-level doorway. The Aleut constructed large semi-subterranean houses which have been documented to range between 70 and 200 feet in length. These houses had log supports and roof frames made of either wood or whalebone. Woven grasses were placed on the roofs, which were then covered with sod. Since the Aleut lived in a far milder climate than most Eskimo groups, an underground passageway was not necessary. Rather, entrance into the house was down one or more notched log ladders positioned under the structure’s smoke holes. Since these longhouses generally accommodated a large number of related families, often an entire village of
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thirty to forty people, each family was assigned a living area along the outside walls. Grasses were woven into partitions to separate the living areas. Semi-subterranean longhouses were also used in Labrador, West Greenland, and East Greenland, but these generally had underground passageways to function as cold traps. In East Greenland, these longhouses invariably housed an entire village. Given the scarcity of wood, house walls were constructed of stone and sod, while roofs were made of sod placed over driftwood rafters. In North Greenland, the Polar Eskimo had extremely limited access to wood, so they constructed their semi-subterranean winter houses of cantilevered stone covered by sod and snow. These shelters tended to be small and triangular-shaped, rarely housing more than one nuclear family, and were often dug into a hillside. A similar style of structure, called a qarmaq, was used by certain Central Arctic groups. Usually occupied only during transitional seasons, the qarmaq was made of a circular wall of stone, sod, or snowblocks covered over with a skin roof. Aboveground Wood Houses. Aboveground wood houses had a limited distribution, since they required ready access to timber. They were the dominant form of summer residence among Yupik groups in southwestern and southern Alaska. In the YukonKuskokwim region, for example, these houses were built with horizontally placed logs for the side walls and with vertically placed planks for the front and back walls. The gabled roof was covered with wood planks and bark. Since the houses were occupied only during the warm months of the year, they were built aboveground with ground-level entrances. These houses were typically found at spring and summer fishing camps. Tents, Stilt Houses, and Men’s Houses. Skin tents were ubiquitous throughout the Arctic region. Typically made of caribou or seal skin, they were the primary form of summer residence throughout much of the region, especially among those groups that were highly nomadic in summer. Even the Alaskan Yupik, with their
Architecture: Arctic
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wooden summer houses, used tents while traveling or hunting over long distances. Perhaps the most unusual houses in the Arctic were the summer stilt houses of King Island, located in the Bering Strait. These small houses were usually erected next to the semi-subterranean winter houses and were boxlike structures with walrus hide walls. Their elevation on wooden stilts was necessary given the steep coastline of the island and the lack of level ground for building. Ceremonial men’s houses constituted an important part of village life throughout most of Alaska. Although large ceremonial snow houses were sometimes built by Central Arctic groups for midwinter games and dances, permanent ceremonial houses were not found anywhere in the Central or Eastern Arctic. Throughout Alaska, ceremonial houses were built in a style similar to regular residences, although somewhat larger. They were regarded as men’s houses, but women were allowed to visit and participate in certain ceremonies. In North Alaska, each ceremonial house (karigi) was associated with one or more whaling crews. Among the Yupik of southwestern Alaska, the men of the village slept and ate in the ceremonial house (qasgiq). These houses were also used for sweatbaths and for important religious ceremonies such as the Bladder Feast. Some of these houses are reported to have been large enough to seat up to five hundred people. Richard G. Condon and Pamela R. Stern Sources for Further Study Crowell, Aron. “Dwellings, Settlements, and Domestic Life.” In Crossroads of Continents: Cultures of Siberia and Alaska, edited by William Fitzhugh and Aron Crowell. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988. Damas, David, ed. Arctic. Vol. 5 in Handbook of North American Indians. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1984. Lee, Molly, and Gregory A. Reinhardt. Eskimo Architecture: Dwelling and Structure in the Early Historic Period. Foreword by Andrew Tooyak, Jr. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press with the University of Alaska Museum, 2003.
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Architecture: California
Nabokov, Peter, and Robert Easton. Native American Architecture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Nelson, Edward. The Eskimo About Bering Strait. Eighteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology for the Years 1896-1897. Reprint. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983. Oswalt, Wendell H. Alaskan Eskimos. San Francisco: Chandler, 1967. See also: Igloo; Longhouse; Plank House.
Architecture: California Tribes affected: Achumawi, Atsugewi, Chemehuevi, Chumash, Costano, Cupeño, Gabrielino, Hupa, Juaneño, Kamia, Karok, Kateo, Luiseño, Maidu, Mattole, Miwok, Patwin, Pomo, Quechan, Salinan, Serrano, Shasta, Tolowa, Tubatulabal, Wailaki, Wintun, Wiyot, Yahi, Yana, Yokuts, Yuki, Yurok Significance: Indian architecture in California was of a wide variety because of climatic variations throughout the state. The Indians of California lived in climates ranging from foggy, damp coastlands in the north to dry desert regions in the south. Using materials available in their natural environment, they constructed homes of earth, wood, brush, sand, or bark. Buildings were used for summer and winter houses, dance chambers, food storage, and sweatbaths. In the north, large rectangular plank houses were made of cedar, sometimes having several pitched roofs and excavated floors. Sweathouses for male clan members were made of wood and had wood or earth floors. Earth-covered semisubterranean houses were common. These had circular side door openings which had to be crawled through. The most common form of Indian architecture in the California region, and most characteristic of the central region, was the earth-
The California Culture Area Tolowa Karok Shasta Yurok Hupa Wiyot Wintun Mattole Sinkyone Wailaki
Achumawi Atsugewi Yana Yahi
Yuki
Maidu Pomo
Patwin Wappo
Coast Miwok
Miwok Costanoan
Monache Yokuts
Esselen
Tubatulabal
Salinan
Chumash Fernandeño Chemehuevi Serrano Gabrielino Luiseño Juaneño
Cahuilla
Cupeño Diegueño
Quechan Kamia
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Architecture: California
A typical design found in central California was this Mono wickiup-style brush structure. (Library of Congress)
lodge. This pit house was a small structure with an excavated earth floor, an earth roof, and a roof smoke hole, which was also used for entry. Ladders ran up the sides of such dwellings in order to gain access to the entry hole. Small slat openings in the lower sides of the earthlodges could be used to crawl through. Dwellings made of willow poles, tule, brush, or bark had round or cone-shaped roofs and were used by the California region Indian. These structures were covered with bark slabs in winter for greater protection from the cold and could house many families. Ceremonial halls and men’s sweathouses were smaller circular or rectangular buildings of the same type. In the southern regions, dome-shaped brush structures such as the wickiup as well as four-post sand-roofed houses were built. After the arrival of the Spanish, adobe bricks were used and made into mud-thatched one-room homes much like those found in neighboring Mexico.
Architecture: Great Basin
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The roundhouse, largely the result of European contact, was a large, round assembly or dance hall made of wood with metal nails and split shingles. Diane C. Van Noord Source for Further Study Nabokov, Peter, and Robert Easton. Native American Architecture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. See also: Adobe; Earthlodge; Grass House; Pit House; Plank House; Wickiup.
Architecture: Great Basin Tribes affected: Bannock, Gosiute, Kawaiisu, Mono, Numaga, Paiute, Shoshone, Ute, Walapai, Washoe Significance: In the sparsely populated Great Basin region, Indians lived in grass huts, wickiups, tipis, or low, flat-roofed houses. The Great Basin area north of the Colorado River, basically comprising present-day Utah and Nevada, mostly consists of hot, dry desert and continental steppe. The Indians inhabiting this wide area never settled long in one place but constantly moved about in search of fresh food sources. For all but those Indians living along the Colorado River, mobility was a significant factor in the design of their dwellings. The Paiute made a fiber structure known as the wickiup with small forked branches twisted into the shape of a small cone or dome and then covered with grass and brush with an open door space. This structure was used for sleeping, cooking, and storage, as well as for protection from the sun. The wickiup was either left in place when they moved or carried with them to a new location. In the hot summer, Great Basin Indians also made grass huts with a center ridgepole, slanted roof, open ends, and open side walls made of vertical poles; they looked much like an open-sided tent.
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Architecture: Great Basin
In the winter, frame homes near the foothills were covered with mud thatch for greater protection and warmth. Those who lived near other geographical regions often borrowed the architectural styles of the neighboring Indian tribes.
The Great Basin Culture Area
Northern Paiute (Paviotso)
Northern Shoshone
Bannock
Eastern Shoshone
Western Shoshone
Washoe
Mono Gosiute Ute Panamint Kawaiisu
Southern Paiute
Architecture: Northeast
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Structures included the tipi of the Plains, the earthlodge of California, the adobe of the Southwest, and the pit house of the Plateau. Along the Colorado River, Indians developed low, flat sandroofed homes built on poles with excavated floors. The roofs were used for food storage and socializing as well as for protection. These houses also included open ramadas for additional living space. Diane C. Van Noord Source for Further Study Nabokov, Peter, and Robert Easton. Native American Architecture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. See also: Architecture: California; Architecture: Plateau; Architecture: Southwest; Grass House; Tipi; Wickiup.
Architecture: Northeast Tribes affected: Abenaki, Algonquian, Cahokia, Cayuga, Erie, Fox, Huron, Illinois, Iroquois, Kickapoo, Lenni Lenape, Lumbee, Mahican, Maliseet, Massachusett, Mattaponi, Menominee, Metis, Miami, Micmac, Mohawk, Mohegan, Moneton, Montagnais, Montauk, Mountain, Nanticoke, Narragansett, Nauset, Neutral, Niantic, Nipissing, Nipmuc, Nottaway, Ojibwa, Oneida, Onondaga, Ottawa, Passamaquoddy, Pennacook, Penobscot, Pequot, Susquehannock, Tobacco, Wampanoag, Wappinger, Winnebago Significance: The woodlands of the Northeast provided basic building materials, such as saplings, brush, and bark, for a variety of buildings, including the wigwam and the longhouse. The buildings of the Northeast region Indians were constructed in woodlands, on mountains, along the Atlantic coast, and along inland lakeshores. Architectural styles were versatile, adapting to the particular climate and the social, religious, and economic
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Architecture: Northeast
needs of the particular tribe. Primarily used for protection, architecture also expressed the Indians’ way of life. In the eastern portion of this region, the Iroquois and Huron built long communal buildings which were used year-round by clan groups. The longhouse, which varied in length and accommodated more than a hundred people, could be enlarged to make room for newly married couples. The pole-framed structure had a barrel or vaulted roof. Smoke holes placed about 25 feet apart represented the space given to an individual family. The smoke holes were also sources of light. Sleeping bunks ran along the sides of the building. Doors and storage areas were at each end. A typical dwelling structure of Northeast region Indians was the wigwam. Its simple construction of a frame and covering could be easily moved. The basic structure of the wigwam was made of sapling frames bent into arches and tied together with fibercord
The Northeast Culture Area
Micmac Maliseet Passamaquoddy Algonquin
Nipissing Ojibwa
Sauk
Petun Neutral
Fox Miami Kaskaskia Illinois
Erie
Kickapoo
Piankashaw Shawnee Moneton
Mahican
Huron Potawatomi
Seneca Cayuga Onondaga Oneida Mohawk
Ottawa
Menominee
Winnebago
Penobscot Abenaki Pennacook
Nipmuck Pequot Massachusett Wampanoag Narragansett Wappinger
Lenni Lenape Susquehannock Nanticoke Powhatan Nottaway Secotan Tuscarora Pamlico
Architecture: Northeast
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The tipi was among the various structures erected by the Algonquins along the North Atlantic coast. (National Archives)
and then covered with rolls of bark or reed mats. A central fire was used for cooking and heating, and smoke escaped through a parting of the mats. There were many different styles of the basic domed wigwam. The Algonquin used a variety of bark-covered and mat-covered wigwams and barrel or gabled roofs as well as conical tipis using straight poles covered with bark. Along the North Atlantic coast, tipis were made by leaning straight poles vertically together; at the top, these poles met at the center point of a circular shape on the ground, on the circumference of which were positioned the poles’ ends. Sapling stringers were lashed to the frame for stability. They were sometimes insulated by laying grass over the frame and covering this with sheets of birchbark. The smoke hole was at the top of the tipi where the poles met, the floor was covered with fir boughs, and an opening in the side provided a doorway.
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Architecture: Northeast
The Great Lakes region had several basic house types. These were the domed wigwam, used mainly in winter, the conical wigwam, an extension of the domed type by use of a ridge pole, and the summer square bark house, with vertical walls and a gabled roof. Ceremonial lodges and many-sided dance lodges were the largest structures built by the Great Lakes Indians. They were made with poles of cedar, considered to be sacred. A small religious structure called the shaking tent was a single-person hut. Used by the shaman, it was made of a sapling frame covered with bark or canvas, and it shook while the shaman was moving and speaking inside as he performed a rite. Where the Northeast region came closer to the Plains region, the Indians also used the tipi type of dwelling, often covered with canvas or animal hides. Diane C. Van Noord Sources for Further Study Bushnell, David I., Jr. Native Villages and Village Sites East of the Mississippi. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1919. Kubiak, William. Great Lakes Indians: A Pictorial Guide. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1970. Morgan, Lewis H. Houses and House-Life of the American Aborigines. 1881. Reprint. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2003. Nabokov, Peter, and Robert Easton. Native American Architecture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Russell, Howard S. Indian New England Before the Mayflower. Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1980. See also: Birchbark; Longhouse; Tipi; Wigwam.
Architecture: Northwest Coast
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Architecture: Northwest Coast Tribes affected: Chinook, Cowlitz, Haida, Haisla, Kwakiutl, Nisqually, Nootka, Quileute, Salish, Samish, Siuslaw, Snohomish, Tillamook, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Umpqua, other Northwest Coast tribes Significance: The abundance of the environment and the ready availability of wood enabled groups in the Northwest Coast area to construct large, permanent plank buildings. Primary living quarters for Northwest Coast Indians accommodated large extended families up to fifty or more persons. Family houses served also as meeting halls for clan events as well as theaters for annual performances. Houses faced the shoreline, with a lineage leader’s house in the middle and less important family homes on the perimeter. Houses varied in size depending upon the wealth and status of the owner, with the chief having the largest house. Cedar, the prevalent building wood, was hewn into planks to create rectangular, gabled longhouses that regionally varied but could average 60 by 100 feet in area. The commissioning of a house was restricted to the wealthy, and the building of houses was designated to trained specialists, usually of no relation to the owner. Every workman, from skilled craftsman to manual laborer, was paid for each assigned task. Architectural relief carvings or paintings required additional artists and ceremonial feasting at its completion. A potlatch celebration, often including the erection of a totem pole, was expected by the community in order to consecrate the house and the status of the owner. At this time, principal houses were given names that referred to totemic crests of the lineage or to a distinct quality of the house. Northern House Style. Among the Tsimshian, Haida, Tlingit, and Haisla (the northern Kwakiutl), large houses for wealthy extended families measured up to 50 feet by 60 feet and had gabled roofs and vertical plank walls. The first elements constructed on the site were the corner poles. These were raised into foundation
The Northwest Coast Culture Area Eyak
Tlingit
Nishga Gitksan Tsimshian Haida Haisla
Bella Bella Bella Coola
Kwakiutl Nootka Squamish Semiahmoo Cowichan Nooksack Makah Quileute Clallam Quinault Skokomish Chehalis Twana Chemakum Duwamish Chinook Snoqualmie Puyallup Klikitat Clatskanie Nisqually Cowlitz Tillamook Siletz Yaquina Kalapuya Alsea Siuslaw Coos Umpqua Tututni Takelma Chasta Costa Klamath
Architecture: Northwest Coast
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holes by pulling and wedging them into position. Tall ridgepoles supported heavy posts at the front and back, which in turn supported the roof planks with a central opening for a smoke hole. The horizontal beams were elevated into the notched holes of the vertical uprights, followed by the elevation of cross beams. Once the structural framework was constructed, the tapered vertical wall planks were put into place. The entrance was an oval or circular doorway cut into the base of the center ridgepole facing the shoreline. The interior contained a planked, platform floor with bench steps (sometimes movable) leading down to a central fire pit located directly below the roof smoke hole, which, often fitted with a movable shutter, allowed directed interior ventilation. The upper platform provided assigned sleeping space for each family, with the lineage head and his family occupying the rear. The center ridgepole, interior vertical support poles, interior planked screen, and the house front typically exhibited elaborate carved and painted totem crests that validated the ancestral legacy of the
Based on a sketch from the 1830s, an engraving of a Chinook lodge in the Oregon Territory. (Library of Congress)
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Architecture: Northwest Coast
house owner. By the nineteenth century, European architectural influences were evident in the introduction of framed doorways and windows in traditional houses, the use of nails instead of notched joints, commercially sawed lumber, and stoves (replacing the central fire pit). Southern House Style. Two types of house construction differentiate the southern style that dominated throughout the Coast Salish region: the shed roof and the Wakashan. Unlike the northern house style, the walls of horizontal planks created a shell around the house frame. The pitch of the shed roof houses was created by the shoreline vertical poles being taller than the rear support poles. The center-sloping gabled roof of the Wakashan house was created by the center ridge beam being of a larger diameter than the two eave beams. Shed-roof houses averaged about 38 by 80 feet, though they were sometimes much longer when expanded by building end on end. The Wakashan house measured from 36 to 40 feet wide by 40 to 150 feet long. Secondary Structures. The most common secondary architectural structures included summer houses, sweatlodges, smokehouses, mortuary houses, and decks. Roughly built structures, often without flooring, served to house families during the summer fishing and gathering activities. When summer activities occurred annually in the same place, the framework for these houses was frequently permanent, while the planks and materials for the side and roof were brought by the owners each season. Additionally, a summer house could serve as a drying area for the fish in the absence of a separate drying structure. A smokehouse was a plank framework with horizontal poles functioning as drying racks for smoking fish. Rough, enclosed plank structures on stilt poles served as warehouses for fish storage. Sweatlodges were typically walled with tightly fitted planks or logs supporting a roof of boards and earth. With sand floors, fire pit, and an entrance toward the water, this structure made a controllable interior space for steambaths. Small house replicas (8 feet by 6 feet) or small
Architecture: Plains
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shed-roof shelters built of logs or planks, with platforms to hold the deceased, functioned as grave houses. Open-deck structures or raised platforms on stilts constructed on the beach provided designated gathering areas in fair weather. Michael Coronel and Patricia Coronel Sources for Further Study Drucker, Philip. Indians of the Northwest Coast. Garden City, N.Y.: Natural History Press, 1963. Emmons, George Thornton. The Tlingit Indians. Edited by Fredrica de Laguna. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1991. Highwater, Jamake. Arts of the Indian Americas: Leaves from the Sacred Tree. New York: Harper & Row, 1983. Olsen, Ronald L. Adze, Canoe, and House Types of the Northwest Coast. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1991. Stewart, Hillary. Cedar: Tree of Life to the Northwest Coast Indians. Vancouver, B.C.: Douglas & McIntyre, 1984. See also: Longhouse; Plank House; Sweatlodges and Sweatbaths; Totem Poles.
Architecture: Plains Tribes affected: Plains tribes Significance: Plains tribes used a variety of temporary and permanent dwellings, including earthlodges and grass houses; the best-known Plains dwelling is the tipi. Plains Indian architecture is marked by contrasts between mobile and permanent constructions. Evidence suggests that both types of dwelling have a long history in the Plains region. Prehistoric tribes constructed brush-covered lodges supported by stationary cones of branchless trees. They also left “tipi rings,” circles of rocks probably used to hold down the sides of small hide-covered dwellings.
The Plains Culture Area
Sarsi
Plains Cree
Blood Blackfoot Piegan Assiniboine
Atsina
Crow
Hidatsa Mandan
Yanktonai Sioux
Arikara Teton Sioux Santee Sioux Cheyenne
Ponca Yankton Sioux Omaha
Pawnee
Iowa Oto
Arapaho Kansa
Kiowa
Missouri
Osage
Quapaw Comanche
Apache of Oklahoma Wichita Kichai Tonkawa
Lipan Apache
Caddo
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Medicine wheels, circular constructions of boulders with both terrestrial and celestial alignments, were another early architectural achievement. The best-known of these is in the Bighorn Mountains of northern Wyoming. Petroforms, rock designs resembling animal and human figures, suggest a southeastern Indian cultural influence in the Canadian and Dakotan plains. Along the Missouri River, the typical house type was the earthlodge. From the Dakotas to the northeast, the earthlodges of the prehistoric seminomadic agricultural communities were primarily rectangular and consisted of wooden uprights joined by cross beams and rafters covered with sticks, grass, and sod. Along the upper Missouri, villagers used the terrain to augment defenses consisting of dry moats or log palisades. Palisades protected the Mandans’ earthlodge dwellings, which surrounded plazas dominated by a wooden shrine honoring the mythic hero Lone Man. Mandan post-and-beam construction was overlaid by wooden rafters supporting willow branches, grass, and sod. The rectangular format of the Mandans’ sacred Okeepa lodge was a reminder of its prehistoric architectural origins.
A Pawnee family stands outside their earthlodge in Nebraska during the late nineteenth century. (National Archives)
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The Caddo, Kichai, and Wichita of the southern Plains constructed permanent grass houses of thatch bundles fixed to a wood pole frame. Other permanent Plains structures were the ceremonial Sun Dance lodge (of the Kiowa, Arapaho, Shoshone, and Cheyenne), menstrual huts, funerary platforms, religious structures, and sweathouses, such as the Sioux inipi, made of bent willow saplings covered with buffalo hides. The tipi, a cone of poles covered by sewn and tanned buffalo hides and staked to the ground, was widely used for temporary shelter and later became a year-round mobile dwelling. Tipis developed from the “tipi ring” shelter and the Northeastern Woodlands three-pole conical tent. With the arrival of horses to serve as transportation, tipis became larger and more elaborate. William B. Folkestad Source for Further Study Nabokov, Peter, and Robert Easton. Native American Architecture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. See also: Earthlodge; Grass House; Medicine Wheels; Tipi.
Architecture: Plateau Tribes affected: Bannock, Gosiute, Kawaiisu, Paiute, Panamint, Shoshone, Ute, Washoe Significance: Plateau architecture was characterized by circular pit houses. The principal structures within the Plateau culture area were sleeping dwellings, the ubiquitous sweatlodge, isolated menstrual huts, excavated food storage pits, food-drying scaffolds and racks, and temporary lean-to shelters. Though architecture type varied through time and spatial distribution, there were essentially two types of winter dwelling: the circular semi-subterranean pit house and the inverted-V rectangular tule mat lodge. The older pit house
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The Plateau Culture Area
Lillooet Shuswap Nicola
Lake
Methow
Kutenai
Okanagan
Wenatchi Sanpoil Colville Chelan
Klikitat
Yakima Wishram
Walla Walla
Palouse
Tenino Molala
Kalispel
Columbia Wanapam Spokane
Coeur d’Alene Flathead
Nez Perce Umatilla Cayuse
Klamath Modoc
was an excavated, flat, circular pit measuring 9 to 15 feet in diameter, with gradually sloping earthen walls of 3 feet. The aboveground shape was achieved by erecting three or four top-forked poles which, when secured, accommodated smaller lodge poles to support cedar planks, which were covered with sewn willow mats. The exterior was made of layered sewn tule mats, with the apex of the structure being open to serve as a smoke hole and en-
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trance up or down a notched log or hafted, runged ladder. Various grasses, old tule mats, and bear skins covered the dwelling floor. The second type of winter village dwelling was the tule matcovered, inverted-V-type pole-constructed lodge, usually with no ridge pole. Often the floor was excavated to a depth of one foot. These rectangular structures averaged 30 feet in length and approximately 10 feet in width; they could accommodate three to six extended families. Entrance was usually from both ends, where firewood was kept; food was stored in hemp and pliable root bags suspended from the ceiling. This structure was often used for large gatherings and ceremonial rituals. A major influence on southern Plateau architecture was the introduction of the horse, permitting greater involvement with Plains culture through trade and bison hunting, as evidenced by the adoption of the tipi. In the mid-1800’s, bark, tule, and cattail mats began to give way to canvas as a preferred covering material for sweatlodges, tipi dwellings, and longhouses. John Alan Ross Source for Further Study Nabokov, Peter, and Robert Easton. Native American Architecture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. See also: Lean-to; Pit House; Sweatlodges and Sweatbaths; Tipi.
Architecture: Southeast Tribes affected: Southeast tribes Significance: Wattle and daub structures, chakofas, and chickees were among the dwelling types of the Southeast, but the best-known Southeast constructions were large earthen mounds, some of which can still be seen. Southeastern tribal architecture is distinguished by a tradition of monumental mound building. Southeastern mound construction may have originated with Mexican Indians who moved to this lo-
Architecture: Southeast
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The Southeast Culture Area Manahoac
Saponi Monacan Tutelo
Yuchi Cherokee
Chickasaw Coushatta Tuskegee
Creek
Caddo Hasinai
Atakapa
Cheraw Catawba Waccamaw
Hitchiti Tunica Alabama Ofo Chiaha Yazoo Yamasee Guale Natchez Choctaw Tohome Houma Mobile Biloxi Apalachee Chitimacha Timucua Ais Seminole Calusa
cale to participate in the trade that occurred from the Great Lakes region to Florida. The concentric ridges of shaped soil that define a large central plaza at Poverty Point, Louisiana, are associated with this cultural influence. They date from about 1200 b.c.e. The Adena culture of the Ohio River valley (1000 b.c.e.-200 c.e.) raised cone-shaped burial mounds. They also built dwellings that were 20 feet to 70 feet in diameter and had clay-covered latticework walls, a type of construction called wattle and daub. The dwellings were covered with thatched roofs. Adena effigy mounds, known as geoforms, depicting bears, panthers, reptiles, and birds, survive, from Wisconsin to Louisiana. The Great Serpent Mound (800 b.c.e.-400 c.e.) in southern Ohio is 1,247 feet in length and portrays a serpent clutching an egg in its mouth. The Hopewell cul-
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ture’s funerary mounds, monumental circles, squares, and pentagonal geoforms, found in the Ohio Valley, succeeded the Adena constructions. Under the Mississippi tradition (700-1000 c.e.), communities periodically enlarged their flat-topped trapezoidal mounds. The Cahokia site (800 c.e.) near St. Louis, Missouri, was the political, religious, and economic center of the Mississippi tradition. Cahokia’s central pyramid is the largest manmade structure north of Mexico, measuring more than 1,000 feet in length, 700 feet in width, and 100 feet in height, the result of fourteen different building campaigns over three centuries. When European explorers first arrived in the Southeast, they encountered Indian townsites with shaped mounds dominating the community and its plaza. These mounds supported chieftains’ houses and public buildings or contained burials. The Natchez Indians of Mississippi continued the temple mound building tradition into the early eighteenth century. Creek and Yuchi Indians built large villages with ceremonial plazas and ball courts. The Creek chakofa was a communal structure with a thatched conical roof. The Cherokees also built communal structures on low earthen mounds to house sacred fires. By the nineteenth century, many southeastern tribes had adopted European-style buildings. One notable exception was in Florida’s southern marshes, where the Seminoles built wide-eaved, open-sided dwellings with elevated platforms of cypress poles and palmetto thatch known as chickees. William B. Folkestad Source for Further Study Nabokov, Peter, and Robert Easton. Native American Architecture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. See also: Chickee; Mississippian Culture; Mounds and Moundbuilders; Wattle and Daub.
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Architecture: Southwest Tribes affected: Anasazi, Eastern Pueblo, Hohokam, Hopi, Mogollon, Zuñi, other Southwest traditions and tribes Significance: Architecture in the Southwest evolved from the crude pit house to the magnificent stone pueblos of the prehistoric Anasazi, and then to pueblos built in the historic period in the Rio Grande Valley and at Zuñi and Hopi. All three prehistoric cultures in the Southwest were pit house builders. The Mogollon constructed circular pit houses grouped in small villages of fifteen to twenty families. The Hohokam built square or rectangular pit houses randomly scattered over a large area (the settlement at Snaketown covers almost a square mile). Basket Maker and Developmental Pueblo. Basket Maker Anasazi (circa 1-700 c.e.) in the Four Corners area built crude circular subterranean structures with flat roofs, entered by ladder through the smoke hole. Later in this period, three major Anasazi centers developed: Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, and Kayenta. In these villages, circular pit houses were as much as 25 feet in diameter and often were divided into ceremonial space and living space. During the Development Pueblo period (700-1100), the Anasazi evolved building techniques which resulted in structures that were considerably more complex and sophisticated. The pit house continued as a kiva, but dwellings were now aboveground, consisting of slightly curved rows of contiguous flat-roofed rooms, each housing an entire family. The earliest utilization of stone was in “jacal,” a method similar to wattle and daub, with the addition of stone slabs placed against the bottoms of walls and held in place with adobe. A true masonry technique evolved from jacal, wherein large, irregular rocks were laid end to end and packed solidly with adobe. Stone Masonry. Toward the end of this period, the Anasazi shaped sandstone rocks into building blocks, using stone tools not much harder than the sandstone itself. At first, only the load-
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bearing surfaces were shaped, but eventually both visible surfaces were smoothed as well, producing a wall that was both aesthetically pleasing and strong. This new masonry technique resulted in an increase in both the size and complexity of the pueblos; some were as large as thirty or more contiguous rooms and were two stories high. Stone masonry also affected the kiva, whose walls and floor were now lined with carefully shaped and fitted stone blocks, with a stone bench and stone pilasters to support the flat roof. During the Classic Pueblo period (1100-1300), the Anasazi refined their masonry further, developing walls built with a three-
The Southwest Culture Area Havasupai Walapai Mojave
Navajo Jicarilla Tiwa Apache Tewa Zuni Yavapai Jemez Pecos Laguna Maricopa South Acoma Quechan Tiwa Coyotero Cocopa Apache Mimbreño Tohono Apache O’odham Mescalero Chiricahua Apache Apache Pima Suma Hopi
Opata Seri
Jumano
Yaqui
Lipan Apache
Tarahumara
Karankawa Coahuiltec
Tobosco Comarito
Lagunero Zacatec
Architecture: Southwest
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Taos Pueblo in New Mexico. (Library of Congress)
ply construction: an inner and outer facing of shaped sandstone blocks with an interior filling of loose stones and adobe. Varying the shapes of the blocks created linear patterns, adding visual interest to the walls. Pueblos of this period often rose to as many as five stories, with heavy beams set into the walls to support the floors above ground level. Flat roofs were constructed with beams laid across with poles and brush and covered with several inches of clay and mud. Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, and Kayenta continued to be major centers of Anasazi culture; their influence had spread from the upper Rio Grande Valley to Texas and Nevada and to central and southern Arizona. Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon was the largest pueblo in the Southwest, housing more than one thousand people and covering almost four acres, with eight hundred rooms rising in tiers from a single frontal story to five stories at the back. The Anasazi at Mesa Verde built large stone pueblos on the mesa tops but abandoned them a hundred years later in favor of the cliff dwellings—stone buildings erected in irregularly shaped caves in the cliff faces. They apparently made the move for reasons of defense, because the caves were much less desirable places to live, being without
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sunlight much of the day, difficult to reach, and limited in size. Even so, some of the cliff dwellings contained as many as two hundred rooms, twenty-three kivas, and both square and round towers. Having been built in haste in a less desirable location, the stonework was not as skillful as that of the earlier pueblos. Keet Seel and Betatakin were the largest pueblos at Kayenta, a center that was never as populous as Chaco Canyon or Mesa Verde, probably because crops grew less abundantly there. Pueblos both in the open and in the cliffs were built with masonry that was inferior to the other sites. Anasazi Influence. As Anasazi culture spread during the Pueblo period, it transformed the architectural styles of both the Mogollon and the Hohokam. The Mogollon abandoned their pit houses in favor of aboveground masonry structures, such as those at Gila Cliffs in southern New Mexico. There they built forty rooms in five deep caves 150 feet above the canyon floor. The Hohokam were also influenced by Anasazi pueblo architecture, as evidenced by the ruins of Casa Grande in the Arizona desert. Built of caliche, a subsoil with high lime content, Casa Grande has deeply trenched walls 4.5 feet thick at the bottom, tapering to 2 feet at their height. The main two-storied structure was set on a base of earth 5 feet high. A single room atop the building had holes in one wall that lined up precisely with sunset at the equinoxes, suggesting that it may have served as an observatory. Pueblo Grande, on the outskirts of Phoenix, was built of adobe and stone masonry on an earthen platform, providing an unobstructed view of the surrounding countryside. The platform was retained by a massive adobe and rock wall, with a second wall built around the pueblo itself. About 1300, the Anasazi began to leave their major centers to migrate elsewhere. There are several theories which attempt to explain this, among them drought, invasion, or plague. In any case, Pueblo culture was reestablished in large communities in the Rio Grande Valley from Isleta Pueblo to Taos, in the Zuñi Mountains, along the Little Colorado River, and in the area of the Hopi Mesas. Although construction varied according to time and place, pueb-
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los generally followed the traditions established at Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, and Kayenta: large communal structures with hundreds of rooms, often multistoried, built around a central plaza. Some continued the techniques of stone masonry, while others were built with solid adobe or mixed adobe and stone construction. Kivas either were above ground and incorporated into the room blocks or were square or circular subterranean structures located in the plazas. The Puebloans of the Southwest and many of their pueblos survived the Spanish, the Mexican, and finally the United States’ occupation of their lands. The traditions that evolved in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries formed the basis for the Pueblo cultures that exist in these areas today. LouAnn Faris Culley Sources for Further Study Ambler, J. Richard. The Anasazi: Prehistoric People of the Four Corners Region. Rev. ed. Flagstaff: Museum of Northern Arizona, 1989. Amsden, Charles A. Prehistoric Southwesterners from Basketmaker to Pueblo. Los Angeles: Southwest Museum, 1949. Brody, J. J. The Anasazi: Ancient Indian People of the American Southwest. New York: Rizzoli International, 1990. Frazier, Kendrick. People of Chaco: A Canyon and Its Culture. Rev. and updated ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1999. Jones, Dewitt, and Linda S. Cordell. Anasazi World. Portland, Oreg.: Graphic Arts Center, 1985. Lister, Robert H., and Florence C. Lister. Chaco Canyon: Archaeology and Archaeologists. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1981. Nabokov, Peter, and Robert Easton. Native American Architecture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Stuart, David. The Magic of Bandelier. Santa Fe, N.Mex.: Ancient City Press, 1989. See also: Anasazi Civilization; Cliff Dwellings; Hohokam Culture; Kivas; Pit House; Pueblo.
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Architecture: Subarctic Tribes affected: Algonquian, Beaver, Beothuk, Carrier, Chilcotin, Chipewyan, Cree, Dogrib, Han, Hare, Ingalik, Kaska, Koyukon, Kutchin, Naskapi, Slave, Tanaina, Tutchone, Yellowknife Significance: The architecture of the sparsely populated, expansive Subarctic region was primarily wigwams, lean-tos, log houses, and tipis. Geographically, the Subarctic region, comprising much of presentday Canada, is a land of mountains, tundra, evergreen forests, lakes, and streams, with cold winters and heavy snow. Raw materials used for dwellings were saplings, bark, brush, planks or logs, and animal skins. In the Northwest, basically three types of shelters were used. Double lean-tos made of wooden frames were covered with bark, animal skins, or brush. As a result of contact with Northwest Coast Indians, Subarctic Indians made wooden plank houses. Portable
The Subarctic Culture Area Koyukon Ingalik Tanaina Tanana Kutchin Ahtna
Han
Hare
Mountain Tutchone Tagish
Yellowknife Dogrib
Tahltan Tsetsaut Kaska Slave Sekani Carrier Chilcotin
Chipewyan
Beaver Western Woods Cree
Naskapi
Swampy Cree West Main Cree
East Cree Montagnais
Saulteaux
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tents for summer and winter were used in the northwest Subarctic with snow piled against the sides for winter insulation. In the eastern Subarctic region, the cone-shaped wigwam was covered with birchbark rolls. Framed with wooden arched poles, the wigwams were covered with rolls of bark which had been sewn together. The floors were layered with pine boughs, and the larger wigwams had central hearths or family fires. Double walls filled with brush in the wigwams provided cooling in the warm months. Brush-covered conical lodges and tents were also used as summer dwellings, and earth-covered conical structures and log cabins with moss-covered roofs were used in winter. In the Subarctic, some Indians migrated to warmer climates during the winter. Tipis were used throughout the region by those who moved often because they were quickly built and portable; they were made of wooden poles and animal skins. A basic need of Subarctic community was safe food storage. A simple log building constructed on poles off the ground provided a place for food to be stored out of the reach of animals. Diane C. Van Noord Source for Further Study Nabokov, Peter, and Robert Easton. Native American Architecture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. See also: Birchbark; Lean-to; Tipi; Wigwam.
Art and Artists: Contemporary Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Drawing both on antiquity and on the present, Indian artists depict their history, legends, insights, and sorrows. Contemporary American Indian art was spawned by the mid1960’s Civil Rights movement and the 1962 founding of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. By the late 1960’s, the innovative work of Fritz Scholder (Luiseño) and his stu-
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dent T. C. Cannon (Kiowa/Caddo) had alerted other American Indian artists to new ways of depicting the world. Today’s Indian artists balance the traditional and the contemporary, seeing these times as aspects of merging and intersecting cycles. Individuality. In the new atmosphere created by the Civil Rights movement and its aftermath, artists feel free to pursue their own views and concerns rather than having their lives and traditions expressed, often stereotypically, by others. They are doing this in many different ways. There is no singular position from which to examine American Indian art and artists, no distinctive style, materials, or outlook. Today’s American Indians belong to or are descended from hundreds of unique peoples, each with their own culture, language, and history. It can never be assumed that all have a similar history or see themselves unilaterally in relation to European Americans or other American Indians. Many speak through their art to their individuality, which may be woven from a number of different cultures. In Kaaswoot (1982), a self-portrait, Edna Jackson reflects both her Tlingit and European ancestry. Some artists draw on traditions other than their own. Sylvia Lark (Seneca) has been attracted to the arts of Asia. Lark’s fellow Seneca, Peter Jemison, on the other hand, continues the Northeast tradition of artful containers by placing his self-portrait on a paper bag (Aotearoa/Ganondagan, 1986). Those who redefine the old ways, like Jemison, generally attract more critical attention than those who follow the old ways. Thus, Florence Riggs (Navajo), who weaves the life around her—a circus, a trading post—is distinguished from those who reproduce traditional patterns. Political and social statements are often conveyed through these modern interpretations. Many artists, however, do continue the traditional arts and ideas of their culture and gender; women, for example, continue to weave or sculpt with clay, sometimes drawing on ancient forms and styles. Subscribing to another position are those who define themselves as American rather than American Indian, and who may believe that cultural identity has no place in the definition of their art.
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Shared Concerns. While American Indian art can never be funneled into a single definition, many of these artists do share a sense of community resulting in part from a common history. American Indians are sensitized to the past and present manipulation of their land, peoples, religion, culture, and social position at the hands of the politically and economically dominant. As the only group in America who live on and visit their ancestral lands, American Indians are particularly responsive in their work to the loss of their lands and the destruction of the environment. Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheyenne/Arapaho) in Native Hosts (1988) put up aluminum signs in New York parks with messages such as New York today your host is Shinnecock to indicate to today’s residents whose land they occupy. Part of the text is written backward to force the viewers to face the past. Jean La Marr (Paiute/Pit River) in They’re Going to Dump It Where? (1984) shows, reflected in the eyeglasses of a Paiute woman, the Diablo Canyon nuclear facility being struck by lightning—a statement against the destruction of sacred sites for the fostering of European American technology. At the same time, some American Indian artists continue, in both traditional and contemporary styles, to acknowledge the land as sacred, intertwined with culture and religion. Since the earliest days of European conquest, there has been a tendency by European Americans to objectify all American Indians, assuming similarities across social class, education, personal taste, degree of assimilation, and dozens of other factors. The cultures of the Iroquois, Sioux, Hopi, and others have been compressed, standardized, and packaged. Addressing this objectification in The Good Doctor’s Bedside (1983), Lance Belanger (Maliseet) documents the stitchwork of a physician who closed the operation scar of a native woman with beads. Jimmie Durham (Cherokee), in his installation On Loan from the Museum of the American Indian (1986), speaks to the dominant view that anything Indian is worth collecting and displaying; the piece includes “Pocahontas Underwear,” which is decorated with feathers, beads, and pottery shards labeled “Scientifacts” and “Real Indian Blood.” James Luna (Diegueño/Luiseño) in 1986 took the ultimate step in illustrating
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this objectification when he put himself on display, with the appropriate labels, as an American Indian artifact (The Artifact Piece). Some artists with wry humor turn the tables. T. C. Cannon’s The Collector (or Osage with Van Gogh) shows an elder in traditional dress sitting in his comfortable Western living room with his European American possession, a Van Gogh painting. Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Cree/Flathead/Shoshone) powerfully addresses past maltreatments of her people in Paper Dolls for a Post-Columbian World with Ensembles Contributed by U.S. Government (1991), in which sets of dolls’ clothes are labeled “Special Outfit for Trading Land with the U.S. Government for Whiskey with Gunpowder in It” and “Matching Smallpox Suits for All Indian Families After U.S. Government Sent Wagon Loads of Smallpox Infected Blankets to Keep Our Families Warm.” Other artists address the present conditions of American Indians. Richard Ray Whitman (Yuchi/Pawnee) presents the plight of the urban homeless in a set of photographs entitled Street Chiefs Series, 1988. Ron Nogonosh (Ojibwa), on his Shield for a Modern Warrior or Concession to Beads and Feathers in Indian Art (1984-1985), makes reference to Plains art and Dada sculpture; but most poignantly, the crushed beer cans in the center speak to the past and ongoing tragedy of alcoholism among native peoples. Most American Indian artists today, whether they live in a city, on an Indian reservation, or both, speak from two worlds. In works that call on antiquity and the present, they depict their history and their legends, their insights and their sorrows. Zena Pearlstone Sources for Further Study Berlo, Janet Catherine. Native North American Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Brody, J. J. Indian Painters and White Patrons. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1971. Contemporary Native American Art. Stillwater: Gardiner Art Gallery, Oklahoma State University, 1983. Hammond, Harmony, and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, curators.
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Women of Sweetgrass, Cedar, and Sage. New York: Gallery of the American Indian Community House, 1985. Lippard, Lucy R. Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America. New York: Pantheon Books, 1990. McMaster, Gerald. Reservation X. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1998. Pinder, Kymberly N., ed. Race-ing Art History: Critical Readings in Race and Art History. New York: Routledge, 2002. Rushing, W. Jackson. “Recent Native American Art.” Art Journal 51, no. 3 (Fall, 1992): 6-15. See also: Paints and Painting; Pottery; Symbolism in Art.
Arts and Crafts: Arctic Tribes affected: Aleut, Inuit, Yupik Significance: Art of the Arctic, including prints, basketry, tapestries, and sculpture of stone, bone, and ivory, is exhibited and sold throughout the world; it grew in commercial importance in the years after World War II. Visitors to nearly any Canadian city cannot help but notice the ubiquitous small black and gray stone carvings of polar bears, walruses, seals, and fur-clad hunters. These hastily made souvenirs of the Canadian Arctic may be the best-known objects of Eskimo tourist art, but they are hardly representative of the great variety and fine quality of representational art from the Arctic region. Sculptures of stone, bone, and ivory, tapestries of wool and fur, wood and skin masks, baskets, dolls, and prints are widely exhibited in art museums and galleries. Historical Roots. The manufacture of arts and crafts, first for trade and later for cash sale, can be traced to early contacts between Arctic peoples and European explorers, whalers, and traders. Visitors to the region sought souvenirs of their adventures,
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and native residents quickly discovered that they could obtain desirable trade goods by providing those souvenirs, often in the form of miniatures of native material culture. In Alaska, this trade accelerated and grew in importance at the beginning of the twentieth century. The export of arts and crafts from the North remained modest until after World War II, when a time of economic hardship existed for Arctic natives because of the dramatic drop in fox pelt prices. In 1948, a young Canadian artist named James Houston traveled to Port Harrison in northern Quebec, where he became entranced by the miniature carvings made by local Inuits. He returned to Montreal, where he organized an exhibition sponsored by the Canadian Handicrafts Guild. Public reaction to the fine carvings was so exuberant that Houston returned to the Arctic the following year to encourage Inuits to produce more of these pieces, which were shipped south for sale. At the same time, the federal government of Canada, concerned about the dire financial situation of most Inuit communities, hired Houston to act as a roving arts and crafts officer. As the volume of arts and crafts exports increased each year, Inuit artists began experimenting with larger carvings made from soapstone and serpentine. Houston was later instrumental in starting the printmaking industry in the Baffin Island community of Cape Dorset. Throughout the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, the Canadian government was instrumental in the establishment of arts and crafts cooperatives in most Canadian Inuit communities. An umbrella organization known as Canadian Arctic Producers was established to assist in the purchase of raw materials and the distribution of finished products. Although the organization of arts and crafts production varies somewhat from one northern community to another, in Canada the cooperatives continue to play a vital role in the training of artists and the marketing of their work. Throughout the Arctic culture area, much of the early tourist or souvenir art consisted of models or miniatures of items of traditional material culture. For generations, natives had manufactured and decorated highly sophisticated utilitarian objects. Thus, the skills necessary to produce artwork were widely distributed.
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Scholars generally agree that throughout the Arctic, fine craftsmanship in the manufacture of everyday items was highly valued. The hunting cultures of the region believed that animals preferred to be killed by individuals who took the time to produce beautifully designed and decorated weapons. Yupik legend, for example, relates that seals would give themselves up to men whose wives sewed with skill but would avoid men whose wives were slovenly in their sewing habits. As natives accepted more southern manufactured goods and produced fewer utilitarian objects, artwork for local consumption became less common. Commercial art, however, grew in importance as people sought the cash with which to purchase the imported goods. Consequently, the forms that arts and crafts took were heavily influenced by the demands of the marketplace. It is ironic that natives were often encouraged to produce images depicting a traditional way of life that, increasingly, they no longer followed. There have been a number of well-known instances in which native-produced art was believed to have been overly influenced by Western styles or motifs and was therefore rejected by the market as not native enough. Contemporary Forms. There is considerable variation in both motifs and materials among the three native groups of the region. On both the eastern and western extremes of the Arctic culture area the art forms draw heavily on spiritual motifs. This is seen most clearly in the tupilak sculptures from East Greenland. These small, often grotesque, figurines are generally carved from sperm whale teeth. Although the tupilaks are physical representations of Inuit helping spirits, they have always been produced, not as amulets, but for sale. To the contrary, the spirit masks produced by Alaska’s Yupik Eskimos were (and to some extent, still are) an integral part of the dance and ceremonies that accompanied the annual subsistence cycle. Often made of driftwood, the masks are representations of plants, animals, and helping spirits. Printmaking is most developed in several Canadian Inuit communities, including Holman, Baker Lake, Povungnituk, and Cape
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Dorset. Prints are produced in series of fifty per image, and stone block printing, stenciling, and lithography are the most common printmaking methods. Although there are clearly developed community styles, many of these tend to be artifacts of local printmaking techniques. The primary differences in artistic style are those of gender—men tend to produce scenes of hunting and other “male” activities, while women more often depict relationships, families, and spirits. Sculptures of fossil whalebone and soapstone are produced from St. Lawrence Island in the west to Baffin Island in the east. Most carvers are male and, as with printmaking, many of the images are of animals and hunting. Some notable recent pieces have depicted social concerns such as alcohol abuse. Graceful birds delicately shaped from musk ox horn are also a recent innovation. Dolls, jewelry, and baskets are also produced in the region. Twined Aleut baskets are among the most delicately woven in the world. Generally woven from wild rye beach grasses, the almost clothlike baskets require great skill, time, and patience. Few Aleut women continue this painstaking activity. Among the Iñupiat of North Alaska, there are also a few makers of coiled baleen baskets. The first baleen baskets were produced in Barrow around 1914 at the request of the trader Charles Brower. The stiff baleen is extremely difficult to work, and a finely made basket commands a high price. In the Iñupiat community of Anaktuvuk Pass, located in the Brooks Range of North Alaska, residents make a unique caribou-skin mask that is pressed into the shape of a human face and decorated with sealskin and fur for the eyebrows, hair, and beard. Pamela R. Stern and Richard G. Condon Sources for Further Study Black, Lydia T. Glory Remembered: Wooden Headgear of Alaska Sea Hunters. Juneau: Friends of the Alaska State Museums, 1991. Canadian Museum of Civilization. In the Shadow of the Sun: Perspectives on Contemporary Native Art. Mercury Series Paper 124. Hull, Quebec: Canadian Ethnology Service, 1993.
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Driscoll, Bernadette. I Like My Hood to Be Full. Winnipeg, Canada: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1980. Goetz, Helga, ed. The Inuit Print/L’Estampe Inuit. Ottawa: National Museum of Man, 1977. Graburn, Nelson H. H. “Inuit Art.” In Arctic Life: Challenge to Survive, edited by Martina M. Jacobs and James B. Richardson III. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Institution Press, 1983. Hudson’s Bay Company. Beaver 298 (1967). Special issue on Canadian Inuit arts. Iglauer, Edith. Inuit Journey. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1979. Lee, Molly. Baleen Basketry of the North Alaskan Eskimo. Foreword by Aldona Jonaitis. Seattle: University of Washington Press with the University of Alaska Museum, 1998. Ray, Dorothy Jean. Aleut and Eskimo Art: Tradition and Innovation in South Alaska. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1981. _______. Eskimo Art: Tradition and Innovation in North Alaska. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1977. See also: Baskets and Basketry; Sculpture.
Arts and Crafts: California Tribes affected: Chumash, Cupeño, Fernandeño, Gabrielino, Hupa, Kato, Luiseño, Maidu, Miwok, Modoc, Patwin, Pomo, Salinan, Tolowa, Wintun, Yana, Yokuts, Yurok Significance: Californian tribes are known for fine basketry work and rock art. California tribes hunted, gathered, and fished, and they were divided into many relatively small groups. Although they neither produced monumental art nor possessed a complex art tradition as did the tribes of the Southwest or the Plains, they were nevertheless masters in basketry. Artistic traditions were divided into three geographical zones within the state of California. The southern-
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most groups had poorly made pottery, carved stone bowls and figures (including stone effigies), rock art, and basketry. The central groups, especially the Pomo, were master basketmakers. The northern groups were influenced by Northwest Coast arts and crafts and made plank houses, dugout canoes, slat armor, and basketry hats.
Image not available
A sampling of basketry made by the Northern California Hupa tribe. (Ben Klaffke)
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Basketry. The preeminent craft of Native Americans in California has been basketry. They used both coiling and twining techniques, with coiling being done by the southern groups and twining by the northern ones. Basketry was used to make most containers and to provide many other functional necessities, including mats, baby boards, and boats. Basketry was also used to make decorative objects such as headdresses, and was a part of religious rituals and the life passage rituals of birth, puberty, marriage, and death. Basketry has always been a woman’s art among the California groups, and it provided the women with their primary means of aesthetic expression. Basket designs, considered to be the property of women, were usually geometric and abstract, including circles, crosses, steps, and parallel line designs. Stylized figures of plants and people were also made. Natural vegetable colors were used to achieve the designs. The aesthetic accomplishment in the finer baskets from this region goes far beyond the functional needs for which the basketry was made. The finest examples of basketry are the “jewel” or “gift” baskets made by Pomo women. These special baskets incorporated feather mosaics into the design along with clam and abalone shells. Red, white, black, blue, and green feathers were used. In some cases the feathers and shells were used sparingly to heighten the basketry design, but in others they became a second layer which totally covered the basket and formed designs of their own. Shells hung along the rim or sides of the basket as ornamentation. These “jewel” baskets were not only made by women, but were also made as gifts for other women. They were seen as a special ceremonial gift for a woman at important life passage points in her life, such as birth, puberty, and marriage. These baskets had emotional importance for Indian women, probably forming part of self-identity. They were usually cremated along with the woman at death. Baskets also play a crucial role in mythology. One story says that the earth did not originally have the light of the sun. The original culture hero and creator discovered a village where there was
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light which was kept in baskets in a sacred sweatlodge. Able to steal one of the magic sun baskets, he hung it in the sky so that all would have light. Functional baskets were important to the economy of the California groups. Since most groups did not have pottery, baskets were used for cooking and domestic purposes which included storing, grinding, toasting, and boiling food. Water containers were also made from baskets. Although some groups sealed their baskets with pitch or tar, the Pomo, Patwin, and other groups from central California made coiled baskets so tightly bound that they were naturally waterproof. Rock Art. Rock art consisted of painting highly personalized dream images onto rocky cliffs or overhangs. The Chumash seem to have been the only group to practice it. This art may have reproduced hallucinogenic images seen by men after the ceremonial taking of datura. Rock art consists of compositions of geometric forms, including circles, zigzags, diamonds, chevrons, and crosses, juxtaposed with figures of animals, plants, and people. The colors normally used were strong, saturated hues of red, yellow/orange, black, white, and blue, and the paints were made from minerals and bonded with vegetable and animal oils. The practice of this art seems to have died out in the late 1800’s without the meanings being explained in historical records. Ronald J. Duncan Sources for Further Study Bibby, Brian, ed. The Fine Art of California Indian Basketry. Berkeley, Calif.: Heyday Books, 1996. Szabo, Joyce M., ed. Painters, Patrons, and Identity: Essays in Native American Art to Honor J. J. Brody. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2001. See also: Baskets and Basketry; Paints and Painting.
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Arts and Crafts: Great Basin Tribes affected: Bannock, Gosiute, Kawaiisu, Mono, Numaga, Paiute, Paviotso, Shoshone, Ute, Walapai, Washoe Significance: The arts and crafts of the Great Basin are primarily baskets and other objects created through basketry techniques, reflecting a material culture adapted to a desert environment. The arts and crafts of the tribes of the Great Basin represent the highest degree of dependence on basketry techniques of any of the Native American culture areas. Many different kinds of baskets were made, including carrying baskets, serving baskets, and water jars; basketry techniques were also used for making other items, from clothing to boats and houses. Although most baskets were coil made, some were made by the twining technique. Decorative Baskets. Some of the earliest baskets collected from the Paiutes in the nineteenth century were decorated, and since that time there has been an evolution in designs. The earliest baskets known from this region used the stacked rod coiling technique, which refers to the plaiting of two or more coils. The early decorated baskets were made with a technique different from the one normally used, which suggests that the early decorative patterns were borrowed from neighboring basket-maker groups; the baskets themselves may even have been made by other groups. By the 1890’s, the Paiutes were making decorated baskets for the Navajo, especially wedding baskets, and this relationship has continued to the present day. In addition to that design, the Paiute basket makers borrowed others from Navajo textiles. The designs on Paiute baskets seem to have been largely borrowed. The wedding basket is an interesting case of one cultural group doing important ceremonial craftwork for another group. The wedding basket is a tray or open bowl shape of twelve to fourteen inches in diameter; it was used by the Navajo to serve cornmeal mush to the honorees and guests at important ceremonies. It is characterized by a circular band of deep red that is bordered by
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black triangles along both the inside and outside edges. A break in the encircling band is left to provide an opening from the center of the basket outwards, and it is sometimes called the door. During ceremonial use of the basket, the “door” is pointed eastward. Star or snowflake patterns may be created by the black triangles in the center of the basket if the encircling red band is small and the triangles are large. Wedding baskets are made with coils of three bunched rods of sumac. The sewing splints are narrow, and the rims are finished in a herringbone design with diagonal plaiting. Decorative trade baskets have also been made by various groups, including the Washoe and the San Juan Paiutes. There was a period of outstanding Washoe decorative baskets during the early part of the century. Since traditional Washoe baskets were undecorated, the styles of California tribes were imitated initially; however, the Washoe baskets were distinctive because of their large size, fine stitching, and red and black decoration. Some Washoe baskets were characterized by bold designs, a style that continued throughout the remainder of the century. The San Juan Paiutes experienced a period of florescence during the latter part of the twentieth century based on the borrowing of design patterns, including the use of Navajo yei figures, the Navajo Spider Woman cross, and Havasupai angular designs, among others. Utilitarian Basketry. The largest utilitarian baskets were the conical burden baskets carried on the back with supplies of nuts, roots, or other foods. They were often about 18 inches high and 16 inches across at the opening, and they were made by coiling or twining. Burden baskets could be made with a tight weave for the carrying of seeds and small nuts or made with an open weave for carrying heavier roots. Although utilitarian baskets were rarely decorated, some burden baskets were made with dyed splints. Basket bowls and shallow circular trays were used for preparing seeds and nuts for eating; food was sometimes cooked or parched with hot stones in the lined baskets. The trays were also used for winnowing out chaff from eatable food. There were also seed beaters in various shapes, ranging from “snowshoe” to
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handfan designs. These were used to knock seeds off grasses into a conical carrying basket. Pot-shaped storage baskets with tight weave and small necks were used to protect food; water jars were sealed inside with pitch. Scoops, brushes, toys, and other small objects were also made from basketry techniques. Cradleboards, Canoes, and Houses. The people of the Great Basin could live in basket-made structures from the cradle to
A late nineteenth century mother holding her baby in the traditional cradleboard. (Library of Congress)
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death. A cradleboard for a small infant was made completely by basketry techniques, with a curved hood to protect the head and a soft back. The cradleboard for a larger infant was made with a wooden frame onto which a basketry back and hood were woven. Houses were also made with basketry techniques and were essentially upside-down baskets. A willow frame was made by setting up twelve or more vertical willows that were approximately 10 feet long. They were tied together by other willows running horizontally—just above the ground, midway up, and near the top. The top of the frame was tied inward to form a closed-in shape. Cattail leaf mats were woven around other willows, and the mats were tied into place to form the walls. Long grass could also be used to form the walls. Small canoes were also made with bulrushes (or tule), similar to reed boats made in Peru. Armload bundles of bulrush were tied together with twisted cattail leaf ropes in such a way that a narrow prow was formed, leaving a broader stern where a person could sit and direct the craft. Bulrush duck decoys were also made. Ronald J. Duncan Sources for Further Study Arkush, Brooke S. “The Great Basin Culture Area.” In Native North Americans: An Ethnohistorical Approach, edited by Daniel L. Boxberger. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 1990. Berlo, Janet Catherine. Native North American Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Cohodas, Marvin. “Washoe Innovators and Their Patrons.” In The Arts of the North American Indian: Native Traditions in Evolution, edited by Edwin L. Wade. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1986. Feder, Norman. American Indian Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1965. Wheat, Margaret M. Survival Arts of the Primitive Paiutes. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1967. Whiteford, Andrew Hunter. Southwestern Indian Baskets: Their History and Their Makers. Santa Fe, N.Mex.: School of American Research Press, 1988.
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Wroth, William, ed. Ute Indian Arts and Culture: From Prehistory to the New Millennium. Colorado Springs, Colo.: Taylor Museum of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 2000. See also: Baskets and Basketry.
Arts and Crafts: Northeast Tribes affected: Algonquian, Cayuga, Fox (Mesquaki), Huron, Iroquois, Kickapoo, Lenni Lenape, Lumbee, Menominee, Miami, Micmac, Mohawk, Narragansett, Oneida, Onondaga, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Sauk, Seneca, Shawnee, Susquehannock, Tuscarora, Winnebago Significance: The baskets, quillwork, beadwork, and masks of the Northeast tribes are among the finest in North America. The Northeast covers New England, New York, and the eastern Great Lakes region down to the Ohio River valley. The art of Native Americans from the northeastern area of the United States used themes associated with nature, mythology, and the supernatural. It might represent otherworldly themes, such as a quillwork ornament representing a thunderbird which protected the wearer from the panther spirit of the other world. It might also represent everyday themes, such as beadwork showing the multicolored hues of flowers and vines that were a natural part of the flora. Included in this rich array of arts were birchbark boxes, quillwork, beadwork, and wood carvings. Pottery was lost in this region soon after contact was made with European groups who introduced the Indians to metal containers. Masks. Iroquois-made wooden and cornhusk masks are the most striking art form in this region. Men carve and paint wooden masks, while women braid cornhusk ones. These masks are still worn by contemporary members of the Society of Faces in dances that are intended to cure people and drive disease from their
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A Seneca carver, Kidd Smith, at work in the Tonowanda Community House during the twentieth century. (National Archives)
homes. Characteristics include strong, staring eyes, heavy wrinkles, and horse-mane hair. Although some have sober, dark colors and small mouths, others are brightly painted and have big ear-toear mouths. The features may be distorted. Wooden masks, made and worn only by men, represent many different spirits, including those of trees, plants, waterfalls, unusual rocks, and other special features of the landscape. They are carved from living trees, and the traditional belief was that they
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embodied a living spirit. Tobacco was tied into the hair for use by the spirit, and the mask was fed regularly. Cornhusk masks may be made and worn by men or women, and they represent the spirits of vegetation which work to heal people. Various features of the mask identify the spirit portrayed by it. For example, a broken nose and wide crooked mouth represent a spirit called the “Great Defender” or the “Rim Dweller,” who was transformed from a malevolent spirit into one which helped people. Wood carving was also used to make clubs and carved figures for knife handles and other uses. Carvings commonly represented hands, the human body, bears, and horses. Bark Boxes and Baskets. Bark was a favorite material for making boxes, baskets, and even canoes. Birchbark was used in the Great Lakes area, and elm bark was used by the Iroquois and other groups in the East. These barks are soft and pliable when peeled, which permits them to be shaped into square and round designs for containers. Bark can be bent, rolled, and stitched, and it provides a good surface for drawing or incising. Quillwork was frequently used to decorate the surface. Both covered boxes and open baskets made use of this material. Splint basketry was also made in this area. Beadwork. Both quillwork and small stone beads were originally used to create designs and decorative bands on clothing. After the introduction of European glass trade beads, this art medium went through a spectacular development. The original work was limited to the muted colors of autumn earth tones, but the glass beads permitted the introduction of the saturated hues of spring flowers and berries. Ribbons were introduced along with beads; combined, they gave many more opportunities for the ornamentation of clothing. Beads have been used to represent both the geometric designs found in earlier ceramic patterns and the floral motifs with which the eastern groups are identified. The latter may have developed out of an earlier tradition of naturalistic representations. There
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were also European models for the floral motifs which may have been the ecclesiastical attire of priests, but other floral patterns incorporated later may have referred to local medicinal plants. The idea that there were European sources for the floral patterns is reinforced by the fact that they were commonly used on shoulderstrap bags, adapted from European military pouches, and on European-style deerskin coats. Indigenous belts and trumplines decorated with quillwork later evolved into beaded and beribboned votive belts by which people expressed their devotion. Ronald J. Duncan Sources for Further Study Berlo, Janet Catherine. Native North American Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Dubin, Lois Sherr. North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present. New York: Henry N. Abrams, 1999. See also: Baskets and Basketry; Beads and Beadwork; Birchbark; Masks; Quillwork.
Arts and Crafts: Northwest Coast Tribes affected: Bella Bella, Bella Coola, Haida, Haisla, Kitamat, Kwakiutl, Makah, Nitinat, Nootka, Tlingit, Tsimshian Significance: The people of the Northwest Coast have one of the most recognizable art styles of the world and produced the most important monumental art of the indigenous North American groups. The people of the Northwest Coast are identified by their art, especially painted house facades, masks, and the monumentality of the totem poles. They are the outstanding wood carvers of North America, and their art treats the themes of cosmology and origins, social status and prestige, and shamanistic power. Both sculpture and painting are characterized by strong colors and shapes.
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Totem Poles. Totem poles stand in front of houses as a statement of the sacred history of the family. The vertical series of figures making up the pole traces the family to the time the lineage was founded in the mythic past. The origin story usually tells about the original ancestor encountering a spirit who gave him and his descendants a special power, as well as the image of the spirit as a heraldic crest for the family. Each family may possess more than one crest; crests are inherited by the children in each generation. Multiple crests may be represented on a pole, and common ones include the bear, mountain lion, eagle, frog, and wolf. The totem pole seems only to have developed during the nineteenth century, but similar poles were carved earlier as the crest poles of houses. The totem poles were carved and erected as memorials to men of chiefly status who had died, and they were mnemonic devices to record the heritage of the family. The pole became a public proclamation of ancestry and the rights to positions of prestige along with their benefits, obligations, and supernatural characteristics. The carver of a totem pole was expected to be a relative of the man honored. If the man chosen to be the carver did not have the required skill, he could conceptualize the piece and name a skilled carver to execute it. The authorship of a pole was assigned to the one who conceptualized it. The poles were as much as 60 feet tall, and they were carved lying on the ground. House Facades and Crest Poles. The house itself was the cosmos in a microcosm, with the hearth being the navel of the world; the house posts were the supports of the earth and sky, and the smoke hole was the connection between the earth and the heavenly world, forming a vertical cosmic axis. The facades of chiefly houses could be painted with the images of mythical animals who were the head of the lineage. In the nineteenth century and earlier, the crest poles of houses were carved, and sometimes a large entrance hole was cut into it, which served as the door for the house. The opening was frequently portrayed as the mouth or the vagina of the animal lineage head of the family, and going in and out of the house represented death and rebirth from the lineage totem. In
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some instances the door hole represented the hole of creation through which the original ancestor passed to enter this world. Another version interpreted it as the hole through which the original shaman passed back and forth to the other world to learn the sacred knowledge, ceremonies, and masks that characterized ritual. Masks and Hats. Masks have been the most common art form among the peoples of the Northwest Coast. Like the motifs of the totem poles, masks belong to families and were originally given to the founding ancestor because of a victory over an adversary. Masks and the accompanying costumes create a figure who was an actor in a myth; songs and dances are also inherited with the mask to dramatize the myth. Masks represent the shamanic power of transformation from the earthly present to the mythic past or to the supernatural world. In the ephemeral other world of the masks, the heroic exploits of the original people are acted out, and the myths reconfirm the fundamental principles of the cosmos. Masks may represent supernatural animal spirits, shamans, or important people. In addition to being carved, many are painted with strong primary colors. Some have movable parts. The shaman’s quest for spiritual powers is also a common theme of mask-myth performances. The shamanic regalia included special masks, costumes, drums, and rattles. The rattles are especially striking because of their elaborate and complex carving. The basic figure shown in the rattle was frequently a water bird, and the shaman is shown on its back with other animals. The tongue of a goat or a frog may become a bridge through which the shaman transforms the power of that animal into his own. Carved wooden hats and war helmets were traditionally important, and some are essentially variations on the idea of the masks. War helmets have not been made since the nineteenth century, but they represented ancestors or other effigy beings who could give strength to the warrior. Conical clan hats were also important, and they represent the animal of the family crest. Like masks, these hats sometimes had movable parts. These family crest hats are among the most dramatic pieces of Northwest Coast
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art, possessing abalone-shell inlays, stylized bodies, and polychrome painting. Domestic Crafts. Weaving, basketry, and the carving of wooden household utensils were also common crafts. During historical periods woven tunics frequently included the family crest motifs, similar to the totem poles, masks, and hats. Spindle whorls for spinning the thread were elaborately carved in wood. Women were accomplished basket makers, and their twined work with grasses and other fibers were as fine as woven cloth. Ronald J. Duncan Sources for Further Study Berlo, Janet Catherine. Native North American Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Carlson, Roy L., ed. Indian Art Traditions of the Northwest Coast. Burnaby, B.C.: Archaeology Press, Simon Fraser University, 1982. Furst, Peter T., and Jill L. Furst. North American Indian Art. New York: Rizzoli International, 1982. Holm, Bill. Crooked Beak of Heaven: Masks and Other Ceremonial Art in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1972. _______. “The Dancing Headdress Frontlet: Aesthetic Context on the Northwest Coast.” In The Arts of the North American Indian: Native Traditions in Evolution, edited by Edwin L. Wade. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1986. King, J. C. H. Portrait Masks from the Northwest Coast of North America. London: Thames & Hudson, 1979. Shearar, Cheryl. Understanding Northwest Coast Art: A Guide to Crests, Beings, and Symbols. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000. Suttles, Wayne, ed. Northwest Coast. Vol. 7 in Handbook of North American Indians. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990. See also: Chilkat Blankets; Masks; Paints and Painting; Sculpture; Totem Poles.
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Arts and Crafts: Plains Tribes affected: Arapaho, Arikara, Assiniboine, Atsina, Blackfoot, Caddo, Cheyenne, Comanche, Cree, Crow, Hidatsa, Iowa, Kiowa, Mandan, Missouri, Omaha, Osage, Pawnee, Ponca, Sioux, Tonkawa, Wichita Significance: The beadwork and headdresses of the Plains are a dramatic statement of personal aesthetics, and they are the primary association with Native American art for many people. The arts and crafts of the Plains tribes were small in scale and highly transportable because of the largely nomadic Plains existence. The arts had supernatural relationships with the spirit world; for example, beautifying the skin of a slain animal was thought to please its spirit and avert retaliation. Ghost Dance shirts and dresses also demonstrate the close relationship between art and the spiritual world. Clothing and Bags. Clothing, moccasins, and bags were made of skins, and most were decorated with geometric designs by women using quills, beads, or paint. Plains art is most known for the beadwork on clothing and other personal items and the earlier work with porcupine quills. By the early nineteenth century, colored beads of Venetian glass had been introduced by the Europeans as trade items, and by midcentury they had been replaced by even smaller “seed beads,” which led to a new style of beadwork that covered entire surfaces. The elongated shape of the quill was used to decorate medallions, boxes, and cradleboards, among other items, and resulted in geometric designs or highly stylized figures. Beadwork portrayed such things as floral patterns, the tipi, crosses, the United States flag, and lightning. Dresses, shirts, and parfleches were frequently painted. The parfleche was a thick-skinned, folding bag which was capable of withstanding arrows and lances. Narrative Art. Narrative paintings were done by men on skins, especially on robes and tipis. These narrated calendrical histories
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(called wintercounts), important tribal gatherings, personal visions, mythological events, and important battles, raids, and hunts. The calendar drawings have mnemonic value for remembering the major events that occurred in a tribe or band over a number of years. The winter camps were the fixed points between which yearly events were remembered. Battle scenes, as well as raids and hunts, narrate the personal bravery and skill of a specific warrior, and these were usually painted by the same warrior on his personal buffalo robe or on his tipi cover. He would usually portray the most important moment of his triumph. Tribal gatherings were also portrayed in narrative detail, describing features of the landscape, placing of tipis, clothing, and tribal paraphernalia. The describing of personal visions and mythological events was done with less narrative detail; it was left to the imagination of the viewer to complete the story. Vision paintings were frequently done on shields or tipis. As the independent lifestyle of the Plains people came to an end and the people were settled around forts, the art of skin painting was lost. This happened in part because the personal exploits narrated by the men in battle and hunting no longer happened and in part because the skins were no longer available. In its place, ledgerbook painting was developed among the Southern Plains tribes; among the Northern Plains tribes, men adapted to painting on cloth. Ledgerbook art typically narrates the experience of Native Americans with the European American world. Instead of the horses, tipis, and buffalo of the skin paintings, the ledger paintings portray forts, trains, wagons, and even towns. The most famous collection of ledger art comes from the seventy-two warriors from five Southern Plains tribes who were sent to Fort Marion in Florida after their surrender in 1875. Pipes as Miniature Sculpture. The pipe was the single most important art object made by the Plains groups, and it explored the relationship between humans and the sacred in the earth and sky, including the concept of the universe. Each man carved his own private ceremonial pipe, and sometimes one would be made as a
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special gift for another person. The holiest pipes were common property and were considered to be especially powerful. The bowls were usually carved from reddish pipestone, which was considered to be blood colored and therefore to represent life. They were usually plain bowls but could include complex carvings of animals or humans. The stems were also elaborately carved and could be two feet long or more; sometimes they were of greater importance than the bowl itself. Stems were carved in a number of imaginative designs, including spiral stems, mazeway puzzle stems, and stems with figurative carvings of animals and guardian spirits. Since the power of the pipe was activated when the stem and bowl were united, they were usually separated when stored. Pipe bags show some of the most important Plains beadwork and quillwork, which indicates the significance of pipes.
Alice Littleman, a member of the Kiowa tribe, displaying Plains beadwork and skin sewing. (U.S. Department of the Interior Indian Arts and Crafts Board)
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Gender and Art. Women beautified clothes and other items of domestic use with geometric designs in their media of bead and quillwork, with occasional painting. Craft and skill were definitive of women’s work, and they used the geometric signs that communicated the important concepts of nature and the supernatural. Many incorporated the United States flag into their beadwork during the late 1800’s, perhaps as a statement of peace. The women’s art uses collective designs, and it does not emphasize the individuality of the piece. In contrast, men’s narrative art is individualistic and boasts of personal exploits. Craft seems to be less important in the narrative art, which is done with lines that are rigid and awkward. Men’s pipe carvings are carefully crafted, however, and rival the quality of the women’s beadwork. Ronald J. Duncan Sources for Further Study Berlo, Janet Catherine. Native North American Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Coe, Ralph T. Sacred Circles: Two Thousand Years of North American Indian Art. Kansas City, Mo.: Nelson Gallery Foundation, 1977. Catlin, George. Indian Art in Pipestone: George Catlin’s Portfolio in the British Museum. Edited by John C. Ewers. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979. Dubin, Lois Sherr. North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present. New York: Henry N. Abrams, 1999. Furst, Peter T., and Jill L. Furst. North American Indian Art. New York: Rizzoli International, 1982. Penny, David W. Art of the American Indian Frontier. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1992. Wade, Edwin L., ed. The Arts of the North American Indian: Native Traditions in Evolution. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1986. See also: Beads and Beadwork; Dress and Adornment; Headdresses; Quillwork.
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Arts and Crafts: Plateau Tribes affected: Cayuse, Chilcotin, Klikitat, Lillooet, Nez Perce, Shuswap, Umatilla, Walla Walla, Wasco, Wishram, Yakima Significance: The arts and crafts of the Plateau effectively preserved traditional design styles and techniques longer than most other Native American culture areas. The people of the Plateau have produced bags, basketry, beadwork, and wood carving of excellent quality. Their work reflects the influences from neighboring culture areas and demonstrates the diffusion and acculturation of arts and crafts traditions across culture lines among Native Americans. Contact with European groups occurred later here than in most other areas, and this fact permitted a greater preservation of traditional arts and crafts. Woven Bags. The Plateau bag is the most distinctive art and craft medium of this culture area. These bags are known for their geometric designs and skillful color patterns. The women makers of these bags are known for their weaving skill, and many of them achieved personal visions of aesthetic excellence in geometric and color composition. Along with Navajo blankets and rugs, these bags represent the finest designs in North American weaving. Plateau people have also made blankets but never with the same sophistication with which they weave bags. The first European Americans to arrive in the area were Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1805, and they mentioned the woven bags made by the Nez Perce. The twined or woven bags are made with the beige background of hemp but then decorated with bear grass and cattails dyed with vegetable colors. After corn was introduced into the area in the early nineteenth century, corn husks were used for the bags; later, yarn was also incorporated. After that they were sometimes referred to as cornhusk bags. They were made in varying sizes, ranging from 8 by 8 inches to 18 by 22 inches. Some large versions of the bag are as much as 36 inches long, and they were usually carried vertically. They were
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originally used for carrying food that had been collected. After horses arrived in the region, they were used as saddlebags. In the twentieth century they became decorative handbags carried by women. The designs were traditionally geometric, but figurative motifs were introduced in the late nineteenth century. The bag was continuously woven in the round, with the front side being more elaborate than the back. Triangles and diamond shapes were especially popular, and they were sometimes combined to form star, butterfly, cross, chevron, or arrow designs. Smaller designs were incorporated within or around the larger main design, which added complexity and visual interest. Long straight lines were frequently serrated, also creating more visual interest. Bag designs also emphasize the play between positive and negative spaces so that the viewer must shift his or her vision between the two. The introduction of figurative designs including plants, animals, and humans reflected European American influences, especially the floral designs of the Victorian period. Since weaving lends itself more to the representation of geometric shapes than to reproducing organic ones, geometric forms continued to be important into the twentieth century. The ability to make organic, figurative shapes was the sign of a skillful weaver. Baskets and Basketry. Both coiling and twining were used to make basketry items. Twining was used to make soft fiber objects such as hats and bags, as discussed above. Coiling was used to make more rigid basket containers, ranging from small bowls to large storage baskets. A technique of decoration known as “imbrication” is distinctive to the Plateau area. Imbrication is a process of creating a second decorative layer on top of the coil-made basket by stitching it into the surface of the basket. Since the decorative layer has no important structural problems to solve, it can be designed purely for aesthetic purposes. The imbricated layer has a continuous surface not interrupted by the dominant coil lines of the coil-made basket. Mats were also made by some groups and were traditionally used to cover the walls of tipis.
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Beads and Beading. Beading was done on clothes, bags, baskets, and horse trappings, among other things, and represents an influence from the Plains tribes to the east. Similar to the Northern Plains people, both men and women of the Plateau used buckskin clothing decorated with beadwork. Originally beads were added to fringes, but later overall beading was used for shirts, cuffs, headbands, belts, and other accessories. Beading was used for horse trappings, including bridles, mane covers, shin straps, stirrup covers, and saddle bags. Beading was also used to cover coiled baskets. The bead designs were geometric during the nineteenth century, but figurative motifs became increasingly important in the twentieth century. The Plateau bead workers used triangles, diamonds, squares, and crosses to create geometric designs, and the figurative patterns incorporate floral motifs, eagles, and the U.S. flag, among many other patterns. Carving. Figures, grave marker totems, scoops, and small bowls were carved of wood and horn, reflecting influences from the neighboring Northwest Coast peoples. Human figures carved of wood represented ancestral spirits or beings, and shaman’s wands included anthropomorphic forms. Small wooden bowls included figures carved in relief on the surfaces as well as decorative patterns of parallel or serrated lines. Occasionally figures were carved in three dimensions on the sides of bowls. The handles of scoops and spoons were carved with animal and human figures. The handles of wood-carving tools were themselves elaborately carved. Ronald J. Duncan Sources for Further Study Berlo, Janet Catherine. Native North American Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Coe, Ralph T. Sacred Circles: Two Thousand Years of North American Indian Art. Kansas City, Mo.: Nelson Gallery Foundation, 1977. Feder, Norman. American Indian Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1965.
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Kehoe, Alice B. North American Indians: A Comprehensive Account. 2d ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1992. Linn, Natalie. The Plateau Bag: A Tradition in Native American Weaving. Kansas City, Kans.: Johnson County Community College, Gallery of Art, 1994. Penney, David W. Art of the American Indian Frontier. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1992. See also: Baskets and Basketry; Beads and Beadwork; Sculpture; Weaving.
Arts and Crafts: Southeast Tribes affected: Alabama, Anadarko, Apalachee, Catawba, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Chitimacha, Choctaw, Creek, Guale, Mobile, Natchez, Powhatan, Seminole, Tuskegee, Yamasee, Yazoo, Yuchi Significance: The Indians of the Southeast are especially known for baskets, beaded sashes and bags, carving, patchwork, and ribbon work. The artists of the Southeast tribes are the heirs to one of the richest artistic traditions in North America, but much of it has disappeared over the last few centuries because of acculturation and the dislocation of tribes. Elaborate earthen mounds, excellent stonecarved sculptures, copper sheets cut like mythical animals, baskets, and painted ceramics were made in the period before contact with Europeans. This early art incorporated motifs that suggested contact with the complex civilizations of Mexico. During the historic period, these tribes have been known for their work in belts and bags, baskets, carving, and sewing. Belts and Bags. Creek, Cherokee, and Choctaw women, taking advantage of the creative possibilities of small seed beads, made sashes and shoulder bags that were well known for their elaborate flowing designs. These women were exceptional colorists and ex-
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ploited the many colors made available with glass beads. They fashioned complex sashes with beads worked into the designs, and they made shoulder bags with beaded decoration. These were some of the finest bags produced in North America, and they competed with those of the Great Lakes area for aesthetic and technical excellence. The double-ended scroll is a characteristic design from the Southeast tribes, and the beaded designs on belts and bags frequently use it. It is a linear design 8 to 10 inches long and 3 to 4 inches wide, consisting of a spiral or circle at each end with a line uniting them diagonally. The cross in a circle design surrounded by emanating sun rays was also used in beadwork, and both this design and the scroll pattern were used in other media, such as ceramics. Another common design pattern is the diamond, used especially by the Choctaws but also by Creeks and Seminoles. Creek sashes line up ordered rows of diamonds embroidered in seed beads, similar to the rows of diamonds that Choctaws sew onto the hems of dresses and onto the decorative bands of shirts. All of these designs were also used by prehistoric groups in the region. Shoulder bags were made from wool or velvet, backed with a cotton lining and embroidered with seed beads in designs of flowing lines that suggest floral patterns but are in reality abstract. The patterns were bold and asymmetrical and the designs seem more individually expressive than the patterned formality of designs of the Northeast. In some designs the lines seem to meander, following their own will and resulting in amorphous “figures” that give a sense of elegant playfulness distinctive to these pieces. Baskets. Southeastern basketry is especially known for the use of the split and plaited cane technique, which produces a flexible basket of considerable strength. The altering of colors between the warp and the weft gives ample opportunity for the creation of patterns and decoration. Covered baskets were made as containers for storage and protection, and open baskets were made for gathering and carrying food products. A gathering basket made by various tribes in the region has a square base which changes into a round
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shape for the top half of the basket. It is known for fitting well to the back, making it easier to carry loads. Common design motifs include the diamond, chevron or zigzag lines, crosses, and angular spirals. Sewing. Patchwork dresses and shirts and elaborate ribbonwork decoration are also associated with the work of women in tribes of the Southeast. The Seminoles are most known for this type of patchwork, which was borrowed from European patchwork quilting. The patching together of hundreds of small pieces of colored cloth has been appropriated to form an aesthetic which is particular to this area and is now considered traditional. Ribbons have also been used in a similar way to create the patterns. Neighboring groups such as the Choctaws have adopted a similar practice of sewing diamond patch designs on dresses and shirts to give them tribal identity. Carving. Men’s craft consisted of carving, and they made stylized figures in wood and pipestone. Effigy pipes, representing bears and other animals from the region, were carved until the nineteenth century, following long Eastern Woodlands traditions. Other pipes were carved in geometric designs. Ronald J. Duncan Sources for Further Study Berlo, Janet Catherine. Native North American Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Dubin, Lois Sherr. North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present. New York: Henry N. Abrams, 1999. See also: Applique and Ribbonwork; Baskets and Basketry; Beads and Beadwork; Dress and Adornment; Sculpture.
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Arts and Crafts: Southwest Tribes affected: Apache, Navajo, Pueblo (including Hopi, Zuñi) Significance: The arts and crafts of the Southwest are a thriving and coherent representation of Native American art that has continuity with its prehistoric cultural roots. Southwest Native American art can be traced back to prehistoric groups that lived in the area. The prehistoric groups developed pottery, basketry, weaving, and jewelry making, and the contemporary Pueblo groups have continued the designs and techniques inherited in those media. The Navajos and Apaches have a different history, having entered the area only six hundred to eight hundred years ago. Although they originally practiced basketry, they acquired weaving from the Pueblo people and, later, silversmithing from the Spanish. Eastern Pueblos. The Eastern Pueblos live on or near the Rio Grande River near Santa Fe, and they were most affected by the Spanish. They have had commercial success with arts and crafts. The Eastern Pueblos have the richest pottery tradition, but they also make jewelry, baskets, and woven goods. Pueblo pottery is made with the prehistoric techniques of coil building, slip painting, and open-air firing. The pots are elaborately painted, usually iron oxide red, white, or black colors. Pueblo designs may use geometric forms or stylized figures of animals, birds, or plants. Border lines are usually drawn as a frame to define the area to be decorated. The designs frequently play back and forth between positive and negative fields, resulting in complex symmetries, and they are usually subdivided into smaller and smaller units. Women are the traditional makers of pottery, but men may paint it and fire it. The most common types of pots are water jars, dough bowls, and storage pots. Although each type was originally made for functional purposes, in modern times they are made primarily for artistic purposes. The pottery tradi-
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tion from this area is divided into a number of styles, including blackware, redware, and polychrome ware. Blackware pottery was traditionally made in the Pueblos north and west of Santa Fe, especially Santa Clara, San Juan, and San Ildefonso, where the tradition was made famous by María and Julián Martínez. Santa Clara Pueblo is famous for both blackware and redware pottery, and it is well known for the deep carving of designs in the surface of pots. Rain serpents and the bear paw are popular designs. Polychrome pottery is most associated with the pueblos located to the south and west of Santa Fe, most notably Zia
Native Americans in Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico, making pottery during the early 1900s. (National Archives)
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and Acoma. The colors are typically red and/or black on a white background. Border lines frame the painted areas of the pots, and within those borders designs may include floral patterns, animal figures (especially deer), birds, and geometric forms. Cochiti is the only pueblo to make figurative pieces, and it is now particularly known for the storyteller figure. The most traditional jewelry of the Southwest is made by people of the Eastern Pueblos, particularly Santo Domingo, and it characteristically includes strings of turquoise for necklaces and other pieces made of mosaics of turquoise. Although weaving and basketry were traditionally important, they have largely disappeared among these pueblos. Western Pueblos. The Zuñi and the Hopi were more isolated than the Eastern Pueblos and continued many of their traditions until the twentieth century. These Pueblos make polychrome ware, and Zuñi pottery is distinguished by the motif of the deer with a red heart-line going from the mouth into the torso and the rosette design. Hopi pottery is made primarily on the First Mesa by HopiTewa descendants, and it is noted for the flat, broad shape of its pots. Surface designs are geometric and now largely follow the designs of the Sikytki revival pottery. The Western Pueblos are most known for jewelry making. The Zuñis do lapidary work and silversmithing, while the Hopis focus primarily on silver work. The Zuñis are famous for carving fetishes in stone which are sometimes made into necklaces of turquoise, coral, and other stones. These fetishes depict bears, mountain lions, foxes, frogs, and owls among other animals. They also set turquoise and other fine stones in silver, sometimes in complex patterns called clusterwork, and they do stone inlay jewelry. The Hopi make jewelry with overlay designs in silver, sometimes including stones. They are best known, however, for making kachina dolls, which are carved, painted, and dressed. The kachinas incorporate rain and cloud symbols and represent the hope for well-being and plenty, and they are used to teach children about the supernatural. The Hopi also do basketry and weaving.
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Navajos and Apaches. Although the Eastern and Western Pueblos do weaving, the Navajos have most excelled in this media. The designs are primarily geometric and include stepped frets, crosses, and butterflies. There are complex patterns of repetition and contrasts of positive-negative fields. A number of regional styles exist throughout the Navajo area. Occasionally, the weaving incorporated designs from sand paintings, which have special ritual and healing significance. The Navajo are also famous for turquoise and silver jewelry, especially the squash blossom necklace. The wide range of Apache baskets includes trays, carrying baskets, and pitch-sealed water bottles. The designs include geometric and highly stylized figures. Ronald J. Duncan Sources for Further Study Berlo, Janet Catherine. Native North American Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Dubin, Lois Sherr. North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present. New York: Henry N. Abrams, 1999. Eaton, Linda B. Native American Art of the Southwest. Lincolnwood, Ill.: Publications International, 1993. Furst, Peter T., and Jill L. Furst. North American Indian Art. New York: Rizzoli International, 1982. Wade, Edwin L., ed. The Arts of the North American Indian: Native Traditions in Evolution. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1986. Whiteford, Andrew Hunter. Southwestern Indian Baskets: Their History and Their Makers. Santa Fe, N.Mex: School of American Research Press, 1988. Wyckoff, Lydia L. Designs and Factions: Politics, Religion, and Ceramics on the Hopi Third Mesa. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1990. See also: Baskets and Basketry; Kachinas; Pottery; Sculpture; Silverworking; Weaving.
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Arts and Crafts: Subarctic
Arts and Crafts: Subarctic Tribes affected: Beaver, Beothuk, Carrier, Cree, Dogrib, Han, Hare, Ingalik, Neskapi, Ojibwa, Ottawa, Sekani, Slave, Tahltan, Tanaina, Tsetsaut, Tutchone, Yellowknife Significance: Subarctic artisans were especially known for their quillwork and birchbark baskets. The arts and crafts of the Subarctic Indians included quillwork, beadwork, bags, birchbark baskets and boxes, and wood carving, but because of the sparse population and the demands of a hunting and gathering life, this work did not exist in quantity. Most of the arts and crafts from this area are known to be from the Algonquianspeaking tribes (Cree and Ojibwa) who occupied the eastern area and were influenced by the arts of the Northeast and Plains culture areas. Athapaskan-speaking tribes (Beaver, Han, Ingalik, Tahltan, Tanaina, Tutchone, and Sekani) occupied the western Subarctic and were influenced by the material culture of the neighboring Northwest Coast groups as well as the Aleuts and the Eskimos (Inuits). Quillwork and Embroidery. Porcupine quillwork was particularly well developed among the eastern groups, and it was in wide use at the time of the earliest contact with the Europeans. Women used these techniques to decorate the surfaces of birchbark boxes, moccasins, decorate bands (such as wampum belts), and clothing. Designs were made by plaiting the quills in patterns that may have developed out of basketry techniques, and they were sewn to the surfaces. Designs were primarily geometric and included diamonds, chevrons, parallel lines, crosses, crossbars, cross-hatching, step design, and the double-ended swirl. The sides and lids of boxes were frequently covered with overall decoration. For example, the side of a box could be covered with various parallel bands of quills and the top with concentric circles. The artists varied the density of the plaiting of the quills to make tightly packed patterns or openweave patterns, which produced different textures.
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Quillwork clothing decoration was also geometric. The Cree copied European-style officers’ coats in buckskin, which reached the knees and were decorated with quills and paint. Elaborate designs were placed along the bottom edge and the front borders of the coat. Three or four bands of design were frequently used, and it sometimes took on the compositional look of Plains hide paintings, although there were no figures. The designs on coats tended to be bold and clearly visible from some distance, but the designs on moccasins were smaller, intricate, and tightly finished. The decorative bands and epaulets for coats were similarly more intimate in scale. Eventually, embroidery and beads replaced quillwork on clothing. Moose-hair embroidery was common in earlier periods, and into the twentieth century women were still doing silk embroidery. The quillwork and embroidery from this area is known for its beauty of line and fine stitching. Beads and Bags. The Ojibwa (or Chippewa) and the Ottawa developed a rich tradition of decorating shoulder bags, also called bandoleer bags. Early buckskin versions were commonly decorated in geometric patterns with quills, but stylized representations of mythological beings were also used. Later versions were beaded and made of cloth, and they incorporated floral patterns. Especially complex versions of these items were called “friendship bags,” and they were worn by men as a demonstration of prestige. In the nineteenth century, floral designs were increasingly used, and floral and geometric designs were sometimes incorporated into the same bag. During this period, geometric designs were adapted to represent floral-like patterns. Fringe was frequently added to bags, and in some cases fringe flaps became narrow bands of pure geometric design. Birchbark. Birchbark was used to make most containers for normal domestic use. Made by peeling birchbark, folding it into the form desired, and sewing it with spruce root, these containers were used as gathering and storage baskets. Since birchbark was
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both pliable and strong, it was even used to make canoes and houses. It was because of this material’s adaptability that these tribes did not make pottery or many baskets. Birchbark designs could be made by scraping the outside layer of the bark, which was white, to reveal the brown layer beneath. Animal and plant figures from the area were normally shown on birchbark, and in keeping with the quillwork tradition, these figures were highly stylized. Woodwork. Some Subarctic groups did wood carvings of small objects, such as knife handles and spoons, similar to those of the Northeast culture area. Human and animal figures were carved, and both were highly stylized. Simple sgraffito drawings were also done occasionally on wooden surfaces, showing stylized images from the natural worlds, geometric signs, and pictographs. Ronald J. Duncan Sources for Further Study Berlo, Janet Catherine. Native North American Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Dubin, Lois Sherr. North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present. New York: Henry N. Abrams, 1999. See also: Baskets and Basketry; Beads and Beadwork; Birchbark; Quillwork.
Astronomy Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: The ancient people of the Americas observed the heavens carefully, and many built structures for observing or measuring the movement of the sun and stars. Early Native American knowledge of the heavens ranged from the complex Mayan calendars to more simple markings of the solstices. Throughout North America, references to the sun, moon,
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stars, and planets occur in creation accounts and other cultural practices. In Central America, the Mayan calendar influenced civilizations from 100 b.c.e. to the time of the Spanish Conquest (15191697). Guatemalan “daykeepers” still use the original astronomical system for divination. The four extant books, or codices, in the hieroglyphic Mayan language are almanacs. The Dresden Codex records the revolution of Venus. Mayans observed the solar year as well as lunar cycles and the movements of stars. The Mayan creation account, the Popol Vuh, includes references to the Pleiades, the Big Dipper, and Ursa Minor (Draco). The twin heroes of the Mayan creation story are associated with the sun and moon as well as with Venus. In the northern plains of Canada and the United States, medicine wheels attest an ancient knowledge of astronomy. The prehistoric wheels are spoked circles outlined by stones, up to 60 yards in diameter. About fifty medicine wheels are known to exist, most of which are on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. The oldest medicine wheel, in Majorville, Alberta, dates to 4,500 years before the present, and it has a central cairn made of 50 tons of stones. Many medicine wheels mark sunrise points of equinoxes and solstices, while a few mark summer stars. The Bighorn Medicine Wheel in Wyoming has cairns that correspond to paths of Aldebaran, Rigel, and Sirius. These three stars rise a month apart during the summer. In the Midwest, prehistoric mounds in the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys also reflect astronomical understanding. Hopewellian and Mississippian mounds are often in the shapes of animals or stepped temples, but the Marching Bear mounds in McGregor, Iowa, correspond to the stars in the Big Dipper. At Cahokia, Missouri, where 120 earthen mounds formed a large village, a circle of cedar posts marked sunrise solstices and the equinox. Archaeologists have nicknamed the reconstructed site Woodhenge, after Stonehenge. Stars had sacred meanings to the Skidi Pawnee, who lived in the river valleys and plains of Nebraska. This band arranged their
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villages in the pattern of the North Star, evening star, and morning star. They arranged the posts of their earthen lodges in the same pattern, so each home repeated the cosmic arrangement. A painted hide at the Field Museum in Chicago records the Milky Way and many Pawnee constellations. Ancient Anasazi sites in the Southwest still show the yearly cycle of the sun. A stone house at Hovenweep, Utah, has ports through which sunlight enters during the solstices and equinox. Stars were important to the nomadic Navajos. Their creation account describes how Black God made stars from crystals. He placed constellations in the sky, including First Big One (Scorpio), Revolving Male (Ursa Major), Revolving Female (part of Ursa Minor), Slender First One (in Orion), Rabbit Tracks (near Canis Major), and the Pleiades. Star charts on cave roofs had ceremonial importance. Denise Low Sources for Further Study Bol, Marsha C., ed. Stars Above, Earth Below: American Indians and Nature. Boulder, Colo.: Roberts Rinehart, 2000. Miller, Dorcas S. Stars of the First People: Native American Star Myths and Constellations. Boulder, Colo.: Pruett, 1997. See also: Mathematics; Mayan Civilization; Medicine Wheels; Mounds and Moundbuilders.
Atlatl Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: The atlatl was an ancient and widespread hunting and warfare weapon throughout the Americas. The term “atlatl,” applied to many versions of the implement, is derived from Nahuatl, the language spoken by the Aztecs of sixteenth century central Mexico. Synonymous terms include spear thrower and dart thrower. Originating from Old World prototypes
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and brought to the New World by the earliest paleolithic inhabitants, it was gradually replaced by the bow and arrow as the preferred hunting weapon throughout the Americas by 1100 c.e., except in central Mexico, where the Aztecs still used it along with other weapons in the sixteenth century. The atlatl was a straight or slightly curved wooden stick averaging 24 inches in length. One end was notched and wrapped with hide for a handle, and the opposite end bore a hook or barb. Different versions included loops for finger holes. While the user gripped the handle, the feathered end of a long dart or spear was mounted against the barb, and the dart was hurled overhand in slingshot fashion, significantly increasing its range and power. Small stones were sometimes attached to the atlatl as weights and balances to increase efficiency. In South America, Moche atlatls were elaborately decorated with painted and carved designs. Atlatl imagery held great symbolic importance, particularly for warrior cults and hunting societies. Atlatls appear frequently in pre-Columbian paintings and in ceramics and relief sculpture from the United States, central and western Mexico, the Maya area, and Peru. In the American Southwest, atlatl depictions are common in rock art, and actual atlatls were frequently included in Anasazi burials. In the Eastern Woodlands, the atlatl weights, called banner stones, were frequently carved in the form of animals from brightly colored stone. Maya and central Mexican artists frequently depicted ruling elites proudly displaying atlatls as signs of military and social status. James D. Farmer Source for Further Study Taylor, Colin F. Native American Weapons. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. See also: Banner Stones; Hunting and Gathering; Lances and Spears; Projectile Points; Weapons.
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Aztec Empire Significance: The greatest flowering of Mesoamerican culture, a militaristic civilization that stretched from Pacific to Atlantic. Legend records that the Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs (or, more accurately, the Culhua Mexica) founded the city of Tenochtitlán in 1325 on a small island in Lake Texcoco (the site of modern Mexico City) and a century later emerged as the last great imperial power of indigenous Mesoamerica. Aztec civilization evolved from the legacy of earlier Mesoamerican groups, especially the Teotihuacán and Tula cultures. A widespread commercial network linked Tenochtitlán with the Maya to the south and extended as far north as what is now the southwestern United States. Through strategic alliances, intimidation, and conquest, the Aztecs dominated central Mexico until the Aztec Empire fell victim to Hernán Cortés and his band of Spanish conquistadores and indigenous allies in 1519-1521. According to their religious myths, the Mexica wandered southward into the valley of central Mexico, guided by their tribal god, Huitzilopochtli. Along the way, Huitzilopochtli’s priests began the rite of tearing palpitating hearts from the chests of sacrificial victims. They eventually reached Lake Texcoco and encountered peoples whose culture was more advanced. In fact, these sedentary peoples despised the Mexica as primitive barbarians, but found them useful as mercenaries. Clashes with the city of Culhuacán forced the Mexica to take refuge in a marshy area of the lake, where they founded Tenochtitlán. Early Aztec society in Tenochtitlán seems to have been egalitarian, based on clans (calpulli) that controlled access to agricultural land. As the city grew, however, the calpulli lost importance. The Mexica chose their first supreme ruler (tlatoani), Acamapichtli, who ruled from 1372 to 1391. Class divisions emerged, and nobles (pipiltin) dominated military leadership and monopolized access to the calmecac (a school where priests and pictorial writers were trained). Mexica rulers married into the royal families of Culhuacán and Azcapotzalco. Until the early fifteenth century, the Aztecs
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were subject to Azcapotzalco, which had a small empire around Lake Texcoco. Meanwhile, they expanded Tenochtitlán, providing it with drinking water and constructing chinampas (“floating gardens”) to help feed the city. Around 1428, under the leadership of Itzcóatl, they joined with the cities of Texcoco and Tlacopan and defeated Azcapotzalco. After this victory, the Aztecs embarked on their own imperial quest, subordinating their two allies. On Itzcóatl’s orders, Aztecs burned the recorded myths and history of the conquered peoples and imposed an official Aztec version of the past. As lands around the lake fell to Aztec power, the state distributed them to the pipiltin and the most distinguished warriors. Expansion thus created a gulf between the elite and the commoners. Earlier, most Mexica were peasants (macehualtin), who shared the clan’s communal lands. As the Aztec population grew, however, clans no longer possessed enough land to meet their needs. Dependent agricultural laborers (mayeques) and slaves became more prevalent, as noble estates proliferated and conquered peoples were incorporated into Aztec society.
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The Aztec Empire stretched from the northern deserts to the strait of Tehuantepec and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. Some cities and villages succumbed to Aztec intimidation; others sought to become subordinate allies; some had to be conquered through military force. Only the Tarascans of Michoacán and the Tlaxcalans of Puebla escaped domination. The Aztec Empire was a hegemonic one. The Aztecs allowed the conquered to retain their lands and political leaders, as long as they obeyed imperial decrees and paid tribute. Imperial armies did not occupy conquered territories but exacted harsh vengeance on rebellious cities. All men in Tenochtitlán were expected to be warriors. From infancy, boys received the physical markings and the training essential to warriors. Each calpulli had its young men’s house (telpochcalli), where warriors taught the military arts. Society accorded great honors and rewards to those who distinguished themselves on the battlefield by capturing valiant enemy warriors. Public humiliation awaited those who showed cowardice on the battlefield. Other social groups supported these military endeavors. Merchants (pochteca) carried out a far-flung trade but also served as spies and intelligence gatherers. At times, they may have purposely provoked hostilities with nonsubject peoples. Priests marched at the head of the army. Girls were raised to be mothers, to bear the next generation of warriors. A woman who died in childbirth had an afterlife status similar to the warrior who perished in battle or on the sacrificial slab. Even the lowliest members of society, the tamemes (carriers), served the military cause, transporting food and other supplies to the field of battle. Environmental explanations have been given for Aztec militarism and human sacrifice (for example, population pressure demanded expansion; cannibalism derived from a protein-deficient diet), but religious ideology played a critical role. Human sacrifice was widespread in Mesoamerica, although not to the extreme practiced by the Mexica. The Aztecs’ cosmogony was also Mesoamerican. It held that the earth passed through cycles of creation and destruction. Humanity thus lived in a world doomed to disaster that
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could be forestalled only by nourishing the gods with human blood. Without human blood, the sun might not rise and preserve humanity. Not only priests but also all people provided blood through ritual self-laceration. Fatalism pervaded Aztec life: One’s destiny was determined at birth. It mattered little whether one nourished the gods through self-sacrifice or as the captive victim. Aztec militarism and religion became increasingly intertwined. The Mexica continued to worship other Mesoamerican deities, such as Quetzalcóatl, Tlaloc, and Tezcatlilpoca, in bloody rituals, but they raised the cult of Huitzilopochtli to an imperial obsession. Wars brought captives to sacrifice. By the mid-1400’s, the Mexica staged mock battles (“flowery wars”) with rival cities so that both sides could take captives to sacrifice. In 1487, the Aztecs killed at least twenty thousand captives to appease Huitzilopochtli at the dedication of the enlarged Great Temple. When Moctezuma (or Montezuma) II became tlatoani in 1502, Aztec power was at its peak. Tenochtitlán had grown to 150,000 inhabitants, with perhaps 1.5 million living around Lake Texcoco. Social tensions were increasing, because commoners gained little material benefit from the conquests. To enhance his power, Moctezuma II claimed to be the incarnation of Huitzilopochtli, creating the ultimate marriage of Aztec militarism and religion. Moctezuma II proved surprisingly ill-suited to deal with the crisis provoked by the Spaniards’ arrival in 1519. More the meditative priest than the frenzied warrior, he vacillated, wondering if the strangers were Quetzalcóatl returning, as had long been prophesied. Spanish weapons and horses were superior to Aztec missiles and obsidian-edged swords. Hernán Cortés acquired important indigenous allies by playing upon their hatred of the Aztecs. Moctezuma II allowed the Spaniards to enter Tenochtitlán, whereupon they took him hostage. He died while in their hands in 1520. The warlike Cuitlahuac replaced him as tlatoani but perished from smallpox a few months later. Driven from Tenochtitlán in a bloody rout in June, 1520, the Spaniards and their allies returned in 1521. Their siege destroyed most of the city, and the invaders captured the last tlatoani, Cuauhtémoc, as he tried to escape.
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The Aztec legacy has provoked controversy. Rival indigenous peoples hated the Mexicas’ bloody imperialism, and their human sacrifices and cannibalism horrified the Spaniards. Yet the Spanish invasion brought a demographic holocaust caused by Old World diseases (the empire’s population probably declined by 90 percent) and a new oppressive colonialism. Aztec civilization produced a vibrant commerce, an elaborate belief system, and exquisite poetry. The Spaniards compared the splendors of Tenochtitlán to those of Venice, and conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo reported that it “seemed like an enchanted vision from the tale of Amadis.” Rarely has a culture provoked such contradictory images. Kendall W. Brown Sources for Further Study Berdan, Frances E. The Aztecs of Central Mexico: An Imperial Society. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1982. A brief overview of Aztec society, religion, and politics. Broda, Johanna, David Carrasco, and Eduardo Matos Moctezuma. The Great Temple of Tenochtitlan: Center and Periphery in the Aztec World. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987. Interprets the meaning of the Great Temple in Aztec life, emphasizing religion’s role as a catalyst for Aztec militarism and human sacrifice. Clendinnen, Inga. Aztecs: An Interpretation. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. A sensitive interpretation of Aztec religion and society as a context for understanding the Aztec’s reaction to the Spanish invasion. Coe, Michael D., and Rex Koontz. Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs. 5th ed. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2002. An exhaustive introduction on Mexico’s early history and peoples. Díaz del Castillo, Bernal. The Conquest of New Spain. Translated by J. M. Cohen. London: Penguin Books, 1963. The famous narrative by one of Cortés’ men. Hassig, Ross. Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988. Excessively
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downplays religious ideology’s role in Aztec warfare, but provides useful insights regarding the logistics of expansion. Sahagún, Bernardino de. General History of the Things of New Spain: The Florentine Codex. Translated by Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble. 13 vols. Santa Fe: School of American Research, 1950-1982. Ethnographic compilation about the religion, politics, society, flora, and fauna of pre-Hispanic Mexico, as reported by indigenous sixteenth century informants. Smith, Michael Ernest. The Aztecs. 2d ed. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2003. An analysis of the cultural, political, and social customs of the Aztec people. The Aztec approach to economics, government, religion, and science, as well as an analysis of the demise of the Aztec empire are also discussed in this informative work. See also: Ball Game and Courts; Clans; Mathematics; Pochteca; Quetzalcóatl.
Ball Game and Courts Tribes affected: Aztec, Maya, Olmec, Toltec Significance: The “ball game,” or tlachtli, and the elaborate courts in which it was played constitute one of the most distinctive cultural phenomena of Mesoamerican cultures. Originating with the Olmecs (“rubber people”) of Veracruz, the ball game was played in every major center as far north as modern Arizona and south to Honduras from 500 b.c.e.-1200 c.e.. The Mayan center of Chichén Itzá had seven courts, including the largest in Mexico—480 by 120 feet. The I-shaped ball court was enclosed by high vertical or sloping walls on which spectators sat to watch players attempting to knock a solid rubber ball into the vertical stone ring in the center, a rare event which immediately determined the winner. The heavy ball
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could not be touched with the hands or feet—only knees, elbows, and hips—so players wore protective gloves, knee pads, helmets, and a thick leather belt around their hips. Tlachtli was probably a fierce game; injuries, and even death, seem to have been fairly common. In spite of its violence, the game was played with great enthusiasm. In their recreational games, players from the ruling class made huge bets of their valuable clothing, prized feathers, gold, and even slaves. With such passion for gambling, one could begin the game a rich man and end it a pauper. Also, winners and spectators could claim garments and adornments of their opponents, so feather capes and gold jewelry were often confiscated. Ritual games had even more serious results: death to the losers or, in some cases, the winners. In a culture preoccupied with death, this ultimate sacrifice was the highest tribute one could pay. The game had social, political, mythological, and religious significance. Mythological and religious meanings of the ball game were revealed during ritual play; the court represented earth, and the ball was the sun or moon. At the Mayan center of Copán, priests divined the future from results of ritual games. Among the Aztecs, chief deities were sky gods who constantly fought a battle between polarities of light and darkness, day and night. The sky was their sacred tlachtli, and a star was the ball. Games were used symbolically to explain natural events. Drought and famine were supposedly the result of a legendary ball game between Huemac, last ruler of the Toltecs, and Tlaloc, the rain god. When Huemac won, Tlaloc offered corn as the prize, but Huemac refused it, demanding jade and feathers. Tlaloc gave them, telling Huemac that leaves of corn were precious green feathers and that green corn was more valuable than jade. Huemac got his jade and feathers, but the people starved because the corn would not grow. Victory was sometimes fleeting, according to the story of Mexican emperor Axayacatl, who played against the lord of Xochimilco, betting his marketplace against this lord’s elaborate garden. Axayacatl lost. The next day he sent his soldiers to the palace to
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honor the winning lord with presents. One gift was a garland of flowers which contained a rope. The soldiers placed it around Xochimilco’s neck and strangled him. Gale M. Thompson See also: Aztec Empire; Games and Contests; Mayan Civilization; Olmec Civilization.
Banner Stones Tribes affected: Prehistoric tribes of the Eastern Woodlands Significance: Banner stones were part of the technology for casting spears, though their beauty led early archaeologists to imagine them as emblems of chiefly office. Early archaeologists in eastern North America discovered a class of ground and polished stone artifacts that were unknown among historic American Indians. These “banner stones” varied widely in shape but shared several characteristics. They usually were made of visually appealing stone such as the banded slate of Hamilton County, Ohio, which was carefully ground and polished to a high luster. Averaging about 3 inches wide and 3 inches long, banner stones were always symmetrical and had a single hole passing through their length, about three-fourths of an inch in diameter. Sometimes found elsewhere, they often were found in graves. Believing that their beauty had some meaning other than the technological, archaeologists invented the term “banner stone” to reflect their belief that they had been mounted on short handles and held as emblems of office by chiefs. That interpretation was abandoned in the twentieth century, when preserved wooden parts associated with banner stones were discovered. It then became obvious that they were spear-thrower (“atlatl”) weights, designed to assist an individual in casting a spear with great power. Their primary period of use was between 1000 b.c.e. and 700 c.e. Russell J. Barber
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Sources for Further Study Yeager, C. G. Arrowheads and Stone Artifacts: A Practical Guide for the Amateur Archaeologist. 2d ed. Boulder, Colo.: Pruett, 2000. See also: Atlatl; Lances and Spears.
Baskets and Basketry Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Basketry was one of the most important utilitarian crafts throughout native North America, and in some areas it was also an important art form. Basketmaking is one of the most characteristic crafts of Native American groups, and it is a craft that is considered a woman’s activity by most groups. Early Native American people made baskets for thousands of years before ceramics were developed. Basketry techniques were used primarily to make containers, but they were also used for making other objects, ranging from hair brushes to clothes and canoe-like boats. Some early pottery seems to have been shaped around baskets and then fired. Among the historic tribes, the basketry of the West is more widely known than that of the eastern tribes. What is known of basketry today comes primarily from the last two hundred years, and many of the eastern traditions had been lost or significantly acculturated by the late 1700’s. Techniques. Twining and plaiting are related early techniques, while coiling is a later development. Twining is a process similar to weaving in which warp and weft strands are interwoven in various patterns, while plaiting is a simple process of passing a warp and weft alternately over and under each other. In contrast, coiling involves wrapping fibers into coils and stitching them together. To do coiling, a basketmaker gathers a group of fibers, probably grass stems, and wraps them with another long grass stem or yucca fiber. She then wraps the coil in on itself to form a spiral which is
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stitched together; another bunch of fibers is added and wrapped to lengthen the coil, and so on until the basket is formed. Since the fibers that form the coils are wrapped, a wider range of materials can be adapted to coiling than is the case with twining, and this may be the reason for its popularity. Groups of coils can be stacked one on top of the other, and sometimes two are bunched side by
Examples of Apache basketry from the late 1800s. (National Archives)
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Known for their basketry skills, a Hopi woman weaving a basket at the beginning of the twentieth century. (National Archives)
side as they are stitched; this variation in technique is frequently associated with style differences. Eastern Woodlands. Twining and plaiting were frequently used basket techniques in the East, and the basketry of this area was especially affected by the easy availability of wooden materials. Birchbark was popular for making basket-boxes among groups that lived across the northern sections of the United States in which the tree grew, and these baskets were frequently decorated with porcupine quills. The Micmac, Montaignais, Cree, and others worked with birchbark. Split-cane techniques were used by the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chitimacha of the Southeast to make plaited baskets of wood splints, and this technique was borrowed by other tribes. The Cherokee were well known for baskets made of fine, even splints of cream, red, and black colors that were
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plaited to form interesting visual patterns. Along with more standard shapes, the Cherokee made an unusual shape in which a square base was transformed into a round, bowl-like upper half that was easy to carry as a burden basket. Southwest. The best basketmakers of the Southwest have been the nomadic peoples living in arid, agriculturally marginal regions—the Apache, Paiute, Hualapai, Havasupai, Pima, and Tohono O’odham (Papago). The Navajo had stopped making baskets by the end of the nineteenth century and now buy baskets made in their own designs from the Paiute. Although the Pueblo peoples are basically pottery makers and produce little basketry, the Hopi are known for basketry. The most successful basketmakers in this region have been the Tohono O’odham, San Juan Paiute, Havasupai, and Hopi. Twining, plaiting, and coiling are all common basketmaking techniques in the Southwest, but the latter is used most frequently. The basket forms include the tray and open bowl shapes, deep bowl shapes, closed-neck water bottles, conical burden baskets, and vase-shaped baskets. Designs are usually geometric or represent stylized figures. Recurring design motifs include petal designs, butterflies, star or cross, whirlwind, zig-zags, squash blossom, birds, and animal figures. The most complex designs have been those of the Pima, and they use a complex layering of positive and negative images created by black and beige patterns. Although the Navajo have not been active in basketmaking since the nineteenth century, they are famous for the wedding basket design, which is a band of deep red lined with black triangles around the inside surface of a tray. The band is incomplete, so that a small opening or “door” is left. Traditional Apache baskets include elegant petal and zig-zag designs on open trays, but the most distinctive form is a large pot-shaped basket which may be 30 inches high and almost as broad in diameter. Great Basin and Plateau. Basketry in this region was largely utilitarian, and it was used for a wide variety of purposes. Large
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burden baskets were made to be carried on the back for seeds, roots, and other gathered foodstuffs. Carrying bags were made by twining from grasses and other fibers. Winnowing trays and toasting trays were used in the preparation of food. Clothing, housing, and boats were also made using basketry techniques. Pacific Coast. Some of the finest basketry in North America was produced in California by the Pomo, Tulare, Washo, and Karok. Baskets were made by both coiling and twining; the latter sometimes resulted in baskets of fine woven quality. They made trays, deep bowls, covered baskets, and vase forms and adorned special baskets with elaborate feather designs. The people of the Northwest Coast also made good baskets, but they were not equal to the complexity of their carved art. Ronald J. Duncan Sources for Further Study Berlo, Janet Catherine. Native North American Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Boxberger, Daniel L., ed. Native North Americans: An Ethnohistorical Approach. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 1990. Coe, Ralph T. Sacred Circles: Two Thousand Years of North American Indian Art. Kansas City, Mo.: Nelson Gallery Foundation, 1977. Feder, Norman. American Indian Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1965. Furst, Peter T., and Jill L. Furst. North American Indian Art. New York: Rizzoli International, 1982. Whiteford, Andrew Hunter. Southwestern Indian Baskets: Their History and Their Makers. Santa Fe, N.Mex.: School of American Research Press, 1988. See also: Arts and Crafts: California; Arts and Crafts: Great Basin; Arts and Crafts: Northeast; Arts and Crafts: Plateau; Arts and Crafts: Southeast; Arts and Crafts: Southwest.
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Beads and Beadwork Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Beadwork is one of the most distinctive decorative techniques used among Native Americans for clothing and other objects of personal and ritual use. Beadwork was a popular decorative technique before the arrival of the Europeans, and beads were traditionally made of shell, stone, bone, teeth, hoofs, and seeds. These were used to make necklaces, pendants, fringes, belts, and ornaments on clothing. Quillwork, a related decorative technique, was used in a similar way. Today beads and beadwork normally refer to the glass beads of European origin. Historical Background. Although glass beads were traded with Native Americans during the eighteenth century, little is known about beadwork from that time. The production of traditional beads was difficult and slow, since each one had to be shaped by hand and then hand drilled. The imported glass beads were preferred because of their color and reflectiveness. About 1800 a largesized bead made in Venice became available, and beaded artifacts using this type of bead represent the oldest examples of beadwork in collections today. This bead was referred to as the “pony bead” because it was brought by traders on pony pack teams. These beads were one-eighth inch in diameter, and they came in white, sky blue, dark blue, light red, dark red, and beige. They were used to make bands of decoration for clothing, bags, cradles, and moccasins. About 1840 the smaller “seed bead” that is used today became available; it, too, was made of Venetian glass. It was half the size of the earlier beads and permitted making more delicate designs. Since these beads were partly made by hand, they could be slightly irregular in size and shape. In the 1840’s and 1850’s they were used to make bands of decoration similar to those made with pony beads.
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By 1860 beads were more commonly available, and their smaller size permitted the introduction of a new all-over pattern of beadwork. Indians beaded clothing, bags, horse trappings, and ceremonial objects, among other things. During this period Czechoslovakian (Bohemian) glass beads were introduced; they are darker and more bluish. By 1870 translucent beads had become available, and by the mid-1880’s silver- and gold-colored beads were traded. French and British manufacturers also entered the trade, and a wide variety of colors and sizes were available. In the twentieth century the production of beadwork became much more commercialized. Japanese beads entered the market, as did inexpensive Japanese and Chinese reproductions of Native American designs. Culture Areas. Beadwork has been done in most culture areas. The French fur traders introduced trade beads to the tribes of the Northeast Woodlands in the seventeenth century. The beadwork
A Havasupai girl wearing a beaded necklace. (National Archives)
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that was to become distinctive of this area displayed the foliate patterns of the Algonquian (Potawatomi, Sauk and Fox, Kickapoo) and Chippewa groups of the western Great Lakes region. The beadwork of the southeastern tribes (especially Creek and Seminole) is related to the floral patterns of the Northeast but is less ordered and symmetrical than that of the north. Plains beadwork has the most complex, detailed patterns, some made with thousands of beads. There is a division between the northern Plains style, which tends to be conservative, and the bolder, more individualized Southern Plains style. Beadwork in the Southwest, Great Basin, and Plateau is usually done by tribes that have had contact with the Plains groups and have borrowed designs from them. In these latter three areas, beading tends to be limited to small-scale work. Designs. Both geometric and floral designs are given names by the people who use them, and within each culture there is a repertoire of recognized design elements and full design patterns. The fact that the designs were given names has led many students of design to assume they also had symbolic significance. It seems, however, that a given design motif may have been used with a decorative intent by some beadworkers and with symbolic intent by others. Some foliate designs of the western Great Lakes region seem to have represented local flora, perhaps some used for medicinal purposes. Others may have been copied from print designs on manufactured cloth or the designs of vestments of priests. The geometric motifs of the Plains have names that refer to the natural world, such as eye, buffalo, wolves, eagle, turtle, butterfly, centipede, person, and buffalo track. Techniques. Beads may be embroidered onto a cloth or skin backing, woven to form a beaded band independent of the backing, or attached to fringes. Two basic embroidery stitches are used, the spot stitch and the lazy stitch. The spot, or overlay, stitch means that a beaded thread is attached to the backing by a second thread sewn in an over-and-under stitching pattern. In finely sewn work
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the overlapping stitch which holds the beaded thread to the backing may come every second, third, or fourth bead. This is especially used with floral designs and curving lines among the Chippewa, Algonquian, and some northern Plains groups. In contrast, the lazy stitch is used more for overall designs that include straight lines and geometric patterns, and it is used more by the Western Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Crow, and Kiowa. In this stitching pattern, the thread that carries the beads is itself stitched into the backing, with five or six beads added to the thread between each stitch. Bead weaving is used to make headbands, armbands, legbands, or belts that do not have backing material. Band weaving is easier and faster than the stitching techniques, but it requires a weaving frame. The warp, or base threads, are wrapped onto the frame, and the weft with beads is woven into it. This technique lends itself best to straight-line geometric shapes; floral designs must be stylized to adapt to it. Ronald J. Duncan Sources for Further Study Coe, Ralph T. Sacred Circles: Two Thousand Years of North American Indian Art. Kansas City, Mo.: Nelson Gallery Foundation, 1977. Dubin, Lois Sherr. North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present. New York: Henry N. Abrams, 1999. Furst, Peter T., and Jill L. Furst. North American Indian Art. New York: Rizzoli International, 1982. Lyford, Carrie. Quill and Beadwork of the Western Sioux. Edited by Willard W. Beatty. Boulder, Colo.: Johnson, 1979. Penney, David W. Art of the American Indian Frontier. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1992. Whiteford, Andrew Hunter. “The Origins of Great Lakes Beaded Bandolier Bags.” American Indian Art Magazine 2, no. 3 (1986): 32-43. See also: Arts and Crafts: Northeast; Arts and Crafts: Plains; Dress and Adornment; Quillwork.
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Beans Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Beans were a significant source of nutrition for agricultural tribes in Mesoamerica, Peru, and North America. While fava beans and a few other bean species were domesticated in the Old World, most beans are American. Four major species were domesticated and used by Indians in pre-Columbian times. Common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) are highly variable, including pinto, kidney, navy, black, and many other varieties. This bean was domesticated by 5000 b.c.e. in Mexico and was the most commonly used bean in most parts of the Americas; it was the only bean in most of North America. Tepary beans (Phaseolus acutifolius), a small species not used in modern commerce, were domesticated by 3000 b.c.e. in Mexico and used in the American Southwest and western Mexico. Lima beans (Phaseolus lunatus) were domesticated separately in Peru (3300 b.c.e.) and Central America (200 c.e.) and were used there and in Mexico. Runner beans (Phaseolus coccineus) were domesticated in Mexico by 200 b.c.e. and spread to Peru, Central America, and the American Southwest. Beans were important for the nutrition of Indian agriculturalists, providing protein and lysine, a critical amino acid lacking in maize, the primary starchy staple. While diffusing to North America separately, beans, squash, and corn were grown together virtually everywhere that crops were cultivated. Shucked and dried, beans could be stored for a full year and reconstituted by boiling, either with or without presoaking. Most tribes ate beans boiled and mashed, added to soups, or mixed with corn and other ingredients as succotash. Russell J. Barber See also: Agriculture; Corn; Food Preparation and Cooking; Squash; Subsistence.
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Berdache Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: An anthropological term denoting the third gender status, which many tribes attributed to individuals who behaved and dressed like members of the opposite sex. Although varying widely in their content and elaboration, rules prescribing the behavior and goals for each of the sexes were a sociocultural universal among native North American peoples. From early childhood, Indian boys and girls learned through observation, imitation, and formal training those statuses and roles that their communities deemed proper for the respective genders, so that by the time they reached adulthood most willingly accepted them as major parts of their social identities. However, both
A Zuñi man from the late 1800s dressed as a woman, weaving a belt. (National Archives)
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ethnohistorical literature and tribal oral traditions provide ample evidence that individuals within many Indian societies veered away from typified gender patterns, assuming modes of behavior and dress generally associated with the opposite sex. Anthropologists and ethnohistorians have commonly employed the term “berdache” (taken from the Persian word bardaj and variably translated as “kept boy” or “male prostitute”) as a cross-cultural category for males leading such lives. In this regard, it is important to note that because of the gender bias that long characterized anthropological studies, there exists no parallel classification for transgender females. In many ways the pejorative roots and meanings of the word “berdache” render its application to many Indian communities problematic. Rather than deeming the latter as deviants or misfits, numerous tribes instead ascribed them a third-gender status, frequently attributing their nature and proclivities to spiritual causes. In accord with this spiritual understanding, such individuals were often considered to possess extraordinary sacred power that could be directed toward socially beneficial ends. On the other hand, their assumed spiritual prowess sometimes rendered third gender persons objects of suspicion and fear. In a collection on Indian gay and lesbian issues, editors Sue Ellen Jacobs, Wesley Thomas, and Sabine Lang, have reported that a number of American Indians and anthropologists consider the term “berdache” demeaning and have suggested that the term “two-spirit persons” be used in its place. They also critique the tendency of some current scholarship to romanticize supposedly “positively sanctioned Pan-Indian gender or sexual categories.” Such an idealization, they state, does “not fit the reality of experiences faced by many contemporary gay, lesbian, third-gender, transgender and otherwise Native Americans who have had to leave their reservations or other communities because of the effects of homophobia.” Harvey Markowitz
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Sources for Further Study Jacobs, Sue Ellen, Wesley Thomas, and Sabine Lang. Two-Spirit People: Native American Gender Identity, Sexuality, and Spirituality. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997. Williams, Walter. The Spirit and the Flesh: Sexual Diversity in American Indian Culture. Boston: Beacon Press, 1986. See also: Ethnophilosophy and Worldview; Gender Relations and Roles; Societies: Non-kin-based.
Birchbark Tribes affected: Tribes throughout the Northeast and Great Lakes areas Significance: Birchbark served a wide variety of purposes for the northeastern and boreal Indians, from roofing material to the covering of canoes. The image of figures gliding silently along a river in a birchbark canoe, as depicted in thousands of stories and films, is one of the most common images people throughout the world have of American Indians. Indeed, in the Northeast and Great Lakes regions, birchbark canoes were widely used both for personal travel and for transporting goods. The canoes were made by first fashioning a framework of cedar, comprising the keel and the ribs; over this framework, sheets of birchbark, stripped from the trees in sevenfoot-long sheets, were stretched tight and bound together with cordage made from the inner bark of the basswood tree. Pitch from evergreens was used to caulk the seams to make the canoe watertight. Birchbark canoes were highly maneuverable, though it took some skill to navigate them. Because they were so light in weight, a single person could carry one over a portage. They were so ideal for use in northern waters that they were adopted by the French fur traders for use throughout Canada.
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Birchbark was also used to cover the tipis of the Algonquian tribes. Four basic framing poles were connected together, and additional “leaner” poles were positioned around them. The whole was covered with sheets of birchbark. Among the tribes that constructed longhouses, birchbark was used, along with elm bark, for the roofing material. Birchbark was used by northeastern Indians to make a wide variety of containers. Before pottery, cooking pots were made of birchbark. The contents were heated by dropping hot stones into the mixture. Birchbark containers were used by many tribes as tubs to hold dried food to be set aside for use during the winter; sometimes these tubs were buried in underground pits to protect the contents from freezing. The Indians of Maine used small birchbark pouches to carry tobacco; drinking cups were also made of birchbark. The Iroquois were in the habit of steeping birchbark in boiling water to make a popular drink with medicinal qualities. Birchbark could be fashioned into a kind of whistle that served as a moose caller. It was also used to make floats for fishnets. The Indians of the northern Great Lakes region used birchbark to make fans. These were used to winnow the wild rice they harvested from the swamps. Feathers were attached to the sheets of bark to stir the air. A personal fan could be made by attaching a stick, as a handle, to a piece of birchbark. In order to ensure a steady supply of birchbark, the Indians would have needed to clear areas and burn the brush, for the birch is a shade-intolerant tree and will only grow in the open sunlight. It is, however, able to tolerate soils that have modest nutritional capabilities. The fact that the Indians could make such great use of birchbark says much about their environmental management. The range of the paper birch extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Bear Lake in western Canada. Nancy M. Gordon See also: Boats and Watercraft; Longhouse; Tipi; Transportation Modes.
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Black Drink Tribes affected: Southeast tribes Significance: Black Drink was the main ceremonial beverage of Southeastern Indian tribes. Black Drink was a ritual beverage consumed by many Southeast tribes before and during important occasions such as certain council meetings. It was called “Black Drink” by the Europeans because of its color, but Indians called it “White Drink,” referring to its purity and medicinal properties. Consuming the drink purified men of any pollution, made them hospitable, and served as “symbolic social cement.” Black Drink was made of holly leaves and twigs gathered along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Inland tribes traded for the holly plants and transplanted them. Some tribes, for example the Seminole, combined the holly with other medicinal herbs. To prepare Black Drink, the holly plant was dried and roasted in earthen pots to a parched brown. The roasted leaves and twigs were then boiled in water until the liquid was dark brown. It then was strained and generally consumed hot and fresh. Black Drink was a stimulant, with one cup containing as much caffeine as eighteen to twenty-four cups of coffee. It was also a diuretic and brought on profuse sweating. If an important man in the tribe died, friends would consume Black Drink for eight successive mornings. A practice of the Timucuans was to consume large quantities and after about fifteen minutes cross their hands on their chests and vomit six to eight feet. The Chickasaw would place a little Black Drink into their ceremonial fire to provide social purification for all present. David N. Mielke See also: Mississippian Culture.
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Black Hills Tribes affected: Lakota and Teton Sioux Significance: The Black Hills have had both economic and spiritual significance to the Sioux; the U.S. Congress took the Black Hills with no compensation in 1877, violating an earlier treaty. The Black Hills are located in southwestern South Dakota along the Wyoming and Nebraska borders. Formed in the Pleistocene era, they form a remote ridge of limestone and granite 110 miles long, 40 miles wide, and 4,000 feet high. They provided a panoramic view of the vast prairie of buffalo grass below. The hills themselves were heavily wooded with dark pine and contained abundant animal and plant life as well as numerous springs and small lakes. The Black Hills were reached in the late 1700’s by the Sioux chief Standing Bull and his followers as the Sioux migrated westward. The Sioux called these hills Paha Sapa (Black Hills) because they were so heavily wooded with dark pine that from a distance they looked black. The Sioux had expelled the Kiowa from the area by 1814 and extended this border further west in the next few years. The Black Hills acquired a special significance to the western Sioux and were perhaps the most loved area in the Sioux domain. They provided water and abundant food, lodgepoles for tipis, and medicinal plants for healing. The steep canyons provided protection from the severe winter weather. Spiritually, the Black Hills were holy. They were the site of vision quests and the home of Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit. According to legend, two-legged animals raced four-legged animals to see who would dominate the earth. The thunder-being proclaimed that the Black Hills were the heart of the earth and that the Sioux would come back some day and live there. The hills were seen as a reclining female figure whose breasts provided life-giving forces and to whom the Teton went as a young child would go to its mother. White encroachment into Sioux territory led to war in the mid-
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nineteenth century. The Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868 ended this war and created the permanent Great Sioux reservation, of which the Black Hills formed a part. The pressures of white settlement and the discovery of gold in the Black Hills, however, led the government to try to purchase or lease them. The Sioux refused. In 1877 Congress ratified the Manypenny Agreement, which took the Black Hills without compensation. This violation of the 1868 treaty was upheld in the 1903 Supreme Court decision Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock. In 1911 the Sioux began what was to become a protracted legal process to regain the Black Hills. In 1980 the Supreme Court affirmed a 1979 Court of Claims ruling that the Sioux were entitled to $106 million in compensation for the taking of the Black Hills. Various attempts to have the Black Hills returned to the Sioux, such as Senator Bill Bradley’s land return legislation in 1985, have not succeeded. Laurence Miller See also: Land Claims.
Bladder Festival Tribes affected: Yupik (Eskimo) Significance: As the major religious event of the traditional Yupik, the Bladder Festival not only expressed the cosmology of the Yupik but also reiterated the social and economic relationships between people and between humans and animals. The Bladder Festival, which occurred at the winter solstice, was perhaps the most elaborate and most important of the traditional Yupik religious festivals. Called Nakaciuq, meaning “something done with bladders” in the Yupik language, the annual festival consisted of gift giving, feasting, and ritual performances of songs and dances. The festival lasted five or six days, depending upon the community. It culminated with the return to the sea of the bladders of all the seals and walruses harvested in the previous year. In
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this respect, the Bladder Festival symbolized the close of one subsistence cycle and the start of the next. It was last celebrated in the early part of the twentieth century. Like other Arctic peoples, the Yupik believed that future hunting success depended upon a hunter’s respectful attitude toward the caught game. The Yupik believed that each animal possessed a soul, or Inua, that resided in its bladder. These Inuas were finite in number and in order for future seals and other sea mammals to be caught, the Inuas of previously harvested animals must be returned to the sea. Furthermore, the Yupik believed that the game animals whose souls were well treated by humans would willingly give themselves up again to those humans. Good treatment was evidenced by the observance of hunting rituals, the careful and aesthetic use of the animal’s pelt, and the public honoring of the animal at celebrations such as the Bladder Festival. In the months and weeks leading up to the Bladder Festival, new songs were composed, new bowls, ladles, and buckets were carved, and new clothes were sewn. The semi-subterranean men’s house, or qasgiq, which was the primary site of the festival, was cleaned and purified. Although most of the festival occurred in and around the men’s house, everyone in the village—men, women, and children—participated. Each of the bladders was inflated, decorated, and displayed in the qasgiq. Ritual meals were served to the inflated bladders, and they, along with the human hosts, were entertained with songs and dances. At the conclusion of the festivities, each hunter removed the bladders of the animals he had killed through the smoke hole in the roof of the qasgiq and carried them to the ice. Once on the ice, he speared the bladders to deflate them and dropped them into a hole in the ocean ice. This was done in order to release the Inua and return it to the sea. The themes of renewal and regeneration were pervasive throughout the festival. Most important was the recognition that human livelihoods were dependent upon maintaining respectful relationships with the natural and supernatural worlds. The Bladder Festival also provided an opportunity for hunters within a community to compare their abilities as providers. Since each man
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displayed all the bladders of the sea mammals he had harvested that year, each person’s hunting success became common knowledge. Thus, the Bladder Festival provided opportunities for the reaffirmation of, or the reordering of, status among hunters. Pamela R. Stern See also: Dances and Dancing; Gifts and Gift Giving; Religion.
Blankets Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: American Indian trade blankets were manufactured by non-Indians and used as a commodity in trade dealings between the U.S. government and Native Americans. The earliest known use of European and English commercially made blankets in North America was in the fur trade with American Indians in the late seventeenth century. The use of the trade blanket as payment for treaties between the U.S. government and Native Americans began in 1776. Small manufacturers of blankets were established in the United States by the early 1800’s. About the same time, trade stations were being established across the country for the nonprofit exchange of goods between the government and the Indians. By the 1820’s, however, private businesses had replaced the government-controlled trade, and the trade blanket became a profit-making commodity. The market for trade blankets continued to expand with the opening of the West by the railroads, bringing more competition among manufacturers and a greater variety of colors and designs. At the beginning of the twentieth century, there were five major U.S. manufacturers (one of which was Pendleton) that produced only trade blankets. By the end of the twentieth century, Pendleton was the only company still in business producing “trade” blankets. The finely woven, double-faced blankets were used by Indians as clothing that provided both warmth and a means of expression.
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Navajo blankets and rugs, woven on looms such as this, had become valuable trade and sale items by the late nineteenth centur y.
They replaced the use of robes made of animal hides by the Plains Indians and the hand-woven blankets of the Navajo; they were also used as highly valued gifts. Blankets conveyed different moods, depending on the style in which they were worn. They were thrown over the shoulder, belted at the waist, wrapped around the waist, or worn as a hooded robe. Blankets were also used as infant and child carriers, covers for the bed, and saddle blankets. The blankets also were a measure of wealth or status and could be used as statements of tribal unity or individual identity. There were six general categories for design in trade blankets. These include the striped, banded, and nine-element designs used in chief’s blankets, as well as center point, overall, and framed designs. Bright earth tones plus white, blue, and black were the predominant colors and were often woven into intricate design patterns. Design elements include motifs such as the cross, swastika,
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arrow, zig-zag, and banding that formed geometric patterns symbolizing mountains, paths, clouds, stars, birds, and the four cardinal directions. Some designs were believed to express stories and myths and were made for Indians by using Indian symbols and colors. Trade blankets continue to be highly valued by Indians and non-Indians, both as collectibles and as usable blankets. They became known as “Indian blankets” long ago because American Indians made them a distinct part of their lives and cultures. Diane C. Van Noord Sources for Further Study Coulter, Lane, ed. Navajo Saddle Blankets: Textiles to Ride in the American West. Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, 2002. Friedman, Barry, with James H. Collins and Gary Diamond. Chasing Rainbows: Collecting American Indian Trade and Camp Blankets. Boston: Bullfinch Press, 2002. See also: Chilkat Blankets; Dress and Adornment; Trade; Weaving.
Boarding and Residential Schools Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Boarding schools for Indian youth were established by Europeans in the early days of contact, and these institutions resulted in negative consequences for Indian families, disconnection from education, and for some people psychological problems. The object of the Indian boarding schools was to separate Indian children from their parents in order to impart Euro-American values and culture. In 2003, Indian boarding continued to operate in the United States; Canada closed all such facilities in 1988. Early Period. Many of the earliest treaties negotiated between Indian tribes and European nations during the colonial era con-
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tained provisions for education. Through this education system, native people expected to retain their own languages and traditions as well as to learn Euro-American ways. However, from the earliest days, the European (later Canadian and American) goal was to use the schools as tools to assimilate Indian youth. Early schools were run by churches that favored the boarding system because in separating Indian children from their families such institutions were able to extinguish tribal knowledge and languages and imprint children with Christian values. As early as 1568, Indian children from Georgia and Florida were placed in Jesuit schools in Cuba. Government-Sponsored Schools. In 1802 the U.S. Congress appropriated funds to religious groups to establish schools, and in 1819 Congress increased the appropriation with passage of the Indian Civilization Fund Act. As a result, numerous schools, both boarding and day schools, were established by various denominations for the education of Indian youth. Students in these schools were taught basic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics, and emphasis was on vocational education. In Canada, the government also was obliged, through treaty provisions, to develop schools for the education of Indian youth. The government deemed it more economical to develop and fund existing missionary schools than develop its own infrastructure, so the government contracted for educational services with the Anglican and Catholic Churches. In Canada there were two types of residential schools: Boarding schools, located on reservations, served students between eight and fourteen years old; industrial schools, located off reservations, admitted students up to fourteen years old. The industrial schools sought to prepare students for life off the reserves, and vocational education was a mainstay of the curriculum. Boarding schools were favored in the United States and Canada, because it was believed that they would be the most efficient means to accomplish assimilation. In the United States, squabbling among Protestants and Catholics led to repeal of the Civilization Fund in 1873, and the fed-
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eral government assumed a more direct role in operating Indian schools. Religious schools continued, but federal officials were convinced that they could develop schools and more efficiently accomplish assimilation. The federal government continued to endorse removal of children from their homes as the quickest way to achieve assimilation. Carlisle Indian School, the first federally operated boarding school, opened in 1879 with the goal of transforming the Indian into a patriotic American citizen. Indian education, whether sponsored by the United States government, religious organizations, or in partnership, was intended to strip Indian children of their language and culture and change them into mainstream Americans. Schools in both Canada and the United States mandated Englishonly and emphasized the acquisition of basic skills in reading, writing, and arithmetic, along with industrial training. Many of these schools were supported by the manual labor of their students. At many schools students spent more time working than
A group of Sioux boys arriving at the Carlisle Indian School in 1879. (National Archives)
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learning basic skills. Ultimately this became an issue in both Canada and the United States. After unfavorable publicity, both governments insisted on greater balance between basic skills and industrial education. Nonetheless, assimilation continued as the goal of Indian education in Canada and the United States. Conditions in the school were difficult for the children. Poor health was a continuous problem in boarding schools, and discipline was harsh. Many students attempted to run away from the schools, and though parents often protested sending their children to the schools, they were arrested if they refused. Reforms to Hasten Assimilation. Canadian residential schools came under attack in the early 1900’s, because they were expensive, inefficient, and rife with health and physical and sexual abuse problems. In response, the government assumed more responsibility in running the schools. In 1927 compulsory attendance was strengthened, and on authority of the Indian agent, children could be committed to boarding schools and kept until age eighteen. Once they had completed their education, Indian youth were told they were not to return to their reserves. In the United States the Meriam Report (1928), a scathing critique of federal Indian programs, was published. It labeled boarding schools as harmful institutions for children and condemned many aspects of Indian education, and as a result, school reforms were instituted. Many boarding schools closed, and children were sent to public schools or day schools located on their reservations. However, school reforms ended with the Great Depression and World War II. After World War II federal policies in Canada and the United States again sought to dissolve the trust relationship with tribes. In the 1950’s, as a way to accomplish assimilation once and for all, the U.S. government reopened many off-reservation boarding schools. Similarly, in Canada, concerns surfaced about how to best accomplish assimilation so the government revised the Indian Act in 1951 and integrated Indian children into public schools. Often these children were boarded in government facilities.
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Indian-Controlled Schools. In the 1960’s and 1970’s tribes began to insist that the school system for Indian children had to change, and they asserted their rights to manage the education of their children. American and Canadian Indians lobbied intensely to close boarding schools and put education in the hands of native people. In Canada and the United States a series of education acts permitted tribes to direct education and to enfold tribal languages and cultures into the curriculum. The last federal residential school closed in Canada in 1988. Many boarding schools in the United States closed during the 1970’s and 1980’s, and those that remain open provide specialized services such as foster care and developmental education to small numbers of youth. The goal is no longer to assimilate but to educate and instill a sense of pride and selfworth in the students. Boarding schools, once considered by both countries the optimal way to educate Indian children, have given way to innovative tribally controlled schools that underscore selfdetermination and sovereignty. Tribal languages, cultures, and histories are vital parts of the curriculum in these schools. Carole A. Barrett Sources for Further Study Adams, David Wallace. Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2000. Archuleta, Margaret, ed. Away from Home: American Indian Boarding School Experiences. Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, 2000. Child, Brenda. Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998. Johnston, Basil. Indian School Days. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988. Lomawaima, K. Tsianina. They Called It Prairie Light: The Story of Chilocco Indian School. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994. See also: Children; Education: Post-contact; Education: Pre-contact; Missions and Missionaries; Tribal Colleges.
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Boats and Watercraft Tribes affected: Widespread but not pantribal Significance: Many native peoples used watercraft for hunting and transportation. Native American watercraft generally fall into three basic types: dugout canoes, birchbark canoes, and kayaks. The word “canoe” is a general term that refers to many different types of light, narrow boats with pointed ends that are propelled by paddling. Christopher Columbus first recorded the word canáoa, which was used by natives in the West Indies to describe their dugout boats. Canoes. Because of their heavy weight and the difficulty of overland transport, dugout canoes were primarily used by more stationary tribes or by those who fished or navigated on the oceans and thus needed a very strong craft. The Tlingit, for example, who lived in the area of present-day southeastern Alaska along the Pacific coast, constructed canoes for fishing and coastal voyages out of large red cedar trees, which they felled by building a fire at each tree’s base. They then hollowed out the log with a stone axe and sometimes added planks along the sides or fastened two canoes together, side by side, with spars made from sturdy branches for more stability in rough waters. Smaller canoes for two or three per-
Algonquian birchbark canoe
Nootka dugout canoe
Inuit kayak
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sons were fashioned from cottonwood logs and used for river travel and fishing. The larger oceangoing canoes could carry as many as sixty people and measured up to 45 feet in length. A dugout canoe on display in New York City’s Museum of Natural History from Queen Charlotte’s Island, off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, measures 63 feet long, 8 feet, 3 inches wide, and 5 feet deep; it was cut from a single log. Along the eastern coast of the United States, dugout canoes made from pine, oak, chestnut, or tulip wood were common. It took one man ten or twelve days to make a dugout canoe by lighting a small fire in the center of the log and then chopping out the charred wood with an axe. Dugout canoes were heavy but sturdy, and predominated in areas where birchbark was scarce. The birchbark canoe was first used by the Algonquin Indians in what is now the northeastern United States and Canada, where birch trees were plentiful. They were extremely buoyant and sturdy, yet light enough to be carried over land, which made them particularly useful for exploration and trade and for hunting and trapping in smaller rivers. The early French missionaries, fur traders, and explorers in North America all used birchbark canoes, and the adoption of the bark canoe by European explorers is in large part responsible for the rapid exploration and development of the continent. Indian birchbark canoes varied in length from 15 to almost 100 feet for canoes built to carry warriors. The Ojibwa (Chippewa), once one of the largest tribes north of Mexico, were master canoe makers. They would first outline the craft’s shape by driving wood stakes into the ground; then thick, pliable sheets of birchbark were placed inside and fastened to wooden gunwales (the upper edge of the canoe). The frame was fortified with cedar ribs, and the bark was sewn with strings made from spruce roots. Finally, the seams were made watertight with sap from spruce trees. Other tribes substituted bark from elm, hickory, spruce, basswood, or chestnut when birch was unavailable, but barks other than birch absorbed water quickly. Often such canoes were built for limited use and then simply abandoned as they became waterlogged and heavy.
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Eskimos often used umiaks to carry families and supplies. (National Archives)
Kayaks and Umiaks. One of the most significant achievements of the Eskimos (Inuits) was the invention of the kayak, which is perhaps the most seaworthy watercraft ever built. Most were about the size of a small canoe and were made from a frame of driftwood, saplings, or whalebone, over which sealskin was tightly stretched and made waterproof by rubbing it with animal fat. Kayaks were commonly built for one occupant but could be designed for two or three. They were first used as hunting boats for walrus and seals by the Eskimos of Greenland and later also used by Alaskan Eskimos. Some scholars suggest that the design of the birchbark canoes used by tribes in the more southerly areas of North America was adapted from the kayak. The kayak is completely covered except for a hole in which the paddler sits, which the Eskimos made watertight by lacing their clothing over the rim of the hole. Since they were completely waterproof and highly maneuverable, kayaks could be launched in rough surf and navigated through ice-infested ocean waters that would quickly swamp an open boat. Since the paddler sat low in the center, kayaks were also useful in rivers with swift waters and rapids. Propelled by a double-bladed paddle, a capsized kayak could be righted by a skillful person without taking in any water by rolling full circle.
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When pursuing seal or walrus, the hunter would lean forward, concealed behind a small sail-like blind attached to the bow. As he drew close, he would hurl a wooden spear attached to the boat by a line coiled in a tray on the deck. The Eskimos also used a larger, open boat covered with animal skins called a “umiak,” which is Eskimo for “woman’s boat,” as it was most often piloted by the women in the group. The umiak was used for carrying families and supplies and was propelled by both paddles and oars—the only known instance of the use of oars by Native Americans before the coming of the Europeans. Some of the Eskimo boats may also have been powered by sails; among the other native peoples of the American continents, only the Mayas of the Yucatán Peninsula and the natives of the coast of Peru were known to have used sails before the Europeans arrived. Most Eskimos today have replaced their kayaks with wood or aluminum boats, and their sails and paddles with outboard gasoline motors. The modern descendants of Native American canoes and kayaks are made from wood, aluminum, canvas, or fiberglass, and are used for sport, recreation, or competition. Raymond Frey Sources for Further Study Adney, Edwin Tappan, and Howard I. Chapelle. The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964. McPhee, John. The Survival of the Bark Canoe. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1975. National Geographic Society. National Geographic on Indians of the Americas. Washington, D.C.: Author, 1955. Oswalt, Wendell H. This Land Was Theirs: A Study of North American Indians. 5th ed. Mountain View, Calif.: Mayfield, 1996. Weyer, Edward Moffat. The Eskimos: Their Environment and Folkways. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1932. See also: Birchbark; Transportation Modes.
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Booger Dance Tribe affected: Cherokee Significance: The Booger Dance is a major symbolic feature of Cherokee night dances. The term “booger,” equivalent to “bogey” (ghost), is used by English-speaking Cherokee for any ghost or frightful animal. The Booger Dance originated among Eastern Mountain Cherokee as a way to portray European invaders as awkward, ridiculous, lewd, and menacing. The dance dramatizes hostility and disdain for white culture by mocking elements that cause cultural decay and defeat. The dance is preceded by a ritual of divination. Should divination devices conclude that an illness was caused by “boogers” (bogeymen), the Booger Dance is then determined to be the means of relief. The dance is conducted to “scare away” the spirit causing the sickness. It is a masked dance, in which masks made from gourds are often garishly painted with hideous designs. The dance is not an independent rite but is a major symbolic feature of Cherokee night dances. Early forms of the Booger Dance were limited to winter performances, as killing frost and bitter cold were associated with ghosts. The dance then evolved during the nineteenth century to deal with the appearance of whites. Performed by four to ten men and sometimes two to four women, it incorporates profane, lewd, even obscene dramatic elements. Glenn J. Schiffman See also: Dances and Dancing; Medicine and Modes of Curing: Pre-contact.
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Bows, Arrows, and Quivers Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: The bow and arrow was the most important missile weapon used by North American Indians. Archery was universal in native North America, and the bow and arrow was by far the most important missile weapon complex in use. The bow and arrow was of tremendous importance in hunting, which was vital to procuring the food supply in all parts of the continent. Archery was also essential in warfare, where it existed, and was rich in symbolism. The making of bows and arrows involved highly valued knowledge and skills. The materials from which archery tackle was made were often important in trade, as were the finished products. The design and scale of bows, arrows, and quivers varied regionally, as did the materials utilized. Both bows and arrows were made in proportion to the archer’s body; the formulae used varied with the size of tackle desired. Bows were of several types. Most common was a selfbow (a bow made of a single piece of wood with no laminating materials) of springy wood tapering toward both ends and sometimes narrowed at the grip. This bow type seems to be virtually the only one definitely recorded for the eastern United States, southeastern Canada, and most of Mexico. In the north and west, wooden bows and generally shorter bows of horn, antler, or bone were reinforced with sinew. In the Arctic, the sinew was commonly attached in the form of many strands of a slender cable laced to the back of the bow so that its tension could be adjusted to suit the archer. Elsewhere the sinew was applied directly to the back of the bow with glue and sometimes with lashings as well. An alternative bow type utilized sinew lashings to reinforce the bow but lacked the sinew backing. In general, bows were longer in the east. Bowstrings were made of sinew, plant fiber cordage, hide, or gut. Bracers were often simple hide straps, but other types were known as well. Arrows were predominantly of wood, but reed- or cane-shafted arrows with wooden foreshafts into which points might be set
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were common in the western and southern United States and southward. Arrow points were of many types and were made of bone, antler, hardwood, and other materials as well as stone. Points and fletching were attached with lashings of sinew and sometimes with pitch or glue. Quivers were generally narrow bags of animal skin that could be conveniently slung over the shoulder for ease in carrying. In the north and west, a common quiver type was a fur bag that sheltered
Southern Paiute (Great Basin) hardwood bow, animal skin quiver, and arrows; the left arrow is wooden with an iron point, the right is a cane arrow tipped with stone.
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both the bow and its arrows from the weather. In the central United States and neighboring regions a separate case for the bow was sometimes attached to the quiver. Other quivers were simply arrow cases. Accessories, such as sinew and arrow points or a fire drill, were often carried in the quiver or in bags attached to it. Boys commonly practiced archery from early childhood and began hunting small game while still very young. The bow and arrow was the constant companion of men of all ages. Native archery is said to have been deadly at a distance of fifty yards. The form employed in shooting varied both between and within tribes. Michael G. Davis Sources for Further Study Allely, Steve, and Jim Hamm. Encyclopedia of Native American Bows, Arrows, and Quivers. New York: Lyons Press with Bois d’Arc Press, 1999. Baker, Tim, et al. The Traditional Boyer’s Bible, Volume 3. New York: The Lyons Press, 1994. Francis, Leo, III. Native Time: An Historical Time Line of Native America. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996. Hamilton, T. M. Native American Bows. 2d ed. Columbia: Missouri Archaeological Society, 1982. Harding, David, ed. Weapons: An International Encyclopedia from 5000 B.C. to 2000 A.D. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1980. Laubin, Reginald. American Indian Archery. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980. See also: Atlatl; Hunting and Gathering; Lances and Spears; Projectile Points; Tools; Warfare and Conflict; Weapons.
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Bragskins Tribes affected: Plains tribes Significance: Bragskins are a particular type of pictograph or “picture writing” kept by Plains Indian warriors and painted onto elk hides, buffalo robes, tipi covers and liners, and sometimes men’s shirts. They were known as bragskins because a man preserved and recorded his individual exploits and attainments on the battlefield. The primary intent of a bragskin was to develop and preserve a personal narrative of accomplishments, particularly deeds connected with warfare. Typically bragskins were made up of a series of pictures which gave the full action of a single event in illustrative style. Taken as a whole, these autobiographical accounts preserved the record of the life of the people; they were conscious historic records which were seen by the people on a daily basis. They were also a constant pictorial reminder of the collective ideals of bravery and fortitude which underscored Plains Indian life. Men swore that the events depicted on their bragskins were absolutely true and correct as presented. According to tradition, all deeds of bravery or achievement depicted on the bragskins had to have been witnessed by at least two other men who also swore to their veracity. Truthfulness and accuracy were insisted upon or a man would be exposed in public as a liar, and he would bring great dishonor on his family and relations. Bragskins were more than mere decoration and artistic skill was a minor consideration; their importance lay in communicating facts to their people. The drawings usually consisted of only a few strokes—characters and objects were represented by drawing the single striking feature or characteristic of a person or object. So that they could be read easily by all members of their tribe, pictographic accounts utilized certain conventions. Usually, men represented themselves on their bragskins by drawing the lance, headdress, or some other feature to represent their warrior society; or they would depict the image painted on their shield, which was highly individualized. In this way, each man was the center of his
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own story and easily identifiable on his own bragskin. Each tribe had conventional ways of representing other tribes, and everyone in camp knew how to read their meaning. For example, in Lakota bragskins the Cheyenne were indicated by drawing hash marks across the arm, because in sign language the Lakota represented the Cheyenne by running the fingers horizontally across the lower arm. In another instance, the Lakota drew Crow men with a knot or bunch of hair at the front of their heads, because this represented that tribe’s distinctive hairstyle. At certain times of the year each men’s warrior society would sponsor a feast for tribal members, and at those times, the society members would take out their bragskins and publicly recount their deeds and exploits in warfare. Recitation of war stories was an important way to transmit and model the virtues of fortitude and bravery to young boys and to the tribe in general. Bragskins provided a permanent record of these individual accomplishments in battle and reinforced the warrior ethic among the people. Carole A. Barrett See also: Petroglyphs; Pictographs; Shields; Symbolism in Art; Warfare and Conflict; Wintercounts.
Buffalo Tribes affected: Plains tribes Significance: Until the nineteenth century, Plains tribes subsisted largely on the buffalo (or bison); by the 1870’s, the combination of the fur trade and white hide hunters had nearly exterminated the herds, forcing Plains tribes to submit to the reservation system. From the end of the last Ice Age until the late nineteenth century, the American buffalo, also called the bison, was the dominant species in the Great Plains. While some estimates of the historic bison population have ranged as high as one hundred million, increasingly accurate assessments of the carrying capacity of the grass-
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Buffalo Depletion from 1850-1895 20,000,000
20,000,000
18,000,000
16,000,000
15,000,000 14,000,000
14,000,000
12,000,000
10,000,000
8,000,000
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395,000 20,000 1,091 800
4,000,000
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1,000,000
1890
1895
1880
1885
1870
1875
1860
1865
1850
0
1855
lands have suggested that the historic bison population in the Great Plains was not more than thirty million. Native Americans hunted bison on foot for thousands of years by surrounding a herd until the animals were within range of bows or by setting a fire to stampede a herd over a bluff. Following the diffusion of horses into the Great Plains in the first half of the eighteenth century, a number of tribes—among them the Arapaho, Assiniboine, Atsina, Blackfeet Confederacy, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, Apache of Oklahoma (Kiowa-Apache), and Sioux—became almost exclusively nomadic, equestrian buffalo hunters. Others—among them the Arikara, Hidatsa, Mandan, and Pawnee—maintained their gardens in the river valleys of the Plains while adapting from pedestrian to equestrian buffalo hunting. The nomadic tribes adapted their social organization to the habits of the bison. They assembled as a tribe only during the summer, when the
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Note: In the twentieth century the buffalo population began to rebound from its 1895 low of about 800; in 1983 it was estimated at 50,000. Source: Data are from Thornton, Russell, American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History Since 1492 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987); Thornton, Russell, We Shall Live Again: The 1870 and 1890 Ghost Dance Movements as Demographic Revitalization (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986).
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bison were congregated for the rutting season. During the rest of the year they were divided into bands, reflecting the actions of the herds, which divided to search for winter forage. In response to the fur trade, Indian hunting of the buffalo accelerated during the nineteenth century. By the 1840’s, the Plains Indians were providing between 150,000 and 200,000 buffalo robes each year to European American fur traders along the Missouri River. By the 1850’s, Indian commercial hunting had markedly reduced the number of bison in the eastern Great Plains. White hide hunters delivered the final blow to the herds in the 1870’s and early 1880’s. As many as two thousand buffalo hunters armed with large-caliber Sharps or Winchester rifles blanketed the southern Great Plains in the early 1870’s. The hide hunters were extraordinarily destructive: In the early years of the slaughter, every hide shipped to market probably represented five dead bison. In the late 1870’s, having largely extirpated the bison from the southern Great Plains, the hide hunters moved to the north, where they destroyed the remaining herds by 1883. By 1889, there were about a thousand of the animals remaining in remote areas of the Texas panhandle, Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming. Once the herds were destroyed, the Plains Indians were reduced to extreme poverty and had little alternative to the reservation system. Andrew C. Isenberg Sources for Further Study Ewers, John Canfield. Plains Indian History and Culture: Essays on Continuity and Change. Foreword by William T. Hagan. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997. Pickering, Robert B. Seeing the White Buffalo. Boulder, Colo.: Johnson Books, 1997. See also: Buffalo Dance; Hides and Hidework; Horses; Pemmican; Subsistence; White Buffalo Society.
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Buffalo Dance Tribe affected: Mandan Significance: The Buffalo Dance and ceremony were meant to ensure an adequate supply of buffalo for the hunt. The Mandan, a hunting people of the northern Great Plains, performed the Buffalo Dance before the yearly hunt to ensure success. A special society, the Bull Dancers, wore buffalo head masks with eye and nose holes. The dancers carried buffalo hide shields and long lances. They had buffalo tails tied around their knees and danced until they fell to the ground from exhaustion. Then they were dragged away by other members of the tribe and symbolically skinned and butchered. According to Mandan tradition, the dance originated when a white buffalo took a shaman to the home of the “buffalo people” in the sky. Here he was taught the dance, and he brought it back to his people. As part of the dance cere-
A Buffalo Dance performed at Hano. (E. S. Curtis/American Museum of Natural History)
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mony, Mandan women prepare two large kettles of corn meal mush—which buffaloes like very much—and set them out at the edge of the village. Women in the White Buffalo Calf Society then lure buffalo to the camp by putting on buffalo robes and dancing wildly. As the dance ends, the performers say a prayer to the gods thanking them for all they have provided and asking for their help in living as the gods wish. The dancers then eat the mush. Buffalo dancing had stopped by 1900—the buffalo were gone, so there was no longer a reason to perform the dance. White reservation officials had already banned buffalo dancing because of its “pagan” nature. Only in the 1930’s, with buffalo herds restored to a few areas of the Great Plains, was the dance performed again, though mostly for the benefit of tourists. Leslie V. Tischauser See also: Buffalo; Dances and Dancing; White Buffalo Society.
Bundles, Sacred Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Sacred bundles contain objects that represent the power or medicine of their owner; assembled under the guidance of spirit beings, they are used in ceremonies to assure the well-being of an individual, clan, or tribe. Sacred bundles were believed to have supernatural power to cure the sick, win the affections of another, get revenge on an enemy, gain possessions, or even assure long life for an individual or a whole tribe. Wrapped in the hide of a deer or the whole skin of an otter, some tribal bundles were large enough to hold hundreds of items, while personal bundles were often small enough to carry in one hand. (Although the use of sacred bundles is treated as historical here to emphasize their great importance in many traditional American Indian cultures, it is important to note that many practices involving sacred bundles still occur today.)
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Sacred bundles required special care. They were considered to be “alive” with supernatural power. Some personal bundles were displayed in the owner’s lodge or hung outside the tipi, but the great tribal bundles were secluded from everyday view. Because of their magical quality they were surrounded with taboos. Bundles represented an important link with the past and supernatural beings and could be opened only under prescribed circumstances to benefit the person or the tribe. Traditionally, a personal bundle was acquired through a vision quest. One went out alone for several days and fasted and prayed until the guardian spirit was encountered. A relationship was established and directions were given for the spiritual path of the seeker. Upon return from the quest, objects were gathered for the medicine bundle as symbols of the experience. An item representing the guardian spirit was usually worn to assure ongoing contact. The primary item in a medicine bundle symbolized the guardian spirit. Tobacco, feathers, fur, stones, or anything of special meaning could become part of the bundle. Often a song was given by the spirits as part of the seeker’s medicine. Something of the vision experience, such as a song, a painting on a shield, a dance, or the telling of a particular incident, was shared with the tribe. In this way others received some of the power that was available as long as requirements were met for keeping the bundle. In some tribes a bundle could be inherited through the father’s lineage, captured during a battle, purchased, or received in exchange for horses. A powerful bundle could be duplicated for one or two others with permission of the spirits. The owner could remake a bundle that was lost or taken in a fight. Unless the bundle, with its power, was willingly given to someone, it belonged to the owner until death. Personal Bundles. Objects in a sacred bundle filled a definite purpose, either spiritual or practical. A large medicine-pipe bundle belonging to a member of the Blackfoot tribe, for example, contained a decorated pipe stem along with a tobacco cutting board
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and pipe stokers. Animal spirits were represented by an elk hide, bearskin, mountain-goat headdress, eagle-wing feather, head of a crane, skin of a loon (used as a tobacco pouch), fetus of a deer, and skins of prairie dog, squirrel, mink, muskrat, and owl. Other ceremonial tools were a rattle, a rawhide bag of roots for making smudge (sacred incense), a bag of pine needles, and tongs for placing coals on the smudge. Personal items included necklaces, a wooden bowl for food, a horse whip, a thong lariat, and a painted buffalo robe. A sacred song was also given by the spirits and was sung any time the bundle was displayed. In Blackfoot tradition, the pipe bundle could be opened on four occasions: when the first thunder was heard in the spring; when the bundle was being transferred to a new leader; when tobacco in the bundle was renewed; and when the pipe was used in keeping a vow. Tribal Bundles. The great tribal bundles, such as the Blackfoot Sacred Pipe bundle or the Pawnee Evening Star bundle, were sometimes displayed at ceremonies, but they were opened only on special occasions. In some Plains tribes bundles were used to “keep the world together.” The people believed that the tribe’s well-being depended on the proper care and protection of those bundles because the items within them symbolized life itself. The Kiowas had a small stone image resembling a man that was shown to the people only once a year at the Sun Dance. The Fox of the Great Lakes had forty sacred bundle groups in eleven major categories. For the Pawnee of the Plains, the stars were important in sacred traditions, and the Evening Star bundle was assembled under the direction of that highly revered star guardian. A Cheyenne bundle contained the four Medicine Arrows, and an Arapaho bundle held a special flat pipe, an ear of corn, and a stone turtle. The summer Green Corn Dance was a time of cleansing and renewal for the Seminole of Florida and Oklahoma. Meeting at sacred places in woods and near creeks, they danced and recited oral history to honor their mystical origin. Just before dawn on the fourth day, the sacred bundle was blessed and opened. Nearly
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seven hundred items wrapped in buckskin or white cloth contained sacred knowledge and medicine for the health of the tribe. The Seminole believed that this renewal of the sacred bundle assured that the people would not die and the tribe would not disappear. The power within sacred bundles was regarded with wonder, respect, and sometimes fear. The sacred practitioners who worked with this secret and often dangerous knowledge learned by experimenting with natural forces after much ritual preparation. An untrained person would resist contact with this potent knowledge because, as one individual put it, “the power might come back at me if I exposed myself to it when I was not prepared, or not ready to know about it”; another said, “I wouldn’t want to go near those medicine bundles if I didn’t know how to act.” Gale M. Thompson Sources for Further Study Beck, Peggy V., Anna Lee Walters, and Nia Francisco. The Sacred: Ways of Knowledge, Sources of Life. Redesigned ed. Tsaile, Ariz.: Navajo Community College Press, 1992. Brown, Joseph Epes. The Spiritual Legacy of the American Indian. New York: Crossroad, 1982. Garbarino, Merwyn S. Native American Heritage. Boston: Little, Brown, 1976. Radin, Paul. The Story of the American Indian. Deluxe illustrated ed. Garden City, N.Y.: Garden City Publishing, 1937. Underhill, Ruth Murray. Red Man’s America: A History of Indians in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953. See also: Calumets and Pipe Bags; Ethnophilosophy and Worldview; Green Corn Dance; Guardian Spirits; Medicine Bundles; Religion; Sacred, the; Visions and Vision Quests.
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Cacique Tribes affected: Tribes of Spanish America Significance: Originally a term applied to Caribbean tribal chiefs, “cacique” was adopted by the Eastern Pueblo peoples, to whom it designates a religious-secular office. In the Caribbean, the Spanish encountered Arawak Indians who applied the term “cacique” to their chiefs. The Spanish subsequently used the term to designate leaders with varying degrees of authority. Among North American Indians, the term has been adopted only by the Eastern Pueblo tribes along the Rio Grande of New Mexico. There, it refers to the male religious-secular leader of a community. The Puebloan cacique is probably an outgrowth of a native office, namely the peace leader of the community, whose title and duties were modified by the Spanish. The modern cacique serves as a representative of the pueblo as a whole and is said to have the duty of “looking after the people.” This entails presiding at various religious ceremonies, allocating certain rights to agricultural fields, representing the pueblo in dealings with outsiders, and appointing and training one’s successor. The degree of power wielded by a cacique varies with that cacique’s personality. Russell J. Barber See also: Political Organization and Leadership.
Calumets and Pipe Bags Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: The calumet (sacred pipe) was the most widely used ceremonial object among North American Indians, and it has been a central symbol of modern Pan-Indian movements. Calumet, from the French for reed pipe, refers to pipes with long wooden stems and detachable clay or stone bowls. Widely used
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for both personal and ceremonial purposes, calumet refers to only the sacred pipes. Archaeological evidence shows extensive use throughout North America that may date back four thousand years. Most tribal groups have myths similar to a myth of the Lakota Sioux in which a sacred being, such as White Buffalo Woman, brings the pipe at the time of the creation of the people, or during a time of hardship. The pipe serves as an ongoing means of communication with the spirit beings. Ceremonial pipes were understood to have a special power and were kept in bags (bundles) tended by specially trained women and men. The bowl and stem were joined only for ritual use, symbolizing the merger of earth and sky, male and female. In most ceremonies, the lit pipe was offered to the six directions (north, south, east, west, up, and down) and then passed in the direction of the sun to all those gathered. Some pipes were so powerful that only certain sacred persons could smoke them. The bowls were often carved in the images of animals or persons, although L shapes and inverted-T shapes were also common. Red pipestone was prized material for bowls, and many of the carvers were men with disabilities who could not participate in war. The long wooden stems were usually decorated with feathers or ornaments. The decorations revealed when the pipe was to be used: for healing, before the hunt, before war, to bind together confederacies, or to make peace (the peace pipe). Smoking the pipe was understood to link those present and the spirit beings in a cosmic harmony. After a period of decline, pipe carving has been revived, and sweatlodges and pipe ceremonies have become central symbols in pan-Indian movements such as the American Indian Movement (AIM). Charles Louis Kammer III Source for Further Study Steinmetz, Paul B. The Sacred Pipe: An Archetypal Theology. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1998. See also: Bundles, Sacred; Pipestone Quarries; Religion.
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Captivity and Captivity Narratives Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Captivity narratives provide cultural data concerning Native Americans and early contacts with Europeans, although these narratives were often biased and many of them perpetuated stereotypes of Indians. Captivity narratives are accounts written by Europeans who were captured by Native Americans. They provide informative vignettes of Native American life, since in many cases captives were adopted into families and learned the languages and aboriginal cultures. In this way, cultural outsiders became insiders who were later able to write about their experiences. There is a risk, however, in relying too directly on these captivity accounts for objective information on Native Americans. Many of the captives were taken during hostile interactions between the Europeans and the indigenous peoples, and thus they did not always relish their enforced observation of another culture. In addition, captivity narratives were often published for the purpose of providing moral guidance to the masses (and were generally sensationalized for entertainment value), and this agenda seriously affects some of the data reported. A prime example is an early captivity narrative published by a minister’s wife under the title The Soveraignty and Goodness of God, Together with the Faithfulness of His Promises Displayed: Being a Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson; Commended by Her, to All That Desire to Know the Lord’s Doing to, and Dealings with Her (1682). It may be found in Charles Lincoln’s Narratives of the Indian Wars (1675-1699) (1913). This genre of literature served to warn erring Christians of the dangers in straying from a religious life; Indians served as the stereotype of extreme waywardness. The commercial success of the earlier captivity accounts resulted in further publications, and by the nineteenth century hundreds of pamphlets and anthologies were available. Many of these were written by women or featured a female heroine; if the typical
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plot is to be believed, generally the purity of the protagonist allowed her to overcome the dangerous ordeal and to return unscathed to her former lifestyle. Those with a male hero often had the man being seduced by the freedom of the wilderness and its native inhabitants to become one with his aboriginal hosts. Occasionally, these men attempted, with difficulty, to return to their former societies, as in Edwin James’s John Tanner’s Narrative of His Captivity Among the Ottawa and Ojibwa Indians (1830). A history of captivity narratives appears in Robert F. Berkhoffer, Jr.’s “White Conceptions of Indians” in volume 4 of the Handbook of North American Indians, entitled History of Indian-White Relations (1988), published by the Smithsonian Institution. Susan J. Wurtzburg Sources for Further Study Hartman, James D. Providence Tales and the Birth of American Literature. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999. Strong, Pauline Turner. Captive Selves, Captivating Others: The Politics and Poetics of Colonial American Captivity Narratives. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1999. See also: Adoption; Slavery; Torture; Warfare and Conflict.
Chantways Tribe affected: Navajo Significance: “Chantways” is the term used to refer to the Navajo ceremonial healing system based on creation myths, using a combination of singing, sand painting, prayer, and sacred objects. The Navajo ceremonial system is composed of rites, chants, and rituals for restoring balance and harmony to life. Based on Navajo creation myths that explain their understanding of the reciprocity of the natural and supernatural worlds, religious rituals requiring from two to nine days and nights are conducted that are both curative and preventative.
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Belief. The Navajo believe that the universe is interrelated. All of creation is maintained by a delicate balance of natural and supernatural elements that results in a state of harmony and well being. The natural and supernatural operate in a system of mutual interchange in order to achieve this ideal state of health. In this system, it is believed that people become ill as a result of disharmony in the world caused by such things as bad dreams, evil spirits and sorcery, excesses in activities, and the hoarding of property. Navajos adhere to a rule of moderation in living to avoid sickness, injury, and other misfortune. For those who are suffering, the sacred ceremony centering on the sand painting is the means to physical, emotional, and psychological restoration. Sand Paintings. Sand paintings are freehand drawings which serve three main purposes: to attract “the supernaturals”; to identify the patient with them; and to serve as a medium of exchange, absorbing evil or imparting good. Completed sand paintings obligate the Holy People to come and infuse the sand painting with their power. Because of the sacred and powerful nature of this exchange, complete and accurate sand paintings are always used only in a ritual context. Sand paintings are a type of ritual altar on the floor of the hogan, and they are the center of activity and power in the Chantways ceremonials. The symbols and images used in sand painting are irresistible for the supernaturals; they are compelled to come to their likenesses in the painting. A painting can take from thirty minutes to ten or more hours to complete, often with several apprentice assistants working on it. The average painting takes about four hours. When the painting is completed it is inspected, sanctified, and used immediately. Practice. Chantways, so called because of the singing and shaking of rattles during the ceremonials, are organized into ceremonial categories or complexes based on the interrelatedness of procedure and myth. Of twenty-four known complexes, about half are well known, with seven of these performed often. These seven are
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called Shootingway, Mountainway, Nightway, Flintway, Handtremblingway, Navajo Windway, and Chiricahua Windway. They are used to treat such ailments as respiratory disease, arthritis, head ailments, emergencies, nervousness, and heart and lung trouble, respectively. They are regulated by one of three rituals, called Holyway, to attract good, Evilway to drive away evil, or Lifeway, for injuries. Holyway uses the greatest variety of sand paintings and is performed at such events as marriage, childbirth, and the consecration of a new home. Rites included in these rituals are Blessingway rites to ensure peace, harmony, and good and Enemyway rites, used to exorcise evil spirits or ghosts from outside the Navajo tribe. Every ceremonial ends with a Blessingway rite. Holy People are supernaturals composed of two groups. One is represented by mythological figures such as Sun, Changing Woman, and their twin children, Monster Slayer and Born-forWater. The other group is called the “Yei”; the Yei are led by Talking God and Calling God (who participate in the Nightway chant wearing masks). Participants include the singer and his assistants, the patient, family members, a diagnostician, and the supernaturals. Trained singers possess the knowledge of the ritual and have undergone a long apprenticeship. Many singers learn only a few ceremonials, each of which involves songs, prayers, plant medicine, sand paintings, sacred objects, and the correct ritual procedure. The singing must be complete and correct to attract the Holy People. If the Holy People are pleased, they are obligated to come and infuse the sand paintings with their power and restore health and harmony to the patient. Services are performed when needed. Men are usually the singers. Women are allowed to participate, but extreme care is taken to protect them from contacting and absorbing any evil spirits. Pregnant women are not allowed to participate. The ceremony is held in the family or relative’s home, or hogan, which has been ritually consecrated. A diagnostician determines what has caused the patient’s illness or trouble and which Chant-
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way is needed to effect the cure. The sand painting is made, and prayer sticks are placed where the supernaturals will see them and be compelled to come. The patient is prepared for the ritual by being cleansed physically and spiritually; the individual then sits almost naked facing east on a specific part of the painting determined by the singer to relate most directly to the patient’s trouble. The patient is touched by the singer and his medicine bundle and is sprinkled with sand from appropriate parts of the sand painting. After the patient leaves, the painting is erased in the order in which it was made, and the sand from the sand painting is deposited at a distance from the hogan. Blessingway paintings, however, may be left on the floor of the hogan to become part of the home’s floor, continuing to impart their good. The Chantway system is unique to the Navajo and reflects a holistic approach to health and healing. In spite of the availability of modern medicine to today’s Navajo, they continue to preserve this method of bringing harmony to their world. Diane C. Van Noord Sources for Further Study Circle, Black Mustache. Waterway. Recorded by Berard Haile. Flagstaff: Museum of Northern Arizona Press, 1979. Hausman, Gerald. Meditations with the Navajo: Prayers, Songs, and Stories of Healing and Harmony. 2d ed. Rochester, Vt.: Bear & Co., 2001. Parezo, Nancy J. Navajo Sandpainting. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1983. Reichard, Gladys A. Navaho Religion: A Study of Symbolism. 2 vols. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1950. Sandner, Donald. Navaho Symbols of Healing. Rochester, Vt.: Healing Arts Press, 1991. Wyman, Leland C. Southwest Indian Drypainting. Santa Fe, N.Mex.: School of American Research Press, 1983. See also: Hand Tremblers; Religion; Religious Specialists; Sacred Narratives; Sand Painting.
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Chickee Tribes affected: Calusa, Seminole, Timucua, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Chitimacha Significance: The chickee, a dwelling on poles or stilts, is well suited to a wet climate. The chickee is a type of dwelling that was used in the wetter areas of the Southeast culture area. It consists of a platform built on top of four or more posts. The posts are made of trimmed saplings sunk into the earth. These are reinforced by cross members. Beams are cut and laid on top of the posts, and planks are lashed to the beams with braided cords to create a platform that serves as the floor. A framework of saplings is lashed together, and poles are laid on top of them to support the roof. The roof is then thatched with
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fronds of palm or grasses. They are arranged in layers that shed water. The walls are open, as the southeastern climate is usually warm and moist. Woven mats are sometimes used in place of walls; mats are also used to cover the floor. The chickee was well suited to subtropical environments where seasonal flooding of rivers or marshy lands is common. Often a dugout canoe or other water conveyance was tied to the stilts upon which the dwelling sat to serve as transportation when waters are high. During floods, the residents could use the chickee as a fishing platform. Families could thus be self-sustaining for long periods of time during the wet seasons. Chickees were often built in groups of several, but they could also be isolated. Similar types of dwellings were built by indigenous peoples throughout the Americas who live in wet environments. Michael W. Simpson See also: Architecture: Southeast.
Children Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: American Indian children, reared with love and gentle guidance to respect nature, their elders, and tribal customs, were an integral part of the community. Children born into traditional American Indian societies represented part of the never-ending chain of life, and their births were greeted with community pride. The sometimes dangerous nature of Indian life increased the importance of children and made high birthrates common. Considered a gift from sacred forces, children entered the physical world under the guidance and protection of a spiritual guide, and a child’s name reflected the qualities of that guide (an adult name would frequently be taken at puberty or when a major accomplishment was noted).
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Paiute children playing wolf and deer during the late 1800s in Northern Arizona. (National Archives)
Early Years. For most Indian children, the first year of life was spent strapped to a cradleboard. These rigid carriers could be fastened to the mother’s back, stuck upright in the ground, or attached to horse packs. Once out of the cradleboard, children were allowed to discover their world freely. Although welcomed and cherished, babies represented a potential danger to the tribe: Crying children might reveal the tribe’s position to enemies. Therefore, it became a common practice among some tribes (as among the Cheyenne and Sioux) to pinch babies’ nostrils to quiet them. Infants were often nursed up to the age of four, helping to create a strong bond between mother and child. Children flourished in a world surrounded by love and gentle care. Strong extended-family ties brought loving guidance and stability into the child’s life. Toilet training was not stressed; children frequently remained naked until four or five years of age, and in
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some cases, such as the Algonquian peoples, children were occasionally naked until age ten. Under the direction of their mothers, Indian children were taught the beauties of nature and a deep respect for their elders. Many hours were spent with their elders, especially grandparents, learning tribal history and myths. Children were the key to the future, and elders sought to instill in them the tribe’s ancient traditions. Since survival was directly related to what was available and useful from their surroundings, children were directed from an early age to take only what they absolutely needed from Mother Earth. Preparing for Puberty. Around the age of five, children began to learn the practical knowledge needed for adult life. Tribal society could not tolerate unproductive members, so even small children contributed by picking berries, hunting small game, and assisting their families in chores. Young girls erected miniature tipis and learned through imitating their mothers’ daily routine, such as preparing food, caring for smaller children, and tanning hides. Tending small gardens also helped eastern Indian girls learn to grow crops. After the introduction of the horse into Indian cultures, young boys learned to ride early in life. In addition, competitive sports taught the boys vital warrior qualities such as self-sufficiency, strength, endurance, and accuracy in the hunt. Adults encouraged this education, which would prepare children for their future tribal roles. Art was also an important element of this stage of childhood. Mothers passed down their talents in beadworking, painting, and weaving. Both sexes grew up around religious and social forms of music. Boys began to learn the drum music associated with tribal ceremonies, while girls learned chants and lullabies. Children were also taught the ceremonial dances of their tribe. Discipline. Discipline among the Indian people was based on respect. Children were born by the good graces of the spirit world, and physical punishment was rare. Many tribes feared that this
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form of discipline would cause children’s souls to depart from their body and thus harm their personality and health. Instead, discipline typically consisted of verbal reprimands designed to teach a lesson. Even with a societal preference for avoiding corporal punishment, however, some children faced harsh treatment, including beatings, scarring from hot stones, or public lashings for severe offenses. The responsibility of disciplining children was often undertaken by other family members or tribal elders, who interceded on the parents’ behalf. Storytelling and legends were frequently used
Cherokee boy and girl in traditional costume on a North Carolina reservation. (National Archives)
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to shape the character of young minds and to teach the difference between good and evil. For example, the Apache told of Mountain Spirits that dictated proper behavior, while the Hopi related tales of the Soyoko (a “boogeyman” type of figure) to persuade children to follow a moral code. Some parents used disguised tribesmen to educate children about expected behavior. Often representing supernatural spirits, these dressed-up tribesmen warned, frightened, or, in rare cases, even whipped disobedient children. Modern Indian Children. Reservation life threatened the existence of American Indian culture. Forced into an unfamiliar, constricted way of life and facing the loss of their freedom, tribe members had to find new means to pass their culture on to the next generation. Tribal elders encouraged children to carry on the ancient rituals (sometimes with revisions) and to maintain the tribal bloodline. The art of hunting became increasingly difficult to teach, as game was scarce on the reservations; children spent less time in nature and more time in school. The skills and values emphasized during the pre-reservation period, such as self-sufficiency, had to be taught through planned events instead of everyday activities. Many tribes found it hard to maintain their ancient traditions while living in an increasingly modern world. As a result, many tribes lost touch with their heritage. Revivals, however, have created new awareness of tribal traditions and customs. Jennifer Davis Sources for Further Study Coles, Robert. Eskimos, Chicanos, Indians: Children of Crisis. Vol. 4. Boston: Little, Brown, 1977. Driver, Harold E. Indians of North America. 1961. Rev. ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969. Erdoes, Richard. The Sun Dance People. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1972. Gill, Sam D. Dictionary of Native American Mythology. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio, 1992.
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Holt, Marilyn Irvin. Children of the Western Plains: The NineteenthCentury Experience. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2003. _______. Indian Orphanages. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2001. Lowie, Robert H. Indians of the Plains. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1954. White, Jon Manchip. Everyday Life of the North American Indian. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1979. See also: Education: Post-contact; Education: Pre-contact; Games and Contests; Gender Relations and Roles; Hand Games; Missions and Missionaries; Names and Naming; Puberty and Initiation Rites; Toys.
Chilkat Blankets Tribes affected: Tribes of the Northwest Significance: Chilkat blankets represent some of the finest and most visually impressive handwoven Indian artifacts. The Chilkat Tlingit were a Northwest Indian tribe. The accumulation and display of wealth was an important aspect of their tribal life. Chilkat chieftains commissioned the finest weavers their clan could afford to prepare ceremonial robes. The robes were worn and displayed to symbolize the wealth and status of the owner. The robes were illustrated with depictions of animals and objects that represented the chief’s crests. Some of the most popular designs included ravens, whales, drums, bears, and wolves. Weavers applied twining techniques used in basketry to craft technically intricate blankets. Goat wool, and later commercial yarn, was dyed white, green, black, yellow, and blue with native dyestuff. Weavers decorated the robes with long fringe sewn onto the bottom and sides. The fringe, crafted of cedar bark and mountain goat wool, was a very important aspect of the robe. When
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chieftains danced, they lifted and swung their robes so that the fringe swung freely and created an impressive effect. By the 1980’s, only one Chilkat robe weaver, Jennie Thlunaut, continued to produce blankets. However, interest among collectors has been renewed, and the number of weavers has increased. Leslie Stricker See also: Arts and Crafts: Northwest Coast; Blankets; Weaving.
Clans Tribes affected: Widespread but not pantribal Significance: In societies with these unilineal descent groups, clan membership provides an individual with social identity and regulates marriage choices; clans sometimes own property, perform ceremonies, and control political offices. Clans are unilineal descent groups into which a person is born. In a matrilineal society, one is a member of one’s mother’s clan; in a patrilineal society, one is a member of one’s father’s clan. In nearly all societies with clans, the clans function to regulate marriage. Clans may also hold property and perform specific rituals. Clans often have distinctive symbols. Definitions. Colloquially, “clan” often connotes a clique of kin who avoid contact with outsiders. Among members of American Indian tribes with clans, however, and for anthropologists working with such tribes, the term “clan” has a different connotation: two or more lineages closely related through a common traditional bond, usually belief in a common ancestor. Thus, a clan is a unilineal descent group: a group of people who trace relationship to one another through either the mother’s line (matrilineal) or the father’s line (patrilineal) but not both. A clan, in which the precise genealogical links among members are unknown, is distinguished
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from a lineage, in which each individual can trace descent from a known common ancestor. Some anthropologists, following the work of George Murdock in the 1940’s, define a clan as a “compromise kin group” that combines principles of descent and residence. The core of the group is a unilineal descent group, but the clan also includes the in-marrying spouses of descent group members. Today, however, most anthropologists have abandoned Murdock’s definition of clan. Moreover, most Indians from groups with unilineal descent groups use the term to refer to the descent group rather than to the residential group. For example, when a Navajo says that her “clan” is “Edgewater,” she means that she is related, by matrilineal descent, to all “Edgewater” people regardless of where they reside. Distribution. There can be lineages without clans; this is the case in most of aboriginal California and among the Bering Sea Eskimo. There cannot, however, be clans without lineages. Groups with bilateral descent systems (in which descent is traced equally through both parents) have no lineages and, hence, no clans. Bilateral descent commonly occurs in Great Basin, Plateau, Plains, Arctic, and Eastern Subarctic cultures. Hunting and gathering societies usually lack clans. Among the primary exceptions to this generalization are some Northwest Coast cultures and adjacent Athapaskan peoples of the Subarctic, which had matrilineal clans. Each Tlingit clan had a symbol (“crest” or “totem”) and unique mythic traditions. Many agricultural peoples of the East (such as Iroquoians and the Creek) and some in the Southwest (Western Pueblos, Navajo, and Western Apache) had matrilineal clans, as did the Mandan and Hidatsa of the Missouri River. The Crow, close linguistic relatives of the Hidatsa, retained matrilineal clans when they shifted from agricultural pursuits to bison hunting on the Great Plains. Patrilineal clans were found mainly in two areas of North America: among Prairie farming tribes (such as the Omaha and Mesquakie, or Fox) and the adjacent Subarctic Ojibwa, and in the Southwest among Yumans and Pimans.
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Clans and Marriage. The most common clan function involves marriage rules, especially clan exogamy (the requirement that one marry a person of a different clan). Because members of the same clan consider themselves to be closely related, marriage to a member of the same clan would be considered incestuous. Various additional restrictions based on clan relationships may also exist. Many matrilineal societies (Hopi, for example) prohibit marriage into the father’s clan, while many patrilineal systems (as with the Omaha) prohibit marriage into the mother’s clan. Such rules tend to increase the number of families which are allied by marriage, thereby increasing the network of kinship relations throughout the society. The Navajo clan system illustrates the operation of marriage rules. There are more than fifty matrilineal clans. Sets of clans are linked into one of eight or nine groups (“phratries”). A Navajo is “born into” his mother’s clan and is “born for” his father’s clan. Notions of kinship are extended to members of these two clans and, more generally, to linked clans (phratry mates). A Navajo cannot marry someone in either of these two clans or phratries. Beyond marriage rules and the idioms of kinship and hospitality, Navajo clans have few functions. Clans as Corporate Groups. In many tribes, however, clans have functions in addition to marriage regulation. The Hopi also have more than fifty matrilineal clans grouped into nine phratries. Hopi clan-related marriage rules and hospitality are similar to those of the Navajo, but Hopi clans are also corporate groups which hold land, own houses and sacred property, perform rituals, and maintain clan symbols. The eldest competent female of a clan’s highest ranking lineage is the “clan mother.” She lives in the clan house and, with her brother or maternal uncle, manages clan property. These two are stewards of clan property and agents of the clan considered as a corporation. Each Hopi clan has its own migration legend. The sequence of the arrival of the clans in Hopi country is a rough measure of the prestige of the clans. For example, Bear clan, acknowledged as the
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first to arrive, should provide the village chief and the leader of the important Soyal ceremony. The Siouan-speaking Winnebago and Omaha have twelve and ten patrilineal exogamous clans, respectively. Each Winnebago clan is associated with an animal that serves as a clan symbol or clan totem. According to ethnologist Paul Radin, individual Winnebagos conceive of the relationship to the clan animal as one “of descent from an animal transformed at the origin of the present human race into human beings.” The Omaha conform less well to clan totem symbolism. Some Omaha clans are named after animals; others take their names from human attributes or natural phenomena such as lightning. Winnebago and Omaha clans, like those of the Hopi, have ceremonial property and political functions. For example, Winnebago village chiefs are Thunderbird clan, while Bear clan has disciplinary functions. Eric Henderson Sources for Further Study Barnes, Robert H. Two Crows Denies It: A History of Controversy in Omaha Sociology. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984. DeMallie, Raymond J., and Alfonso Ortiz, eds. North American Indian Anthropology: Essays on Society and Culture. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994. Driver, Harold E. Indians of North America. 2d rev. ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969. Drucker, Philip. Indians of the Northwest Coast. 1955. Reprint. Garden City, N.Y.: Natural History Press, 1963. Eggan, Fred. Social Organization of the Western Pueblos. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1950. Morgan, Lewis Henry. Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family. Introduction by Elisabeth Tooker. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997. Murdock, George Peter. Social Structure. 1949. Reprint. New York: Macmillan, 1967. Radin, Paul. The Winnebago Tribe. 1923. Reprint. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1970. A reprint of part of the 37th Annual
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Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, 1923. Schusky, Ernest L. Manual for Kinship Analysis. 2d ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1972. See also: Adoption; Aztec Empire; Incest Taboo; Kinship and Social Organization; Marriage and Divorce; Societies: Non-kin-based.
Cliff Dwellings Tribes affected: Anasazi, Western Pueblo tribes (Hopi, Navajo, Zuñi) Significance: Cliff dwellings identified with the Southwest’s Anasazi culture were constructed between 500 C.E. and the climax of what archaeologists define as the Pueblo III period, between 1100 and 1300. The remains of these dwellings, some remarkably intact, have been found over a wide area of the Colorado plateau, but the most notable sites are found in the Four Corners area, where the boundaries of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet. The largest and best-preserved (or restored) of these ruins include Betatakin, Cliff Palace, Fire Temple, Oak Tree House, Spruce Tree House, and Square Tower House. Today, the ruins of nearly all cliff dwellings have been incorporated either into National Historical Parks, as at Capitol Reef (Utah), Chaco Culture National Historical Park (New Mexico), and Mesa Verde (Colorado), or into National Monuments, as at Bandelier (Colorado), Canyon de Chelly (Arizona), Gila Cliff Dwellings (New Mexico), Hovenweep (Colorado and Utah), Montezuma Castle (Arizona), Navajo (Arizona), Tonto (Arizona), and Walnut Canyon (Arizona). A culture based on settled agriculture combined with supplemental hunting and gathering, and distinguished by its versatile and beautifully crafted basketwork, the Anasazi originally lived in pueblos of circular pit houses constructed in communal clusters. From as early as 500 c.e., some of these dwellings were built in the
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Restored ruins of Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde, Colorado, built by the Anasazi civilization circa 1100. (Museum of New Mexico)
numerous cliff overhangs and caves common to the Colorado plateau, particularly in the Four Corners area. Early Anasazi housing was represented by pit houses lined with stone slabs and with wooden roofs and entrances through the roof or passageways. In time, the construction of these structures was carried above ground, retaining the sunken portions as kivas—sacred rooms for men. Built of stone, mud, and wood, some of them three stories high, cliff dwellings, with their terraced apartments, housed scores of people—more than two hundred in Mesa Verde’s Cliff Palace— and included courtyards, storage rooms, and kivas. In these regards they continued the essentials of older pueblo architectural traditions. There is only informed speculation about why the cliff dwellings were abandoned during the 1300’s. The “opening” of the Southwest by white Americans, facilitated in the nineteenth century by the Gadsden Purchase, the discovery of gold in California, and the Mormon settlement of Utah, drew attention to previous occupants of the region, beginning with
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Lieutenant James Simpson’s descriptions of the cliff dwellings and other ruins in Canyon de Chelly and Chaco Canyon, written while he was fighting the Navajos in 1849. Subsequent archaeological interest was stimulated by the explorations of John Wesley Powell and early archaeological work by Cosmos and Victor Mindeleff in the early 1890’s. These studies were expanded by Richard Wetherill, Adolph Bandelier, Gustav Nordensjold, and (most important for preservation of the cliff dwellings) Jesse Walter Fewkes. Clifton K. Yearley See also: Anasazi Civilization; Architecture: Southwest; Kivas; Pueblo.
Clowns Tribes affected: Pantribal but especially the Apache, Navajo, Pueblo, Seminole, Sioux Significance: Through their behavior, clowns reinforce a sense of order and the need for personal responsibility; they can also serve as powerful healers. Clowns are an important part of Indian mythology and ritual. While there is great variation in costuming, ranging from the famous mud-head clowns of the Hopi and Zuñi to the black-andwhite-striped clowns of the Koshare and Apache, clowns perform similar functions in all tribal groups. Most creation stories include the creation of a clown figure. As in the Keresan story of the clown being created from the epidermal waste of the creator, Iatiku, the clown figure usually has unusual beginnings. While sometimes associated in mythology with the sun, clowns are more often associated with water and water rituals, as are the Sioux heyoka, who receive their power from the Thunderbeings. In most tribes, one must be selected to be a clown and receive years of training in one of the clown societies. Clowns engage in various forms of outrageous behavior. Often,
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like the Contrary Society of the Cheyenne, clowns will do everything backward—walk backward, ride a horse backward, and wear winter clothing in the summertime. Also common is scatological behavior such as eating dirt or excrement, drinking urine, cavorting naked, and simulating sexual acts in public. They may also, like the Apache Crazy Dancers, follow behind ceremonial dancers, healers, and tribal leaders, mimicking their behavior. While part of the clown’s intent is to entertain and generate laughter, they do have a more serious purpose. Through humor, they are trying to teach important lessons to the tribe. Most important, they reinforce the need for personal responsibility, tribal rules, and tribal order. By doing things backward and by violating rules, they show that chaos develops when rules are not maintained. Additionally, through their humor, they show the danger of human vices such as greed, gluttony, and sexual promiscuity. Finally, clowns serve to keep the powerful in check through their mimicking. They remind the healers and tribal leaders that, despite their special gifts, they are only human. By making them look foolish, clowns demystify their power. Although clowns are humorous figures, they are viewed as very powerful. Their participation in ceremonies helps to assure fertility, a good harvest, and good health. Because of their association with water, they are especially important in bringing rain and performing cleansing rituals. Like the koshare, who are part of the Acoma Medicine Society, they are often powerful healers as well. The Navajo clown, Watersprinkler, is an important figure in the Night Chant ceremony, one of the tribe’s most important healing rituals. While the clowns are usually men, there have been women clowns in the Pacific Northwest. Like many other aspects of Indian culture, recent decades have seen a recovery and revival of the clown tradition and activities. Clown figures often figure prominently in cartoons in contemporary tribal newspapers. Charles Louis Kammer III See also: Humor; Husk Face Society; Societies: Non-kin-based; Tricksters.
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Codices Tribes affected: Aztec, Maya, Mixtec Significance: Codices were the books of the pre-Hispanic Aztec, Maya, and Mixtec cultures; they describe events of historical, ritual, or calendrical significance. The pre-Hispanic cultures of the Aztecs, Mayas, and Mixtecs of Mexico produced written literature called codices (the singular form is “codex”). Aztec and Mixtec codices were made of either deerskin or agave paper; the Maya made theirs from paper made from tree bark covered with a thin layer of lime. Only three preHispanic Mayan codices still survive, while there are no surviving pre-Hispanic Aztec codices; most codices were destroyed by the Spanish in the sixteenth century. Following the Spanish conquest, however, a number of codices were produced by Hispanicized Aztecs which describe the pre-Hispanic culture; several of these texts also survive. Codices were folded accordion-fashion and were read from right to left. Surviving codices range in length from 4 to 24 feet. Individual pages range from 4 to 8 inches in width and from 8 to 10 inches in height. Pre-Hispanic cultures in Mexico did not use a phonetic alphabet (in which each written symbol represents a sound). Rather, they used a logographic writing system in which each symbol represented a word or concept, or occasionally a syllable. Logographic writing systems are often called pictographic or hieroglyphic. Literacy was not widespread, and codices were probably read only by a specialized class of scribes, who produced them, and the upper classes, who commissioned them. Someone reading a codex would begin with the logographs pictured in the upper right corner of a page and would then move down one column of figures and up the next. Following the Spanish conquest, some Aztec codex authors began to write their native language, Nahuatl, in a phonetic alphabet borrowed from the Spanish; this new writing was largely confined to place names and personal names. The content of codices varied greatly. Many described the histo-
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ries or genealogies of rulers or important nobility. As an example, the most famous surviving Mixtec codex tells the history of a chieftain named Eight-Deer from his birth in 1011 c.e. to his death by sacrifice at age fifty-two, following his capture in battle. The codex describes his rise to power, the expansion of his realm through conquest and strategic marriages, and the birth of his children. Some codices describe rituals and mythology, while others outline calendrical or astronomical events. Some codices apparently served as primers, or teaching devices, for the children of nobility or scribes; these primers described rituals, stories, and etiquette with which the children were to be familiar. Codices were not comprehensive texts. Rather, they provided the main outline of their content; readers had to provide many details of a narrative from their own memories. Aztec, Mayan, and Mixtec codices were destroyed by the Spanish priesthood in order to undermine the pre-Hispanic religions and to encourage the conversion of the Indians to Christianity. David J. Minderhout See also: Aztec Empire; Mayan Civilization.
Corn Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: North American corn was first domesticated in Mexico, and by the seventeenth century it was a staple across much of the North American continent. Corn, or maize (Zea mays), is currently grown worldwide, but the crop is indigenous to the Western Hemisphere. Only after European contact was maize propagated beyond the American continents. When the Europeans arrived in the Americas, domesticated maize was cultivated from the Canadian Great Lakes region to Argentina. Several varieties of corn were grown in different ecological zones in North and South America, ranging from sea level to high in the Andes and other mountains.
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European explorers described maize agriculture among the Aztecs, the Mayas, and the Incas of Latin America and among North America Indians of the Southwest, the Plains, the Southeast, and the Northeast. Indeed, at different times during the early contact period, the survival of European settlers depended on corn and other foods provided by the indigenous peoples of these regions. In many of these corn-growing areas, the new settlers recorded aboriginal oral traditions which emphasized the cultural importance of corn. Such was the case among the Mayas of Central America and the Iroquois of upstate New York. Archaeological Information. Studies concerning the prehistoric origin, domestication, and use of corn rely upon archaeological investigations. Perhaps as a result of the contact-period accounts of the primacy of corn agriculture, archaeologists of the early 1900’s often overemphasized the importance of corn to prehistoric peoples. Generally, it was suggested that prehistoric cultures that possessed traits such as settled villages or impressive architecture (which indicated complicated social organization) depended for their subsistence primarily upon corn agriculture. By the 1990’s it was recognized that corn was one of several species that were important for New World agriculturalists and that, in addition, not all complex societies depended on corn for their subsistence. It was also formerly believed that maize domestication was a rapid process which had immediate cultural impact. It is now apparent that the process of maize domestication took place over hundreds of years. Maize probably first served merely to supplement local wild plant foods and only later became an important resource. Gradual genetic changes among the maize plants accompanied these slow cultural adaptations. For example, corn cobs became larger, and the number and size of the kernels increased. These and other changes marked the process of domestication. Some maize cobs, kernels, and other remains can be definitely identified as either “wild” or “domesticated,” whereas other plant remains fit somewhere on a continuum in between. General theories concerning the speed of the development of
Areas of Corn and Cotton Cultivation
Archaeological evidence of corn Ethnographic evidence of corn Evidence of corn and cotton Source: After Driver, Harold E., and William C. Massey, Comparative Studies of North American Indians, 1957.
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New World agriculture are based on specific archaeological information concerning ancient subsistence. At some archaeological sites, corn agriculture is well documented by finds of maize plant remains, while at other locations lacking botanical data, researchers may rely on indirect evidence, such as the presence of agricultural implements. For example, ancient use of hoes, milling stones, and storage facilities may indicate a dependence on corn, but archaeologists exercise caution in their inferences, since these tools were also associated with other crops. For this reason, the strongest demonstration of ancient maize agriculture is the discovery of pieces of corn plants, such as stems, leaves, kernels, and cobs. Cobs often provide additional information (such as the corn variety), which contributes to data concerning its origin, domestication, growth, and use. Smaller plant remains, such as pollen or phytoliths (tiny silica bodies within the plant) can also provide evidence for the presence of corn agriculture. Botanical remains are best preserved under stable environmental conditions which discourage rotting, such as dry heat, cold, or water inundation. They are also more likely to be preserved when burned to a carbonized state. For these reasons, many plant remains left at sites by past peoples are not preserved in the archaeological record. In addition, the preservation of botanical remains does not ensure that they will be carefully and scientifically excavated by professional archaeologists. Unfortunately, site looting and destruction is a major problem throughout North and Central America. Corn Domestication. Archaeological sites that provide important evidence concerning the earliest domestication of corn have been found in the Tehuacán Valley, Puebla, Mexico. The Tehuacán archaeological-botanical project was directed by Richard S. MacNeish, who devoted decades to the search for evidence of early corn domestication. MacNeish excavated the dry caves in the Tehuacán Valley because they would have provided shelter for ancient habitation, and he anticipated good preservation of any botanical remains. The Tehuacán sites date from approximately eleven thousand years ago to the time of the Spanish conquest, and
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maize pollen and wild maize cobs were excavated from levels dated to about 7000-5000 b.c.e. Cultivated maize was dated to about 5000-3500 b.c.e. This early evidence of corn agriculture is also helpful for determining the ancestral grasses of Zea mays. Botanists have argued that corn developed from a wild grass called teosinte, although this has not been definitively demonstrated. In the 1980’s, results from bone chemistry analyses contributed to the archaeological understanding of the Tehuacán Valley. Stable carbon isotope tests of Tehuacán human skeletal remains demonstrated that a chemically distinct group of plants, which included maize, composed 90 percent of the ancient diet from 4500 b.c.e. onward. Based on the available evidence, it seems that North American maize originated in central Mexico. It may have appeared in the southwestern United States by approximately three thousand years ago. The seasonally occupied sites of the corn-growing Chochise may date to approximately 1200 b.c.e. in southern New Mexico. These people obtained corn (the Chapalote variety of Zea mays) and their knowledge of corn agriculture from people in northern Mexico. The Southwest cultures farmed in harsh, unpredictable climatic conditions with the use of highly developed agricultural techniques, ranging from planting strategies to the use of irrigation. A second variety of corn (Maiz de Ocho, also known as New England flint corn) was introduced later into the Southwest. The earliest use of Maiz de Ocho in this region may date to 1000 b.c.e., but this date is controversial. Generally accepted Maiz de Ocho dates are considerably later. This corn variety was more productive than the earlier Chapalote, and this variety diffused eastward across the continent. Maize agriculture on the Plains dates to approximately 800-900 c.e., while for the Southeast there are a few dates as early as 200 c.e. Agriculture did not provide a substantial contribution to the Southeast diet until 800-1000 and, in some areas, such as the Lower Mississippi, not until as late as 1200. By this time, corn was being grown in regions as diverse as southeast Colorado and upstate New York. Indeed, by 1300, maize agriculture was vital to the Iroquoian economy.
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Despite its utility, successful corn agriculture has distinct requirements. Generally, corn plants need adequate moisture and approximately 120 frost-free days to mature. A healthy crop also requires some weeding and care of the developing plants. Maize growing rapidly exhausts the soil’s nitrogen stores, and these must be replenished through planting other crops (such as beans, which contribute nitrogen), using fertilizers, or allowing the soil to rest fallow. Corn lacks an amino acid (lysine), essential for humans, and a diet based only on corn is inadequate. Many groups ate beans as well, which provided the missing lysine and resulted in a balanced, healthy diet. Susan J. Wurtzburg Sources for Further Study Cohen, Mark N., and George J. Armelagos, eds. Paleopathology at the Origins of Agriculture. New York: Academic Press, 1984. Creel, Darrell, and Austin Long. “Radiocarbon Dating of Corn.” American Antiquity 51, no. 4 (1986): 826-837. Ford, Richard I., ed. Prehistoric Food Production in North America. Anthropological Papers 75. Ann Arbor: Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, 1985. Fritz, Gayle J. “Multiple Pathways to Farming in Precontact Eastern North-America.” Journal of World Prehistory 4, no. 4 (December, 1990): 387-435. MacNeish, Richard S. “A Summary of the Subsistence.” In Prehistory of the Tehuacan Valley, vol. 1, edited by Douglas S. Byers. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1967. Watson, Patty Jo, and Mary C. Kennedy. “The Development of Horticulture in the Eastern Woodlands of North America: Women’s Role.” In Engendering Archaeology: Women and Prehistory, edited by Joan M. Gero and Margaret W. Conkey. Oxford, England: Basil Blackwell, 1991. Will, George F., and George E. Hyde. Corn Among the Indians of the Upper Missouri. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002. Yarnell, Richard A., and M. Jean Black. “Temporal Trends Indicated by a Survey of Archaic and Woodland Plant Food Re-
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mains from Southeastern North America.” Southeastern Archaeology 4, no. 2 (1985): 93-106. See also: Agriculture; Beans; Corn Woman; Food Preparation and Cooking; Green Corn Dance; Squash; Subsistence.
Corn Woman Tribes affected: Apache, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Chippewa, Choctaw, Creek, Iroquois Confederacy, Navajo, Pueblo, Seminole Significance: Corn Woman is important in terms of cosmology and religious practices in tribal cultures where maize is the key food source (Northeast, Southeast, Southwest). The domestication of corn had moved north from Mexico to the Pueblo tribes of present-day New Mexico by 3500 b.c.e. and almost immediately became the preferred food plant in the region, superseding various inferior domesticated plants. Most tribes believed that corn was a gift from the gods, and this transmission was often recounted in folktale and song. Therefore, it was logical that, especially in Keres (a number of the Pueblo bands, including the Acoma Pueblo and Laguna Pueblo, speak Keresan dialects) cosmogony, Corn Woman should serve as a sort of mother goddess—source of life and a staple of their diet. The Keres people believed that in the distant past, Ts’its’tsi’nako (Thought-Woman, or Creating-Through-Thinking Woman) chanted into life Naotsete and Uretsete, her sister goddesses. In this matrilineal cosmogony, Naotsete served as the cacique, or internal chief, and Uretsete served as the hotchin, the war chief or outside chief. Naotsete and Uretsete carried baskets from which came all creatures, plants, and elements of the earth. Uretsete gave birth to twin boys, one of whom married Naotsete, and their issue became the Pueblo race. As time progressed, Uretsete became known as Corn Woman (Iyatiku), Mother Corn Woman (Naiya Iyatiku), or Earth
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Woman. Corn Woman is considered to be the mother of all people, gods, and animals. Some folk myths place Mother Corn Woman as a guardian at the gate of the spirit world. Richard Sax See also: Corn; Hako; Mother Earth.
Cotton Tribes affected: Pima and tribes of Mexico, Central America, South America Significance: Cotton, a South American domesticate, spread to the American Southwest and was cultivated by the historic Pima for fiber and food. Cotton (Gossypium herbaceum) has a highly complex domestication history with independent domestications in both Africa and South America. All cotton in pre-Columbian America descended from that domesticated in coastal Peru sometime before 4,000 b.c.e. Cotton spread northward through Central America and Mexico, finally entering North America in the Southwest. People of the Hohokam archaeological tradition, centered in the Sonora Desert of Arizona and adjacent Mexico, were the first North Americans to use cotton, probably around 100 c.e. They used the fiber for spinning thread from which clothing, bags, and other items were woven; they also used the seed for extracting its nutritious oil. Cotton requires a considerable amount of water for successful growing, and its cultivation probably was a spur to the development of the sophisticated irrigation developed by the Hohokam. The Pima, the Sonoran Desert tribe widely believed to be descended from the Hohokam, were growing irrigated cotton when the Spanish first encountered them in the seventeenth century. Russell J. Barber See also: Hohokam Culture; Irrigation; Weaving.
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Coup Sticks and Counting Tribes affected: Primarily Plains tribes, including Arapaho, Assiniboine, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Crow, Iowa, Kiowa, Omaha, Sioux Significance: In warrior cultures, counting coup was a way to prove bravery and merit by touching the enemy; success was rewarded with both signs of honor and tribal status. The term “counting coup” comes from the French word coup, meaning “to strike a blow.” In warrior cultures, bravery was the highest virtue. A way to prove bravery was to touch (count coup) the enemy, whether the enemy was living or dead. More than one warrior could count coup on the same enemy, but “first coup” had higher status than second, and second ranked higher than third. Touching could be done either with the hand or a special stick (a coup stick). Among the Cheyenne, a ceremonial striped stick was used. All acts of coup had to be witnessed. Acts of coup earned tribal designation, marked by symbolic dress such as wearing a feather, special face paint markings, stripes painted on leggings or on one’s horse, or, as among the Crow, wearing a fox tail on the back of one’s moccasins. Such markings distinguished among the levels of bravery. First coup might entitle the warrior to wear an eagle feather, while third or fourth coup might earn only a buzzard feather. Groups such as the Kiowa and Crow based tribal ranking and chief status on accumulated acts of bravery including acts of counting coup. Charles Louis Kammer III See also: Dress and Adornment; Feathers and Featherwork; Military Societies; Warfare and Conflict.
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Culture Areas Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Ecological conditions determined tribal methods of material subsistence (food supply, type of shelter) as well as their main cultural patterns. No single method of assigning cultural boundaries between different groupings of Native Americans is fully adequate. Persuasive arguments exist for groupings that place primary emphasis, for example, on the most important language groupings (Algonquian, Athapaskan, Siouan, Tanoan, Muskogean, Caddoan, and Shoshonean). Because Native American groupings have undergone a series of displacements from region to region, however, their linguistic origins overlap, a situation which results in an equal amount of overlap in generalizations concerning original cultural traits. Another mode of assigning culture areas draws on basic forms of technology—specifically on methods of producing household wares such as pottery and basketry. Here again one encounters a phenomenon of cultural overlap because of patterns of borrowing between tribal groupings. To some degree, essential social indicators of culture can be transferred over time and space, making it difficult to draw boundaries between peoples of clearly distinct traditions. Such sociocultural factors include assignment of leadership, matriarchal versus patriarchal systems, degrees of formalization of kinship ties, and marriage patterns. Considerations such as these make a division based on geographical/ecological factors the most manageable and, indeed, the most commonly adopted one in the general literature. Such a comparison of Indian culture areas necessarily involves discussion of material and cultural questions shared by all human societies. Among these cultural differences are food subsistence, lodging construction, common artifacts, group organization, and spiritual expression. Each of these elements of Indian life was influenced by
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the environmental conditions that existed in relatively distinct geographical zones. Arctic and Subarctic. The northern continental zone running from the Arctic north to British Columbia and eastward to Hudson Bay, while not one culture area, was characterized by a common practice: Natives survived primarily by hunting and fishing. Because the northern Arctic zone is frozen most of the year, Eskimo populations that specialized in sea mammal hunting (especially the Aleuts) stayed in isolated in areas where access to prey was assured. Central Inuit hunters in the interior of Alaska and the MacKenzie Territory, where kayak transportation was limited to a short summer season, reached their prey (usually caribou and moose) on toboggans or snowshoes. Both Central Inuit and Athapaskan-speaking Dene peoples inhabited the less bountiful Subarctic zone, which forms the interior landmass of northern Canada. Because of the limited density of animal populations, Subarctic hunters relied extensively on trapping devices spread over a vast network, according to the season. Limited food sources limited human population patterns as well, especially deep in the interior. Frequent displacement for subsistence meant that Subarctic tribes maintained semipermanent camps rather than substantial villages. Like their Eskimo neighbors farther north, Subarctic Indians maintained a network of customs in common that, in good times, helped celebrate nature’s bounty. One tribal meeting was the “potlatch,” when food-gathering tasks were temporarily suspended and groups from afar could share shelter, gifts, and storytelling, either with distant kin or friendly neighbors. Religious traditions in these northern areas were usually based on a belief in spiritual forces coming both from the sky and the earth, including living spirits in the form of animals or one’s deceased kin. Northwest Coast and Plateau. Indians in these areas lived more easily off nature’s bounty, partially because the climate was less
Culture Areas of North America
ARCTIC
SUBARCTIC NORTHWEST COAST
PLATEAU
CALIFORNIA
GREAT BASIN
GREAT PLAINS
NORTHEAST
SOUTHEAST
SOUTHWEST
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harsh, facilitating seasonal hunting of deer and bears. Abundant sealife near the coast of Washington and Oregon and easy hunting grounds inland made Northwest Indians such as the Wakashan and Chinook relatively wealthy, in terms of both subsistence and displays of their good fortune. The Kwakiutl of the Wakashan showed their wealth through large houses of split logs. Their clothing and bodies were decorated with copper and ornate shell jewelry. Frequent public potlatches to commemorate social advancement (such as passage rites for youths and marriages) were paid for by the wealthiest families to attain recognition. Farther inland was the Plateau, inhabited by tribes of two main linguistic groups: the Sahaptin (including Walla Walla and Nez Perce) and the Salish (Flathead and Wenatchi). In this region, freshwater salmon fishing could be combined with hunting. Plateau river communication networks were less extensive than those of the Northwest, limiting the scope of interaction, even between clans of similar tribal origin. When horses were introduced from the Great Basin Shoshones, some tribes moved seasonally over the mountains into Idaho to hunt bison. Such groups abandoned their traditional pit house structures for portable hide-covered tipis. California. The Western coast and inland area farther south were more diversified in language groupings, which broke down into the main Penutian and Hokan families (the former including Klamath-Modoc, Miwok, and Central Valley Yokut and Maidu; the latter including Washoe and Yana in the north and in the central eastern zone near Nevada). Three cultural zones corresponded primarily to ecological subregions. In the northwest corner, dense forests, rugged topography, and the absence of a coastal plain set off isolated (both linguistically and culturally) inhabitants from the fertile core of PenutianHokan groups around San Francisco Bay and in the much milder ecological zone of the Central Valley. In this core zone, economic patterns, based on hunting, fishing, and the gathering of available vegetal food sources (including a universal staple, acorn meal),
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tended to lend similarities to tribal social and cultural patterns. One similarity was the relative lack of formal institutional structures defining tribal organization and authority. Chiefs tended to be heads of the most numerous family among a multitude of generally equal family subdivisions of each clan. One of two main forms of lodging predominated: either the “house pit” scraped out of rolling knolls, or the wickiup, a bark-thatched covering stretched around portable poles. Central California tribes were highly skilled in basketweaving, some (mainly Pomos and Patwins) producing wares sufficiently tightly woven to serve as water containers. South of the Central Valley, increasing aridity affected not only food-gathering conditions; basic technology (reflected in lodgings and artisanal production, including modes of dress) never attained levels that could be compared with tribes in the central region. Notable degrees of west-east interaction occurred, particularly between the Luiseños of present-day San Diego and Riverside counties (themselves of Shoshone stock) and Nevadan tribes. These contacts were reflected not only in trade of goods, but also in some shared cultural values that set the inland (less than the coastal) southern zone off from the relatively more developed Central Valley region. Southwest. Beyond California was the inland cultural area of the Southwest. Despite the ecological austerity of these vast expanses, nearly all Southwest Indians practiced some form of agriculture, supplemented by seasonally available wild plant foods. Most also developed technologically advanced cultures, as judged from the remains of their lodging and ceremonial sites (particularly the pueblos) and various artifacts, especially pottery and weaving. Among the several Indian subgroupings in the Southwest are the Hopi, Navajo, and Zuñi. Their life patterns, although not identical, exemplify the main lines of Southwest Indian culture. Characteristically, Indian villages in the Southwest were constructed in the compact stone and adobe pueblo form, usually located on
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higher ground or on mesas for purposes of defense. The limited circumstances of dry farming often meant that plantations were located some distance from the pueblo. In addition to being a dwelling and defense unit, the pueblo was a microcosm for both political and religious life. Particularly among the Eastern Pueblos, different responsibilities, from practical work tasks to ceremonial leadership, were traditionally divided between two fully cooperative factions. Living in different sections of the village, each faction maintained a kiva, or religiously designated meeting place for its elders, and ceremonial dance (kachina) groups, or medicine men, organized in societies. When a particular “season” for representation of the pueblo’s ceremonial, political, or administrative needs was recognized, all loyalty was due to the kiva of the designated faction, while others rested from their responsibilities. Southwest Indian religion and ceremonies were frequently tied to the concept of an “earth mother navel” shrine located in a sacred place within each pueblo. Around this ultimate source of bounty for the members of each tight-knit pueblo community were arranged the symbols of life (seeds and their products). Such symbols, plus other symbols of nature (especially rain) were incorporated into each pueblo’s ceremonial dances, according to the season. Great Basin. In the area wedged between California and the Plateau to the west, and the Southwest and Great Plains to the east, Indian cultures tended to be rather dispersed. Areas of habitation remained highly dependent on the availability of water and vegetation to sustain limited village life. Although broad tribal groupings existed (including Ute, Paiute, and Shoshone), the main activities of Indian life, from food gathering through marital, social, and political alliances, tended to be conducted in smaller bands. Contacts between subtribal bands (the Ute, on both the Colorado and Utah sides of the Rockies, counted some dozen territorial bands) could be only periodic. This rather lower level of tribal cohesiveness relative to Plateau and Southwest Indians, for example, al-
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lowed quarreling families from one band to “transfer” over to a band to which they were not tied by kinship; even lines between the tribes (Ute and Paiute, for example) were not that definitely drawn. Some shared features of cultural existence within and between Great Basin tribes countered this general trend. Although religious consciousness among Great Basin Indians never attained a high degree of ceremonial sophistication, certain symbolic rites, among them the Sun Dance, provided a common cultural symbol in most regions. Plains. It was among the Plains Indians that the most dramatic subsistence struggle was played out, by tribes such as the Sioux, Cheyenne, Pawnee, and Comanche. Acquisition of the horse from the Spanish after about 1600 transformed the subsistence potential of the Plains, which became the buffalo-hunting domains of competing Indian tribes. Pursuit of the great native herds of buffalo on horseback, beginning in the 1600’s, created a situation of Indian nomadism on the Plains. Buffalo hunting affected not only food supply, but also provided raw material for the organization of Plains tribes’ movable lodgings and the production of multiple lightweight artifacts. The high degree of mobility of Plains Indians also contributed to another key cultural trait: their tendency to war with rivals over hunting access. Among the Sioux, the Lakota were drawn into the Plains from the Eastern Prairie region after becoming expert horsemen, well before the French entered the upper Mississippi Valley. Soon their nomadic way of life on the Plains allowed them to subjugate sedentary groupings such as the Arikara and Mandan, who were forced to trade their agricultural goods with the Lakota. The characteristic warring urge of such Plains nomads resulted in serious intertribal disputes, the best known resulting in the reduction and forced relocation of the Pawnee people after multiple encounters with representatives of the Sioux Nation. The simplicity of the material culture of the Plains Indians was to some degree offset by the complexity of some of their social and
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cultural patterns. A number of honorary societies, ranging from warrior groups through “headmen” societies (elders who had distinguished themselves earlier as warriors or leaders), provided means for identifying individuals of importance emerging from each family or clan within the tribe. Recognition was also given, among the women, to highly skillful beadworkers, who defined qualification for entry into their “guild” and excluded inferior workmanship from being used in ritual ceremonies. Another specialized subgrouping, particularly among the Dakota peoples, was the Heyoka, consisting of people who were recognized as possessing some form of supernatural or visionary power. Although not specifically connected to Plains religious beliefs (frequently associated with Sun Dance ceremonies and related celebrations of thanks for bounty, physical endurance, and interclan alliances), Heyoka status implied the ability to communicate with spirits, either good or evil. In some Siouan tribes, such as the Omaha, Heyoka societies were evenly divided into specialized branches, the most notable being one reserved specifically for individuals presumed to have the power to cure diseases. Northeast and Southeast. In the eastern third of the continent, a higher degree of sedentariness among various tribes prevailed, although this did not necessarily mean that agriculture was more developed. Plantations for food tended to be scattered in the heavily wooded Northeast, with hunting and trapping at least as important in most tribal economies. Another product of the forest, the paperlike bark of the birch tree, served multiple purposes, ranging from tipi-building material to the famous birchbark canoes used to fish or to travel through the extensive river and stream systems of the region. In general, social organization among the tribes of the Northeast bore two major characteristics. Groups that were known as hunters (such as the Micmacs of New Brunswick and Maine) lived as nuclear families, paramount status being reserved for the hunter-head of closely related kin. Lodgings might be limited to a single family (typically a tipi) or a grouping of families under the
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single roof of an extended longhouse. In most cases, ascription of chieftainship was determined by a hierarchy that also depended on hunting skills. A second characteristic of Northeast Woodlands Indian life revolved around political confederations involving several tribes. The best known of these was the Iroquois “Five Nations,” but other groups, including the Algonquins and Hurons, formed federations for mutual security against common enemies. Although the Southeast region of the United States can, like the Northeast, be described as heavily wooded, offering a combination of possibilities for hunting and agriculture, the Indian cultures of this area were substantially different. Some experts argue that there was less communality in cultural development in the Southeast, making distinctions, for example, between peoples who were clearly reliant on the ecology of the first “layer” of the broad coastal plain (called the “Flatwoods,” blanketed by conifers and scrub oaks); those inhabiting the so-called Piedmont (further inland, with higher elevations and differing vegetation patterns); and those living in the Appalachian woodlands, with their extensive hardwood forests. Some experts, noting communality in traits (such as a horticultural maize economy, nucleated villages, and matrilineal clan organization) between key Southeastern tribes such as the Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee, Natchez, and the Iroquois, found farther north, assign a southeastern origin to the Iroquois. A substantial number of differences marked by cultural specialists, however, suggest closer ties between coastal and inland dwellers in the Southeast (especially in linguistic links) than between Southeast Indians as a whole and any of their Northeast neighbors. A series of lesser, but culturally significant, traits justify treating Southeast Indians as a largely homogeneous entity, including modes of processing staple nuts, especially acorns; rectangular, gabled houses with mud wattle covering; an absence of leather footwear; characteristic nested twilled baskets; and varied use of tobacco. Even among key Southeast tribes, however, parallel traditions (such as matrilineal kinship descent) could be offset by striking
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differences. The Natchez tribe alone, for example, had a class system dividing tribal nobles (deemed descendants of the Sun), from whom the chief, or “Great Sun” was chosen, and commoners, who could not even enter the presence of tribal aristocrats. Byron D. Cannon Sources for Further Study Catlin, George. Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Conditions of North American Indians. New York, 1841. A recognized classic, including personal observations of Indian ceremonial practices and daily life. Some editions include extremely valuable illustrations, which have gained international fame. Driver, Harold E. Indians of North America. 2d ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969. A widely cited textbook organized by subject area (for example, “Rank and Social Class,” “Exchange and Trade”) rather than geographical location. Kehoe, Alice B. North American Indians: A Comprehensive Account. 2d ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1992. Like the Spencer and Jennings book (below), this textbook is divided by geographical region. Less detailed on local conditions of life, it contains useful summary texts within each chapter and a number of translations of original Indian texts. Ross, Thomas E., and Tyrel Moore, eds. A Cultural Geography of North American Indians. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1987. Contains contributions by specialists dealing with several different geographical themes relating to culture, including “Spatial Awareness,” “Land Ownership,” and “Migration.” Spencer, Robert, Jesse D. Jennings, et al. The Native Americans. 2d ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1977. A very detailed text. Attention is given to diverse patterns of local division of labor, kinship, rites of passage, and so on. Sturtevant, William, gen. ed. Handbook of North American Indians. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1978-2001. The Smithsonian series contains volumes published on the Arctic, Subarctic, Northwest coast, California, Southwest, Great Basin, Plateau, Plains, and Northeast culture areas. It also contains
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separate volumes on the history of Indian-White relations and languages. The scholarship and coverage are both first rate. See also: Anasazi Civilization; Aztec Empire; Hohokam Culture; Language Families; Mayan Civilization; Mississippian Culture; Mogollon Civilization; Ohio Mound Builders; Olmec Civilization; Zapotec Civilization.
Dances and Dancing Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Among American Indians, dancing has always played a highly significant role in religious ceremonies and other celebrations. When white explorers and settlers first came to North America, they were immediately impressed by the amount of dancing in which the native population engaged. Centuries later, some of the significance of tribal ceremonies has been lost, as more and more Indians have accepted white culture and religion. Nevertheless, dancing still plays an important part in American Indian life, whether it represents a true continuation of the original tribal cultures, a celebration of birth, death, or other rites of passage, or merely a performance for non-Indian tourists. Historical Background. When European explorers and settlers first encountered the native population of what would later become the United States, they found a wide variety of cultures, all of them vastly different from the ones they had left behind. The American Indians had never developed a technological civilization, and the land was much less densely populated than that of Europe. The religious beliefs were like nothing the Europeans had ever encountered. The first Europeans in North America had no understanding of the native languages they encountered. The usual view of the “red man” was as a savage—inherently inferior to the settlers and po-
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tentially dangerous. The two major activities of the Europeans were to conquer the natives and to try to bring to them the Christianity that was virtually universal in Europe at the time. The result was a long series of wars, in which the Europeans were ultimately victorious. In the process, many native cultures were destroyed altogether, while others were forced to move west. By the late nineteenth century, the last of “Indian territory” had been conquered, and Indians lived on reservations, generally under very harsh conditions. Gradually, many Indians who survived the early warfare became a part of white culture and accepted its religious beliefs (chiefly Christianity). In the late twentieth century, many Indians began to try to reclaim their ancient heritage, often moving beyond tribal lines and creating a pantribal movement that strove to preserve the Indian cultures from complete assimilation. As a result of all these factors, it is very difficult to determine the significance of many tribal rituals as they exist today. Some Indians still retain their ancient beliefs and traditions despite centuries of domination. Others may hold on to a tradition for the sake of tradition itself, while at the same time going to Christian churches, speaking English as their primary language, and even living in large cities. For some, the old rituals, including dances, are little more than a way of attracting tourists. Regardless of this confusion, all the following rituals will be discussed in the present tense, and it will be assumed that the dances still hold their original meaning to the participants. Some of these dances are rarely performed nowadays, while others are making a resurgence as Indians try to regain their lost cultural identity. Religious Significance. By the time Europeans were settling in the Americas, their own traditions had changed greatly since their days as small tribal groups. It is very likely that the Europeans had once had a culture in which dancing and music were integral to religion, but this had long become a thing of the past. Certain traditions suggested this past; singing is still an important part of many Christian ceremonies and probably always will be. Dances, how-
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ever, had largely become stylized, social affairs, with no deep religious or cultural significance. The American Indians, however, had never developed such a differentiation between religious and social climates. To them, the earth and all living creatures on it were possessed by spirits, and these spirits were understood, and to some extent controlled, by a great number of elaborate dances and songs. There were dances for hunting, fishing, rites of passage, rain, and success in warfare. The many Indian tribes in North America have different religious rituals, including dances. Conditions in different parts of the continent vary, and different spirits must be appeased under different circumstances. The one aspect almost all of these people have in common is a close tie to the earth and the spirits that control it, although different tribes respond to this in different ways. The Northwest. The Indians of the Pacific Northwest generally perform their dances singly. Both men and women are involved. The dancers are considered to be possessed by spirits, and the dances can become highly frenzied and emotional. The dances are accompanied by drumming and chanting. An excellent example of Northwest dancing involves the Kwakiutl, who live along the coast of Oregon and Washington. The Kwakiutl have highly formalized dancing, during which various taboos are enforced and dancers are called only by ceremonial names. Even seating arrangements at the festivities are based on dancing societies rather than on families and clans. The Kwakiutl have three mutually exclusive dancing societies, sometimes called “secret societies.” Initiation into one of these societies is highly ritualized, and numbers are limited. The Shaman Society is concerned with violent and dangerous supernatural spirits. The most prestigious dancer is a cannibal/dancer, or Hamatsa. People in the Dluwulaxa Society are possessed by spirits of the sky. The Nutlam are possessed by their mythical ancestors, the wolves. The Northwest Coast was never very heavily populated by Indians, and it was one of the last areas settled by European Ameri-
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Kwakiutl dancers performing during the early twentieth century. (American Museum of Natural History)
cans. There are still many Indians who follow tradition as much as possible in the Northwest, but few live on reservations. There is a large American Indian population in big cities such as Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. Farther inland, where most of the land is mountainous and much is national park and national forest land, the traditions also continue. The Southwest. The condition in the Southwest is quite different. This area was highly populated by a variety of Indian tribes, then taken over by the Spanish, the Mexicans, and finally the United States government. Climatic conditions vary widely. There are mountain ranges, coastal areas subject to regular flooding, and deserts in which water is the most important consideration for survival. This is the area where the greatest number of Indian reservations exist today and where the greatest proportion of Indians still practice their original rites.
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It must be understood that most of the reservations were placed on land the white settlers did not want, and where the climate is harsh. Reservation Indians have both their own problems and their own advantages. There is great poverty, and the social problems that accompany poverty, frustration, and isolation are severe. On the other hand, these Indians are more closely in touch with their origins. The Southwest is probably the best place in the United States to find Indian ceremonies in a state very close to what they were before white people appeared on the scene. An interesting example of the dancing ceremonies in the Southwest is the kachina dances among the Zuñi of New Mexico. The kachinas are considered to be the spirits of children, lost long ago in the wilderness and transformed into gods who live under a mystic lake. The kachinas wear masks and dance for rain. The dancers impersonating the kachinas “become” rain gods and invoke the spirits who will provide the parched land with muchneeded water. The traditional cultures of the Southwest may be the hardest for white visitors to understand, because many reservations have made tourism a major economic factor. There are certainly many Indians there who still believe in the traditional religions; on the other hand, the great poverty in this area has led many to reenact ceremonies long extinct in order to please tourists. The Southeast. The southeastern United States is probably the most easily endured climate in North America. While there are hurricanes and other natural disasters, for the most part the people live in a generally warm and hospitable climate, and food is abundant. Hunting is never easy, however, so the spirits must be evoked. The southeastern tribes were among the first to be encountered by Europeans, a fact which has had two directly opposite results in terms of the study of these cultures. On one hand, these Indians were not opposed to accepting white people as a new tribe moving into the area, and many tribal ceremonies were seen by the explorers in their original state. When Sir Walter Raleigh and his men first set foot on the North Carolina coast, wars between Indians
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and Europeans were a long way in the future. Therefore, some of the best early descriptions of Indian dances and other rituals date from this era. On the other hand, when the wars did take place, they began on the East Coast. Some cultures were entirely destroyed, and others were forced to move from their home territory. In many cases, there is little but historical evidence on which to draw. The Southeast Indians use rattles made from gourds and filled with peas, beans, or pebbles; flutes made of reed or cane; and drums made of clay, gourd, or wood, with stretched deerhides for skin, as accompaniments to their dances. Indians of the Southeast generally dance in large groups, sometimes for many hours at a stretch, with groups of dancers replacing other groups as they grow tired. Masks are often worn, especially in hunting ceremonies, where animal masks are used. The dances are often named after animals. The Northeast. The Indians of the Northeast also encountered Europeans very early, but the initial meetings were not nearly as friendly as they were farther south. In the Middle Atlantic and New England areas, conditions could be extremely harsh, and good land was not as plentiful as it was in the south. In addition, the northeastern Iroquois were held together by a confederation of six tribes and an alliance with others. Their chief rivals among Indians were the Algonquins, with whom they were often at war. In fact, during the French and Indian War, the Algonquins took the part of the French and the Iroquois that of the English. White settlers rarely saw Indian ceremonies; in general, these ceremonies tended to be more social and political (and less religious) in nature than those of most North American Indians. Dancing seems to have had less significance here than it did elsewhere. These civilizations are by no means completely gone. There are Indian reservations in New York, for example, where Iroquois live in longhouses and still maintain many of their ancient traditions. The British victory over the French in North America decimated the Algonquins, but there are still many Iroquois in the area.
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As in most Indian cultures, many dances have animals as their subjects; the Iroquois, however, are celebrating the animals’ lives rather than worshiping their spirits. Dancing involves men, women, and children and is not as clearly structured as it is in the cultures previously described. Since Iroquois dances generally take place inside the longhouses, they cannot be as elaborate or involve as many people as the dances held outside by more southerly tribes. The Northern Plains. Dance is an integral part of the religious rites of the Indians of the northern Plains. These are performed by both men and women, in large groups, and are highly formalized. Colorful, elaborate costumes are worn. The Plains Indians are the Indians who have been stereotyped in westerns, with feathers, beads, fur, and facial and body paint. A dance of particular interest is the Sun Dance, a celebration of the cyclical nature of life. The Sun Dance is of interest for several reasons. First, it is still very much in practice, although its nature has changed somewhat. Second, it was elaborately described by Indians in the twentieth century, who saw it in its original form as children. Finally, the Sun Dance was one of the first Indian ceremonies to be banned by the U.S. government, because of its rather violent nature. This ban, never completely successful, was lifted in 1933, after which the ceremony continued in a somewhat curtailed fashion. In its original form, the Sun Dance is more than a dance. It is a ceremony formed around the building of a lodge. Frenzied singing and dancing accompany the erection of the lodge. After this, young men are initiated into the tribe and become warriors by having their breasts cut by a medicine man and a thong sewn through the cuts. The young men dance and attempt to remove the thongs. Grave injury sometimes results. Such ceremonies have been curtailed in modern society. The Sun Dance is still practiced, but young men are not as prominently featured in it as they originally were, and the mutilation has been replaced by symbolic sacrifice.
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The people now called the Sioux, actually a mixture of related tribes, are strongly dominated by males. Men have traditionally held the central place in dances, as in most other aspects of life. As elsewhere, however, some aspects of the modern world have changed the basic ceremonies. At the beginning of the Sun Dance ceremony, for example, the American flag is raised, and there may be Christian as well as Sioux prayers said. The Southern Plains. The dances of the southern Plains groups are not very different from those of their northern neighbors in terms of symbolism and theme. One difference is a greater preponderance of war dances. The most important way in which the two areas differ in their ceremonies is in the degree of formality and the exclusiveness of a dance or ceremony to a particular tribe. In the southern Plains, dances and pow-wows are as much social gatherings as religious rituals. Often, many tribes will participate. Nearly anyone can get up and join in the festivities, and although the costumes can be as elaborate as they are in the north, formalized dress is not required. Today, among the dancers dressed in beads and feathers, one may see others dressed in jeans and flannel shirts. The southern Plains were the last area in the contiguous states to be taken formally from the Indians, and thus the most traditional ceremonies can often be seen here. Oklahoma, until it was opened to white settlement in 1889, was still considered Indian Territory. Oklahoma has one of the largest proportions of Indian population in the United States. Marc Goldstein Sources for Further Study Bancroft-Hunt, Norman. People of the Totem. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1979. A description of Northwest American Indian culture, including a study of their history, ceremonies, and contemporary conditions. Buttree, Julia M. The Rhythm of the Red Man. New York: A. S. Barnes, 1930. A description of Indian rituals, especially music
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and dance, including step-by-step instructions for a great number of dances and rituals followed by a variety of tribal groups. Evans, Bessie, and May G. Evans. Native American Dance Steps. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2003. A detailed study of the different dance forms of various Native American tribes. Hamilton, Charles. Cry of the Thunderbird: The American Indian’s Own Story. New ed. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972. A compilation of articles by American Indians about their culture, including memories of childhood, historical beginnings, and contemporary conditions. Heth, Charlotte, ed. Native American Dance: Ceremonies and Social Traditions. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of the American Indian, Starwood Publishing, 1992. An illustrated guide to the dances of many American Indian tribes, with descriptions of specific dances as well as general discussions of dance practices by region. Spencer, Robert F., Jesse D. Jennings, et al. The Native Americans. New York: Harper & Row, 1977. An encyclopedic discussion of American Indian culture, from prehistory to contemporary times. See also: Deer Dance; Ghost Dance; Gourd Dance; Grass Dance; Music and Song; Pow-wows and Celebrations; Stomp Dance; Sun Dance; Tobacco Society and Dance; White Deerskin Dance.
Death and Mortuary Customs Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: American Indians have a wide variety of religious traditions and thus a wide variety of practices regarding the disposition of the dead. Among the many American Indian tribes studied by modern anthropologists, there is a great variety of practices concerning death, dying, and the disposition of dead bodies. There is a virtually uni-
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A depiction of a Native American burial ground from the mid 1800s. (National Archives)
versal belief in the existence of a spirit separate from the body which can exist when the body is dead. Since these spirits are considered capable of harming the living, they are often feared. In many Indian cultures death is accepted stoically by individuals, but rituals are considered necessary to provide protection for the living. Traditional Practices. Unfortunately, many Indian tribal traditions had become extinct before they could be studied by modern scholars, and some puzzling remains have been found. Generally, burial seems to have always been the most common way of disposing of dead bodies, though there is considerable evidence of cremation, as well. In the southwestern United States, mass graves have been found, sometimes consisting merely of piles of heads or headless bodies. In a few cases, burial sites have been found in which only the bones of hands are buried.
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In more recent times, Indians have been known to bury their dead in coffins, with ceremonies not greatly different from those of Christians and Jews. There are, however, quite a number of exceptions. On the West Coast, for example, many tribes had the custom of leaving bodies lying in state above ground for as long as a week, after which the remains were buried or cremated. In the far north, among the Eskimos (Inuits), bodies have been left above the ground permanently, usually on a hill far from the village. Many northern tribes, including the Athapaskans and the Tlingit, begin ceremonies with mourning and wailing and then proceed to have a potlatch, a joyous gathering of tribe members where gifts are exchanged and long, involved feasts take place. A few tribes, including the Mesquakie (Fox) and some Eskimos, traditionally believed that the departing spirit needed a guide and killed dogs for the purpose, which were buried with their former masters. Many tribes surrounded the body with possessions belonging to the deceased. Beliefs in an Afterlife. Because American Indians have never been a single culture, beliefs vary considerably. There are certain ideas, however, which seem to be almost universal among North American Indians. One of the most common is the belief that the spirit, like the soul of Christian belief, is separate from the body and can leave the body. Many tribes believe that the spirit actually leaves the body during sleep and is capable of wandering in the land of the dead. During this time, the spirit can gain great knowledge of the afterworld and communicate with its ancestors. At death, the separation is final. The postulated location of the land of the dead also varies. In some cases, it was considered to be very close to the land of the living; such places were dreaded and avoided. Much more often, however, the realm of spirits was placed far from the living lands— in the sky, under ground, beyond the sunset, or over the seas. As a general rule, this land was considered to be very much like the land of the living, with the spirits eating and drinking, hunting, and dancing.
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The Current Situation. Many of the practices cited above are unacceptable in the modern world. Leaving a decaying body outside for a week at a time, for example, is considered a clear health hazard. In addition, the majority of modern Indians have accepted Christianity, at least in part. It is not unusual, especially in the more remote areas of the Arctic and Subarctic, for two death ceremonies to be held: one Christian, one traditional. Among the Athapaskans, for example, the body is generally buried in a Christian ceremony presided over by a minister and conducted in English. Afterward, the traditional potlatch is held, conducted in the native language. Marc Goldstein Sources for Further Study Carmody, Denise Lardner, and John Tully Carmody. Native American Religions: An Introduction. New York: Paulist Press, 1993. Ceram, C. W. The First American: A Study of North American Archaeology. Translated by Richard Winston and Clara Winston. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1971. Deloria, Vine, Jr. God Is Red: A Native View of Religion. Rev. ed. Golden, Colo.: Fulcrum, 2003. Oswalt, Wendell H. This Land Was Theirs: A Study of North American Indians. 7th ed. Mountain View, Calif.: Mayfield, 2001. Spencer, Robert F., Jesse D. Jennings, et al. The Native American. 2d ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1977. Wissler, Clark. Indians of the United States. Rev. ed. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1966. See also: Ethnophilosophy and Worldview; Feast of the Dead; Mounds and Moundbuilders; Ohio Mound Builders; Religion; Rite of Consolation.
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Deer Dance Tribes affected: Pueblo tribes Significance: The Deer Dance was a winter ceremony called by hunters to ensure an increase in game and good luck in hunting. In Pueblo culture, all social and religious life revolves around the theme of achieving harmony with the gods of nature to ensure the prosperity of agriculture and hunting. The Deer Dance is performed to achieve harmony with the spirits of the deer to ensure daily survival. Like all game animal dances, the Deer Dance is believed to cause an increase in the deer population and also to enhance the skills of those who hunt them. In the Pueblo calendrical cycle, agricultural ceremonies are held in the summer, while curing, warfare, and hunting ceremonies occur in the winter. The Deer Dance, along with other game animal dances, is performed in the winter months, when household supplies are at their lowest and families feel the need for spiritual assistance in gathering food. While the ceremony differs from pueblo to pueblo, reciprocity through gift-giving between humans and spirits is an inherent part of the dance. In the Deer Dance, the deer are enticed to the village with cornmeal and are fed; later the deer will feed the people. Lynne Getz See also: Dances and Dancing.
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Demography Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: After European contact, most Native American nations experienced dramatic population losses, but today they represent one of the fastest-growing segments of American society. When Europeans arrived on the shores of North America, they encountered an estimated 1.2 to 18 million people. They were the “original Americans,” descendants of people who journeyed to North America thousands of years before Europeans. Over the millennia, Native Americans evolved hundreds of unique cultural traditions with their own worldviews, perhaps two hundred languages (of several distinct families), ecological adaptations to every environmental situation, and a range of forms of governance. Native North America, prior to the arrival of Europeans, represented one of the most ethnically diverse regions in the world. Tragically, much of this cultural mosaic was extinguished by massive population declines after European contact. Yet Native Americans survived this demographic and cultural onslaught to represent one of the fastest-growing segments of American society today. Prehistoric Demographic Trends. The colonization of the Americas by Paleo-Indians (an anthropological term for the ancestors of Native Americans) was one of the greatest demographic events in global history. There has been considerable controversy regarding the dates for early migrations to North America. Some scholars have suggested that the earliest migrations occurred as far back as fifty thousand years ago; some have said that migration may also have occurred as recently as three thousand years ago. A more generally agreed-upon time frame for the migrations, however, is between twenty-five thousand and twelve thousand years ago. Although many Native Americans reject the hypothesis that their ancestors immigrated from greater Eurasia, archaeological evidence suggests that some first Americans may have entered the
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Western Hemisphere during the many glacial periods that exposed Beringia, the Bering Strait land bridge. Beringia periodically linked Siberia with the Americas, allowing animals and humans access to both continents. Others may have made the journey using boats, following a maritime route or traveling down a coastal corridor. In any event, these irregular waves of colonizers represented the last great global movement of people into unoccupied land—a migration hallmark in human history. How many “first Americans” entered the Americas is unknown. Archaeologists note that the Late Wisconsin glacier’s recession about fifteen thousand years ago allowed Native American people to migrate southward, eventually colonizing the remainder of the Americas. Prior to that time, the glacier largely prevented further immigration and colonization. What specific routes they took and how rapidly people dispersed across both continents are topics of considerable archaeological debate. There is firm evidence that by 9400 b.c.e. Native Americans had reached southern South America, indicating that Native Americans had dispersed widely across the “New World’s” landscape. Despite hypotheses that argue for an accelerated population growth rate, it is likely that during this early colonization period, the Native American population’s growth rates were slow to moderate, with cyclical rates of growth and decline. These population fluctuations reflected a complex array of changing social, demographic, and ecological conditions as local populations adapted to regional conditions. In North America, Native American demographic distribution and redistribution paralleled closely the glacial retreat north, the trend toward regional and climatic aridity that altered local resources, and cultural innovations. The above factors, by 9000 b.c.e., eventually made possible the colonization of every available area on the North American continent. These hunter-gatherers and, later, the cultural traditions known as Archaic societies, developed a greater variety of lifeways, producing marked differences in population size, distribution, and vital events. Paleopathological evidence indicates that prehistoric Native American populations faced a number of health risks. Docu-
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mented cases of malnutrition, anemia, tuberculosis, trachoma, trepanematoid infections, and degenerative conditions occurred in pre-Columbian North America. These afflictions, coupled with periodic trauma, accidents, and warfare, affected the demographic structure of regional populations. A cultural innovation that had significant demographic consequences was the invention and diffusion of agriculture. Sometime before 3500 b.c.e. in Mesoamerica, maize, beans, and squash were domesticated. As this cultural knowledge spread northward, many Native American societies east of the Mississippi River, in the Southwest, and along the major waterways of the greater Midwest adopted agriculture. Demographically, agriculture promoted the development of larger populations, residing in sedentary villages or cities. Near present-day Alton, Illinois, along the Mississippi River, for example, was the urban center of Cahokia. At its height about 1100 c.e., Cahokia extended over 5 square miles and had a population of perhaps thirty thousand people. Although regional population concentrations arose across native North America, by 1300 c.e. many areas containing high population densities began to decline. The causes of the decline and social reorganization in some regions are open to debate. It is clear that in a number of regions, high population densities and size remained until the European encounter. By the time of European contact, native North America demographically contained a variety of population sizes and densities, ranging from fewer than one person per 10 square miles in the Great Basin to the densely settled, resource-rich regions of the Pacific Northwest, Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest. These areas may have supported from five to more than one hundred people per 10 square miles. By the time Europeans arrived, Native Americans already had undergone a number of profound demographic events. Historical Demographic Trends. The European colonization of North America launched a series of catastrophic events for Native American populations. Native American societies experienced tre-
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mendous population declines. Native American populations periodically experienced mortality increases, decreases in their fertility performance, forced migration, as well as a deterioration of their societal health status. Of all the factors that affected post-contact Native American societies, the accelerated death rates from the introduction of European diseases remain prominent. Europeans brought smallpox, measles, cholera, and other infections that were foreign to Native American people. It has been estimated that ninety-three epidemics of Old World pathogens affected Native Americans since the sixteenth century. Old World diseases, combined with warfare, genocide, and the introduction of alcohol, forced migration and relocation, and the overall destruction of indigenous lifeways resulted in the demographic collapse of native North America. One Native American scholar called it the “American Indian Holocaust.” Within decades of European contact, Native American populations declined. The colonization of the Spanish, French, and, later, English set in motion significant population changes. Between 1500 and 1820, Native American populations residing east of the Mississippi River declined to approximately 6 percent of their atcontact size. In the southeastern region, for example, the estimated Native American population in 1685 was 199,400. By 1790 their population was approximately 55,900—a decline of 71.9 percent. Paralleling this demographic collapse, the ethnic diversity of indigenous societies residing east of the Mississippi River declined between 25 and 79 percent, as distinct Native American nations were driven to extinction or forced to amalgamate with other Native American nations. In 1830, the remaining Native Americans in the East were forcibly removed to west of the Mississippi River under President Andrew Jackson’s administration. Between 1828 and 1838, approximately 81,300 Native Americans were thus removed. For their relocation efforts, the U.S. government acquired 115,355,767 acres of Indian lands and resources. Furthermore, the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Seminole, and Muskogee lost between 15 and 50 percent of their population during the forced relocation. Other re-
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moved Native American tribal nations suffered similar demographic losses. By about 1850, the estimated Native American population stood at 383,000. As Native American populations declined, the European, African American, and Latino populations grew, occupying the available lands acquired from Native Americans. Aside from losing their land and resources, the increasing contact with non-Indians had other important demographic consequences. Since contact, Native Americans have experienced an increased genetic exchange with European and African populations. The rise of people with Native American-European or Native American-African ancestry, or of all three ancestries, may have had significant implications for tribal survival and demographic recovery. Some scholars suggest that depopulation and the following demographic recovery resulted in certain physical and genetic changes in those groups who survived. The incorporation of Europeans, African Americans, or other Native Americans promoted further those phenotypic and genotypic processes. As the American population of European descent surpassed twenty-three million by 1850, Native Americans west of the Mississippi River began to experience directly the brunt of colonization and settlement. Prior to that time, western Native American populations had experienced introduced infectious diseases, intermittent warfare with Europeans, and an erosion of their resources. The Mandan, for example, boasted an estimated at-contact population of possibly 15,000. After the 1837-1838 smallpox epidemic, their population collapsed to between 125 and 1,200 individuals, forcing them eventually to merge, culturally and biologically, with the Arikara and Hidatsa. Western indigenous nations, from 1850 through 1880, witnessed continued demographic upheaval. Their population changes during those decades were affected by the dramatic social and economic changes in U.S. society. The United States economy was industrializing, American society was becoming more urban, and the federal government desired a link between the east and west coasts as a completion to its nationbuilding. In addition, the United States experienced a dramatic in-
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flux of European immigrants. In three decades, from 1850 to 1880, the European population increased to 50,155,783. To meet these economic and political demands, western lands and resources were needed. This prompted the federal government to alienate Native Americans from their remaining lands. The continued demographic collapse of many Indian nations occurred under the guise of the nation’s rhetoric of Manifest Destiny. In an attempt to subdue the remaining indigenous populations and force them onto reservations, the U.S. government either negotiated a series of treaties or carried out military expeditions. The combined impact of war, disease, and the continued destruction of their lifeways resulted in further population decline. By the time Native Americans were relegated to reservations or rural communities in 1880, there were 306,543 Native Americans surviving in the coterminous United States. The indigenous population of the United States reached its nadir in 1890. The 1890 U.S. Census recorded 248,253 Native Americans in the continental United States. Although most infectious diseases experienced during the pre-reservation era began to diminish, these acute infections were replaced with chronic diseases on reservations. Poor sanitation, poor nutrition, and overcrowding resulted in the appearance of tuberculosis, trachoma, and intermittent measles and influenza outbreaks, as well as a rise in infant mortality. As these afflictions reached epidemic proportions, the Native American population between 1900 and 1920 remained rather static. Most Native Americans continued to live on reservations or rural areas, isolated from society. In 1920, only 6.2 percent of Native Americans resided in urban areas. After 1930, however, Native Americans began to experience a tremendous growth rate. With the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act (1934), cultural oppression lessened, health and sanitation conditions improved, and social programs began to affect Native American demography positively. Native American populations grew because fertility increased, infant survivorship improved, and the death rate fell. The result was a young age-sex structure.
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The advent of World War II witnessed a migratory shift away from reservations and rural communities. Attracted by service in the armed forces and urban job prospects, many Native Americans migrated to major cities. The outflow of Native American immigrants to urban centers initiated a demographic trend that continues to the present. The out-migration of Native Americans was stimulated further by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In the mid1950’s, the federal government instituted a relocation program. The program assisted Native Americans through job training and support services in being placed in urban centers. In 1990, for the first time since indigenous people have been recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau, the census recorded that more Native Americans resided in urban than in rural areas. The Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area, for example, had 87,500 people of Native American descent, an increase of 5 percent over the previous decade. Since the 1950’s, the Native American population has grown tremendously. In 1960, there were 551,636 Native Americans. By 1970, there were 827,273 people who identified themselves as Native American. The 1980 U.S. Census witnessed a 71.1 percent increase. The reasons for this growth are complex and multifactorial. First, after the transfer of the Indian Health Service from the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1955, Native American health improved dramatically, especially infant and child health care. Second, Native American fertility increased and mortality decreased, adding significantly to the population. Finally, more Americans are identifying themselves as having Native American ancestry. Demographic Trends. The Native American population of the United States is young and growing: 1.4 million of the total selfidentified population of 4.3 million (July 1, 2002) were under eighteen years of age, with less than 300,000 age sixty-five or over. Only 14 percent age twenty-five or over reported having earned at least a bachelor’s degree; 75 percent in the same age group reported a high school diploma. A scant 125,000 reported an advanced degree. As a result, the Native American population suffers from social problems in which demography plays an important role. Native
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American health status lags behind that of the United States’ general population. Deaths by accidents, violence, suicide, tuberculosis, diabetes, and numerous other conditions exceed national averages. Unemployment, in both rural and urban areas, remains high, although the number of Native American-owned businesses increased by 64 percent between 1982 and 1987 and the introduction of Indian gaming in 1988 made inroads into the socioeconomic problems of poverty. Nonetheless, as reported in a December, 2002, article in Indian Country Today, only a few tribes have enjoyed a limited benefit from gaming: 22 tribal casinos account for 56 percent of the nearly $12.7 billion in total Indian gaming revenues. While some members of these tribes are enjoying employment in gaming and tourism industries and a significant improvement in socioeconomic status, poverty continues to plague many Native American families and remains well above the national average. Population Since 2000. As of July 1, 2002, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the number of people who were American Indian and Alaska native or American Indian and Alaska native in combination with one or more other races, was 4.3 million in the United States alone, constituting 1.5 percent of the total U.S. population. Of these, approximately three-quarters (3.1 million) claimed membership in a specific tribe, with Cherokee easily the largest at nearly 700,000 members, followed by Navajo, Choctaw, Blackfeet, Chippewa, Muscogee (Creek), Apache, and Lumbee—all claiming more than 50,000 members. Alaskan tribes with more than 5,000 members were the Tlingit (the largest), followed by the Athabascan, Eskimo and Yupik. The increase in this population over the preceding two-year period (from July 1, 2000) was 2.4 percent. Native American people reside in every state in the union, with the greatest concentration in California at 683,000—and indeed, the majority of the American Indian population overall is concentrated in the West. Alaska claims the highest percentage of native people (19 percent), followed by Oklahoma and New Mexico (both with 11 percent). The number of American Indians living on reservations or other trust lands was more than 538,000, with nearly
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one-third of these residing on Navajo lands. The percentage of the American Indian population residing in urban areas was 66 percent, the lowest of any ethnic or racial group in the United States. The phenomenal growth rate among Native Americans exceeds the growth Native American Population for African Americans and 1800-1990 Americans of European deYear Population scent but not the increase in 1 the Latino or Asian popula600,000* 1800 tions. Today, Native Ameri1810 — 2 471,417* 1820 cans and Alaska Natives 3 312,930* 1830 compose approximately 1 4 383,000* 1840 percent of the United States 1850 400,764* population but continue to 1860 339,421* represent a higher percent1870 313,721* age of the country’s cultural 1880 306,543* 1890 273,607 diversity. 1900 266,732 Native Americans have 1910 291,014 undergone a number of sig1920 270,995 nificant population changes. 1930 362,380 Initially, their ancestors col1940 366,427 onized a continent. Over 1950 377,273 1960 551,636 time, these small groups of 1970 827,273 hunter-gatherers flourished, 1980 1,420,400 their population increased, 1990 1,959,000 and some societies constructed large, urban cenNotes: Dash (—) indicates unavailable information. Asterisk (*) indicates a population estiters. After European contact, mate. Figures from 1850 to 1990 are U.S. Cenas the table “Native Amerisus figures (1850-1880 figures are estimates). Beginning in 1880, enumeration of Native can Population, 1890-1990” Americans was affected by changing definiindicates, the Native Amertions, including shifting blood-quantum criican population suffered a teria and interpretations of the term “Indian.” 1. Office of Indian Affairs estimate (1943). devastating demographic 2. Morse population estimate (1822). collapse that lasted for al3. Secretary of war estimate (1929). 4. Schoolcraft population estimate (1851-1857). most four hundred years.
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In spite of the demographic and cultural disruptions, economic and social problems, as well as continued ill health, the twentieth century Native American population made a remarkable recovery. All demographic indicators point to continued population growth into the future. Gregory R. Campbell, updated by Christina J. Moose Sources for Further Study Boyd, Robert T. Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence: Introduced Infectious Diseases and Population Decline Among Northwest Coast Indians, 1774-1874. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1999. An analysis of the role of infectious diseases on the size and structure of the Native American population. Robertson, R. G. Rotting Face: Smallpox and the American Indian. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Press, 2001. A comprehensive examination of the smallpox epidemic of 1837-1838 and its impact on the American Indian. Shoemaker, Nancy. American Indian Population Recovery in the Twentieth Century. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1999. An examination of the cultural, economic, and social factors that have contributed to the growth of the Native American population. Stannard, David E. American Holocaust. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. A discussion of Native American population decline in relation to European conquest and colonization. Verano, John W., and Douglas H. Ubelaker, eds. Disease and Demography in the Americas. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992. A collection of articles assessing the health and demography of pre-contact and post-contact Native American populations. See also: Disease and Intergroup Contact; Employment and Unemployment; Gambling; Relocation; Urban Indians.
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Disease and Intergroup Contact Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Within decades after contact with Europeans, Native American societies experienced rapid population declines; although the reasons for the demographic collapse of native North America are complex, a prominent factor in that decline was Old World infectious diseases, introduced by European explorers and settlers. After the arrival of Europeans, the estimated aboriginal population of native North America began to decline. The Spanish intrusion first into the Caribbean and then into the Southwest and Southeast, circa 1520, launched a series of lethal epidemics that infected various Native American people. The epidemiological conquest of native North America accelerated after the early seventeenth century with English and French colonization along the Atlantic seaboard. The dramatic population decline of indigenous people continued until the early twentieth century. By 1920, 270,995 Native Americans remained after the epidemiological onslaught of European colonization. They were the survivors of perhaps 1.2 million to 18 million Native Americans who inhabited North America at the time of the arrival of Europeans. Increased mortality among Native Americans as a result of introduced European diseases such as smallpox is not attributable to a lack of sufficient immunological response to infections in general but to the fact that Native Americans had no prior exposure to these pathogens. The “new” pathogens therefore not only created a high degree of physiological stress but also engendered cultural stress. Epidemic episodes often resulted in a breakdown in the social system, elevating mortality levels. Although European infectious diseases devastated many Native American societies, pre-contact native North America was not a disease-free paradise. Biological and archaeological evidence documents the fact that pre-contact Native American populations suffered from a number of afflictions. Malnutrition, anemia, and a variety of tuberculoid, trepanematoid, and other degenerative,
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North American Epidemics and Regions Affected, 1520-1696 Date of Onset
Epidemic
Regions Affected
1520
Smallpox
All regions
1531
Measles
Southwest
1545
Bubonic plague
Southwest
1559
Influenza
South Atlantic states, Gulf area, Southwest
1586
Typhus
South Atlantic states, Gulf area
1592
Smallpox
North Atlantic states, South Atlantic states, Old Northwest, Great Lakes states, Midwest east of Mississippi River, Southwest
1602
Smallpox
Southwest
1612
Bubonic plague
North Atlantic states, South Atlantic states, Gulf area, Southwest
1633
Measles
North Atlantic states
1637
Scarlet fever
North Atlantic states
1639
Smallpox
North Atlantic states, South Atlantic states, Old Northwest, Great Lakes states, Midwest east of Mississippi River
1646
Smallpox
Gulf area, Southwest
1647
Influenza
North Atlantic states
1649
Smallpox
North Atlantic states, South Atlantic states, Gulf area
chronic, and congenital conditions plagued indigenous populations. The general state of health, in combination with ecological and cultural factors, therefore, greatly affected the post-contact disease experience of Native American societies. Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. No Old World pathogen was more lethal than smallpox, which was unleashed in the Americas during the Spanish conquest. For four years, 1520-1524, the disease diffused across Central and North America. Whether smallpox reached pandemic proportions is debatable, but in populations with no prior exposure, mortality could be as high as 60 percent. The infected native populations experienced high death
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Regions Affected
1655
Smallpox
Gulf area
1658
Measles, diphtheria
North Atlantic states, Gulf area, Old Northwest, Great Lakes states, Midwest east of Mississippi River, Southwest
1662
Smallpox
North Atlantic states, Old Northwest, Great Lakes states, Midwest east of Mississippi River
1665
Smallpox
South Atlantic states, Old Northwest, Great Lakes states, Midwest east of Mississippi River
1669
Smallpox
North Atlantic states
1674
Smallpox
Gulf area, southern Plains
1675
Influenza
North Atlantic states
1677
Smallpox
North Atlantic states
1687
Smallpox
North Atlantic states
1692
Measles
North Atlantic states, Old Northwest, Great Lakes states, Midwest east of Mississippi River
1696
Smallpox, Influenza
South Atlantic states, Gulf area
Sources: Data are from Dobyns, Henry, F., Their Number Became Thinned (Knoxville, University of Tennessee Press, 1983); Thornton, Russell, American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History Since 1492 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987).
rates. Florida’s Timucua population may have once had 772,000 people, but by 1524 the group was reduced to 361,000. Throughout the 1500’s and into the next century, twenty-three European infectious diseases appeared in native North America. Smallpox, measles, influenza, and the bubonic plague affected Native American populations largely east of the Mississippi and in the Southwest. European populations grew and expanded geographically as declining indigenous populations relinquished their lands and resources. Those Native Americans who resisted white encroachment were vanquished through genocidal warfare or reduced to mission life.
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Eighteenth Century. By the eighteenth century, the European population had reached an estimated 223,000 people. Although Europeans were not the demographic majority, epidemics continued to pave the way for further colonization. Throughout the Atlantic coastal region and into the interior westward, native populations were decimated through genocidal warfare and diseases. In the southeastern region of North America, for example, the estimated Native American population in 1685 was 199,400. By 1790, the population was reduced to approximately 55,900—a decline of 71.9 percent. By contrast, Europeans and African Americans in the region increased their population to 1,630,100 or 31.4 percent. In sum, European expansion during the three first centuries of colonization produced a demographic collapse of Native American populations. Introduced European infectious diseases, combined with periodic genocidal warfare and the destruction of indigenous lifeways, reduced Native Americans to approximately 600,000. By contrast, the European population grew to more than 5 million.
A patient with tuberculosis surrounded by netting in 1915. (National Archives)
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Since the Nineteenth Century. During the nineteenth century, twenty-four epidemics affected Native American populations. Smallpox continued to appear every 7.9 years among some segment of the Native American population. Between the smallpox episodes, Native Americans contracted measles and cholera every 22.5 years. According to Henry Dobyns, an anthropologist and authority on Native American historical demography, more epidemics occurred during the nineteenth century, with more frequency, than during any other. One of the most devastating epidemics during this century was the 1837-1838 smallpox epidemic. The disease diffused across most of native North America, but the northern Plains region was hit especially hard. It is estimated that seventeen thousand Native Americans on the northern Plains died before the epidemic subsided. Such acute infectious diseases continued to plague Native American communities into the early reservation period. Only then did these infections give way to the twentieth century epidemics of influenza, tuberculosis, and trachoma—chronic conditions that would infect Native Americans until the 1950’s. The placement of Native Americans on reservations or in rural communities did not mark the end of epidemics. Acute infectious diseases have been replaced by “diseases of poverty.” Many of these afflictions reach epidemic proportions in some Native American communities. Deaths from tuberculosis, type II diabetes mellitus, violence, suicide, accidents, and alcoholism exceed the national average. In addition, Native Americans now have to contend with another epidemic—the threat of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection—a disease that has made its presence felt in some Native American communities. Gregory R. Campbell Sources for Further Study Cook, Noble David. Born to Die: Disease and New World Conquest, 1492-1650. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Robertson, R. G. Rotting Face: Smallpox and the American Indian. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Press, 2001.
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See also: Alcoholism; Demography; Medicine and Modes of Curing: Post-contact; Medicine and Modes of Curing: Pre-contact; Missions and Missionaries; Suicide.
Dogs Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Dogs provided hunting assistance, food, and companionship among all Indian groups. The first dogs in America were domesticated from wolves in Asia and were brought to the Americas some time between forty thousand and fifteen thousand years ago. There were two major breeds of dog in native North America, one long-legged and the other short-legged. The former resembled a German shepherd in build, and the latter was similar to a beagle, though both were extremely variable in coloring and hair length. There is no evidence of selective breeding to keep breeds separate, and dogs with intermediate characteristics were common. Both breeds of dog were used primarily as hunting aids, flushing game into the open or treeing it. Some dogs apparently were adept at forcing animals into the open by digging into their burrows, but it is unclear whether any tribes regularly trained dogs for hunting skills. Dogs also were used for hauling travois in the Great Plains, for pulling Inuit dogsleds, and as pets everywhere. Dogs occasionally were eaten throughout North America, especially in times of food shortage. Some groups, such as the Iroquois, had annual feasts at which the eating of a dog was a central part of the activities. In Western Mexico, dogs were eaten more regularly, and the modern chihuahua is descended from a dog bred particularly for eating. These dogs are depicted in ceramic sculptures in prehistoric shaft tombs, especially in Colima, appearing either as plump animals (indicating bounty) or as gaunt, starving animals with jutting jaws and protruding ribs (representing famine). Russell J. Barber See also: Horses; Hunting and Gathering; Transportation Modes.
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Dream Catchers Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: A traditional method employed by Ojibwas and other tribes to block bad dreams, dream catchers are now commonly used by practitioners of New Age spirituality. The interpretation of dreams was an important activity among American Indian peoples, most of whom believed that dreaming represented a primary mechanism through which spirits communicated knowledge and their wishes to human beings. One manifestation of the significance attributed to dreams was the traditional use of dream catchers by many tribes of the Northeast and Plains. Among the Ojibwas, who are often credited with originating the tradition, the dream catcher is made of a red willow hoop
Image not available
A fourth grader, Maysarah Syafarudin, inspects the craftsmanship of a dream catcher she made for a school project. (AP/Wide World Photos)
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filled with a web of sinew (with a hole at its center) on which feathers and sometimes stones were hung. According to one popular version of their significance, dream catchers were suspended above the sleeping areas of infants in order that the good dreams contained in the night air would pass through their holes and fall onto the children while the bad dreams would become stuck in the webbing and be destroyed in the dawn’s light. Variations of this interpretation sometimes include the idea that the lattice represents the web of life, woven by Spider Woman. One occasionally sees dream catchers being worn as pendants in early reservation period photographs of Indian men dressed in their best clothing. In the late twentieth century, the production of dream catchers became a Pan-Indian phenomenon. This development was the result of the rise of New Age spirituality, which appropriated the tradition, transforming and transvaluing it to coincide with this movement’s own assumptions concerning the nature and operation of spiritual power. This appropriation also engendered the fabrication of dream catcher earrings, rings and other forms of jewelry. Harvey Markowitz Sources for Further Study Baxter, Paula A. Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry: A Guide to History, Peoples, and Terms. Phoenix: OBYX Press, 2000. Dubin, Lois. Native American Indian Jewelry and Adornment from Prehistory to Present. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1999. See also: Feathers and Featherwork; Kachinas.
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Dress and Adornment Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Designed for comfort, protection, and utility, American Indian clothing and decoration also often designated group affiliation, social role, and rank; it often conveyed—and still conveys—a spiritual message to both wearer and observers. European accounts of early contact vividly describe the wide variety of clothing worn by the original people of North America. Recorded in detail by skilled artists, varied styles of dress emphasized the uniqueness of each group. Drawings showed Inuit (Eskimo) people of the far north dressed in two-layered outfits of caribou skin, one layer with fur turned out, the other with fur against the body. Sealskin mittens, moccasins, and parkas, all lined with fur, made an insulated cocoonlike outfit designed for survival in the bitterest of Arctic winters. The decorative touch to the male Eskimo’s outfit was a carved ivory labret—a disk “buttoned” into his perforated lower lip. Its trade value was twenty-five caribou skins. A ruff of wolverine fur on the hooded parka and eye coverings with narrow slits to protect against the sun’s glare on snow left no part of the body exposed to the elements. In distinct contrast, the men of the Plateau west of the Rockies were shown wearing the simplest of outfits—nothing. Occasionally they wore sandals and a short robe of rabbit skins. Women of nomadic Plateau cultures wore no shirts, only simple apronskirts and sandals woven of soft fibers. A woman would wear a basketlike hat to protect her forehead from the carrying strap of the basket slung over the back. Similar modes of dress were seen among other peoples in similar climates. Between these extremes was a vast assortment of styles. Virtually every substance in nature was used in the making of clothing or ornamentation. Materials used ranged from buffalo wool spun on a spindle to the inner bark of cedar trees woven into fabric. It was the custom to use all parts of anything taken from its
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natural habitat. Furs, skins, feathers, shells, bones, teeth, and claws of animals, birds, and fish were the main materials for clothing or adornment. Fabrics were woven of grasses, tree bark, cotton, and other fibrous plants. Mosses, leaves, and downy plants such as milkweed were used for insulation. Plants were used for making natural dyes. Clothing of Ancient Peoples. The early people of North America created clothing for comfort and utility. Clothing evolved to suit the climate and the physical, social, and cultural activities of the people. The Hohokam, Mogollon, and Anasazi, ancient peoples in the Southwest, wove clothing and blankets from cotton, animal fur, and feathers, and adorned themselves in turquoise jewelry. Rabbit fur and deerskin were punched with an awl and laced together with thongs. Women’s aprons and sandals were made of yucca, a fibrous desert plant. People of the Adena and Hopewell cultures, ancient Eastern Woodland cultures, fashioned clothing from deerskin, adding leggings and moccasins to the men’s shirt and breechcloth. Women wore wraparound skirts and tunics of deerskin. Hopewell people wore copper breastplates, ornate feather cloaks, and headdresses. The Adena wore copper bracelets and rings, stone gorgets (armor for the throat), bone masks, pearl beads, and mica ornaments. Decoration could be functional as well as attractive. A ceremonial feather cloak could serve as a sunshade or raincoat in a tropical climate. Gorgets protected the vulnerable throat. In later times, when clothing was tailored, fringe helped wet buckskin to dry quickly by wicking moisture away from the body. Beads and quillwork added strength to skins or fabric for longer wear. Meanings Conveyed by Clothing. Artful adornment created by each group of American Indians expressed both spiritual style and beauty. Clothing and decorations carried meaning, symbolizing the beliefs, values, and intentions of the wearer. A warrior painting his body as he dressed for battle was visibly declaring his purpose and praying for a successful outcome.
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Dress and adornment could indicate membership in a particular group, clan, or society, making it possible, even from a distance, to distinguish outsiders from those belonging to the group. In battle, this distinction could mean life or death. An outfit that indicated clan membership could guarantee food and shelter from other clan members for a traveler. Clothing often helped to identify social or familial bonds between people who had just met.
A Sioux man pictured in formal dance attire in 1899. (Library of Congress)
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Plains People. Among the northern Plains people, clothing and items of adornment for both men and women were carefully planned, patiently made, finely decorated, and functional. In early times animal skins were used; the same designs were rendered later in trade cloth. Motion was expressed in swaying fringe, splashes of bright paint, jingling bells, and beads or elk teeth. The decorations recalled the swaying grasses of the Plains. Clothing could be packed and transported easily when the nomadic Plains people traveled. The people’s mobility helped promote a common style among various Plains groups. Gifts of clothing were exchanged during large seasonal gatherings. Garments worn in successful battles were often copied, both to honor the warrior and to acquire some of his powerful medicine. The breechcloth, a single panel of plain buckskin or cloth held in place with a thong belt, was the everyday garment for the Native American man of the Plains. A coating of bear grease protected his skin from cold, insects, brush, and germs. For formal wear, the breechcloth was usually beaded or painted. Crow men preferred a two-part apron, with finely beaded floral designs, similar to those worn by Woodlands men. Leggings of elk hide or deer hide were practical for walking or riding through the brush or for sitting on the ground. The ever-present fringe was handy for making repairs or using as cords. If snagged on brush or stone, the fringe would break off, leaving the wearer free and the garment intact. Men often wore tunic or poncho-style shirts with split sides. Under the shirt a belt held up the leggings and carried weapons, tools, and a pipe bag. In cold weather a decorated robe of buffalo hide or fur completed the outfit. The war shirt, worn only for ceremony or battle, was richly decorated with fringe, beads or quills, ermine tails, scalps, and other medicine items. Painted with symbols of power, these shirts were believed to be protective for the wearer. When beaded and decorated, the war shirt could weigh as much as forty pounds—an acceptable burden because of its medicine power, which gave confidence and status to the wearer. The southern Plains groups used rich, dark-green dyes, eagle
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Due to the warmer climate, dress in western Arizona was often reduced to loincloths, as worn by these Native Americans in the late nineteenth century. (National Archives)
feathers, eagle bone whistles, and medicine bags for decoration. In contrast, the northern peoples—Mandan, Crow, Blackfoot, and Sioux—created ornate shirts with beads and quillwork. When the long northern winter brought a hiatus to war, it provided time for tailoring, repairing, and decorating garments. Other Regions. In the Southeast, as in most warm climates throughout the continent, the usual outfit for men was breechcloth and moccasins. Algonquian men of the temperate Northeast coastal area spent the summer months in breechcloth and mocca-
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sins, and during cooler weather wore skin pants or leggings, skirts, and robes. Men shaved their heads except for a scalp lock, and war paint was worn for ceremonies. Crowns and cloaks of turkey feathers and necklaces made of prized wampum—purple clam shells and white conch shells—made elegant outfits. Women wore sliplike tailored dresses topped with cape-sleeves or the short poncho shirt. They sewed strings of valuable sacred wampum to their deerskin shirts, tied the strings around their waists and in their hair, and wore them as necklaces and bracelets. Leggings and moccasins completed the outfit. Among the Iroquois of the Woodlands area, men wore deerskin kilts and leggings topped with shoulder sashes of woven fiber. In cooler weather skin shirts and moccasins were added. Women dressed in wrapped deerskin skirts, loose shirts, and moccasins. Elk teeth or cowrie shells adorned the shirts. The ceremonial dress of the Zuñi woman was a rectangle of black hand-loomed cloth trimmed in dark blue. She tied it over her right shoulder, wrapped a long woven sash around her waist, then covered her shoulders with a white robe. The valuable Chilkat blanket marked the high point of Northwest weaving art. The Tlingit people made this blanket of goat’s wool woven into a cedar bark core in boldly stylized images of clan animals using black, white, yellow, and the prized blue dye. Chilkat blankets originated with the coastal Tsimshian group and were worn by men and women in ceremonial dances. A wealthy Hupa woman of northern California wore a fringed skirt covered with a full apron of shells. Dozens of shell necklaces covered a sleeveless shirt. Shell hair ties and earrings completed the outfit. Jewelry and Body Decoration. All peoples of North America used jewelry for decoration and nearly all to indicate status. The earliest jewelry was of shells, feathers, turquoise stones, and easily worked copper. In addition to the purple and white shell wampum in the eastern woodlands, the bear claw necklace was highly prized by warriors. The artisans of the Southwest worked with sil-
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ver and turquoise to create distinctive jewelry—the Navajo “squash blossom” necklace and concha belt, the Hopi layered silver cutout bracelet, and the Zuñi silver pins inlaid with stone and shell. Face and body painting was done in most groups, sometimes for decoration, more often for ceremonies. Paint could also take the place of clothing in the summer. Red, black, and white were favored colors. Body piercing for adornment was common and included jewelry such as labrets in the lips, earrings for men and women, and rings, bones, or shells worn in the nose. Tattooing was done with charcoal, needles, dyed thread or cactus spines, and burned shells. Various styles included: Subarctic (marks on the chin during girls’ puberty rites), Haida (crests on arms, legs, chest, and back, especially for the highborn), West Coast people (bands on chin, cheek, or forehead for men or women, with wrist bands and lines on the chest for some women), Teton women (lip and facial tattoos), and Natchez women (across the nose). High ranking men and women wore intricate designs that often completely covered the body. Hair Styles and Status. Hair was a symbol of strength, individuality, and spirituality. In some groups, women wore their hair long and men wore their hair short. In others this custom was reversed. There was great diversity even among the same people. Styles varied from hair that was never cut (sometimes touching the ground), worn straight or braided, to shaved head with only a small scalplock left on top. Men of the Subarctic tucked their long hair under a turban. Some Plains men wore as many as eight long braids. Aztec commoners kept their long hair uncovered, and Creek men shaved the sides of their heads, leaving a center strip from forehead to the nape of the neck. Natchez men shaved one side of the head and wore their hair long on the other. Women’s hair styles included shoulder length with bangs for Western Apache, side buns of the “squash blossom” style for Hopi maidens, a middle part with two long braids for Jicarilla Apache, braids woven with ribbons and wrapped around the head for Az-
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tec commoners, several braids for Natchez women, a topknot with ribbons for Creek, and hair brought up and forward in bonnet shape (creating a natural sun visor) for Seminole women. In complex societies with various status levels, hair and headdressings designated a person’s role or rank. More valuable materials and more ornate designs denoted higher status. The Aztecs defined four levels: commoner men and women wore their hair long and uncovered, chiefs wore leather headbands with multicolored tassels or gold and turquoise crowns, warriors had large feather headdresses, and the priestly wore elaborate outfits with headdresses representing gods and goddesses. Effects of European Contact. European contact influenced the clothing of almost every group, in style, fabric type and color, and adornment. Earlier garments of natural colored fiber, fur, and hides were replaced with wool and other red or blue fabrics richly decorated with beads or quillwork. Additions of ribbonwork and appliqué to basic styles were most elegantly done by East Coast people, especially Iroquois of the north and Seminole of the south. Satin dresses took the place of coarse woven fiber outfits. Western Apache women adopted the European full skirt of bright calico topped with a belted hip-length blouse. Zuñi men replaced their short cotton kilts with European-style loose white cotton shirts worn over white pants. Leather concho belts with silver disks and hard-soled sandals set a style eventually copied by Europeans. In the North, caribou and buffalo robes were replaced with woolen coats or the hooded “capote”—a cloak made from the colorful Hudson’s Bay Company trade blanket. Gale M. Thompson Sources for Further Study Billard, Jules B., et al. The World of the American Indian. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1974. More than 440 illustrations, maps of culture areas, poems and chants, tribal location supplement with keys to back-pocket maps, index, and acknowledgments.
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Brown, Joseph Epes. The North American Indians: A Selection of Photographs by Edward S. Curtis. New York: Aperture, 1972. Images selected from thousands of photographs in the Curtis collection. Features people of many groups west of the Mississippi River, with excellent examples of clothing and headdresses. Songs, quotations from well-known traditional people of North America, historians, and anthropologists, captions and detailed notes on photographs. Mails, Thomas E. Mystic Warriors of the Plains. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1972. An in-depth study of Plains people: social customs and religion, arts and crafts, clothing, warriors’ regalia and weapons, buffalo and horse. Hundreds of drawings by the author, including a diagram of the buffalo showing uses for every part of the animal. Maxwell, James A., et al. America’s Fascinating Indian Heritage. Pleasantville, N.Y.: Reader’s Digest, 1978. Comprehensive account of all culture areas, prehistory (including Mesoamerican), cultural, political, and social issues of early twentieth century, paintings, color photographs, and drawings, descriptions of ceremonies, list of museums, historic villages, and archaeological sites. Sturtevant, William, gen. ed. Handbook of North American Indians. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1978-2001. The scholarship and thoroughness of the Smithsonian volumes are exemplary, and they include considerable information on (and illustrations of) modes of dress. Underhill, Ruth M. Red Man’s America: A History of Indians in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953. Surveys origins, history, social customs, material culture, religion, and mythology. Written from the perspective of the first peoples of North America. See also: Applique and Ribbonwork; Beads and Beadwork; Blankets; Feathers and Featherwork; Headdresses; Moccasins; Quillwork; Shells and Shellwork; Tattoos and Tattooing; War Bonnets.
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Drums Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Drums and other percussion instruments are an almost universal part of Indian music; they are also used in nonmusical tribal ceremonies and have served as a means of communication. Drums are used for a variety of purposes in almost every American Indian culture. Most often drumming accompanies singing, although the singers do not necessarily follow the rhythm of the drums. Drums come in a variety of types. The hand drum is carried by an individual and can be played while dancing. The most common material for this type of drum is hollowed wood, but woven baskets and hollowed gourds are often used as well. There are also large drums around which several people sit and play together. Water drums are made from hollow logs and are partially
The drumheads used by this early twentieth century Eskimo dance orchestra were made from whale stomachs. (National Archives)
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filled with water. The water greatly increases resonance, and such drums can be heard for miles. Drums are often decorated elaborately. Much of American Indian singing has religious significance, and the proper gods and spirits must be evoked. One way of doing this is to paint the proper pictures on the body of the drum. Drumsticks are sometimes given much more significance than they have been accorded in European cultures. For some ceremonies, drumsticks are decorated according to their particular ceremonial meaning, and the possession of such sticks may be a sign of prestige. Apart from the more common types of drums, in some area poles or planks may also be beaten. Elsewhere, stretched hides, without any attached drum body, are used. As well as providing musical accompaniment, drums were used as a form of long-distance communication. A sort of “Morse code” system was used, and it was different for every tribe. Since the signals produced were kept as secrets within a particular tribe, drumming can be seen as a very secure form of communication. Marc Goldstein See also: Dances and Dancing; Music and Song; Pow-wows and Celebrations.
Earthlodge Tribes affected: Plains tribes Significance: Earthlodges were among the earliest forms of shelter devised by cultures living on the Plains. Earthlodges are circular dome-shaped structures roofed by earth and entered by a covered passageway. Earthlodges appeared around 700 c.e., housing the earliest farm cultures on the Plains. Semi-nomadic villagers constructed earthlodges in three areas of the Plains. In the Dakotas, the Mandan, Hidatsa, and later the Arikara erected villages along the Missouri River. The Pawnee
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built earthlodge villages in the central Plains of Kansas and Nebraska. To the northeast the Omaha, Oto, and Ponca also constructed earthlodges. All these people built their lodges in similar fashion. Four or more central posts—usually cottonwood—were set in the ground and were connected by cross beams. A slanted sidewall of smaller posts marked the circumference. A wheel of roof rafters radiated from the central smoke hole and extended to the central posts. The walls and roof were covered alternately with layers of willow branches, grass thatching, a shingling of sod, and a final coat of wet earth that dried like plaster. The average earthlodge was 11 to 13 feet in height and 40 to 50 feet in diameter. Earthlodges lasted from seven to ten years and were the property of the women, who provided much of the labor in building. Inside arrangements included a sacred area, platform beds along the wall, food platforms, a fencelike wooden fire screen, storage (cache) pits, and often a horse corral. The fireplace was in the center of the earthlodge, and an opening in the roof vented smoke. In the Upper Missouri a bullboat was inverted over the
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hole to shut out moisture and regulate downdrafts. When the people went on large summer buffalo hunts they utilized tipis; however, their primary residence was the earthlodge. Carole A. Barrett See also: Architecture: Plains; Tipi.
Education: Post-contact Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Since 1568, three major groups—Christian missionaries, the federal government, and public school systems—have assumed responsibility for educating American Indians under policies that often have devastated tribal well-being. As more and more European settlers entered that part of the Americas now known as the United States, education was seen as a way of assimilating young Native Americans into the dominant white culture. The history of Europeanized Indian education over four centuries tells a story of cultural genocide. Missionary Activity and Paternalism, 1568-1870. The first school specifically founded for the education of Indian youth in the New World was established by the Jesuits in Havana, Florida, in 1568. For the next three hundred years, Catholic and Protestant religious groups dominated non-Indian attempts to educate Indians. In 1617, King James asked Anglican clergy to collect money for building “churches and schools for ye education of ye children of these Barbarians in Virginia.” One of the earliest of these religious schools was founded by the Reverend John Eliot in 1631 in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He developed a plan to bring Indians together in small, self-governing “Indian prayer towns” where they could be instructed in Christian ethics and arts. In order to become accepted by the Puritans in these prayer towns, Indians had to give up their old way of life completely, including long hair for men and short hair for women.
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Another example of colonial religious schools was Moor’s Charity School, founded in 1755 by Eleazar Wheelock, a Congregationalist minister. This Connecticut school concerned itself with the academic training of Indian youngsters and included reading, writing, arithmetic, English, Greek, and Latin in its curriculum. The school operated until 1769 and enrolled as many as 150 Indian youth. A common method of providing educational assistance during this period was by treaty stipulation. From the first treaty in 1778 until 1871, when treaty making with the Indians ended, the United States entered into almost four hundred treaties, of which 120 had educational provisions. The terms usually called for teachers, material, and equipment for educational purposes. The first specific appropriation by Congress for Indian education was the Act of March 30, 1802, which allowed $15,000 per year “to promote civilization among the aborigines.” The money went mostly to missionary groups. In 1819, Congress established a civilization fund, which lasted until 1873, to provide financial support to religious groups and other interested individuals who were willing to live among and teach Indians. The Act of March 3, 1819, which established this fund, also gave the president complete authority over Indian education and remained the basic authorization for the educational activities carried out by the government on behalf of Indian people. Manual labor schools had their beginnings during the period when the tribes were being moved out of the East and Northeast. Usually these were located in Indian country or at a site convenient to several tribes and, for that reason, were agreeable to the Indians. They also drew support from the government, which believed that it was a waste of effort to provide only academic training. The first manual labor school, the Choctaw Academy, was organized in 1837 by Colonel Richard Johnson in Scott County, Kentucky. This school, and others that came later, offered religious, academic, and practical instruction. Six hours were spent daily in the classroom and six at work on farm and shop detail. By 1840, the U.S. government was operating six manual labor
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schools with eight hundred students and eighty-seven boarding schools with about twenty-nine hundred students. Several Indian tribes, with the help of missionaries and educators, built and supported their own schools. The Mohawks did this as early as 1712 under the influence of the Reverend Thomas Barkley, an Anglican missionary. This school, with one temporary suspension, operated until the end of the American Revolution. The Choctaws and Cherokees, before their removal from their original homelands, had instituted common schools, supported with funds obtained from the United States for land cessions. After the removal of these tribes to lands west of the Mississippi, the Cherokees, in 1841, and the Choctaws, in 1842, reestablished their schools. (A number of states had not yet provided for a system of common schools in 1842.) The Cherokee system, by 1852, included twentyone elementary schools and two academies. The enrollment in that year was given as 1,100. The Choctaws had nine schools, of which seven experimented with teaching reading and writing to adults. Teachers were brought from the East to be in charge of advanced academic work, and the course of study included music, astronomy, Latin, botany, algebra, and elocution. Within ten years, however, the majority of their teachers had changed from easterneducated missionaries to locally trained teachers. The Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes, also members of the “Five Civilized Tribes,” followed the example of the Cherokees and Choctaws within a few years and established school systems. In all cases, the schools were tribally supported, and they operated without federal supervision until 1906, when the tribal governments of these five tribes were destroyed by an act of Congress. In 1851, the period of reservation settlement began and did not end until the 1930’s. Schools established on reservations were designed to devalue the traditional culture and religion of Indian people. One of the most significant ways of undermining Indian culture was the government’s attempt to suppress native language. In 1880, the Indian Bureau issued regulations that “all instruction must be in English” in both mission and government schools under threat of loss of government funding. In 1885, some
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teachers and administrators, recognizing the small utility of standard educational training and methods, suggested that special materials be created for Indian children. No special textbooks were developed, however, until well into the twentieth century. Government Control and Dependence, 1870-1923. After studying conditions among some of the western tribes, a congressional committee suggested that “boarding schools remote from Indian communities” would be most successful in solving the “Indian problem.” President Ulysses S. Grant, believing that the only solution lay in “the civilization” of Indians into white culture, supported the move. In 1878, the boarding school system was launched when the Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, was founded by General Richard Henry Pratt. Pratt, alarmed at the “gross injustices to both races [Indians and blacks]” which he had observed, believed that true equality could come to the Indians only if they learned to feel at home in the white world, where they deserved both “the opportunities and . . . safeguards of our Declaration and Constitution.” At Carlisle, which enrolled children from the midwestern and western tribes, students were required to speak, read, and write English and to assume the clothing and customs of white people. They were taught skills which would later help them become employed in trades such as blacksmithing, carpentry, tailoring, and farming. Girls were taught domestic skills. After completing school, students were placed with white families for three years; they worked in exchange for their upkeep. The families were paid fifty dollars a year to cover costs of clothing and health care. This practice came to be called the Carlisle Outing, which Pratt proclaimed to be the “right arm” of the school. Forts no longer needed by the army were converted into boarding schools. Between 1889 and 1892, twelve such boarding schools were established. Little attention was paid to tribal differences in language and customs. It was assumed—rightly—that if children could be taken at a young enough age and moved far enough away from the influences of family and tribe, the odds against their ever again becoming a part of their original environment were remote.
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Boys from the Carlisle Indian School pictured in their cadet uniforms circa 1880. (National Archives)
Children as young as five years old were sent to the boarding schools. The shock, fear, and loneliness which these children faced upon being uprooted from everything familiar and known can only be imagined. Pratt, operating under the noblest of intentions, had unwittingly contributed to one of the saddest chapters in Indian history. By 1887, Congress was appropriating more than a million dollars a year for Indian education. About half the appropriations went to missionaries who were contracted to educate Indians. Feuding between Protestants and Catholics, however, aggravated because the Catholics were much more successful in establishing schools, led the Protestants to support funding only governmentrun schools. With the appointment in 1889 of General Thomas J. Morgan, a Baptist minister, as commissioner of Indian affairs, the Republicans made a systematic effort to stop government funding of all missionary schools. By 1900 all direct funding to these schools was ended. Tribes continued to receive a portion of the dollars which the federal government had previously provided the
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churches for funding of the mission schools. Some tribes maintained these schools in spite of the reduced resources; most used the funds for other needs. Moves to Reform Indian Education, 1924-1944. As the new century began, the continued inability of boarding schools and English-only education to transform Indians into white people led to disillusionment and lowered expectations for Indian education. Increasingly, Indians were viewed in the same light as blacks at that time: as a permanent underclass for whom an inferior, nonacademic, vocational education was appropriate and adequate. At the same time, because of the staggering loss of land and the inefficiency of education, the total Indian situation was growing progressively worse. In 1902, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was operating twenty-five boarding schools in fifteen states for 9,736 students. By 1912, there were more Indian children in public schools than in government schools. As government schools lost ground, efforts to increase Indian enrollment in public day schools did not include examining the ability of these schools to meet Indian needs. In 1924, a “Committee of One Hundred Citizens” was called together by the secretary of the interior to discuss how Indian education could be improved. The committee recommended better school facilities, better trained personnel, an increase in the number of Indian students in public schools, and high school and college scholarships. These recommendations helped establish reservation day schools up to the sixth grade and reservation boarding schools up to the eighth grade. In 1928, a government-sponsored study (the Meriam Report) claimed that the Bureau of Indian Affairs was providing poorquality services to Indians; it particularly pointed to the shocking conditions found in boarding schools. The committee recommended that elementary children not be sent to BIA boarding schools at all. Shortly after publication of the study, John Collier, one of the BIA’s leading critics, became commissioner of Indian affairs and immediately sought to implement the recommendations
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of the Meriam Report. The Johnson-O’Malley Act (1934) allowed the federal government to pay states for educating Indians in public schools. The Termination Era, 1945-1970. In the 1950’s, under President Dwight Eisenhower, six “termination” bills were passed. They were intended to end all federal involvement with the Indians, leaving policy issues in health, education, and welfare up to the states. Conditions improved little as states, for the most part, failed to provide adequate services in any of these arenas. Another program aimed at “relocation” helped Indians move from reservations to cities, where, presumably, educational and employment opportunities were better. Indian children in cities showed improved academic achievement, but many felt displaced and unhappy. Between 1967 and 1971, Robert J. Havighurst of the University of Chicago directed a research project entitled the National Study of American Indian Education. Their recommendations called for greatly increased Indian participation in goal setting and in implementation of programs. During this same period, a report compiled by a Senate subcommittee on Indian education revealed that Indian school dropout rates were twice the national average, that Indian students lagged two to three years behind white students in school achievement, that only 1 percent had Indian teachers, that one-fourth of teachers of Indian students preferred not to teach them, and that “Indian children more than any other minority group believed themselves to be ‘below average’ in intelligence.” During this time, Indian educators had become increasingly active, and, by the end of the decade, the National Indian Education Association had been formed. In 1968 the first tribally controlled college, Navajo Community College, was founded, and in 1971 the Coalition of Indian Controlled School Boards was established. The Move Toward Self-Determination Since 1970. The Senate report on the plight of Indians led to the passage of the Indian Education Act in 1972. This act provided for special programs benefiting Indian children in reservation schools as well as those at-
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tending urban public schools. It was amended in 1975 to require that Indian parents be involved in the planning of these programs. The amended version also encouraged the establishment of community-run schools and stressed culturally relevant and bilingual curricular materials. The Office of Education, after a two-year study, recommended that tribal history, culture, and languages be emphasized, using students’ own tongue as the language of instruction. During 1977, President Jimmy Carter created the new post of assistant secretary of the interior for Indian affairs and named a member of the Blackfoot tribe, Forrest J. Gerrard, to the position. In spite of efforts to improve educational opportunities for Indians, Indian students still struggle for visibility in the education market. High-school dropout rates for Indian students continue to be the highest for all minority groups, with fewer than 50 percent completing a high school education. Some reservation schools reported a yearly teacher turnover rate of 90 percent. In 1990, bachelor’s degrees earned by Indians comprised less than 0.5 percent of all degrees conferred. Doctorates earned by Indians between 1980 and 1990 actually dropped, from 130 to 102. In the 1990’s, two urban public school districts with relatively large Indian populations began to experiment with schools that focus on Indian culture along with traditional academic curricula. The American Indian Magnet School at Mounds Park All-Nations School in the St. Paul, Minnesota, public school system declared the goal of “placing education into culture instead of continuing the practice of placing culture into education.” Three centuries of national educational policy must take at least partial responsibility for the tragic decline of tribal cultures in the United States, but perhaps it will also take the lead in providing a vehicle for the land’s original citizens to assume their rightful place in American society. Dorothy Engan-Barker, assisted by Bette Blaisdell Sources for Further Study Cahn, Edgar S., and David W. Hearne. Our Brother’s Keeper: The Indian in White America. New York: New American Library, 1975. A collection of writings and pictures compiled by the Citizens’
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Advocate Center in Washington, D.C.; chronicles the plight of American Indians and actions of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Collier, John. Indians of the Americas. New York: W. W. Norton, 1947. The author, a former U.S. commissioner of Indian affairs, writes about four centuries of Western European impact on American Indian cultures. Embree, Edwin R. Indians of the Americas. 1934. Reprint. New York: Collier Books, 1970. Embree, writing in opposition to the trend that sought to “integrate” the Indian, revived world interest in the unique lifestyles of North, Central, and South American tribes; focuses on customs, manners, and mysteries of their religion. Fey, Harold, and D’Arcy McNickle. Indians and Other Americans: Two Ways of Life Meet. Rev. ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1970. History of the European influence on the culture of the American Indian; includes first-person accounts by Indians from diverse tribes who shared common experiences regarding attempts by whites to “civilize” them. Fischbacher, Theodore. A Study of the Role of the Federal Government in the Education of the American Indian. San Francisco: R & E Research Associates, 1974. Chronological account of the role of the federal government in the education of American Indians living within the territory of the United States as disclosed in the government’s official records. Fuchs, Estelle, and Robert Havighurst. “Boarding Schools.” In To Live on This Earth. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1972. Summarizes events leading up to and including the establishment of Indian boarding schools, including a discussion of those still operating in the 1960’s. Josephy, Alvin M., Jr. Red Power: The American Indian’s Fight for Freedom. 2d ed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999. A collection of excerpts from speeches, articles, studies, and other documents providing a documentary history of the critical decade of the 1960’s. Pratt, Richard H. Battlefield and Classroom: Four Decades with the American Indian, 1867-1904. Edited by Robert M. Utley. New Ha-
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ven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1964. The memoirs of General Richard Henry Pratt, chronicling his work in the establishment of Indian boarding schools; includes photographs from the period. Riney, Scott. The Rapid City Indian School, 1898-1933. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999. An examination of the daily life of Native American children who attended a BIA boarding school. Szasz, Margaret Connell. Education and the American Indian: The Road to Self-Determination Since 1928. 3d ed. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1999. An analysis of the history of edcuation and Native Americans. U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Labor and Public Welfare. Special Subcommittee on Indian Education. Indian Education: A National Tragedy, a National Challenge. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1969. See also: American Indian Studies; Children; Missions and Missionaries; Tribal Colleges.
Education: Pre-contact Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Pre-contact education did not anticipate great changes in existing lifestyles and therefore centered on the maintenance and preservation of the tribe’s culture and way of life. Education or socialization of the young is an important concern in all societies, including American Indian societies in the pre-contact period. With the exception of the “high cultures” of Peru and Mexico, however, education did not occur in formal schools. Instead, education of the young was a shared function of families and communities. Owing to the diversity across native cultures, the content of such education varied. In general, both sex and age differences were observed.
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Learning Role Skills. One focus of education was the learning of skills necessary for adult roles. Such skills were learned through imitation, often involving play activities, as well as through direct instruction. Among those peoples who subsisted by hunting and gathering, fathers and other older male relatives taught boys the skills of the hunter. Among these same peoples, mothers and other older female relatives served as teachers of girls in gathering plant foods as well as processing and preparing both game and plant foods. Among native peoples who subsisted by farming, fathers and male relatives served as primary teachers of boys, while mothers and female relatives served as primary teachers of girls. Similarly, children received much instruction from adults in learning such skills as weaving, pottery making, tanning, tool making, and the decorative arts. These, too, were differentiated according to gender. Moral Education. Another major focus of education was the learning of attitudes and values appropriate to the culture. In addition to role modeling, direct instruction was involved. The advent of puberty, with a girl’s first menses, was generally marked with advice and instruction on the girl’s new status and responsibilities. Older female relatives, and sometimes a shaman and older male relatives, played a part in this. In those native societies that had sodalities, initiates were instructed in the character requirements as well as in the songs, prayers, and powers associated with them. A major device in instilling proper attitudes and values in children was storytelling. There were not only stories of the sacred, traditions, and events but also stories of culture heroes. The latter, in particular, played a major part in moral education. The storytellers were most often older members of the family or community who were highly regarded for their storytelling skills. Discipline Strategies. American Indians were noted for their love and mild treatment of children. Discipline was generally marked by an absence of corporal punishment. Instead, children were most often teased and cajoled into proper behavior by their
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parents and elders. In some of the matrilineal societies, much of the responsibility for discipline was taken on by the mother’s brother. Cultural “frighteners” were also known but were not usually flagrantly used. A Dakota (Sioux) Example. Being primarily a hunting and gathering people, the Dakota had no need for an extensive program beyond that of basic survival and limited arts and crafts. Since they were seasonally nomadic, it was not practical to amass personal possessions and unnecessary items. Consequently, they did not develop their craftsmanship as extensively as did more agrarian cultures. When there was leisure, the women did magnificent quill work, and this was taught to the younger females along with their domestic responsibilities. In the early years, the Dakota lived in small villages, sometimes as small as an extended family. These villages were extremely independent and required great responsibility and self-discipline from their members. Only the very young child had no responsibilities. There were numerous chores to be done. Among the social responsibilities were preparing for the hunt, gathering roots and berries, harvesting wild rice, making maple sugar, preparing hides, and arranging and preparing for social events. The young were gradually brought into these work roles. Although education may have been simplified, it was not insignificant or trivial. The Dakota were sustained by a highly efficient ecosystem that had a cyclical chain of events that not only provided subsistence but also brought meaning and identity. They regulated their hunting and trapping to maintain a balance of nature. The young men were thus taught to respect living animals and not to allow them to depopulate. Education, or the passing on of knowledge, was accomplished in a variety of forms. One of these was ritual. Rituals were performed in order to recall events and certain natural laws. If the ritual was performed exactly as instructed, and the meaning was clearly explained, then whenever the ritual was performed, learning was reinforced. Another form of learning was storytelling.
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Many stories and legends were passed down as soon as a young child could understand the spoken word. Stories contained moral lessons, humor, and stimulating anecdotes. There was also much to be learned through experience. The younger males would accompany the older men on hunts and be allowed to witness warfare from a distance. Young females would start their training even earlier, accompanying the older women when they picked berries and gathered roots. One of the most important learning experiences for the Dakota youth was the vision quest. When a vision was received, it was a monumental event. One could not easily claim a vision, because the vision had to be confirmed through a careful evaluation by the council of elders. Once confirmed, the vision gave a young man (the vision quest was typically a male experience) direction and purpose. The young person might not clearly understand the vision, but during his lifetime, he would seek its meaning. Probably the most important learning experiences for young Dakotas were the sessions with elders. During these sessions the elders presented their experiences through the years. They would relate how their own foolishness had caused them much grief and misery in the past. In talking about their mistakes, the elders were teaching the young people the things they should avoid doing. This left the avenue clear for the youths to pursue their own visions and goals armed with wisdom about what not to do. When asked for advice or direction, elders used stories and examples that would help youths make their own decisions. This allowed young people to accomplish on their own the things they felt they should pursue. In this sense, the Dakota did not limit creativity or initiative in educating their young. Donna Hess and Elden Lawrence Sources for Further Study Deloria, Ella C. Speaking of Indians. Vermillion, S.Dak.: Dakota Press, 1979. Driver, Harold E. Indians of North America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961.
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Eastman, Charles A. Indian Boyhood. New York: McClure, Phillips, 1902. Reprint. New York: Dover, 1971. Hodge, William. The First Americans: Then and Now. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1981. Hungry Wolf, Beverly. The Ways of My Grandmothers. New York: Quill, 1982. Kupferer, Harriet J. Ancient Drums, Other Moccasins: Native American Cultural Adaptations. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1988. Pond, Samuel W. The Dakota or Sioux in Minnesota as They Were in 1834. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1986. Powers, Marla N. Oglala Women. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. Sandoz, Mari. These Were the Sioux. New York: Hastings House, 1961. Wissler, Clark. The American Indian. New York: Oxford University Press, 1950. See also: Children; Elderly; Gender Relations and Roles; Menses and Menstruation; Visions and Vision Quests.
Effigy Mounds Tribe affected: Oneota Significance: Low, earthen mounds in the shape of animals, geometric forms, and other forms are among the most distinguishing features of the Woodland culture of the midwestern United States. Effigy mounds were constructed by mounding earth into large, low shapes. They occur mainly in groups with conical and linear mounds. The majority of mounds reported have eroded and indistinct shapes; however, others clearly represent life forms. Among the animals represented are bears, deer, felines, wolves, foxes, buffalos, and turtles, as well as eagles, swallows, and geese. Only two or three have been reported in human form. Effigy mounds are
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known primarily from southern Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and northern Illinois. Many have been preserved in state parks. Unfortunately, the majority have been destroyed by plowing, looting, and construction activities. The effigies can be quite large. At Mendota, Wisconsin, one bird effigy was 6 feet tall and had a wingspan of 624 feet. In general, the mounds are no more than 2 to 5 feet high. The majority of these mounds appear to have been burial grounds. Examples have been found to contain primary or secondary bundle burials, the latter containing as many as thirty individuals, as well as cremations. These burials are usually situated in key parts of the effigies, such as the head, the position of the heart, or (in bird effigies) between the head and tail. Offerings included with the dead include pottery vessels, copper, stone axes, and tobacco pipes of various materials. The dates for effigy mound construction are not precisely known. Artifacts found associated with burials in effigy mounds include late Middle Woodland pottery in the form of conical or round-bottomed containers decorated with techniques such as cord-marking, fingernail impressions, dentate stamping, and punctuations. These suggest that the features are roughly contemporaneous with the late Hopewell culture of southern Ohio around 200-700 c.e. There is also evidence, however, for a spread of Mississippian populations from the American Bottom in central Illinois to areas of northwestern Illinois and southern Wisconsin around 800-1000, or the early Late Woodland period, and many of the mounds may have been built around that time. Effigy Mounds National Monument, in McGregor, Iowa, is one location where these mounds have been preserved and restored. Among the examples at this site are bird and bear effigies. The largest concentrations of effigy mounds are in southern Wisconsin, near Madison and in Sauk and Waukesha counties, where many have been preserved in parks or other public areas. The largest and most famous effigy is the Great Serpent Mound in southern Ohio. Winding along the top of a prominent ridge, it represents an undulating snake with a tightly coiled tail; the snake
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appears to be holding an oval object in its mouth. The mound, including coils, is 1,330 feet long. Great Serpent Mound, unlike most effigy mounds, did not contain burials. Its age is Early to Middle Woodland (circa 200 to 400), making it several hundred years earlier than the Wisconsin mounds. John Hoopes See also: Mounds and Moundbuilders; Ohio Mound Builders; Serpent Mounds.
Elderly Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Native definitions of old age are predicated on tribal custom rather than chronological age; in general, the elderly are treated with respect, although attitudes vary by tribe. American Indians and Alaska Natives constitute less than 1 percent of all Americans sixty-five years of age and older. The exact number of older people among Native American populations has been difficult to determine, but the 2000 census data placed the number at that time at 138,439. About 30 percent of the aged Indian population live on reservations, and perhaps another 25 percent live in rural areas. Traditional Views. The concept of aging is quite different in many native cultures from that of European American society. Birthdays were only introduced on reservations one hundred years ago, and while birthdays are celebrated, one’s chronological age is not an operative factor in defining who that person is. Among native people, grandparenting or physical disability would qualify a person as elderly, whereas reaching the age of sixty would be meaningless. In most traditional Indian tribal cultures, there was no concept equivalent to the modern idea of retirement. Older people remained active as long as they were able.
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Each tribal culture and society had different attitudes toward the elderly. In some societies, when they became physically unable to care for themselves, the elderly “gave themselves back to the spirit world” by starvation or exposure to extremes of weather. At times they were assisted in this by family members. In other societies, they were “rulers of the house” and simply died of old age. Despite the trend in many native cultures toward a quick death once productivity was impossible, elderly native people generally enjoyed high esteem because of their age and experience, very often serving in tribal positions of leadership. If capable of performing minimal, even symbolic labors, old people were treated with respect. Only at the extreme, where they became too incapacitated to function, were they either abandoned or likely to dispose of themselves. Contemporary Issues. American Indian elders are not wellserved by a definition of aging set by a chronological measure. Because native people often measure age by productive capability and social role rather than by chronology, under Title VI of the Older Americans Act, Indian tribes are permitted to define, based on their own criteria, who will be considered an older Indian and therefore will be eligible to receive Title VI services. Studies by the National Council on American Indians indicate that American Indians living on reservations at age forty-five show the same age characteristics that other Americans do at sixty-five—a reminder that many racial and ethnic groups experience premature aging under the stress of harsh living conditions. Disruptive changes have altered much about Indian life. Many Native American senior citizens were sent away to Indian boarding schools as children, separated forcibly from their families. At many of these institutions the children were made to feel inferior and were ridiculed when they spoke their language or showed respect for their Indian heritage. Today, the prestige associated with old age has persisted among Native Americans, and Native American elders are still, on the whole, treated with respect and honor. Retirement has also be-
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come more accepted, and because of high rates of unemployment among native people generally, it is not uncommon for elderly people to help support younger family members with their oldage benefits. Many elderly Indian people living in urban areas were part of a large American Indian federal relocation project following World War II. This population has now reached retirement age and many have no intention of moving back to the reservation. Many American Indian elders living in cities are deprived of social contact with each other and with younger members of their tribes. Unlike other ethnic groups, city-living American Indians have not congregated in neighborhoods. Some studies also indicate that the popular image of older American Indians living in multigenerational, extended family households is greatly exaggerated in the context of an urban setting. Many native cultures, however, do maintain a tradition of communal sharing among family members and a sense of family responsibility for the care of the elderly. The fact that the elderly represent the repositories of traditional knowledge is widely recognized and is a major factor associated with their good treatment and high status. Lucy Ganje Sources for Further Study John, Randy A. Social Integration of an Elderly Native American Population. New York: Garland, 1995. Olson, Laura Katz. Age Through Ethnic Lenses. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001. See also: Education: Pre-contact; Kinship and Social Organization.
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Employment and Unemployment Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Before contact with Europeans, the labor of American Indians served group or tribal purposes; employment and unemployment patterns in the twentieth century reflected the profound disruption of Indian life that occurred following contact. In the pre-contact period, Indians had extensive trading networks throughout Canada, the United States, and Central and South America. Agricultural goods, manufactured items such as jewelry, pottery, and tanned hides, and natural resources such as seashells were bartered or sold. Traditional Labor. Labor was required to sustain this extensive trade network, but little is known about how the labor systems were organized. Tribal groups in the Mississippi River area, the southwestern United States, and Central and South America had highly specialized labor forces in which both men and women participated. Division of labor was determined in part by gender, talent, and social position. These societies were organized hierarchically and sometimes incorporated slaves (captives from other tribes), who performed undesirable labor. Much of North America and Canada was inhabited by nomadic hunting and gathering societies and semisedentary agriculturalists. In these societies, division of labor was based primarily on gender and was less complex, with most tribal members working toward the common goal of providing food, shelter, and clothing for survival. In these subsistence economies, there was little opportunity for members to specialize in any one area, such as art or medicine. Such cultures stressed sharing and egalitarianism as a way to ensure the well-being of the people. Everyone worked for the common good. Arrival of Europeans. European migration to North America was primarily motivated by economic interests. The first phase of
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European-Indian relations revolved around the fur trade, which required the incorporation of Indian labor. The early period of the fur trade is marked by relative equality among Europeans and native people. Indian men and women labored to supply processed hides and pelts for the fur trade. In return for their labor, Indians were paid with European trade goods—metal pots, needles, knives, guns, and a variety of domestic goods. During this period, those Indian people who obtained European trade goods would redistribute them among tribal members, thus maintaining the tribal ideal of generosity and sharing. The trade goods changed the work patterns of both Indian men and women. Guns and traps permitted more men to hunt and kill more game, and, in turn, women were required to tan more hides for trade. Indian labor during this period was still directed toward the good of the tribe, but increasingly tribal welfare depended on sources outside the tribe. The fur trade was an important source of labor for American Indians, but the fur trade period ended as animal populations decreased and as European fashion changed. The decline in the fur trade coincides with the emergence of the United States and marks a period of change in the economic position of Indians. Indians were no longer needed as laborers in the new economy. The European American population was rapidly increasing and there was an increased desire for land. Indians became a hindrance in this emerging economic system. The relative lack of demand for Indian labor, coupled with the high demand for Indian land, caused the U.S. government to remove Indians from areas coveted by European Americans and resettle them on poor lands. The reservation system was firmly in place by the late nineteenth century, and it caused considerable change in the work patterns of tribal groups. For the most part, hunting and fishing were no longer possible on the restricted land base, and traditional agricultural practices were not viable or were discouraged. The reservation system afforded little opportunity for Indian people to provide adequately for their families and it is directly linked to contemporary reservation poverty.
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During the early reservation period, some Indian men worked for federal agents as freight haulers, policemen, and laborers. Indian women sometimes sold pottery, beadwork, baskets, or other small items. Income from these sources was small. Government policy largely confined Indian people to their reservations, so they were unable to sell their labor for wages off the reservations. Federal Indian policy, most notably the General Allotment Act (1887), reduced the Indian land base and subdivided the land among many heirs so that productive use of reservation lands became nearly impossible. High Indian unemployment rates caused gradual loosening of federal policies of confinement to reservations, and by the early twentieth century Indians commonly worked in off-reservation jobs such as laborers on farms and ranches, and in mines. The 1930 census indicates that 80 percent of Indian men were working for wages, mostly in agricultural jobs. Most of this work was unskilled, seasonal, and off-reservation. The 1930’s. In the 1930’s, federal Indian policy sought to address the problem of high unemployment and poor economic opportunity on the reservations. A 1928 study, The Problem of Indian Administration, commonly known as the Meriam Report, criticized federal Indian policy that intentionally removed Indian control over lands and resources and contributed to the widespread poverty and unemployment that characterized reservations. Partly in response to this study, the Indian Reorganization Act was passed in 1934. This intended to enable tribes to consolidate severely checkerboarded reservation lands, take out low-interest loans to establish economic ventures on reservations, and encourage farming and ranching opportunities on reservations. The Great Depression prevented any significant business development on reservations; however, a fair number of Indian people benefited through various New Deal programs, particularly the Indian Division of the Civilian Conservation Corps, which employed and trained more than eighty-five thousand Indians in nine years. During the same period, the Bureau of Indian Affairs organized a division to place Indians in off-reservation jobs.
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Changes in the Mid-twentieth Century. Thousands of Indians joined the wage labor force during World War II (1939-1945). Many Indian men and women joined the armed services or moved to urban areas to work in war industries. After the war, many Indian people remained in urban centers, while those who returned to reservations began to focus on reservation economic development and employment. Reservations remained poor and unemployment high, however. Few jobs came to the reservations, tribes had difficulty securing loans, reservation laws made business investments difficult, and many reservations were distant from markets. Additionally, off-reservation seasonal farming jobs became scarce with increasing technology. As a result, large-scale Indian urban migration continued after World War II and was encouraged by the federal policy of the 1950’s known as relocation. Through the relocation program, Indians were removed to urban areas where jobs could be found. They received job training and housing assis-
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An Ojibwa language professor at Bay Mills Community College. (Raymond P. Malace)
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tance. The lack of any meaningful jobs on reservations, coupled with federal Indian policy, contributed to unprecedented Indian migration to urban areas from 1950 to 1980. By the 1980 census, more than half the Indian population resided in urban areas. Indians continue to move to cities because of poor economic opportunities on reservations. Urban Indians experience higher employment rates and per capita incomes than reservation Indians. They remain poor, however, with per capita income slightly ahead of urban African Americans and well behind urban whites, and unemployment rates more than double those of the urban white population. The federal government abandoned relocation programs in the late 1960’s and turned its attention to revitalizing reservation economies. Concurrently, tribal governments were strengthened and tribes began pursuing economic development initiatives independent of the federal government. Success has been mixed, and reservations still have high unemployment and poverty rates. Modern Labor Force Participation. On the majority of reservations, the largest single source of jobs is government, either tribal or federal. Despite many sincere efforts, there has been little economic investment or growth on reservations, primarily due to lack of resources, capital, location, and a skilled labor force. Few businesses locate on reservations, and unemployment rates are in the 80 to 90 percent range on some reservations. Census figures on labor force calculate only those who are employed or are actively seeking employment. According to the 2000 census, 60 percent of Indians sixteen years and older were in the labor force. Many of the jobs held, however, were seasonal or part-time. A larger number of American Indians than the total population were employed in service jobs: farming, fishing, forestry, construction, or manufacturing. Fewer Indians, as compared to the total population, were employed in managerial or professional specialty occupations. In 2000, the median income of Indian workers was considerably less than that of the total population, and 26 percent of American Indians were living below the poverty level.
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American Indian labor force participation on reservations continues to be low because of a lack of economic opportunities. The Indian population is young and lacks jobs experience. More significant, however, is the education deficit among Indians. Only 56 percent of American Indians graduate from high school, compared to 69 percent of the white population. Urban areas offer more job opportunities, but male Indian labor is largely confined to manual occupations, which are subject to fluctuation because of economic downturns, weather, and other factors. Female Indians are employed primarily in low-skilled, nonmanual service jobs both on and off the reservation. During the 1980’s, some tribal governments managed to attract businesses and increase employment opportunities, but overall, success was limited. Indian gaming, sometimes referred to as “the new buffalo,” is being explored by many tribes as both a source of income for the tribe and as a way to provide jobs. The gaming operations have brought jobs to many reservations, but these tend to be low-wage service positions such as cashiers and waitresses. Tribal governments look to gaming as a way to strengthen reservation infrastructures and improve the lives of the people while they search for other means to address the dual need for Indian employment and real economic development on the reservations. Indian participation in the labor force has increased as Indians have moved off reservations; however, even in urban settings, Indian unemployment remains high. Job opportunities on the reservations are scarce. Tribal governments are increasingly asserting their sovereign status and distancing themselves from the federal government in hopes of creating viable economic institutions that will bring job opportunities to the reservations. Federal law continues to frustrate these efforts. Carole A. Barrett Sources for Further Study Ambler, Marjane. Breaking the Iron Bonds: Indian Control of Energy Development. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1990. Ambler provides a historic analysis of problems, paternalistic gov-
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ernment policy, and exploitation which have prevented economic development on Indian lands. She focuses on the potential for energy development on reservations as a source of economic revitalization for tribes. Biolsi, Thomas. Organizing the Lakota: The Political Economy of the New Deal on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1992. Examines what happened to the political and economic life of the Lakota people when the Indian Reorganization Act was implemented on two western reservations. The reform agenda of the IRA was not really designed to transfer power to tribal governments; as a result, tribes continue to be hamstrung in attempts to develop economically or politically apart from the federal government. Cornell, Stephen. The Return of the Native: American Indian Political Resurgence. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Cornell’s book does not focus directly on Indian economic issues; rather it takes a broad look at the complexity of Indian-white relations in the United States. Economics is a strand woven into this tapestry. This broader view permits one to see clearly some of the reasons reservation economic development has been so bleak to this point and why it is so vital for the continuation of tribal governments. Kasari, Patricia. The Impact of Occupational Dislocation: The American Indian Labor Force at the Close of the Twentieth Century. New York: Garland, 1999. A study comparing how urban Indians and reservation Indians fare in the work force. Lawson, Michael. Dammed Indians. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1982. Explores the devastating economic impact of dams along the Missouri River to Sioux reservations. In the 1950’s a series of dams upset reservation economies and caused long-lasting economic and cultural hardships. Littlefield, Alice, and Martha C. Knack, eds. Native Americans and Wage Labor: Ethnohistorical Perspectives. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996. A collection of ten essays examines how wage labor was critical not only to Native American individuals, but to community survival.
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Meriam, Lewis, et al. The Problem of Indian Administration. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1928. This seminal work appraises the failings of the federal government to give Indian people a true voice in their governance and destiny. It explores in depth the poor economic conditions on reservations in the 1920’s and the reasons for them. Much of the analysis is still meaningful. See also: Agriculture; Ranching; Relocation; Urban Indians.
Ethnophilosophy and Worldview Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Despite the diversity among indigenous American cultures—their environments, beliefs, and adaptations—the underlying philosophy of these cultures is a respect for the natural world and their place within it. Around the world and throughout history, indigenous peoples have developed belief systems that shape their lifestyles to their natural environment in order to enhance their survival within it. Such has been the case among the indigenous peoples of North America. Definitions. The ethnophilosophy, or worldview, of any culture is a description of how that culture explains the structure and workings of the world in which it lives. It is based on experience, observation, and intellectual inquiry. In many cultures, this worldview is relatively distinct from other aspects of its ideology. One of these other aspects that is especially important is religion, which might be defined as the description of a group or individual’s relationship with that world, a behavioral guide that relies to some extent on emotional appeal. Myths are a link between philosophy and religion. The distinction between worldview and religious influence,
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however, is much less clear-cut in North American native cultures. This blending has been both a strength and a weakness for the indigenous American peoples since Europeans came to their lands. The extent to which these closely tied phenomena shape the daily lives and activities of indigenous peoples has been unrecognized or disregarded by the dominant, immigrant culture. Recurrent Themes. As cultures and individuals, most North American natives consider their lives to be constant expressions of their abiding respect for the natural world and their place in it. Although there are many different belief systems and rituals among the groups, there are several recurrent themes that appear across the spectrum of differences. These are the acceptance of visions and dreams as legitimate realities, brotherhood with particular plants or animals, the necessity for maintaining balance in all aspects of life, and the sanctity of the circle. These motifs appear repeatedly in art and decoration, music, dance, and many rituals. Reverent, constant attention to these themes is an integral experience of daily life. In many Native American cultures, dreams and visions are welcomed, even sought, as sources of wisdom. There are rituals to prepare seekers for a vision experience. Spending a period of time in a sweatlodge is often part of the preparation. Fasting and solitude are also common practices. In some cultures, the use of hallucinogens facilitates the vision experience. Sometimes, though, these experiences are spontaneous. Whatever information is gained is considered reality, though perhaps reality in metaphor. It is wisdom. Wisdom is always a gift. There are always sacred and unknowable “great mysteries.” Their existence is recognized and appreciated as part of the bond that ties people to life. It is not only foolish but also disrespectful to ask too much about the great mysteries. Although shamans and members of secret religious societies might have more insight than the average tribe member into the ultimate and unknowable, even they are barred, by reverence for its infinite sanctity, from too much direct inquiry: All that they are to know will be revealed to them.
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Usually during one of these dream or vision experiences some animal or mythical being communicates with the participant. Its message is shared with the tribe and may become part of the myth system for that tribe. Imagery from the dream or vision may be used later by their artists who make masks or who paint pottery. It may be woven into the pattern of a blanket or basket or may become part of a costume worn during a ceremonial dance. Native Americans accept their place in the natural world as being a part of creation rather than being separate from it. They share equal status with other parts of creation, both living and nonliving. Plants, Animals, and Mother Earth. Because of Native Americans’ traditional reliance on the abundance of the land, certain plants and animals have always been accorded special status. Corn, squash, beans, rice, and tobacco were traditional crops. Buffalo, caribou, deer, fish, and whales were common sources of game food. Wolves, eagles, bears, and snakes are important symbols of wisdom and strength. Cedar trees, which provided Northwest Coast Indians with material for their homes, boats, clothing, and containers for storage and cooking, are revered in that region. In many indigenous cultures, when a person needs to kill something to use it, he apologizes to it first or explains to it the necessity for its death. Although North American natives’ lives were particularly dependent on these living things, they recognized the worth of all forms of life and took care not to harm them if possible. Nonliving parts of the natural world were also valued. The earth as mother is a major theme both in myth and in daily life. All life comes from and is dependent upon Mother Earth. Several groups believe that they emerged as a people from the earth. Some believe that future generations are developing within the mother now and will emerge from the mother as long as humankind exists. Many believe that after death their spirits will return to their source within Mother Earth. Crops emerge from the earth and are nourished by her. Animals are sustained by the plants that the earth supports. Therefore, the only way to regard Mother Earth is with gratitude and reverence.
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Certain mountains or rock formations, caves, or rivers, as well as the ocean, are considered sacred to those who live near them. These sites may be revered because the natives believe that their ancestors originated there or because their ancestors are buried there. It may be that the tribe believes that its future lies there— that the coming generations will need those places for their lives. Therefore, it is the responsibility of those currently living to take care of the site both physically, by not scarring or polluting it and spiritually, by regarding it with respect. On a somewhat smaller scale, certain gems and minerals have particular symbolic importance. Solid forms may be fashioned into amulets or may be used in rituals; clay and various pigments, for example, are used for ceremonial body paint. Even a plainlooking small stone can carry a prayer if it is handled reverently. Life in Balance. Balance in the natural world and in individual lives is seen as crucial for survival. In their relationship with the environment, Native Americans see it as their responsibility not to disturb natural balances. They must not take more resources than they need for their survival or take more than the environment can bear to give. They must treat with respect all that is taken from their surroundings. Balance must also be maintained in relationships within their communities. Political systems have varied widely among groups. In pre-contact days, some North American tribal leaders were monarchs, and their subjects lived within strict caste systems. Other groups enjoyed relative democracy, their governments involving representatives in voting councils. The model for the United States’ government was influenced by the Iroquois’ Confederacy of Six Nations, which is one of the oldest continuously functioning systems of governance in the world. Personal lives must be kept in balance by respectful attitudes, ethical behavior, and avoidance of excess in order to maintain physical and mental health. When a person is suffering because he or she is out of balance, a healer or shaman may be able to help find the cause. The sufferer may not even remember a seemingly minor
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transgression committed several years before, or a child may be suffering because one of his or her parents unknowingly did something before the child was even conceived. Whatever the cause, once the source of the problem is recognized, the healer or shaman performs ceremonies and offers advice to help the sufferer regain the balance necessary for good health. All creation is bound by a sacred circle, and since the indigenous people live within it, they must take care not to break it by either carelessness or intentionally destructive behavior. The circle expresses itself repeatedly throughout the natural world—in the rounded vault of the sky, in the cycle of the seasons, in the shape of the sun and moon, and in the nests of birds and the webs of spiders. The circular pattern is reiterated in the shape of many tribes’ houses, in the hoops of games, in the choreography of dances, and in the form of religious structures. While these motifs are prominent in nearly all indigenous cultures of North America, many of the ways in which they are honored might not seem obvious. Factors as basic as the name by which a tribe knows itself and its environment, as major as the education of its children, and as seemingly insignificant as the proper way to move about in the home are all matters related to the philosophy of respect for the worlds among which the various American indigenous cultures live. Tribal Names and Traditions. Most tribes credit mythical figures or their ancestors with having provided tribal names. Because of the sacred source for these names, tribal membership offers spiritual as well as social identity. Frequently a tribe is named for its location or for some trait of its community. For example, the Pimas’ indigenous name is Akimel O’odham, which means “River People,” and their Papago neighbors, the Tohono O’odham, are the “Desert People.” Many tribes are known in their native tongues simply as “the People.” Among them are the Dine (Navajo) of the American Southwest, the Nimipu (Nez Perce) of eastern Washington state, the Kaigini (Haida) of the Pacific coast, and the Maklaks (Klamath) of the mountainous California-Oregon border region. A
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few variations on this are Ani-yun-wiya (Cherokee), or “Real People”; Kaigwu (Kiowa), or “Main People”; Anishinabe (Chippewa), “First Men”; and Tsististas (Cheyenne), “Beautiful People.” In every tribe, Indian children are given instruction in the proper way to behave and are introduced to their origins through stories and myths told by parents and relatives or by tribal storytellers. Children are discouraged from asking too many questions. Instead, they are advised over the years to listen to stories several times. As the children grow up in this oral tradition, they come to understand the metaphors and realities that are the bridges connecting their people’s history, philosophy, religion, and traditions. Everything the children learn must be relevant to their lives; it is vital for the physical, spiritual, and social survival of the children individually and for the tribe as a whole. The oral tradition continues to be a sacred responsibility for both the teller and the listener. Among some tribes, even the way people move about within the group or inside their homes or religious structures is an expression of respect. Children are taught not to cross between the fire and their elders so that they are not deprived of any heat or light. In some tribes, the pattern of movement in the homes is always in a clockwise direction, the way that the sun moves across the sky. Participants in nearly all religious and political meetings gather in a circle. Sentimentalization Versus Reality. It is important to realize that one should not become carried away with oversentimentalizing the worldviews and practices of Native Americans. (This type of sentimentalizing was prominent in the eighteenth century, with the European concept of the “noble savage.”) Certain tribal hunting techniques, as well as some tribes’ capturing and selling of slaves and cruelty in warfare, attest the side of Indian life that sentimentalists do not consider. Before they had horses to use in their hunting expeditions, the method that several tribes used to slay buffalo was to herd and stampede them into running off cliffs. Although it was customary for the hunters to apologize to the dying and dead, the number of
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animals lost was in excess of what their tribes could use, and many carcasses remained at the foot of the cliffs to become carrion. Taking slaves was a common practice for tribes in many parts of the continent. Often these slaves were captured from other tribes during raids for that purpose. Sometimes non-natives were enslaved, including African Americans taken by the Cherokee. Comanches took Spaniards as slaves. In the Pacific Northwest, a large portion of the Chinook economy was the slave trading that they did up and down the coast. The Ute captured people for other tribes to use for slaves, trading them for horses. Several tribes in the Southeast captured other natives for the English and Spanish to use on their ships and in the Caribbean colonies. Human sacrifice and cannibalism were not unknown. Most tribes that practiced human sacrifice used prisoners who had been captured in conflicts. Those who were not suitable for slaves or sacrificial purposes, or who would not make good wives, were often tortured before they were killed. The Pawnee sacrificed captured females—or one of their own, if necessary—as part of a ritual to ensure an ample harvest. Most cases of cannibalism involved using the victims’ hearts to gain the enemies’ valor and strength. The potlatch, the celebration among British Columbian and Pacific Northwest natives that has been seen as a symbol of generosity and a ceremony of sharing the host’s wealth among the guests, was not always an altruistic event. The Kwakiutl, for example, also used it as a political tool to humiliate their enemies and to gain power over them. Immigrant Philosophy Conflict. Throughout their history with European immigrants, Native Americans have suffered near annihilation—physical, cultural, and spiritual—because of the ethnophilosophical differences between the two groups. When Europeans began arriving on the shores of North America, they brought with them a philosophy that was radically different from that of the natives they encountered. The newcomers did not see themselves as being an integral part of their natural envi-
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ronment, participants in it who had to obey its laws. They saw themselves as separated from it by their level of civilization—by how far they believed they had risen above the brutality and unpredictability of the natural world and by how well they had managed to exploit its resources. The essential difference in worldview was, and continues to be, a source of conflict that has been disastrous to Native American communities across the continent. Marcella T. Joy Sources for Further Study Beck, Peggy V., and Anna L. Walters. The Sacred: Ways of Knowledge, Sources of Life. Tsaile, Ariz.: Navajo Community College Press, 1977. Discusses several North American cultures while concentrating on southwestern peoples. Many photographs and maps. Extensive bibliography and film lists. French, Lawrence. Psychological Change and the American Indian: An Ethnohistorical Analysis. New York: Garland, 1987. Academic, theoretical approach. Well organized and well documented. Focuses on educational policies with discussion of pre- and postcontact attitudes among Cherokee, Athapaskan/Apache, and Plains Sioux. Highwater, Jamake. The Primal Mind. New York: Harper & Row, 1981. Philosophy in elegant, simple language. The author’s views are based on academic studies and on life experience in both Blackfeet (Blood) and non-native cultures. Extensive bibliography. Inter Press Service, comp. Story Earth: Native Voices on the Environment. San Francisco: Mercury House, 1993. Essays by the world’s indigenous peoples, including American Indians, compiled by a global newswire. Introduction by the prime minister of Norway. Interesting non-American editorial perspectives. McLuhan, T. C., comp. Touch the Earth: A Self-Portrait of Indian Existence. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1971. Native Americans’ quotations from the last three hundred years. Many photographs. Insightful and visually beautiful. Well documented; includes suggested readings.
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Nerburn, Kent, and Louise Mengelkoch, eds. Native American Wisdom. San Rafael, Calif.: New World Library, 1991. Short quotes from numerous Native Americans, past and present, discussing ways that philosophical concepts are expressed in daily life. Ridington, Robin. Trail to Heaven: Knowledge and Narrative in a Northern Native Community. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1988. Anthropological study of the philosophy, social life, and customs of the Beaver Indians in British Columbia. Some photographs and a long reference list. Suzuki, David, and Peter Knudtson. Wisdom of the Elders: Honoring Sacred Native Visions of Nature. New York: Bantam Books, 1992. Views of indigenous peoples from around the world, including North America. Scholarly but readable. Several epigraphs by scientists from many disciplines, theologians, and social scientists. Romanticized non-native assumptions are examined. Well documented. Vecsey, Christopher. Imagine Ourselves Richly: Mythic Narratives of North American Indians. New York: Crossroad, 1988. A broadranging anthology. The introduction includes academic discussion of sources and functions of myths in general and of their value to Native Americans specifically. Wall, Steve, and Harvey Arden. Wisdomkeepers: Meetings with Native American Spiritual Elders. Hillsboro, Oreg.: Beyond Words, 1990. Long quotations from interviews with several American Indians. Not an academic work but informative and insightful. Moving text and photographs. See also: Children; Mother Earth; Oral Literatures; Religion; Religious Specialists; Sacred Narratives; Sweatlodges and Sweatbaths; Visions and Vision Quests.
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False Face Ceremony Tribes affected: Iroquois tribes Significance: During the False Face Ceremony, certain tribal members don special masks which they believe give them the power to cure disease. The False Face Ceremony refers both to the rite performed by members of the False Face Society during the Midwinter Ceremony and to individual healing practices during which members of the society control sickness with the power of the spirit in the mask and the blowing or rubbing of ashes on the patient’s body. At midwinter, the society comes to the longhouse to enable people to fulfill particular dreams or to renew dreams during a ritual called the Doorkeeper’s Dance. The False Face Society uses wooden masks with deepset eyes; large, bent noses; arched eyebrows; and wrinkles. The mouths vary, but they are most often “O”-shaped or spoon-shaped (a horizontal figure-eight shape). Often spiny protrusions are carved on the mask. The original “Great False Face” comes from an origin story and is depicted as a hunchback with a bent nose. His name links him to the legend of the test of moving a mountain, in which he engaged with Hawenio, or Creator. The Great False Face is the great trickster figure, although tricksters occur in Iroquois legends with many names and manifestations. Hawenio, recognizing that Shagodyoweh-gowah (one of the names for the Great False Face) has tremendous power, tells the Great False Face that his job is to rid the earth of disease. Shagodyoweh-gowah agrees that if humans will make portrait masks of him, call him “grandfather” or “great one” (gowa), make tobacco offerings, and feed him cornmeal mush, he will give the humans the power to cure disease by blowing hot ashes. Shagodyoweh-gowah travels the world using a great white pine as a cane, without which he would lose his balance. His movement is mimicked during the Doorkeeper’s Dance. Glenn J. Schiffman See also: Masks; Midwinter Ceremony; Tricksters.
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Feast of the Dead Tribes affected: Algonquian, Huron, Iroquois Significance: The Feast of the Dead provided an outlet for mourning the dead and promoted tribal unity. The Feast of the Dead was a Native American religious ceremony that provided several villages a chance to gather together, reestablish friendships, and collectively mourn their dead. Though the Feast of the Dead is frequently referred to as an Algonquin ceremony, it was also practiced by Huron and Iroquois nations. Every few years, tribal councils gathered and announced the date and location for a Feast of the Dead. The bodies of the dead were disinterred from their temporary burial sites to be reburied in a common grave. Family members exhumed the bodies and prepared them for the ceremony. They removed the flesh, which was burned, and wrapped the remains in beaver robes. Each village then traveled to the placed selected by the councils. At the site, a large pit was dug. The inside was lined with beaver robes. The bones of the dead and the goods that had been buried with them were suspended from a platform. In turn, each family threw their deceased and grave goods into the pit, which was covered with mats, bark, and logs. When the Northeastern Indian nations broke up and moved west or north, it became increasingly difficult to gather tribes for a Feast of the Dead. The Mohawk and Seneca tribes continued to practice a variation of the ceremony into the twentieth century. Leslie Stricker See also: Death and Mortuary Customs; Feasts; Religion.
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Feasts Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: American Indians traditionally celebrated special occasions with special meals; feasts as part of sacred ceremonies usually included specified dishes and practices, while secular feasts usually had greater flexibility. Native Americans, in common with most peoples around the world, celebrated special occasions with communal meals, generally rendered as “feasts” in English. Some feasts formed part of seasonal sacred ceremonies, others accompanied meetings of secular voluntary societies, and still others commemorated family events, such as the visit of a dignitary, a success in diplomacy or war, the naming of a child, or the completion of a house. In general, feasts that were part of a sacred ceremony were more formalized in their structure and might include fixed prayers or practices, while the more secular feasts followed less rigid guidelines of expected behavior and courtesy. Common Features. Regardless of the type of feast, there were certain common features. Unlike European and Asian feasts, American Indian feasts tended not to be elaborate affairs, and they were presented with the same implements that would be used in everyday eating. While the meals often included ingredients and dishes that might appear at any meal, feasts usually featured choice ingredients and a wider diversity of foods than other meals. The sponsor was expected to provide food for a feast, and kin often would be called upon to assist; their assistance would be repaid later when they were sponsoring feasts and needed assistance. Family feasts were sponsored by the family as a communal unit, although a head of the household usually was conceived as the sponsor. In many tribes, this would be a man, but some of the matrilineal tribes considered a woman to head the family, and she would serve as sponsor. Feasts accompanying the meetings of secular societies usually were sponsored by a person or persons who were seeking membership in the society or by the person at whose
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house the meeting was to be held. Feasts accompanying sacred ceremonies would be sponsored by the tribe as a whole or by its chief as its representative. The sponsor had to take special care that no foods were included that would be taboo for any of the diners. Typically, food was prepared by female members of the sponsoring group and was then ladled out by them from a communal pot onto each diner’s bowl or plate. Small family feasts usually would be served by the female head of household. Under certain conditions, particularly if a feast was to honor a prominent person, the sponsor and his immediate kin might abstain from eating during the feast, appointing another guest to do the serving. Details of manners varied from tribe to tribe, but the male head of household, chief, or religious leader usually would signal the beginning of the feast by lifting up a bit of the food, sometimes presenting it to the four cardinal points, then dropping it to the ground or into the fire. This thanksgiving offering to the gods was performed in silence. Many feasts were part of the ceremonies surrounding the beginning of the season when an important food became available. Among the Nootka of the Northwest Coast, for example, salmon captured during their fall spawning runs were dried for use throughout the year, and this staple was recognized as critical to survival. The first catch of salmon, regardless of who caught them, would be presented to the chief, who would sprinkle them with goose down while greeting the fish with a formalized welcome. Women, except those menstruating, would be designated to prepare the salmon, and everyone (except menstruating women) would partake of the food. Bones and innards from this feast would be returned to the water, ensuring that future generations of salmon would be plentiful and well-formed. Agriculturalists also held feasts within harvest festivals. Many Eastern tribes, such as the Cherokee, held a four- or eight-day ceremony, often called the Green Corn Dance, at the time of the earliest corn harvest. This ceremony included social dances, the rekindling of fire, the forgiving of transgressions, and a feast centered on the new corn. Ceremonies serving similar purposes were conducted by Pueblo agriculturalists at harvest time.
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Memorial Feasts. Other sacred ceremonies focused on the dead. Many tribes maintained that a feast should be held in honor of a recently deceased person at a fixed number of days after that person’s death. For most of the Plains tribes, the feast was held after four days, while the Iroquois waited ten days; some groups waited several months. These feasts typically were family-sponsored. Other tribes held special memorial feasts for all the dead of the tribe at a certain date or season. The Huron, for example, held the Feast of the Dead in autumn, at which time they disinterred their dead from the previous year, reverently stripped the remaining flesh from the bones, dressed them in the best of clothes, and laid them to their final rest in a communal burial pit. This was accompanied by a feast in the evening, sponsored by the entire community and dedicated to the well-being and memory of the dead. The Inuit and most Northwest Coast tribes also held communal feasts for their dead in the winter, when the dead were conceived to return for the feast, enjoying the food that was given them by placing it on the ground or passing it through the fire. Calendric Festivals, Societies, and Guests. Other feasts were part of calendric festivals, such as the myriad religious ceremonies held by the Hopi. Major ceremonies lasted eight days, while minor ceremonies lasted only four days; given the number of ceremonies per year, fully one-quarter of the year could be taken up with ceremonies. To share the burden of sponsorship, different villages would sponsor different ceremonies each year, and participants would travel to that village. The feasts that were part of these ceremonies served the practical purpose of feeding visitors and others whose ritual obligations kept them from regular eating arrangements. These feasts were viewed as a secular part of the overall ceremonies, and women and others not permitted to participate in the sacred kiva rituals were welcomed at the feasts. The meetings of volunteer societies, especially in the Plains, were characterized by a feast following the other activities. These feasts followed different protocols, depending on the tribe and the society. Sometimes food was brought ready-cooked to the meet-
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ing, kept warm, and ladled out to members; in other cases it was prepared during or after the meeting. Two common threads, however, united these feasts. First, there was no public invitation, since only members were expected to attend and a herald notified them individually. Second, each person brought his or her own bowl, and they were served from a communal pot or pots. Feasts held by families to commemorate special events were the most variable. Unlike feasts held with ceremonies or institutional activities, they seldom had a rigorous, prescribed structure. Instead, they were flexible, permitting the sponsoring family to adjust according to circumstances. Among the best-known early Indian feasts are those honoring guests, since these were the ones that early European writers were most likely to have witnessed and recorded. Europeans, even those inclined to disparage Indian culture, universally were impressed by Indian hospitality. Time and again, accounts noted that even in times of famine or personal tragedy, the arrival of a significant visitor was celebrated with a feast of the best foods available. Alvár Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, the early sixteenth century Spanish traveler who entered North America through Florida and left it through the Southwest and West Mexico, described dozens of feasts at which nearly starving Indians marshaled their scant resources to honor him. Other writers echoed this experience, one that had been shared by thousands of Indian visitors before the coming of the Europeans. The Royal Feast. Feasts north of Mexico were communal affairs, to be shared by members of the tribe, a voluntary society, or family. Farther south, in Mexico, an additional type of feast also existed: the royal feast. This meal was sumptuous, often involving extravagant numbers of dishes unavailable to commoners and served only to the Aztec emperor. As described in native and European books, the emperor would have up to three hundred different dishes prepared for his dinner. The emperor ate alone, separated even from his retainers (servants) by a gilded door, so that he would not be seen in the act of eating. He would sample the vari-
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ous dishes, passing one or another on to a retainer on the other side of the screen, as a special favor. Leftovers were eaten by guards. This type of feast, aggrandizing a single individual and setting that person apart from others, was entirely alien to Indian practices north of Mexico, where feasts were an act of community. Functions. Feasts served many functions in traditional Native America. They filled the bellies of those involved, which was significant in terms of ceremonies at which large numbers of visitors were present. In a broader sense, these feasts permitted those experiencing bad years to share in the good fortune of those with abundant food; over a lifetime, every community would experience good years and bad years, and the generosity of one year would be repaid subsequently. In addition, feasts gave people an opportunity to demonstrate their common bond, since food sharing is a universal human symbol of oneness. For many ceremonies, the entire community or tribe feasts together and demonstrates its commonality; in other ceremonies, it is only a voluntary society of perhaps only a single family, but the principle is the same. Ceremonies for the dead, at which the living eat the food and the dead share symbolically, bond the dead with the living members of the tribe. Other ceremonies unite the spirits and the people in the sharing of food. Russell J. Barber Sources for Further Study Beck, Mary Giraudo. Potlatch: Native Ceremony and Myth on the Northwest Coast. Anchorage: Alaska Northwest Books, 1993. A very readable book treating major ceremonies, including feasts, of the Northwest Coast tribes. Emphasizes the cultural context of feasting. Benitez, Ana M. de Pre-Hispanic Cooking—Cocina Prehispánica. Mexico City: Ediciones Euroamericanas, 1974. An excellent distillation of information on Aztec foodways, drawing on the Florentine Codex and other primary sources. Bilingual in Spanish and English.
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Dietler, Michael, and Brian Hayden, eds. Feasts: Archaeological and Ethnographic Perspectives on Food, Politics, and Power. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2001. A compilation of fifteen essays examines the cultural, economic, and political significance of feasts from such places as the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Highwater, Jamake. Ritual of the Wind: North American Indian Ceremonies, Music, and Dance. New York: Viking Press, 1977. A widely available compilation of several ceremonies from different tribes. Little detail on feasts as such, but information of the ceremony of which they are part. Kimball, Yeffe, and Jean Anderson. The Art of American Indian Cooking. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1965. The most widely available of American Indian cookbooks. The introduction provides a historic (though somewhat romantic) context for the recipes, which are divided by culture area. Root, Waverly, and Richard de Rochemont. Eating in America: A History. New York: William Morrow, 1976. A general history of food and cooking in North America, devoting four chapters to Native American foods and cooking. Swanton, John R. The Indians of the Southeastern United States. Bulletin of the Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology 137. Grosse Point, Mich.: Scholarly Press, 1969. This classic and massive work contains detailed descriptions of the tribes of the Southeast, including considerable information on feasts and food. Includes some extended quotations from early accounts describing feasts. Waugh, Frederick W. Iroquois Foods and Food Preparation. Memoir of the Canada Department of Mines, Geological Survey 86 (Anthropological Series 12). 1916. Reprint. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada, National Museum of Man, 1973. Perhaps the best work of its kind, this monograph summarizes food, food preparation, feasts, and related subjects for the Iroquois tribes in great detail. See also: Feast of the Dead; Food Preparation and Cooking; Green Corn Dance; Potlatch.
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Feathers and Featherwork Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Indian tribes used feathers for decorative and symbolic purposes. Feathers obtained from native birds were an important natural material used by North American Indians for both decorative and symbolic purposes. Although not believed to possess inherent power, feathers could be used to represent spiritual powers and actual achievements of the wearers. Among the items of spiritual significance that were decorated with feathers were the calumet, or peace pipe, the prayer stick, and the wand. The calumet shaft was often heavily decorated with feathers and even the skins and heads of birds. The feathers on the shaft might be painted red when war was planned. By far the most valued and significant feathers used were those of the eagle. Indians preferred the feathers of the less common golden eagle found in the western mountains, and birds were sometimes raised from eaglets and then plucked at maturity. Another way to acquire eagle feathers required a hunter to conceal himself in a covered pit near a baited noose and overpower the snared eagle attracted to the food. This was a courageous act, as the eagle was taken alive. Feathers would also be obtained through trade. Eagle feathers were especially important in constructing war bonnets and as “exploit feathers.” A white feather with a black tip was preferred. Among the Dakota Sioux, each of these exploit feathers had a particular meaning depending on how it was shaped or painted. A red spot painted on top represented the killing of an enemy; if the feather was cut off at the top it meant that the enemy’s throat had been cut. The number of notches in a feather indicated if a warrior had been second, third, or fourth in counting coup on an enemy. If the edges were cut, he may have been fifth. A split feather served as a medal of honor, indicating the warrior had been wounded in battle. Eagle feathers were also considered best for feathering arrows.
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Feathers served a symbolic as well as decorative function in the ceremonial dress of Native Americans. (Unicorn Stock Photos)
Other bird species used for various purposes included the wild turkey, hawk, woodpecker, meadowlark, quail, chaparral cock (or roadrunner), duck, bluejay, and blackbird. Some California tribes were reputed to have used the scalps of certain small birds as a form of currency. Feathers of the roadrunner, called “Medicine Bird” by the Plains tribes, were believed to bring good luck if hung within the lodge. Roadrunner feathers were also fashioned into whistles for use in the Medicine Dance.
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Woodland Indians of the eastern United States used turkey, crane, and heron feathers to fashion their headdresses. Other tribes made caps of overlapping circles of small feathers, sometimes topped by a single eagle feather. Sometimes feathers of small birds were prepared and used for decoration in the same manner as porcupine quills. Elaborate feather robes were constructed by eastern tribes, and also by some tribes in the west. Both feathers and skins of birds were used, the skins sometimes being cut into strips and interwoven to form the garment. Elaborate figures or patterns were often created in these feather robes. Heavy depredations by American and European fashion designers in the late nineteenth century threatened many native bird species, and by the early twentieth century, laws such as the Lacey Act of 1900 were passed to protect native birds. In 1916, the Migratory Bird Treaty, also aimed at protecting birds from extensive predation, was signed between the United States and Great Britain (for Canada), and other treaties with nations such as Mexico followed. Although allowances were made for American Indians, this has sometimes caused difficulty for those who wished to continue to use certain feathers for decorative and symbolic purposes. Patricia Masserman See also: Beads and Beadwork; Dress and Adornment; Headdresses; Quillwork; War Bonnets.
Fire and Firemaking Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Fire was the Indian’s most versatile tool; it cooked food, provided the focal point for religious ceremonies, and altered the environment. The origins of human use of fire go so far back in prehistoric time that no one can say exactly when it began. It seems probable that
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when the ancestors of the North American Indians crossed the land bridge between Siberia and Alaska they brought fire with them. The Indians are known to have used several methods of making fire. The Indians of Alaska used stones to generate sparks, in the fashion of the flint stone. Much more widespread, however, was firemaking by wood friction. A hearth of wood, with pits in it, was placed on the ground and held firmly in place by the knees of the fire maker; he or she had already prepared some very dry vegetable material, shaved or rubbed to act as tinder. A “drill”—a stick that is rotated rapidly with the hands with one end set in one of the pits of the hearth—was used. The drill-stick shed fine material onto the hearth, and the friction generated by rapid movement produced enough heat to make the material on the hearth smolder; it could then be blown into life and the tinder touched to it. Rapid rotation of the drill could also be produced by looping a string around it and tying both ends to a bow; the bow was moved back and forth. The possession of fire made many Indian practices possible. It made it possible to bake the pottery that was so widely used for containers; it made it possible to brew a variety of drinks; it made it possible to bake foods and to boil water. Fire made it possible to keep warm in the colder months that all Indians experienced. Fire made it possible to cook the meat that Indians obtained by hunting wild animals. Fire was essential for cooking the beans, squash, and corn that were central to the Indian diet. Fire was also central to the religion of many tribes. Religious ceremonies nearly always took place around a fire. Fire was a cleansing and purifying agent. Keeping a fire going was a religious duty; when the Indians wanted to mark the end of a cycle, they put out the old fires and started a new one. Tribal deliberations took place around the council fire. Most important of all, fire was the tool that Indians used to shape the natural environment to meet their needs. When they cleared a plot of land of trees to create a field in which to plant crops, they burned the vegetation. In so doing they not only dis-
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posed of unwanted plant material but also added lime and potash to the soil to make it more fruitful. It was common practice, widely noted by the first Europeans to come to America, for the Indians to burn the woods each year. This was done to eliminate underbrush and make it easier to move about in the woods. It served another purpose: It drove game animals into groups so they could more easily be hunted. Many of the trees that are associated with Indians of the forest grow only in areas that have been burned over; the birch is the most widely known of these, but pitch pines also grow best in burned-over areas. Without fire, many of the cultural practices commonly associated with American Indian societies would have been impossible. Nancy M. Gordon Source for Further Study Boyd, Robert, ed. Indians, Fire, and the Land in the Pacific Northwest. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 1999. See also: Food Preparation and Cooking; Religion.
Fish and Fishing Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Fish were a dietary mainstay in northern and northwestern North America and a significant part of the diet in most other regions of the continent. With the exception of a few tribes, such as the Hopi, for whom fish are taboo, all Indians utilized fish for food. Fish were captured by an impressive array of technology, including hooks and lines, gorges (double-pointed spikes on lines, swallowed by fish), harpoons, bows and arrows, leisters (spears with grabbing hooks alongside their points), fish traps, and nets. Hooks, gorges, and traps sometimes were baited. Nets were set, thrown, or dipped; weirs (fencelike fish traps) sometimes incorporated set nets. In
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some places, vegetable poisons were thrown into pools to bring stunned or killed fish to the surface. When spawning fish were dense, they might be clubbed out of the water or simply grabbed with the hands. All these techniques were widespread in North America. Men most frequently did the fishing, though women often collected fish after they had been poisoned. Shellfish were collected by different methods. Most mollusks were collected by hand or by digging, work that usually was considered to be like plant gathering and was done by women. Lob-
This Yurok fisherman was photographed in 1923 by Edward S. Curtis. (Library of Congress)
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sters, crabs, and other crustaceans usually were captured in nets or traps by men. Although shell heaps left from such gathering sometimes are extensive, few tribes relied on shellfish heavily. The degree of reliance on finfish varied around North America. The greatest reliance was in the Pacific Northwest, where salmon runs provided vast quantities of food that was preserved for use through the year. In this culture area, the salmon run was a critical annual event surrounded by religious and social ritual to ensure success. Less intensive river and ocean fishing secured a variety of other fish, including the olachen, a fatty fish used for candles. The Inuit of the Arctic also used a considerable amount of fish, though sea mammals provided the greater part of their diet. Tribes of the northern forests of Canada used large quantities of lake fish seasonally, when mammals were less available. Fish were important to tribes of the Atlantic coast, the interior woodlands, and California, but they did not assume the importance they did in the aforementioned areas. Fish were relatively unimportant in the Plains and the arid Southwest and West. Most fish come together in great numbers during seasonal spawning, and maximum advantage of their abundance can be taken only if their flesh can be preserved. In the far north, this can be accomplished by freezing, but elsewhere the technology must be more complicated. Placing fish on racks over low fires dries the meat and impregnates it with chemicals from the smoke. These chemicals flavor the meat and inhibit the growth of microorganisms, and fish can be preserved for several months by this method. Such drying-smoking racks are known archaeologically from as early as 6000 b.c.e. in New York’s Hudson Valley. There is no evidence that any Indian tribe used salt to preserve fish or other meat. Russell J. Barber See also: Hunting and Gathering; Salmon; Weirs and Traps; Whales and Whaling.
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Flutes Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Flutes were played in many American Indian cultures, usually by shamans and participants in ceremonies. Flutes, rattles, and hand drums are the oldest and most widespread musical instruments in the New World, and they were probably derived from Old World paleolithic prototypes. The flute and similar wind instruments such as pan-pipes and ocarinas were commonly revered by shamans and curers as sacred instruments for contacting the spirit world, in many cases literally manifesting the “voice” of the spirits. Though flutes were widespread throughout the Americas, the majority of archaeological specimens have been recovered from preserved deposits in the western and southwestern United States, Mexico, and South America. Flutes could be constructed of any appropriate material, including wood, reed, bone, and ceramic. Most versions were simple hollow tubes with four or five finger holes to control pitch. Major cults centered on the playing of flutes arose in several locales throughout the Americas and flute players are commonly depicted in paintings, ceramics, and jewelry from South America, western Mexico, and the American Southwest. Flute players figure prominently in several Native American myths and legends. In South America, reed flutes up to 6 feet in length, called queñas, were played during male initiation ceremonies, and several preColumbian deities, such as Tezcatlipoca, the Aztec god of darkness, deception, and shamanic power, were commonly depicted as flute players. A particularly strong version of a flute cult appeared in the American Southwest around 500 c.e. The central character in this cult is a figure identified by modern Hopi as “Kokopelli,” a mythological hump-backed figure, sometimes depicted as an insect or ithyphallic male and commonly recognizable by his playing of the flute. Masked representations of Kokopelli appear in modern
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Hopi ceremonials, and a seasonal dance called the Flute Ceremony is specifically devoted to the playing and honoring of large wooden flutes. Flute playing was traditionally restricted to male shamans and ceremonial participants. James D. Farmer See also: Dances and Dancing; Music and Song.
Food Preparation and Cooking Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Cooking techniques among indigenous North American peoples varied according to whether a tribe was mobile or sedentary and whether it used pottery. Most foods in traditional North American Indian cuisines were eaten cooked. While a few, such as animal livers and berries, commonly were eaten raw, the rest were transformed through techniques constrained by the available ingredients, technology, and energy sources. The greatest constraints surrounded heat for cooking. Much of North America had plentiful wood supplies, though parts of the arid West and the Arctic were deficient. Wood typically was burned in an open fire, with food or cooking vessels suspended over it or buried in its coals. Flat rocks could be used as griddles. Sometimes, especially in the East, the fire was made in a pit and covered with dirt, forming a slow-cooking earth oven (aboveground ovens were not used anywhere). The masonry bread oven of the Pueblos was introduced by the Spanish. While ceramic pots could be exposed to fire, skin and bark vessels would burn up. Tribes who made only the latter had to heat liquids in them by adding hot stones, never obtaining more than a low simmer. These factors meant that the more mobile tribes, most of whom made little or no pottery, were quite limited in their cooking techniques, especially if they lived in an area with limited fuel. The
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A northern Plains woman preparing a meal in the nineteenth century by blending traditional techniques with European American customs. (Library of Congress)
Washoe, for example, prepared most of their food by simmering ground seeds and tubers, often mixed with greens, meat, berries, or whatever was available. Other foods were wrapped in leaves and roasted in the coals. Sedentary tribes usually made pottery, and they could exploit full boiling. The Wampanoag, for example, ate primarily stews and gruels, based on cornmeal with various additions. Biscuits
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were made on rock griddles, and dumplings were made from leafwrapped dough. Meat often was roasted on racks above a fire, while vegetables usually were roasted in the coals. Desert agriculturalists of the Southwest had a special problem: dense populations with limited fuel. There, the Pima developed sautéing as an adjunct to boiling, baking, and roasting. Sautéing is quick and conserves fuel, but it requires a fat that will not burn easily, as will most animal fats. The Pima grew cotton and extracted oil from its seeds, using it for sautéing and seasoning. The Pueblo peoples had no cotton from which to extract oil, but they developed other fuel-saving practices. Stews and soups, the most common meals, were cooked in large pots for an entire extended family, then ladled into individual serving bowls. Some dishes, like paper-thin piki bread, cooked almost immediately. Without refrigeration, storing food became a major challenge, and drying was most commonly used. Some foodstuffs, such as beans and corn, dry easily and well, while others pose greater difficulties. Fish and meat require a smoky fire to produce a nonperishable product, and the resultant taste became a flavoring for other dishes. Indeed, eating large chunks of meat was unusual, and most tribes used meats to complement the plant seasonings collected and cultivated. Pemmican, a tasty mixture of dried meat, berries, and fat, was widely used in the East. Every tribe had distinctive rules surrounding cooking and eating. Some foods were taboo, while others were relished. Certain foods might be eaten politely only with the hands, while others required the use of spoons or leaf scoops. Many tribes offered a prayer before eating. These and other social conventions made eating an event with cultural, as well as nutritional, significance. Russell J. Barber See also: Agriculture; Buffalo; Corn; Feasts; Fire and Firemaking; Hunting and Gathering; Pemmican; Salt; Subsistence.
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Gambling Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Gambling facilities have brought needed income to some native peoples, but some tribe members protest its presence on reservations. During the late twentieth century, commercial gambling became a major source of income on Indian reservations across the United States. While many Native American cultures practiced forms of gambling as a form of sport (such as the Iroquois peachstone game), there was no prior large-scale experience with gambling as a commercial enterprise. The arrival of gaming has brought dividends to some native peoples, but it has brought controversy culminating in firefights and death to others.
Four Paiute Indians playing a gambling game in southwestern Nevada during the late nineteenth century. (National Archives)
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Development of Gambling. The history of reservation gambling begins in 1979, when the Seminoles became the first Indian tribe to enter the bingo industry. As state-run lotteries became legal and proliferated throughout the United States, Indian tribal governments, not subject to state regulations, saw a means of increasing their revenues by offering bingo games with prize money greater than that allowed by the U.S. state’s law. When challenged, the tribes sued in federal court and won (Seminole Tribe v. Butterworth, 1979; California v. Cabazon Band, 1987). By early 1985, between seventy-five and eighty of the federally recognized Indian tribes in the United States were conducting some sort of organized game of chance. By the fall of 1988, the Congressional Research Service estimated that more than one hundred Indian tribes participated in some form of gambling, which grossed about $255 million a year. In October of 1988, Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which officially legalized gambling on reservations. The act also established the National Indian Gaming Commission to oversee gaming activities. The provisions of the law were two-edged: They required tribes to negotiate with states on types and rules of gaming, but they also guaranteed that ownership of gaming facilities and their revenues would belong to the tribes. For the first time, gaming was sanctioned as a legitimate method of tribal economic development, and gaming revenues began to subsidize reservation infrastructure, schools, hospitals, roads—and, most important, jobs. By 1991, 150 native reservations recognized by non-Indian governmental bodies had some form of gambling. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, gross revenue from such operations passed $1 billion that year. Individual prizes in some reservation bingo games were reported to be as high as $100,000, while bingo stakes in surrounding areas under state jurisdiction were sometimes limited to one hundred dollars. Marion Blank Horn, principal deputy solicitor of the Department of the Interior, described the fertile ground gambling enterprises had found in Indian country:
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Casino Morongo in Cabazon, California.
The reasons for growth in gambling on Indian land are readily apparent. The Indian tribal governments see an opportunity for income that can make a substantial improvement in the tribe’s [economic] conditions. The lack of any state regulation results in a competitive advantage over gambling regulated by the states. These advantages include no state-imposed limits on the size of pots or prizes, no restrictions by the states on days or hours of operations, no costs for licenses or compliance with state requirements, and no state taxes on gambling operations.
Death at Akwesasne. While gambling brought benefits to some Native American communities, it brought violence to the Akwesasne Mohawks of St. Regis in upstate New York. As many as seven casinos had opened illegally along the reservation’s main highway; the area became a crossroads for the illicit smuggling of drugs, including cocaine, and tax-free liquor and cigarettes. Tension escalated after early protests against gambling in the late 1980’s (including the vandalizing of one casino and the burning of another) were met by brutal attempts by gambling supporters to repress this resistance. Residents blockaded the reservation to keep the casinos’ customers out, prompting the violent destruction of the same blockades by gambling supporters in late April,
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1990. By that time, violence had spiraled into brutal beatings of antigambling activists, drive-by shootings, and night-long firefights that culminated in two Mohawk deaths during the early morning of May 1, 1990. Intervention of several police agencies from the United States and Canada followed the two deaths, and outside police presence continued for years afterward. Benefits. By the early 1990’s, gambling was providing a small galaxy of material benefits for some formerly impoverished native peoples. A half-hour’s drive from Minnesota’s Twin Cities, blackjack players crowded forty-one tables, while 450 other players stared into video slot machines inside the tipi-shaped Little Six Casino, operated by the 103 members of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux. By 1991, each member of the tribe was getting monthly dividend checks averaging two thousand dollars as shareholders in the casino. In addition to monthly dividends, members became eligible for homes (if they lacked them), guaranteed jobs (if they were unemployed), and full college scholarships. The tribe had taken out health insurance policies for everyone on the reservation and established day care for children of working parents. The largest casino to open by mid-1991 was the three-million-dollar Sycuan Gaming Center on the Sycuan Indian Reservation near El Cajon, a suburb of San Diego, California. Since that time, despite continued state challenges, Indian tribal casinos and other gaming centers have proliferated, and voters—such as California’s electorate, which approved Proposition 105 in 1998—have shown support for Indian gaming. According to the National Indian Gaming Association, in 2002 two-thirds of the American public supported Indian gaming. Regulation and Ongoing Controversy. Because of the provisions of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), Indian gaming is highly regulated and not solely under the jurisdiction of tribal governments. The IGRA divides gaming into three classes: social or cultural forms (Class I); bingo and other nonbanking card games lawful within the states as a whole (Class II); and all other gaming,
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including casino games (Class III). The latter two classes are subject to regulation by the tribal gaming commissions (TGCs), of which there are nearly two hundred. Class III gaming is subject to compacts between TGCs and state regulatory agencies. In addition, national agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Justice Department, all have roles in the regulation of Indian gaming. Starting in 1996, Indian casinos became subject to Title 31 of the Bank Secrecy Act. Today Indian gaming is big business, with state-of-the-art casinos across the nation that attract patrons from surrounding areas and beyond. The National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) is the primary advocate and defender of Indian gaming, which continues to provoke controversy, opposition, and litigation by large non-Indian gaming interests as well as states. Nevertheless, Indian gaming continues to thrive, and at least for those tribes with large interests the industry has spawned some improvement in the socioeconomic status of tribal members and reservation infrastructure. According to the NIGA’s Web site, “gaming has replaced the buffalo as the mechanism used by American Indian people for survival.” Bruce E. Johansen, updated by Christina J. Moose Sources for Further Study Cozic, Charles P., ed. Gambling. San Diego, Calif.: Greenhaven Press, 1995. A collection of articles covering all perspectives, from investigative reports to a letter to 60 Minutes. Bibliography, list of gambling organizations. Eadington, William, ed. Indian Gaming and the Law. Reno: University of Nevada, 1998. A collection of essays by participants in the North American Conference on the Status of Indian Gaming with different perspectives. Appendices include the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and transcripts from the Cabazon case. Gabriel, Kathryn. Gambler Way: Indian Gaming in Mythology, History, and Archaeology in North America. Boulder, Colo.: Johnson Books, 1996. Covers traditional Indian gaming in myth, history,
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and modern times, including politics and current issues. Bibliography, notes. Lane, Ambrose I., Sr. Return of the Buffalo. Westport, Conn.: Begin and Garvey, 1995. Covers the historical development of California’s Cabazon band of Mission Indians and the landmark case that established the beginning of Indian gaming. Bibliography, index. Levine, Jerome L, and Wendy Parnell, eds. Indian Gaming Handbook. Los Angeles: Levine and Associations, 1999. An overview and compendium of the law surrounding Indian gaming: the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, National Indian Gaming Commission regulations, related federal statutes and regulations, taxes on wagering, the Bank Secrecy Act, the Department of the Interior’s gaming guidelines, Internal Revenue Service publications, and more. U.S. Congress. Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs. Gambling on Indian Reservations and Lands. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1985. Established federal standards and regulations for the conduct of gaming activities. See also: Games and Contests; Tourism.
Games and Contests Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Games reflected the importance of athleticism to most Indian tribes, provided entertainment, and helped develop skills for work, hunting, and war. American Indians traditionally participated in a variety of games and contests. Children tended to mimic adult activities to ready themselves for work and war, while men tested themselves in preparation for hunting and warfare, developing their skills and endurance. Both men and women found entertainment in playing games, including games of chance.
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Athletic games involved wrestling, throwing spears, shooting arrows, kicking sticks or balls, running, and many other activities. These games tested the strength, stamina, and courage required for survival in the Americas. Pre-Columbian Native Americans played forms of field hockey, ice hockey, soccer, and football, and they developed canoes, sleds, snowshoes, kayaks, toboggans, stilts, swings, and rubber balls. Many Native American games involved teams playing against each other, in contrast to the more individualistic sports of pre-contact Europeans. Unlike the spectator sports of today, there was more total participation, and participation was more important than winning, even though betting on outcomes was universally common. Games also had a religious aspect, and their history and rules were often bound up in the traditional beliefs of the tribes. According to Stewart Culin, who did an extensive study of Indian games, they were played to drive away sickness, produce rain, and fertilize crops Races and Ball Games. Different tribes had various forms of foot races. In pre-Columbian America, hunters literally ran down deer and other game, while communication within and among tribes took place using swift couriers. Inca runners ran thousands of miles, uniting their empire. Pueblo Indians would get up at dawn and run to their cornfields located miles away. Various forms of races were held to develop the endurance of runners, including shuttle relay races, kick-stick, and kickball races. In 1980, the Pueblo Indians celebrated the tercentennial of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 by reenacting the part played by the runners who spread the word of the rebellion. Plains tribes played a form of dodge ball in which the batter tossed and batted a rawhide ball. Fielders would try to catch the ball and then throw it at the batter, who would try to dodge out of the way. Football games were played across the continent, even by Inuits (Eskimos). Inuits also did a blanket toss, spreading a blanket like a trampoline and throwing participants as high as fifteen or twenty feet in the air. Various forms of kickball were played, in-
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cluding what was known in the 1980’s as hackeysack. In the Southeast, ball games were used to earn hunting privileges, to settle disputes, or to determine who were the best warriors. The Choctaw played a game called kabocca with a wooden ball about the size of a golf ball. As many as seven hundred players on one team would try to move the ball toward one or another of the goalposts, which were as much as a mile apart, using sticks with cup-shaped ends to catch and throw the ball. Games could be very rough and could last several days—scores could run into the hundreds. The Iroquois called kabocca the “little brother of war.” This game, now known as lacrosse, was uniquely American. Shinny is a form of hockey that was played throughout North America. The ice version was played by both sexes, but the field version was played mainly by women. Doubleball was a variation of shinny that used two baseball-sized balls that were tied together with a half-foot leather strap. A player carried the double ball or threw it with a hooked stick. Some tribes played games involving throwing or shooting arrows, either at circular targets drawn on the ground or through rolling hoops. Crow Indians still practice an arrow-throwing game involving throwing arrows at a circular target drawn on the ground. Various forms of bowling were practiced. The Cherokee pitched stones at clay pins. Another Cherokee game involved rolling or sliding a disk-shaped stone while contestants simultaneously threw poles to land where they guessed the stone would stop. In the Southwest, corncob targets were knocked down with wooden balls. Gambling Games. Gambling games were popular. Stick games that involved guessing which hand held a hidden marker were widespread. Crow Indians played the stick game with teams, and each team had supporters that dressed similarly and sang as the game was played to give their players power and to confound the opposing team. The Menominee would shake dice-like objects in a bowl and then throw them out. Other tribes would place an object in one of several moccasins, with the object of correctly guessing the moccasin hiding the object.
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Children’s Games. Children participated in a variety of games. Girls would put up miniature dwellings and play “house,” while boys hunted small game to feed their “families.” Northwest Coast children played games such as fish trap, a form of tag in which the “fishers” simulated a net while the “fish” tried to avoid getting caught. Famous Athletes. While usually any recognition given outstanding Indian athletes was fleeting at best, in the twentieth century Indians have participated in nonIndian athletic events, and there have been a number Jim Thorpe, in a football uniform, at the of Olympic-class Indian athCarlisle Indian School circa 1919. (National Archives) letes. Billy Mills (Sioux) won the gold medal for the tenthousand-meter race at the 1964 Olympics, and in the process he beat the United States Olympic record of Louis Tewanima (Hopi), who had won the silver medal in the same event in 1912. The greatest Indian athlete was Jim Thorpe (Sauk and Fox). According to an Associated Press poll in 1950, he was considered the greatest athlete of the half-century. He won the gold medal for the pentathlon and decathlon in the 1912 Olympics and went on to play professional football and baseball. An American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame was established in 1972 at Haskell Indian Junior College to honor Indian athletes. Jon Reyhner
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Sources for Further Study Anderson, Madelyn Klein. North American Indian Games. New York: Franklin Watts, 2000. An examination of the orgins and significance of games such as lacrosse, shinny, dice games, and guessing games to Native Americans. Culin, Stewart. Games of the North American Indians. New York: Dover, 1975. First published in the twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology (1902-1903), this is the most extensive study of Indian games available. It includes detailed drawings of the various implements used in the games. Grueninger, Robert W. “Physical Education.” In Teaching American Indian Students, edited by Jon Reyhner. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992. Describes a variety of Indian games appropriate for schools. Macfarlan, Allan, and Paulette Macfarlan. Handbook of American Indian Games. Illustrated by Paulette Macfarlan. New York: Dover, 1958. Describes various Indian games; intended to teach children how to play the games. Nabokov, Peter. Indian Running: Native American History and Tradition. Santa Fe, N.Mex.: Ancient City Press, 1987. Describes the races held as part of the tercentennial commemoration of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. In addition, discusses the history and accomplishments of Indian runners. Oxendine, Joseph B. American Indian Sports Heritage. Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics Books, 1988. Comprehensive history and description of Indian games along with short biographies of Indian sports figures. Schoor, Gene, with Henry Gilfond. The Jim Thorpe Story: America’s Greatest Athlete. New York: Julian Messner, 1951. A biography of one of the most famous athletes of the twentieth century. See also: Ball Game and Courts; Children; Gambling; Hand Games; Lacrosse.
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Gender Relations and Roles Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Gender roles are culturally defined entities that serve to structure social organization; Indian societies were marked by variation in the types of gender categories present and in their manifestation over time. Gender is typically regarded as a cultural or social construction, in contrast to the biologically defined sexual division between male and female. The creation of gender is an active process that may involve more than simply two-gender categories and that may vary through time among different cultures. Engendering Native Americans. Much of our understanding of North American Indians and their history and prehistory is “degendered”; that is, it is a tale of interactions among sexless cultures rather than among gendered individuals. Even those accounts of Native Americans which incorporate gender commonly only include male roles, for as Alice Kehoe (“The Muted Class,” in Cheryl Claassen’s Exploring Gender Through Archaeology, 1992) explains: “Dominant groups dominate discourse. Subordinated groups whose discourse differs from the dominant mode may not be heard.” Typical of androcentric (male-oriented) writing is Claude Lévi-Strauss’s statement: “The entire village left the next day in about 30 canoes, leaving us alone with the women and children in the abandoned houses” (remarked upon in Alison Wylie’s “Gender Theory and the Archaeological Record,” in Joan M. Gero and Margaret W. Conkey’s Engendering Archaeology, 1991). The implication is that women and children are unimportant and do not contribute to village society. Such male-centered research creates obvious problems for an adequate understanding of human interactions and behavior, which involve both men and women. Accounts of American Indian prehistory manifest similar problems. Generally, prehistories demonstrate cultural differences through archaeological studies of material culture, typically pot-
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tery or stone tools. Elizabeth Graham (“Women and Gender in Maya Prehistory,” in Dale Walde and Noreen D. Willows’ The Archaeology of Gender, 1991) succinctly explains: “Pots and lithics [stone tools] seem to move of their own accord across ancient landscapes, and tools are dropped here and there by faceless, sexless beings defined mainly in terms of the space in which they move, or the energy they expend.” Such reconstructions of the past may demonstrate differences in manufacturing styles among groups but generally do not advance understanding of the interactions among the men and women who composed these groups. Typical androcentric studies concerning Native Americans generally include such erroneous assumptions as the following: Gender roles and relationships are irrelevant for the understanding of other cultures, only two gender roles are found in other cultures, gender relationships among Native American societies correspond directly to those found among European groups, gender arrangements are unchanging through time, women’s activities are defined in accordance to their reproductive capabilities, and women are passive and their work is of little value (whereas men are active and their work is socially important). For some American Indian groups, a few of these assumptions may be correct, while for others they may be completely inaccurate. The point is, these broad generalizations are often applied to Native Americans with little attempt to verify their truth. Since the 1970’s, but more intensely during the 1980’s and 1990’s, feminist studies have had an impact on the fields of anthropology, archaeology, history, Native American studies, and other fields which typically ignored gender among Indians. Some of this feminist-inspired research has a political component and is explicitly directed toward the empowerment of certain groups, such as women, American Indians, and gay populations. Not all is politically motivated, however, and not all is even concerned with women. The unifying theme underlying gender research is a theoretical outlook which views gender relationships as the fundamental structural component to social organization, much as the “manland” relationship was typically seen as fundamental to cultural
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ecology. Gender studies also may stress social diversity by emphasizing the presence of multiple “voices” or “narratives” within a group. Generally, gender research concerning American Indians includes three types of study: the investigation of women’s behavior and history, the identification of more than two gender categories and their activities and history, and the development of theories to explain the identified gender relationships.
Early twentieth century Cahuilla woman carrying berries or nuts she has gathered. (Library of Congress)
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Investigation of Women’s Behavior and History. This aspect of gender research includes many types of research, among them studies of famous women, women as gatherers and horticulturalists, women as tool-makers, and women in the colonial period. Studies of famous women represent attempts to balance a maledominated history by showing the contributions of important women. Toward this goal, researchers have written biographies of well-known Indian women and of women anthropologists, archaeologists, and other scholars who have worked with Native Americans or Native American concerns. Increased attention directed toward women’s roles has focused research on their gathering activities. Studies have demonstrated that this anthropologically undervalued occupation can generate a large proportion of the household’s daily diet. Previously, it had sometimes been assumed that male hunting contributed the major portion of the diet, based primarily on data from male-focused ethnographies. Other assumptions concerning women’s collecting behavior have been similarly corrected. Previously, it had been assumed that women’s biological functions (the bearing and rearing of children) limited their ability to roam far from home to obtain plants or raw materials. Among some cultures, however, gathering women, whether working as a cooperative group or on their own, do not remain consistently close to their home or camp, nor do these women always take their children with them on excursions. In fact, once women have given birth, varying strategies of child care are possible, and children may be looked after by other mothers (who can nurse the infant), other women, siblings, fathers, mother’s brother and family, or other members of the group. Based on the ethnographic data concerning women as gatherers and horticulturalists (practicing nonmechanized farming), there is an obvious linkage between women, plants, and crop domestication. Generally, studies of prehistoric North American Indians assume that the women gathered plants and that the men hunted animals. Hunting by males was regarded in the literature as an innovative and active event, whereas gathering was depicted as routine, passive behavior. An undervaluing of female roles ap-
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pears to explain why descriptions of the development of horticulture commonly involve a process whereby “plants virtually domesticate themselves,” rendering human (likely women’s) actions or abilities unnecessary (according to Patty Jo Watson and Mary C. Kennedy in “The Development of Horticulture,” in Gero and Conkey’s Engendering Archaeology). In addition to studies concerning women’s contributions to household subsistence, some researchers have examined women’s tool-manufacturing abilities. In the past, archaeologists and ethnographers typically emphasized “man the toolmaker.” The role of women in tool manufacturing was commonly ignored, downplayed, or denied. Archaeologists and members of the public are commonly interested in aesthetically appealing, elaborate stone pieces which display complex flaking patterns; these items are typically identified as male hunting tools (such as arrowheads or spear points, termed “projectile points” by archaeologists). Of less interest are skinning, scraping, and food-preparing tools (such as knives), usually associated with women. In most cases, however, researchers have not conducted edge-wear analyses (microscopic examinations of stone tool edges), which demonstrate whether the items were used for piercing (point) or slicing (knife) functions, or on what material these actions were performed. Typically, the projectile-point identification is applied in excavated contexts ranging from open woodlands to domestic campsites, despite the fact that open areas might be more likely locations for points, while campsites are the more likely locations for knives and scraping implements. Joan M. Gero (“Genderlithics: Women’s Roles in Stone Tool Production,” in Engendering Archaeology) suggests that based on two assumptions—that “females comprised approximately half of all prehistoric populations” and that “these women carried out production activities at prehistoric sites”—then surely “women can be expected to be most visible and active in precisely the contexts that archaeologists are most likely to excavate: on house floors, at base camps, and in village sites, where women would congregate to carry out their work.” In addition to the fact that women’s roles as stone-tool users or
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manufacturers typically vanish in archaeological reconstructions, their roles in ceramic production may also be over- or understated. Anthropologists often indicate whether women or men are the “potters” among the society studied, but in many cases, this category is meaningless for traditional kinship-oriented groups. If the entire household participates in ceramic manufacturing, through the gathering of clay, water, fuel, fire-tending, decorating, and so on, then the actual shaping of the clay may not be the most important part of the process, although this role may be the only one which is recorded by the investigator. Generally, discussions of North American prehistory assume that Indian women were the prehistoric potters if the historically documented communities had women potters. It has been ironically remarked by anthropologists with an interest in gender that women suddenly “appear” in the archaeologies of regions with the advent of ceramic manufacturing, much as men earlier “appeared” with the use of stone tools. Despite dissatisfaction with such simplistically applied assumptions, it must be admitted that the identification of prehistoric gender-correlated activities is not an easy process. Even in cases for which historic documents exist, observers may provide only a partial account of events. For example, sixteenth century writings describing the involvement of Aztec women in weaving and cooking may not mention other roles, such as healing or marketing, shown in accompanying illustrations. Scholars and Native Americans have worked to demonstrate women’s participation in areas in which their influence is commonly denied. These include prestigious wealth-generating occupations (among Hopi, Iroquois, Ojibwa, and Tlingit), religion (among Blackfoot, Cree, and Kiowa-Apache), trade (Hidatsa and Mandan), and warfare (Cheyenne, Crow, and Pawnee). A high proportion of the research concerning women’s roles in American Indian societies has been directed toward the demonstration of changes which occurred with the encroachment of the European social and mercantile system. For example, many studies have concentrated on how changing trading priorities may
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have affected gender relationships. Research on Plains (such as Lakota Sioux), and Northeast (such as Ojibwa and Cree) cultures suggests that the European fur trade added value to the traditional production of prepared skins. Theoretically, a hunter (typically a man during the contact period for these groups) could obtain an infinite number of skins, but each skin had to be prepared (typically, the women’s occupation at that time and place) before it could be exchanged with Europeans. As pelts increased in value, there was increased pressure for a man to create relationships with more women who could treat the animal skins. This could be achieved through polygynous unions (marriage to more than one wife). In this manner, women became producers within a system controlled by men, rather than being the producers and organizers of their own economic enterprises. It has been suggested that this situation probably resulted in decreased power for the women of these groups. Other effects of Indian-European contact have also been investigated. Several studies, for example, have examined the influence of missionization on traditional gender roles. Identification of More than Two Gender Categories. Descriptions of American Indians have often ignored common culturally accepted changes in gender typical of many Native American groups. Relatively recent emphasis on the understanding of diversity has led to a greater study and recognition of gender transformations among American Indians. Patricia C. Albers’ research, as described in “From Illusion to Illumination: Anthropological Studies of American Indian Women,” in Sandra Morgen’s Gender and Anthropology (1989), indicates that as many as 113 American Indian groups recognized transformative gender statuses and that among these, male transvestism (biologically male individuals who took on the cultural roles typical of women) predominated. There is abundant literature discussing the berdaches (typically defined as males who dress and behave as women) in the historic period. Within many Native American cultures, berdaches constituted a culturally accepted component of society. They were found across North America and have been identified during the historic
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period in the Arctic (Aleut, Pacific Inuit, Baffinland Inuit, and Quebec Inuit), the Subarctic (Hare and Ingalik), the Great Basin (Eastern Shoshone, Kawaiisu, and Paiute), California (Chumash, Salinan, Tolowa, Wiyot, and Yokuts), the Southwest (Karankawa and Navajo), the Great Plains (Lakota Sioux), the Northeast (Delaware, Illinois, Miami, possibly Tuscarora and Winnebago), and the Southeast (Timucua and Natchez). Traditionally, anthropologists discussed the berdache phenomenon in the context of cultural relativism (the concept that cultures must be evaluated based on their own values, and not on those of outside groups), specifically as an example of how notions of normal and abnormal behavior are culturally defined within individual societies. Studies of berdaches from the 1970’s onward have instead tended to discuss transformative behavior within its specific social context and to include women gender transformers (women behaving as men) in addition to identifying other gender categories. Research has confirmed the expectation that gender varies culturally and that many Indian groups had roles for female gender transformers. Among them were the Atsina (or Gros Ventres), Canadian Blackfoot, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Kutenai, Lakota Sioux, Navajo, Ottawa, Piegan, and Tlingit. There are, or were, various gender categories within different cultural groups, and each of these has (or had) varying roles and social status. In some cases, individuals determined their own genders, while among other groups, parents or other adults could change the gender of a child. For example, among the historic period Inuit, girls were often dressed as boys if the parents had desired a son or if they wished the child to take on the name and characteristics of a deceased male. Theories to Explain Gender. American Indian studies have concentrated more on the identification and description of different gender categories than on the explanation of these categories’ creation or function. Theoretical works generally focus on the discussion of two gender categories—heterosexual men and hetero-
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sexual women—and often examine their relative status and power through time (typically precolonial versus colonial), using the variables of occupation or marital relationship. Activities do provide a strong indication of the demarcated gender role within the society (traditionally discussed under “divisions of labor”), although there are always exceptions. Among some groups, individuals could adopt the behavior of the opposite sex without changing their gender, whereas among other groups, such behavior was interpreted as a change in gender. It has been suggested that in cases where women contributed noticeably to the household’s subsistence (as among the Hopi and Iroquois), women had greater status than in societies where women contributed less to the daily diet. Many of the societies with socially valued women also granted women claims to the resources they generated, to the land, or to their homes. Marital rights are also examined as an indicator of the relative freedom of women and men. Among some societies (as among Blackfoot, Hopi, Iroquois, and Ojibwa), women played an active role in the selection of a spouse and were able to divorce their husbands. Broadly, it seems that women have more freedom in marital matters when descent is traced through the women’s line (matrilineal descent). Improvement in women’s social status generally is correlated with a number of factors. It is related to their economic contribution (such as their ability to contribute to the daily diet); it is also related to their control over basic resources (such as homes or land) and to the yields from these resources (such as crops). Additionally, it is related to their influence on the heredity of their offspring through matrilineal descent patterns. Societies having all these attributes (Hopi society, for example) tend to be marked by the presence of powerful, independent women. Colonization resulted in many changes in the relationships between Indian women and men. In some cases, such as with the nomadic buffalo-hunting groups of the Plains, the European mercantile system seemed to decrease the status of women. In other cases, such as among the horticultural Iroquois, the European trading
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system may have advanced the status of women. During the later prehistoric and early historic period, Iroquois women controlled horticultural production (most importantly, corn) in the fields surrounding their villages. With the arrival of Europeans, Iroquois men became fur traders, and as prey became scarcer in the vicinity of their settlements, they ventured farther afield in search of furbearing animals. These extended absences from villages, both in fur trading and in raiding, meant that women assumed greater control of village organization and resources. For nomadic Plains groups, this male involvement in buffalo hunting (for hides and meat) did not translate into increased female status, since women were eliminated from the cooperative buffalo hunts and, as Albers notes, “became workers in a highly specialized production process over which men had ultimate control. As a result, the means of wealth accumulation and prestige were increasingly in the hands of men.” The most important result of gender research is that it has increased awareness of the variation among Native American populations. It is now recognized that anthropological descriptions which fail to take gender into account are incomplete at best, often misleading, and sometimes completely inaccurate. New perspectives on gender have had a profound impact on the understanding of society and culture in general and of Native Americans in particular. Susan J. Wurtzburg Sources for Further Study Ackerman, Lillian A. A Necessary Balance: Gender and Power Among Indians of the Columbia Plateau. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003. An examination of gender equality in four areas: domestic, economic, political, and religious. Allen, Paula Gunn. The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions. Reprint, with a new preface. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992. Gunn’s Laguna Pueblo and Sioux heritage influences her essays concerning Native American women, including gay women. Comprehensive index, no illustrations.
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_______, ed. Spider Woman’s Granddaughters: Traditional Tales and Contemporary Writing by Native American Women. New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1989. Anthology of fictional and traditional prose. Brief authors’ biographies and suggestions for further reading. Bataille, Gretchen M., and Kathleen Mullen Sands. American Indian Women: Telling Their Lives. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984. Essays concerning Native American autobiography. Comprehensive index and useful bibliography. Bowker, Ardy. Sisters in the Blood: The Education of Women in Native America. Newton, Mass.: WEEA, 1993. Informative analyses based on interviews with 991 northern Plains women. Index, no illustrations. Claassen, Cheryl, ed. Exploring Gender Through Archaeology: Selected Papers from the 1991 Boone Conference. Madison, Wis.: Prehistory Press, 1992. Anthology of papers by archaeologists providing research on gender issues. No index. Gacs, Ute, et al., eds. Women Anthropologists: Selected Biographies. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989. Biographical data concerning women anthropologists, many of whom wrote about Native Americans. Gero, Joan M., and Margaret W. Conkey, eds. Engendering Archaeology: Women and Prehistory. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1991. Anthology of articles by specialists, most dealing with North America. Good theoretical introduction. Comprehensive index, charts, drawings, maps, and photographs. Morgen, Sandra, ed. Gender and Anthropology: Critical Reviews for Research and Teaching. Washington, D.C.: American Anthropological Association, 1989. An anthology of articles focusing on the synthesis of research and teaching methods, including lesson plans and film suggestions. Contains useful review of research concerning American Indian women by Patricia C. Albers. No comprehensive index. Spector, Janet D. What This Awl Means: Feminist Archaeology at a Wahpeton Dakota Village. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1993. An innovative archaeologist’s search for evidence
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and understanding of Dakota women. Index, charts, maps, illustrations and photographs. Walde, Dale, and Noreen D. Willows, eds. The Archaeology of Gender: Proceedings of the Twenty-second Annual Chacmool Conference. Calgary, Canada: University of Calgary Archaeological Association, 1991. Selection of papers, most of which concern prehistory or history of Native Americans. No index. See also: Berdache; Children; Education: Pre-contact; Marriage and Divorce; Menses and Menstruation; Puberty and Initiation Rites; Women.
Ghost Dance Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: The Ghost Dance was one of many religious rituals and movements that arose in the wake of European contact in response to permanent changes in traditional lifeways for native peoples. The Ghost Dance began in 1890 as a result of the visions of a Paiute Indian from Nevada called Wovoka. As a result of his visions, Wovoka began delivering a series of prophetic messages that described a future which would restore Native Americans to their life as it had been before contact with the European American settlers and would drive away or destroy the settlers on Native American traditional lands. Crisis Movements. The Ghost Dance movement is usually described by scholars as an “apocalyptic” or “prophetic”-type movement (borrowing descriptive terms from the study of biblical history). Such movements usually involve someone describing bizarre or frightening visions of a catastrophic change in world events, and these movements are often found among populations who are experiencing severe crisis. These crises can be natural (earthquakes, massive fires, volcanoes) but are more typically as-
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sociated with political/military conquest by a foreign people who seem strange and overwhelmingly powerful. Such a description clearly fits the experience of Native American tribes who found their lifestyle severely disrupted by the newly arrived settlers. The old way of life, with its familiar routines, was disrupted forever, and the old ways were seen as a “golden age” to which many people wished to return. Ghost Dance as a Crisis Movement. In the case of the Ghost Dance of 1890, the movement and its widespread popularity are usually attributed to the disastrous disruption of the traditional life of the indigenous populations of North America that came in the wake of European settlement beginning in the sixteenth century. White encroachment had disastrous effects on the native peoples in the West in the nineteenth century. Although the Ghost Dance movement became widespread in 1889-1890, Wovoka had begun having his revelatory visions and experiences in 1887. Also known as John (Jack) Wilson, Wovoka’s most influential and serious supernatural experience was, as he himself described it, a visit to the spirit world on the occasion of the total eclipse of the sun on January 1, 1889. The precise content of the visions of Wovoka and the teachings and implications which he derived from these visions are difficult to describe with confidence, since virtually all existing reports are second- and third-person contacts. The classic source is James Mooney’s government-supported study, “The Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890,” published in 1896. This study was conducted within memory of the events described. Mooney, as a white government official, had to interview sources and interpret his reports as best he could. The major difficulty with this procedure is that the Ghost Dance movement was typically hostile toward white settlers’ presence, and one must suspect that reports collected by Mooney would have been delivered in a more conciliatory tone than discussions among Native Americans themselves. The United States government’s interest in the Ghost Dance movement was a direct result of the fact that the message of
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A depiction of the Arapaho Ghost Dance circa 1900. (National Archives)
Wovoka had a very rapid impact that quickly crossed tribal lines. The movement was deeply implicated in the historic massacre of Chief Big Foot’s band at Wounded Knee in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. The Ghost Dance was interpreted in different ways in different tribal contexts; it took a relatively militant turn among the Lakota (Sioux) who were active in the movement. Representatives from many other tribes were sent to hear of Wovoka’s revelations, and through these messengers the movement spread widely among the Sioux, the Northern Cheyenne, and the Northern Arapaho. It was also influential on related movements, such as that based on the visionary experiences of John Slocum, a member of the Coast Salish tribe whose own prophetic experiences led to the founding of the Indian Shaker Church. Wovoka’s Visions. Included among the visions of Wovoka, and related by him to his followers and representatives of other tribes, were such basic ideas as the resurrection of tribal members who had died, the restoration of game animals, a flood which would destroy only the white settlers, the necessity and importance of the
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performance of a dance ritual (the Ghost Dance itself), and a time that is coming which would be free of suffering and disease. Of these major ideas, the primary focus seemed to be on the ideas of resurrection and the restoration of important elements of the old ways, as well as the performance of the dance itself. Related developments of the Ghost Dance movement were certain ethical precepts and, at least among the Sioux, the creation and wearing of distinctive “ghost shirts,” which identified adherents to the movement and were used in the performance of the ritual dancing itself. In Indian descriptions of the Ghost Dance precepts to white researchers such as Mooney, the motif of the destruction of whites was muted, and many interviewees stressed that the visions of Wovoka actually taught a peaceful coexistence with the white settlers. It is certainly possible that ideas varied, depending on the views and experiences of the tribes appropriating the basic message of Wovoka. Roots of the Ghost Dance. An interesting summary of the Ghost Dance movement that emphasizes the important role of Wovoka himself is provided by Thomas Overholt, who compares Wovoka with certain prophets of the Bible such as Jeremiah. Overholt also suggests that the Ghost Dance of 1890 was preceded by, and possibly influenced by, similar visionary/apocalyptic movements, such as the Ghost Dance of 1870 (which also occurred among the Paiutes, initiated by a visionary named Wodziwob) and the Southern Okanagan Prophet Dance around 1800. Attempts to trace a prehistory of the Ghost Dance of 1890, however, must also reckon with the very high probability of some influence from the Old Testament biblical prophets through early contact with European missionary teachers. Wovoka himself, for example, did have some contact with missionaries, as reported by Mooney. Yet it is also true that such visionary movements were not uncommon among western American tribes from the beginning of the nineteenth century. As predicted dates for the cosmic events described by Wovoka came and passed, the initial fervor of the Ghost Dance and Wo-
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voka’s teachings in general began to dissipate. Among some tribes, however, the focus shifted from apocalyptic expectations of events to a longer-term stress on daily ethics. In short, the movement became partially institutionalized, which is not uncommon for religious groups whose roots lie in visionary experiences. Daniel L. Smith-Christopher Sources for Further Study Bailey, Paul. Wovoka: The Indian Messiah. Los Angeles: Westernlore Press, 1957. Hittman, Michael. Wovoka and the Ghost Dance. Edited by Don Lynch. Expanded ed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997. Mooney, James. “The Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890.” In Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology. Vol 14. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1896. Reprint. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965. Overholt, Thomas. Channels of Prophecy: The Social Dynamics of Prophetic Activity. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1989. Wilson, Bryan R. Magic and the Millennium. New York: Harper & Row, 1973. See also: Dances and Dancing; Visions and Vision Quests.
Gifts and Gift Giving Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Gift exchange was an essential mode of strategic interaction with other tribes and with the colonial powers. Gift giving was a central feature of exchange customs common to North American Indians. Treaties, trade, and other interactions demanded the distribution of various gifts among the parties. These presents symbolized the social bonds between the participants. Indians presented gifts to make and sustain alliances and to demonstrate continued control to the colonial powers. They used this gift
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giving to symbolize, sustain, and equalize human relationships. Presents were also given to create and alter social relationships. Other functions of gift giving were to establish an identity, to maintain peaceful interactions, to provide a basis for genuine friendships, to foster an egalitarian social order, and to create an economic order based on the redistribution of wealth. The European powers were forced to comply with a gift-giving political economy in order to obtain commercial advantages. They presented gifts to guarantee loyalty from tribes and chiefs, to buy service from Indian leaders, to counter influence from rival colonial governments, and to foster trade. In addition, European gift giving served to create kinship ties to important chiefs and to signify respect for Indians. There were many varieties of items in the gift-exchange economy. Among these items were artifacts such as looms, baskets, textiles, leather goods, and clothing. Plants, animals, shells, skins, food, and medicines were also offered as gifts. In addition, rituals could produce presents of songs, stories, or healing ceremonies. After European contact, commodities such as manufactured goods, rum, brandy, and other products were introduced into the giftexchange economy. Gift giving was supplanted by European-style commerce. Gift giving had always been in conflict with commercial economic activity. The Europeans first participated reluctantly in gift exchange to receive commercial advantage. Over time, however, Native Americans were drawn away from gift exchanges and toward commercial exchanges. This resulted in much destruction of their culture. For example, subsistence hunting was replaced with the near extinction of species because of the commercial desire for certain pelts in the fur trade. This commercial activity also countered the community-forming function of gift exchange by bringing Indians into conflict through commercial competition. William H. Green See also: Money; Potlatch; Trade.
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Gold and Goldworking Tribe affected: Aztec Significance: Using a variety of techniques, Aztec goldworkers produced jewelry, ornaments, and implements of great beauty. Before the Spanish conquest of Mexico in the sixteenth century, Aztec goldsmiths produced gold jewelry and implements of extraordinary beauty. Archaeological evidence suggests that goldworking was introduced from South America into Central America and Mexico relatively late; the Toltec culture was working gold around 900 c.e. Goldworking was not widespread in the preColumbian cultures of Mexico; the occasional gold pieces found in Mayan sites, for example, appear to have been the result of trade rather than local manufacture. Aztec goldworkers used gold nuggets or dust, or so-called virgin gold, for their artistry; there is no evidence for the smelting of gold ore in pre-Columbian cultures. Goldworking was a highly valued skill among the Aztecs. It was a specialized task at the time of the Spanish conquest, with goldsmiths being divided into those who hammered or beat gold and those who cast it in molds; within these divisions, there were many categories of artisans, depending on the kind of work they produced. Gold was used by the Aztecs as a means of tallying tribute obligations; gold also had religious connotations. In the Aztec language, Nahuatl, the word for gold was teocuitlatl, or “excrement of the gods.” Aztec goldworkers had their own patron god, Xipe Totec; anyone guilty of stealing gold was flayed alive to propitiate this deity. The first pre-Columbian Mexican goldwork involved shaping nuggets by grinding and hammering them. Later it was discovered that gold dust and grains could be formed into ingots of workable size by fusing them, using a blowpipe to quicken the flame; Aztec drawings show goldworkers using blowpipes. Coldhammering of gold nuggets or ingots into sheets eventually makes the gold springy and unworkable, but pre-Columbian smiths learned that heating the beaten gold returns its malleability. The
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process of alternately hammering and heating gold is called annealing, and it was widely used in Mesoamerica to produce not only gold but also various alloys of copper. Aztec goldworkers also used the “lost-wax” method of working with gold. In this technique, a goldworker first makes a wax model of the desired piece, which is then covered with clay; the wax form is covered with powdered charcoal so that it will release smoothly from the clay mold. Vents are left in the clay to allow the wax to drain from the mold when it is heated. Molten gold is then poured into a vent, and after cooling the mold is broken apart. The lost-wax technique allows for the production of intricate and finely wrought gold jewelry or ornamentation. In addition, Aztec goldworkers learned to solder intricate pieces together using gold alloyed with copper or silver. No archaeological evidence has yet been able to date precisely the emergence of the various skills in pre-Columbian goldworking. Similarly, no goldworking shop has been discovered or excavated. Detailed descriptions of Aztec goldworking are contained in Spanish historical records, however, along with extensive inventories of golden objects seized by the conquerors. The Spanish were astonished by the volume and value of Aztec gold, much of which they melted down into ingots or reformed into Spanish coins. Yet enough goldwork remains intact from the pre-Columbian and early contact period to testify to the great skill of Aztec goldworkers. David J. Minderhout Source for Further Study Baxter, Paula A. with Allison Bird-Romero. Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry: A Guide to History, People, and Terms. Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press, 2000. See also: Aztec Empire; Dress and Adornment; Metalwork; Ornaments; Silverworking; Turquoise.
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Gourd Dance Tribe affected: Kiowa Significance: Part of a four-day ceremony honoring a Kiowa victory in a major battle. In 1838, the Kiowa defeated the Arapaho and other enemies in a major battle along the Missouri River in Montana. Skunkberry bushes full of red berries covered the battleground. A warrior who became lost after the victory wandered around for days, seeking his people’s encampment. Then he heard music coming from a red wolf, who taught him to dance to a beautiful tune accompanied by a gourd rattle. The wolf told him to take the song back to his people and teach them the dance. The warrior returned, and in celebration of the victory and the return of the lost comrade, a Gourd Dance Society formed and shook red-painted gourds covered with representations of skunkberry bushes while dancing the dance of the red wolf. Only males performed the dance, which featured the dancers, a drummer, a whip man to keep the dancers moving, and a director who set the pace. Skunkberries were a symbol of endurance and bravery, and the Gourd Dance became part of a four-day festival until it was banned by reservation authorities in 1890. In 1955, the Kiowa brought back the dance as part of a newly established Gourd Day celebration taking place on the Fourth of July. Leslie V. Tischauser See also: Dances and Dancing; Drums; Music and Song.
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Grass Dance Tribes affected: Arapaho, Arikara, Assiniboine, Blackfeet, Crow, Gros Ventre, Hidatsa, Iowa, Kansa, Lakota, Menominee, Ojibwa, Omaha, Pawnee, Ponca Significance: The Grass Dance is a men’s competitive dance believed to give the participants the power to heal burns. The Grass Dance is a men’s competitive dance. It may have originated with the Pawnee dance known as the iruska. Iruska means “the fire inside of all things.” The Pawnee man Crow Feather was given this ceremony of fire-handling and dancing, which confers on participants the power to heal burns. In modern times, the Grass Dance is a part of the dance competition at pow-wows along the summer circuit in the United States. Grass dancers wear grass tied to their costumes. During the dance there is a considerable amount of athletic jumping, bending, and stomping. Dancers perform either individually or in pairs. Grass Dance societies typically have a number of officers: a leader, a pipe keeper, whip bearers, food servers, drummers, and singers. The Grass Dance has developed a large repertory of drumming and singing sequences. There are music groups among some tribes that specialize in Grass Dance songs. The Grass Dance is regarded not only as a competitive event but also as a celebratory occasion. T. J. Arant See also: Dances and Dancing; Drums; Music and Song; Powwows and Celebrations.
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Grass House Tribes affected: Primarily California, Great Basin, and Southwest tribes Significance: The grass house was constructed by covering a pole framework with layers of grass that formed both the walls and roof. There were basically two types of grass house: the conical beehive and the larger, elongated house, which could accommodate several extended families. In wet areas, grass houses were essentially dwellings set on exposed bearing poles several meters off the ground, with a ladder entrance. The beehive structure was formed by running straight or bowed poles to a vertical support center
A nineteenth century Bannock family pictured outside their grass tent. (National Archives)
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pole or simply by tying the slanted poles together at the apex. The longhouse was also constructed with vertical and horizontal poles. The grass covering was applied in one of several ways. Most commonly, long grass was bunched, with the top third folded over a horizontal cane or thin wood pole, and tied with grass to the longer outside length; grass was added until the course was completed. The next course would overlap or shingle the lower row, providing, when finished, effective water-shedding. This layering continued to the long, longitudinal ridge pole, where the opposing topmost rows were tied together. Some grass house coverings were better secured by stitching external horizontal willow or cane rods to the internal frame. Because of accumulated smoke residue and general deterioration, grass houses would be rethatched every three to five years, using the original frame. John Alan Ross See also: Architecture: California; Architecture: Great Basin; Architecture: Southwest; Wickiup.
Green Corn Dance Tribes affected: Cherokee, Creek (Muskogee), Seminole, others in the Southeast Significance: This was the principal dance performed in the most important harvest ceremony of the southeastern tribes. Dance is a central component of Native American ceremonial life. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Eastern Woodland Green Corn Rite. Ritual dance is an important feature of this ceremony, which takes place in July or August at the final corn harvest. The Green Corn Dance is a necessary part of the planting of the corn. Great spiritual benefit is believed to derive from the performance, which occurs in the newly cleaned and sanctified town square. The square contains the sacred fire, which binds the community to their deceased and to their deity. Into the newly kindled fire, such items as new corn, tea leaves, meat, and medicine are offered.
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As it is presently performed in the Southeast, the dance has four stages, each of which is divided into various movements. Music includes the sounds of stone-filled gourd rattles as well as singing. Men and women, in their finest attire, dance separately but simultaneously around a high pole adorned with green boughs that provide shade for the musicians seated on benches below. First the men begin to dance. A leader followed by a column of ten to twenty men carrying guns circles counterclockwise in an area a few hundred yards from the town square. The leader sings and plays a rattle while the other men shoot their guns at various times. The first man in the column shoots first, then the second, and so on until the last man, who shoots twice. By shaking his rattle, the leader thus directs the shots. The rifle shots are supposedly symbolic of the sound of thunder. This men’s part of the dance takes place in the morning. At about noon participants break to eat food that the women have provided. The women dance in a single line and side by side in the main square. They are directed by a woman leader who uses leg rattles to keep time. This second stage of the dance performance symbolizes the fertilization of corn. Men come to the central square and combine with the women’s column, led by the men’s dance leader. All the men and women then commence to circle counterclockwise. After this portion of the dance, the whole community takes part in a feast. In the evening, the third stage of the dance begins. The men and the women are again separate, as in the beginning. The men carry guns and circle counterclockwise around the women. This movement continues until the sun sets. The fourth stage is done the next night, accompanied by animal sacrifices. At the conclusion of the Green Corn Ceremony, the individual, the family, the clan, and the nation are all renewed for another year. William H. Green See also: Corn; Corn Woman; Dances and Dancing; Mississippian Culture; Music and Song.
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Grooming Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Though grooming and personal adornment were universally valued by American Indian peoples, the specific ways these were practiced varied from tribe to tribe. Bodily grooming and adornment performed a number of significant functions for individuals and groups throughout Native North America. Gender-specific norms related to personal appearance for both everyday life and special occasions existed in all Indian communities. Such norms prescribed methods by which men and women could make themselves attractive or could call attention to their special ranks and achievements. Tattoos and Body Painting. Among the most widespread of such grooming techniques were body painting and tattooing. The colors and designs associated with each of these practices were quite often used to symbolize an individual’s attainment of a specific status or accomplishment that was valued by his or her fellow community members. Thus, for example, among the Lakotas or Teton Sioux, the right side of the face of the lead akicitapi, or camp marshal, was marked with four stripes of black paint. In many tribes, face and body painting was an important element in rites of passage, including girls’ and boys’ puberty rituals and funeral ceremonies. Aside from marking social status, numerous Indian communities also used facial and body painting as a means of warding off evil spirits believed to cause illnesses during their curing ceremonies. Thus, for example, Siberian Inuits would paint the faces of sick persons with stripes of red ochre during their healing practices. Perhaps the most extensive use of body painting was practiced by the now extinct Boethuk tribe of the Northeast coast who colored their entire bodies, hair, clothing and equipment with a mixture of red ochre and grease. It is thought that the term “Red Indian” was first applied to the members of this tribe for that reason.
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The men and women of the Plateau’s Thompson tribe also painted and tattooed themselves on a daily basis with a similar combination of fat and pigment. Tattoos were used extensively by Indians of the Northwest Coast, including decorating their arms, legs, and chests with family crests. It was common for the women of Indian tribes from northern California to the northern Northwest Coast decorated their chins with tattoos. Body Piercing. Body piercing served similar functions among many tribes as those already mentioned in connection with painting and tattooing. The Seminoles, like many other tribes, bored their earlobes in order to wear rings and bobs. Numerous Inuit peoples practiced the custom of perforating parts of their faces in order to insert labrets and pins. In many cases, these practices were
A Hopi woman arranges the hair of an unmarried girl into an appropriate style. (National Archives)
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A woman attends to the hair of this Hopi man. (National Archives)
performed in association with a rite of passage. For example, two puberty ceremonies among the Mackenzie Delta Inuits involved piercing the cheeks and earlobes as preparation for labrets. Hair Styling. Manners of dressing and wearing hair were also important among most tribes. Such customs differed markedly from one group to another. For instance, whereas St. Lawrence Inuit males generally shaved their scalps, leaving only an encircling circumference of hair, men belonging to southern Tiwa groups reversed this pattern so that the unshaven scalp hair resembled a skullcap. Women’s hair displayed similar variations in style, sometimes braided, sometimes tied in a top knot, or worn in whorls over the ears, as was typical of many southwestern Indian groups. Occasionally younger and older women of the same tribe would wear their hair differently. Thus, for example, Hopi girls sported the distinctive whorl style, but after marriage they generally wore their hair in braids. Modes of tending and wearing one’s hair many times held religious and social significance. The Western Apaches and the Kio-
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was, for instance, held ceremonies to mark the first cutting of a child’s hair. Among many Plains Indians, individuals cut their hair as part of ritual cycles connected with mourning. Hair styling and care involved the use of tonics, most commonly made of grease or marrow. The Lenni Lanape, or Delawares, also employed sap for this purpose. Many tribes utilized combs made of various materials, including wood and porcupine tail, as part of their styling and grooming regime. The use of tweezers to remove unwanted facial hair was also found among many Indian groups. Impact of Assimilation. From the late eighteenth through early twentieth centuries, Native American modes of bodily grooming, hair styling, and hair care underwent drastic changes due to the influence of federal assimilation policy and missionary work. As part of the so-called civilization and Christianization regime followed in both government and religious boarding schools, schoolmasters and matrons routinely cut and styled the hair of their young charges according to white fashion. Students were also expected to adopt western standards of personal grooming and adornment as signs of their cultural progress. With the revitalization of tribal values during the last few decades, however, some individuals have attempted to return to the traditional grooming and hair care practices of their tribes, especially during ritual or social celebrations. The influence of Hollywood and the media has also led to a stereotyped, “Pan-Indian” version of these practices, patterned after that of Plains Indians. Harvey Markowitz Source for Further Study Dubin, Lois Sherr. North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present. New York: Henry N. Abrams, 1999. See also: Dress and Adornment; Gender Relations and Roles; Rites of Passage; Tattoos and Tattooing.
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Guardian Spirits Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: According to a belief held by many American Indian cultures, an individual may obtain contact with the supernatural world by seeking a guardian spirit to serve as a personal guide and protector. For many American Indians, the concept of a guardian spirit was most commonly associated with the natural world through the visible representation of animals or birds, such as the bear, wolf, or eagle. The particular association of a guardian spirit with a certain animal was the result of either ancestral ties (most typical of the Northwest Indians), the personal vision quest (common among Plains Indian tribes), inheritance (more typical of the Indians of the Southwest and Mexico), or, least often, transference or purchase. In the Northwest the guardian spirit of the clan is represented in the totem. The clan members obtain protection from the clan totem at the puberty ceremony. The totem can also become a guardian spirit offering personal as well as communal protection. Totem poles depict the guardian spirit of the ancestral father and other figures from the natural and supernatural world. Guardian spirits may also be obtained through a vision quest ritual in which the individual seeks a vision of the guardian spirit in a secluded place. At its appearance, the guardian spirit gives the individual some kind of special capacity and a medicine bundle to be used in hunting rituals. The vision quest is usually preceded by fasting, a sweatlodge experience and bathing, and a preparatory ascetic style of living. The spirit generally appears as an animal, but not in form and shape identical to a natural animal. An individual may cause the guardian spirit to depart if any taboos are violated, and not everyone who seeks a guardian spirit through the vision quest receives one. The vision quest is still practiced today, although not for hunting purposes in the way it was practiced prior to European contact. Guardian spirits had the most significance among the hunting tribes because they helped in providing game during the hunt. It
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was taboo to eat the animal represented by the guardian spirit. Agricultural tribes of the Southwest and Mexico relied more on a variety of spirits for assistance in regard to fertility cycles and typically did not seek a personal guardian spirit, believing that one had already been received at birth. Boys more often than girls sought a guardian spirit, and obtaining a guardian spirit was often done as a puberty rite directly relating to future hunting success. An American Indian’s relationship to his or her guardian spirit is personal and intimate, expressed physically by wearing the fur, claws, or feathers of the spirit and symbolically by incorporating the animal’s name into his or her own. The shaman or medicine man was often believed to be able to change into his guardian spirit. Diane C. Van Noord See also: Bundles, Sacred; Puberty and Initiation Rites; Religion; Religious Specialists; Shields; Totems; Visions and Vision Quests.
Guns Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Guns obtained from Europeans altered patterns of intertribal warfare and Indian-white warfare as well as traditional native economies. The introduction of guns by European traders and settlers powerfully reshaped American Indian patterns of warfare, intertribal politics, and economic life. Early seventeenth century muskets had a much greater effective range than traditional bows, and they inflicted more lethal wounds. Warriors armed with bows were easily defeated by smaller numbers of Europeans armed with guns. As Indians along the Atlantic coast learned of the effectiveness of the unfamiliar weapons in war and in hunting, they eagerly traded furs, the native commodity Europeans chiefly sought, to obtain them.
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After their introduction by Europeans, guns were widely used by Native Americans as illustrated by this Paiute Indian in the late nineteenth century. (National Archives)
Tribes situated along the coast became middlemen in the exchange of European goods for furs from tribes in the interior. As tribes trapped out the beaver or other animals in their own territories, they made war on less well-armed neighbors to take possession of their hunting grounds, so that guns and the accompanying fur trade created an entirely new and more deadly source of intertribal warfare. The mid-seventeenth century destruction of the Huron Confederacy by the better-armed Iroquois is the bestknown example. The trade in furs and skins for guns and other Eu-
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ropean goods disrupted the traditional subsistence economies of Indian peoples, making them dependent on the Europeans, but no one could risk ignoring the new weapons. Guns spread steadily into the interior, reaching the Great Plains in the early nineteenth century. Armed with guns, Indians became a far greater military threat to Europeans. Bert M. Mutersbaugh Source for Further Study Taylor, Colin F. Native American Weapons. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. See also: Bows, Arrows, and Quivers; Warfare and Conflict; Weapons.
Hako Tribes affected: Plains tribes, especially Pawnee Significance: The hako ceremony symbolizes the transferral of life forces from generation to generation. The word hako, which means “pipe” in the Wichita language, has been applied to a number of Indian ceremonies that center on the use of feather-ornamented hollow shafts of wood. In some general but not fully accurate descriptions, hako is deemed to be synonymous with the easily recognized calumet, or pipe ceremony, popularly associated with the “peace pipe.” In the early twentieth century writings of American ethnologist Alice C. Fletcher, however, who is still recognized as the first authority on hako, the much broader cultural symbolism suggested by the Pawnee term hakkwpirus, or “beating [in association with] a breathing mouth of wood,” is apparent. Early Observations. Feather-decorated pipe ceremonies that could be considered prototypes of what Fletcher and her associ-
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ates studied under the general label of hako were first observed, but not fully understood, in the last quarter of the seventeenth century by the French Jesuit Jacques Marquette among the Illinois tribes. Similar traditions appeared in ceremonies practiced by Algonquian and Siouan peoples. Very little was known about the specialized symbolic content of hako, however, until Fletcher carried out and published, in 1906, what remains the most extensive fieldwork on the subject. The ceremonies she described reflected the traditions of Plains Indians in particular. Fletcher must have encountered a high degree of secrecy among the Omahas, where she first observed hako ceremonies during the 1880’s. After failing over a number of years in her efforts to learn the meaning behind the Omaha ceremonies, she turned to the Pawnees, where a Chawi tribal holy man, Tahirussawichi, gave her essential explanations and some ceremonial texts. The latter were eventually translated with the assistance of her main Pawnee assistant, James Murie. Meanings of the Ceremony. Before considering the hako ceremony itself, a description of the central “breathing mouth of wood” and accompanying ritual objects is essential. Usually the wood used (two pieces) consisted of stems three or four feet in length with burned-out piths to allow the passage of breath. One stem was painted blue to represent the sky. A long red groove symbolizing life stood for the path that would be symbolized in several phases of the ceremony. Ceremonial wood was always decorated with feathers on the forward tip to “carry” communications associated with hako. As in more general Indian belief systems, the brown eagle in particular is believed to have the power to soar to the domain of higher powers in the sky. Other forces were represented in the attachment of the breast, neck, and mandibles of a duck to the downward (earthward-pointing) end of the hollowed stem. The duck symbolized daily familiarity with all elements affecting life: land, water, and sky. A second white eagle-feathered stem, called Rahaktakaru (to contrast it with Rahakatittu, the “breathing mouth of wood with dark moving feathers”), was painted
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green for the earth. Its position in the hako ceremony was always different from its brown-feathered counterpart. The unconsecrated nature of the white eagle, and thus Rahaktakaru’s association with the male father, warrior, and defender, kept it separate from two other symbolic elements of hako, namely the mother and the children. The former, the giver of fruit and abundance, was represented by an ear of white corn (atira, or mother breathing forth life), with a blue-painted tip (the sky, dwelling place of the powers) from which four blue-painted strips, or “paths,” allowed powers to descend to join the red (life) grooves of the Rahakatittu. Unlike many Indian ceremonies, hako was not associated with a particular seasonal activity, such as planting, harvesting or hunting. As a ceremony celebrating life, it could occur at any time when signs of life were stirring, either in mating (spring), nesting (summer), or flocking (fall), but not during winter dormancy. In a hako ceremony there is always a symbolic position reserved for participants representing the “parents” and a second reserved for the “children.” The latter are traditionally from a group that is distinct from the host, or parent group. This element underlines the universality of the union of otherwise distinct groups in that all benefit from the cycle of life. Journey of Mother Corn. Hako ceremonies symbolize a journey taken by Mother Corn leading from the place of origin in the group or tribe of the fathers to a destination in the group or tribe of the children. The importance of the “breathing mouth of wood” bearing the power of the brown eagle feathers is that it allows Mother Corn to attain the blue-domed abode of the powers before redescending to the ceremonial lodge. When the journey is concluded, Mother Corn will seek out the son, who is considered the paramount representative of the children. Successful conclusion of Mother Corn’s passage symbolizes assurance of safe passage of life’s bounty from one generation to another. The songs accompanying the ceremony describe various stages in the arrival and reception of Mother Corn in the village and then in the lodge of the son. After a song proclaiming her arrival, the
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tribe’s chief stands at the doorway to the ceremonial lodge holding Mother Corn. He is flanked by the Ku’rahus (spiritual “headman”) and his assistant, holding the brown eagle-feathered stem and the white eagle-feathered stem, respectively. As the son receives the bounty represented by Mother Corn, the central power image is the stem bearing the brown eagle feathers. Fletcher’s 1906 description of the meaning of the stem’s power is poignant: “Kawas [the brown eagle] has the right to make the nest and seek help from Tira’wa [the heavens] for the children.” A following stanza describes kawas’s flight inside the receiving lodge itself, the flapping of its sacred feathers driving out evil influences before a nest is made. Overall the ceremony is intended to ask for the gift of children and sustenance for the next generation, as well as for a firm bond between the parent and child. It also can symbolize the wish for peace and prosperity between those bearing the sacred objects and those who receive them. Hence, hako is associated with a ceremony of peace between tribes, one representing the fathers, the other the children. It is important to note that, although there is always a point in the hako ceremony for the offering of smoke to Tira’wa, and therefore the use of a ceremonial calumet, this aspect is not as important as the “true” symbol of the pipe in the ceremony, which is tied to the two “breathing mouths of wood” bearing the eagle feathers. Byron D. Cannon Sources for Further Study Driver, Harold E. Indians of North America. 2d ed., rev. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969. A general guide that can be used to compare forms of symbolism that place Hako in a broader cultural context. Fletcher, Alice C. The Hako: A Pawnee Ceremony. Twenty-second Annual Report to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of American Ethnology, 1904. This original work remains the most extensive description of Hako. _______. “A Pawnee Ritual Used When Changing a Man’s Name.”
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American Anthropologist, n.s. 1 (1899): 82-97. Shows ways in which Hako symbolism extends to other realms. Murie, James. The Ceremonies of the Pawnee. Smithsonian Institution Contributions to Anthropology 27. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979. General coverage, by Fletcher’s primary assistant, of rituals that occur among the same tribes that practiced the “model” hako ceremony. See also: Calumets and Pipe Bags; Corn Woman; Feathers and Featherwork.
Hamatsa Tribes affected: Kwakiutl Significance: The Hamatsa, or Cannibal Dance, is intended to inspire fear and awe in the audience. The Hamatsa, a dance performed by the Kwakiutl of British Columbia, Canada, is used primarily to induct novice shamans into the Hamatsa Society. Their membership in this society assures them of higher status as community healers. The Hamatsa dance is also occasionally performed at ceremonial potlatches. The Hamatsa or “cannibal,” is the central figure of the dance. Before each performance, a fire is lit in a large ceremonial plank house. After the fire has burned down to coals and the proper mood has been established, the dance begins. Through repetitive arm gestures, shuffling of the feet from side to side, exaggerated and contorted facial expressions, and manipulations of the eyes, the Hamatsa dancer attempts to instill a sense of fear and awe in the audience. The skill of a Hamatsa dancer is measured by the reactions of people in the audience. If they seem uneasy and spellbound, the dance is considered successful. The dance roughly follows the story of a “wild” or “unkept” cannibal who lives in the forest and occasionally comes near villages to devour unsuspecting children. It is interesting to note that
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although most Kwakiutl dances require the use of masks, they are not typically employed by Hamatsa dancers because so much of the effect of the dance relies on the improvisational use of facial contortions. To embellish the role of a wildman, the dancer’s face must be visible. Researchers who have worked with the Kwakiutl have speculated about the underlying functions of the dance. Some have suggested that it reaffirms a basic symbolic separation between things that are well-ordered, such as village life, and things that represent disorder, such as the forest. Thus, the Hamatsa theme might reinforce cultural values for village and societal togetherness, and at the same time point to what can happen if those values are neglected. Michael Findlay See also: Dances and Dancing; Potlatch.
Hand Games Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Hand games were an important source of entertainment; they were used by shamans to dramatize their magic and by storytellers to illustrate important events. Native Americans played a wide variety of hand games, primarily for entertainment and for developing and displaying skill and dexterity. Hand games were frequently the basis of different games of chance and even gambling, and both genders and all ages participated. Children were encouraged in hand games at an early age, to help them develop hand-eye coordination. The more common hand games were jackstraws, stick games, basket dice, tops, ball juggling, four stick, tip cat, hidden ball/object, pebble games, ring and pin, shell game, whirling game with hemp, dice games, and cat’s cradle. Shamans used special hand games that involved legerdemain (sleight of hand), to demonstrate the user’s religious power during
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Hand games served as the basis for gambling games such as kose-kaw-nuch. (Library of Congress)
curing rituals or prophesying. Skilled shamans could make game objects “speak” using ventriloquism, implying that the game had its own power or spirit. These special hand game objects were “fed” and sung to by their owners. Elders and skilled storytellers employed certain hand games to illustrate or dramatize events in creation stories or mythological accounts. Gifted hand game players frequently acquired status, and during winter confinement they would be called upon for entertainment. John Alan Ross See also: Children; Games and Contests.
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Hand Tremblers Tribes affected: Navajo Significance: Hand trembling is a distinctive cultural practice among the Navajo, an expression of the Navajo view of the world as ruled by harmonious balance. Hand trembling is one of the most common techniques for divination, or obtaining knowledge by ceremony, used among the Navajo, also known as the Diné. The two other widely used techniques are stargazing and listening. In stargazing, the diviner uses quartz crystals to interpret flashes of light or images outdoors in order to obtain information about an illness or some other problem. A listener finds the cause of a problem by hearing and interpreting some meaningful sound, such as that of thunder, after a ritual. Stargazers and listeners tend to be men, while hand trembling is reported to be more common among women. Researchers of Navajo culture and religion have suggested that both stargazing and listening have declined over the years, while the use of hand trembling has increased. Hand trembling is thought to have been borrowed by the Navajo from the Apache after 1860. Its usual uses are to diagnose illnesses, to identify witches, and to find lost objects or lost children. While the knowledge obtained from stargazing and listening is said to come from the dangerous Coyote spirit, hand tremblers get their information from the spirit of the Gila Monster. Traditional Navajo believe that the Gila Monster sees everything that happens and watches the actions of every person, so that it is able to tell where a child has strayed, what taboo a person has violated to bring on an illness, or what witch has cursed a sufferer. Hand trembling is usually signaled by the uncontrollable shaking or trembling of the right arm. After someone shows signs of hand trembling, a ceremony must be performed to enable the individual to bring on the state at will. Without the ceremony, there is a danger that the trembling will become a disease. When an object is missing, the one who has lost it will sit or
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kneel in front of the hand trembler, who will shake the hand before the seeker. For an illness, the ceremony involves sprinkling pollen over the sufferer, singing four special songs, and presenting gifts to the Gila Monster, who takes possession of the hand trembler. The answer to the question about the location of the lost object or about the nature of the sickness comes either from interpreting the motions of the shaking hand or from a direct revelation to the trembler by the Gila Monster. The hand trembler does not cure illnesses, but prescribes the ceremony and the song needed for a cure. This generally involves sitting or lying on a sand painting while a singer performs the needed ritual. The diagnosis by hand trembling and the healing ritual are based on the Navajo idea that the world is ruled by harmony. If something goes wrong, it is a result of a disruption of harmony by someone’s unintentional actions or by the intentional selfishness of a witch. Ceremonies help to re-establish a harmonious balance. Carl L. Bankston III Sources for Further Study Goodman, James. The Navajo Atlas: Environments, Resources, People and History of the Diné Bikeyah. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1982. Hill, W. W. “The Handtrembling Ceremony of the Navaho.” El Palacio 38 (1935): 56-68. Levy, Jerrold E., Raymond Neutra, and Dennis Parker. Hand Trembling, Frenzy Witchcraft, and Moth Madness: A Study of Navajo Seizure Disorders. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1987. See also: Chantways; Medicine and Modes of Curing: Postcontact; Medicine and Modes of Curing: Pre-contact; Music and Song; Religion; Sand Painting.
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Headdresses Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: A symbol of tribal or clan affiliation and of connection to specific spiritual powers, the headdress indicated the status and wealth of the wearer and suggested the response appropriate from others. Headdresses were worn as the spirits guided or as honors were bestowed. Everyday head coverings were artfully made, but practical. For ceremonial headdresses, however, there were no limits. All available materials were used: fur, fabric, leather, wood, metal, and bone. Decorations and adornments included feathers, beads, quills, stones, shells, and various metals. The simplest headdress was a single eagle feather, a symbol of status among the Plains people. The brave became a warrior after his first killing of an enemy and was permitted to wear the feather. The familiar fillet headband of fabric, fur, or leather was often beaded or quilled. It also took the form of braids of sweetgrass or crowns of cottonwood leaves or sage. Eastern Woodlands. A bear claw on a headband held power for dancers; others might dance in a whole bearskin, head and all. The ceremonial crowns of Algonquian men had dozens of turkey feathers fastened only at the quill-tips so that they were kept in motion as the wearer moved. The Seneca used a deerskin cap lined with woven willow twigs for protection in battle. For ceremonies a silver headband was worn with a large bunch of feathers on top. In the Ojibwa Midewiwin (Grand Medicine Society), a headband with upright eagle feathers was used in healing rites. Southeast. Fur or deerskin headdresses trimmed with heron feathers were favored in the Southeast. At the Green Corn Ceremony the Creek chief wore a duckskin headdress. Warriors and chiefs had wampum or quill-decorated fillets with crane or heron feathers fastened at center front. The Hopewell shaman performed a burial ceremony in a hood made of a human skull trimmed with
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deer hide fringe and human hair tassels. Shamans-in-training often had a stuffed owl perched on their heads. Plains. The ceremonial war bonnet of the Plains chiefs had a beaded headband, ermine tails, many eagle feathers slanted back, and more eagle feathers forming a trailer. At times one or two eagle feathers designated warriors or chiefs, such as Sitting Bull and Red Cloud, who had also earned the right to wear the full war bonnet. The majestic buffalo horn headdress had a cap of buffalo fur, beaded headband, ermine tails, buffalo horns, and a trailer of eagle feathers. Four Bears, a Mandan chief, had a buffalo-horn and eaglefeather bonnet. A red wooden knife fastened through the cap indicated that he had killed with such a weapon. Men of the Hidatsa Dog Society wore a headdress with a huge spray of magpie feathers, a fan of large upright turkey feathers at the back of the head, and one eagle plume at the crown. Cheyenne and Oto men wore wide headbands of fur decorated with feathers, beaded medallions, or small mirrors. Some Crow warriors perched a full stuffed crow at the back of their heads. The Pawnee warrior made a striking image with his partly shaved head painted red and topped with a red roach of deer tail hairs and an upright eagle feather. Sometimes on the Plains a full grizzly bearskin was used with the bear’s head as a helmet or with the snout upright. Southwest. Apache men wore braids of yucca fibers or a folded bandanna. The mountain spirits (Gans) danced in black hoods with turquoise or shell ornaments. Red scarves covered their faces. They wore long horns of yucca or a two-foot-high wooden slat frame, decorated with powerful symbols. Women in the Corn Dance wore the spectacular “tablita,” a large, brightly painted wooden headdress, while men danced with a bunch of small reddyed feathers on top of their heads. The Pueblo Deer Dance headdress was made of spruce boughs and deer antlers trimmed with feathers. Hopi men tied their headbands of red cloth, leaving the ends hanging down. For ceremo-
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nies, the Snake priest wore a large spray of feathers. In the Southwest Yaqui Deer Dance, the headdress was an actual deer head with red scarves wrapped around its antlers. It was tied upright on the dancer’s head over a white scarf. California. The woodpecker’s bright red feathers were prized by the Hupa. Their men’s Jumping Dance headdress had more than fifty red woodpecker scalps on a white fur band. The Pomo
An important part of Native American dress was the headdressoften very elaborate in style. (Library of Congress)
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used orange and black flicker feathers to decorate similar headbands. An elder in the Hupa Jumping Dance had a crown of sea lion teeth. The finely woven basket hat of Hupa women was decorated with painted images. The California Kuksu cult dancers wore enormous headdresses of feathers and long willow sticks. A trailer of yellow woodpecker feathers swayed as they danced. Northwest. The young Northwest Coast bride proclaimed her family’s wealth with a headdress of thousands of slender dentalium shells, glass beads, and Chinese coins, so long it touched the ground. Kwakiutl people wove basket hats with wide brims and conical tops, trimmed with copper and disk-shaped shells. The Nootka conical hat was waterproof, woven of spruce roots, and painted with stylized animal images. A headdress of long upright feathers was the symbol of power for the Nootka female shaman. Impressive Haida dance headdresses featured the clan animal crest of carved wood trimmed with ermine tails, feathers, and sea lion whiskers. The Kwakiutl dance crest was surrounded by swansdown and feathers and topped with long splints of whalebone. Tlingit people carved a full-head battle helmet of wood. Their shaman’s spirit mask worn on the forehead held a small carved wood face trimmed with feathers and white down. The Tlingit chief’s woven hat had a tall cone with rings declaring the number of potlatches he had sponsored. Arctic. The Aleut men of northwestern Alaska used long whiskers of the sea lion, beads, and paint to decorate their extendedvisor caps made of steamed and shaped wood. Aleut women’s headbands were beaded with a stylized floral pattern. Post-contact Influence on Headdresses. Styles and new fabrics from Europe and England led to changes in clothing and headdresses. To replace his deerskin cap, Cherokee chief Sequoyah adopted the silk turban. Seminole leader Osceola topped his turban with three ostrich plumes. When Shawnee warrior Tecumseh
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joined the British as a general during the War of 1812, his uniform included a red cap with an eagle feather. The famous Apache Geronimo wore the rolled scarf headband. After his surrender to General Miles in 1886, he was photographed wearing a widebrimmed European hat. When a delegation of Osage leaders visited Washington, D.C., President Thomas Jefferson presented them with dark blue U.S. military tunics and top hats trimmed with red and white ostrich feathers. These became traditional wedding outfits for the Osage bride and groom. Never overshadowed by European styles, the distinctive Plains headdress has been, rather stereotypically, the one considered American Indian. In 1990, the United States Postal Service issued a set of commemorative stamps featuring several eagle-feather war bonnets. Gale M. Thompson Sources for Further Study Billard, Jules B., et al. The World of the American Indian. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1974. Brown, Joseph Epes. The North American Indians: A Selection of Photographs by Edward S. Curtis. New York: Aperture, 1972. Dubin, Lois Sherr. North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present. New York: Henry N. Abrams, 1999. Gattuso, John, et al. Insight Guide: Native America. Reprint. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. Mails, Thomas E. Mystic Warriors of the Plains. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1972. Sturtevant, William, gen. ed. Handbook of North American Indians. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1978-2001. See also: Beads and Beadwork; Dress and Adornment; Feathers and Featherwork; Masks; Pow-wows and Celebrations; Quillwork; War Bonnets.
American Indian Culture
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MAGILL’S C H O I C E
American Indian Culture Volume 2 Hides and Hidework—Syllabaries
Edited by
Carole A. Barrett University of Mary
Harvey J. Markowitz Washington and Lee University
Salem Press, Inc. Pasadena, California
Hackensack, New Jersey
Copyright © 2004, by Salem Press, Inc. All rights in this book are reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address the publisher, Salem Press, Inc., P.O. Box 50062, Pasadena, California 91115. ∞ The paper used in these volumes conforms to the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, Z39.481992 (R1997) Most of the essays appearing within are drawn from Ready Reference: American Indians (1995), Great Events from History: Revised North American Series (1997), and Racial and Ethnic Relations in America (1999); essays have been updated and new essays have been added.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data American Indian culture / edited by Carole A. Barrett, Harvey J. Markowitz. p. cm. — (Magill’s choice) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-58765-192-0 (set : alk. paper) — ISBN 1-58765-193-9 (vol. 1 : alk. paper) — ISBN 1-58765-194-7 (vol. 2 : alk. paper) — ISBN 1-58765-247-1 (vol. 3 : alk. paper) 1. Indians of North America—Social life and customs. I. Barrett, Carole A. II. Markowitz, Harvey. III. Series. E98.S7A44 2004 970.004′97—dc22 2004001362
First Printing
printed in the united states of america
Contents Alphabetical List of Contents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxiii Hides and Hidework. . Hogan . . . . . . . . . . Hohokam Culture . . . Horses . . . . . . . . . . Humor . . . . . . . . . . Hunting and Gathering Husk Face Society . . .
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Igloo . . . . . . . . . . . . Incest Taboo . . . . . . . . Indian Police and Judges Irrigation . . . . . . . . .
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Joking Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 Kachinas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kinnikinnick . . . . . . . . . . . . Kinship and Social Organization . Kivas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Knives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kuksu Rituals and Society. . . . .
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Lacrosse . . . . . . . Lances and Spears . Land Claims. . . . . Language Families . Lean-To . . . . . . . Longhouse . . . . . Longhouse Religion
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Manibozho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maple Syrup and Sugar . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marriage and Divorce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maru Cult . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mathematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mayan Civilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Medicine and Modes of Curing: Post-contact . Medicine and Modes of Curing: Pre-contact . Medicine Bundles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Medicine Wheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Menses and Menstruation . . . . . . . . . . . . Metalwork. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Midewiwin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Midwinter Ceremony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Military Societies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Missions and Missionaries . . . . . . . . . . . Mississippian Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Moccasins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mogollon Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Morning Star Ceremony . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mosaic and Inlay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mother Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mounds and Mound Builders. . . . . . . . . . Music and Song. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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418 420 422 425 427 431 432 438 446 454 455 456 457 459 460 462 463 468 473 474 479 481 482 483 484 487
Names and Naming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496 Native American Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498 Ohio Mound Builders Okeepa. . . . . . . . . Olmec Civilization . . Oral Literatures . . . . Oratory . . . . . . . . Ornaments . . . . . .
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Paints and Painting. . . . . . . . . . . . Pan-Indianism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Parfleche. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pemmican . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Petroglyphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peyote and Peyote Religion . . . . . . . Pictographs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pipestone Quarries . . . . . . . . . . . . Pit House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Plank House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pochteca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Political Organization and Leadership. Potlatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pow-wows and Celebrations . . . . . . Praying Indians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Projectile Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Puberty and Initiation Rites . . . . . . . Pueblo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Quetzalcóatl. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582 Quillwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583 Ranching . . . . . . . . . . Religion . . . . . . . . . . . Religious Specialists . . . . Relocation . . . . . . . . . . Repatriation . . . . . . . . . Resource Use: Pre-contact . Resources . . . . . . . . . . Rite of Consolation . . . . . Rites of Passage . . . . . . .
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Sachem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622 Sacred, the. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623 Sacred Narratives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630 xxxi
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Salmon. . . . . . . . . . . . . Salt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sand Painting . . . . . . . . . Scalps and Scalping . . . . . Sculpture . . . . . . . . . . . Secotan. . . . . . . . . . . . . Secret Societies . . . . . . . . Serpent Mounds . . . . . . . Shaker Church . . . . . . . . Shaking Tent Ceremony . . . Shalako . . . . . . . . . . . . Shells and Shellwork . . . . . Shields . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sign Language . . . . . . . . Silverworking . . . . . . . . . Slavery. . . . . . . . . . . . . Snake Dance . . . . . . . . . Social Control . . . . . . . . . Societies: Non-kin-based . . Spirit Dancing . . . . . . . . Sports Mascots . . . . . . . . Squash . . . . . . . . . . . . . Star Quilts . . . . . . . . . . . Stereotypes . . . . . . . . . . Stomp Dance . . . . . . . . . Subsistence . . . . . . . . . . Suicide . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sun Dance . . . . . . . . . . . Sweatlodges and Sweatbaths Syllabaries . . . . . . . . . . .
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Alphabetical List of Contents Volume 1 Acorns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Adobe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Adoption . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Alcoholism . . . . . . . . . . . 14 American Indian Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Anasazi Civilization . . . . . . 26 Appliqué and Ribbonwork . . . . . . . . . 31 Architecture: Arctic. . . . . . . 35 Architecture: California . . . . 40 Architecture: Great Basin . . . 43 Architecture: Northeast . . . . 45 Architecture: Northwest Coast . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Architecture: Plains. . . . . . . 53 Architecture: Plateau . . . . . . 56 Architecture: Southeast . . . . 58 Architecture: Southwest . . . . 61 Architecture: Subarctic . . . . . 66 Art and Artists: Contemporary . . . . . . . . 67 Arts and Crafts: Arctic . . . . . 71 Arts and Crafts: California. . . . . . . . . . . 75 Arts and Crafts: Great Basin. . . . . . . . . . 79 Arts and Crafts: Northeast. . . . . . . . . . . 83 Arts and Crafts: Northwest Coast . . . . . . 86
Arts and Crafts: Plains . . . . . 90 Arts and Crafts: Plateau . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Arts and Crafts: Southeast . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Arts and Crafts: Southwest. . . . . . . . . . 100 Arts and Crafts: Subarctic . . . . . . . . . . 104 Astronomy . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Atlatl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Aztec Empire. . . . . . . . . . 110 Ball Game and Courts. . . Banner Stones . . . . . . . Baskets and Basketry . . . Beads and Beadwork . . . Beans . . . . . . . . . . . . Berdache . . . . . . . . . . Birchbark . . . . . . . . . . Black Drink . . . . . . . . Black Hills . . . . . . . . . Bladder Festival . . . . . . Blankets . . . . . . . . . . Boarding and Residential Schools . . . . . . . . . Boats and Watercraft . . . Booger Dance . . . . . . . Bows, Arrows, and Quivers . . . . . . . . . Bragskins . . . . . . . . . . Buffalo . . . . . . . . . . .
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115 117 118 123 127 128 130 132 133 134 136
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Alphabetical List of Contents Buffalo Dance . . . . . . . . . 155 Bundles, Sacred . . . . . . . . 156 Cacique . . . . . . . . . . Calumets and Pipe Bags . . . . . . . . . . Captivity and Captivity Narratives . . . . . . Chantways . . . . . . . . Chickee . . . . . . . . . . Children . . . . . . . . . Chilkat Blankets . . . . . Clans . . . . . . . . . . . Cliff Dwellings. . . . . . Clowns . . . . . . . . . . Codices . . . . . . . . . . Corn. . . . . . . . . . . . Corn Woman. . . . . . . Cotton . . . . . . . . . . Coup Sticks and Counting . . . . . . . Culture Areas . . . . . . Dances and Dancing . . Death and Mortuary Customs. . . . . . . . Deer Dance. . . . . . . . Demography . . . . . . . Disease and Intergroup Contact . . . . . . . . Dogs . . . . . . . . . . . Dream Catchers . . . . . Dress and Adornment . Drums . . . . . . . . . .
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Earthlodge . . . . . . . . . . . 243 Education: Post-contact. . . . 245 Education: Pre-contact . . . . 254
Effigy Mounds . . . . . Elderly . . . . . . . . . Employment and Unemployment . . Ethnophilosophy and Worldview . . . . . False Face Ceremony . Feast of the Dead . . . Feasts . . . . . . . . . . Feathers and Featherwork . . . . Fire and Firemaking. . Fish and Fishing . . . . Flutes . . . . . . . . . . Food Preparation and Cooking . . . . . . .
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Gambling. . . . . . . . . Games and Contests . . Gender Relations and Roles. . . . . . . . . . Ghost Dance . . . . . . . Gifts and Gift Giving . . Gold and Goldworking . Gourd Dance. . . . . . . Grass Dance . . . . . . . Grass House . . . . . . . Green Corn Dance. . . . Grooming . . . . . . . . Guardian Spirits . . . . . Guns . . . . . . . . . . .
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Hako . . . . . . Hamatsa . . . . Hand Games . . Hand Tremblers Headdresses . .
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339 343 344 346 348
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Volume 2 Hides and Hidework . . Hogan . . . . . . . . . . Hohokam Culture . . . . Horses . . . . . . . . . . Humor . . . . . . . . . . Hunting and Gathering. Husk Face Society . . . .
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Igloo . . . . . . . . . . . . Incest Taboo . . . . . . . . Indian Police and Judges . Irrigation . . . . . . . . . .
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353 355 356 362 365 366 369 370 371 372 374
Joking Relations . . . . . . . . 375 Kachinas . . . . . . Kinnikinnick . . . . Kinship and Social Organization . . Kivas . . . . . . . . Knives . . . . . . . Kuksu Rituals and Society. . . . . .
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Lacrosse . . . . . . . Lances and Spears. . Land Claims . . . . . Language Families . Lean-To . . . . . . . . Longhouse . . . . . . Longhouse Religion .
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Manibozho . . . . . . . . . . . 418 Maple Syrup and Sugar . . . 420 Marriage and Divorce. . . . . 422
Maru Cult . . . . . . . . Masks . . . . . . . . . . . Mathematics . . . . . . . Mayan Civilization . . . Medicine and Modes of Curing: Post-contact . Medicine and Modes of Curing: Pre-contact . Medicine Bundles . . . . Medicine Wheels . . . . Menses and Menstruation . . . . . Metalwork . . . . . . . . Midewiwin. . . . . . . . Midwinter Ceremony . . Military Societies . . . . Missions and Missionaries . . . . . Mississippian Culture. . Moccasins . . . . . . . . Mogollon Culture . . . . Money . . . . . . . . . . Morning Star Ceremony Mosaic and Inlay . . . . Mother Earth. . . . . . . Mounds and Mound Builders . . . . . . . . Music and Song . . . . .
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Names and Naming. . . . . . 496 Native American Church . . . 498 Ohio Mound Builders. . . . . 501 Okeepa . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506 Olmec Civilization . . . . . . 507
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Alphabetical List of Contents Oral Literatures . . . . . . . . 512 Oratory . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520 Ornaments . . . . . . . . . . . 523
Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . 614 Rite of Consolation . . . . . . 617 Rites of Passage . . . . . . . . 618
Paints and Painting . . Pan-Indianism . . . . . Parfleche . . . . . . . . Pemmican . . . . . . . Petroglyphs . . . . . . Peyote and Peyote Religion . . . . . . . Pictographs . . . . . . Pipestone Quarries . . Pit House . . . . . . . . Plank House . . . . . . Pochteca . . . . . . . . Political Organization and Leadership. . . Potlatch . . . . . . . . . Pottery . . . . . . . . . Pow-wows and Celebrations . . . . Praying Indians . . . . Projectile Points . . . . Puberty and Initiation Rites . . . . . . . . . Pueblo . . . . . . . . .
Sachem . . . . . . . . . . Sacred, the . . . . . . . . Sacred Narratives . . . . Salmon . . . . . . . . . . Salt . . . . . . . . . . . . Sand Painting . . . . . . Scalps and Scalping . . . Sculpture . . . . . . . . . Secotan . . . . . . . . . . Secret Societies. . . . . . Serpent Mounds . . . . . Shaker Church . . . . . . Shaking Tent Ceremony Shalako . . . . . . . . . . Shells and Shellwork . . Shields . . . . . . . . . . Sign Language . . . . . . Silverworking . . . . . . Slavery . . . . . . . . . . Snake Dance . . . . . . . Social Control . . . . . . Societies: Non-kin-based Spirit Dancing . . . . . . Sports Mascots. . . . . . Squash . . . . . . . . . . Star Quilts . . . . . . . . Stereotypes . . . . . . . . Stomp Dance. . . . . . . Subsistence . . . . . . . . Suicide . . . . . . . . . . Sun Dance . . . . . . . . Sweatlodges and Sweatbaths . . . . . . Syllabaries . . . . . . . .
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Quetzalcóatl . . . . . . . . . . 582 Quillwork . . . . . . . . . . . 583 Ranching . . . . . . . Religion. . . . . . . . Religious Specialists. Relocation . . . . . . Repatriation . . . . . Resource Use: Pre-contact . . . .
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Volume 3 Symbolism in Art . . . . . . . 713 Tanning . . . . . . . . . Tattoos and Tattooing . Technology . . . . . . . Tipi . . . . . . . . . . . Tobacco . . . . . . . . . Tobacco Society and Dance . . . . . . . . Tomahawks . . . . . . Tools . . . . . . . . . . Torture . . . . . . . . . Totem Poles . . . . . . Totems . . . . . . . . . Tourism. . . . . . . . . Toys . . . . . . . . . . . Trade . . . . . . . . . . Transportation Modes Tribal Colleges . . . . . Tribal Councils. . . . . Tribal Courts . . . . . . Tricksters . . . . . . . . Turquoise. . . . . . . . Twins . . . . . . . . . .
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728 730 731 737 739 741 743 746 747 751 754 759 761 763 766 768
Urban Indians . . . . . . . . . 769 Visions and Vision Quests . . . . . . . . . . . . 774 Walam Olum . . . . . Wampum . . . . . . . War Bonnets . . . . . Warfare and Conflict Wattle and Daub. . .
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Weapons . . . . . . . . Weaving . . . . . . . . Weirs and Traps . . . . Whales and Whaling . White Buffalo Society . White Deerskin Dance Wickiup. . . . . . . . . Wigwam . . . . . . . . Wild Rice . . . . . . . . Windigo . . . . . . . . Wintercounts . . . . . . Witchcraft and Sorcery Women . . . . . . . . . Women’s Societies. . .
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791 794 799 801 803 804 805 806 808 810 811 812 814 822
Zapotec Civilization. . . . . . 824 Educational Institutions and Programs . . . . . . . 829 Festivals and Pow-Wows . . . . . . . . . 857 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . 874 Mediagraphy . . . . . . . . . 888 Museums, Archives, and Libraries . . . . . . . . 938 Organizations, Agencies, and Societies . . . . . . . . 976 Tribes by Culture Area . . . . 985 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . 991 Web Resources . . . . . . . . 1019 Category Index . . . . . . . . 1029 Culture Area Index . . . . . 1037 Subject Index . . . . . . . . . 1043
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Hides and Hidework Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Hide was used by virtually all native groups for a variety of utilitarian purposes. Hide, either tanned or untanned (rawhide), was used by nearly all Native American groups for clothing, hats, burden cases, pouches, shields, masks, snowshoes, moccasins, strapping, hafting of wood and stone tools, stone-boiling, slings, quivers, rattles, weapons, saddles, shelters, fishing floats, survival food, kayak and umiak coverings, and a variety of other utilitarian articles. Though land mammal hide was most commonly used, there were instances of bird, reptile, and even salmon skin being utilized for various purposes. Hide tanning was laborious and sometimes labor intensive, particularly in the late summer or early fall when land mammal hides were prime. Consequently, a high division of labor existed for procuring and processing hides. Usually men were responsible for acquiring hides through hunting, trapping or snares, and, depending upon circumstances, skinning was accomplished by either gender. Once the animal’s skin was removed (usually intact), women were responsible for processing the hide. In fact, a woman could gain considerable status through her proficiency with hides, particularly if the hide was to be decorated with porcupine quills, shells, feathers, or teeth. A hide, if not to be used as rawhide, was processed in one of two ways: fur dressing, in which the hair was left on the hide, or complete hair removal. Fur dressing was a less complete method of tanning because the hide was not split, and limitations were imposed while tanning so as not to loosen the hair, which meant the hide frequently stiffened when wet. This type of tanning method was usually for clothing. Tanning a hide required basically four major steps. Regardless of the method of tanning, the skin was first washed and pounded with a stone maul to remove blood, fat, and excess flesh. The
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pounding broke down and softened the grain of fibers, making the hide more adherent to the tanning chemicals. Next the hide was dehaired, a process which varied among Native American groups. One procedure was to bury the stretched hide in hardwood ashes several inches underground for several days. Another procedure for hair removal was to “sweat” the hide in controlled conditions of humidity or warmth. Some groups would soak the hide in urine to facilitate hair removal. The next process was “beaming,” which removed any remaining hair, subcutaneous fat, and blood. The hide was pegged with wooden stakes or horn to the ground, or stretched onto a nearly vertical frame, or placed sectionally over a smooth log. The beaming was done with either a large mammal rib, scapula, or tibiae to which was hafted a flat, dull, ovid stone. Scraping stones were frequently lunette-shaped to prevent piercing the hide, and often were not hafted, but handheld. Further washing of the hide completed this difficult process. Ideally, the hide was then soft and flexible, ready for tanning. Among Native Americans there were essentially four methods of tanning, ones that required using either brains, urine, oil, or vegetables. Brain tanning, the most common method, required the brains of the animal to be kneaded into both sides of the pegged or loose hide. Any residue was later scraped away. The brains contained fat and an emulsifier. They were often mixed with animal liver, then kneaded with lichens to form small pads that were stored for future use. Sometimes this method of tanning was supplemented with washes from various deciduous tree barks, which actually was a combination of vegetable and brain tanning. Urine tanning was common in the Arctic region; it required submersion and manipulation of the hide in human urine, sometimes stored in ice troughs. Both urine- and brain-tanned hides become stiff when dry after being wet, and to maintain suppleness, hides were smoked with punk wood in small tipi-like structures. Oil tanning, though restricted in use, was a method that required working the animal’s fat and oil into the hide. In the Arctic and Subarctic, reindeer liver could supplement oil tanning. Vegetable
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tanning was accomplished with solutions from deciduous tree barks that contain tannin, such as oak, chestnut, and sumac trees. This procedure commonly required enclosing the hide in a bag containing the tanning solution until tanning was complete. Oils were sometimes used in addition to the tannic acids. John Alan Ross Source for Further Study Dubin, Lois Sherr. North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present. New York: Henry N. Abrams, 1999. See also: Buffalo; Hunting and Gathering; Tanning.
Hogan Tribe affected: Navajo Significance: Hogans are unique housing structures suited to the pastoral lifeways of the Navajo. The typical Navajo hogan is a large, comfortable, one-family dwelling place. The usual construction method starts with four support poles, which may represent the four sacred directions or the four sacred mountains that anchor the Navajo universe. The entryway, facing east, represents the union of sun and earth, as in Navajo creation myths. Around the foundation supports, a sixsided structure is built of logs, which are laid against lateral braces and then chinked with clay and rock. The roof curves in to form a low dome with a smoke hole in the center. The smoke hole and an entrance, covered with a blanket or sheepskin in winter, are the only openings. The hogan is ideally suited to the high mesas of the Southwest with their dry winds and temperature extremes. From snowy winters to hot dry summers, the log and clay exterior of the hogan provides efficient insulation, while its rounded shape conserves heat in winter. The roomy hogan may also provide a temporary home
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to newborn lambs or pups, as well as a living space for their owners. Often, a brush shelter is built near the hogan. This allows for outdoor cooking and dining during the summer. In places where wood is scarce, hogans may be constructed of stone. Helen Jaskoski See also: Architecture: Southwest.
Hohokam Culture Significance: Adapting to the desert environment, these ancestors of the modern Pimi and Papago established agricultural settlements and irrigation systems. One of four prehistoric cultures in the Southwest, the Hohokam people, ancestors of the modern Pimi and Papago, lived in the fertile valleys of the Salt and Gila Rivers in what is today southern Arizona. Artifacts show that this seemingly bleak region, the
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Arizona-Sonora Desert, was home to the Hohokam for more than seventeen hundred years, but archaeologists are not certain where they originated. Were they descendants of the earlier Cochise people, who hunted and gathered in the same desert area, or did they migrate from Mexico? Much of their cultural history suggests a Mesoamerican influence; however, this could have been acquired through the extensive trade routes established by the Hohokam. Development of Hohokam culture occurred in four phases: Pioneer, 300 b.c.e.-500 c.e.; Colonial, 500-900 c.e.; Sedentary, 900-1100 c.e.; and Classic, 1100-1400 c.e. The Hohokam culture was similar to the desert cultures of the Anasazi, Hakataya, and Mogollon, but a major difference was their complex irrigation system. Evidence from the Pioneer phase shows that the Hohokam lived in pit houses and began the cultivation of corn in their small villages. Floodplains along the rivers were rich with silt deposited from spring rains and snowmelt from nearby mountains. The earliest irrigation was probably achieved by directing the floodwaters. About 300 b.c.e., during the Pioneer phase, the village of Skoaquick, or Snaketown, was founded on the north bank of the Gila River. The first canal was built there to divert river water to irrigate fields as far as three miles away. Early canals were shallow but very wide. Later, using technology from Mexico, the Hohokam built narrow, deep canals with many branches and lined them with clay to channel water more than thirty miles. Gates made of woven grass mats controlled the flow from large dams throughout the canal system. Archaeological evidence suggests that construction of the canals was done by men using digging sticks and stone hoes. Earth was carried away in baskets by women and was probably used in building their pyramid ceremonial platforms. Continual maintenance was needed to keep the canals open after floods or thunderstorms, but this full-time technology provided a reliable subsistence for the Hohokam and supported a denser population. Instead of harvesting crops from the natural habitat, the Hohokam successfully brought agriculture into their villages to develop a stable farming society in which the men tended the fields instead of hunting.
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As domesticated corn moved northward from Mexico, it evolved into a new type with a floury kernel more easily crushed when dry. The Hohokam harvested their domestic corn and prepared it by traditional desert-culture methods of sun-drying, parching in baskets with coals, and grinding dried kernels. Storage in large pits kept their surplus food secure for several years. The plentiful food supply allowed time for the creation of art, including shell carving, loom weaving, and pottery making. Images of Kokopelli, the humpbacked flute player, a fertility god believed to assure a good harvest, frequently decorated the pottery. Epic poems carried Hohokam cultural history through many generations. The archaeological record shows that the Hohokam had no weapons; their bows, arrows, and spears were used for hunting deer, rabbits, and other small game to supplement their crops.
CALIFORNIA
Area of the Hohokam Culture
ANASAZI Mesa Verde
Kayenta Canyon de Chelly
Chaco Canyon
PATAYAN Snaketown Casa Grande
HOHOKAM
Point of Pines Mimbres
MOGOLLON
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Deerskins and rabbit fur were used for ponchos, robes, and blankets. Cotton shirts and breechcloths were typical outfits for men, and apron-skirts of shredded fiber were worn by women. Both wore sandals of woven fiber and wickerwork. Other Hohokam artifacts include stone and clay pipes, cane cigarettes, noseplugs, wooden spoons, flutes, and prayer sticks. Stick and ring games, guessing games, gambling bones, and dice were also part of Hohokam culture. Petroglyphs, pot shards, pyramids, and pit houses tell the story of Hohokam contact with Mexico. In addition to pottery and domestic crops, which by 600 c.e. included cotton, the Colonial phase shows the use of astronomy to calculate planting dates. Narrower, deeper canals were dug to control evaporation, ball courts were built for ceremonial use, and images of the feathered serpent were used in ceremonial art. In the Sedentary phase, a smaller area of the desert was occupied by the Hohokam. Greater development occurred in the material culture, which showed more influence from Mexico: red-onbuff pottery, copper bells, turquoise mosaics, iron-pyrite mirrors, textiles, and bright-feathered macaws as pets in homes. During this period, Hohokam artists began the process of etching. The earliest people in the Western world to master the craft, they devised a method of covering the shells with pitch, carving the design, then dipping shells in the acidic juice of the saguaro cactus fruit. Along with salt, these shells were highly prized for exchange on the extensive trade route. During the Classic phase, the Salados (a branch of the Anasazi people) moved into Hohokam territory, bringing a new architecture of multistory adobe houses. They introduced other varieties of corn, as well as beans and squash, and brought basketry, the newest art form. Always peaceful people, the Hohokam coexisted with the Salados, who assisted with the building of canals. By 1350 c.e., the complex network extended more than 150 miles. Of great importance to the Hohokam were the new songs and ceremonies brought by the Salado, for these kept the world in balance and assured a life of abundance and harmony.
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As early as 300 b.c.e., Snaketown had been the year-round site of a village of about fifty families who relied on the production of domestic crops. It remained the center of Hohokam culture for fifteen hundred years. During the expansive period, more than one hundred pit houses covered the three-hundred-acre site. A highly developed social organization was needed to oversee the large population, produce abundant food, and maintain the network of canals. As their culture evolved from the Pioneer through the Classic phase, Hohokam social organization had shifted from small bands to tribes to chiefdoms to states. In the early fifteenth century, the Hohokam abandoned Snaketown and other settlements, possibly because of a long period of drought. In the nineteenth century, Mormon farmers used part of the network of canals skillfully engineered almost two thousand years earlier. Continuing the legacy, a canal at Snaketown near present-day Phoenix was reconstructed in the twentieth century to divert water from the Salt River. The ancient Hohokam spoke Uto-Aztecan, one of the seven Southwest language families, which also included Hopi, Pima, Yaqui-Mayo, and Huichol. In the Piman language, the term “Hohokam” translates as “the vanished ones.” Myths and songs about the mysterious desert whirlwinds are found in Piman culture, inherited from their Hohokam ancestors. Perhaps the whirlwinds hold the secret of the vanished ones. Gale M. Thompson Sources for Further Study Abbott, David R., ed. Centuries of Decline During the Hohokam Classic Period at Pueblo Grande. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2003. An examination of the collapse of Hohokam culture during the fourteenth century. Ortiz, Alfonso, ed. Southwest. Vol. 9 in Handbook of North American Indians, edited by William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1979. _______. Southwest. Vol. 10 in Handbook of North American Indians, edited by William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithso-
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nian Institution, 1983. These two volumes in the Smithsonian’s multivolume history cover both the Pueblo (volume 9) and nonPueblo (volume 10) peoples of the Southwest. Maps, photographs, illustrations, bibliographies, indexes. Taylor, Colin, and William C. Sturtevant, eds. The Native Americans: The Indigenous People of North America. New York: Smithmark, 1991. Native American culture and lifestyle in nine culture areas, from the Arctic to the Southwest. Includes twenty-eight photographic spreads showing more than a thousand artifacts, dating from 1860 to 1920; 250 archival photographs, maps, and color plates, dating from 1850 to 1940; bibliography; catalog of artifacts; and index. Thomas, David Hurst. Exploring Ancient Native America: An Archeological Guide. New York: Routledge, 1999. Overview of Native American cultures and the evolution of numerous Native American civilizations. References more than four hundred accessible sites in North America. Discusses new scientific data from burial mounds, petroglyphs, artifacts, and celestial observations. Photographs, drawings, maps, and index. Underhill, Ruth M. Red Man’s America: A History of Indians in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953. Concise volume surveying origins, history, and definitive accounts of social customs, material culture, religion, and mythology. Written from the perspective of the first peoples of North America. Illustrations, maps, notes, extensive bibliography, and index. See also: Agriculture; Architecture: Southwest; Anasazi Civilization; Corn; Irrigation; Mogollon Civilization; Pottery.
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Horses Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: From the seventeenth century onward, the horse was an important aspect of many, if not most, North American Indian societies; it was most dominant in the lives of the Plains Indians. On his second voyage to the New World in 1493, Christopher Columbus imported the first horses to America. The settlement of Santo Domingo in Hispaniola became the horse-breeding center of the Caribbean islands. Subsequently, horse rancherías, both royal and private, were established in Cuba, Jamaica and other islands. When Hernán Cortés left Havana for the expedition to New Spain (Mexico) in 1519, he took with him sixteen horses, one of which foaled on board during the trip. After the fall of the Aztec empire, the Spaniards moved quickly to consolidate their gains. Antonio de Mendoza, the first viceroy of New Spain, faced the first serious challenge to Spanish rule since the conquest when natives rebelled in the northwestern province of Nueva Galicia, now the states of Jalisco and Nayarit. The rebellion, known as the Mixtón War of 1541-1542, caused the viceroy, for the first time, to send allied chieftains on horseback and use Spanish weapons to quell the uprising. It was with the Mixtón War that Native Americans started their long relationship with the horse. Dispersion of Horses. From New Spain, horses moved northward when Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, in his expedition of 1540-1542, took fifteen hundred horses with him to New Mexico (only a few of these animals survived). The first important breeding and distribution center of horses in what is now the United States was established in 1598 by Juan de Oñate in the San Juan Pueblo settlement on the east bank of the Rio Grande River, about 30 miles north of present-day Santa Fe, New Mexico. From this location, the horse was farther dispersed in an ever-northward and northwestward direction, arriving in the following areas in approximately these years: Colorado, 1659; Wyoming/Idaho, 1690-1700;
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Montana/Oregon/Washington, 1720-1730; Canada, 1730-1750; California, 1769-1775. In an eastern and northeastern direction, the horse was dispersed to the following areas: Texas/Oklahoma, 1600-1690; Nebraska/Kansas/South and North Dakota, 17201750. Except for the Mixtón incident and reports that, in 1567, tribes were observed riding horses in the Sonora Valley of Mexico, there is nothing to suggest that Southwest natives were on horseback before the seventeenth century. When Native Americans acquired horses they did so by stealing them from the Spaniards. By early 1700, horses with Spanish brands had reached the northern Plains, transforming every aspect of life for the people in the region. Before the advent of the horse, people in the Plains area used dogs to help transport personal possessions on travois tied to the dog’s back. The newly acquired horse became a “new superior dog” that was harnessed to a larger travois and was capable of transporting
The horse enabled the Plains Indians to use bigger travois to transport a larger volume of goods. (Library of Congress)
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greater volumes of material. Dog names were given to horses, honoring their function; the Assiniboine had two names for horses: Sho-a-thin-ga and Thongatch-shonga, both signifying “great dog”; the Blackfoot had Ponokamita, “elk dog”; the Gros Ventre, Itshouma-shunga, “red dog.” The Sioux word was Shonk-a-Wakan, “medicine dog”; and the Cree was Mistamin, “big dog.” Plains Horse Culture. Inevitably, horseback riding quickly followed the harnessed “big dogs,” and with the acquisition of firearms, mounted hunting parties enjoyed easier access to the vast buffalo herds roaming the Plains. Greater meat supplies raised many tribes above subsistence levels, providing time to pursue warlike activities such as raids for the acquisition of horses owned by other tribes. Individual horse ownership became an integral part of social transactions, and standards of wealth were measured in number of horses owned. Spiritual and religious customs incorporated the horse as powerful medicine, and members of horse cults believed they received their powers from horses. Horse breeding became commonplace among many tribes. The Flathead and Piegan acquired vast herds of horses (said to have numbered in the thousands), while the Nez Perce developed the outstanding, well-conformed, and spotted Appaloosa, which was known throughout the region as the hardiest and most reliable horse. The Blackfoot were the consummate horse keepers and trainers, and they practiced superior husbandry procedures. The Crow developed an honored horse “trading” tradition throughout the northern Plains and mountains. The Cheyenne attempted to steal horses without killing the members of the raided tribe, and the Comanche became the most dreaded and splendid horsemen of the Plains. The extermination of the buffalo, the sheer power of the western movement of European Americans, and the placement of the tribes on reservations ended the Native American horse culture. Moises Roizen See also: Buffalo; Dogs.
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Humor Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: North American Indian humor, in various forms, pervades various native traditions and serves important social functions. Playfulness, practical jokes, and other forms of humor were—and are—widespread among North American Indians. Lightheartedness might be used as a way of dealing with traditional restraints on expressing emotions. In the controlled setting of a village or family unit, arguments deriving from inevitable tensions could be very disruptive of common order. Conveying one’s point of view through humor rather than contention allowed for a socially acceptable release of emotions which might otherwise lead to socially harmful conflict. Humor also served as a way of keeping interpersonal aggressions under control, conveying a desired message of rebuke without the likelihood of physical retribution. An example is the tradition of “joking relations,” often cousins, who might use sarcasm to suggest corrections in undesirable behaviors. These cousins monitored each other’s actions, making pointed comments about a young man’s aptitude as a warrior, a young woman’s resistance to getting married, or an inappropriate choice of potential mate. In this way humor served as a way of discouraging deviant behavior and encouraging group norms while keeping the rebuke at a safe distance from the harmony of the immediate family. Similarly, a pejorative nickname based on undesirable physical attributes or lack of appropriate manly or womanly behavior might serve as an incentive to overcome limitations and conform to group norms. An unflattering name suggesting immaturity, unattractiveness, or unworthiness might follow someone through life or might later be replaced with a more desirable name. For example, the Shawnee Prophet was once known as Lalawethika (the Drum or Rattle) because of his boastfulness. After his spiritual awakening, however, he became known as Tenskwatawa—the Open Door.
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Indian cultures frowned on sarcasm or ridicule directed from parents toward their children in the interest of preserving family unity and protecting budding egos. At the same time, children—in the tolerant upbringing common to many native people—were often allowed to use humor and practical jokes, even against family members. Humor allowed important messages about behavior to be communicated in nonthreatening ways and thereby served as an important reinforcement of the community. Thomas P. Carroll See also: Joking Relations; Names and Naming; Social Control.
Hunting and Gathering Tribes affected: Prehistoric and pantribal Significance: Hunting and gathering societies could not amass surplus food supplies, but they generally met their needs adequately and had significant leisure time. “Hunting and gathering” refers to the economic activities of the simplest and historically earliest form of human society. Hunters and gatherers were migrant people possessing only rudimentary technology who traveled a fixed territory in pursuit of seasonal produce and game animals. Because they were usually ignorant of techniques of food preservation, hunters and gatherers did not collect surplus, thereby making them susceptible to occasional food shortages. Usually, however, tribes were so well adapted that even in the most marginal areas they easily supplied their continuing caloric needs by utilizing a wide range of food sources. Indeed, hunters and gatherers maintained the most leisurely lifestyle of any human societies, often devoting a scant two or three hours per day to subsistence activities. Hunting and gathering tribes contained several small bands of less than fifty members, all related by kinship or marriage. Occasionally kinship was fictive. Within bands the nuclear family was
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A late nineteenth century Paiute woman gathering seeds in southern Nevada. (National Archives)
the primary economic and social unit. Bands usually maintained a central camp, and food sharing was a principal feature of life. Occasionally bands met on ceremonial occasions or for the exchange, through marriage, of men or women. Of all human societies, hunting and gathering bands were the most egalitarian. Although bands usually acknowledged a headman, his role was merely advisory, and his status was in recognition of unusual prowess in a vital skill such as hunting. Likewise, there was greater sexual equality than among other types of societies. Among the Ute of the Great Basin, for example, instruction of women in abortion techniques and enforced sexual abstinence for more than a year after childbirth freed women from overly bur-
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densome maternal responsibilities. Trial marriages were common, and divorce could be accomplished simply by returning to the parental camp. Division of labor was by sex, with men hunting and women gathering food. Warfare and political functions were male responsibilities, as were religious and ceremonial leadership; elaborate rituals often surrounded a hunt. Child rearing and domestic activities such as cooking, basketmaking, sewing, and tanning hides were female duties. Hunting was awarded the highest social significance, which resulted in male dominance. Yet fully two-thirds or more of caloric needs were met by women’s gathering activities. Lacking higher authorities, discipline was usually performed within families. Ostracism and gossip within the band were also effective deterrents of crime. Tensions were often diffused by elaborate and ritualized methods such as insult singing. Because they were limited by their nomadic lifestyles, material possessions among hunters and gatherers were usually few. Oral traditions, including storytelling and historical renditions, however, were often elaborate. Unusual storytelling ability was valued, often conferring high status. Likewise, decorative arts could also be elaborate. The greatest pre-contact concentration of hunting and gathering tribes in North America was in the semi-arid Great Basin of Nevada, California, Oregon, Idaho, and Utah. By the mid-twentieth century, all American Indian hunting and gathering tribes had abandoned their traditional lifestyles. Mary E. Virginia Sources for Further Study Lee, Richard B., and Richard Daly, eds. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters and Gatherers. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Panter-Brick, Catherine, Robert H. Layton, and Peter RowleyConwy, eds. Hunter-gatherers: An Interdisciplinary Perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. See also: Gender Relations and Roles; Subsistence.
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Husk Face Society Tribes affected: Iroquois tribes Significance: Also called the Bushy Heads, the Husk Faces are an Iroquoian medicine society ministering to specific illnesses and conducting certain ritual functions. Husk Faces wear masks braided or woven from cornhusks. Paraphernalia also includes wooden hoes, shovels, and paddles for spreading or combing ashes. Membership in the Husk Face Society includes both men and women and comes as the result of dreaming of, or visioning, agricultural spirits, which ranking members of the society recognize. Husk Faces function in the Midwinter Ceremony in a key role as clowns. The female members dress as men and the men as women. They also reverse dance roles in the Midwinter Ceremony, and before departing they usually prophesy an abundant corn harvest for the coming year. Husk Faces herald the arrival of False Face Society members during the autumnal Thanksgiving Ceremony. Public appearances at Green Corn and other ceremonies include functioning to dispel disease. During False Face ceremonies, the Husk Faces act as “doorkeepers.” Husk Face masks include protruded mouth holes from which healers expel a curative blow on hot coals. Husk Face Society members seem to handle hot coals with ease. Glenn J. Schiffman Source for Further Study Fenton, William N. The False Faces of the Iroquois. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987. See also: Clowns; Masks; Midwinter Ceremony.
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Igloo Tribes affected: Primarily Inuit (Eskimo) groups in the Arctic culture area Significance: Igloos were the main dwelling structures of central Arctic tribes. Igloos, found mostly in the central Arctic, were hemispherical structures of varying size made of wind-compacted snow. Blocks were cut with bone or baleen knives. When placed one atop another in an inclined plane, each course of snow blocks decreased in circumference until the very top, which was completed with a capblock. Additional insulation was provided by shoveling loose snow atop the completed structure. A window for light was made of ice. It normally took two men three hours to build such a structure. The domoid igloo was divided into a living/cooking area and raised sleeping platform. The entrance tunnel sump was always lowest, so that entering cold air was warmed and then exited through a small opening over the sleeping area. It was important
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that the insulation effect not be reduced by the interior becoming too warm and the ice melting. Igloo size varied from accommodation for an extended family to a large ceremonial structure. On occasion, individual igloos situated at productive resource areas, particularly ice-sealing sites, were joined by tunnels. John Alan Ross See also: Architecture: Arctic.
Incest Taboo Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: This proscription was and continues to be taken very seriously by American Indian cultures. The incest taboo is the near-universal prohibition against marrying close biological relatives. Incest was condemned in very grave terms by American Indian cultures, even to the extent of being associated with witchcraft and sorcery. The practice of incest was sometimes blamed for reduced success in hunting and other misfortunes which befell communities. The ban on incest involved not only marriage but also any sexual intercourse with forbidden classes of relatives. Such classes included, but were not limited to, biological parents and siblings. Prohibited relatives also often included parallel cousins (that is, a man marrying his father’s brother’s daughter or his mother’s sister’s daughter). In some cultures the same denotation was applied to such cousins as was applied to siblings, as if to reinforce the prohibition on any marital or sexual relationship. One way of examining the likely acceptability of a match between relatives is thus by examining the terms used for the relationships between them. No such widespread ban, however, existed on relationships between cross cousins (a man marrying his father’s sister’s daughter or his mother’s brother’s daughter). In some cultures these marriages were not only permitted but also encouraged, and an alter-
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native partner was wed only when no acceptable cross cousin was available. In such communities, kinship terms for in-laws are often not present, since there is a biological relationship between both parties and their parents. A man was also usually allowed to marry his brother’s widow. Related to the prohibition of incest is the practice of exogamy. Exogamy refers to certain traditional restrictions on marriage that are not based on such close biological ties. One example is the requirement that one marry outside one’s clan. Another, local exogamy, dictates bans on marriage within a geographical community, requiring suitors to take a spouse from another location. Exogamy within families may be patrilineal, restricting marriage and sexual bonds with a greater number of relatives of the father; matrilineal, restricting a greater number of relatives of the mother; or bilateral, restricting equal numbers of relatives of both parents. Thomas P. Carroll See also: Clans; Kinship and Social Organization; Marriage and Divorce.
Indian Police and Judges Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: In 1878, a native police force and judicial system were created to administer justice on reservations. In 1817, the United States Supreme Court ruled that federal courts had jurisdiction over all cases, criminal and civil, in “Indian country.” The army served as the police force for Native Americans, and trials were held in federal courts. That policy remained in effect until 1878, when Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz recommended to Congress the creation of the United States Indian Police. Schurz received warnings from army officers in the West that starving Indians on reservations were becoming desperate and that a rebellion could break out at any time. Since the army did not
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Sioux Indian police at the Pine Ridge Agency in the late 1880s. (National Archives)
have enough troops available to react quickly to such an alarming possibility, it was suggested that Indians themselves be trained to handle such problems. Congress approved the creation of a native police force under the control of Office of Indian Affairs agents. Within three years, 162 officers and 653 privates, all Native Americans, were working at forty agencies in the West. Congress gave the Indian police the authority to guard reservations against trespassers, find and return “truants” from the reservation, arrest people for drunkenness, and provide other police services. The officers and their men generally received high praise from Indians and white agents for their conduct. Indians respected their own police much more than they did white military personnel. In 1883, the Department of the Interior authorized creation of Courts of Indian Offenses. The police were to serve as judges in these courts. Policemen serving as both judges and arresting officers created conflicts in many trials, so Congress approved hiring new Native American judges, even though it meant spending a little more money. Some whites in Congress and in white areas surrounding reservations, however, feared giving Native Americans
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full control of their criminal justice system. In 1885, the secretary of the interior acted to limit the types of crimes heard in the Indian courts. Indian judges could no longer hear cases concerning murder, manslaughter, rape, assault, arson, burglary, or larceny. These crimes were returned to the jurisdiction of United States marshals and federal district courts. Indian judges could try cases involving only petty criminal offenses. Despite these limits, the Indian police and courts proved a successful reform in treatment of Native Americans by allowing for more self-government on reservations. Leslie V. Tischauser Source for Further Study Hagan, William T. Indian Police and Judges: Experiments in Acculturation and Control. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1980. See also: Tribal Courts.
Irrigation Tribes affected: Southwestern tribes Significance: Irrigation permitted some tribes of the Southwest, particularly in prehistoric times, to practice effective agriculture in arid lands. Irrigation, the bringing of water to agricultural fields, was practiced widely in pre-Columbian Mexico and Peru, but it was used relatively little by prehistoric North American Indians. Most of eastern North America had adequate rainfall for agriculture, and much of western North America was so dry that agriculture was impractical. As a result, irrigation in pre-Columbian North America was restricted to the Southwest. There, the earliest known irrigation was practiced by people of the Hohokam archaeological tradition, beginning around 100 c.e. The earliest canals were modest in scope, unlined, and without sophisticated water control features. By 700, they had been ex-
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panded to a massive network, including one main canal at least 17 miles long; in addition, control features such as trash gates, head gates, and plunge pools had been added to the system. A few centuries later, the canals were lined to reduce loss from seepage. By 1400, however, Hohokam irrigation had diminished to small-scale ditches with far less engineering sophistication than the earlier systems, and this sort of irrigation was continued by the Pima. Other historic tribes using irrigation include the Pueblo peoples and the Colorado River tribes (Mojave and Yuma), who probably adopted their irrigation practices from the Spanish. Russell J. Barber See also: Agriculture; Hohokam Culture; Technology.
Joking Relations Tribes affected: Widespread but not pantribal Significance: Joking relations refer to the humorous and informal relations between certain relatives in many Indian tribes. A feature of many North American kinship systems is joking relations. Joking relations are almost always paired with, and given definition by, a corresponding set of avoidance relations. In avoidance relations, kin are to act in a reserved, formal fashion with each other; in some cases, kin in avoidance relations are actually to avoid each other physically. In joking relations, by contrast, certain kin engage in free and easy bantering and talk with each other. The kin with whom one may joke are typically a person’s grandparents and cross cousins. (A cross cousin is a relative related to a person through that person’s father’s sister or mother’s brother.) Avoidance relations are typically with one’s parents, siblings of the opposite sex, and parallel cousins. (Parallel cousins are related through the father’s brother or the mother’s sister.) North American Indians typically also practiced a strong avoidance relationship between sons- and mothers-in-law; for example, among the Crow, if
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a man’s mother-in-law entered an area, a son-in-law would excuse himself and leave. Kin with whom a person has avoidance relations are people with whom a person may not have sexual intercourse; if sex between such individuals did occur, it would be judged incest, a crime North American Indians strongly proscribed. To avoid even the appearance of the possibility of incestuous relationships with some relatives, Indians did not joke about or even talk about any topic even remotely related to sex with those kin. Avoidance relations were formal, and behavior around avoidance kin was carefully controlled. By comparison, joking relations were very informal and often bawdy. With these kin, people were relaxed; mock aggression and sexual allusion were common. Joking kin often tried to outdo one another in the obscenity of references to one another’s sexual exploits or attributes. Children were taught from infancy to delight in considering some joking kin in sexual and conjugal terms, and sexual intercourse was permitted between cross cousins. A nonsexual relationship of mutual indulgence existed between grandparents and grandchildren. While a person’s interactions with parents were formal, informality, personal warmth, and easygoing bantering marked interactions between grandparents and grandchildren. In some cultures, such as the Hidatsa, joking relations served an additional function: creating conformity through teasing. A Hidatsa man would tease a joking relative who had achieved few war honors or would tease a member of the Black Mouth secret society, which served as a kind of police force among the Hidatsa, who was thought to be unjust. Once again, the informality of the situation made the circumstances humorous and acceptable, but an important social message was delivered at the same time. Generally, however, joking relations were primarily a source of recreation and entertainment for those involved. David J. Minderhout See also: Children; Humor; Incest Taboo; Kinship and Social Organization.
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Kachinas Tribes affected: Pueblo tribes Significance: The kachina cult, concerned with the growth of crops and the fertility of all life, is found among all the Puebloans in the Southwest. The term “kachina” has three distinct meanings: a spirit being, a dancer wearing a mask who impersonates one of the spirits in ceremonial dances, and a wooden figurine or doll made to resemble one of the spirits. These kachina dolls, the best examples of woodcarving found among the Puebloans, are made primarily by the Hopi and to a lesser extent by the Zuñi, although belief in the kachina spirits is common to all the groups. Kachinas are spirits of the dead who act as intermediaries between humankind and the gods and who bring the clouds and the rain. Some Puebloans, the Hopi among them, believe that the kachinas live on mountaintops, while others, such as the Zuñi, believe that they live under the lakes. The Hopi kachinas leave their mountain home to live in the villages for six months each year, arriving in late February for an initiation ceremony called the Powamu and returning after the Niman Ceremony, or Home Dance, in July. While they are in the villages, the kachinas are represented in various dances and ceremonies by men wearing masks. There are two major categories of masks: those representing the greater, or most sacred, spirits, which are simple and unchanging, and those representing the lesser spirits, which have more spectacular, and changeable, features such as ears, noses, or beaks. Masked figures very similar to modern kachina masks have been found in ancient kiva murals at Hopi and in the Rio Grande Valley, as well as in pictographs located throughout the Southwest. Additionally, a small wooden effigy with the face painted to resemble a mask, found at the prehistoric site of Double Butte Cave in Arizona, bears a similarity to Hopi “cradle dolls,” the simple flat kachina dolls tied to a baby’s cradle. All these suggest a prehistoric origin for the kachina cult.
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Members of the Hopi tribe making kachina figures during the mid-1930s. (Museum of New Mexico)
It is not certain when the Puebloans began to carve modern versions of kachina dolls, although there are no examples dating earlier than about 1850, nor are there any references to them in the literature of the period. Kachina dolls are carved from cottonwood root and painted by the men of the pueblo to be given to their daughters or nieces in order to teach them the mask, costume, and body markings of each kachina spirit. Therefore, the doll must be accurate and detailed, especially the mask features. The dolls, although referring to religious spirits, are not religious objects themselves and are not worshiped as idols. The commercialization of the kachina doll began sometime in the 1880’s, when the traders who came into the Southwest began to sell the dolls to collectors. This resulted in a greater naturalism in the modeling of the figures as well as the addition of pieces of cloth, fur, and feathers to replace features earlier represented by carving and painting. “Action dolls”—those carved in more active positions—have also been developed to appeal to the collector. LouAnn Faris Culley
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Sources for Further Study Day, Jonathan S. Traditional Hopi Kachinas: A New Generation of Carvers. Flagstaff, Ariz.: Northland, 2000. Schaafsma, Polly, ed. Kachinas in the Pueblo World. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2000. See also: Arts and Crafts: Southwest; Masks; Religion; Sculpture.
Kinnikinnick Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: This plant was used by Native Americans in many ways. Kinnikinnick, a member of the heather family, is a low, trailing, evergreen shrub that forms dense mats in well-drained sandy soils throughout much of North America. Wherever the plant was found, the leaves and berries were utilized by Native Americans in a variety of ways. Some groups believed the plant was placed on earth primarily for use as a tobacco. Most commonly, the leaves were picked, dried, and smoked as a substitute for tobacco or used as a mixture with other plants, including wild tobacco, huckleberry leaves, “Indian marijuana,” dwarf wild rose, and red osier dogwood. After the plant had flowered, the leaf was dried, toasted, and often greased. The smoke has a sweet smell, and it can make the uninitiated smoker dizzy. The Lillooet sometimes made temporary pipe stems from the dried roots. The berries were eaten raw or after cooking, which made them more palatable, particularly when cooked slowly in bear, salmon, moose, deer, mountain goat, seal, or sturgeon grease. Kinnikinnick berries were used in meat and soups and, after the introduction of flour, were made into dumplings. The leaf was used commonly for making tea by boiling the dried leaves; the tea was drunk medicinally as a diuretic or tonic. John Alan Ross See also: Medicine and Modes of Curing: Pre-contact; Tobacco.
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Kinship and Social Organization Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Kinship relationships of various types have often formed the basis for political and social customs among native North Americans, including systems both much like and vastly different from those of Europeans. Like almost all cultures around the world, traditional American Indian cultures considered family relationships to be of paramount importance. Family relationships could be quite complex, as could the larger units of social organization. Therefore, a number of terms must be noted before American Indian social organization can be examined. The largest societal group was the tribe, or nation. The precise number of tribes that have existed in North America is difficult to ascertain, since many were virtually exterminated by the European invaders, but they certainly numbered in the hundreds. Within some tribes were moieties, two subgroups within the tribe, often identified with particular animals. The next group was the clan, identified by close familial relationship. Finally there was the family group, extended or immediate. Among various Indian tribes, these groups were of varying importance. The term “matrilineal” describes a society in which lineage, property, and various powers are passed down from mother to daughter. Patrilineal societies pass property and power from father to son. Patrilocal societies are those in which wives move into their husbands’ households; in matrilocal societies, men move into their wives’ households. Finally, before further discussion of social organization, it should be noted that some traditions and customs have survived to the present day, whereas others have not. Almost all of those that have continued have been changed—some dramatically—by contact with the dominant European American culture. A prime example of such changes is the fact that most Indians today are at least nominally Christian, and all live within the American legal
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system. Polygamy used to be common among Indian tribes; today, at least legally, it is nonexistent. Tribal chiefs still exist, but they are ultimately under the control of the United States government. While there will be a brief discussion of modern conditions, all the following will be referred to in the past tense as an indication that times have changed since first contact between Europeans and Indians. Lineage Patterns. Unlike European traditions, in which the male line is almost always considered predominant, there are a number of different traditions among Indians. Matrilineage was quite common. In many Indian cultures, the men spent most of their time outside, hunting and fishing or conducting warfare. The women were in charge of the household and often tended crops. In some cases, such as certain Inuit groups, the men customarily lived in “men’s houses,” while the regular households were composed entirely of women and children. In the Southwest, patrilineal descent was more common. Power and property were passed from father to son or from brother to brother. Wives often moved into their husbands’ households at marriage. In a few cases there was bilateral lineage, and the naming and meaning of various relatives were complex indeed. Some tribes described fathers and fathers’ brothers by the same term, while differentiating between mothers and mothers’ sisters. Many variations took place. Unfortunately, since many of these customs had already been altered before they were seriously studied, the situations can be confusing. Marriage within a clan was almost always forbidden. In some cases, the marriage had to be outside the moiety. In some cultures, notably the Subarctic tribes, marriage between cousins was encouraged, but incest was almost a universal taboo. While it is impossible to determine how ancient taboos originated, as they are usually assigned to the dictates of gods and spirits, these rules are remarkably logical in terms of modern genetics, which also discourages marriage between close relatives.
Patterns of Descent
Bilateral descent ral descent
Matrilineal descent
ineal descent Patrilineal descent Source: After Driver, Harold E., and William C. Massey, Comparative Studies of North American Indians, 1957.
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The one common custom among many Indian tribes that was totally abolished (at least legally) by U.S. law was polygamy. In many Indian cultures it was customary for a man, especially a man of power and influence, to have several wives. In some tribes, the number of wives a man married was an important sign of prestige. Political Power. The common stereotype of the old chief sitting on his blanket and decreeing orders for the tribe was actually a very uncommon system of government among American Indians. There were some such chiefs, certainly; the Natchez of Alabama and Louisiana, for example, were ruled by a chief called the Great Sun, who was practically considered a god, was bowed to regardless of what he said, and was carried on a litter. Lesser men left his presence by walking backward. He was an absolute dictator. Much more common, however, was a chief who was chosen by election, inherited his title but could be deposed by common opinion, or simply became chief because he proved himself in battle or had great wealth. The Athapaskan peoples of the Subarctic, whose political system is probably the best understood because they were among the last Indians to be significantly influenced by white culture, elected their chief. This chief was far from dictatorial, and he was answerable to a village council. Chosen for his abilities, he was not necessarily an old man or significantly involved in religious ceremonies. In many cases, religious leaders were also political leaders. The shamans among the Eskimos (Inuits) were probably the most powerful people in their tribes, but the political structure there was very loose, and occasionally great warriors achieved political power for a time. The Crow of the northwestern Plains had a chief with widespread power, but he became chief by agreement of the tribal members. Gender Roles. Gender roles among American Indians, including the division of labor between men and women and the amounts of social and political power held by each, were first observed and
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studied by European men who applied their own strong cultural biases and perceptions to what they observed. As a consequence, gender roles in American Indian societies represent an area of study that has been subject to some debate and reinterpretation. As a general rule, men were hunters, warriors, and the official leaders, while women kept up the homes and often tended crops. Such division is not surprising for societies that were largely agrarian or were oriented toward hunting or fishing; preindustrial European societies functioned in much the same way. Yet there were a number of exceptions. While men almost always were officially in charge, women sometimes held considerable power. Among the Hopi, for example, the individual households were the most important unit, and they were run by women. The household had a sacred bundle (fetish), which was owned by the oldest woman in the household and passed down from mother to daughter. The ceremonies involving these fetishes were held by the brother or son of this woman. The village chief was a man, and the chief generally was more a mediator than a ruler. This post was handed down from father to son. There was also a war chief, who had dictatorial powers in time of war but was chosen on the basis of his ability rather than lineage. Social Organization. The degree of social organization within and among groups varied widely among tribes, from loosely knit groups of small families to huge nations with complex political structures. Probably the most highly organized group of North American Indians were the Iroquois. This was a league of six nations, the Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, Tuscarora, Cayuga, and Onondaga. While these groups spoke a common language family and had many customs in common, their uniting was mainly a result of their warfare with the Algonquians, the other major group in New York and southeastern Quebec. The union was strengthened when the French, the first European settlers in the area, sided with the Algonquians. In the French and Indian War, the Iroquois Confederacy sided with the English.
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The prehistoric traditions of the Iroquois are hard to determine, because they had very early contact with Europeans, and this contact was usually violent. It is known, however, that Iroquois society was probably the closest to a genuinely matriarchal society in North America. Among the Iroquois, the women owned the property, arranged the marriages, and ruled the extended families, who lived in large numbers in longhouses—log cabins that could hold a great number of people of several generations. The original rulers were called sachems, but they were more mediators in tribal disagreements than rulers or dictators. Early European reports suggested that the real power was held by the women. At the opposite extreme were the tribes of the Subarctic and Arctic, including the Athapaskans, Eskimos (Inuits), and Aleuts. These people had an extremely loose political structure. Where there were chiefs at all, they were generally either elected or simply assumed to be in charge because they had proved themselves. These people were not particularly warlike; they were often nomadic, moving in search of game. Generally, the family unit was the most important social structure. The family unit varied from a small, nuclear family consisting of a husband, one or more wives, and any number of children, to large, extended families spanning several generations. A group of families constituted a clan, with common historical ancestors, often supposedly descended from a spirit or even an animal. Beyond the clan was the moiety. Paramount in most cases was the tribe, although even here there were great differences. In the Northeast, the tribe tended to be highly powerful, with a complex political structure. In the Northwest, small clans tended to be most powerful. In the Southwest, larger clans prevailed, and disputes among clans were settled by councils of chiefs. Contemporary Conditions. As stated previously, American Indian societies today—although some traditions continue and others are being rediscovered and reintroduced—reflect the disruption and cultural adaptation brought about by centuries of contact
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with European-derived culture. In addition to the wide variety of traditional lifeways of American Indians, which continue to provide differences among tribes, the structures of contemporary Indian societies are strongly affected by where Indians live today. Broadly speaking, three categories may be delineated: those who live in urban areas or large towns, those who live on reservations, and those who live in very remote areas (as in the Subarctic). American Indians in cities and towns, although still facing certain biases and prejudices, have generally acculturated to the dominant white culture. Moreover, because there has been considerable intermarriage, it is not always obvious that an individual is of Indian descent. Reservation Indians, on the other hand, are more likely to have preserved the old rituals, and reservation villages often still have chiefs and shamans. (It might be noted, however, that income from tourism has sometimes also played a part in the maintenance or reestablishment of certain ceremonies or customs.) There are still some Indians, mostly in very remote areas, who have been little affected by white culture. Probably the most widespread group still holding to ancient customs in many ways are the Athapaskans of Alaska, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. They live in log cabins in tiny villages, usually with no more than eighty or ninety residents. White residents, or even visitors, are rare apart from a few government officials and schoolteachers. English is the working language, but the native languages are used for traditional ceremonies. Typically, at a major event such as a birth, marriage, or death, two ceremonies will be held. One is in the ancient language (complete with dances and songs) and is usually barred to whites; the other is a Christian ceremony similar to one that might be held in any city or town in North America. Marc Goldstein Sources for Further Study Bandi, Hans-George. Eskimo Prehistory. College: University of Alaska Press, 1979. An archaeological study of early Eskimos, including illustrations, diagrams, and maps, discussing their culture from arrival upon the American continent.
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DeMallie, Raymond J., and Alfonso Ortiz, eds. North American Indian Anthropology: Essays on Society and Culture. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994. A collection of essays on kinship and social organization, law, art, ethnicity, politics, and religion. Hamilton, Charles. Cry of the Thunderbird: The American Indian’s Own Story. New ed. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972. A compilation of articles by American Indians about their culture, including memories of childhood, historical beginnings, and contemporary conditions. Morgan, Lewis Henry. Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family. Introduction by Elisabeth Tooker. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997. This book was originally published in 1871. Morgan studied the kinship systems of more than one hundred cultures—exploring the similarities and dissimilarities among the groups. Osalt, Wendell H. This Land Was Theirs: A Study of North American Indians. 7th ed. Mountain View, Calif.: Mayfield, 2001. Description of representative tribes in various regions; includes photographs and maps showing tribal areas. Spencer, Robert F., Jesse D. Jennings, et al. The Native Americans. 2d ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1977. An encyclopedic discussion of American Indian culture, from prehistory to contemporary times. Viola, Herman J. After Columbus: The Smithsonian Chronicles of the American Indians. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990. A history of North American Indian cultures, with a particular emphasis on the changes in those cultures as a result of European influence. See also: Clans; Gender Relations and Roles; Marriage and Divorce; Political Organization and Leadership; Social Control; Societies: Non-kin-based; Women.
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Kivas Tribes affected: Pueblo people (prehistoric to modern) Significance: The kiva is a circular, semi-subterranean structure used for ceremonial purposes; each tribal clan or society, usually exclusively male, has its own kiva, where members meet to commune with the spirits and with one another. The kiva first appeared in the Southwest among the prehistoric Mogollon, Hohokam, and Anasazi cultures. The Mogollon were the first to begin building permanent houses; it is likely that they conceived and developed their architecture themselves, without outside influence. By circa 100 c.e., the Mogollon circular pit house consisted of a hole several feet deep that was lined with poles and brush to create low sidewalls; a single center post supported a conical roof. A short, sloping ramp on one side served as an entryway, and a hole in the center of the roof provided a vent for the fire pit. As the Mogollon constructed their pit house villages, they always built one extra structure, usually deeper and larger, which served as the kiva—their ceremonial center. The Hohokam were also pit house builders, but their structures differed from those of the Mogollon both in design and in construction techniques. Starting with a large rectangular hole 20 to 30 feet in length, the Hohokam then built an entire “wattle-anddaub” structure within the pit. This method, consisting of small posts interlaced with brush and packed with mud and clay, offered better protection from the elements. The roof now had a double pitch, but entry was still gained through a sloping ramp on one side. Like the Mogollon, they designated one large pit house as a ceremonial kiva. About 500 c.e., the Modified Basket Maker Anasazi developed a circular pit house, about 5 feet deep and up to 25 feet in diameter. The walls of the pit were plastered with clay, and entrance was by ladder through the smoke hole. In the packed earthen floor, a small hole near the central fire pit represented sipapu, the opening through which humankind emerged onto the face of the earth, ac-
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cording to Puebloan legends of creation. Originally, the Anasazi pit house served as both home and ceremonial center; low stone walls were eventually used to divide the pit house into two separate spaces, one for daily living and one for ceremonial functions. The Pueblo Anasazi refined the earlier pit house into a more formal ceremonial structure which was deeper in the ground; it had stone-lined walls and floor, a stone bench around the inside, and stone pilasters to support the roof. When the Anasazi built their stone pueblos consisting of long, slightly curved rows of contiguous rooms, they placed their kivas in the center. From ancient times to the present, the kiva has served as the center of Puebloan ceremonial life. Every pueblo has several kivas, one for each of the clans or societies that play roles in influencing the spirits on behalf of all the people. Clan membership and access to the kivas are reserved for men only. Thus, the kiva also serves as
Early twentieth century corn dancers entering a kiva in San Ildefonso Pueblo. (Edward S. Curtis/Museum of New Mexico)
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a clubhouse for the men, giving them a place to work and socialize that is exclusively their own—an important function in a matrilineal society. LouAnn Faris Culley See also: Architecture: Southwest; Mogollon Civilization; Pit House; Pueblo; Religion; Sacred, the.
Knives Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Knives have been in use throughout prehistoric and historic times. Knives, which may be defined simply as tools for cutting, doubtless were carried across the Bering Strait land bridge when the ancestors of American Indians entered the Americas tens of thousands of years ago. These early knives would have resembled those in common use throughout the prehistoric period: stone knives flaked on both faces to form a sharp edge. Some knives, mostly for special purposes, were made from other materials or by other techniques in the prehistoric era. These included the coldhammered copper knives used as grave offerings by Indians around the Great Lakes from 2500 to 500 b.c.e. and the bone snow knives used by Inuits for cutting blocks for igloo construction. Another Inuit knife, the ulu, or “woman’s knife,” was half-moonshaped and made from ground slate. With the advent of Europeans, metals became more available for knives, arriving sometimes as trade knives and sometimes as other iron items that were remade into knives by Indian craftspeople. One special type of knife was the crooked knife, used by the Iroquois especially for carving false face masks. The crooked knife was made of trade iron but was based on an earlier native design made of bone. Russell J. Barber
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Sources for Further Study Taylor, Colin F. Native American Weapons. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. Tully, Lawrence N., and Steven N. Tully. Field Guide to Flint Arrowheads and Knives of the North American Indian: Identification and Values. Paducah, Ky.: Collector Books, 1998. Yeager, C. G. Arrowheads and Stone Artifacts: A Practical Guide for the Amateur Archaeologist. 2d ed. Boulder, Colo.: Pruett, 2000. See also: Lances and Spears; Projectile Points; Tools; Weapons.
Kuksu Rituals and Society Tribes affected: Costano, Maidu, Miwok, Patwin (Southern Wintu), Pomo, Northern Yokuts Significance: The Kuksu ritual and the emergence of the Kuksu society represent a shift from traditional religious beliefs that resulted from contact with European Americans. The “Kuksu complex,” as it is sometimes called by anthropologists, refers to an integrated set of rituals or ceremonies originally practiced by the river Patwin of the central Sacramento Valley of California. In its traditional context, Kuksu ritual provided for the initiation of young males into adulthood. Through time, however, as a result of contact with Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo populations and influence from the Native American Ghost Dance, the Kuksu cycle became the domain of a secret society dedicated to revitalizing native culture. As this became more and more the case, the influence of the Kuksu society spread to include a significant number of tribal groups in central-northern California. The Kuksu Rituals. The Kuksu rituals, as they were traditionally practiced, took place in semi-subterranean houses and involved dancers who impersonated important mythical spirits and deities. For example, the lead dancer typically played the part of
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Moki, a spirit of great significance in the scheme of Patwin cosmology. Other spirit characters were Tuya (“Big-Headed Dancer”) and Chelito—who helped coordinate the movements of Tuya. Of all the Kuksu ceremonies, Hesi was the most important. This ceremony began the ritual cycle which ran from fall to spring. The Hesi ritual took four days to complete and, as is typical of many Native American ceremonies, was conducted in a highly formal and prescriptive manner. Each dancer had to know the precise set of choreographed movements associated with each of the spirit characters. If a dancer made a mistake, he ran the risk of insulting the spirit and, thus, creating the possibility of bringing bad luck to the village. Most of the Kuksu rituals involved elaborate use of performance paraphernalia. Masks, veiled headdresses, feathered cloaks, and drums (otherwise rare in California) were all used to enhance the performances of the dancers. Most of these materials actually allowed the dancers to impersonate various spirits, especially those associated with creation myths, and to enhance the status of the dancers as mystics. In the Hesi ritual, for example, young initiates were subjected to a dance that involved the symbolic killing of the initiates. The dancers pretended, through clever manipulation of knives and other sharp objects, to slit the throats of the initiates. After this was done the dancers, most of whom were actual shamans, acted out the revival of their subjects. Cultural Functions. As mentioned above, the Kuksu ceremonies originally functioned primarily as a means of initiating adolescent males into the status of adults. Anthropologists and historians have also pointed to a number of more subtle functions. For example, most of the religious themes employed in these ceremonies relied to a significant degree on references to mythical characters. This suggests that a major function of these ceremonies involved the reinforcement of mythic stories of cosmogony (origins) and cosmology (the nature of the cosmos). As such, these dances and ceremonies not only had the general effect of telling members of society how the world came into existence but also afforded
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a way to make these ideas concrete and visible through ritual action. Anthropologists have also noted that the Kuksu complex defined status differences across both age and gender dimensions. For example, two levels of status based on age were always clearly defined through the structure and carrying out of Kuksu ceremonies: young male initiates and their elders. Furthermore, the ceremonies essentially acted out much of the content of stories and myths, and these stories often carried themes indicating fundamental differences between the roles of males and females. Women, for example, were not allowed to attend Kuksu ceremonies; thus, by way of their exclusion, women were defined as fundamentally different from men. Moreover, many of the stories acted out in the dances pointed to specific tasks associated with men. This had the effect of reinforcing a division of labor into male and female activities. Another emphasis found throughout the Kuksu cycle centered on the status and role of traditional healers. Among the Pomo, for example, the term “Kuksu” was used to refer to a specific type of healer. This individual was usually responsible for organizing and carrying out those ceremonies connected with the Kuksu cycle. This suggests, at least to some anthropologists, that shamans were extending their roles beyond part-time healing into a different function—that of community organizers. Moreover, some shamans were able to obtain greater overall status by way of elevating their participation in Kuksu rituals. The Kuksu Society and Cult. As more and more people of European descent began to settle in central-northern California, inevitable problems associated with close and immediate contact with Native American groups arose. During the 1870’s, 1880’s, and 1890’s, the Ghost Dance of the Great Basin and elsewhere in North America extended its influence into California. Kuksu practitioners began to incorporate elements of the Ghost Dance into their rituals. Prior to this time, the Kuksu had been organized into a secret society; with the introduction of Ghost Dance elements, the Kuksu
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society began to stimulate the formation of a reactionary organization whose primary goal was to invoke dead ancestors who would presumably expel whites from North America. Social scientists have referred to these types of associations as “revitalization” movements, for the underlying purpose of such movements was to revitalize a culture through purging all foreign and hostile elements. By 1900, many of the groups that had been involved with a more traditional approach to Kuksu themes had converted to a Ghost Dance version. This continued into the 1920’s, when Kuksu eventually died out. Michael Findlay Sources for Further Study Frickeberg, Walter, et al. Pre-Columbian American Religions. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968. Heizer, Robert F., and M. A. Whipple. The California Indians: A Source Book. 2d ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971. Hultkrantz, Ake. The Religions of the American Indians. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979. Kroeber, Alfred L. The Patwin and Their Neighbors. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1932. Loeb, Edwin Meyer. The Eastern Kuksu Cult. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1933. _______. The Western Kuksu Cult. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1932. See also: Dances and Dancing; Drums; Ghost Dance; Puberty and Initiation Rites; Religion.
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Lacrosse Tribes affected: Pantribal except for the Southwest Significance: The most widespread and popular game among Indians in North America, lacrosse often had ceremonial significance; European settlers learned the game, and it became popular in North America and parts of Europe. The actual origins of the game are unknown, but based on its widespread popularity and similarity of rules throughout North America, it is believed to be more than a thousand years old. It was played on fields of varying sizes of up to 2 miles long and 200 yards wide. Teams attempted to score by throwing a hard wooden or sand-filled buckskin ball through a goal. Players carried sticks of 3 to 5 feet in length with a woven leather pouch on the end used to carry, throw, and catch the ball. This feature is emphasized in the French name “lacrosse,” meaning “the stick.” The game was often part of ceremonial events including healing ceremonies and a regular part of celebrations. While it was usually a man’s game, in some areas women also played. Contests were also a means of friendly tribal rivalry and were often the focus for wagering. European settlers in Canada and the United States learned and adopted the game. Today it remains popular among Indian peoples, most notably the Iroquois. It is also firmly established as a college sport and is growing in popularity at the high school level. Charles Louis Kammer III Sources for Further Study Fisher, Donald M. Lacrosse: A History of the Game. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002. Hoyt-Goldsmith, Diane. Lacrosse: The National Game of the Iroquois. New York: Holiday House, 1998. Oxendine, Joseph B. American Indian Sports Heritage. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995. See also: Games and Contests.
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Lances and Spears Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Lances and spears were widely used since ancient times as weapons of battle and hunting; they were also used as symbols in religious ceremonies. The lance and spear were widely distributed hunting and war weapons, but they were used most extensively by the Inuit and Plains tribes. The Inuit used them primarily for hunting. The Plains tribes made most extensive use of them in warfare, probably because they were especially well suited to being thrown from horseback. The lance originated in ancient times as an effective distance weapon, reducing the risk of injury and producing surer results than could be obtained from using close-quarter weapons such as knives. The distance and force with which the lance could be propelled were significantly increased by means of a throwing stick. The spear or lance consisted of a projectile point, similar to an arrowhead, affixed to a long shaft of wood. The specific materials used and the lance’s form depended on environmental demands and available materials. Besides being used as weapons for hunting or combat, lances and spears acquired religious and ceremonial significance. Among
Type of spear used by the Micmac of the Northeast for salmon fishing; the two barbs around the point hold the speared fish in place.
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some tribes they were housed in elaborately decorated sheaths that signified the society, office, or status of the owner. Laurence Miller Source for Further Study Taylor, Colin F. Native American Weapons. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. See also: Atlatl; Bows, Arrows, and Quivers; Knives; Projectile Points; Tools; Weapons.
Land Claims Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: American Indians are using a variety of means to repossess land that was taken from them by conquest, treaty, or court decision. Land claims are a key component in conflicts between American Indians and federal, state, and local governments throughout North America. The claims stem from the repeated seizure of Indian lands by non-Indians since the beginning of European contact. History. American Indians have seen their land taken from them by military conquest, by treaty, by depopulation, and by court action. For example, in the United States, in the 1810 case of Fletcher v. Peck, U.S. Supreme Court justice John Marshall ruled that American Indian lands were “effectively vacant” and could be taken from Indians without their consent. Subsequent U.S. court cases in the early nineteenth century ruled that the federal government had precedent rights over American Indians by the fact of discovery; Indian nations were seen as “domestic to and dependent upon” the U.S. government, which could make decisions on their behalf. Even the reservation land guaranteed to American Indians in
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An advertisement from 1879 selling land the U.S. government bought from the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes. The land was originally intended for settlement by other Indians and former slaves. (Library of Congress)
the more than three hundred treaties signed between Indians and the U.S. government between 1790 and 1870 was open to non-Indian exploitation. The General Allotment Act of 1887 ended the traditional Indian land tenure system of communal ownership by assigning plots of land as private property to individual Indians on reservations; family heads were assigned 160 acres, for example. Because there were far fewer Indians than land parcels in 1887, the General Allotment Act gave the federal government the right to lease “surplus” reservation land to non-Indians or to incorporate it into national parks or forests. In this way, American Indians lost effective control of two-thirds of the acreage assigned to them by treaty. Individual Indians were also given the right to dispose of their reservation allotment, and many individuals found themselves coerced by poverty or pressure from non-Indians to lease their holdings to nonIndians. On some reservations, such as the Crow Reservation in Montana, non-Indians control nearly half of reservation land.
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Modern Issues. Many American Indians see land claims as basic to their efforts to improve their economic status and to gain an increased sense of self-worth and autonomy. American Indians have used a variety of means—including peaceful demonstrations, violent confrontations, and legal actions against governments or individuals in courts—to gain access to land taken from them. In the United States, Indians have often turned to the federal court system to enforce the terms of treaties or to set aside the effects of the General Allotment Act. The courts have been reluctant, however, to return land leased or owned by non-Indians; in some cases, Indians have instead been awarded restitution or access to former treaty lands for hunting, trapping, or fishing. For example, in 1983, a federal court in Wisconsin gave Indians the right to hunt and fish by traditional methods both on and off their reservations in that state. This led to occasional violent confrontations between Indians and non-Indian sport fishermen when Indians asserted their treaty rights to set their own season and size limit for fishing. Similarly, in 1986, a federal court in Minnesota awarded each individual of the White Earth Chippewa (Ojibwa) compensation for land lost to the General Allotment Act based on the value of the land at the time it was lost plus 5 percent compound interest; an additional six million dollars was granted the tribe for economic development of the reservation. Individuals who did not agree with the court’s decision were granted the right to sue for outright return of land within a given time period, but of thirty-nine Chippewa who elected this procedure, none prevailed. Similar land claim conflicts have occurred in Canada and Mexico. While the Canadian government has asserted the rights of Indians and Inuits to self-government on native lands since 1989, the actual implementation of those rights has been controversial. For example, in 1991, the Canadian government created a new 770,000-square-mile Arctic territory called Nunavut and assigned 136,000 square miles to the Inuit. In return, however, the Inuit were required to renounce their claims to all ancestral lands, especially those areas rich in oil, gas, and minerals. Many Inuit found that to
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Effect of Allotment on Land Ownership, 1890-1970 Indian-Owned Year
Trust Allotted
Tribal
GovernmentOwned
Total
1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1949 1960 1970
— 6,737,000 31,094,000 37,159,000 — 17,574,000 16,534,000 12,235,000 10,698,000
104,314,000 77,865,000 41,052,000 35,502,000 32,097,000 36,047,000 38,608,000 41,226,000 39,642,000
— — — — — 1,786,000 863,000 4,618,000 5,068,000
104,314,000 84,602,000 72,146,000 72,661,000 32,097,000 55,407,000 56,005,000 58,079,000 55,408,000
Note: Figures represent acres, rounded off to thousands, under Bureau of Indian Affairs jurisdiction. Dash (—) indicates unavailable data. Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, Part 1. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1975.
be too steep a price to pay for land that they effectively possessed anyway. In other cases as well, the Canadian government insisted that Indians give up all traditional land claims as part of any agreement on land use and self-government. In Mexico, Maya Indians in 1992 peacefully marched 1,000 kilometers across Mexico to protest the loss of traditional lands as well as to publicize other grievances; in return, the Mexican government pledged to resolve local land disputes in the state of Chiapas and to finance hundreds of small community development projects. The failure of the Mexican government to fulfill its pledges led to a January, 1994, uprising in Chiapas in which Indians battled with government troops; nearly one hundred persons were reported to have been killed, and a former governor of Chiapas was kidnapped. Means of Land Acquisition. Between passage of the General Allotment Act of 1887 and this 1934 legislation, the U.S. govern-
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ment took more than 90 million acres of Indian land. Today in the United States, the more than five hundred federally recognized Indian tribes hold only about 2 percent of U.S. land, or approximately 50 million acres. Most of this area is broken into widely scattered and small parcels, often in arid, rocky, and rural or remote areas. The largest reservation is that of the Navajo, which holds an area in the Southwest as big as the state of West Virginia. However, this size is an exception; most reservations are only small pockets of land, and some tribes have no land of their own. Tribes can acquire land in trust by purchase from federal surplus lands or by an act of Congress. It is also possible for the the Department of Interior to take land into trust for American Indian tribes, a power conferred in 1934 through the Indian Reorganization Act, which was designed in part to compensate Native Americans for previous unjust takings of their land. In 1983, the Indian Land Consolidation Act authorized any tribe, subject to approval of the Department of Interior, to exchange or sell tribal lands to eliminate undivided fractional interests in Indian trust or restricted lands or to consolidate its tribal holdings. Several amendments to this key piece of legislation have occurred since. Today much of the litigation and other activity surrounding land claims is directed toward acquisition of lands that historically were occupied by the tribes. Since 1934, the Department of Interior has taken into trust for American Indians approximately 9 million acres, but that is only 10 percent of the lands lost. In all sections of the North American continent Indians see land claims as central to their disputes with non-Indians. Legal proceedings and court cases to secure land continue across North America—involving tribes as disparate as the Chippewa, Sioux, Yakima, and Iroquois—and Congress continues to consider bills on land-into-trust issues. David J. Minderhout, updated by Christina J. Moose Sources for Further Study Anaya, S. James. “Native Land Claims in the United States: The Unatoned-for Spirit of Place.” Cultural Survival Quarterly 17, no. 4 (1994): 52-55.
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Benedek, Emily. The Wind Won’t Know Me: A History of the NavajoHopi Land Dispute. New York: Knopf, 1992. Brugge, David M. The Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute: An American Tragedy. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1994. Carrillo, Jo, ed. Readings in American Indian Law: Recalling the Rhythm of Survival. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998. Churchill, Ward. “The Earth Is Our Mother: Struggles for American Indian Land and Liberation in the Contemporary United States.” In The State of Native America: Genocide, Colonization, and Resistance. Boston: South End Press, 1992. Elias, Peter D. “Anthropology and Aboriginal Claims Research.” In Anthropology, Public Policy, and Native Peoples in Canada. Edited by Noel Dyck and James B. Waldram. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1993. Goldschmidt, Walter R., and Theodore H. Haas. Haa Aani, Our Land: Tlingit and Haida Land Rights and Use. Edited with an introduction by Thomas F. Thornton. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1999. Menzies, Charles R. “Stories from Home: First Nations, Land Claims, and Euro-Canadians.” American Ethnologist 21, no. 4 (1994): 776-791. See also: Black Hills; Resources.
Language Families Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: A language family’s existence indicates that its member languages have descended from a common, ancient source; that fact helps scholars reconstruct the origins and kinship of tribes. Anthropologists believe that humans first reached North America via a land bridge that intermittently connected Alaska and Siberia between twenty thousand and five thousand years ago. They came in a series of migrations, some separated by thousands of years,
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and (the theory holds) each migrating group spoke a single language. As a group slowly spread through North America and perhaps into Central and South America, it fragmented into subgroups that settled different areas along the way. Many subgroups lost contact with one another. The original language the group spoke changed, because all languages evolve, and it changed at different rates and in different manners among the subgroups as each developed a distinct culture. Soon subgroups spoke mutually unintelligible versions of the ancestral tongue; in other words, each had its own language. So disparate had the descendant languages become that when Europeans arrived on the American continents in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, they encountered what seemed to them a bewildering variety of languages radically unlike their own. Typology and Genetic Classifications. Yet despite the apparent diversity, underlying relationships exist among the languages. There are basically two ways to describe a linguistic relationship. The first, called typology, classifies languages based on structural similarities. Soon after American linguistics began, scholars noted that most Indian languages are polysynthetic (or incorporative), a type that combines major grammatical features into single words. In this sense, New World languages seemed distinct from all other languages then known. Typology, however, does not necessarily prove historical kinship. For example, according to typological criteria, English is more like Japanese than it is like German, to which English has a known historical connection. The second method, genetic classification, hunts for these historical connections. Historical and comparative linguists analyze languages to discover features that can only have been inherited from the same source. When they find similar pronunciations, words and affixes, and grammatical features among two or more languages that cannot be explained by coincidence or by borrowing, these languages must share a family relationship—a genealogy— just as organisms descended from the same parent share physical traits. Linguists often use the metaphor of a tree to characterize the
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relationships: An ancestral language (also called a “proto” language) splits into branches, each branch into sub-branches, and sub-branches into separate languages. The term “family” refers collectively to the descendants of the ancestral language, which lends its name to the family. A grouping of multiple families is called a superfamily or phylum. Even if the parent language no longer exists, its living offspring reveal much of its nature. By using modern evidence to reconstruct an ancient tongue’s sounds, words, and grammar, linguists offer potential evidence of humankind’s prehistoric character, evidence parallel to the ruins and middens studied by archaeologists and the skeletal remains studied by paleontologists. Since the early nineteenth century, reapplying linguistic methods developed during the study of the Indo-European languages, scholars have had notable success; many American Indian languages do indeed belong in families. Yet a number of topics—how many families, which languages belong in each, and what the families say about the original settlement of the Americas—have remained controversial from their beginnings. History of Classifications. In A Guide to the World’s Languages (1987), Merritt Ruhlen lists 627 Indian and Eskimo languages in the Americas, many of which are extinct and known only from short word lists that European explorers compiled. Although their methods were often crude, these explorers were the first contributors to American linguistics. The first formal studies of individual North American languages appeared in the mid-seventeenth century: John Eliot’s Natick grammar in 1666 and Roger Williams’ Narragansett phrase book in 1643. As European colonists moved westward and more Indian languages became known, affinities among them led to speculations about their relationships. Thomas Jefferson, for example, wrote in 1789 that a common parentage might become apparent from a study of Indian vocabularies and suggested New World languages may have a kinship to Asian languages, an idea that scholars began exploring seriously in the late twentieth century.
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Attempts to define the genetic relationship of American Indian languages began in the mid-nineteenth century. The first comprehensive study came from Albert Gallatin in 1836 (revised and expanded in 1848). Gallatin, a secretary of war, distributed a questionnaire to Indian language experts nationwide, soliciting information on six hundred words and some grammatical features. Gallatin made his classification by systematically comparing the responses. He grouped all North American languages, except those of California, into thirty-two families. Gallatin’s classification remained the standard until 1891, when separate studies by Daniel Brinton and John Wesley Powell appeared. Brinton, who included all the languages in both North and South America about which he could get information, perceived a fundamental unity behind them, although he separated them into about eighty families for each continent in The American Race. Powell, as director of the Bureau of American Ethnology and a founder of the American Anthropological Association, had access to much more information than Brinton did; he also had a staff of linguists to help him. His article in the bureau’s seventh annual report, however, treated only those languages north of Mexico. Based on comparisons of vocabulary, Powell and his staff distinguished fifty-eight language families and isolates (languages which do not show kinship to other languages). The report served as the basis for subsequent investigations in North American linguistics well into the twentieth century, while Brinton’s book did much the same for the languages of South America. American linguistics has been divided by a dispute over methods, a dispute that gradually arose between Columbia University anthropologist Franz Boas and several former students, principally Edward Sapir. Boas collected and analyzed information on a remarkable number of Indian languages, and early in his career he suggested that structural similarities among some languages bespoke a common origin. Later he changed his mind about the validity of genetic groupings and criticized the findings of his students. Those students, collecting and assessing languages on their own, especially in California, worked to classify them in ever
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larger families. In an influential 1929 Encyclopædia Britannica article, Sapir tentatively proposed six families for all of North America and parts of Mexico and Central America because of similarities in vocabulary and grammar: Eskimo-Aleut, Algonquian-Mosan, NaDene, Penutian, Aztec-Tanoan, and Hokan-Siouan. Specialists in individual families denounced Sapir’s broad classifications, some claiming that the resemblances he cited were purely fanciful and others faulting him for not distinguishing adequately between coincidental similarities, borrowings, and true cognates when he compared vocabulary items. The controversy persisted through the rest of the century; traditionalist linguists, in the spirit of Boas, resisted large-scale classifications and argued with reductionists, who followed Sapir in proposing families. The two sides were somewhat facetiously known as “splitters” and “lumpers.” Traditionalist Classification. In their introduction to The Languages of Native America (1979), Lyle Campbell and Marianne Mithun, rejecting the simple vocabulary comparisons of reductionists, listed three criteria for genetic classifications that would satisfy the traditionalists. First, only purely linguistic evidence is admissible; the findings of cultural anthropologists or archaeologists, for example, are irrelevant. Second, only resemblances between languages that include both sound and meaning are to be considered. If two or more languages have only a similar sound structure (such as the same number and type of consonants) or only employ the same method for constructing words (such as the use of suffixes to turn verbs into nouns), the kinship, Campbell and Mithun argue, should be viewed with skepticism. Basically, in this view, linguists should look for as many cognates as possible. Cognates (from Latin, meaning “born together”) are words in different languages that have similar sounds and meanings because they derive from the same word in an ancestral language. For example, English yoke, Latin iugum, and German Joch are cognates deriving from the hypothetical Indo-European form jugo. Third, comparisons of sounds, words, and grammatical features must not be conducted piecemeal; they must be accompa-
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nied by a hypothesis systematically explaining how changes took place. That is, linguists must discover laws of change from a parent language to its offspring languages. Only then will the relation between the offspring languages be proved. Additionally, they warn that not enough attention has been paid to “areal diffusion,” or the borrowing of words and (less often) grammatical features between groups living close to one another. Such borrowings prove only physical proximity, not common origins and kinship. Applying these criteria and cautions, Campbell and Mithun list 62 language families and isolates for North America. Their classifications are pointedly conservative and uncontroversial, intended to summarize contemporary research and serve as a starting point for further work. They recognize that many of the languages they list as isolates and some of the major branches will eventually be proved to belong together, but they refuse to allow lumping based on comparisons of vocabulary alone. Still, they follow Sapir in some cases, notably the universally accepted Eskimo-Aleut and Na-Dene families; however, they completely reject four of his six groupings. Campbell and Mithun insist that the watchword for linguistics should be “demonstration,” not “lumping,” in order to give American Indian linguistics a scientific rigor. Yet their call for rigor and their criteria have placed traditionalists in something of a dilemma. Their 62 families for North America and the 117 families posited for South America by the traditionalist Cestmir Loukotka in 1968 amount to considerable linguistic diversity, far more than exists in Europe or Africa—both of which were settled long before the Americas. In general, anthropologists have found that cultural diversity increases with time. That a more recently settled region such as the Americas should show greater linguistic diversity than an older cultural area such as Africa flouts this principle. Furthermore, paleoanthropological evidence fails to support such great diversity, a fact which has made some linguists unhappy with the traditionalist approach. Reductionist Classification. In 1987 Stanford University’s Joseph H. Greenberg published Language in the Americas, among the
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most controversial books about historical linguistics published in the twentieth century. In it he sweeps aside the traditionalists’ cautions, which he argues are largely specious. He claims that it is not necessary to reconstruct sound laws in order to show linguistic relationships. If two or more languages contain a sufficient number of cognates, then it is reasonable to assume that those languages descend from a common protolanguage. To ignore cognates because no sound laws exist to explain their varying forms, Greenberg argues, eliminates much valuable evidence. Greenberg and Ruhlen, his former student, applied their system of “multilateral analysis” to hundreds of languages. For this method, they compiled lists of words for universal concepts and natural phenomena, such as pronouns, terms for family members, names for body parts, and names for water, because such words are seldom borrowed. Then they compared the words for a particular concept all at once, not language by language as traditionalists would have it. Together they discerned the etymologies (historical roots of modern words) of about five hundred words and found 107 grammatical features existing in more than one language. From this evidence, Greenberg concluded that all the languages in the Americas belong to one of three phyla: EskimoAleut, Na-Dene, and Amerind. Eskimo-Aleut includes ten languages and is spoken by about eighty-five thousand people living on the Aleutian Islands and in a belt of land that extends from western Alaska across the top of Canada to the coasts of Greenland. The Eskimo branches fall into two sub-branches, western (or Yupik) and eastern (or Inuit), which meet at Alaska’s Norton Sound. Because it has relatively little diversity, Eskimo-Aleut is thought to be the youngest of the three phyla. Na-Dene contains three independent languages, Haida, Tlingit, and Eyak, which together have perhaps two thousand speakers, and a large branch, Athapaskan, which has thirty-two languages, most notably Chipewyan, Beaver, Apache, and Navajo. Navajo, with about 149,000 speakers, is the largest single Indian language in North America and the only one with a growing number of
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speakers. The Na-Dene phylum spreads from central Alaska as far as Hudson Bay in the east and south well into British Columbia. There are also small linguistic islands of Athapaskan in coastal Washington, Oregon, and Northern California and a large island that covers a substantial portion of New Mexico and Arizona. There has been little controversy about Eskimo-Aleut and NaDene, but Amerind, by far the largest group with 583 languages, was immediately denounced by traditionalists, who not only rejected the phylum but many of the branches and sub-branches in it because Greenberg does not distinguish typological similarities from genetic similarities. The large number of etymologies, however, has impressed some scholars. Most telling is the appearance of n in first-person pronouns and m in second-person pronouns in all Amerind subgroups, while i- is a common third-person marker; such widespread features for basic language concepts, Greenberg contends, can only point to a common ancestral language. Greenberg and Ruhlen divide the Amerind phylum into six major stocks, two of which apply to North America. Northern Amerind contains Almosan-Keresiouan (sixty-nine languages), which in its sub-branches has such famous languages as Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Cree, Ojibwa, Shawnee, Massachusett, Tillamook, Crow, Dakota, Pawnee, Mohawk, and Cherokee; Penutian (sixtyeight languages), with Chinook, Nez Perce, Natchez, Choctaw, Alabama, and Yucatec; and Hokan (twenty-eight languages), with Pomo, Mojave, Yuma, and Washoe. Central Amerind includes Tanoan (forty-nine languages), with Kiowa and Taos; Uto-Aztecan (twenty-five languages), with Hopi, Paiute, Shoshone, Comanche, and Nahuatl (the Aztec language); and Oto-Manguean (seventeen languages). The remaining four major stocks, Chibchan-Paezan (forty-three languages), Andean (eighteen languages), EquatorialTucanoan (192 languages), and Ge-Pano-Carib (117 languages), occupy South America and the Caribbean islands. Quechau, an Andean language in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, has the largest number of speakers, about eight million. Greenberg remarks that his broad approach to classification is a beginning, not an end in itself. Detailed reconstructions of lan-
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guages and sound laws, the scrutiny which traditionalists demand, are still needed to work out the details in his proposal. Although he admits that some features of his groupings may need revising after such examinations, he remains confident that the overall plan is correct. He further proposes that the three American phyla show connections to Old World language groups. EskimoAleut may belong in Eurasiatic, a postulated immense superfamily whose members include English, Turkic, and Japanese; Amerind may also be related to Eurasiatic, but much more distantly. Since Language in the Americas appeared, some Russian and American scholars have placed Na-Dene and Caucasian (languages of central Russia) in Dene-Caucasian, with possible affiliation to SinoTibetan, a family that includes the Chinese languages. Ultimately, Greenberg suggests, all modern languages may descend from a single stock, which he calls Proto-Sapiens and others have called Proto-World and Proto-Human. Nonlinguistic Evidence. Despite the debate among linguists, Greenberg’s Eskimo-Aleut, Na-Dene, and Amerind categories have found some support from other scientific disciplines. The findings all appear to substantiate the theory that American Indians and Eskimos crossed from Asia in at least three migrations that correspond to the three language phyla. The first, the ancestors of Amerind speakers, came no more recently than twelve thousand years ago and may correspond, in anthropological terms, to the Clovis, or Paleo-Indian, culture. The Na-Dene migration began to arrive sometime between seven and ten thousand years ago and probably became the Paleo-Arctic culture. The Eskimo-Aleuts came last, about four to five thousand years ago, and may have been the Thule culture, although that identification is uncertain. The periods are so vague because the archaeological and linguistic evidence is difficult to date precisely. Geneticists also have found that American Indians belong in three distinct groups. A team led by L. L. Cavalli-Sforza studied variations in Rh factor, a blood antigen, by population; CavalliSforza claims that Greenberg’s language phyla accord with his ge-
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netic groups. Studies of variations in mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) by Douglas C. Wallace also appear to support Greenberg. Finally, analyses of human teeth, immunoglobulin G, and blood serums in modern Indian populations have produced corroborating findings. A majority of linguists reject, or at least are skeptical of, the multilateral analysis Greenberg and Ruhlen used to reach their conclusions. At the same time, most assume that large-scale relationships do exist among the more than six hundred known Indian languages, which language-by-language comparison and deduction of sound laws will eventually confirm. Thus, scientists largely agree that the Americas were populated by a small number of groups who traveled from Asia and whose languages slowly differentiated as the groups spread throughout the New World. Roger Smith Sources for Further Study Bright, William, et al., eds. Linguistics in North America. Vol. 10 in Current Trends in Linguistics, edited by Thomas A. Sebeok. The Hague: Mouton, 1973. Essays devoted to the history of American linguistics, protolanguages, and the mutual influence of languages within regions present summary information on genetic and typological classifications. Campbell, Lyle. American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. An analysis of the history of Native American languages. Campbell, Lyle, and Marianne Mithun, eds. The Languages of Native America: Historical and Comparative Assessment. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1979. The editors propose sixty-two language families and isolates, based on rigorous and systematic classification methods, and contributors summarize research on seventeen of the families. Greenberg, Joseph H. Language in the Americas. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1987. This controversial book classifies all languages in North and South America into three phyla based on correspondences in vocabulary and grammar.
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Greenberg, Joseph H., and Merritt Ruhlen. “Linguistic Origins of Native Americans.” Scientific American 267 (November, 1992): 94-99. Summarizes the authors’ classification of American languages into three phyla, discusses their relation to Old World language families, and outlines corroborating evidence from genetics and anthropology. Mithun, Marianne. The Languages of Native North America. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. An exhaustive and scholarly study of native North American languages. Ruhlen, Merritt. Classification. Vol. 1 in A Guide to the World’s Languages. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1987. An illuminating chapter on classification methods helps make sense of the long-standing controversy over American Indian languages; another chapter presents major classification proposals for them and repeats Greenberg’s conclusions. See also: Culture Areas; Sign Language.
Lean-To Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Lean-tos were most useful as quickly constructed, temporary shelters. Lean-tos were used as temporary structures throughout North America, mostly for shelter, windbreaks, or privacy when people were in transit or at resource exploitation sites. A lean-to was basically an inclined rectangular or V-shaped side roof that was freestanding using several vertical supporting upright poles. It might also be supported against a tree or large boulder. The main attribute of this simple but effective structure was its ease of construction; natives utilized natural materials available on the site such as tules, cattails, strips of bark, plaited willow, seaweed, leaves, grass, or even clothing or blankets. The size of the structure was depen-
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dent upon materials at hand, number of occupants, and time required to construct the shelter. A basic lean-to could accommodate four to five persons; in the Great Basin, these structures were relatively large and were used for several weeks or even months by an extended family. Lean-tos were strategically situated so the prevailing wind was at a right angle to the opening, to draft away any smoke or embers from a cooking or warming fire. With more complex lean-tos, the bearing poles were carefully tied and stored in or against a tree for future use. John Alan Ross See also: Architecture: Plateau; Architecture: Subarctic.
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Longhouse
Longhouse Tribes affected: Primarily Iroquois, Northwest Coast tribes Significance: The longhouse is a distinctive architectural structure used by various tribes for housing in traditional times and used as the setting for religious ceremonies today. The longhouse is an architectural form that occurs widely throughout the world, including native North America, Africa, Micronesia, and Scandinavia. The longhouse is, as the name implies, relatively long and narrow, often reaching 50 to 70 feet in length and 12 to 15 feet in width. Longhouses usually have several fires for cooking and heating arrayed along their central axis, each maintained by a nuclear family. The nuclear families within a longhouse usually are closely related and form a matrilineal extended family. In North America, longhouses have been traditional for the Iroquois and various the Northwest Coast tribes. Among the Iroquois, the longhouse is a symbol of traditional values and, when it was the primary form of housing, was the site of various tradi-
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tional religious ceremonies. Though today Iroquois live mostly in single-family housing, the religious association of the longhouse has been continued. The religion of Handsome Lake, commonly called the “Longhouse religion,” holds its ceremonies in a longhouse dedicated to that purpose. Most Northwest Coast tribes use longhouses solely for potlatches and other ceremonies. Russell J. Barber See also: Architecture: Northeast; Architecture: Northwest Coast; Longhouse Religion.
Longhouse Religion Tribes affected: Seneca, other Iroquois tribes Significance: The Longhouse religion, influential among the Iroquois, particularly the Senecas, stressed the importance of the family and the harmful effects of such “sins” as promiscuity, wife beating, and alcoholism. The Longhouse religion, or the Gaiwiio, “the good word,” is the modern religious tradition that traces its roots to the Seneca prophet Handsome Lake, who delivered his prophecies in 1810. His first vision occurred in 1799. Handsome Lake was born at the Seneca village Canawaugus, near Avon, New York. He was a recognized Seneca chief, as was his half-brother, Cornplanter. Cornplanter was the better known of the two among non-Indians, having traveled widely on behalf of Seneca and general Native American issues. In June, 1799, Handsome Lake was seriously ill and fell unconscious. He reported having a vision while in this state. In this vision he saw three men holding berry bushes; they offered berries to Handsome Lake. The berries had a healing effect, and as he recovered, he began to talk with the three men. It was understood that there was one man missing, a fourth, whom Handsome Lake later identified with the Great Spirit, who would come again at a later time. During his conversations with the three men, Handsome
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Lake heard them condemn alcoholism, pronounce a death sentence on a witch, and condemn witchcraft generally. Handsome Lake himself was told not to drink anymore. Furthermore, Handsome Lake was given to understand that his sins were not unforgivable and that he was to teach his people the proper way to live. Handsome Lake had many such visions after this initial one, and over sixteen years of activity, a “Code” of teachings was gathered and became a part of Seneca oral tradition. The Code sounds very similar to apocalyptic biblical visions, such as those found in the books of Daniel and Revelation, in that it describes visions of heaven and hell and involves a conversation between a mortal and a being who describes what the person is seeing, emphasizing the importance of the message. Among the more significant of the visions of Handsome Lake are his reports of punishments in hell for specific sins, such as stinginess, alcoholism, witchcraft, sexual promiscuity, wife beating, gambling, and quarrelsome family relations. Each of these sins was associated with a particularly graphic punishment in hell. As the Code reads in Arthur C. Parker’s 1913 edition (based on oral tradition as it existed in 1910), it is a series of admonitions and bits of advice on preserving personal piety and family life and rejecting alcohol, gambling, and other threats to social existence. The Code is worded in a concerned and compassionate tone, as advice from the Great Spirit. It is clear that the enumerated sins are signs of social breakdown and trouble among the Senecas themselves in times of contact with European American culture. Indeed, the religion of Handsome Lake was to become a significant response to and survival mechanism for the Seneca people. By 1861, traditional religion among the Senecas had been almost entirely replaced by membership in either a Christian missionary church or the Longhouse religion based on the teachings of Handsome Lake. Many Senecas then, as now, saw little conflict in active membership in both movements. Most of the information about the early development of the Handsome Lake religion, and the visions of Handsome Lake him-
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self, come from two main sources. Arthur C. Parker, working with a descendant of Cornplanter, sponsored a project involving Edward Cornplanter and a Seneca Baptist Christian, who translated into English the oral tradition as recollected by Cornplanter himself in about 1910. The other main source of information are the journals of Quaker workers who lived with the Senecas at the time of Handsome Lake’s visions and were on hand to record many of those visions at the precise time of Handsome Lake’s activity. In 1798, the Quakers sponsored the work of Henry Simmons, Jr., Joel Swayne, and Halliday Jackson. They were not so much missionaries as relief workers whose intention was to teach trades and skills such as agriculture and spinning and to teach reading and writing to any young Senecas who were interested in attending regular school sessions, held at first in Cornplanter’s home. The journals of these Quaker workers represent eyewitness accounts. The journals have been edited and published by Anthony F. C. Wallace. The modern practice of the Longhouse religion is largely a private affair, not open to non-Indian investigation. In response to modern questions, respondents generally reply with answers similar to the following: “I do not have the right to exploit this tradition, since it is not mine to give—I am only a follower.” Modern practitioners frequently describe the Longhouse religion as “a way of living and feeling that is our way” or say that “the Earth is filled with gifts, and we should give thanks for what is received, according to the Code of Handsome Lake.” From written accounts, it is possible to summarize Longhouse religious practice as highly personal and often emotional; it involves strong encouragement to maintain a pure lifestyle according to the teachings of Handsome Lake and emphasizes such important matters as alcoholism and family unity. Furthermore, regular occasions are set aside for recounting the Code of Handsome Lake, which must be read before noon; this may take from three to five days. Modern estimates of Longhouse religious practice suggest that nearly half of the Seneca-Iroquois are active participants and that adherents stretch from modern New York into
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southern Canada, and into Oklahoma on Seneca reservations there. Non-Indian students interested in the Longhouse religion should exercise great care in investigating this tradition with Seneca members, keeping in mind the sad history of exploitation that is very much in the minds of most Native American practitioners of native religious traditions, such as the Longhouse religion, the Shaker Church, the use of peyote (as in the Native American Church), and other expressions of religious faith. Daniel L. Smith-Christopher Sources for Further Study Handsome Lake. The Code of Handsome Lake. Bulletin 163. Edited by Arthur C. Parker. New York: New York State Museum, 1913. Swatzler, David, and Henry C. Simmons. A Friend Among the Senecas: The Quaker Mission to Cornplanter’s People. Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 2000. Wallace, Anthony F. C. Death and Rebirth of the Seneca. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1973. _______, ed. “Halliday Jackson’s Journal to the Seneca Indians, 1798-1800.” Part 1. Pennsylvania History 19, no. 2 (1952): 117-147. _______, ed. “Halliday Jackson’s Journal to the Seneca Indians, 1798-1800.” Part 2. Pennsylvania History 19, no. 3 (1952): 325-349. See also: Longhouse; Religion; Visions and Vision Quests.
Manibozho Tribe affected: Ojibwa Significance: Manibozho—legendary wise man, prophet, and messenger from the Great Spirit—was also a trickster who was sometimes outdone by his own tricks. Tales of Manibozho are told throughout the Great Lakes region, where he is also known as Nanabozho, Nana, Wenebojo, and the Great Hare. Manibozho was a messenger from Gitche Manitou
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(Great Spirit). His grandmother, Nokomis, was daughter of the Moon; his father was the West Wind. Shortly after Manibozho’s magical birth near Gitchee Gumee (Lake Superior), he turned himself into a white rabbit. Manibozho changed his form at will—to a tree, a rock, or any animal. Manibozho was said to have brought his people the gift of fire. He also invented kinnikinnick (smoking mixture), created the Midewiwin (Grand Medicine Society), and remade the earth after the great flood. According to one story about Manibozho, one day while he was picking berries, a flock of geese landed on the nearby lake. Determined to catch as many as possible, he wove a rope of cedar bark strips. Swimming quietly under the floating birds, he strung them all together by tying their legs. His greedy task took so long he gasped loudly for air when he came up. The geese took flight, with the middle goose in the lead and the others forming a V, with Manibozho dangling at one end. He shouted for them to stop, but they flew on. Letting go, he landed in a swamp. Wild geese have been flying in a V ever since. People listened respectfully when Manibozho sang of flying far and high, but later they sang, “High in the sky, geese are calling. Down from the sky, Nana is falling.” Once a great creator and magician, Manibozho was turned to stone by Gitche Manitou and now lies sleeping as an island in Gitchee Gumee. Tales of Manibozho still abound; they are told in the winter, when spirits of the forest are asleep. Gale M. Thompson See also: Kinnikinnick; Midewiwin; Oral Literatures; Tricksters.
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Maple Syrup and Sugar
Maple Syrup and Sugar Tribes affected: Northeast tribes Significance: Maple syrup and possibly maple sugar were used by tribes of the Northeast as foodstuffs and occasionally as trade goods. Many indigenous tribal peoples in the Northeastern Woodlands relied on the saps and gums of certain trees for food and gum products. Among these trees were spruces, birches, and maples. The last often supplied the tribes with a sweet, syrupy substance they mixed with other foodstuffs and possibly boiled down to make sugar. Tribes from the Abenaki of northern New England and Quebec to the Chippewa (Ojibwa) of Minnesota and Ontario tapped the abundant maples for these products. The techniques of gathering the sap varied only slightly. The Abenaki cut a slanting gash and inserted an elderberry twig spile with its pith hollowed out and collected the drips in birchbark containers. The Chippewa used a cedar spile. Later, with the introduction of metal technology by European Americans, the iron or tin spile came into use (the dating for this switch is unclear). Once they had gathered enough syrup, tribal peoples used the sweetener in various ways. The Iroquois mixed it with corn mush. The Chippewa stirred it into wild rice, vegetables, and fish dishes, blended it with water for a beverage, and stuffed sugar into duck bills for portable candy treats for their children. What they could not use immediately, the Chippewa stored in mococks, sewn birchbark packages that often held five pounds of sugar. Tribes in Michigan, such as the Ottawa, apparently distributed the syrup and sugar as a trade good. There exists some dispute among historians about the sugarmaking capacities of the indigenous people. One school of thought holds that tribal peoples did not begin to boil down the syrup until the arrival of reliable iron pots from the Europeans. They point to the absence of description in contemporary travelers’ accounts. The other camp believes that sugar making definitely predated European contact, perhaps by centuries. The Abenaki, according
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to the second theory, employed birchbark pails and clay pots for the boiling. Whatever the case, early European American settlers soon adapted the customs themselves eagerly. Many a colonist depended on maple syrup for a nip of sweetness, because it was more plentiful and cheaper than cane products on the frontier. Over the centuries, maple syrup and sugar production became a thriving industry in the Northeast and Canada to the point that states such as Vermont have become stereotypically identified with those products. Demonstrations and images of sap gathering and sugar making, however, rarely point to the indigenous origins of the practice. Thomas L. Altherr See also: Food Preparation and Cooking.
Two women cooking cane sugar at the Seminole Indian Agency in the early 1940s. (National Archives)
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Marriage and Divorce
Marriage and Divorce Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: For the American Indian, the integrity of the family was paramount; divorce was possible, but it was not expected. Marriage customs differed from tribe to tribe. In the Northeast and Plains tribes there was usually not a ceremony to celebrate the wedding, but there were very strict arrangements made between the two uniting families before the couple came together. The groom usually contacted the girl discreetly but personally to see whether she would accept him. This encounter might be a formal courting situation, or it might only be a quick look at a public event. Marriage partners had often known each other all their lives; even if not in personal contact with each other, they knew the families involved. Establishing the Marriage. Once the young man believed that there was a mutual attraction, he would contact the bride’s family to arrange the terms of the union. Usually, it was the groom who would provide for the bride’s family. The amount of goods brought to the girl’s family was in accord with the status of the family and the girl. A virtuous, reserved, industrious girl who would bring honor to a man’s home commanded respect. That respect was publicly demonstrated by bringing goods to her family. Among Plains tribes this could include a number of horses, weapons, cooking utensils, tanned hides, clothing decorated with quillwork or beadwork, tanned and painted robes, and food. If accepted, these items were distributed among the girl’s relatives. Among most tribes, the bride’s family reciprocated with a feast and gifts for the groom’s relatives. During these events, many items were also given to the new couple so that when they began their lives together it would be in the manner to which they were accustomed. Among the Hopi and Zuñi of the Southwest the marriage was less public, with the man moving in with his bride’s family. No marriages with members of one’s own clan were permitted.
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Divorce. It was not unusual for a young man to come to stay at the home of his potential in-laws for a week or more prior to the wedding ceremony. In this way, the couple could decide without any pressure whether they were compatible. Likewise, marriages could be easily terminated by the woman. She had only to put her husband’s personal items—his clothing and weapons—outside the door of their abode and the divorce was complete. Divorce was not uncommon, but it was the exception rather than the norm. Most couples lived in harmony according to custom, but if there was disharmony it was thought best to separate. The house, household goods, and any children were to be cared for by the wife. The husband took his things and returned to the house of his mother or another female relative. It was not unheard of for men to remain single for years or not to marry at all. These men added another presence to the households of their female relatives, helpful in supplying food and teaching the children in the households. They often had obligations to their sisters’ children. This was the case in most matrilineal tribes. Patrilineal tribes, such as the Ojibwa, differed somewhat because the right to use land was passed from father or uncle to son or nephew. In this case, a divorced woman took her household goods and children and returned An Apache bride is pictured in her wedto her family’s area. ding attire. (National Archives)
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Marriage was considered a lifetime commitment. Infidelity was frowned upon, although a man could take a second wife in the form of a captured woman of another tribe or, more often, a younger sister or cousin of his wife. If the man were able to provide for such a large family, he would choose a wife who was compatible with his first wife to maintain harmony in his home. Sometimes when the second or third wife was especially troublesome, the first wife, who retained primacy, would demand that the husband return her to her family. An unhappy home was rarely chosen over removing the person in question. In some tribes, wives were shared with guests for their pleasure. This did not imply any disrespect for the wife; it was done as a comforting gesture to a man risking his life in travel. Any children that were born belonged to the wife and were an accepted part of the household. Most women practiced birth control with native herbs, so unwanted children were rare. Sexual Relations. Most tribes considered sexual behavior to be private; within the communal atmosphere of the home, it was practiced discreetly. Girls were warned not to succumb to boys’ advances and were usually chaperoned by an older female relative when they became teenagers. Girls were expected to be virgins when they married in most (but not all) tribes, although if they had tried marriage and found it unsuitable, it was not held against them. Because mutual respect between a virtuous woman and a man who was a bountiful provider was the basis for an honorable home, all members of the extended family tried to provide an environment to support good behavior. Unmarried pregnancy was rare. The integrity of the family was foremost. Behavior within marriage was designed to bring esteem to the family and to create a harmonious home. Elopements were another way of uniting. There was no exchange of goods and no honoring between families, so this alternative was less desired. Still, it was considered a socially acceptable way for a young couple to begin if neither had much social standing and neither could provide goods. Even among those who
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could, it was an acceptable, though not esteemed, way to come together. Occasionally, women who were not faithful were physically punished. Among some Plains tribes, women had their noses cut off in retribution for their behavior. Nancy H. Omaha Boy Sources for Further Study Embree, Edwin R. Indians of the Americas. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1939. Reprint. New York: Collier Books, 1970. Gourse, Leslie. Native American Courtship and Marriage Traditions. New York: Hippocrence Books, 2000. Parsons, Elsie Clews, ed. American Indian Life. New York: Dover, 1992. Plane, Ann Marie. Colonial Intimacies: Indian Marriage in Early New England. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2000. Powers, Marla N. Oglala Women: Myth, Ritual, and Reality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. Reader’s Digest. America’s Fascinating Indian Heritage. Pleasantville, N.Y.: Author, 1978. Spencer, Robert F., Jesse D. Jennings, et al. The Native Americans. 2d ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1977. See also: Children; Clans; Gender Relations and Roles; Kinship and Social Organization; Women.
Maru Cult Tribe affected: Pomo Significance: The Maru cult, a revitalization movement, has beliefs in common with the Ghost Dance movement. The Maru cult of the California Pomo (surrounding the Clear Lake area in Northern California) is a direct offshoot of the Ghost Dance, which began as a religious ceremony and ideology in the 1870’s and resurfaced in the 1890’s among Plains Indians. The Ghost
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Dance involved various ideological aspects, among them a return to Indian ways and a rejection of settler culture. As such, the Ghost Dance, and the many religious movements it inspired, was seen as “revivalist,” a religious response to social circumstances of breakdown and change brought about by contact between two alien cultures—and the power difference between them. The inequality in settler/Indian relations may explain why many tribal members sought supernatural comfort and deliverance, believing that the simple ways of traditional warfare were not effective against the encroaching settler. The main influence of the Ghost Dance movements in California were the “Earthlodge” cults, which arrived in Pomo territory as early as 1872. In its Pomo manifestation, the cult was led by a “Maru,” or “dreamer,” who was the head functionary of religious ceremonies. Originally, the selecting of lodges for these ceremonies was inspired by the notion that large houses (dome-roofed constructions, of which some pictures are available) were to be a place of refuge from an anticipated destruction. The influence of Christian missionaries can be discerned in the Noah’s Ark theme of these longhouse constructions. A Maru who dreams becomes the individual leader of the ceremonies. He or she (for, since 1920, women have played an increasingly large role in the Maru ceremonies) who dreams and calls the ceremonies dictates the rules of the ceremony itself, and the dream is highly respected as a source of direction from supernatural promptings. The actual ceremony usually involves an opening flag-raising to “purify” the hall where the ceremonies are to take place. Prominent in most observations of the Maru cult are “BigHead Dancers” (so named because of their large headdresses), typically four in number, and a number of drummers and singers. There are other dancers who must also observe a number of purity rules throughout the occupation of the ceremony itself. The ceremony may last many days and may vary in the style of dances and songs that are performed, all according to the dreams of the specific Maru. Although less frequent today, Maru ceremonies are still observed, and it is not unusual for non-Pomo, or part-Pomo, peoples
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to be recognized as “dreamers” who may call for the ceremonies to begin. The occasion for the ceremonies varies, but is always dependent on the dream instructions of the Maru. Daniel L. Smith-Christopher Source for Further Study Meighan, Clement W., and Francis Riddell. The Maru Cult of the Pomo Indians: A California Ghost Dance Survival. Los Angeles: Southwest Museum Papers, 1972. See also: Dances and Dancing; Ghost Dance.
Masks Tribes affected: Aleut, Bella Coola, Cherokee, Eskimo, Haida, Iroquois tribes, Kwakiutl, Lenni Lenape, Makah, Maya, Naskapi, Navajo, Nootka, Plains tribes, Pueblo tribes, Salish, Seneca, Tlingit, Tsimshian, others Significance: Masks have been used by many American Indian tribes since prehistoric times for ceremonial, social, and religious purposes, allowing access to and control of the spiritual world. The making and wearing of masks was an art form that served religious, social, and artistic purposes for American Indians. Putting on a “false face” could provide protection or disguise, be used as a vehicle for contact with supernatural powers, or enhance the role of storytelling. Types of Masks. The simplest way of wearing a mask was to paint the face. This allowed the wearer to present a different persona easily by changing the color of the face and by emphasizing certain features. By painting the face, a transformation of personality took place, giving the wearer a different outlook and the ability to affect the impression and response of others. In the prehistoric times, masks were used to control the spiritual world and for magical purposes. By putting on a false face it was
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believed that one could engage the power of the surrounding spirits, who, being good or evil, had an impact on one’s life. Masks were considered holy and sacred objects in themselves as they had the power to transform the wearer into the representative spirit. Very often they were used in ritual dances to exorcise evil or invoke blessing. Masks made the powers visible, and the wearer could become one with the spiritual power. Some Indians believed that the spirits of deceased ancestors returned in a mask. Ceremonial use included such occasions as initiations, war dances, and fertility rites. Storytelling and dramatization of symbolic legends made A masked dancer from the Cowichan use of masks and provided tribe. (Library of Congress) entertainment. In the Southwest masks were used to invoke spirits to help in providing rain, and in the Northwest masks were related to the clan totem, the spirit protector of the clan. Masks were made of wood, animal hides, and plant fibers in North America and of wood, metals, stone, and clay in Central and South America. Which material was used depended upon the region and its natural resources and the degree of development in the use of masks, which varied from tribe to tribe. Regional Examples. The Northwest Coast area had perhaps the greatest development in the quality and use of masks. They were
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used in curing ceremonies and midwinter performances of dramatized myths and legends in song and dance. The masks were made by carvers (who were held in high esteem by the community) of wood, generally cedar, and were colorfully and boldly painted, with dark green being a favorite color. The Kwakiutl made highly expressive, complex masks with moveable parts such as beaks. Masks were often in the form of a human face, or the head of a bird, animal, or spirit, all having supernatural power. Clan masks represented the clan totem. A shaman wearing a mask could be transformed into the animal or spirit represented by the mask. Sometimes masks were double-layered, representing the duality of the inner human spiritual form and the outer animal form. Eskimos (Inuits) used masks in acting out cosmic dramas. Their masks displayed animal features representing a host of beings and phenomena. Some masks were hinged; others were made of fur. They also made large wooden masks to represent and honor the dead; they were left unpainted and bore solemn expressions. In the Southwest, Pueblo Indians made simple head coverings of animal hides that were painted and decorated with feathers, cloth, herbs, and carved wooden beaks. Rounded heads represented the male, and square heads represented the female; the respective shapes could also represent deities or lesser spirits. Masks were sacred to the Pueblos, who did not allow exact photographic reproductions of them. The wearer had to be purified before wearing a mask, and masks were ceremonially sanctified with sacred pollen or corn meal before being stored in the kiva. Most Pueblo masks represented spirits, with a few representing animals. The kachina dancer portrayed the spirit of a deceased clan member who lived in the underworld and was called upon for aid in assuring rain and good crops. In the Eastern Woodlands region, masks were used to drive away evil spirits. Wooden masks were worn only by men, but Husk Faces, made of bands of braided corn husks, were worn by both men and women. The Iroquois made masks for False Face Ceremonies to exorcise demons. These masks had distorted features, long hair, and deeply set eyes, and they were painted in red
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and/or black. The Iroquois also made buffalo-head masks that were used in the Buffalo Dance. The Cherokee made masks for hunting, as aids to help them get close to game animals. Their masks boldly emphasized the distinctive features of animals, such as the eyes, ears, nose, or antlers. The Living Solid Face mask of the Lenni Lenape (Delaware) was considered a helpful spirit and guide as well as a living mask. In Mesoamerica, mask making was a complex art form in which masks were used to record the history, religion, and aesthetics of the people. Made of a wide variety of materials, masks were symbolic expressions of beliefs and were worn at ritual dances. Masks made by American Indians today are still used for ceremonial purposes. Among some tribes, masks are also made for commercial purposes. Diane C. Van Noord Sources for Further Study Berlo, Janet Catherine. Native North American Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Conn, Richard. Native American Art in the Denver Art Museum. Denver: Denver Art Museum, 1979. Cordry, Donald. Mexican Masks. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980. Dubin, Lois Sherr. North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present. New York: Henry N. Abrams, 1999. Furst, Peter T., and Jill L. Furst. North American Indian Art. New York: Rizzoli International, 1982. LaFarge, Oliver, et al. Introduction to American Indian Art. Glorieta, N.Mex.: Rio Grande Press, 1973. Macgowan, Kenneth, and Herman Rosse. Reprint. 1923. Masks and Demons. New York: Kraus Reprint, 1972. Wherry, Joseph H. Indian Masks and Myths of the West. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1974. See also: Dances and Dancing; False Face Ceremony; Husk Face Society; Kachinas; Paints and Painting; Religion; Totems.
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Mathematics Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: The most highly developed mathematical systems in the pre-contact Americas were the Mayan and Aztec calendar systems, but number systems for counting were developed by most tribes. Mathematical skills developed by American Indian tribes included the development of number systems—words and symbols used for calendrical measurement and economic bookkeeping. In the former case, this allowed the passage of days, months, seasons, and years to be independently followed; in the latter case, it simply meant counting objects, people, animals, and so on. Hunting tribes, for example, had little use for extensive number systems, since small numbers were sufficient for enumeration in the counting of objects such as spears, knives, fish, and canoes. Similar to the number systems of most ancient cultures throughout the world, many number systems of North America were based on the decimal system, meaning that their numbers were based on groupings of ten. (The origin of the decimal system, noted by Aristotle long ago, was a result of the fact that humans are born with ten fingers and ten toes.) Almost one-third of American Indian tribes that have been studied used the decimal system. In North America, this included the Algonquian, Iroquois, Salish, and Sioux. In parts of California, number systems were based on groupings of twenty, known as the vigesimal system. Other systems based on two, three, and five (the binary, ternary, and quinary systems, respectively) were also used. To derive numbers, most tribes used additive and multiplicative principles and, to a lesser extent, subtractive and divisive principles. Nine was considered one less than ten, and eleven was one greater than ten. Repeated addition (multiplication) was used for large numbers. The fingers and toes of five men could be used to count one hundred objects. To preserve a record of counted objects a pile of stones could be used, one stone for each object counted. Bundles of sticks were also used to count and keep track of days, one stick being removed
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from a bundle to represent the passage of a day. A tally of years was kept by scratching notches in sticks. The complex Mayan and Aztec calendar systems used both the 365-day year and a 260-day cycle tied to the cultures’ religious rituals. In the Mayan system, the more accurate of the two, there were 360 “named” days in the years and 5 unnamed days. The 360-day period of named days was called the tun and was composed of eighteen uinals, or months, of twenty days each. The 260-day and 365-day cycles overlapped; every fifty-two years the two cycles returned to the same relative positions; scholars refer to this fiftytwo-year period as the Calendar Round. Every day—18.980 in all—in the round had a unique combination of day numbers and names and month numbers and names. Nicholas C. Thomas See also: Aztec Empire; Mayan Civilization.
Mayan Civilization Significance: These Mesoamericans contributed profound achievements in art, mathematics, astronomy, and architecture. Mayan history is divided into three periods: Preclassic (2000 b.c.e.200 c.e.), Classic (200-900 c.e.), and Postclassic (900 c.e. to the Spanish conquest). The Maya lived in an area that included the present-day Mexican states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatan, and Quintana Roo, in addition to the countries of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Scholars who study the Maya have divided the entire region into three subregions: the southern subregion of Guatemala highlands and the Pacific coast; the central subregion of northern Guatemala, its adjacent lowlands, and the Petén region; and the northern subregion of the Yucatan peninsula. The highland areas of southern Guatemala and Chiapas flourished during the late Preclassic period; lowland areas in the Petén region reached their height during the Classic pe-
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Area of the Mayan Civilization G UL
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riod; and the area in the Yucatan Peninsula prospered in the late Classic and Postclassic periods. The end of the Preclassic period and the beginning of the Classic period, when the Maya flourished, had formerly been defined by the appearance of vaulted stone architecture, monumental inscriptions, and polychrome pottery. However, subsequent finds have revealed that each of these traits appeared at different times during the Terminal Preclassic. Consequently the “official” end of the Preclassic period and beginning of the Classic period has been changed from 300 to 250 or 200 c.e. During the late Preclassic period, writing, mathematics, architecture, astronomy, and calendars were used, but these were all more fully developed in the Classic period. A few city-states, such as El Mirador and Kaminaljuyu, developed in the Preclassic period, but it was the Classic period that witnessed the rise of the larger, more advanced city-states for which the Maya are known. One of the earliest and largest of the Classicperiod centers was Tikal, located in the Petén region of Guatemala.
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It covered a six-square-mile area, contained more than three thousand constructions, and had an estimated forty thousand inhabitants. One pyramid, 224 feet high, is the tallest pre-Columbian edifice in America. Copán, which was in Honduras, 250 miles southeast of Tikal, may have been a scientific center specializing in astronomy. Although the Maya did not have telescopes, jade tubes were used, which helped to concentrate their vision on selected celestial bodies. Their knowledge of astronomy was such that they not only had an accurate calendar of 365 days but also were able to predict solar and lunar eclipses, as well as the movement of Venus. Palenque, in Chiapas, Mexico, had an aqueduct to direct water from a nearby stream to the center of the city and contained a building called the Palace, which was 228 feet long and 180 feet deep, with a four-story tower with an internal stairway. Perhaps its most famous feature is the tomb of the ruler Pacal, who died in 683 after ruling for sixty-eight years. The lid of the sarcophagus was a five-ton, twelve-foot slab of limestone carved with a bas-relief image of the ruler as he entered the jaws of death in the underworld. Palenque also is special for the fact that two women ruled before Pacal assumed the throne. Bonampak, also located in Chiapas, is best known for its Temple of Frescoes. The frescoes depict many activities and scenes of daily life not represented elsewhere. Some of these representations have helped scholars to realize that the Maya were not the peaceful people they once were believed to be. Other important centers in the Yucatan peninsula, such as Chichén Itzá, began in the Classic period but continued to flourish in the Postclassic period under the influence of the Toltecs, who invaded Mayan territory in the tenth century. Some of the aforementioned centers had previously experienced a foreign influence early in the Classic period. In the fifth century, Teotihuacán, which was located in the central basin of Mexico, began to spread its influence throughout southern Mesoamerica, including the Mayan cities of Kaminaljuyu, Copán, and Tikal. This influence ended in the eighth century, and there has been speculation that this was a
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factor in the demise of the Classic period at the end of the ninth century. The Classic period was characterized by the construction of impressive structures, often one on top of the other. Either existing structures were demolished and the material was used in the new construction, or a new and larger structure enveloped the older one. Buildings were typically covered with stucco. If it was an important structure, the date would be recorded and the event would be celebrated with a religious ceremony that included bloodletting. Some of the main features of Mayan architecture were large, flat-topped stone pyramids with steps that led to a temple decorated with tiled pediments known as “roof combs”; buildings covered with bas-reliefs; jutting corbeled arches or vaults; ballcourts; large public squares or plazas; and stelae, altars, and monoliths inscribed with names, dates, and important events. A major feature of the large ceremonial centers was the formal plaza lined by public buildings. Much of this was made possible by the Mayan practice of cementing the cut stones together. They had perfected the use of mortar, plaster, and stucco. Society was highly stratified. At the top was an elite who ruled and enjoyed special privileges. It was the function of the common people to provide not only necessities but also luxuries for the elite. There were probably a number of strata between the royal family and the common farmers, based on birth or occupation, which may have been hereditary. Each city-state had its own ruling dynasty, which is believed to have been by patrilineal primogeniture accessible to others only through marriage. The inequality of treatment did not end with death; while the nobility were buried in tombs, the peasants were buried under the floor in their homes. Religion was of central importance to Mayan culture. Myriad gods controlled everything and therefore had to be consulted and appeased constantly. Mayan religious concerns encouraged the development of astronomy and mathematics. Each day and number had its patron deity. When a child was born, a priest would
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predict its future with the aid of astrological charts and books. Each day and each moment was governed by a different god. Depending on the exact day and time of its birth, a child would owe a special devotion to the ascendant deity throughout its lifetime. Religious ceremonies were of the utmost importance. An important aspect of some religious ceremonies was the practice of shedding human blood. Bloodletting took the form of human sacrifices— either of enemies or possibly of devout martyrs—and nonfatal self-mutilation. The latter seems to have been a common practice, which entailed the piercing of the tongue, lips, earlobes, or penis. The blood was sometimes dripped onto paper strips that then were burned. In addition to giving nurture and praise to the gods, the Maya believed contact could be made with gods or deceased ancestors by the letting of blood. The Classic period was marked by competition and conflict. There was an extensive system of short- and long-distance trade, not only among the Maya but with other indigenous peoples as well. Economic success brought growth and prosperity to the many city-states, but it also brought increased competition for territory and power. Warfare was a frequent outcome. Some of the conquered rivals provided sacrificial victims to satisfy the gods; others were beheaded, with the heads possibly used as trophies. During this period, Tikal was defeated by Caracol, which later was defeated by Dos Pilas. Thus fortunes changed for communities and individuals alike. The end of the classic Mayan civilization was both swift and mysterious. Numerous theories attempt to explain the rather sudden and widespread demise of the prosperous lowland Mayan communities. Undoubtedly, there were both internal and external causes. The former may have included environmental degradation, overpopulation relative to the food supply, disease and malnutrition, a revolution of peasants against the elite, and decay of the artistic, political, and intellectual superstructure of society. Invasion and economic collapse due to changes in other parts of Mesoamerica are possible external causes. While the southern part of the Mayan civilization was undergoing collapse and depopula-
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tion, the centers in northern Yucatan continued to prosper and some southward immigration occurred to fill the vacuum. The succeeding Postclassic period, which witnessed the dominance of the Yucatan area, continued until the Spanish conquest in the midsixteenth century. Philip E. Lampe Sources for Further Study The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas. 3 vols. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996-2000. The Aztec, Mayan, Olmec, and Zapotec civilizations are studied before and after contact with Europeans. Carrasco, David. Religions of Mesoamerica. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1990. Includes chapters on Mayan religion and closely related practices. Hammond, Norman. Ancient Maya Civilization. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1982. Good synthesis of available data, with scholars’ theories and interpretations. Henderson, John. The World of the Ancient Maya. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1981. Examines Mayan culture from the earliest settlements through the period of Spanish conquest. Ivanoff, Pierre. Maya Monuments of Civilization. New York: Madison Square Press, 1973. Photographs and brief text on many important sites. Landa, Diego de. Yucatan Before and After the Conquest. Translated by William Gates. New York: Dover, 1978. Historical explanation of manuscript by Landa, which is the source of much of the information available on Mayan history and culture. See also: Astronomy; Ball Game and Courts; Codices; Culture Areas; Mathematics; Religion.
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Medicine and Modes of Curing: Post-contact Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Meeting the health care needs of contemporary American Indians, especially those living on reservations, is largely the responsibility of the Indian Health Service. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the American Indian population had been decimated by three centuries of contact with Europeans and European Americans. Among the primary factors in this vast depopulation was the devastation caused by infectious European diseases (such as smallpox), against which Indians did not have immunity. Moreover, by the mid- to late nineteenth century, nearly all the native population of the United States had been consigned to reservations. These reservations, found today in thirty-two states, are located primarily in Alaska, Arizona, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin. In various treaties with the federal government, Indians were historically guaranteed health care services. Until the late nineteenth century, such care was under the jurisdiction of the Department of War and was provided by military doctors stationed on or near reservations. Some health care was also provided by religious and social groups. It was not until 1921 that the federal government, in the Snyder Act, officially mandated that health services be provided to American Indians. By the middle of the twentieth century, Indian health care had come under the jurisdiction of the Indian Health Service of the federal Public Health Service. Central issues such as the rural location of many American Indians, the widespread existence of Indian poverty, and the high incidence of certain health problems among Indians—especially accidental death, diabetes, depression, and many alcohol-related diseases—have complicated the problem of providing adequate health care to Indians.
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Early Indian Health Care. In many cases, nineteenth century peace treaties between the federal government and the Indian tribes who agreed to live on reservations included some sort of health care provisions. Initially, the radically underfunded programs aimed at meeting these needs were of two types. First, health funds were combined with funds aimed at general education and were administered by either religious or philanthropic organizations that operated with widely varying degrees of success. Second, the Department of War used the most appropriate—or convenient—personnel at military posts close to the individual reservations to carry out Indian medical care and training in health-related areas such as sanitation. The quality of the health care Indians received varied greatly and depended on the attitudes of the personnel who were involved in it. Development of the Indian Health Service. In the middle of the nineteenth century, the U.S. Department of the Interior was created. At this time civilians took over Indian health care entirely as this charge passed into the hands of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). While initially inefficient at providing health care, the BIA began to organize a medical care division in the middle of the 1870’s. This division grew slowly; by the 1920’s its main efforts were in the treatment of trachoma, tuberculosis, and the other contagious diseases that were endemic among reservation populations. Indians were given the right of American citizenship in 1924. Regrettably, however, the next thirty years saw relatively little overall improvement of their health, despite the efforts of the health care practitioners who worked among them. In 1955 the Public Health Service took over Indian health care via the Division of Indian Health, which is now called the Indian Health Service. This change was mandated by Public Law 83-568 (the Transfer Act), which stated that “all the functions, responsibilities, authorities, and duties . . . relating to the maintenance and operation of . . . health facilities for Indians, and conservation of Indian health . . . shall be administered by the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service.” Three factors enabled the Indian Health
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Service to operate more efficiently than had previous agencies concerned with American Indian health. First and foremost of these was the widespread use of antibiotics such as penicillin, which could cure many diseases very quickly and gave Indians more faith in the efficacy of white medicine. Second, federal legislation made it possible for physicians and other health professionals to serve in the Public Health Service Officer Corps instead of performing active military service. This brought a great many more qualified individuals into the Indian Health Service. Third, many of the Indians who had served in the U.S. armed forces during World War II had returned to their reservations. Now familiar with life and medical care off reservations, they became an essential cadre of advocates for the Indian Health Service; they also soon represented many members of its staff. Another valuable aspect of the Indian Health Service is its efficient hierarchical organization and governance at all of its levels from the national office to its management areas to its service units (often a whole tribe). The hierarchy leads to swifter action and to better communication than was possible under other systems. One problem associated with the Indian Health Service is the lack of choice of individual physicians; reservation inhabitants must accept the care of a reservation’s appointed doctors or must purchase their own health care. Health Service Weaknesses and Solutions. Most weaknesses of the Indian Health Service arise from its relatively inadequate funding, the transience and undersupply of its biomedical staff, and the fact that it is smaller than might be desired (51 hospitals and about 425 outpatient clinics and health centers). These factors are aggravated by the lack of many essential, high-technology medical services at its component hospitals, health centers, and clinics. Nevertheless, these facilities are usually very well run within their limitations, such as the facts that the population being served lives mostly on reservations that are located in isolated rural areas and that transportation difficulties arise when patients must be moved
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to distant, private-sector health providers for services that are otherwise unavailable to them. The problems of Indian Health Service health care delivery, as well as some of the solutions, are exemplified by the Navajo reservation, with a population of more than 200,000. This reservation, on which live the members of the largest American Indian tribe, is located on an area about the size of West Virginia and sprawls over parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. The reservation’s Indian Health Service component is divided into 8 of the 137 service units found in the United States. It contains hospitals with a total of about five hundred beds as well as numerous clinics and other health centers. Problems of overcrowding and the already mentioned lack of high-technology health services necessitate the expensive transfer of many Navajo Indian patients to private-sector facilities. A partial solution to this logistics problem is the use of a relatively economical ambulance service operated by the Navajo tribe. Other problems include the high incidence of heart disease, alcoholrelated deaths (from cirrhosis of the liver, for example), homicide, suicide, and diabetes that consume much of the resource base of the Navajo reservation service units. Present solutions include using both Medicare and Medicaid revenue obtained for qualifying Indians. In the long run, increased budgets for the Indian Health Service and additional hospital facilities will be required. Another severe problem is the high turnover and shortage of nurses and other essential health care professionals. Permanent nursing positions in the Indian Health Service, for example, are reported to be only 75 to 80 percent filled. It has been noted by upperlevel Indian Health Service administrators that increasing staff salaries will only partly solve the problem. Rather, the problem is viewed as being largely attributable to both geographic and professional isolation. Complicating the issue still more are the existing decreases and the expected ending of some federal programs that pay all of the educational costs of physicians and nurses in return for a term of practice in the underserved regions of the United States, including Indian reservations. This is particularly problem-
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atic because a large percentage of the Indian Health Service professional staff comes from this source (the National Health Service Corps, NHSC). Even in the best of times, however, only 5 to 10 percent of NHSC physicians have remained in the Indian Health Service for even one year beyond the time required by their scholarship program obligations. A positive change is the increased number of Indians entering and projected to enter the system as professional staff. Identifying Indians to Be Served. Estimates of the percentage of American Indians who are being treated by the Indian Health Service vary from 60 to about 80 percent, depending upon the source of the estimate of the total U.S. Indian population. One basis for counting the Indian population is self-assessment of being an Indian via the U.S. Census. Another approach is based on the percentage of Indian blood possessed by a person. The Indian Health Service itself is not concerned with quantifying the amount of Indian blood in the people it serves. Rather, service at one of its facilities depends on being recognized as an Indian by a contemporary Indian tribe. Requirements for this recognition vary from tribe to tribe, but they often consist of being of one-fourth Indian blood. Indian Health Service facilities are not limited to reservation-based Indians, although most facilities are located on or near reservations. One reason that the service provides care for both reservation and nonreservation Indians is that many tribes count individuals as members regardless of their formal place of residence. Special Health Needs. The American Indian population has traditionally exhibited a significantly greater incidence of infant mortality as well as adult deaths from a number of diseases than seen in the general U.S. population. These problems have been attributed to Indian families’ generally lower incomes as well as to their poorer nutrition and living conditions. Inroads had been made, however, in most of these areas by the end of the twentieth century. For example, there has been a drop in infant mortality from 22.2
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per 1,000 live births to 8.7, a rate very near that for the “U.S., all races” category. Improvement of both health services and living conditions has also diminished the absolute numbers of deaths from the main diseases that kill modern Indian adults. Contemporary deaths from accident, alcoholism and related problems, diabetes, homicide, influenza/pneumonia, suicide, and tuberculosis still exceed those in the “all races” population. The Indian Health Service has attempted to diminish the extent of these health problems in a variety of ways. Among efforts directed toward accident reduction is an injury prevention program that includes motor vehicle aspects such as child passenger protection, the promotion of seat belt use, and the deterrence of drunk driving. Furthermore, educational programs on such topics as smoke detector use and drowning protection are widespread. Another aspect of disease prevention among Indians is a widespread nutrition and dietetics program in which clinical nutrition counseling and general health aspects are promoted. This aspect of Indian Health Service activity is viewed as possessing a very high potential for success, having had a large number of contacts per year with patients. Also important is the provision by the Indian Health Service of modern sanitary facilities for many Indian homes. Between 1960 and 1991, almost 200,000 homes were provided with modernized sanitary facilities by the service. This assistance has included water and sewage facilities, solid waste disposal, and the development of local organizations to maintain the new systems. Yet much more help is needed in these ventures. In 2001, an article on the Indian Health Service’s Sanitation Facilities Initiative reported that after ten years of funding, nearly 30,180 Indian homes still needed either a safe water supply or an acceptable sewage disposal system. In some cases the homes lacked both of these initiatives. Shamanic and Modern Health Care. A particularly intriguing aspect of modern medical treatment is the combination of conventional Western treatment with the activities of the traditional tribal shaman. This combination of treatments may be found in many In-
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dian Health Service facilities and elsewhere. Its use is partly attributable to the fact that shamanic treatment is comfortable to many Indians. Many of today’s physicians find that the shamanic ceremonies and medicinal treatments are a useful complement to their ministrations. These procedures are deemed to be particularly important in resolving mental health problems, but they have also found wide utility in problems ranging from heart disease to dermatitis to cancer. Sanford S. Singer Sources for Further Study Gregg, Elinor D. The Indians and the Nurse. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965. Points out problems, shortcomings, strengths, and other interesting aspects of federally funded care of American Indians from 1922 to 1937. Provides much insight into physicians, nurses, and Indian patients. Hammerschlag, Carl A. The Dancing Healers: A Doctor’s Journey of Healing with Native Americans. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988. Various aspects of a psychiatrist’s experience with Indian healing are described. Examples of syntheses of Indian and Western medicine that produce useful, interactive processes are carefully explored. Hultkrantz, Ake. Shamanic Healing and Ritual Drama: Health and Medicine in Native North American Religious Traditions. New York: Crossroad, 1992. A detailed survey of Indian practice and belief in health, medicine, and religion. Both the historical and modern aspects of shamanic ritual are covered. Also included is a copious set of valuable references. Kane, Robert L., and Rosalie A. Kane. Federal Health Care (with Reservations). New York: Springer, 1971. Indian Health Service strengths, problems, and shortcomings are described knowledgeably. Included are the capacity to respond to patient needs and conflicts engendered when health providers and consumers have different cultural backgrounds. Kane was a director of the Indian Health Service Navajo service unit at Shiprock, New Mexico.
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Rhoades, Everett R., ed. American Indian Health: Innovations in Health Care, Promotion, and Policy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. A comprehensive review of the health and health care of Native Americans. Torrey, E. Fuller, E. F. Foulkes, H. C. Hendrie, et al. Community Health and Mental Health Care Delivery for North American Indians. New York: MSS Information Corporation, 1974. This interesting multiauthored book covers mental health problems of North American Indians. It includes articles on general problems, cultural conflicts, alcoholism, drugs, suicide, and Indian mental health care needs. Shamanic aspects are also described. Trafzer, Clifford E., and Diane Weiner, eds. Medicine Ways: Disease, Health, and Survival Among Native Americans. Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press, 2001. An examination of the thought and practice of health care in the Native American communtiy. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Indian Health Service. Division of Program Statistics. Trends in Indian Health, 1989-. This report briefly describes the Indian Health Service and its history and gives many modern statistics about Indian health care. Included are organizational data, handy health statistics, and statistics on many related issues. U.S. Office of Technology Assessment. Indian Health Care. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1986. This substantive book covers, in depth, many aspects of Indian health care. Included are the federal-Indian relationship, a population overview, American Indian health status, the Indian Health Service, selected special health topics, and extensive references. See also: Alcoholism; Disease and Intergroup Contact; Medicine and Modes of Curing: Pre-contact; Religious Specialists.
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Medicine and Modes of Curing: Pre-contact Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Traditional American Indian cultures had a number of explanations of illness and approaches to healing, including medicinal, ritualistic, and supernatural approaches. During the prehistoric period, Native American groups had adequate medical systems for successfully treating illness and disease, consisting of a corpus of time-tried explanations and therapeutic procedures that were inextricably related to the notion of supernatural and natural causes. The cause, diagnosis, and prognosis of all illnesses and diseases were explained by a definite classification that was usually unique to a particular group. Medical Systems. Most external injuries, such as fractures, dislocations, wounds, bruises, skin irritations, snake and insect bites, and even occupationally related deaths, were considered to have been caused by natural means. Many internal illnesses and psychological afflictions, however, were diagnosed as being the result of sorcerers who were capable of manipulating supernatural malevolent powers, resulting in maladies that could be treated only by medical practitioners, or shamans, who possessed special benevolent religious powers and abilities. Indigenous medical systems resulted from a group’s particular adaptation to a certain environment—its wide variety of medicinal as well as noxious plants. It was not unusual for Native Americans to learn medical procedures from the close observation of certain animals. For example, in the early spring, when deer go from browsing to grazing, they will develop diarrhea, and they consume clay to correct this condition. Similarly, clay eating, or geophagy, was universally utilized by Native Americans for curing diarrhea. Clay was also applied externally for certain dermal eruptions, as clay effectively absorbs liquids.
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Hunters and gatherers were more concerned with illness than with the advent of death because of their need to maintain a high degree of mobility in order to exploit the animal and plant foods that were located in different areas, according to elevation and time of year. Consequently, illness could debilitate a group’s strategies for obtaining food. Because of this concern, Native Americans developed extensive and successful methods of interpreting and treating different afflictions by the use of medical practitioners. Shamans. The principal medical practitioner was the shaman, a man or woman who had acquired supernatural curing power through a variety of ritualized procedures, but more often through the vision quest, dreaming, receiving a sign, inheritance from a kinsperson, survival of an illness, and less frequently, resurrection after “death.” The supernatural power to cure could be general or specific to certain maladies, and usually one’s tutelary spirit was associated with curing a particular illness. For example, bear power was most effective in treating burns, heron power to retrieve a lost soul. Shamans maintained their power through frequent renewal rituals such as sweating, dreaming, reciting special curing songs, isolation, fasting, and continually revitalizing their medicines and paraphernalia through purification. Usually, during an annual rite, shamans would publicly demonstrate their powers to the congregation; this was an occasion when one’s power could be stolen by a more powerful individual. The practitioner’s life was further burdened by almost continual stress in observing strict behavioral and dietary taboos, which, if violated, could mean the shaman’s loss of power or even illness and possibly death. The curing knowledge and skills of a shaman were sometimes acquired through serving an apprenticeship to a known shaman or to an established practitioner of one’s family who would serve as a sponsor and guide during the often long and arduous training period. Shamans tended to work individually but sometimes required the assistance of herbalists, women who usually had a more complete knowledge of local plants and their medicinal uses and
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A medicine man, Little Big Mouth, near Fort Sill, Oklahoma, during the late nineteenth century. (National Archives)
properties than did men. Often esoteric medical knowledge was jealously guarded. Shamans were respected and even feared, for a person who could cure was also believed capable of sorcery. If a patient died, the attending shaman could be accused of being the sorcerer. Medical practitioners were sometimes physically different because of blindness, minor congenital defects, or permanent injuries. They were also considered psychologically different from others because of their ability to perform shamanistic rites such as soul-flight,
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physical and spiritual transformation, legerdemain, ventriloquism, glossalalia (nonmeaningful speech or “speaking in tongues”), and various prophetic skills. Causes of Illness. Native Americans were not disease-free. They experienced mostly gastrointestinal problems, arthritis, pneumonia, and some endemic maladies. Therefore, illnesses and injuries attributable to natural causes were well understood and could be treated by an elderly, more knowledgeable kinsperson. Supernatural maladies and death were believed to be caused by moral transgression, unfulfilled dreams, misusing one’s power, sorcery (as in soul loss, spirit intrusion, or object intrusion), and, in some cases, poisoning. Spiritual or supernatural illnesses were invariably thought to be caused by a sorcerer who had successfully manipulated an individual’s soul or tutelary spirit because the victim had offended or humiliated someone—or simply because the sorcerer was malicious. A person who was greedy, selfish, boisterous, or malicious was subject to being sorcerized. Consequently, the fear of sorcery was an effective means of social control, not only because of the dire consequences but also because one was not always certain who was a sorcerer. Illness could be self-induced through breaking a taboo or by not informing a person who was to suffer an illness or some misfortune, as revealed in one’s dream. If one had such a prophetic dream, and if the person in the dream was not properly warned, it was common for the dreamer to experience that specific misfortune. In fact, many Native Americans, upon awakening in the morning, revealed their dreams to an elderly member of the family who would interpret the dream’s significance and prescribe appropriate behavior to prevent misfortune. It was not unusual for an aged or sick shaman to give up his or her curing power through a special ritual, one that ensured the particular power would be acquired later by another person. It also freed the aged shaman from further responsibilities and possible maladies. Illness or even death could occur if one failed to ac-
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knowledge that one possessed curing power and should fulfill the obligations of this responsibility. Women sometimes became shamans after menopause, when they could receive obstetrical power for assisting as midwives in difficult deliveries, prolapse, uterine hemorrhaging, or cases of malposition. Female shamans were knowledgeable about abortives and contraceptives, and they instructed the new mother about postnatal dietary and behavioral taboos. They often instructed a menarcheal girl about pertinent taboos associated with being a woman. They administered decoctions, roots, powders, and other medicines for dysmenorrhea and other female disorders, even when fecundity was thought to be a problem. Female shamans were, on occasion, sought for empowering courting flutes or providing love incantations or medicines. Universal to Native Americans was the strict observance of dietary and behavioral taboos that surrounded an individual’s death, for if the survivors violated purification rites intended to prevent spiritual contamination, failed to accord the deceased certain respect, mentioned the name of the deceased, or dreamed improperly of the dead person, or if the widow or widower married too soon, then a specific illness would beset the offender, inflicted by the dead person’s ghost. Nor was it unusual for a person who had not accorded proper respect through the strict observance of taboos associated with killing an animal to become ill. For example, a man who killed a bear had to sing the death song of the creature and, for a prescribed period, abstain from sexual relationships and eat a restricted diet. If the hunter was remiss, the dead bear might appear in the man’s dream and pull back its scalp, which could result in the hunter losing his mind and being condemned to endless wandering and continual hunger. Curing Rituals. Treatment of supernatural illnesses depended upon an impressive array of medicines, cures, and ritual therapies that required the intervention of a shaman. These rituals were shamanistic performances that included dancing, singing, drumming,
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and the use of religious paraphernalia that were personal and power-associated. Medical knowledge was jealously guarded, for it was feared that a shaman could lose his or her power if the knowledge were divulged. An important aspect of treating supernatural illnesses was the group medical inquest, or therapeutic interview, a collective ceremony in which the patient and shaman were joined by family and friends, and on occasion the entire village. This collective psychodrama functioned to integrate the group and to reinstate a moral order. It was an effective therapeutic session that publicly permitted shamans to demonstrate their power and ability. Shamans were sometimes attended by a medical chorus who chanted curing songs and played percussion and wind instruments which were believed to facilitate a shaman’s power flight in seeking a vision or recovering a lost soul. The group medical inquest also afforded the patient a managerial role, expiated guilt through oral catharsis, facilitated group confession of moral transgressions, and provided an opportunity for others to make confessions of transgressions that would prevent them from becoming ill. These rituals invariably lasted until the patient was completely rehabilitated, which meant that the practitioner and his or her entourage would reside temporarily with the patient, noting reasons for illness and anxiety. Shamans effectively utilized various prophetic rituals and interpreted signs to ascertain the diagnosis and prognosis of illness, and even the specific cause. The offending sorcerer could be identified and might later participate in removing the malevolent power that was causing the affliction. Often a shaman’s prophetic abilities in foreseeing medical problems were enhanced by the use of drugs, tobacco, fasting, spiritual transformation, hypnosis, dreaming, trances, and the use of musical instruments and singing. Some groups had prophetic devices such as special tule mats, sand paintings, smoke, or a container of water, or they had tutelary spirits that would communicate the needed information. Prior to a curing ceremony, it was not uncommon to tie a shaman’s hands and feet securely with rawhide and place him behind
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a hide screen. Immediately he would throw the loose rawhide over the screen. To demonstrate their power before curing, shamans might also perform different proofs of ordeal, such as withstanding excruciating pain or demonstrating unusual manipulative skills. For example, shamans might dramatically plunge an arm into boiling water or hold a hot stone to show the patient and group they were impervious to pain because of their power. During curing ritual shamans often had to be protected as their personal powers might be elsewhere seeking the cause of a patient’s malady. Temporarily without power, shamans were be-
Traditional Indian Medicines Still Used Plant
Symptom
Preparation
How Used
Black spruce
Cough
Soft inner bark
Chewed
Devil’s club
Aching muscles
Boiled
Drunk
Fireweed
Swelling
Large infusion steamed
As poultice
Lichen
Ulcers
Mixed with other herbs
Chewed
Sage
Colds
Boiled
Inhaled
Soapberry
Diarrhea
None
Eaten
Spruce needles
Eye infection
Needles boiled
As eye wash
Spruce pitch
Infected wound
Applied directly
As poultice
Strawberry leaf
Ensure safe pregnancy
Dried and boiled
Drunk
Strawberry root
Diarrhea
Boiled
Drunk
Tamarack bark
Stomach trouble
Beaten, tea added
Drunk
Wild rhubarb
Arthritis
Boiled as tea
Drunk
Wild rhubarb
Infected wound
Pounded root
As poultice
Willow leaves
Insect stings
Chewed and applied
As poultice
Source: Duane Champagne, ed., The Native North American Almanac. Detroit: Gale Research, 1994. Primary source, Medical Services Branch, Alberta Region, health and Welfare Canada. Note: A partial listing of herbal medicines still used today in Canada.
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lieved susceptible to danger, since their power could be lost or taken by a more powerful person. On occasion, the shaman may have been required to have a power duel with the malevolent power, a struggle which was evident by the practitioner’s unusual behavior when he or she was thrown about or lifted into the air. A shaman of lesser power could be killed by the illness when it was removed from the patient, particularly if the shaman used a sucking tube. Medicines. Through continual observation and long use, Native Americans developed an extensive materia medica, estimated to have been approximately fifty-four percent chemically active. It was constituted from geological, floral, and faunal substances. These compounds and simple medicaments were administered to most internal and external afflictions by shamans who were knowledgeable of the intended effect. Medicines were administered in the form of poultices, salves, expectorants, vermifuges, emetics, cathartics, astringents, febrifuges, poisons, anesthetics, stimulants, narcotics, diuretics, and infusions. Most medicines were acquired locally, but some were obtained through trade. John Alan Ross Sources for Further Study Corlett, William Thomas. The Medicine-Man of the American Indian and His Cultural Background. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C Thomas, 1935. A book that explains the cultural significance of medicines and their ritual application, particularly the role of the shaman. Radin, Paul. The Story of the American Indian. New York: Boni & Liveright, 1927. An early but significant recognition of Native American medical systems that explains the role of ritual in treating psychosomatic illnesses. Ross, John Alan. “Indian Shamans of the Plateau: Past and Present.” Medical Journal 62, no. 3 (1989). An article dealing with aboriginal and syncretic medicine in the Plateau, which is representative of many Native American groups.
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Stone, Eric. Medicine Among the American Indians. Clio Medicia 7. New York: Hafner, 1962. A comprehensive text explaining indigenous Native American medical systems that contains an extensive bibliography. Vogel, Virgil J. American Indian Medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970. This excellent book is the most definitive study of Native American medicine because of extensive research, references, and readability for the nonspecialist. It is illustrated and stresses the significance of medicinal plants. Contains a comprehensive bibliography. See also: Disease and Intergroup Contact; Medicine and Modes of Curing: Post-contact; Religious Specialists.
Medicine Bundles Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: A medicine bundle is a physical token of an individual’s, clan’s, or nation’s relationship to the spiritual world and its power. A medicine bundle is a collection of objects that have connection with sacred power. The objects may include artifacts such as the carved stone statue of the Kiowas (known as the Tai-me), gaming dice, or whittled sticks, as well as natural or found items such as feathers, smooth stones, naturally occurring crystals, and herbs and sweet grasses collected for the bundle. Whatever the contents, the bundle is always carefully arranged, whether bound by string and tied with special knots or rolled into a bark or buckskin container. Sweet grass, sage, and other aromatic herbs are renewed periodically. The bundle may be inherited from clan or family, may be given by a mentor to a disciple, or may be constructed according to directions received in a vision. In any case, the bundle represents and contains great power: It is the physical embodiment of the spiritual power of the owner, whether shaman, warrior, or priest. Helen Jaskoski
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See also: Bundles, Sacred; Clans; Ethnophilosophy and Worldview; Medicine and Modes of Curing: Pre-contact; Religion; Religious Specialists.
Medicine Wheels Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: A medicine wheel is a circle of iconic stones used as a teaching tool. The medicine wheel is a sacred, powerful teaching circle. There were numerous medicine wheels composed of stones laid out by the indigenous North Americans, some of which are still extant. The most famous, found in the Bighorn Mountains in north central Wyoming, was used by a number of different tribes, including Crow, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Lakota. It is a circle 80 feet in diameter with twenty-nine spokes of numerous limestone slabs, with three small outer circles, two outer vessel shapes, and one inner vessel shape, all placed at about 8,700 feet in altitude on Medicine Mountain. One of the spokes points to the place on the horizon where the sun rises at summer solstice. Another spoke points to Arcturus rising at spring equinox. The Department of the Interior wishes to turn this site into a tourist attraction and build a visitor center, picnic area, and campground. Tribes have petitioned the government to declare twelve days on both sides of equinoxes and solstices limited to tribal use of the site. The tribes also want the protected area around the medicine wheel enlarged so that the habitat within three miles of the wheel is undisturbed. Glenn J. Schiffman See also: Architecture: Plains; Religion; Sacred, the.
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Menses and Menstruation Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Indigenous tribal peoples have viewed menstruation as an important phenomenon, meriting ritual treatment. Menstruation occasioned widely varied responses and rituals by indigenous tribal peoples. Older women in Mesoamerican groups tried to keep a girl’s first menstruation secret from the men in the tribe, but tribes in the intermountain basin, the Yukon, and Canadian Subarctic regions treated the girl as dangerous to the welfare of herself and the group and constructed elaborate rules she had to follow to prevent contaminating others. Other tribes, especially in Northern California and Apache territory, celebrated the onset of a girl’s puberty as a milestone of maturation with a great feast. Some groups on the Northwest Coast, to safeguard a young woman’s virginity, cloistered her from her first menstruation onward in part of the dwelling until her marriage. Believing that a menstruating woman possessed supernatural powers that might harm her or her tribe, most tribal peoples required her to go into seclusion, avoid contact with men, and undergo special diets (often abstaining from eating meat) and baths. Often an older woman supervised her, but some customs dictated that the menstruant remain alone. Watchers scrutinized the woman to see how well she adhered to these prohibitions; some groups viewed these as tests that predicted a woman’s future behavior. In some practices she could not touch her hair or skin for fear of selfcontamination. At the end of the seclusion, usually the woman underwent a ritual bathing and received new clothes. Even those tribal groups that did not insist on strict cloistering demanded that a menstruating woman keep clear of cooking areas and away from any task necessary to tribal survival. Many tribal groups assumed that a menstruating woman would scare off game animals during the hunt or diminish a warrior’s medicine during warfare. After Cheyenne chief Roman Nose was fatally wounded during the Battle of Beecher’s Island in 1868, for example, either he
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or others in the tribe blamed his wound on his having eaten food that a menstruating woman had prepared or touched. European American settlers and missionaries did not find these indigenous menstruation customs strange. Although most European American groups did not force menstruating women into seclusion or insist they refrain from cooking, menstruation was the subject of certain cultural taboos. Many men thought a menstruating woman unclean morally and physically and sometimes shunned her. She was often treated circumspectly, for fear she possessed special magic or linkage with the Devil. Thomas L. Altherr See also: Children; Puberty and Initiation Rites; Rites of Passage; Women.
Metalwork Tribes affected: Hopewell prehistoric tradition, Northeast tribes (especially Cayuga, Iroquois, Onondaga, Seneca), Southwest tribes (especially Navajo, Zuñi) Significance: Copper and, more recently, silver, have been used extensively for Indian ornamentation. The earliest examples of metals being used in North America date to around 4000 b.c.e. In the Great Lakes region, pieces of native copper were gathered and hammered into lance points and decorative or ritual objects. Archaeologists have discovered necklace beads composed of thin copper strips and fish-shaped pieces fashioned from the same metal during this era. These so-called Old Copper culture people did not practice true metallurgy, since the native metal was simply beaten and treated as a malleable stone. Copper ornaments and weapons produced by cold hammering, and some engraved sheets of silver of the Hopewell people, have also been found that date to the Common Era. The use of copper for personal ornamentation is one of the most striking differences
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between North American tribes and the pre-Columbian cultures of South and Central America, where gold was extensively used. Most North American tribes lacked any effective metalworking skills until after contact with other cultures, whereas the sixteenth century Spanish explorers of the New World found welldeveloped metalwork skills in Mexico and Central America. By the seventeenth century, Northeast tribes, such as the Seneca, Cayuga, and Onondaga, hammered, shaped, and cut European silver coins for jewelry. The more intricate techniques of silverworking were introduced to the Southwest Navajo by Mexican silversmiths during the early second half of the nineteenth century. Later, the Zuñi (Pueblo) learned the craft from the Navajo. The Navajo style was distinguished by die-stamp designs that showed off the metal itself. Zuñi work was more intricate in detail, and die work was rarer. Indian silversmiths produce work of extraordinary variety and beauty that reflects the unique creativity of Indian art. Bracelets, rings, earrings, necklaces, bow guards, concha belts, and buttons are only a few of the objects that, through the years, have been cre-
A depiction of an Indian blacksmith shop. (Library of Congress)
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ated from hand-wrought silver. Turquoise, which was frequently used in ornamentation long before the introduction of silversmithing, has also featured prominently in Indian silverwork. Although commercial imitations of Navajo and Zuñi work have been massproduced for the tourist market, they are unable to reproduce the beauty of authentic hand-made pieces. Nicholas C. Thomas Source for Further Study Dubin, Lois Sherr. North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present. New York: Henry N. Abrams, 1999. See also: Gold and Goldworking; Ornaments; Silverworking; Turquoise.
Midewiwin Tribes affected: Fox, Iowa, Menominee, Miami, Ojibwa (Chippewa), Ponca, Winnebago Significance: Midewiwin refers to a secret society and set of rituals that transferred knowledge of healing rites, herbal medicines, and moral codes to succeeding generations. The Midewiwin, also called the Grand Medicine Society, was both a secret society and a series of initiation and healing ceremonies. In tribal myths, this knowledge and power were given by the Great Spirit through an intermediary during a time of trouble and death. A central symbol is the white shell, representative of one which appeared to the Ojibwa from the eastern sea and led them west. Simultaneously with the shell, rules for moral living were given. The songs, rites, and stories of tribal origins are recorded in picture writing on birchbark scrolls. These scrolls are one of the few examples of Indian writing north of Mexico. To join a society, a man or woman had to be recommended by a member. If accepted, they paid a fee and were assigned a teacher.
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There were eight degrees of instruction, each of which required separate initiation rites. At the higher levels, persons were taught the use of herbal medicines and poisons. At each level, a Mide bag (medicine bundle) made of bird or animal skin containing the elements associated with that degree was presented. In the central ceremonies, usually celebrated in the spring and lasting several days, initiates were ritually shot with pieces of white shell from a Mide bag, after which they feigned death. The fragments were then removed by Mide leaders, reviving the initiates to new life, both moral and spiritual. The Midewiwin powers of healing and code for living were believed to guarantee a long life. The power of the Midewiwin was considered so great that members resisted Christian conversion. Eventually, however, legal and cultural pressures led to a decline of the practice. With the renewal of Indian culture that began in the 1960’s, movements such as the Three Fires Society have revived the practice of the Midewiwin. Similar practices are found in the shell society of the Omaha and the Navajo chantway rituals. Charles Louis Kammer III See also: Medicine and Modes of Curing: Pre-contact; Medicine Bundles; Religious Specialists; Secret Societies.
Midwinter Ceremony Tribes affected: Iroquois Confederacy (Six Nations) Significance: The Midwinter Ceremony was, and is, the pivotal event of the annual Iroquois ceremonial cycle; eight days of thanksgiving, propitiatory, and curing ceremonies traditionally began five days after the first new moon after the Pleiades were directly overhead at sunset. The Midwinter Ceremony, sometimes called the New Year Ceremony, is the biggest annual ceremony in Iroquois culture. Although the ceremony is still important today, this article will dis-
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cuss it in the past tense to emphasize that the discussion concerns the ceremony as it existed before it was somewhat modified by contact with European culture. The Midwinter Ceremony began at dawn of the first day with shamans entering the village compounds beating on drums. The ashes of each hearth were swept to find glowing coals, which were brought to the longhouse where the ceremony was held. Here a new fire was kindled. Hearth fires for the new year were kindled from this fire. The villagers assembled were congratulated for having survived to participate in another Midwinter Ceremony. The Thanksgiving Address, a cosmological statement of profound holistic knowledge, was then offered. Fifty-three songs accompanied the Thanksgiving Prayer. Next the children born since the Green Corn Ceremony of midsummer were given clan names. Other events included washing with fire; the rite of personal chant; and a dream-guessing festival to initiate new members into the established medicine societies and to purge living souls of bad thoughts and spiritual tortures. The Iroquois put much faith in the sacred quality of dreams. One popular event of the Midwinter Ceremony was the gambling game. One moiety of four clans played against the other moiety for personal power and certain political and ceremonial rights in the coming year. The game did not end until one moiety controlled all 108 dice. This ritual reflected the game of dice played between Creator and Dead Earth for the right for life to exist on earth. Then the Great Feather Dance was conducted, with its many songs, interspersed with pauses for praying and rejoicing that life continues. Another key ceremony was the arrival of the Husk Face Society, men who imitated women, acted as clowns, and prophesied an abundant corn harvest in the coming year. The last ceremony of the Midwinter Ceremony was the sacrifice of the white dog. The spirit of the dog served as messenger to the Master of Life, conveying the good wishes and thankfulness of the people. The Midwinter Ceremony was ordained first by the Peacemaker, and mnemonics for its recitation are found on wampum
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belts. The prophet Handsome Lake adjusted the Thanksgiving Prayer to fit the needs of the 1800’s, and that version is the one in use today. Glenn J. Schiffman Sources for Further Study Cornelius, Carol. “The Thanksgiving Address: An Expression of the Haudenosaunee Worldview.” Akwe:kon Journal 9, no. 3 (Fall, 1992). Henry, Thomas R. Wilderness Messiah: The Story of Hiawatha and the Iroquois. New York: Bonanaza Books, 1955. Josephy, Alvin M., Jr. The Indian Heritage of America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1968. Morgan, Lewis H. League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee, or Iroquois. Rochester, N.Y.: Sage and Brothers, 1851. Spencer, Robert F., Jesse D. Jennings, et al. The Native Americans. 2d ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1977. Tooker, Elisabeth. The Iroquois Ceremonial of Midwinter. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2000. _______, ed. Native North American Spirituality of the Eastern Woodlands. New York: Paulist Press, 1979. See also: False Face Ceremony; Games and Contests; Husk Face Society.
Military Societies Tribes affected: Primarily Plains tribes Significance: The main function of military societies was to enculturate young men into the ways and ethos of warfare. Military societies, or sodalities, were made up of men from different bands within a tribe. They were most common, and highly developed, in the Plains. These voluntary societies were often agegraded, with a person usually gaining greater status with age.
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Sometimes one could shift membership and allegiance to another society. Some tribes, such as the Blackfeet, had as many as seven military societies. The societies’ leaders were the main war chiefs of the tribe, who would have an entourage of subchiefs, messengers, and “ambassadors.” There was often competition between the societies in games, physical endurance, and military deeds. Each fraternity, though fundamentally alike in their internal organization, had its own sacred and profane paraphernalia, war and dance songs, power bundles, rattles, pipes, emblems, and dress. Many societies were totemic by name and origin, which was sometimes reflected in dances and in art form upon shields, horses, and even a member’s body. The main functions of these societies were to enculturate young men into the ways and ethos of warfare; to embody the concepts of self-control, bravery, and honor; to exercise social control during communal bison hunting; to police tribal ceremonies; and to accord status to a society’s members. John Alan Ross See also: Secret Societies; Societies: Non-kin-based; Warfare and Conflict.
Missions and Missionaries Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Missionaries and their missions provided American Indians with their first concentrated contact with white culture. Missionaries helped implement the policies of assimilation, agrarianism, and cultural extermination. From the 1500’s, when Spanish and French explorers brought Roman Catholic priests to North America, until the 1950’s, missionaries influenced both American Indians and U.S. policy toward Indians. Missionaries taught English, built schools and churches, and created pantribal connections. They also, however, spread disease
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and forced assimilation and Christianization on Indians. Most missionaries were well-meaning, but their efforts were often misguided. Some were so convinced of the correctness and superiority of their own culture and belief system that they tried to suppress and destroy those of the Indians. Missionary work supported by various denominations continues today, but since the 1950’s, missionaries have been more sensitive than their predecessors to Indian culture. Missionaries and their missions remain controversial in most American Indian communities today. Sixteenth Century Through Eighteenth Century. Missionaries first entered North America through the Spanish Empire in Mexico and through French trading posts in Quebec. The Spanish viewed Christianization as their holy duty to God and used it to rationalize conquest. State-sponsored Catholic missionaries developed missions in New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, and California. They provided protection, food, and shelter to the weaker tribes, such as the Pueblo Indians, while being constantly threatened by the stronger tribes, such as the Apaches and the Navajos. This system suffered a setback in the 1680 Pueblo Revolt (also known as Pope’s Revolt), when tribes rose up and chased the missionaries and the Spanish settlers out of New Mexico. The Spanish reestablished the missions within fifteen years. The French allowed Catholic missionaries into their territory, but they were not state-sponsored as they were in the Spanish Empire. Jesuits attempted to Christianize the Hurons, but instead they brought smallpox, which decimated the tribe. This upset the tribal balance of power, and the Iroquois attacked and killed off most of the Hurons. The Jesuits retreated and simply kept missions at trading posts until the 1790’s. The English Protestants also saw Christianization of the Indians as part of their role in North America. In the seventeenth century, John Eliot of Massachusetts established praying villages where Indians lived “as white men”: They wore English clothes, learned farming techniques, and became Christians. As disease decimated many of the Northern Woodlands tribes, the remaining members
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joined the praying villages for survival. The villages appeared to be successful at attracting converts. Though many of the Indian residents did convert, most died from diseases spread by the whites within the praying villages. David Brainerd, an Eliot student, began a mission among the Cherokee in Tennessee. The Cherokee used the mission to learn English and to learn about white culture. The high attendance rate made the school appear to be a success, which inspired other Protestant groups to send missionaries among the Indians. All these early missionaries—Spanish, French, and English—believed in the power of Christianity, the importance of sedentary farming, and the necessity of extinguishing Indian culture. Nineteenth Century. Mission work exploded with the development of large missionary societies between 1830 and 1850. Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, and Catholic societies sponsored hundreds of missionaries, both male and female, to work with Indians. Missionaries built schools and churches to attract Indians to Christianity and white civilization. They expected Indians to convert in large numbers and to support their own missions financially (as the natives of India and Africa had done). Despite these efforts, the Indians showed little interest in converting to Christianity. In the 1850’s, the missionary societies grew impatient with the lack of progress. They accepted money from the American government to help support their missions. In return, the government demanded that the missionaries increase their efforts to Christianize and “civilize” the Indians. Money was supplied to help assimilate all Indian groups to sedentary farming and Christianity. This method was a general failure, perhaps most conspicuously with Plains and Northwest Coast groups. By the 1870’s, missionary societies lost patience with the lack of success and cut off funding for missionaries. Individual missionaries became responsible for their own financial support. Many entered into agreements with the U.S. government that tied them to conversion quotas. The government wanted a certain number of “pacified” Indians in exchange for its invested dollars. Additionally,
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Young girls praying at the Phoenix Indian School in the early twentieth century. (National Archives)
missionaries wrote pamphlets and books about the “wretched condition” of specific Indian groups. These writings influenced public views of the condition of the American Indian. Many of these missionary works formed the basis for anthropological studies of the Sioux, the Cheyenne, the Navajo, the Salish, and other native groups. Despite their funding problems, missionaries continued their program of assimilation, agrarianism, and cultural extermination. The height of this policy occurred during the 1870’s when the government’s “peace policy” allowed missionaries to administer the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). At this time, residential schools became popular. Missionaries removed Indian children from their parents and sent them away to be acculturated into white society. Missionaries forbade the children to speak their own language, wear their own clothes, or practice any aspect of their own culture.
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At this point, missionary and government policy coalesced into one united front against Indian culture. By the end of the nineteenth century, missionaries had fallen out of favor with the government, which saw their attempts at fostering assimilation as failures. Few Indians had converted to Christianity; most had developed a resentment of missionaries and saw them as agents of cultural genocide. However, missionaries remained part of Indian policy through the 1950’s. They ran schools, wrote reports, and continued to act as agents and intermediaries for the government. Positive Contributions. Though missionaries generally attempted to destroy Indian cultures and societies in their efforts to help Indians, they made some positive contributions. First, education and acculturation provided Indian groups with a common language—English. Second, the residential school system provided a common experience for native leaders and gave them the opportunity to meet people from different tribal groups. Finally, education created bicultural natives who understood their own culture and white culture. This development helped many tribal groups in their legal battles against white governments. C. L. Higham Sources for Further Study Beaver, Robert Pierce. Church, State, and the American Indians. St. Louis: Concordia, 1966. Berkhofer, Robert, Jr. Salvation and the Savage. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1965. Devens, Carol. Countering Colonization: Native American Women and Great Lakes Missions, 1630-1900. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. Grant, John Webster. Moon of Wintertime: Missionaries and the Indians of Canada in Encounter Since 1543. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984. Higham, C. L. Noble, Wretched and Redeemable: Protestant Missionaries to the Indians in Canada and the United States, 1820-1900. Albuquerque: University of Mexico Press, 2000.
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Kelley, Robert. American Protestantism and United States Indian Policy. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983. See also: Boarding Schools; Children; Disease and Intergroup Contact; Education: Post-contact; Praying Indians; Religion.
Mississippian Culture Significance: A maize-based economy that dominated the Eastern Woodlands and built its largest city, Cahokia. “Mississippian” describes hundreds of Native American societies that populated the river valleys and the drainage system of the Mississippi River from about 750 to about 1500 c.e., a period of some forty generations. This period is the last prehistoric period in the Eastern Woodlands culture pattern. The Mississippian Culture Complex included six major areas: Oneota, around the Great Lakes; Fort Ancient in present-day Ohio; the Caddoan Mississippian, with a ceremonial center at Spiro, now in Oklahoma; Plaquemine Mississippian, with a center in Nunih Waya in presentday Mississippi; the Middle Mississippian area, with centers in Cahokia (Illinois) and in Moundville, now Alabama; and the South Appalachian Mississippian culture centered around Etowah in present-day Georgia. The immediate source of this cultural pattern is not clear; however, between 800 and 1100, there were dramatic developments taking place in the area. Not just a time of change in the style of artifacts, the Mississippian period saw a new way of life with new kinds of technology and a new relationship to the surroundings. It has been said that the period was the closest to being a time of cultural revolution that the prehistoric Central Valley had experienced up to that time. Chief among the developments of the period was a turning away from the traditional cultivation of native plant crops. A sin-
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gle species of corn, the nonindigenous maize, came to dominate both the fields and the lives of the Mississippian peoples. The Northern Flint variety of maize, an eight-rowed maize that matured more quickly and was more frost-resistant than earlier tento twelve-row varieties, thrived in some of the country’s richest farmland. This development led to radical changes in the social and political fabric of the people. Maize would become the staple of the Oneota people on the Great Lakes, the Iroquoian Confederacy to the northeast, the people along the middle Ohio River Valley, and those in the river valleys to the southeast and in the Midwest. Later, maize would be just as important in the lives of the Creek and Choctaw to the south, and the Mandan and Pawnee people in the Great Plains area. The Mississippians also cultivated two other crops, beans and squash, that along with maize formed what the Iroquois called the Three Sisters, crops available in quantities sufficient to provide the main food supply. These crops were supplemented by game and fish. As these proliferating societies were connected by the common denominator of maize, there developed a need for more centralized authority and more concentrated social controls. Agricultural surpluses were needed for redistribution of food. One change led to others, and the people responded to the challenge by reorganizing their settlements into hierarchical arrangements. That is, the arrangement of housing gave greater distance between nobles and commoners. The hub of much of this reorganization was under way by about 950, when the city of Cahokia in present-day Illinois emerged as a center of urban expansion. Cahokia was located north of the Central Valley, within what is called the American Bottom region just opposite what would become St. Louis, Missouri. Within a century, thousands of families poured into the area, making Cahokia the largest city north of Mexico. It is the largest archaeological site in the eastern United States. Its dispersed community covered an area of almost five square miles, and the population has been estimated at approximately thirty thousand.
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The walled city of Cahokia was characterized by the presence of more than one hundred mounds of various sizes, shapes, and functions distributed in a pattern that indicates an organized community, perhaps arranged around plazas. The majority of the mounds were platform mounds, on which various kinds of structures were built. The greatest of the mounds, now called Monk’s Mound, was originally taller because there was a conical mound atop it; it now is approximately 100 feet high and extends 1,037 feet north to south and 790 feet east to west. On some of the flat-topped mounds, palaces for the living ruler and housing for the new nobility, perhaps as much as 5 percent of the population, had been constructed. Thus, the elite literally towered over everyone and everything in the Cahokia area. Not all the mounds were used as sites for palaces of royalty; some were burial mounds, and the burial offerings in the mounds reveal much about the extensive communication that the Mississippians had with other people on the Atlantic coast. The bestknown of the burial mounds at Cahokia is the one now labeled Mound 72. This mound provides extensive information about the major trade contacts of the Mississippians. In it was found copper from Lake Superior and mica from the southern Appalachians. Examination of the style and content of arrow points has indicated sources in Wisconsin, Tennessee, east Texas, and eastern Oklahoma. In other locations in Cahokia, conch shells indicated contacts with people living along the Atlantic Ocean. The Cahokian aristocrats presided over complex ceremonies and rituals that were at the center of the Mississippian’s life. The sense of community was closely related to long-term political cycles. As long as chiefs were particularly effective, the people gladly accepted their rule and united as a regional community. When a chief died, the huge community became fragmented into several townships. The more social and political ranking increased, the more important ceremony and sacrament became to the people. These ceremonies expressed obligations to ancestors, celebrated successful harvests, hunts, and warfare, and involved elaborate death rituals in homage to social leaders.
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The religious system that evolved is called the Southern cult, the Southern Death Cult, or the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. It included a network of artifacts and motifs. Ceramics modeled on animal and human forms could be found throughout much of the East during Mississippian times. Some of the important motifs included crosses, human hands with eyes or crosses on the palms, winged or weeping eyes, human skulls, long bones, dancing men in elaborate costumes, arrows, and symbols of the sun. Also important were animal symbols such as the feathered serpent, woodpecker, falcon, raccoon, and eagle. These symbols are found on pottery and on shell and copper ornaments. The objects are associated with the burial of high-status personages, mostly at major centers such as Cahokia, and the distribution of particular styles is outside regional boundaries. Although Cahokia and other great Mississippian centers were already in decline prior to Hernando de Soto’s arrival in North America, their ultimate collapse is associated with the appearance of Europeans in their territory. Disease in epidemic proportions overtook people in the surviving towns, and by 1500, the complex political and social mores that defined the Mississippians were greatly diminished. Constructed public works such as the mounds and palisades were no longer built. Burial rituals for ancestors and support for royalty ended. Nevertheless, many of the Mississippian beliefs lived on among southeastern tribes of later generations, such as the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, and Chickasaw. For example, the puskita, or Green Corn ceremony, shows the influence of the fertility rituals associated with the maize crop. Another ceremony of the Southern Cult, the Black Drink, also survived. The drink, made from roasted leaves of the sassina shrub, was taken with great ceremony and in the belief that the drink conferred spiritual purification upon all participants. Rich in caffeine, the drink was believed to clear the minds for debate and to cleanse and strengthen the bodies of warriors for battle. Victoria Price
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Sources for Further Study Ballantine, Betty, and Ian Ballantine, eds. The Native Americans: An Illustrated History. Atlanta: Turner, 1993. Chapter 6 of this comprehensive treatment of Native American history discusses the emergence and demise of the Mississippian Culture Complex, in which the Indian confederacies of the southland were rooted. Kehoe, Alice B. North American Indians: A Comprehensive Account. 2d ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1992. Systematically traces the Americas’ earliest humans and discusses the people of each of seven geographical areas. Maps, charts, and recommended lists. Morse, Dan F., and Phyllis A. Morse. Archaeology of the Central Mississippi Valley. New York: Academic Press, 1983. Places the complex origins of the Cahokia site in the context of the entire Mississippian complex. Focuses on environmental adaptation and ceramics and other important artifacts. Pauketat, Timothy R., and Thomas E. Emerson, eds. Cahokia: Domination and Ideology in the Mississippian World. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997. A collection of essays that explore religion, social organization, subsistence, trade, and mound construction in Cahokia. Silverberg, Robert. Mound Builders of Ancient America: The Archaeology of a Myth. Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic Society, 1968. A comprehensive study of various mound-building prehistoric societies. Discusses the emergence, triumph, and deflation of the myth that the Mound Builders were a lost race. Smith, Bruce D., ed. Mississippian Settlement Patterns. New York: Academic Press, 1978. Discusses a number of Mississippian settlement patterns, including those of Cahokia and the American Bottom. See also: Black Drink; Corn; Culture Areas; Green Corn Dance; Mounds and Moundbuilders; Ohio Mound Builders.
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Moccasins Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Animal-skin moccasins, comfortable and practical, were the type of American Indian footwear most widely worn in North America. The word “moccasin” is an Anglicization of the Natick term mohkussin, which is derived from the Algonquian word maxkeseni. Moccasins are soft leather shoes or slippers made of animal hide and worn throughout the Americas in areas where animal skins are used in the making of clothing and footwear. There are many styles of moccasin. Although this type of footwear is widely used, particulars regarding materials, construction, styles, and decoration are tribe-specific. The hides of deer, elk, moose, buffalo, and other large game are most often used, although in the Arctic sealskin is preferred. On the Northwest Coast, footwear is most often made of cedar and other vegetable fibers. Moccasins can be cut low, in the form of a slipper; cut to medium height to make an ankle-high shoe; or made in the form of a boot that can be tied as high as the thigh. Some are slipped on, some use laces, while others are tied with straps. Moccasins are often decorated with beautiful designs using porcupine quills or beads of various kinds. Michael W. Simpson See also: Dress and Adornment; Hides and Hidework.
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Mogollon Culture Significance: Along with the Anasazi and Hohokam cultures, the Mogollon peoples created pueblo dwellings and a complex social order. The pre-Columbian Mogollon cultural tradition of the Southwest (distributed throughout central New Mexico and extending into eastern central Arizona and northern Mexico) is a subcultural variant of the “Pueblo Complex,” which includes two other great traditions: Anasazi (of the Colorado Plateau) and Hohokam (central and southern Arizona, extending into the Sonoran Desert of northern Mexico). The Mogollon cultural complex and its Southwestern counterparts are among the most notable cultural developments in North American prehistory. Classic Mogollon culture reached its pinnacle at approximately 1200. By 1250, however, Mogollon culture as a cohesive tradition began to fall apart. Diagnostic Mogollon culture traits first appear during a transitional phase from the older and more generalized Cochise period (7000 b.c.e. to 1000 c.e.). Distinctively Mogollon culture came to dominate the core area of what is now central New Mexico by 750 c.e. This transition is characterized by a gradual shift away from an exclusively hunter-gatherer and foraging way of life to one dominated by domestication of plants, primarily maize, squash, and beans. Other traits include the presence of circular and semicircular house pits, brown and red pottery, tightly stitched basket weaves, cotton textiles, and distinctive burials. Through time, there was also a tendency toward increased sedentary settlement; but, unlike their highly sedentary neighbors—for example, the Anasazi and Hohokam—the Mogollon maintained numerous seasonal village sites and periodically shifted residence according to the availability of water and wild food resources. The florescence of “classic” Mogollon culture (roughly 900 to 1200 c.e.) is identified by the presence of multiple-room, pueblostyle dwellings, large and extensive settlements, polychrome pottery, advanced textile weave patterns, intensive agricultural systems, and indications of a complex social and political order.
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Excavations carried out in the Mogollon area suggest that longdistance trade was an important component of the Mogollon economy. Materials that originated in regions as far away as the Mississippi Valley and Mesoamerica (particularly southern and central Mexico) have been found at Mogollon sites. For example, pipe stone sourced to the Mississippi and Wisconsin areas has been found at numerous Mogollon sites, while copper bells, shell beads, and a wide variety of effigy designs are most likely of Mexican origin. Anthropologists and archaeologists who have worked on interpreting Mogollon artifacts have speculated that Mogollon society showed some signs of class or status differences. For example, some burial sites contained numerous and sumptuous grave goods, while others were sparse or contained only skeletal mate-
CALIFORNIA
Area of the Mogollon Culture
ANASAZI Mesa Verde
Kayenta Canyon de Chelly
Chaco Canyon
PATAYAN Snaketown Casa Grande
HOHOKAM
Point of Pines Mimbres
MOGOLLON
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rial with no grave goods present at all. These scholars have also speculated that these class differences indicate a general cultural evolutionary pattern favoring increases in intensive economic productivity. To maintain such economic systems, more centralized political authority must have become increasingly important so that various subsistence, trade, and construction projects could be effectively organized and conducted. Despite such archaeological evidence, an exact reconstruction of Mogollon society can never be made; it is sufficient, however, to acknowledge that Mogollon society must have been relatively complex, bordering on large-scale. To understand what the Mogollon political system must have been like, anthropologists have looked at modern horticultural populations to provide a working analogy. The concept of a chiefdom has been used to describe sociopolitical structuring at this level. A chiefdom, as defined by anthropologists, refers to a sociopolitical system that depends on the redistribution of goods through a local chief or set of subchiefs. Chiefs found in contemporary horticultural societies enjoy higher status than other members of society but have little explicitly recognized political power. Their real power typically rests on their ability to redistribute goods effectively, often during festivals or ceremonies, and their ability to persuade or influence decision making through speeches. It is possible that Mogollon leaders operated in much the same way as their modern counterparts. Equally problematic have been attempts to reconstruct a tenable picture of Mogollon religion. Numerous artifacts suggesting religious themes have been found, but without specific ethnographic or historical data to indicate their actual cultural functions, interpretations have been highly speculative. Although few specific aspects of Mogollon religion can be described, there are some continuities between historical Southwestern Native American populations and religious traits that occur in earlier Mogollon contexts. Perhaps the most conspicuous is the kiva. Kivas are cylindrical, subterranean structures used primarily for purposes of carrying out religious ceremonies. Kivas are present at all significant late-period Mogollon sites and are still in use throughout much of
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the Native American Southwest. In addition, various general characteristics of contemporary Southwest practices suggest some general features of Mogollon religion. For example, among contemporary Zuñi and Acoma peoples, religion is integrated closely with other aspects of life; planting corn is considered a religious activity. Calling for rain by appealing to kachinas or nature spirits is also highly religious. Kachina symbols appear as art motifs in the Mogollon area, possibly as early as 1100 c.e. Moreover, the ritual cycles of the contemporary Acoma and Zuñi are closely tied to the annual growing cycle. It is likely that the Mogollon ritual cycle followed the same basic annual pattern, although contemporary researchers cannot describe in detail how these rituals were conducted. From about 1200, and continuing into the fourteenth century, the Mogollon area, along with the neighboring Hohokam and Anasazi areas, experienced a period of rapid decline. Many of the large pueblo sites were abandoned, and much of the artistic splendor of the classic period disappeared. Archaeologists analyzing various types of artifactual remains (material culture, paleoclimatological, and human osteological data) have generated four basic theories to explain the decline. Some archaeologists have suggested that Mogollon decline resulted from severe changes in climate. These researchers have pointed out that tree ring and pollen data show that after 1200, the Southwest became much more arid than it had been previously. Researchers speculate that the Mogollon subsistence economy could not withstand this shift in climate and eventually collapsed. Other scholars have suggested that Mogollon society fell apart as a result of internal cultural disintegration. Some artifactual material suggests that Mogollon cultural institutions were highly inflexible and fragile, and may have become too disconnected from practical economic concerns. Still others have indicated that warfare may have delivered the final blow. The presence of Athapaskan-speaking groups (Navajo and Apachean), who were latecomers in the Southwest, offers evidence of cultural conflicts that, these researchers posit, might have permanently disrupted the Mogollon way of life.
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Most scholars, however, take a synthetic or systemic view of Mogollon decline, believing that the combined forces outlined in all of these theories caused the decline. Some of this latter group of scholars have downplayed the idea of decline and inferred that the Mogollon tradition did not disappear, but became fragmented and subsequently evolved into the various contemporary Native American traditions now found in central New Mexico and eastern Arizona. Whatever may have stimulated their decline, it is accurate to say that the Mogollon have had a significant impact on modern views of pre-contact Native American societies of the Southwest and in North America in general. These were not simple societies, but complex, long-held traditions that rival any found in other parts of the world. Although it is difficult to measure precisely the impact Mogollon culture has had on contemporary Southwest native traditions, or the impact it has had on contemporary EuroAmericans, its influence is felt. Many Native American groups in central and southern New Mexico still make pottery, jewelry, and textiles that resemble Mogollon forms. Euro-Americans also have felt this influence when they visit ancient Mogollon sites, buy artwork, or observe native ceremonies as they continue to be practiced. Michael Findlay Sources for Further Study Binford, Sally R., and Lewis R. Binford, eds. New Perspectives in Archaeology. Chicago: Aldine, 1968. A comprehensive overview of scientific approaches to archaeology. Includes many references to Southwest prehistory. Cordell, Linda S., and George J. Gumerman, eds. Dynamics of Southwest Prehistory. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989. Contains a variety of high-quality articles on Southwestern prehistory. Gladwin, Winifred, and Harold S. Gladwin. Some Southwestern Pottery Types. Series III. Glove, Ariz.: Gila Pueblo, 1933. An overview of ceramic types for most Southwestern cultural traditions.
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Martin, Paul. “Prehistory: Mogollon.” In The Southwest. Vol. 9 in Handbook of North American Indians, edited by Alfonso Ortiz. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979. A detailed article on the archaeology of the Mogollon culture area. Plog, Stephen. Ancient Peoples of the American Southwest. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1997. An examination of the Anasazi, Hohokam, and Mogollon cultures. Reid, Jefferson, and Stephanie Whittlesey. Grasshopper Pueblo: A Story of Archaeology and Ancient Life. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1999. Grasshopper Pueblo is a prehistoric ruin that was the home to a Mogollon community. The daily life of this ancient community has been deduced from the artifacts found in the more than 100 rooms that have been excavated at this site. Snow, Dean R. The Archaeology of North America. New York: Chelsea House, 1989. A detailed, in-depth overview of North American archaeology. Includes a notable section on Southwestern archaeology. See also: Anasazi Civilization; Architecture: Southwest; Arts and Crafts: Southwest; Culture Areas; Hohokam Culture; Political Organization and Leadership; Pottery; Religion.
Money Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: A variety of monetary systems were developed by American Indians for economic and ceremonial purposes; although these systems differed from European coinage systems, the two shared many features. Money can be defined as a medium of exchange that is used by common consent to pay for goods and services. Money has certain defining criteria: value (worth and desirability), standardization (which may be established by authority or custom), durability, portability, divisibility (it can be separated into parts), stability
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(its value is relatively constant), and cognizability (it is known or recognized). Barter, on the other hand, need only involve mutual consent involving an exchange between two parties. Money came into being when certain items became desirable and symbolized wealth. By these criteria, Indians clearly had money, although coinage was entirely unknown. This money assumed many different forms and, unlike European systems of coinage and currency, was often intimately involved with myth and religion. Shells symbolized water (the Haida believed the first people came from a shell; to the Omaha shells embodied the Great Spirit). Shells also symbolized fecundity, birth, good luck, and health. Red ochre, traded by the Apaches and Mojaves, symbolized blood or earth’s life substances. Stones were thought to resemble animals and had healing powers. Feathers represented the wind, soul, and rain. With the advent of trade with whites, money became more secularized, as tools, weapons, cloth, and blankets became valued exchange media. For several centuries sacred and secular monies existed side by side and sometimes were combined into a single medium. In southern and central California, golden orange magnesite cylinder beads were most valued and white clam or snail shell discs less so. These materials were ground and shaped to a uniform size and appearance and polished on deerskin to give them a beautiful shine. At one time a necklace of 160 clam shell beads was worth about one dollar; as it circulated eastward, its value and desirability increased significantly. In contrast, an average two-inchlong piece of finished magnesite was worth about eight hundred clam shells. Woodpecker scalps, the shells of haliots, olivella, abalone, and dentalia, and obsidian blades also had monetary value. These monies were used for a variety of purposes, such as purchase of staples and goods, bride buying, “blood money” indemnification, atonement for religious trespass, and ornamental symbols of wealth and status. Dentalium, a type of shell, was the exclusive medium on the Northwest Coast. For the Chinook, the hiaqua consisted of no more than twenty-five shells to the fathom (six feet). Kop kop consisted of
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smaller shells strung together with broken ones and shells of poorer quality and was used as small change. Dentalium eventually gave way to blankets, which were acquired from whites in exchange for beaver fur. The Tlingit used sea otter and caribou skins as money. Laurence Miller See also: Blankets; Shells and Shellwork; Trade; Wampum.
Morning Star Ceremony Tribe affected: Pawnee Significance: The Morning Star Ceremony, a sacred Pawnee ritual, was intended to ensure the abundance of corn and buffalo. The Morning Star Ceremony was one of the most sacred Pawnee rituals. Its central act was the raiding of another village, the capture of a young girl, and her sacrifice at the rising of the Morning Star (Mars or Venus). Tied to a wooden scaffold, she was killed by an arrow through the heart. Her blood was included in a burnt offering of buffalo meat. The many songs sung during the ceremony indicate its purpose was to ensure the growth and abundance of corn and buffalo. The Skidi Pawnee of the central Plains were the last group to practice this ritual. For the Pawnee, the Morning Star (a young warrior) and the Evening Star (a young woman) were the parents of a daughter who was the mother of the first humans (the son of the Sun and Moon was the father). The stars entrusted humans with sacred bundles that became the focus of Pawnee ceremonies. The ceremony itself was orchestrated by the caretaker of the Morning Star bundle. It began when a young warrior underwent purification rituals and prepared special materials. He was equipped with objects from the bundle, including an otter-fur collar, a hawk, an ear of corn, and a sacred pipe. After observing the rising of the Morning Star, he undertook the raid and brought back an adolescent girl to sacrifice. Preparations included the procure-
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ment of buffalo meat. The sacrifice commenced with sacred songs and dances extending over four days. During this time, the victim was treated well and instructed to eat with a special horn spoon and bowl. She was then dressed in ritual clothing and fixed to a scaffold made of several different kinds of wood. After her death, male members of the village (including children) shot arrows into her body as part of their contributions to the ritual. John Hoopes See also: Buffalo; Corn; Music and Song.
Mosaic and Inlay Tribes affected: Aztec, Carib, Chichimec, Maya, Mixtec, Navajo, Olmec, Pueblo, Tlingit, Zapotec, Zuñi Significance: Mosaic and inlay were used for decorative purposes by Indians prior to European contact and continue to be used by modern Indians. Mosaic is an art form using small pieces of stone, glass, tile, or other materials such as feathers and straw to form a decorative design or picture. Used for such things as masks, jewelry, and architecture, mosaic art was common among the Indians of Mesoamerica, the Southwest, and the Northwest. In Mesoamerica, mosaic and inlay were used by the Maya Indians for funeral masks—small pieces of turquoise, jade, red and white shells, and mother-of-pearl were glued to a wooden base and buried with the deceased. The Mixtec Indians made ceremonial shields by covering a ceramic base with cut and polished turquoise stones. They also covered the interior and exterior of buildings with precisely patterned tiled mosaics. The Zapotec Indians decorated their cultural center with stone mosaics in zigzag patterns. The Aztecs made feathered mosaic shields for their commanders and chiefs. Ceilings, floors, walls, pavements, and walkways were often covered with tiled mosaics. Some exterior walls
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had patterns inlaid on them using cut stones that were cemented in the walls like bricks. In North America, the Tlingit Indians of the Northwest made headdress frontlets and hats carved out of cedar and inlaid with abalone shells. In the Southwest, the ancient Anasazi were known to have made turquoise mosaic pendants. The Pueblo and Zuñi made jewelry and pendants with colored shell mosaics. After the Spanish conquest, the Pueblo made crosses with inlays. The Navajo are known for making silver and turquoise jewelry, such as squash blossom necklaces, bracelets, and small silver boxes, using turquoise stones inlaid in polished silver forms. Modern Zuñi jewelry uses mosaic patterns of stones and shells in turquoise and white, red and black. Turquoise was the most commonly used stone in mosaic design and inlay in the Southwest and Mesoamerica because of its availability and also because of its mystical association with both the sky and water. In the Northwest region, abalone shell was most commonly used for inlay. Diane C. Van Noord See also: Feathers and Featherwork; Metalwork; Shells and Shellwork; Turquoise.
Mother Earth Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: The original people of the Americas viewed Mother Earth as the source of all life. This personification of the regenerative and provident attributes of nature has its roots in animism. Animists believe that all things are alive and related. Everything that exists is further defined by its relationship to all other things. In many mythopoeic oral traditions throughout the Americas, all things receive their life from the earth itself. Plant and animal life as well as the elements and forces of nature are the source of hu-
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man life. Human beings are seen as the spiritual guardians and stewards of the natural world. They are the children of Mother Earth and must treat her in ways that show respect and honor. Numerous ceremonial and ritual means can be used to address Mother Earth—such as the sweatlodge ceremony and prayer—in order to ensure her continued beneficence. It is thought that when people cease to use such means to express their respect and gratitude for her blessings all life will be destroyed and human life on this planet will come to an end. The spiritual traditions which have their roots in the natural world see all things as part of the sacred web of life. Spiritualism is seen as the highest form of political consciousness. Those who honor Mother Earth live in accordance with traditions that sustain life. Traditional native peoples and their belief in Mother Earth are seen as the primary sources of knowledge that can reverse the destructive materialistic worldview and processes of Western civilization. Michael W. Simpson See also: Ethnophilosophy and Worldview; Religion; Sacred Narratives; Sacred, the.
Mounds and Mound Builders Tribes affected: Northeast and Southeast tribes (prehistoric and historic) Significance: Various groups of American Indians built earthen mounds at different time periods in different locations, which served different cultural functions; the American Indian construction of these mounds was not fully accepted until 1894. Earthen mounds are located in the eastern United States from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes, with concentrations in the Midwest along the Ohio and Mississippi River drainages. These mounds were constructed by a number of different Native Ameri-
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Areas of Mound Building
Aztalan Norton
Mounds State Park Miamisburg Fort Ancient Cahokia Angel
Newark
Grave Creek
Adena Seip Serpent Mound
Kincaid Mound Bottom Spiro
Chucalissa
Hiwassee Island Etowah
Winterville Belcher
Hollywood Moundville Ocmulgee
Emerald Mound
Kolomoki Adena culture
Mount Royal
Hopewell culture Mississippian core area Mississippian culture
The earliest of the Ohio River Mound Builders, the Adena Indians, are thought to have lived between 700 B.C.E. and 200 C.E. The Adena gave rise to the Hopewell Indian culture, also centered in the valleys of the Ohio River and its tributaries, which is recognized from around 100 B.C.E. until about 400 or 500 C.E. The Hopewell developed vast, nearly continentwide, trading networks. Some researchers posit that Hopewellians were ancestral to the Iroquois. The last North American mound-building culture, the Mississippian, was centered along the Mississippi River, at Cahokia, where East St. Louis, Illinois, now stands. It developed around 700 C.E. and flourished until after 1500. Many scholars believe that the Mississippians were direct ancestors to the Cherokee, Sioux, and other American Indian tribes.
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can groups during several different time periods, and they were used for a range of functions. In some cases, Indians built conical mounds to inter their dead, while in other locations or time periods, they constructed flat-topped pyramidal mounds to serve as the foundations for important buildings such as temples or chiefly residences. Some of the better-known mound sites are Cahokia, near St. Louis, Missouri (with a florescence between 1050-1250 c.e.), Moundville, Alabama (a dominant center from 1250 to 1500 c.e.), and those associated with the Hopewell culture (circa 200 b.c.e.-400 c.e.), centered in the Ohio Valley. When these mounds were first noted by Europeans in the late eighteenth century, they stimulated acrimonious debate concerning their origins, namely whether Indians, their ancestors, or others had constructed them. These arguments continued unabated until Cyrus Thomas’ Report on the Mound Explorations of the Bureau of Ethnology (1894), which demonstrated that Native Americans had built the mounds. There are several underlying factors that explain why it took scholars so many years to accept the aboriginal origins of the moundbuilders. First, the dispute originated during the early colonial period, when settlers’ understanding of Native American culture was based on their interactions with socially disrupted Indian groups no longer continuing all of their pre-Columbian activities. Second, based on these data, and on racist beliefs concerning Native Americans, it seemed unlikely to them that the Indian ancestors of these groups would have possessed the technological skills to construct the mounds. In addition, in some instances, Native American land rights could be denied if it could be demonstrated that earlier, more “civilized” people had once inhabited the area. European Americans also may have desired to construct a heroic past for members of their own cultures, which may explain the proliferation of hypotheses proposing that various early European groups built the earthen monuments. For example, in 1787, it was suggested that the Ohio Mound Builders were Danes, while an 1812 work opted for the Welsh. Caleb Atwater’s article “Description of the Antiquities Discovered in the State of Ohio and Other
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Western States” (1820) went so far as to propose Hindu builders. Others, such as E. G. Squier and E. H. Davis, in their Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley (1848), favored Mayan or Aztec construction, believing them to be of a different, more evolved “race” from the local Indians. Granted, there were a few dissenters from the prevailing views of the time, but these dissenting voices did not affect general public opinion. By the 1880’s, the United States Congress became involved in the controversy, and it provided funds to the Smithsonian Bureau of Ethnology, directed by Major John Wesley Powell, to investigate the mounds. Powell appointed Cyrus Thomas to lead the Division of Mound Exploration. With the publication of Thomas’ 1894 report, the “Mound Builders controversy” was effectively quelled, and a Native American origin for these constructions was accepted. Susan J. Wurtzburg Source for Further Study Woodward, Susan L., and Jerry N. McDonald. Indian Mounds of the Middle Ohio Valley: A Guide to Mounds and Earthworks of the Adena, Hopewell, Cole, and Fort Ancient People. 2d ed. Blacksburg, Va.: McDonald & Woodward, 2002. See also: Astronomy; Effigy Mounds; Ohio Mound Builders; Serpent Mounds.
Music and Song Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Music has always played an important role in American Indian culture; singing, in particular, is essential in many ceremonies, including religious rituals, as well as at social gatherings. When Europeans first encountered the natives of North America, they found a culture vastly different from their own. Because this culture was considered “primitive” and was thus branded inferior,
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there was little attempt to understand the culture of the “savages” at first. American Indian music was often described as atonal chanting, and it was assumed that Indian songs, like other aspects of their culture, were less advanced than those of the Europeans. This attitude persisted well into modern times. As American Indians began the attempt to reclaim their cultural heritage, and scholars began taking this culture seriously, it was found that American Indian music, song, and dance were complex; moreover, they varied greatly among the assorted cultures of North America. Indian Concept of Music. One of the major reasons that early settlers and explorers found American Indian music so difficult to comprehend was that the Indians had a completely different concept of music in general, and singing in particular. The Indians use songs for specific purposes, often of a religious nature. There are songs to appease the spirits, songs for success in hunting and fishing, songs in preparation for war, and songs celebrating victory in war. There are also personal songs composed by individuals who have had visions. Indian cultures have never codified music as European cultures have. Undoubtedly, musical styles changed over the centuries before the Europeans’ arrival, but modern researchers are at a loss to trace prehistoric developments of this sort, as none of the American tribes developed written languages or a system of describing specific tunes in a permanent manner. Possibly the most essential difference between the European and American Indian cultures when it comes to music is that, in Indian cultures, virtually everyone may participate in music and singing. There is no group of professional composers or performers. In this sense, all Indian music is folk music. There has never been a difference between popular or folk songs, religious music, and “serious” music, as there has been in Europe and in the cultures the Europeans brought to North America. The Indian Scale. As a general rule, Indian singing is accompanied only by percussion instruments or is unaccompanied. For this
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reason, a song does not have to be “in tune” in the sense that a specific scale must be used at all times. A common scheme is a steady fall in pitch during the song, though this is far from universal. (Some tribes play flutelike instruments made of hollowed wood or reeds, but these have a very limited range in pitch and are not used to accompany songs.) The result of this situation is that many Indian songs sound discordant to people used to European musical traditions. A song may not even come close to the harmonic patterns to which white cultures are accustomed. It is therefore impossible to play American Indian music on an instrument that is limited to the twelve-tone chromatic scale that has played an essential role in European music at least since the time of the ancient Greeks. It is also impossible to use standard musical notation to record tunes accurately. Religious Songs. To the American Indian, all music has a strong supernatural element. This aspect can also be found in Christian cultures; hymns are an important part of church services, for example, and there is considerable popular music based on religious themes. Yet this element is far more essential to American Indian songs. Music is considered a gift of the gods and is vital to almost all religious ceremonies. The songs involved are not hymns as such; rather, they are specific to a particular spirit or aspect of nature. One very common type of religious song is essentially a prayer. Many songs in many tribes are named after animals and are intended to appease the spirit controlling the animal, thus giving the hunter or fisherman a greater chance of subduing his prey. The Inuits (Eskimos), for example, are greatly dependent on the sea for their survival. In their boats, they sing specific songs for whales, seals, fish, and other potential food sources. The Plains Indians have songs for buffalo, deer, and other game. Another type of religious singing is the chanting of spells to cure disease. An Indian with a serious disease is often considered to be possessed by an evil spirit, and the proper chant may drive out this spirit. When other remedies, especially herbal treatments,
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are used, the songs still play a vital role. The herbs must be sung over to ensure their potency. There are also songs to control the forces of nature. In arid areas, there are many songs to appease the rain spirits and cause muchneeded rain. In areas subject to flooding, there are songs to appease the water gods and lessen the rain. There are songs to ensure crop fertility as well. Finally, some religious songs are used as a celebration of religious events rather than as an invocation. These songs are usually of an individual nature, composed and sung by a person who has had a vision. These are personal songs, owned by the singers. The Navajo have a strong tradition in this regard. Personal songs are considered a form of wealth. Secular Songs. American Indians have never separated the religious and secular sides of life to any great extent. Most modern Christians, Jews, and Moslems worship once a week, and may say prayers at other special times. During the rest of the week, they work in secular occupations that have no relation to their worship. In American Indian cultures, the case is vastly different. Everything on earth is controlled by spirits, and every facet of life has a religious aspect. For this reason, there is really no way of speaking of secular songs in a strict sense of the term. Not all songs are related to specific religious rituals, however, and spirits may not be mentioned in them at all. There are, of course, love songs, sometimes related to courting rituals but often made up simply to express affection. In essence, they are not much different from the love songs that are sung in European cultures. There are also lullabies to put children to sleep and children’s songs for pure entertainment. An unusual aspect of some Indian songs is the use of nonsense syllables (vocables). Often these meaningless syllables are inserted into a song to fill out a necessary rhythm, but sometimes entire songs have no concrete meaning whatsoever. It is difficult to explain this, except that it is not limited to American Indian cultures. From the “tra-la-las” of traditional European songs to the “doo-
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wahs” of 1950’s rock and roll songs, other cultures have often used this device. Its use in American Indian songs, however, may have a somewhat deeper meaning. The very fact that not all Indian songs have literal meaning suggests that the act of singing is enjoyed for its own sake and is not always a prayer or a prelude to war or hunting. A comparison can be made to European culture’s development of instrumental music unaccompanied by singing; a Beethoven sonata has no concrete meaning. American Indians have developed very little in the way of instrumental music, apart from percussion accompaniment to singing. The singing of nonsense songs may be an indication that music for music’s sake is a universal enjoyment. Song and Dance. A virtually universal aspect of American Indian song is its relationship to dance. With rare exceptions, songs are accompanied by body movements, often highly ritualized body movements specific to a particular song. One major reason for this is the close ties both singing and dancing have to religious rituals. This is another great difference between the European and American Indian cultures. There was probably religious dancing at some time in ancient Europe, as it seems to be a nearly universal aspect of cultures around the world. Many centuries ago, however, dancing in Europe became strictly a social event, and most dancers did not sing at the same time. Among American Indians, dance still retains its religious aspect and is often accompanied by songs. Both the dance steps and the songs can be extremely complex and are often performed in elaborate sequences. There are dance/song cycles in many areas, especially among the Navajos and a number of Plains tribes. In some cases, hundreds of songs with their related dance steps must be sung in a specific sequence to fulfill a religious obligation. Modern Changes. Like virtually all aspects of American Indian society, Indian songs have been somewhat altered by contact with white culture. The traditions are still very much in evidence, but in
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many cases they have lost their original significance. Many modern American Indians have adopted the Christian religion and no longer sing and dance to appease spirits. At important tribal ceremonies, there may be Christian hymns intermixed with ancient tribal songs. It is difficult to assess fully the influence of white culture on Indian music, at least partly because the only written records of Indi-
Image not available
These drummers and singers provided the important song element at a powwow in Springfield, Missouri. (Unicorn Stock Photos)
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ans in the earliest days of contact were written by whites, who did not understand the cultures they were facing. Yet one particular modern development must be considered. In the 1960’s, American folk music changed drastically in many ways. There was a movement toward increasing social and political meaning in a genre that was once mostly concerned with romance, religion, and historical events. American Indians were among the many who used this vehicle to express their concerns. Usually these songs were written in English so that they could reach as wide an audience as possible. The “protest songs” written and sung by American Indians are in some ways fundamentally different from those written by white Americans. They often speak of love of the earth, of ancient traditions and ceremonies, of a return to the land. They rarely have the angry tone that so many songs protesting ill conditions have. Rather, they tend toward a longing for a return to basics, for a recapturing of a lost world. The most common tone is one of sadness. This development suggests a true resurgence of the ancient uses of song among the Indian cultures. Even if they are sung in English, to the accompaniment of electric guitars or even orchestras, the lyrics often involve some use of a native language and are essentially born of the same thoughts and feelings that inspired the ancient songs. Musical Accompaniment. Indian songs are almost always accompanied by drums of various sorts. The particular musical instruments involved will be discussed below, but it is essential here to stress that tonal instruments are rarely used while singing is going on. As discussed above, this has meant that Indian song is not necessarily confined to a particular scale. Drumming, however, is a common accompaniment of singing. It does not provide an exact rhythm for the song. One of the most disturbing aspects of American Indian music for someone used to the European tradition is that the singers may not follow the rhythm of the drums; it is completely acceptable to be “off the beat.”
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Drums. The musical instrument most often associated with American Indians is the drum. Drums are almost always used to accompany singing and dancing and have also been used as a form of communication, with a sort of “Morse code” utilized to send messages over long distances. One common type of drum is a hand drum, which can be carried about by an individual and played while dancing. The materials used in construction vary according to the materials available. Most often the body of the drum is made of hollowed wood, but woven baskets are used in some areas, and hollowed gourds are used in the Southwest. The head is generally the hide of an animal, most often a deer. Another type of drum is a large drum around which several people are seated; they play it together. This may be made by simply planting stakes in the ground and stretching a hide over them, or a large wooden structure may be made. In modern times, wooden or metal washtubs have sometimes been used. Water drums are made from hollowed logs that are partially filled with water. The water greatly increases resonance, and the sound of such a drum can be heard for miles. Drums are frequently decorated in elaborate fashions. The paintings are often filled with religious symbolism; beads and leather thongs are often added. The proper spirits must be invoked for many ceremonies, and, since drums are so heavily involved, one of the ways to invoke the spirit is by drawing or painting the appropriate pictures on the drum. Indians place a somewhat greater importance upon drumsticks than European cultures do. Although in many cases the drumsticks are merely twigs, quickly discarded, in other ceremonies, the drumsticks may be decorated, covered with leather, and have particular ceremonial meanings. A decorated drumstick can be a sign of prestige in certain tribes. There are other percussion instruments used in Indian music, including poles or planks around which a number of players are seated, and stretched hides with no drum body attached.
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Wind Instruments. Some Indian tribes have used flutes and whistles to produce music. The most common sort of flute is much like a recorder; it has a few holes to vary pitch and is blown through the top end. It may be made of clay, wood, or reeds, again depending upon available materials. Whistles are far simpler and are used more often as signals than for playing music. They are used by men courting women, by shamans invoking spirits, or by war parties passing signals. Wind instruments are not generally used as an accompaniment to song. While they may have variable pitch, they are made individually from natural materials and are far from standard in their scales. Flutes and whistles are used alone or in concert with percussion instruments. Rattles. Rattles are nearly universal instruments among North American Indian tribes. The most common type of rattle is a hollow object filled with pebbles, bits of clay, or seeds. This sort of rattle is very important in many tribal ceremonies and is an essential component of many medical treatments. In many areas, the body of a rattle is a hollowed gourd. In some places, rawhide is shaped into an appropriate receptacle. Like drums, rattles are often painted and decorated. Rattles are also made by suspending small objects so that they clash together. Marc Goldstein Sources for Further Study Bancroft-Hunt, Norman. People of the Totem. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1979. A description of the Northwest American Indian culture, including a study of their history, ceremonies, music, and contemporary conditions. Butree, Julia M. The Rhythm of the Red Man. New York: A. S. Barnes, 1930. A descripton of Indian rituals, especially music and dance, including step-by-step instructions for a number of songs, dances, and rituals followed by a variety of tribal groups. Densmore, Frances. The American Indians and Their Music. New York: Woman’s Press, 1936. A comprehensive guide to Ameri-
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can Indian music, song, and dance. Includes an overview of Indian culture and specific discussions of songs, musical instruments, and dances. Lassiter, Luke E. The Power of Kiowa Song: A Collaborative Ethnography. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1998. An examination of how song is created, understood, and its purpose to individuals. Nettl, Bruno. Folk Music in the United States. 3d rev. ed. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1976. A general overview of American folk music, from prehistoric times to the 1970’s, including a long and comprehensive chapter on American Indian music, both as discussed by the first European settlers and as it exists in contemporary times. Spencer, Robert F., Jesse D. Jennings, et al. The Native Americans. New York: Harper & Row, 1977. An encyclopedic discussion of American Indian culture, from prehistory to modern times. See also: Dances and Dancing; Drums; Feasts; Flutes; Hand Tremblers; Medicine and Modes of Curing: Pre-contact; Pow-wows and Celebrations; Religion.
Names and Naming Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Indian names were often descriptive of a person’s unique trait or of a significant action or event in his or her life. At the time of first contact with Europeans, North American Indians generally used a single name for an individual, rather than attaching a surname as was the European fashion. Indian names were often descriptive of some action or trait or of some occurrence in the life of the bearer. The translations were deemed “colorful” by Europeans, although mistranslations were common, such as the case in which a name meaning “Young Man Whose Very Horses Are Feared” was mistranslated as “Young Man Afraid of
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His Horses.” These names were not static throughout life, but could change many times between birth and late adulthood. Various tribes followed different naming practices. Usually Indians did not name themselves but were given names by parents, shamans, or other members of their tribal group. Some names could be inherited from a dead ancestor, and were bestowed following the prevalent line of descent, either matrilineal or patrilineal. It was considered improper for an Indian to mention his or her own name, and husbands and wives generally did not use their proper names when speaking to each other. When an Indian child was born, naming might be delayed from a few days to a few months. This often paralleled the intensification of pregnancy taboos surrounding the mother, which were extended after the baby’s birth. Baby names were not considered particularly important or anticipatory of an individual’s character or performance in later life. When the baby was given the name of a dead ancestor, some tribes believed that the ancestor’s spirit entered into the child. (Inuit parents refrained from slapping or verbally abusing their children, fearing that the ancestor’s spirit would be offended and depart the child’s body, resulting in the child’s death.) Some tribes gave children derogatory or unflattering nicknames, with the intent of encouraging them to seek accomplishments that would bring the bestowal of an appropriate new name. Common occasions for the bestowal of new names included the onset of menses for girls, success in hunting or warfare for boys, or the acquisition of a supernatural power during the vision quest for both genders. For boys, initiation into a sodality (a club or organization for men), also served as an occasion for a new name. When names were inherited from living relatives, such as a father, the boy might be prevented from assuming the name until he had attained a status in warfare or hunting comparable to that of his father. Older men past the age of active hunting and warfare would often turn their attentions to civil and religious affairs and would assume new names related to their activities. Some names were
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taboo and were never used, such as the names of certain animals. Many tribes did not speak the name of a deceased member for fear of attracting the departed’s spirit back from the other world, but when a living person was given the name, the taboo was lifted. Belief in the power of a name was strong. The origin of this belief can be traced to ancient tales of the beginnings of the people, when the spoken word could be made manifest within the creation. Among the Apaches, use of a person’s name called forth obligations that were almost impossible to ignore. If a warrior was about to be left behind in battle, he could call out the name of a companion, and that warrior was honor-bound to return and attempt to rescue him, even if such action meant his own certain death. Modern American Indians choose names in many different ways. Surnames are common—often tying the bearer to parents, famous ancestors, or perhaps identifying clan affiliation. Others have adopted or been given names from the mainstream American culture that do not reflect their Indian heritage. Patricia Masserman See also: Children; Ethnophilosophy and Worldview; Puberty and Initiation Rites; Rites of Passage.
Native American Church Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: From its beginnings in the late nineteenth century, the Native American Church has been a unifying force for scattered Native American peoples. The collection of teachings that became the doctrine of the Native American Church had their beginnings in the 1880’s, probably among the Kiowas and Comanches living in Oklahoma. The church emphasizes the brotherhood of all American Indians. Among the main themes of the church’s ethical code are mutual aid among
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members, a strong family, self-reliance, and the avoidance of alcohol. The Native American Church was chartered as a Christian church in 1918. At that time, American Indians of every tribe were still reeling from the devastating effects of three centuries of contact with European American culture. Indians had been subjected to slaughter, enslavement, forced labor, the destruction of food supplies, the confiscation of land, forced dispersal, catastrophic depopulation, and forced religious conversion. Yet American Indians in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries created a monotheistic church with discernible and complex doctrines, ethics, and rituals; a strong sense of morality; a body of symbolically rich origin legends; and an individualistic approach that emphasized profound original spiritual experiences. The ceremony that was to become central to the Native American Church was first described by anthropologist James Mooney in 1892. Its form was similar to that of present-day meetings. After 1900 the ceremony spread rapidly throughout tribal North America. Opposition to its spread came from traditional tribalists, Christian missionaries, and Indian agencies. Wherever the church entered a tribe, it rejected both significant belief aspects of that tribe and the dominant white culture. In 1918 it was chartered as a legal church. Anthropologists helped write the articles of incorporation and appeared before judicial and legislative bodies in defense of the church, shrewdly aided by insightful Indians who included Christian elements to make the chartering process more amenable to legislatures. The ingestion of peyote is part of the ritual of the church (the church has sometimes been called the Peyote Church). Peyote produces an altered state of consciousness. To the Native American Church, peyote is both a teacher and a healer. The use of peyote is strictly limited to the church’s ceremonies, and other use is vigorously opposed. Nevertheless, the use of peyote has at times made the church controversial among Indian leaders and organizations. Jesus is seen as a deified spirit with whom church members can communicate. Today church members find the universalism of
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Christian ideology acceptable, but it is rare to find Christian symbols in the ceremony. Some songs still appeal to Jesus for health and help. Christian sin, judgment, and redemption are not found in Native American Church doctrine. By 1947 the Native American Church was a widely prevalent religion among the Indians of the United States and had assumed the proportions of an intertribal religion. In 1960 the church was believed to have about 200,000 members, or half the population of adult Indians. Since U.S. law classifies peyote as a psychotropic drug and prohibits non-Indian use, non-Indian participation is minimal. The Native American Church continues to exist as an important pan-Indian movement uniting diverse cultures in common goals. Glenn J. Schiffman Sources for Further Study Evans, Sterling, ed. American Indians in American History, 18702001: A Companion Reader. Foreword by Donald L. Fixico. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2002. LaBarre, Weston. The Peyote Cult. 1938. Reprint. Hamden, Conn.: Shoestring Press, 1964. Laney, John H. On the Symbolism of the Native American Church of North America. Zurich, Switzerland: C. G. Jung Institute, 1970. Shonle, Ruth. “Peyote, the Giver of Visions.” American Anthropologist 40 (1932): 698-715. Slotkin, James. The Peyote Religion. Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press, 1956. Smith, Huston, Reuben Snake, and Walter B. Echo-Hawk, et al., comps. and eds. One Nation Under God: The Triumph of the Native American Church. Santa Fe, N.Mex.: Clear Light Publishers, 1996. Swan, Daniel C. Peyote Religious Art: Symbols of Faith and Belief. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1999. See also: Peyote and Peyote Religion; Religion.
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Ohio Mound Builders Significance: The earliest “architects” in North America built elaborate burial sites. When a large number of human-made burial mounds were found in the Ohio River drainage and other parts of eastern North America in the nineteenth century, the ancestors of native North Americans seemed an unlikely source for their grandeur, at least to the European mind. Various non-Indian Mound Builders were hypothesized: the lost tribes of Israel, the Vikings, and other Old World groups. This oversight of Native Americans is surprising, given the high culture developed by the Native Americans in Mexico and Peru. In fact, other hypotheses suggested that the Mound Builders were an offshoot of, or ancestral to, these Middle American cultures. Few explanations allowed for a relationship to North American Indians. Late in the nineteenth century, however, careful studies by the Smithsonian Institution’s Bureau of Ethnology demonstrated that the mounds were built by ancestors of the historic North American tribes. How did the builders of such elaborate structures, presumably sedentary agriculturalists of high culture, develop? How did they give rise to the more mobile, and seemingly less highly cultured, natives encountered by the pioneers? These questions cannot be answered definitively, but much is known about the Mound Builders, and reasonable hypotheses for their origin and relationship to the historic Indian tribes have been developed. Most evidence suggests that the original natives of North and South America were members of Siberian tribes that crossed the Bering Strait from Siberia to Alaska some time after fifteen thousand years ago. This was during the early stages of the last glacial retreat, when the Bering Strait was dry land. These tribes were big-game hunters who moved south into North, Central, and South America as the ice sheets melted. These people, called PaleoIndians, moved into the eastern part of North America and came
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to live in sparse, wide-ranging populations in the forests that developed there after the glacier melted. Archaeologists recognize a second Native American culture, the Archaic, beginning about eight thousand years ago. Directly descended from Paleo-Indians, the Archaic Indians are thought to have given rise to the Mound Builders around 700 b.c.e. Some late Archaic woodland groups buried their dead in small, natural hills, and a few built small burial mounds, the presumed progenitors of the more elaborate burial mounds built by the Woodland Indians. The larger burial mounds are widespread throughout eastern North America but are centered in the Ohio River drainage. The earliest of the Ohio River Mound Builders are called Adena Indians and are thought to have lived between 700 b.c.e. and 200 c.e. Their culture is characterized by the development of fibertempered pottery, domestication of several kinds of native plants, and the development of elaborate rituals and practices for burying their dead, including the mounds in which they were buried. They also worked stone to make pipes and various ornaments. In addition to cultivating plants, they gathered wild plant products and hunted available animals. They used a spear-throwing device called an “atlatl” (developed by Archaic or late Paleo-Indians) to produce greater flight speed in their spears. They added burials to individual mounds through time, and were more sedentary than their Archaic predecessors. There is evidence that trading networks developed between the Adena people and contemporaneous American Indian cultures. The Adena gave rise to the Hopewell Indian culture, which was also centered in the valleys of the Ohio River and its tributaries. The Ohio Hopewell culture is recognized from around 100 b.c.e. until about 400 or 500 c.e. The Hopewell tradition is characterized by advanced pottery production and stoneworking, more intensive cultivation of native plants, some cultivation of corn (Zea mays, ultimately obtained from Mexico), and more elaborate funeral procedures and burial mounds. Although corn was grown by the Hopewell people, it was not the staple it became in Middle American and Mississippian cul-
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tures. Instead, corn seemed to be grown more for symbolic and religious ceremonies. There is some anthropological evidence that the Hopewell people’s more diversified diet, based on the cultivation of several native plant species and supplemented by hunting and gathering, produced a healthier population than did the cornintensive diet of the Mississippians. The Hopewell Indians also developed vast, nearly continentwide, trading networks. This trade may have been associated with another cultural development that differentiates the Hopewell from the Adena. Researchers have hypothesized that some Hopewell men obtained privileged positions in society due to their trading skill and trade contacts. These men were buried with more elaborate material goods and in larger and more complex mounds than were other members of the population. As a result, Hopewell burials suggest a class structure not seen in the more egalitarian Adena burials. Adena and Hopewell mounds were built by people carrying baskets full of dirt from a source region, called a borrow pit, and depositing the dirt on the growing mound. Large mounds with many burials were built in stages, with one set of burials superposed upon an earlier group. Many artifacts, presumably prized possessions and tools needed for the next life, were buried with the dead. More of these are found in Hopewell burials than in Adena burials. The Hopewell differentiation of class, and contrasting Adena egalitarianism, are hypothesized on the basis of such artifacts and specific conditions of the burials. Hopewell characteristics are all elaborations of Adena characteristics. It is impossible to determine the point in time at which the Adena culture ended and the Hopewell began; instead, there is a lengthy transition period. Clearly, the Hopewell tradition is a continuation of the Adena culture. The Hopewell culture peaked in the Ohio River Valley around 200 c.e., and their mound-building activities, at least, disappeared between 400 and 500 c.e. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed for the decline of Hopewellian peoples, at least as Mound Builders. The theories range from an environmental catastrophe,
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brought on by larger population concentrations and intensive agriculture, to changes in trade balances that brought an end to the Hopewell people’s strategic central position between the northern and southern and between the eastern and western sources of raw materials and finished goods. The last North American mound-building culture, the Mississippian, was centered along the Mississippi River, at Cahokia, where East St. Louis, Illinois, now stands. It developed around 700 c.e. and flourished until after 1500. Adena and Hopewell mounds were primarily burial mounds, but many Mississippian mounds were platforms upon which temples, houses, and other structures were built. Many scholars believe that these Mississippian Mound Builders were descendants of the Hopewell, through intermediates who, for unknown reasons, abandoned mound-building activities. Many also believe that the Mississippians were directly ancestral to the Cherokee, Sioux, and other historic American Indian tribes. Some researchers posit that Hopewellians were ancestral to the Iroquois. The Ohio Mound Builders maintained a developing culture for more than a millennium and played a central role in North American prehistory for much of that time. Their descendants gave rise to the prehistoric Mississippian culture and to historic Indian tribes. In addition, North American archaeology traces its professional roots to the exploration of their mounds. Carl W. Hoagstrom Sources for Further Study Fagan, Brian M. “The Eastern Woodlands.” In Ancient North America: The Archeology of a Continent. 2d ed. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1995. Describes the Mound Builders and their place in prehistory. Chapter 2 gives a brief history of the European Mound Builder hypothesis. Illustrations, maps, index, bibliography. Romain, William F. Mysteries of the Hopewell: Astronomers, Geometers, and Magicians of the Eastern Woodlands. Akron, Ohio: University of Akron Press, 2000. An analysis of the Hopewell and
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their achievements in astronomy, geometry, and measurement. Shaffer, Lynda Norene. Native Americans Before 1492: The Moundbuilding Centers of the Eastern Woodlands. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 1992. Explores Mound Builder cultures and the interactions and interrelationships between those cultures and other Native American cultures. Illustrations, maps, index, bibliography. Silverberg, Robert. The Mound Builders. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1970. Discusses the European-Mound-Builder-race hypothesis and its demise. Also describes the American Indian Mound Builder cultures. Illustrations, maps, index, bibliography. Snow, Dean R. “The Nations of the Eastern Woodlands.” In The Archaeology of North America. New York: Chelsea House, 1989. Outlines the prehistory of the Mound Builders. Chapter 1 covers the Mound Builder mystery and its importance in American archaeology. Illustrations, maps, index, glossary, bibliography. Thomas, Cyrus. Report on the Mound Explorations of the Bureau of Ethnology. 1894. Reprint. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985. Describes the Bureau of Ethnology’s mound work. The introduction to the 1985 edition adds historical perspective. Illustrations, maps, index. Webb, William S., and Charles E. Snow. The Adena People. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1974. Descriptions of the mounds, pottery, pipes, and other artifacts of the Adena and Hopewell people. Illustrations, maps, index, bibliography. Woodward, Susan L., and Jerry N. McDonald. Indian Mounds of the Middle Ohio Valley: A Guide to Adena and Hopewell Sites. Blacksburg, Va.: McDonald and Woodward, 1986. A guide to Adena and Hopewell sites that can be visited by the public. Illustrations, maps, index, lists of pertinent topographic maps and publications. See also: Culture Areas; Effigy Mounds; Mississippian Culture; Mounds and Moundbuilders; Serpent Mounds.
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Okeepa Tribe affected: Mandan Significance: The Okeepa was a Mandan summer ceremony conducted to reestablish the tribe’s ties with nature. The Okeepa was a ceremony conducted by the Mandans, a seminomadic tribe living in the northern Great Plains. It was a ritual held during the summer that was seen as a means to renew the life of the tribe and to reestablish the tribal relationship with nature. The specific purpose of the Okeepa was to appease the spirits of the waters, which Mandan legend claimed had once covered the earth in a flood. Tribal members took part in the ceremony by impersonating certain animal spirits, such as the snake or beaver. Other members were painted to represent day and night. The main action, however, centered on two young men who dangled in the air, hung by ropes stuck into their flesh with pegs. After a certain period of time they were lowered to the ground. They then had to make their way to a masked warrior, who would proceed to cut off one or two of their fingers. At the conclusion of this grueling experience, the two men ran a circle around the outside of the medicine lodge. Participants sometimes collapsed and had to be dragged. Any young man who excelled in withstanding the ceremony was considered a good candidate for future leadership positions. Ruffin Stirling See also: Religion; Sun Dance.
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Olmec Civilization Significance: One of the earliest advanced civilizations on the North American continent. Olmec civilization is considered to be one of the oldest civilizations of native North America. Recognition and identification of Olmec culture are based exclusively on archaeological evidence, since no direct descendants of Olmec civilization have ever been identified. The Olmec heartland included the present Mexican states of Veracruz, Tabasco, and Chiapas, along the southern and western edge of the Gulf of Mexico, but Olmec influence extended across most of southern Mexico and northern Central America. The term “Olmec” is drawn from the Aztec language Nahuatl and loosely translates as “the rubber people,” in reference to the production of rubber in the Olmec heartland. Evidence of Olmec culture first appears about 1500 b.c.e. in the state of Tabasco. The area consists of flat, swampy coastal floodplains crossed by rivers draining from highland mountains to the south into the Gulf of Mexico to the north. Seasonal flooding and the lush tropical environment permitted the development of agriculture and the exploitation of domesticated plants, particularly corn, which led to the development of sedentary societies and advanced forms of social and political organization. At sites such as San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, the Olmec constructed large earthen platforms more than 3,000 feet long, 1,000 feet wide, and 150 feet high, upon which were erected ritual and ceremonial structures of stone and more perishable materials such as wood or plaster. These platform complexes served several purposes, including residences for elite Olmec families and rulers, gathering places for public ceremonies, and burial sites for Olmec royalty. At the site of La Venta, the Olmec constructed conical pyramids in the center of their platform complexes, perhaps meant to imitate mountains or volcanoes not found in the immediate Olmec area. The earthen platforms consisted of layers of worked colored stone laid out in large plazas and covered with as many as a dozen
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sequential layers of sand and earth piled one on top of the other to construct the platforms. The complexity suggests that the process of construction was as important as the final structure. Platforms were engineered and constructed to control water flow throughout the structure. Elaborate drainage systems, composed of sections of carved stone, channeled water throughout the platforms, diverting it for waste runoff and public hygiene and creating decorative and sacred ponds and streams of fresh water within the platform complexes. The scale and complexity of the earthen platforms, along with the evidence of extensive farming and agriculture, suggest that several thousand people may have used or occupied the sites at one time. At least ten large-scale Olmec sites have been identified in the Olmec heartland. Advanced systems of political organization must have been in place to enable the assembly and management of the workforce necessary to construct such elaborate complexes. It is also significant that the Olmec created their buildings and monuments without the wheel, domesticated animals, or metal tools, none of which was used by any Mesoamerican peoples. Most information regarding Olmec culture that does not come from their architecture is drawn from their remaining artworks. Although the Olmec probably created a wide variety of art forms, such as paintings and textiles, most of these forms have not survived in the archaeological record. What has survived in great abundance is Olmec stone sculpture, and the remaining carved stone images convey a great deal of information about Olmec beliefs. The Olmec were extremely adept at working very hard types of stone, particularly volcanic basalt and jade, neither of which occurs naturally near the Olmec heartland sites. Large basalt boulders, some more than ten feet tall and weighing several tons, were transported as much as sixty miles from volcanic mountain ranges such as the Tuxtla mountains; sacred green jade was imported from areas of western Mexico or eastern Guatemala and Belize. The basalt boulders were carved into a variety of shapes, usually human but occasionally representing animals or mythological deities, probably originally intended to be displayed in the open
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plazas of the earthen platforms. Many of the large carved boulders were intentionally defaced or broken and buried within the platforms during Olmec times, suggesting that either the Olmec or a foreign people symbolically killed the sculptures before abandoning the sites. One of the most common types of boulder sculptures is a series of human heads carved in a lifelike, naturalistic style. Although the specific identity of the subjects is not clear, evidence suggests that the heads portray either former Olmec rulers or defeated enemies. Facial features vary noticeably from one head to the next, suggesting individualized depictions, and each wears a distinctively different type of skullcap or helmet. The caps may represent royal headdress or a type of headgear worn by participants in a ball game similar to modern-day soccer. The losers of this game, which was played on stone, I-shaped courts throughout ancient Mesoamerica, were ritually sacrificed, usually by decapitation. Portions of the ball game may have developed in the Olmec heartland, since that is the source of the rubber used for the ball itself. Regardless of the specific identity of the stone heads, the size and degree of naturalism attest the Olmec sculptors’ ability to manipulate large, hard stone for artistic purposes. Smaller stone objects, such as jewelry, ritual implements, and burial offerings, were carved from other hard stones, including jade. The color green was probably considered sacred, and jade was much valued by all preColumbian societies. Humans and animals were common subjects, and implements such as ax heads were frequently formed in the shape of humans, suggesting a spiritual tie between the function of the object and its symbolic imagery. Olmec art reveals much about Olmec political and religious beliefs. Olmec sites were probably governed by elite royal families and kings. Warriors and human prisoners are frequently depicted in Olmec sculpture, suggesting that the Olmec practiced formalized warfare and related forms of human sacrifice. They worshiped a pantheon of natural spirits, chief among which were powerful animals such as the cayman or alligator, the eagle, the shark, and, perhaps most important, the jaguar. The Olmec were
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similar to most Native American cultures in that the most important religious figures in Olmec society were the shamans, or curers, who were believed to be able to change into animal forms at will and communicate directly with the supernatural world. Olmec sculpture frequently depicts shamans in the act of such transformations. Between 1000 and 300 b.c.e., Olmec influence stretched far beyond the Olmec heartland. Carved jade and ceramics in Olmec style have been found in central and far west Mexico, and Olmecstyle rock carvings, paintings, and earthen platforms occur in areas south of Mexico City. Large Olmec-style carved boulders and upright stones occur along the southern Pacific coast of Guatemala and El Salvador during this period, and Olmec ceramics are found as far east as eastern Guatemala and Belize. The evidence suggests that the Olmec were interacting with a large number of non-Olmec cultures throughout the area at this time. After 500 b.c.e., early examples of hieroglyphic writing, similar to the later hieroglyphic writing of the Maya, appear in a few isolated examples of Olmec art, but these cases are rare, and Olmec civilization appears to have declined before the writing system was fully exploited. After 300 b.c.e., Olmec culture disappears from the archaeological record. Several later Mesoamerican cultures, particularly the Maya of Guatemala and the Yucatan peninsula, inherited and continued many aspects of Olmec style and culture, and the Maya, in fact, seem to have considered the Olmec as their divine ancestors. James D. Farmer Sources for Further Study Benson, Elizabeth P., ed. The Olmec and Their Neighbors: Essays in Memory of Matthew W. Stirling. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, Trustees for Harvard University, 1981. Collected papers focusing on shared artistic influences between Olmec and neighboring or later Mesoamerican cultures. Coe, Michael D. America’s First Civilization. New York: American Heritage, 1968. One of the earliest comprehensive treatments of
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Olmec art and culture. Coe was the first scholar to interpret Olmec culture as the precursor to later, more widely known Mesoamerican cultures such as the Maya. Coe, Michael D., and Richard A. Diehl. In the Land of the Olmec. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980. Extensive report of archaeological investigations at the Olmec site of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán between 1966 and 1968. Includes numerous detailed maps and line drawings and illustrations of stone monuments from the site. Coe, Michael D., and Rex Koontz. Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs. 5th ed. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2002. An exhaustive introduction to Mexico’s early history and peoples. Pina Chan, Roman. The Olmec: Mother Culture of Mesoamerica. Translated by Warren McManus. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1989. Well-illustrated volume of Olmec art. Presents a thorough summary of Olmec art, archaeology, and culture by a noted Mexican and pre-Columbian scholar. Sharer, Robert J., and David C. Grove, eds. Regional Perspectives on the Olmec. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Discusses Olmec culture in the broader context of greater Mesoamerica. Scholarly treatment of Olmec cultural interaction with other pre-Columbian cultures. Stuart, George S. “New Light on the Olmec.” National Geographic 184, no. 5 (November, 1993): 88-115. Discusses up-to-date interpretations of Olmec culture and art, including previously undocumented monuments and controversial translations of Olmec hieroglyphic writing. Includes artists’ reproductions of Olmec lifeways. See also: Agriculture; Ball Game and Courts; Corn; Culture Areas; Mayan Civilization; Political Organization and Leadership; Religion; Sculpture.
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Oral Literatures Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: With no written languages, American Indian peoples transmitted their ideas from one generation to the next through storytelling; the surviving legends link Indian history to the present. Among peoples who do not have a written language, cultural traditions and philosophies are transmitted orally. In traditional American Indian cultures, senior members of a tribe used storytelling to pass ideas, events, and value systems to the next generation. Oral storytelling differs greatly from written literature because stories are slightly varied with each telling. Storytellers have individual styles and preferences; they can exaggerate some aspects or eliminate ideas altogether. With each generation, stories are altered to fit the present situation. Geographic Influence. Legends of American Indians relate closely to all elements of the natural environment. Tribes occupied a wide range of geographical landscapes, with some Indians living in desert conditions, others by the sea. Some tribes occupied wooded mountains where rivers and waterfalls were plentiful; others existed on dusty plateaus. In Indian tales, regardless of the environment, all parts of the natural landscape—pebbles, trees, mountains, rivers, shells—pulsate with life. Humans, animals, vegetation, and landforms are all interrelated. The Supernatural. Indian stories are religious experiences that include taboo, ritual, and magic. Natural elements are often personified during the course of a storyline. Mountains, rocks, and rivers may be given human characteristics and feelings, while humans may be turned into fish, stars, or mountains. Just as quickly, these elements may return to their former states. Some characters are permanently assigned natural forms. For example, troublemakers may become mountain peaks as lessons for future rascals. Legends also set human lovers as stars in the sky, destined to chase
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each other for eternity. Indian tales are filled with an interweaving of supernatural and natural elements. Story Structure. There is often a circular element to the progression of Indian legends and stories that is different from the linearity of European storylines. The time progression reflects the Indian belief that all reality is cyclical. The repetitive circular patterns allow listeners to hear subtle variations on themes, which promotes both the remembrance and the understanding of oral legends. Those accustomed to European storylines have at times criticized Indian legends as chaotic or incomplete. They claim that recognizable beginnings and endings are missing. Indian stories are not intended to be evaluated by Western logic, however; oral stories are often told in chains, with one image or character triggering another story. The chain often reaches back in time. Many tales are not intended to be isolated from previous episodes; instead, these stories are parts of a progression. The knowledge of past legends may be needed to understand a particular story. Moreover, certain words may have meaning only if previous tales have been heard. For example, the word for “sun” may represent the name of a sun god who is present in a whole line of stories. Without knowledge of the full significance of the word “sun,” listeners may misinterpret a particular story. Indian legends are not isolated stories for entertainment but are part of a lifetime collection which educates tribe members about religion, the supernatural, and living in harmony with nature and with other humans. Many Indian tales center on celestial elements that are used to inspire appropriate behavior and to punish unacceptable actions and attitudes. They also attempt to explain the mysterious nature of the skies. Sun and Moon. The sky held great significance for American Indians. They studied the stars carefully to determine when their crops should be planted and harvested. They followed the sun’s placement in the sky as an indication of the seasons. This fascination with the heavens is reflected in Indian legends. The sun is seen
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as the great fertilizing agent of the universe. Although the Juchi, Cherokee, and Inuit regard the sun as female, most tribes give male attributes to the sun. In many tales, the sun makes love to mortal women who then give birth, not only to humans, but to animals. In a Brule Sioux tale, the male sun removes an eye and throws it into the wind, where it becomes the moon woman. The sun directs the moon maiden to walk along a bridge of lightening so that she can roam the earth. Man and woman then come together on Earth and through mutual understanding and caregiving join their bodies to people the earth. In one Winnebago myth of the sun’s creation, the orb is reduced to a small object that is snared by Little Brother. The reward for his great power in bringing light to his tribe is that humans would thereafter be chiefs over animals. The Inuit tell about a brother raping his sister. After the rape, the sister runs, lighting her way with a torch. Her brother, who carries a torch of his own, follows, but falls in the snow, where his torch turns from flames to embers. A large windstorm lifts the brother and sister into the sky, where he is turned into the moon and she into the sun. They are always far away from each other, with the sun coming out only after the moon is gone. The Cherokee give female qualities to the sun, which is stolen by Grandmother Spider and brought to her people along with fire. The Zuñi tell about Coyote, the trickster, who steals the sun and moon from the kachinas (supernatural intermediaries). Coyote is greedy, wanting the box of light for his own. Because of his curiosity, Coyote disobeys the chief and opens the box to examine the light. The moon and sun escape into the sky, and cold comes to the world. The Stars. The Plains tribes were primarily nomadic hunters and gatherers; they relied greatly on the stars to indicate direction, time, and the seasons. These Indians considered the celestial bodies supernatural beings and often told stories of various stars taking human form. The Blackfoot explain the origin of the North Star in this way: A young maiden looks longingly at the Morning Star and wishes that she could have that star for her husband. In time,
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the Morning Star appears on Earth as a handsome youth who takes the maiden to the house of his parents, Sun and Moon. The maiden is married to Morning Star and lives a life of ease in Sky Country; however, her curiosity and disobedience result in her son being turned into a star. This star, the North Star, never moves and is called the Fixed Star by the Blackfoot and the Star That Does Not Walk Around by the Omaha. The seven stars of the Pleiades hold great significance for many cultures. This small cluster of stars helps define the calendar and signals coming events. The disappearance of the Pleiades tells the Tapirape Indians that the rainy season will soon end. The Zuñi of New Mexico use the Pleiades to determine when planting should begin. The Cherokee of the Southeast give special significance to the Pleiades because there are seven stars in the group. Seven is a sacred number because it represents seven directions—north, south, east, west, up, down, and center. Many Indian legends incorporate the Pleiades. The Onondaga of the Northeast tell of seven children who neglect their chores and dance throughout each day. After several warnings from the elders, these children become so lightheaded that they drift into the sky, never to return. The Shasta, from the forested lands of Northern California, tell how the greed and selfishness of Coyote, the trickster, lead him to kill Raccoon. As punishment, the children of Raccoon kill all Coyote’s children, except for Littlest Coyote, who is not selfish. Raccoon’s children and Littlest Coyote run away to Sky Country to be protected from the selfishness of Coyote. They become the Pleiades. Earth. Many tribes have myths which explain the emergence of the earth. Many explanations describe a watery primordial environment from which mud is brought up to make the earth. Some tribes describe life in the interior of the world. These inhabitants dig their way up from the center of the world until the top layer, earth, is reached. Earth is that environment which is in light. Indians of the Northwest tell of entering a hole in the sky in order to emerge on the earth. From the California region and the Southwest come tales
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about the original world parents, Earth and Sky. Many myths have the creation of Earth eliminating the darkness of the universe. The Cherokee describe an Earth suspended in delicate balance, which humans must maintain for survival. The earth floats on waters and is tied to the ceiling of the sky by four ropes connected to the sacred four directions. If the ropes break, the world will tumble, carrying all living things to death. The earth will then be like a submerged island, covered with water. This tale also incorporates the supernatural, for sorcerers and shamans are called upon to put the sun higher so that the earth will not be too hot for human survival. The Hopi tell a tale about two goddesses who cause the waters of the world to recede eastward and westward until dry land appears. To bring light and warmth to this land, the sun removes his skin of gray fox and dons a yellow skin to brighten the sky. The two goddesses then create a little wren out of clay. Animals and humans are later brought to life, always in pairs. Humans feed mostly on rabbits and deer, which leads to many quarrels. In frustration, the goddesses leave to live in the middle of the ocean. Humans. Human creation myths seek to answer mysteries about the human condition. Humans are generally created from supernatural beings, from natural elements, or from animals. In most tales, animals and plants precede the creation of humans. A number of legends have the first woman of Earth impregnated by a sunbeam, a salmon, or the west wind. For some tribes, the first human is a child endowed with supernatural powers. The Sioux tell of Stone Boy, who brings sacred ceremonies and prayers to his tribe by building the first sweatlodge for purification. The Brule Sioux, however, say that the first human is an old woman who has sacred medicinal powers. Many legends have women as the first humans, for women are associated with fertility, conception, and pregnancy. In some stories, the first humans are twins, born of a supernatural god. In others the trickster, Coyote, is given credit for breathing life into humans. The deceitful side of humans is the result of having been created by Coyote.
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The Modoc tell about Kumush, Old Man of the Ancients. He and his daughter descend into the underground, where spirits gather to sing and dance. Darkness permeates the underworld, and after a week, Kumush longs for light. When he returns to the upper world, he takes some underground spirits with him to people his world. To feed these people, he supplies fish and beasts, roots and berries. He then designates certain roles for the people: “Men shall fish and hunt and fight. Women shall get wood and water, gather berries and dig roots, and cook for their families.” In human creation myths, the earth and the universe are often seen as neverending circles within which humankind is just another animal. Because all elements of nature are related, animals are often responsible in whole or in part for the creation of humans. In a tale from the White River Sioux, a rabbit comes across a clot of blood and begins to kick it around as if it were a ball. The movement of the clot brings it to life in human form. At times, the processes and rhythms of nature bring life to humans. The Penobscot tell of a young man “born from the foam of the waves, foam quickened by the wind and warmed by the sun.” The same legend tells of a girl born after “a drop of dew fell on a leaf and was warmed by the sun.” Some stories explain the different races. The Pima tell how Man Maker uses clay to mold human images and then places them in an oven. When he removes the various forms, they have different shapes and colors. He saves the forms that please him best; the others are sent to live in various places across the water. The Modoc explain that Kumush, Old Man of the Ancients, gathers bones in the underworld and selects certain ones to make Indians to reside in particular places. He makes the Shastas brave warriors, the Klamath easily frightened, and the Modoc the bravest of all. Love. Indian love stories teach responsibility and commitment to loved ones. The characters are often given tests to demonstrate the strength of their commitments. In some tales, battles are fought between two men for the love of a young maiden. These contests
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are fought until death, a death in the name of love. Legends of love also weave the natural and supernatural together. In various stories, human lovers are transformed into stars; a whale takes a human wife; a man marries the moon; and a wife follows a butterfly man. These tales also include traditions that had significance in the courting process. The Keres Pueblo tell a story about men and women who try to live apart. The tale illustrates that women depend on men for survival. A legend of unselfishness comes from the Multnomah; it concerns a maiden who shows great love for her people by sacrificing her life to the spirits so that all those suffering from sickness will be cured. She jumps from a cliff as the moon rises over the trees. Today, her spirit, dressed in white, exists in the waters of Multnomah Falls. Death. American Indians believe that accepting death is an affirmation of life. Crazy Horse claimed that being willing to die was a way of honoring the human spirit. Indian tales reveal not only human death but also the crumbling of cultures and nations. The end, however, makes way for the arrival of the new. The Caddo explain that people must die because the earth is too crowded. To ease the pain of losing loved ones, a medicine man sings songs that call the spirits of the dead to come and reside with those still living. The Haida tell of a great flood which takes the lives of many people. Survivors drift in the waters until they reach mountain peaks sticking out of the ocean. The tribes are dispersed in this way. The Wishram tell of an Indian hunter who kills more elk than is needed for food. In doing so, he also kills his guardian elk. Because his guardian spirit no longer exists, the young brave dies in the Lake of the Lost Spirits. From the Brule Sioux comes another story which teaches that humans must live in balance with nature. In the worlds before this world, people did not know how to act properly, so Creating Power used fire, earthquakes, and floods to destroy the previous worlds. He then remade the world and populated it with people of understanding and speech. He told the people that they must live in harmony with one another and with all living things.
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All Indian legends teach the need for balance between living creatures and natural phenomena. When greed and egotism cause humans to treat nature or other people abusively, then the offenders are punished. By weaving natural and supernatural elements into every story, Indians pass on models of behavior that reflect harmony between physical and spiritual realms. Oral storytelling gives importance to the elders in a tribe, for they are respected for their wisdom. They are the transmitters of traditions and history. Through their art, they preserve culture. Linda J. Meyers Sources for Further Study Bemister, Margaret. Thirty Indian Legends of Canada. Vancouver, British Columbia: J. J. Douglas, 1973. Most of these stories are taken from their original sources. A pronunciation guide to vocabulary is included. Erdoes, Richard, and Alfonso Ortiz, eds. American Indian Myths and Legends. New York: Pantheon Books, 1984. This collection of 166 Indian legends covers a wide range of native people of North America. An appendix gives background on sixty-eight tribes from North America. A fine bibliography is included. Kroeber, Karl, comp. and ed. Traditional Literatures of the American Indian: Texts and Interpretations. 2d ed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997. A collection of essays that provide an introduction to the analysis and understanding of Native American oral literatures. Kroeber, Theodora. The Inland Whale. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1959. This collection of nine California Indian legends is followed by a thorough discussion of each piece. A discussion is also offered about qualities of Indian stories and about the place of oral literature in the study of comparative literature. Monroe, Jean Guard, and Ray A. Williamson, comps. They Dance in the Sky. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987. This collection of star myths comes from North American Indians who lived all across the United States. The selections are arranged geographically. Included are a glossary and suggested further readings.
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Ywahoo, Dhyani. Voices of Our Ancestors. Boston: Shambhala, 1987. This book does not include stories but is a discussion of the philosophy behind many Cherokee traditions. Ywahoo discusses oral teachings rather than oral stories. See also: Ethnophilosophy and Worldview; Oratory; Religion; Sacred Narratives; Wampum.
Oratory Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: In traditional American Indian cultures, which had no written languages, the ability to speak effectively was a respected trait and a necessary one. Oratorical skill is still highly valued today. The ability to speak powerfully and persuasively is a talent every culture admires. For Native Americans, oratory is an extremely important element of ceremonial and nonceremonial life. Before the invasion of North America by Europeans, most native peoples had no written language, so human experience was memorized and transmitted orally from one generation to the next. The information handed down included family and tribal histories, mythology, craft techniques, and the content and syntax of rituals and ceremonies. Many tribes honored articulate speakers with leadership, since oratory was seen, along with dreaming, as a spiritual power. Most tribes developed both understandings of what made oratory effective and formal rituals surrounding the practice of it. Perhaps the most concise division of the types of Native American oratory comes from A. LaVonne Brown Ruoff’s book American Indian Literatures (1990), in which the author suggests that Native American oratory may be ceremonial, nonceremonial, or a mixture of these two. Donald M. Bahr, in Pima and Papago Ritual Oratory (1975), uses a more complex system for categorizing such orations as ritual oratory, preaching, and songs and stories.
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Ceremonial or ritual oratory occurs in sacred situations. These addresses may be directed toward the powers of nature or to the tribe itself, and may take the form of prayer or the tale of a hero’s journey. Nonceremonial oratory, or preaching, takes place in public settings, such as at parties, political events, battle sites, and council meetings. In his essay “The Plains Indian as a Public Speaker,” Theodore Balgooyen writes, “Public speaking was associated with nearly every kind of public ceremony and was an important means of settling political and legal questions. Every respected warrior was expected to speak on matters of policy if he had a strong opinion.” In daily practice, oratory took many forms. In the Southwest, tribal leaders often gave a sermon each morning from the top of a hut or mound. In rituals of mourning and celebration, leaders and warriors were often moved to eloquence as they expressed sorrow, hope, and thanksgiving for all that the Great Spirit had done. The most commonly collected examples of native oratory are speeches given at tribal councils and U.S. government forums in which Native Americans struggled for peace and for their rights. Children and adults learned history and geography from tribal storytellers, as well as tribal values and the original meanings behind customs and ceremonies. The right to speak publicly, Ruoff notes, was generally restricted to men, but there have been numerous exceptions, including Chief Viola Jimulla (Yavapai), Sarah Winnemucca (Paiute), Celsa Apapas (Cupeño), Warcaziwin (Sioux), and Gertrude S. Bonnin (Sioux name: Zitkala Sa). Over the past several decades, particularly, the status of women as orators has grown significantly. A variety of techniques can be identified in Native American oratory, whatever its context. One of the most common tropes is repetition. By repeating key words or phrases, the orator is able to emphasize certain themes and is able to make each speech more memorable for his or her listeners. For example, when Creek leader Tecumseh confronted Governor William Henry Harrison about his violation of various agreements, he frequently referred
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to Harrison as “brother.” This was ironic, because Tecumseh was notifying Harrison that if he did not make amends with the Indians, they would declare war. By repeatedly calling his potential enemy “brother,” Tecumseh suggested that his people wanted peace and he reinforced the idea that European Americans and Native Americans were equal. Another technique which Bahr describes is the “there was/he did” technique. This device operates as a form of parallel construction, in which one section—the there was line—"states the existence of a thing," while the following section—the he did line—"tells what was done to it." Using this technique, an orator was able to construct long chains of events, thus forming a logical and descriptive narrative. Other oratorical techniques used by Native Americans include the careful use of rhythm, metaphor, assonance, and alliteration. These techniques, which can help make speeches more easily understood and remembered, were common among all tribes, and they remain in use by Native American orators today. Kenneth S. McAllister Sources for Further Study Clements, William M. Oratory in Native North America. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2002. Gustafson, Sandra M. Eloquence is Power: Oratory and Performance in Early America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000. See also: Kinship and Social Organization; Music and Song; Oral Literatures; Political Organization and Leadership; Wampum.
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Ornaments Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: In traditional Indian cultures, people decorated their bodies as well as objects such as garments, weapons, and pouches. Ornaments among North American native cultures were as diverse in type as the peoples that produced them. Decorations were added to possessions as well as to the human body, serving various purposes from helping in functional activities to beautifying an individual to visually delineating status, gender, or age. Indigenous mineral and animal materials were often formed into ornaments. Eagle talons, bird feathers, sea otter and beaver teeth, molted puffin beaks, bone, and ivory are some examples of varied animal parts used as objects of enhancement. Precious stones and reworked silver, copper, lead, brass, and steel were made into jewelry, bells, tacks, hairplates, and buttons, and they were inlaid into functional objects. Archaeological remains have revealed that some ornaments were of specific rare materials, including circular shell gorgets (throat protectors) with incised figures from the Mississippian period; turquoise and shell jewelry and feather pendants from the Hohokam and Anasazi of the Southwest Desert cultures; and ivory clothing toggles from prehistoric Arctic sites. Because of the portability and rarity of such objects, they were used as trade items and gifts among many native cultures. Coastal peoples traded shell jewelry for goods from inland tribes, while Mesoamerican Indians traded jade and turquoise for desired objects from northern peoples. Many ornaments took the form of functional objects that went beyond their aesthetic role, such as the beaded pouches, painted bark bags (parfleche), and embroidered porcupine quill garments of the Plains Indians; California Pomo Indian baskets with feathers or beads tightly woven into or attached to the surface; or the snow goggles, fishing equipment, and engraved ivory pipes of the Inuit and Aleut. For example, Aleut men’s bent-wood fishing visors
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were individually painted and lavishly adorned with colorful beads, carved ivory amulets, and sea lion whiskers. The form of the visor kept the sun out of a fisherman’s eyes while the embellishments ensured a successful hunt by protecting the wearer and attracting the desired prey with the beauty of the object. Ornamentation of a highly personal nature among some American Indians consisted of permanent body adornment in the forms of lip labrets made of bone and ivory; ear bobs and nose plugs of metal, ivory, shell, and precious stones; and tattoos. Objects and designs of this type, which are physically incorporated into a wearer’s body, defined indelible status within the culture. Cultural affiliation and status were also evident in decoration applied to architecture and transportation as seen in the surface painting and/ or carving on canoes, houses, and tipis. Patricia Coronel and Michael Coronel See also: Dress and Adornment; Feathers and Featherwork; Headdresses; Quillwork; Parfleche; Shells and Shellwork; Silverworking.
Paints and Painting Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Painting has been a primary American Indian art form for thousands of years and is used for social, historical, and decorative purposes. American Indian painting reaches back to the earliest known inhabitants of the Americas. Some of the earliest paintings are called pictographs, which simply means paintings or drawings on rock. These drawings and paintings were highly symbolic and stylized and can be seen even today in certain areas, especially the Southwest of the United States. Before the coming of the Europeans, many different forms of painting were in existence. Painting was prevalent in the Plains and East in the form of painting on animal skins and tattooing,
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in the Northwest Coast on wooden poles and masks, and in the Southwest and Mexico on pottery, rock, and adobe walls. These different forms of painting had primarily religious, decorative, and historical purposes, with the emphasis on content rather than form. Styles of painting varied among tribes and regions and were based on such factors as tribal experience and available materials. Designs were generally twodimensional and geometric, or linear, showing simple frontal and profile figures and shapes or geometric patterns. Designs developed An Apache youngster with his face and as a result of visionary exlegs painted. (National Archives) periences were painted on shields, tipis, and clothing and were believed to give protection. Symbolic painting, which was more stylized and abstracted than representational, was often used for ceremonial mural and sand painting, rock art, heraldics, pottery, masks, and body painting. Representational painting was commonly used for historical purposes such as the recording of events and for calendrical use. The choice of medium was determined by what was available in the natural world in a given geographic area. Pigments were made from mineral, and sometimes vegetable, sources, with the most common colors being red, yellow, dark brown, and white. Paint colors sometimes symbolized the four cardinal points as well as the zenith and the nadir, with the specific colors for each point
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tribally determined. The colors themselves were believed to have special attributes or magical powers. By 1300 c.e., polychrome rather than monochrome paints were being used. Painting was done with a stylus made of bone or wood, with brushes made of animal hair, or simply with the fingers and hand. Contemporary American Indian painting uses modern materials and reflects both the preservation and adaptation of traditional subject matter and styles. Since the late 1800’s, painting has changed in purpose, reflecting European influence in materials, marketing, and attitude. The emphasis shifted to the individual artist from Indian painting as an ethnic or folk art, and artists began to sign their names to their work. As an art form, painting continues to be a primary means of expression for American Indians and is pursued as a profession by many Indian painters. Diane C. Van Noord See also: Art and Artists: Contemporary; Dress and Adornment; Grooming; Petroglyphs; Pottery; Sand Painting; Symbolism in Art; Tattoos and Tattooing.
Pan-Indianism Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: American Indians have long attempted to balance tribal loyalties and affiliations with the possibilities and benefits afforded by intertribal unity; during the latter half of the twentieth century, PanIndianism has become a hotly contested issue. Since the 1960’s American Indians have become increasingly politicized and reform-minded. This mobilization has occurred along three lines: tribal, pantribal, and Pan-Indian. Tribal activity currently focuses on organizations or actions by and for members of a specific tribe. This type of movement usually concentrates on the protection or expansion of a single tribe’s rights or opportunities. Pantribalism occurs when two or more tribal entities unite in pur-
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suit of a mutually beneficial goal. The Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT) is an example of such activity. Tribal and pantribal mobilizations are distinct from the Pan-Indian movement, which promotes the universality of the Indian experience and emphasizes ethnic identification rather than tribal affiliations. According to Vine Deloria, Jr., a nationally recognized authority on Indian rights, in his work The Nations Within: The Past and Future of American Indian Sovereignty (1984), “the tribes are concerned with the substance of Indian life while the ethnics [Pan-Indianists] look to the process.” Historical Background. The Pan-Indian movement had its inception during the opening decades of the nineteenth century. The first definable Pan-Indian action occurred during the War of 1812 at the instigation of the Shawnee chief, Tecumseh, and his brother, a revivalist religious leader named Tenskwatawa (the Shawnee Prophet). Urging the various tribes at the frontier to put aside their differences and to oppose the encroachment of the U.S. government, Tecumseh proclaimed in 1810, “The only way to stop the evil is for the red men to unite in claiming a common and equal right in the land, as it was at first and should be now—for it was never divided but belonged to all.” The Pan-Indian activity during the remainder of the nineteenth century focused on a combination of strategies and objectives guided largely by religious inspiration. The most notable of these mobilizations remains the Ghost Dance revivals of the Great Plains fostered by the Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka. At the beginning of the twentieth century, this movement acquired different direction and form. The focal point shifted from religious revival toward political and civil equity and more formal organization. In 1912, for example, a group of Indians drawn together by common experience founded the Society of American Indians. This group continues its commitment to collective action and its promotion of a variety of Pan-Indian and pantribal activities. One such organization was the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), founded in 1944 by the Indian employees of
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the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Its primary purpose remains the lobbying for American Indian causes and rights. Developments Since World War II. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, distinctions between pantribal and Pan-Indian mobilizations became more pronounced. Government programs and policies aimed at termination of tribal status gave the movements greater impetus. The general atmosphere of protest and reform during the 1960’s and early 1970’s radicalized the behavior of Indian reformers. An early indicator of the growing schism and changes in tactics was the founding of the National Indian Youth Council in 1961. Frustrated by the “poetic” responses of the older, more established Pan-Indian organizations, a group of younger, more radical leaders led by Clyde Warrior, a Ponca, and Melvin Thom, a Paiute, formed a new organization. They urged their audiences to come to grips with the continued paternalism of the federal government and its failure to correct dire social and economic conditions confronting Indians everywhere. Their cause, according to Thom, was “a Greater Indian America.” This action also foreshadowed the development of the Red Power mobilizations of the 1970’s and the constituency within which they would find their base. The movement particularly attracted the interest of urban Indians, whose identification was ethnic rather than tribal in nature. Many often felt alone because they could not document at least one-quarter Indian heritage. These “mixed-bloods” did not come under any recognized tribal jurisdiction and, furthermore, were not recognized by the U.S. government. Nevertheless, they identified themselves as Native Americans if not members of a specific tribal nation. Their sense of alienation and isolation was therefore great, and Pan-Indianism answered a need. Among the most important and visible organizations of the next generation of organizations was the American Indian Movement (AIM), founded in 1968 in Minneapolis by Dennis Banks, George Mitchell, and Clyde Bellecourt of the Chippewa (Ojibwa), and Russell Means, a Sioux. This group advocated a much broader range of tactics to accomplish their purpose. In addition to legal re-
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A sign urging support of the American Indian Movement in New York City. (Library of Congress)
course, they employed protest demonstrations, sit-ins and occupations, and occasional violence to promote their causes. Two of the most memorable of these activities were the occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969 and the violent stand-off at Wounded Knee in 1973. The founding of the International Indian Treaty Council and the Women of All Red Nations represents institutional outgrowths of the AIM mobilization. In 1977, a contingent of Indians from North and South America
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presented the United Nations with their Great Law of Peace, which warned against the ill effects European colonialism on the earth’s people and environment. A year later, in 1978, a watershed event in the Pan-Indian movement occurred when thousands of Native Americans began a five-month demonstration by walking from the former Indian-occupied Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay to Washington, D.C., where on July 15, 1978, they camped on the Mall in an attempt to persuade Congress not to pass legislation that would weaken Indian rights. During this period, dubbed the Longest Walk, many participants found new spiritual meaning in their status as Indian people, and one Buddhist monk on the walk called for a New Age of peace. Pan-Indianism thus has a definite spiritual and religious aspect, which rejects Christianity as a colonial force and embraces old Pan-Indian traditions such as the Sun Dance. Pros and Cons of Pan-Indianism. The movement has also discovered some limitations, especially with regard to goal setting and continued competition with traditional tribal organizations. The strongest supporters of the Pan-Indian mobilization remain urban Indians whose tribal affiliations have eroded. In large and often hostile cities, Indians of various tribes find it easier to identify with one another than with the larger communities that surround them. They acknowledge a common ethnic origin and welcome partnerships across tribal lines. This tendency places them at odds with many tribalists, who are more traditional in their approach and perceive this blending as a dilution of their identities. Pan-Indianists have also realized that defining themselves, their ideals, and their objectives in the abstract is much simpler than developing specific plans of action. All but the broadest of their objectives involve groups too specific to be truly considered PanIndian in nature. Nevertheless, Pan-Indianism, despite its flaws, has played and important role and continues to do so, in that it has brought to national attention common issues of Native Americans that might not have received as much attention from the activism of individual nations. Martha I. Pallante, updated by Christina J. Moose
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Sources for Further Study Barsh, Russel Lawrence, and James Youngblood Henderson. The Road: Indian Tribes and Political Liberty. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980. Cowger, Thomas W. The National Congress of American Indians: The Founding Years. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999. Deloria, Vine, Jr., and Clifford M. Lytle. The Nations Within: The Past and Future of American Indian Sovereignty. New York: Pantheon Books, 1984. Johnson, Troy R. The Occupation of Alcatraz Island: Indian SelfDetermination and the Rise of Indian Activism. Foreword by Donald L. Fixico. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996. Johnson, Troy R., Joane Nagel, and Duane Champagne, eds. American Indian Activism: Alcatraz to the Longest Walk. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997. Josephy, Alvin M., Jr., Troy Johnson, and Joane Nagel, eds. Red Power: The American Indians’ Fight for Freedom. 2d ed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999. See also: Ghost Dance; Political Organization and Leadership; Repatriation; Urban Indians.
Parfleche Tribes affected: Plains tribes Significance: Widely used within and outside the Plains, parfleches were both practical devices for storing and transporting food and clothing and objects subject to sophisticated ornamentation. A parfleche is a rawhide storage container that was used primarily among Plains tribes to store dry meat, pemmican, or clothing. It was made of a single sheet of hide folded into an envelope, with leather laces passed through holes in flaps to keep it closed. Often parfleches were made in pairs. Variant types of rawhide containers formed into a box shape and often referred to as parfleches were
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manufactured by tribes who had contact with Southern Siouan groups. The Iowa, Oto, Ponca, and Santee (Sioux) cut pieces from a large hide and then bent, folded, and sewed them together in a box. The Sauk and Fox, Kickapoo, and Menominee used a single piece of buffalo rawhide and folded and bent it into a box. Parfleches were widely diffused outside the Plains area partly through friendly visits during which gifts were exchanged and trade occurred. Women manufactured parfleches and applied incised or painted designs to them. There were distinctive tribal variations in designs with symmetrical geometric designs consisting of straight lines, triangles, rectangles, and diamonds predominating, although the Blackfoot often integrated some curved lines. Patterns were sometimes incised. In this method the artist scraped away portions of the rawhide, leaving lighter and darker shading. Designs were also painted onto the rawhide, with colors derived from iron-containing clays that yielded yellow, brown, red, and black, with some green and blue. Parfleches were useful, compact storage containers that were well-adapted to the mobile Plains lifestyle; they also served decorative purposes and were often prominently displayed in the tipi and reflected the industriousness of the women. Carole A. Barrett See also: Arts and Crafts: Plains; Hides and Hidework; Ornaments; Paints and Painting.
Pemmican Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: A winter food, pemmican was used throughout the climates of North America where winter resources were limited. Pemmican is a winter food. The word pemikan is of Cree origin, from pimii, meaning grease or fat. The usage of pemmican was universal throughout the temperate climates of North America where winter resources are limited.
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Pemmican was prepared by North American indigenous peoples from a variety of ingredients. The primary ingredient was strips of dried lean meat (or fish). The type of meat used varied from one locale to another—elk and venison in the woodlands, buffalo on the Plains, and salmon on the Northwest Coast. The meat was ground or pounded into a powder. It was sometimes mixed with ground seeds or nuts of various kinds, depending on availability. The dry ingredients are moistened slightly and then combined with fresh berries or other fruit and animal fat. The specific ingredients vary depending upon locale and availability. When the mixture is thoroughly combined and of the correct consistency, it is shaped into cakes by hand. The cakes are then set aside to dry. They are stored for later use as a winter food, to supplement the diet, or as emergency rations when other foods are not available. Pemmican is a nutritious and palatable food. It combines proteins, carbohydrates and sugars, and animal fat in such a way as to fulfill minimum energy requirements in winter. It stores well and can be used by village dwellers as well as hunters and travelers on expeditions. Michael W. Simpson See also: Buffalo; Food Preparation and Cooking; Salmon; Subsistence.
Petroglyphs Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Indian designs carved on rock represent a rich legacy of Native American culture, expressing myth, history, and ethnic identity. Petroglyphs are designs that have been pecked, abraded, or incised into a rock’s surface, frequently by direct percussion with a hammer stone or indirect percussion with a chisel. These are differ-
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ent from pictographs, which are images painted on rock surfaces. There are petroglyphs that have also been painted, but this is rare. Petroglyphs are found throughout the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii. Some of the densest concentrations in the entire world occur in California, the Southwest, the Great Basin, and the Columbia Plateau. The content of petroglyphs includes images of animals, humans, plants, cultural items, and geometric designs. They are portrayed in an array of styles, from realistic to curvilinear or rectilinear abstract. Ever since English settlers of the Massachusetts Colony first noticed petroglyphs at Dighton Rock in the 1600’s, a persistent question has been, “Who made them?” A number of fanciful explanations have been put forward through the years; they have been attributed to Egyptians, Phoenicians, Iberians, and many other Old World groups, and even to extraterrestrials. None of this is
Tsagiglalal, a guardian spirit, is depicted in this Nez Perce petroglyph. (Library of Congress)
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supported by the evidence, which has firmly established that Native Americans were the makers. This is known partly because living Indian traditions regarding petroglyphs still exist today. Petroglyphs do not involve a hieroglyphic system or even a pictorial version of a sign language system. No one can walk up to a cliff face and “read” petroglyphs like a book. Contemporary traditions, then, give valuable insight into another common question, “Why were they made?” The evidence shows they were made for a wide variety of cultural purposes. The Hopi identify images at the Willow Springs site near Tuba City, Arizona, as clan symbols made by members on journeys from their mesa villages to sacred salt deposits. In Northern California, so-called “baby rocks” of the Pomo and “rain rocks” of the Hupa, Karok, and Tolowa reflect a concern with human fertility and world renewal. Rites of passage for Interior Salish youth included portraying dream quest visions on the rocks, while nearby, petroglyphs were seen carved at Fort Rupert on the Northwest Coast in the context of a Hamatsa ritual. Even where passing time and memory have erased cultural links, purpose is sometimes evident. For example, spiral petroglyphs on Fajada Butte carved by the Anasazi of Chaco Canyon have been shown to be astronomical calendars, recording the movement of the sun and moon. Evidence belies a common claim that this art is idle “doodling” or prehistoric graffiti. Exceptions occur, but the vast majority of it reflects a purposeful, patterned expression of the makers’ values, priorities, and worldview. The most difficult question to answer is, “When were the petroglyphs made?” Relative and absolute dating methods have shown some to be recent, while others date back to the time of the first people in the Americas. The richness of such a legacy for all people should lead to its preservation and protection. A growing awareness of this fact was symbolized by the inauguration of Petroglyph National Monument near Albuquerque in 1990, the first national monument in America to be dedicated to a purely cultural resource. Gary A. Olson
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Sources for Further Study Diaz-Granados, Carol, and James R. Duncan. The Petroglyphs and Pictographs of Missouri. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2000. Lenik, Edward J. Picture Rocks: American Indian Rock Art in the Northeast Woodlands. Hanover: University Press of New England, 2002. Mancini, Salvatore. On the Edge of Magic: Petroglyphs and Rock Paintings of the Ancient Southwest. Foreword by Eugenia Parry Janis. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1996. Moore, Sabra. Petroglyphs: Ancient Language, Sacred Art. Santa Fe, N.M.: Clear Light Publishers, 1998. See also: Anasazi Civilization; Bragskins; Hohokam Culture; Pictographs; Symbolism in Art.
Peyote and Peyote Religion Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Since the late nineteenth century, peyote has played a central part in an American Indian religious movement; peyote is viewed as a spiritual teacher, and its use forms a part of a long, complex ceremony. To the American Indians who practice peyotism, peyote is considered a spiritual being. This is a concept which defies accurate definition in Western terms. Indians describe peyote iconically and refer to it as “medicine”; it is used as a sacrament. The ritualistic use of peyote in a religious setting to communicate with and be instructed by “spirit” is accepted as a way to “return to the source.” Peyote itself comes from a type of cactus with the scientific name Lophophora williamsii, a small, spineless cactus with a rounded top. The parts of the cactus that contain peyote are referred to as “buttons.” A peyote button contains more than fifty alkaloids, one
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of which, mescaline, induces a state of consciousness that can be likened to a healing or religious experience. There is no evidence that peyote is addictive or harmful. Peyote Religion. The religion, often called peyotism or the peyote cult, is at the center of a pan-Indian movement. The religion has doctrine, an ethical code, unique rituals, and origin legends. Fire, water, the medicine, the eagle, and a drum are the central symbols. Precise rituals involve long, extensive prayer meetings and require knowledge of many songs with repetitive, chanted musical bridges. The peyote religion, referred to formally as the Native American Church of North America (NAC), is pan-Indian, both geographically and tribally. It appeared suddenly after 1880 and spread rapidly. The origin of the peyote religion as practiced in North America is unknown. James Slotkin (The Peyote Religion, 1956) describes twenty-nine different traditions of origin. The ritual of the modern Native American Church is very different from the pre-Columbian and Mexican Indian use of peyote. Peyote reveals itself to the Indian people as a transformer which is integratable and renewing. After 1880, tribal religious traditions, devastated by the relentless encroachments of European Americans, opened to the inevitability of profound change. The church origin legends reflect the devastation suffered by the old ways and depict the need for transformation in the Indian psyche. Origin legends and doctrinal formulations are of secondary importance to Indians, who are more concerned with original religious experiences. If there is doctrine, it can be said that God put humankind on Earth for a purpose, and it is up to humans to learn that purpose directly from God on “the peyote road” via the mediation of peyote, prayer, and focus or awareness. People should then fulfill that purpose via a moderate lifestyle, outlined by Slotkin as “care of one’s health and welfare, care of family, brotherhood, self-reliance, and by belief in the power of peyote to ‘teach one how to live.’”
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Church Ritual. Church members describe their religion and ritual as uniquely Indian. Some standards seem to have developed, leading to various forms referred to as Kiowa-Apache, Southern Plains, and Oklahoma Fireplace. A number of elements, however, are consistent at every meeting since James Mooney’s description of a peyote ceremony in 1892. At all the fireplaces the door opens east, and the roadman, or church leader, sits opposite the door. The meeting (as the church services are called) opens with the placing of the Chief Peyote on the altar and closes with the Chief’s removal. The most common form for the altar is a crescent or “half moon,” shape. There are five officers, or roadcrew, who have various formal functions in the ceremony: roadman, drummer, cedarman, fireman, and dawn woman. Each one at some point during the meeting will offer a “prayer smoke”—each will roll tobacco in a corn husk and pray with this smoke communicant. All movement during the meeting is clockwise. The drum is a water drum made from a six-quart metal pot into which are placed water and four coals from the fire. The vessel is then covered with a hide, usually deerskin, and tied with a long rope which wraps around seven stones pocketed in the hide so that the rope makes a seven-pointed star, seen as the morning star, around the bottom of the vessel. The fireman, aside from keeping a ritually constructed fire going through the night, maintains a poker or burning stick from which all “prayer smokes” are lit. Other ritual paraphernalia invariably found at meetings are a bone whistle, gourd rattles, a beaded staff, sage, feather fans, and corn husks and tobacco used in making the hand-rolled prayer smokes. There are always four stages to each meeting: opening, midnight, morning, and closing ceremonies. Particular songs are sung in conjunction with these stages no matter which tribe or fireplace is holding the ceremony, because these particular songs were given through the origin story. Four foods—meat, berries, corn, and water—are also always a part of the ceremony. Some details of the four stages vary with each roadman. The reason is that peyote teaches a roadman his way; this is a mark of the church’s and the religion’s vitality. These variations come from
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prayer, searching, and the medicine. A roadman’s ceremony is called his Fireplace. The ritual is only sketched here; it is extremely complex, more complex than most Christian ceremonies. Meetings usually last a minimum of twelve hours, and the roadman is in control of all of it and aware of the psychological state of every member of the meeting throughout. The ceremony often has aspects of a long, soulsearching journey through the night for each of the participants. It is understood to be a prayer meeting from beginning to end. Church members come to a sacred area, concentrate on its transcendental center or source, and sit with their peers in community to receive healing and instruction. Glenn J. Schiffman Sources for Further Study LaBarre, Weston. The Peyote Cult. 1938. Reprint. Hamden, Conn.: Shoestring Press, 1964. Laney, John H. On the Symbolism of the Native American Church of North America. Zurich, Switzerland: C. G. Jung Institute, 1970. Martin, Joel W. The Land Looks After Us: A History of Native American Religion. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Ross-Flanigan, Nancy. Peyote. Springfield, N.J.: Enslow, 1997. Shonle, Ruth. “Peyote, the Giver of Visions.” American Anthropologist 40 (1932): 698-715. Slotkin, James. The Peyote Religion. Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press, 1956. Steinmetz, Paul B. Pipe, Bible, and Peyote Among the Oglala Lakota: A Study in Religious Identity. Reprint. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1998. Swan, Daniel C. Peyote Religious Art: Symbols of Faith and Belief. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1999. See also: Native American Church; Pan-Indianism; Religion.
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Pictographs Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: “Pictograph” literally means “picture writing” and refers to any image intended to communicate a thought, idea, belief, or record of events. Pictographs were widely used by native people in the Americas, and they appear on cave walls, rocks, skins, bone, bark, pottery, sticks, and later cloth and paper. They extend from historic times into the early twentieth century. Communication. Artistic skill was not an important factor in picture writing, and since pictographic images were intended to communicate and to be widely understood by large groups of people they generally employed conventionalized characters so that they could be easily read. Pictographic drawings often portrayed information from standard angles of vision, often the side or profile, and used certain signs that were widely understood by a tribal group. Among various groups of people, colors often have symbolic meaning and these too were used in pictographs to convey meaning through the drawings. As an example, among the Algonquian and Iroquoian tribal groups, white symbolized peace, so white was used on wampum belts to designate that a fair and open path lay between two enemies. Since the images were easily understood by a group of people, information was shared, communicated, and kept within the tribe. Mnemonic Uses. Some pictographs existed as mnemonic devices and attempted to remind people of a particular order or pattern to some activity. Among the Ojibwa, for example, there was a medicine society known as the Mide for which rounds of ceremonial songs had to be sung in a precise manner with no variations. Therefore, the Ojibwa created song records drawn on flat strips of birchbark. Each character on the birchbark corresponded to a phrase in the song. When the singer saw a picture of a human figure arising from a double circle, which represented his sleeping place, he was prompted to sing, “As I arise from sleep.” These
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birchbark pictorial hymnals ensured that the songs would retain their power from generation to generation. Geographic Directions. Pictographic representations were also used by a variety of tribal groups to communicate information about their geographic location or intended destination. Messages were left at a campsite or other obvious place, and some picture drawings were sent to another group. Personal Histories. Personal records depicting an individual’s exploits were quite common, particularly among Plains Indian men. The warrior ethic defined the male role among the Plains tribes, so a system of recording personal achievements and events connected with warfare became highly developed. These records were kept by each warrior, usually on buffalo robes, tipi liners or covers, and other personal objects generally known as bragskins. Bragskins were highly conventionalized so that they could easily be read by any tribal member. A tied horse’s tail, for example, denoted war. Accounting Records. Once they began to engage in trade with non-Indians, many tribes kept records of economic transactions or statistical data in pictographic form. One such record, from the Abenaki tribe, is a drawing of a man, really not much more than a stick figure, shooting a rifle at a deer. On the next line is an indication that the man shot three deer: three hides accompanied by six lines and circles, indicating that he received two dollars for each hide, for a total of six dollars. These accounting records are succinct and communicate the exchange easily to those familiar with the drawings’ conventions. Census Data. Pictographs also recorded census data, particularly in early periods of contact with Euro-Americans, when numbers of people became important in negotiating with government officials. Pictographic census records typically list and identify all male heads of families. For example, one Oglala census record pre-
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Prehistoric pictographs on sand rocks in Adamana, Arizona. (National Archives)
pared by Red Cloud in the nineteenth century depicts a conventionalized profile of a man’s head and then a line that extends upward from the head; the name of the person is designated by a pictographic rendering. For instance, Spotted Elk is represented as a speckled elk. During the treaty period, many of the men signed treaties using these name glyphs, which functioned as their signatures. Histories and Chronologies. A number of tribal groups kept chronological records of their bands in pictographic form. Among the Teton Sioux, these were known as wintercounts, and their purpose was to record the most important event that had occurred to a band in a yearlong period. The drawings in the wintercounts were terse, serving as mnemonic devices; however, they could be read easily and became ways of preserving band histories. During the latter half of the nineteenth century and extending into the early twentieth century, some of the Plains tribes devel-
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oped a pictographic convention that had the explicit purpose of narrating a particular event in the history of the tribe through pictures. These records were narrative and contained significant detail of an event. As animal hides became scarcer, many of these pictographic accounts were recorded in ledger books on paper. Red Horse, a Miniconjou Lakota, produced forty-one drawings in which he detailed what he saw and experienced at the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876). His pictures provide a sense of the action and tumult of the battle, as well as the stress and overwhelming defeat of the soldiers. Red Horse’s account survives as a rare and important history of this key battle from the viewpoint of a Native American survivor. Amos Bad Heart Bull, an Oglala, kept a pictographic record of his people in a ledger book. Rather than provide insight into a single event, Bad Heart Bull maintained a chronology of events important in the history of his people. In a series of drawings depicting the death of Crazy Horse (1877), for example, he records a pictorial narrative that locates the event and identifies the major participants. Current Use. Pictographs functioned to give permanence to certain important concepts and events that otherwise would have existed only in oral forms among American Indian people. Although their function as devices to communicate thoughts, ideas, and beliefs disappeared in the early twentieth century as they were replaced by alphabetic writing and reading, much contemporary Indian art recognizes the importance of picture writing among tribal people and employs pictographic imagery. Carole A. Barrett Sources for Further Study Blish, Helen H. A Pictographic History of the Oglala Sioux. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1967. Mallery, Garrick. Picture-Writing of the American Indians. New York: Dover Publications, 1972. Szabo, Joyce. Howling Wolf and the History of Ledger Art. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1994.
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Tillett, Leslie. Wind on the Buffalo Grass: Native American Artist Historians. New York: DaCapo, 1976. See also: Bragskins; Paints and Painting; Petroglyphs; Sacred Narratives; Symbolism in Art; Tattoos and Tattooing; Walam Olum; Wampum; Wintercounts.
Pipestone Quarries Tribes affected: Plains, including Blackfoot, Crow, Iowa, Mandan, Oto, Pawnee, Ponca, Sioux Significance: The quarries, located in southwest Minnesota, were being worked in the seventeenth century with metal tools acquired from European traders. From the beginning, the area was considered a sacred place where peoples from various tribes could quarry stone in peace. The quarry contains a soft pink or red stone called catlinite, named for George Catlin, who visited the quarries in the 1830’s. (He sent a sample for analysis to a friend in Boston who then named it for Catlin.) The catlinite, or pipestone, was formed when clay was pressed between layers of sand deposited when the area was an inland sea; pressure and chemical reactions then created thin layers of pipestone sandwiches between thicker layers of quartzite. The layers of quartzite must be removed to obtain the pipestone, which gets its pink or red color from traces of iron. The earliest diggers were the Iowa and Oto. By the 1700’s, the Dakota Sioux had acquired a monopoly, trading pipestone extensively throughout North America. The stone, prized for its color and softness, was ideal for carving ceremonial pipes, including calumets, called “peace pipes” by Europeans. Pipes were so valuable that a finely carved pipe could bring a horse in exchange. By 1851, the Dakota, through treaties, had lost rights to the quarries. Until 1926, the Yankton Sioux struggled to maintain control, losing title through a Supreme Court ruling. In 1937, an act of Congress
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created the Pipestone National Monument. All native peoples were granted access to the quarries. By the early 1950’s, pipe carving and work in the quarries had all but ceased. The revival of tribal traditions and arts has led to a resurgence of carving, however, and the quarries are again actively used. A variety of legends surrounds the site, each attesting its sacredness. In one account, an Omaha Indian woman followed a sacred white bison whose hooves turned the rocks red. In another, borrowed by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow for The Song of Hiawatha, the Great Spirit (Kitchi Manitou), in the form of a bird, calls the people together. Drawing out a piece of red stone, He fashions a pipe and begins to smoke. He tells the people that the red rock is their flesh and is to be used only for making ceremonial pipes. Yet another legend traces the quarries’ origins to a time when people from many tribes were fleeing a flood. Unable to escape, all perished but a single young woman. The bodies of the dead became the pipestone. The communal origins of the site meant that all peoples were free to use it in peace. Today an interpretive center housing displays of carvings and quarrying techniques is on the site and open to public view. Charles Louis Kammer III See also: Arts and Crafts: Plains; Calumets and Pipe Bags; Tobacco.
Pit House Tribes affected: Southwest tribes Significance: Pit houses are among the earliest types of structures known to have been built in the Americas. Pit houses (or pithouses) are the earliest recognizable form of architecture adopted by semi-sedentary cultures in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Pit houses appear with the Hohokam culture in Arizona as early as 300 b.c.e., and with the
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Anasazi Basket Maker culture of southwestern Colorado by 200 c.e. Associated with the introduction of domesticated crops and pottery, pit houses remained the principal architectural form until approximately 700, when they were replaced by masonry and/or adobe Pueblo-style architecture. Pit houses consisted of excavated earthen pits, between 2 and 5 feet deep and 10 and 25 feet in diameter, usually lined with adobe or stone slabs. The pit was covered with a domed log roof topped with thatch and earth or adobe. Early varieties were round in plan; they were entered through a lateral doorway at the east end and contained a small smoke hole in the roof above a central fire pit. In later versions, plans were generally square, the lateral entrance decreased in size, sometimes becoming a mere air vent, and the smoke hole was enlarged to become the primary means of entrance via a ladder. Primarily single-family dwellings, pit houses could be found as isolated units or grouped into village clusters of a hundred or more, though rarely were they organized into formal village plans. Later versions may have combined domestic and ritual functions, since many examples contain ceremonial features such as the sipapu, symbolizing the mythological hole of emer-
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gence (according to Hopi mythology), and surrounding benches, features commonly associated with later Pueblo kivas. Pit house prototypes associated with Archaic hunter-gatherers have been found in Canada and eastern Siberia. Beginning around 700, pit houses apparently evolved into two distinctly different and more specialized forms: the square, aboveground Pueblo style room-blocks which served primarily utilitarian functions, and the round subterranean kivas, which served more religious or esoteric functions. James D. Farmer See also: Anasazi Civilization; Architecture: Southwest; Hohokam Culture; Kivas; Pueblo.
Plank House Tribes affected: Auinault, Bella Coola, Chehalis, Chinook, Coast Salish, Coos, Haida, Hupa, Karok, Klamath, Klikitat, Kwakiutl, Nootka, Takelma, Tillamook, Wivot, Yurok Significance: Large plank houses were widely used in the Northwest Coast culture area, where there were abundant forests to supply the material. Plank houses of the Northwest were usually built of white cedar. An oblong or rectangular area was cleared and the earth removed. The area could be from 10 to 30 feet long or more, from 6 to 20 feet wide, and 1 to 3 feet deep. Vertical posts were sunk into the ground, or log walls were built around the shallow pit and were capped with wooden beams. Cured logs of cedar were split into planks with stone hammers and wedges. The planks were from 1 to 3 feet in width, and could be up to 60 feet long. Planks were usually at least several inches thick. The size of the planks was determined by the type of structure to be built. Planks were then attached to the vertical posts using cords braided of roots or vines. The structure was sealed with a
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mixture of pitch and charcoal or other substances which made it waterproof and windproof. The roofs of plank houses could be either single or double pitch. A hole was made in the roof to allow smoke to exit and air to circulate. Doors were cut into either end. Large longhouses with elaborate carvings on the posts and beams were common north of the Puget Sound and Columbia River areas. Several families could occupy each house. Common hearths were established in the center, with living areas to each side partitioned off by mats, skins, or other means, which allowed some privacy. The size and style of plank houses tend to become smaller and simpler the further south the tribal group. Michael W. Simpson See also: Architecture: Northwest Coast; Longhouse.
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Pochteca Tribe affected: Aztec Significance: In the 1364-1520’s, the pochteca were a specialized group of long-distance traders commissioned by the Aztec ruler to obtain luxury items. The pochteca were an elite group of Aztec traders who traveled from the capital of Tenochtitlán in central Mexico to various places in Mesoamerica to obtain luxury goods and resources for the Aztec nobility. Jaguar pelts, chocolate, and feathers were listed by the Spanish chronicler Bernardino de Sahagun as being among the trade goods acquired by the pochteca. Although the pochteca were highly ranked in Aztec society, they hid their wealth and disguised themselves as poor traders. Transportation involved human porters carrying goods on tumplines, since there were no draft animals domesticated in Mesoamerica. Often referred to as “trader-spies,” the pochteca traded with rulers of other regions on behalf of the Aztec king and subsequently participated in military campaigns to conquer and incorporate new lands into the Aztec empire. On the philosophy that it is cheaper to exact tribute than to trade, the Aztecs conquered the Soconusco area of the Pacific coastal area of Chiapas, Mexico, to exact chocolate as tribute. Aztec trade enclaves may have existed on the gulfs of Mexico and Honduras, where Maya traders met with the Aztec pochteca. Archaeological evidence indicates extensive trade between the Aztec, Maya, and others in the Late Postclassic Period prior to the arrival of the Spanish in 1521. Heather McKillop See also: Aztec Empire; Trade.
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Political Organization and Leadership Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: While Native American tribes and nations employed several modes of governance, counselor democracy was widespread; traditional modes of government survive today, alongside structures created and supported by the U.S. and Canadian governments. Across North America, indigenous nations and tribes evolved varied methods of ordering their political affairs. European colonists arriving in eastern North America encountered variations of a confederacy model, usually operating by methods of consensus that were unfamiliar to people who had been living in hierarchical societies governed by queens, princes, and kings. The best known of these consensual governments was the Iroquois Confederacy, which occupied a prominent position in the diplomacy of the early colonies. Although the consensus model seems to have been the one most often used across the continent, some native peoples maintained societies that were strikingly different. For example, the Northwest Coast peoples paid great attention to political hierarchy and economic status within their communities. Eastern Confederacies. All along the Atlantic seaboard, Indian nations had formed confederacies by the time they encountered European immigrants, from the Seminoles (Michel-GuillaumeJean de Crèvecoeur called them “a federated republic”) to the Cherokees and Choctaws to the Iroquois and the Hurons, as well as the Pennacook federation of New England, among many others. The Illinois Confederacy, the “Three Fires” of the Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi, the Wapenaki Confederacy, the Powhatan Confederacies, and the tripartate Miami were other examples. These systems had evolved to coordinate governance across geographic distances that seemed huge to European eyes at the time and to permit maximum freedom to nations within confederations and to individuals within nations.
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Iroquois Confederacy. The Iroquois system was the best known to the colonists, in large part because of the Haudenosaunee‘s pivotal position in diplomacy not only between the English and French but also among other native confederacies. Called the Iroquois by the French and the Five (later Six) Nations by the English, the Haudenosaunee (the word is Iroquois for “people of the longhouse”) controlled the only relatively level land pass between the English colonies along the coast and the French settlements in the Saint Lawrence Valley. Cadwallader Colden, who, in the words of Robert Waite, was regarded as “the best-informed man in the New World on the affairs of the British-American colonies,” provided the first systematic study of the Six Nations in 1727 and augmented it in 1747. In his History of the Five Nations Depending on the Province of New York in America, Colden, an adopted Mohawk, compared the Iroquois to the Romans because of their skills at oratory, warfare, and diplomacy, as well as the republican nature of their government: “When Life and Liberty came in competition, indeed, I think our Indians have outdone the Romans in this particular.” Describing the Iroquois form of government extensively, Colden wrote that it “has continued so long that the Christians know nothing of the original of it.” “Each Nation is an Absolute Republick by its self, governed in all Publick affairs of War and Peace by the Sachems of Old Men, whose Authority and Power is gained by and consists wholly in the opinions of the rest of the Nation in their Wisdom and Integrity,” Colden wrote; “They never execute their Resolutions by Compulsion or Force Upon any of their People.” Colden wrote that “The Five Nations have such absolute Notions of Liberty that they allow no Kind of Superiority of one over another.” The Iroquois Confederacy was formed by the Huron prophet Deganawida (called “the Peacemaker” in oral discourse). Deganawida enlisted the aid of a speaker, Aiowantha (also called Hiawatha), to spread his vision of a united Haudenosaunee confederacy because he stuttered so badly he could hardly speak. The oral history attributes the Peacemaker’s stuttering to a double row of
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teeth. The confederacy originally included the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. The sixth nation, the Tuscaroras, migrated into Iroquois country in the early eighteenth century. Peace among the formerly antagonistic nations was procured and maintained through the Haudenosaunee’s Great Law of Peace (Kaianerekowa), a complex system of checks and balances between nations and sexes. Rights, duties, and qualifications of sachems were explicitly outlined in the Iroquois Great Law. Clan mothers could remove (or impeach) a sachem who was found guilty of any of a number of abuses of office, from missing meetings to murder. A sachem guilty of murder not only lost his title but also deprived his entire family of its right to representation. The women relatives holding the rights to the office were “buried,” and the title was transferred to a sister family. The Great Law stipulated that sachems’ skins must be seven spans thick to withstand the criticism of their constituents. The law pointed out that sachems should take pains not to become angry when people scrutinized their conduct in governmental affairs. European and European American shapers of thought from Benjamin Franklin to Friedrich Engels expressed astonishment at how the Iroquois and other Native American groups maintained social cohesion and resolved interpersonal conflict without lawyers, jails, and edicts. Instead of formal instruments of authority, the Iroquois governed behavior by instilling a sense of pride and connectedness to the group through common rituals. Ostracism and shame were the punishments for transgressions until people had atoned for their actions and demonstrated that they had undergone a purification process. Huron Confederacy. The system of the Hurons was remarkably similar to that of their neighbors, the Iroquois. According to Bruce G. Trigger’s Children of the Aataentsic: A History of the Huron People (1976), the Hurons’ polity, like that of the Iroquois, was rooted in family structure. Leaders of the various clans used public opinion and consensus to shape decisions. Issues “were usually decided upon by majority vote [and] discussed until a general consensus
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was reached.” People would not be expected to be bound by a decision to which they had not given their conscious consent. As with the Iroquois, the clans—Porcupine, Snake, Deer, Beaver, Hawk, Turtle, Bear, and Wolf—created familial affinity across the boundaries of the four confederated Huron nations. Members of each clan could trace their ancestry to a common origin through the female line. In each village, clan members elected a civil chief and a war chief. The titles were carried through the female family line but bestowed on men, again resembling the Iroquois approach. While the titles were hereditary in that sense, they did not pass from head to head of a particular family as in most European monarchies. When the time came to choose a leader, members of each clan segment in a particular village had a choice of several candidates, among whom, according to Trigger, personal qualities counted most heavily: “intelligence, oratorical ability, reputation for generosity and, above all, performance as a warrior.” The four Huron nations held a central council, which, according to Trigger, probably consisted of all the village chiefs, representing all the clans. The central council dealt with issues that affected all four nations, such as trade with Europeans and treaty negotiations. Cherokee Consensus. The Cherokee, who called themselves Ani-Yunwiya (“the real people” or “the principal people”), were organized in settlements scattered in fertile bottomlands among the craggy peaks of the Great Smokey Mountains. The Cherokees took public opinion so seriously that they usually split their villages when they became too large to permit each adult a voice in council. In the early eighteenth century, the Cherokee Nation comprised sixty villages in five regions, with each village controlling its own affairs. Villages sent delegates to a national council only in times of national emergency. The villages averaged three hundred to four hundred persons each; at about five hundred people, a village usually split in two. In Cherokee society, each adult was regarded as an equal in matters of politics. Leadership titles were few and informal. When
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Europeans sought “kings” or “chiefs” with whom to negotiate treaties, they usually did not understand that whomever they were speaking with could not compel allegiance or obedience of others. As among the Iroquois, each Cherokee was a member of a matrilineal clan: Wolf, Deer, Bird, Blue, Red Paint, Wild Potato, or Twisters. The clans formed an intervillage kinship system which linked them in peaceful coexistence. As in many other confederacies, a clan system among the Cherokees bound the individual villages. The clan system cemented the confederacy, giving it a strength and enduring quality that prevented a high degree of local autonomy from degenerating into anarchy. Cree Governance. Among the Crees, a subarctic people who inhabited the southern reaches of Hudson Bay in present-day Ontario and Quebec, there was no central political organization, as among the Iroquois and Hurons to the south. Even the individual bands or hunting parties had little or no organized political structure. Such a lack of structure is sometimes called “atomistic” by scholars. Instead of formal council, Cree bands informally selected a wise elderly man, usually the head of a family, as a source of advice. He exercised informal, limited influence. As with the sachems of the more organized farming and hunting peoples to the south, these informal leaders usually did not relish the exercise of power, probably because most of the people who sought their advice resented any attempt to dictate. According to John J. Honigmann, who studied the Cree social structure, “Too great evidence of power is resented and feared by those whom it affects.” Cree life was marked only rarely by multifamily celebrations or rituals. Social life and social control were usually functions of the extended family. Outside the family, a Cree might appear ambivalent or reticent, usually out of respect for others’ autonomy. People who transgressed social norms of interpersonal behavior became targets of gossip or sorcery (a technique for social control that was used widely across the continent). Although their society was fam-
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ily based, the Crees recognized no clan or other kinship system between different bands. The society thus did not have the interconnections between settlements offered by the clans of the Iroquois, Hurons, and Cherokees. Western Apache. Apache society was centered on groups of two to six matrilocal extended families, a unit sometimes called a gota. Members of the gota lived together, and members of the different households cooperated in the pursuit of game and the raising of crops. A gota was usually led by a headman who assumed his status over several years by general consensus of the extended families in the gota. The headman in some cases inherited the title of “true chief.” He would not retain the position, however, unless he displayed leadership. If no qualified headman was raised through inheritance, a consensus would form in favor of another leader who would be informally “elected” by members of the gota. Headmen were invariably male, but women exercised influence as political advisers. Their kinship lineages maintained the Apaches’ matrilineal society. A headman could wield considerable influence but only if the people in the extended families he led were willing to follow his advice regarding how to hunt, the techniques of agriculture, and who should work with whom. He also coordinated labor for hunting and foraging, advised parties engaged in disputes, and was sought for advice regarding who should marry whom. As a chief aged, he was charged not only with maintaining exemplary behavior but also with identifying young men who might become leaders in the future. He was expected to tutor younger men in the responsibilities of leadership. A chief was also charged with aiding the poor by coordinating distribution of donations from more affluent members of the gota. If two or more gotas engaged in conflict, their headmen were charged with resolving the dispute. Each Apache was a member not only of a gota but also of one of sixty-two matrilineal clans which overlapped the individual settlements. Members of a clan (and, in some cases, of others identified as being close to it) helped one another in survival tasks and
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usually did not intermarry. Unlike the Iroquois and Hurons, however, the Apaches did not maintain a formal political structure beyond the local level except for the interpersonal networks of clans. Mandan and Cheyenne. Political organization among the Mandans (who occupied present-day North and South Dakota) was restricted to the village level, with no central governance. The Mandans’ village governance system included elements of representative democracy but also recognized some degree of rank and economic status, which was often determined by a family’s ownership of sacred medicine bundles that were vital to tribal rituals. The owners of such bundles often built their lodges closest to the ceremonial center of a given village. Most Mandan villages were quite similar, with closely packed family lodges clustered around the central plaza, which was usually at least 100 feet across. Men selected from lodges which held sacred bundles comprised a council. These men selected two from their number, one of whom displayed special talents at organizing war parties. The other leading chief’s talent lay in his peaceful disposition and his ability to broker disputes, dispense wisdom, stage feasts and rituals, and greet diplomatic envoys. The Cheyennes maintained a powerful central government which united the various Cheyenne bands as well as family-based affinities. At the head of this organization was the Council of Forty-four, on which civil chiefs served ten-year terms. The Cheyenne system closely resembled the Sioux “Seven Fires” confederacy, although the Sioux were not as tightly organized. Six Cheyenne military societies served as police as well as organizers of war parties. These voluntary organizations were open to all men in the nation and were similar to the police societies of the Lakota. All these societies grew out of the horse culture of the Plains. As a civil function, the military societies often carried out the council’s orders. As the periods of peace dwindled with the onset of the European American invasion, the police societies evolved into war societies which took over much of the authority
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of the Council of Forty-four. Cheyenne myth says that the Council of Forty-four was started by a woman, but its members were male. New chiefs were chosen by the council itself to replace those who left at the end of their terms. Classes, Castes, and Slavery. The Nootka peoples of the Northwest Coast, who occupied the west coast of Vancouver Island in present-day British Columbia and the extreme northwest coast of Washington State, departed from the general reliance on a consensus model of government. This departure was not slight: Their system was entirely different. It was status-driven, caste-bound, and, compared to those of many native peoples, very aggressive, even among peoples who shared cultures very similar to their own. From the Chickliset in the north to the Makah in the south, the Nootkan peoples took sturdy whaling canoes to sea; in times of war, which occurred with a frequency and intensity that usually surpassed most native peoples in North America, the canoes could be used for raiding and for capturing slaves from neighboring native nations. Nootkan peoples recognized three classes that seemed as imperishable as the red cedar from which they constructed their lodges: nobility, commoners, and slaves. The nobility comprised chiefs and their closest relatives; the eldest son was the family head. He, his family, and a few associates lived in the rear righthand corner of the house, abutted by people of lower status. These people were said to be “under the arm” of the chief. The next highest ranking chief, usually a younger brother of the head chief, invariably occupied the rear lefthand corner of the house, with his family. He, too, had a number of people “under the arm.” The other two corners were occupied by lesser chiefs’ families. The space between the corners, along the walls, was used by commoners’ families, and a few very junior-ranking members of the nobility. They were called “tenants”; the nobility in the corners reserved the right to ownership of the house. Commoners could move from one house to another at will, and since they often performed arduous but necessary skilled labor
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(such as carpentry or whaling), chiefs competed to retain the best workers. The most successful chiefs were affectionate and generous toward the common families who chose to live in their lodges. Slaves had no designated lodgings or rights; they were captured in raids of other peoples along the coast and were sometimes traded for other slaves or for goods. A noble in one village could be captured and sold into slavery in another. The captive’s relatives might then mount a counter-raid to free him. The speakers and war chiefs of a village usually were reared from youth through inheritance among the children who had a small quantum of royal blood. They tended to be administrative officers who carried out the will of the chiefs. Although most war chiefs were selected by the high chiefs from their families, one of the few ways in which a Nootka commoner family could advance in the village class structure was to have its eldest son receive such an office. Once a common family had been elevated in this way, the title of war chief remained with it as a right of inheritance. Unlike some of the more democratic native peoples elsewhere on the continent, the Nootka did not have an elaborate kinship system. The existence of clans tends to create affinity structures independent of class structures, and the Nootka defined themselves, above all, by rank. Notions of status also seemed to be the major method of controlling interpersonal conflict. Should a verbal disagreement explode into a fistfight, members of each participant’s family would urge him to cease or risk bringing shame on them. The two combatants might then relapse into a vigorous verbal battle, throwing the worst imaginable insults at each other, as relatives continued to pacify them: “Don’t think about him anymore. It’s not right to fight. You have a good name. Don’t bring it down. Don’t think about it—just let it go.” In some cases, people who engaged in fisticuffs might be upbraided before the community and abjectly humiliated at public occasions. Outside of this, the Nootkas, unlike the Cheyenne, Huron, Mandan, and Iroquois, had no formal methods of social control within their communities. The Nootkas’ use of sorcery was infrequent and mild compared to that of peoples who were less class conscious.
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Colonial Governance. From the beginnings of contact with Europeans, Native Americans faced the imposition of governmental systems by colonial authorities. During the years of subjugation, much native governance on reservations was conducted in a summary fashion by the United States military. In the later nineteenth century, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was created to conduct reservation governance as a civilian agency. In 1934, with the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA), native reservationbased governments recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs were granted very limited autonomy through elective councils. Even with limited self-government, Native Americans in the United States still operate within a legal system that in the 1830’s began defining Native Americans as “wards of the state.” This legal characterization continued to shape BIA policy throughout the twentieth century, as Native Americans asserted their rights to act on their own behalf. The definition of wardship often conflicts with the rights of citizens, extended to American Indians as a whole in 1924. Today, many traditional forms of governance survive on native lands throughout North America. They often operate with very little outside publicity on reservations that also have BIA-recognized “elective” governments, which some Native Americans boycott as vestiges of colonialism. Bruce E. Johansen Sources for Further Study Bowers, Alfred W. Mandan Social and Ceremonial Organization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1950. Provides an overview of Mandan social structure and organization. Cohen, Felix S. “Americanizing the White Man.” The American Scholar 21, no. 2 (Spring, 1952): 177-191. An early article describing ways in which Native American concept of governance helped shape the thoughts of American society generally. For details regarding the use of Iroquoian and other Native American precedents in the evolution of democratic thought, see Donald A. Grinde and Bruce E. Johansen’s Exemplar of Liberty
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(Los Angeles: UCLA American Indian Studies Center, 1991). Corkran, David H. The Cherokee Frontier: Conflict and Survival, 174062. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962. Traces the evolution of Cherokee social structure during the early contact period. Drucker, Philip. Cultures of the North Pacific Coast. San Francisco: Chandler, 1965. Surveys of Northwest Coast tribes’ lifeways, including political organization. Fenton, Willam N. The Great Law and the Longhouse: A Political History of the Iroquois Confederacy. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998. An examination of the Iroquois political legacy. Grinnell, George Bird. The Cheyenne Indians: Their History and Ways of Life. 2 vols. 1923. Reprint. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1972. A comprehensive guide to Cheyenne political society. McKee, Jesse O., and Jon A. Schlenker. The Choctaws: Cultural Evolution of a Native American Tribe. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1980. Describes the development of Choctaw society and political organization. Reid, John Phillip. A Better Kind of Hatchet: Law, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Cherokee Nation During the Early Years of European Contact. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1976. Evaluates the effect of colonization on Cherokee social structure, including governance. See also Reid’s A Law of the Blood: The Primitive Law of the Cherokee Nation (New York: New York University Press, 1970). Trigger, Bruce G. Children of the Aataentsic: A History of the Huron People to 1660. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1976. The authoritative work on Huron social structure, governance, and other aspects of Huron culture. Wallace, Paul A. W. The White Roots of Peace. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1946. Describes the origin epic of the Iroquois League. Wilkins, David E. American Indian Politics and the American Political System. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002. An extensive introduction to the history, organization, and role of tribal
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governments, the rights of Native Americans as individuals, and the relationship between tribal governments and the various branches of American government. See also: Cacique; Clans; Ethnophilosophy and Worldview; Sachem; Social Control; Societies: Non-kin-based.
Potlatch Tribes affected: Bella Coola, Chehalis, Chinook, Coos, Haida, Hupa, Karok, Klamath, Klikitat, Kwakiutl, Nootka, Quinault, Salish (Coast), Takelma, Tillamook, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Wivot, Yurok Significance: Widely practiced throughout the Northwest, the potlatch involved feasting and gift-giving, and it helped ensure or lift the status of the person giving it. The word “potlatch” is from the Chinook language, although it originated in the Nootka language as patshatl, which means “gift,” or “giving.” A potlatch is a ceremonial winter feast. The details of organizing and carrying out the event vary from one areal group to another. Preparation could take months or even years. Each guest invited was fed, housed, entertained, and often given many valuable gifts for the duration of the event, which could last from a few days to a few weeks, depending on the status of the hosts and size of their community. Invitations were sent out in the form of elaborate beaten copper plates of various shapes representing deities, ancestors, or clan symbols. These “coppers” could be from 1 to 3 feet wide and up to 4 feet in height. They were very thin and intricately engraved with stylized designs. They were sometimes referred to as the “bones of the dead” because they might depict a deceased relative. On occasion they were broken up and given out to a number of members of a given family or clan and then presented and reassembled upon arrival at the host village.
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Dancing, storytelling, group activities, and other (often elaborate) entertainment, including mourning the dead, commemoration of deceased relatives and friends, speeches, and the exchange of gratuities occurred. These would honor the host and ensure the host’s importance. Initiations into secret societies, tattooing, piercing of body parts for adornment, and other ceremonial and ritual activities also took place. All those in attendance would then be obligated to the host in one way or another, thus assuring that the host would improve or maintain high social position and status. Some potlatches were of the grand sort. At the end of these enormous festivities, the host would destroy (by burning) great quantities of goods in addition to those already given away. Toward the southern reaches of the Northwest Coast culture area, the potlatches were less dramatic and consisted only of gift giving and an elaborate display of wealth by the host. After colonization, missionaries eventually managed to have the potlatch prohibited (it was prohibited from 1884 to 1951), as it
A potlatch photographed in Alaska circa 1900. (Museum of New Mexico)
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appeared to them to be unnecessarily destructive and to impoverish many lower-status members of the community. In spite of this incorrect perception, and the prohibition based on it, the practice continues to this day, although in a somewhat modified form, again depending on the nature of the local culture. Michael W. Simpson Source for Further Study Simeone, William E. Rifles, Blankets and Beads: Identity, History, and the Northern Athapaskan Potlatch. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2000. See also: Dances and Dancing; Feasts; Gifts and Gift Giving; Totem Poles.
Pottery Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: A variety of pottery-making techniques were used to make vessels for cooking and carrying as well as items used for ceremonial purposes. Pottery is made of clay. Such wares as bowls, plates, storage containers, animal effigies, smoking pipes, and beads are made by using a wide variety of methods, materials, tools, finishing processes, and firing methods. The earliest evidence of the crafting and use of pottery in the United States has been found in the Southeast culture area. Types of clay, methods of building, and firing procedures vary enormously from tribe to tribe. The making and use of pottery is nearly universal in temperate climates where it is needed for daily use. In wetter or colder climates, pottery may be absent or used only rarely. Other types of objects, such as baskets in the Northwest and animal skins or stone in the Arctic and elsewhere, were used for cooking and storing.
Evidence of Pottery Vessels
Ethnological data Archaeological data only
Source: After Driver, Harold E., and William C. Massey, Comparative Studies of North American Indians, 1957.
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Materials. Clay is composed of aluminum and silicon in the form of aluminum silicate or of calcium and carbon in the form of calcium carbonate. The presence of hydrated trace minerals in clay, such as magnesium, manganese and iron, gives the respective gray and white types of pure clay their various colors, most notably red, yellow, black, green, and blue. Erosion, earthquakes, landslides, and water movement are some of the natural processes that both reveal and mix the elements into the various types of clay used in the making of pottery. Clay is usually found along streams, rivers, and lakes. Pure clay must be mixed with fine particles of sand, ground-up pottery, ashes, or other substances which will ensure slow even shrinkage of pots as they dry and are fired. The larger the pot to be built, the more of this “grog” the potter must use to ensure the integrity of the walls of the piece. Pottery clay is gathered, cleaned, processed, and stored, either wet or dry, for future use. It is collected with respect for Mother Earth, with songs, prayers, and offerings of sacred plants; permission is asked and thanks given for its use. The clay is worked by hand to the proper consistency to remove air bubbles and foreign material that could cause cracks if not removed. It is then wedged or pounded with a wooden paddle into a uniform mass. Process and Craft. Pottery is formed using many different methods and tools. It is made by pinching, from slabs, by coiling, or in wooden molds. Tools such as wooden sticks and paddles, bone implements, and stones were used to shape, incise designs, mold, or finish the clay. A variety of brushes and paints (vegetableand mineral-based) were used to add color and symbolic meaning to the surfaces of pots. Pottery is slowly dried, and in the drying process it may be incised with a variety of abstract designs, decorated, or painted, and then perhaps rubbed with a stone, bone, or other smooth implement (“burnished”) to a glassy finish. Some potters paint a thin layer of clay of another color—called “slip”—over the pot to add depth and color to the design.
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Firing Pottery. After the pottery is thoroughly dried, it is ready to be fired. Many methods and materials are used in the firing process. Some tribes use a shallow open pit, some a walled enclosure made of dung, wood, bark, or clay, and others more complex methods involving an earthen mound. Fuels include grass, hard and soft woods, barks, and animal dung. Firing times can be anywhere from several hours to three days. The pottery which results can be red, black, yellow, or multicolored depending on whether the firing process involves oxidation or reduction. The longer and hotter the fire, the harder and longerlasting the pottery. Temperatures can vary from 900 to 1300 degrees Fahrenheit at the peak of the firing. When the ashes cool and the pots are removed, they are gently cleaned with a piece of cloth or hide and rubbed with fat to make them shine. Some pottery was made impervious to water by a smoking process that impregnated the inner walls of the pot with oily carbon compounds derived from pine pitch, corn cobs, or other substances.
A photograph of the renowned Hopi potter Nampeyo displaying her work. (Museum of New Mexico)
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Traditional pottery was porous “bisqueware” and therefore was not usually put into direct contact with either water or fire unless especially made for those purposes. Pots used for cooking were often filled with water and heated stones placed therein to bring the water to a boil. Pots usually only lasted a few months if put to daily use. The broken and cracked pieces or shards were often placed in a dump a short distance outside of villages—leaving modern investigators a wealth of artifacts to puzzle over and analyze. Cultural History. During the early colonial period, the use of pottery began to be displaced by the introduction of glass, iron, and copper wares. In many cases the traditional building and firing methods were nearly lost as new materials and technology took over where tradition left off. As tribes were exterminated, consolidated, or removed to reservations there was loss or fusion of the old ways. Modern American Indian pottery retains many of the traditional qualities, and most of the classic beauty, of works produced in prehistoric times. Individual potters from a variety of tribes have become well-known artists in their own right, selling their work for hundreds or thousands of dollars per item. Modern pottery is often fired twice, in gas-fired kilns, the second time at much higher temperatures, a process that makes it impervious and as hard as glass or stone. Earthenware, stoneware, and even porcelain are produced by native artisans across the land. Intricate and innovative methods of carving, painting, and glazing are used today to preserve ancient and traditional designs and forms, while new techniques and designs are used to create beautiful fine arts. There are many books and films on the subject available today, but these will never replace the knowledge that still can be gained from elders, through the oral tradition, who know the craft and subtleties of the art and are willing to teach it to the next generation. Michael W. Simpson
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Sources for Further Study Bushnell, G. S. H., and Adrian Digby. Ancient American Pottery. London: Faber & Faber, 1955. Cooper, Emmanuel. Ten Thousand Years of Pottery. 4th ed. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000. Peterson, Susan. Pottery by American Indian Women: The Legacy of Generations. New York: Abbeville Press, 1997. Quimby, Ian M., ed. Ceramics in America. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1980. Savage, George. Pottery Through the Ages. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1959. Simpson, Michael W. Making Native American Pottery. Happy Camp, Calif.: Naturegraph Press, 1991. Spivey, Richard L. The Legacy of Maria Poveka Martinez. Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, 2003. See also: Art and Artists: Contemporary; Arts and Crafts: Southeast; Food Preparation and Cooking; Paints and Painting.
Pow-wows and Celebrations Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: American Indians, historically as well as currently, have placed great emphasis on ceremony and celebration, which often have religious significance and almost always involve music and dancing. Ancient and traditional tribal ceremonies are still held on reservations and other places in many areas of North America. In some cases they remain a serious and integral part of contemporary life; in others, they represent rather a means of remaining in touch with ancient cultural traditions. In still other cases, they may be performed primarily for tourists. In addition to those gatherings and events unique to individual contemporary tribes, many intertribal gatherings are held each year. Pow-wows generally include food,
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music, and dancing, as well as events such as dance competitions, and are often open for all to attend. Religious Beliefs. Since so much of tribal ceremony is related to religious beliefs, it is essential to consider the current state of American Indians’ religious beliefs and practices. The original inhabitants of North America had as diverse a culture as that of the Europeans or Asians, but there were certain beliefs that were nearly universal. There was a strong tie to the earth. Few Indian tribes considered the possibility that people could “own” land; on the contrary, they belonged to the land. There was a reverence for all life. Spirits lived in trees, in animals, in the sky, and the waterways. In modern times a great many Indians have adopted Christianity, but with the exception of totally urbanized Indians who have no connection with their origins, there is always a mixture of the new and the old. In some of the more traditional tribal cultures, for example, when a person dies, two funerals will be held: one Christian, one tribal. As a general rule, non-Indians are excluded from the tribal rituals. Song and Dance. Tribal ceremonies are intimately tied to singing and dancing. Both of these tend to be highly ritualized, often repeating cycles of songs and dances in specific sequence; a hundred or more individual dances and chants may be tied to a specific ceremony. The forms of all these songs and dances, like the religious beliefs they represent, are many and varied among the various Indian cultures, but they are largely concerned with the earth and the spirits that represent and control aspects of the land, sky, and water. There are ceremonies and accompanying songs for hunters to gain control of animal spirits. There are elaborate rituals, songs, and dances involved in initiation into puberty and into priestly societies, as well as relating to births and deaths. There are rituals to encourage rain in desert areas and to appease the water gods in times of flooding, all with their elaborate dance steps and chanting cycles.
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A Native American in full ceremonial dress at a pow-wow. (Unicorn Stock Photos)
Potlatch and Pow-wow. Finally, some Indian ceremonies are not religious or are only tangentially religious in their intention. The Northwest potlatch, for example, is basically a party, sometimes planned years in advance, given with the intent of increasing the host’s status among the tribe and surrounding tribes. A person of stature will call a potlatch, invite the people he wants (or needs) to impress, and give out a large number of gifts, thereby increasing his standing in the group.
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“Pow-wow” is an English rendering of an old Algonquian word originally referring to the shamans widely termed “medicine men.” It was later applied to the practice of religious ceremonies and then further broadened so that it means little more than a big gathering of people for a celebration. There are many such gatherings—to celebrate births, deaths, marriages, initiation ceremonies, changes of season, and many other aspects of life. Generally, these gatherings are joyful, filled with singing, dancing, and feasting, and sometimes have religious significance. In many cases, Christianity has been worked into these ceremonies. Christmas, for example, is often celebrated with virtually the same ceremonies once used to celebrate the winter solstice. Current Practice. The best place for non-Indians to see traditional Indian ceremonies may be the West, especially the Southwest. This is the area with the greatest number of Indian reservations, and the demonstration of tribal cultures has become a commercial enterprise. In the Northwest, especially in Alaska and in northwestern Canada, the old tribal traditions still exist, relatively untouched by white culture. However, these areas tend to be difficult to reach; sometimes there are no roads, and the only alternatives for travel are bush planes and dogsleds. Marc Goldstein Sources for Further Study Bancroft-Hunt, Norman. People of the Totem. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1979. Browner, Tara. Heartbeat of the People: Music and Dance of the Northern Pow-wow. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002. Hudson, Charles. The Southeastern Indians. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1976. Reichard, Gladys A. Navaho Religion: A Study of Symbolism. 2 vols. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1950. Spencer, Robert F., Jesse D. Jennings, et al. The Native Americans. New York: Harper & Row, 1977. White, Julia C. The Pow Wow Trail: Understanding and Enjoying the
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Native American Pow Wow. Summertown, Tenn.: The Book Publishing Company, 1996. Wissler, Clark. Indians of the United States. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1966. See also: Dances and Dancing; Feasts; Music and Song; PanIndianism; Potlatch; Religion.
Praying Indians Tribe affected: Northeast Algonquian (Massachusett) Significance: Seventeenth century Puritan missionaries urged Indian converts to Christianity to establish their own communities away from the influence of other, non-Christian Indians. John Eliot was a Puritan missionary involved with preaching to and converting Indians in the earliest British colonies in the “New World.” Eliot himself was of a scholarly orientation, having learned the Algonquian dialect of the people he was working with to such an extent that he translated the entire Bible into their language. Scholars debate the impact that Puritan missionaries had on the Algonquian tribes of the Northeast. Some suggest that the conversions were the creative and self-preserving response of a people who realized that their old lifestyle was gone forever, while others see it as the violent imposition of a foreign lifestyle on Native American tribes who were weakened by waves of disease that accompanied early European contact on the coasts of Canada and the United States. However their conversions are now understood, as a number of Indians became converts, they were resettled in villages and towns to be separated from those of their tribes who did not convert to Christianity. The idea was to separate them from their cultural influences in order to train them more easily in the ways of
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“Christianity and civilization.” In the Puritan mindset, work and productivity were measures of spiritual maturity, and thus the “civilizing” influence was explicitly seen as part of the message of Christianity. In her analysis of the “praying Indian town” phenomenon, Elise Brenner stated that these praying towns were, in actuality, strongly akin to reservations. Furthermore, the goal of settling otherwise nomadic peoples made them easier to control and inculturate. As Brenner states, “Christian Indians . . . were part of the European long-term plan of establishing total colonial authority in New England.” Eliot experimented with a number of different styles of governance in his attempt to transform the “praying Indians” into proper European converts. For example, he borrowed a “Mosaic” code of governance taken from his interpretation of the Book of Exodus, which imposed “leaders of ten,” over whom were “leaders of fifty,” who answered to “leaders of one hundred,” with a court composed of “leaders of a thousand.” A full integration into European American society was never the goal of the praying town system. There was constant suspicion among the English settlers themselves, and funds were typically raised among Christians in England whose image of the work in the colonies was colored by the reports of missionary fundraisers. When it was seen that these praying Indians might be armed as a buffer between the European settlers and the hostile tribes further west, however, settler interest increased. Recent scholarship has focused on the manner in which praying Indian towns were as much new expressions of Indian society and cultural values as they were a system imposed by European settlers. In fact, there was considerable self-governance and authority among the Indian converts, and many aspects of traditional society and creativity were maintained within the context of the newly proclaimed Christian faith. Indigenous expressions of Christianity, such as the continued use of native terminology to refer to God, were not unusual in these villages, although the use of native terms and concepts raised the suspicions of some missionaries
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who believed such “syncretism” to be unacceptable. Eliot himself was not above using whatever similarities he saw between native traditions and Christian conceptions. When compared with more violent contacts between Europeans and Native Americans, the praying town phenomenon had certain humane features, and Eliot was certainly more informed of native language and culture than most settlers. Ultimately, however, the separation of Native Americans from their fellow tribal members must be seen as being part of the systematic destruction of native life that has occurred in American history. Daniel L. Smith-Christopher Sources for Further Study Brenner, Elise. “To Pray or to Be Prey: Strategies for Cultural Autonomy of Massachusetts Praying Town Indians.” Ethnohistory 27, no. 2 (1980): 135-152. Cogley, Richard W. John Eliot’s Mission to the Indians Before King Philip’s War. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999. Eliot, John. A Late and Further Manifestation of the Progress of the Gospel Amongst Indians in New-England. London: J. Allen, 1655. Jennings, Francis. “Goals and Functions of Puritan Missions to the Indians.” Ethnohistory 18, no. 3 (1971): 197-212. Salisbury, Neal. “Red Puritans: The ‘Praying Indians’ of Massachusetts Bay and John Eliot.” William and Mary Quarterly 31, no. 1 (1974): 27-54. Vaughan, Alden T. New England Frontier: Puritans and Indians, 16201675. Boston: Little, Brown, 1965. See also: Missions and Missionaries.
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Projectile Points Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Projectile points tipped spears, arrows, and other tools for thousands of years in prehistoric North America. Projectile points are thin, symmetrical artifacts with bases thinned for mounting on shafts. The name is somewhat misleading, since many of these items were never used on projectiles (such as javelins or arrows), but rather were the points for thrusting spears; some clearly were used as knives and similar tools. Most points were made of flaked stone, though some were made of ground stone (especially slate) or bone. The width of the base of a point indicates the type of weapon on which it may have been used, since its basal width must approximate the width of the shaft on which it was mounted, and thick shafts could not be used for arrows. A few types of points had cylindrical bases and presumably were mounted in sockets at the tips of their shafts. Recognizing that the characteristics of projectile points vary greatly over time and among tribes, archaeologists have expended considerable energy in studying them, and the dates of manufacture for point types in North American now are largely known. Russell J. Barber
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Sources for Further Study Justice, Noel D. Stone Age Spear and Arrow Points of California and the Great Basin. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002. _______. Stone Age Spear and Arrow Points of the Midcontinental and Eastern United States: A Modern Survey and Reference. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995. _______. Stone Age Spear and Arrow Points of the Southwestern United States. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002. Knecht, Heidi, ed. Projectile Technology. New York: Plenum Press, 1997. Yeager, C. G. Arrowheads and Stone Artifacts: A Practical Guide for the Amateur Archaeologist. 2d ed. Boulder, Colo.: Pruett, 2000. See also: Bows, Arrows, and Quivers; Knives; Lances and Spears; Weapons.
Puberty and Initiation Rites Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Puberty and initiation rites represented the important transition from childhood to adulthood in the Indian life cycle. American Indian cultures contained special ceremonies and tribal guidelines marking one or more stages of the life cycle—birth, puberty, reproduction, and death. Puberty, especially for girls, held great importance as it represented the formal end of childhood and the availability to marry. (Some tribes, such as the Blackfoot and Arapaho, however, had no special ceremonies for puberty.) Because of close living quarters, children grew up aware of sexual relations. Puberty often altered familial relations, as brothers and sisters were no longer permitted to be by themselves without supervision. In addition, postpuberty children would often sleep separated from their parents. These changes were celebrated, as puberty and initiation rites represented the movement of the
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tribes’ children to adulthood. Common community events marking this life change included gift giving, feasts, and musical celebrations. Becoming a Woman. Almost every tribe put strict limitations on the behavior of menstruating women. Because of a strong belief in the spiritual nature of blood, women were isolated during this time to avoid contamination of food, weapons, and other essential elements of Indian life. During her first menstruation, an Indian girl was isolated from the community and instructed on these taboos. A special tribal ceremony commemorating the girl’s new adult status often accompanied this isolation. The Navajo puberty ceremony for girls, Kinaaldá, was one of the most elaborate rituals in Indian culture. The ceremony, which took place as close to the first menstruation as possible, lasted four days and ended with a community celebration. A specific order of events was followed, including a symbolic molding of the body to resemble the Changing Woman (the first mother), which prepared the girl for motherhood. Another event involved three daily runs toward the east—at dawn, noon, and sunset—to strengthen the body. Each day, corn was ground in preparation for a community celebration on the final day. Immediately prior to this celebration, the young girl was bathed and dressed in new clothing to represent her new status. The Apache also conducted a puberty ceremony similar to the Kinaaldá. Other tribes marked the first menstruation with a variety of ceremonies. Among the Hopi, when a girl “came of age” she moved to a bed distant from her parents and was instructed on the religious secrets of the culture. Sioux girls, upon their first menstruation, added an eagle plume to their hair; this symbolized their new status as adult women. A special ceremony was also held in the girl’s honor. The father of a Cheyenne girl called out the news of his daughter’s menstruation. She would then be painted red and sent to a special lodge for the duration of her menstruation. When the girl emerged from the lodge, she walked through smoke to purify her body.
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Becoming a Man. Few tribes celebrated formal ceremonies for their male children. Young boys started their quest for adult status at a young age with increased responsibilities such as caring for warriors on the hunt and using larger bows. In many cases, taking care of the tribes’ horses represented the first “adult” rite. When a boy’s voice changed, parental authority passed from his mother to his father and he received advanced instruction on the arts of hunting and war. Some tribes had ceremonial dances, such as the Sioux Sun Dance, which acted as a test of endurance for young warriors. Physical toughening served as a measure of status in the Apache path to manhood. Hunting also served as an initiation rite for boys, who were trained since early childhood for the hunt. The first large kill was a gift to the needy people of the group and represented a proud moment for the boy’s family. Cheyenne boys received adult status for a successful hunt or war record. Male puberty also included a strong spiritual element. Vision quests, common among the Plains Indians, often took place for the first time during puberty and represented not only a religious rite but also an initiation rite. Young boys first visited the sweatlodge to breathe the “breath of life” created when water was poured on hot stones. The youth was then left with no clothing or food in a secluded area for four days and nights. Facing the elements as well as hunger and loneliness, the youth’s bravery and courage was tested while he waited for a vision (dream). This vision would then be interpreted by tribal elders and used to give the boy his adult name and, in some cases, his occupation. The Lakota vision quest, Hanblapi, was also undertaken by the tribes’ girls. Another major element in male puberty was the initiation into a sodality. Similar to a modern fraternity and often strongly tied to religion, a sodality represented a social as well as educational passage into adult life. Among the Pueblo and Hopi, youths between the ages of ten and twelve were initiated into a sodality called the kachina cult. Boys moved into a sacred building called a kiva, where they were freed from parental supervision and trained in the tribes’ religious beliefs. The process almost always included
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physical beatings to impress the seriousness of tribal and religious responsibilities. Algonquians separated their boys from their families for nine months some time between the age of ten and fifteen for their introduction to religion. Reservation Rites. After Indians were forced onto reservations, tribal rites and ceremonies were limited because of the U.S. government’s restrictions on assembly (caused by fear that assembly would lead to war parties and rebellion). Events such as the Kinaaldá were scheduled once a year and lost many of the ancient taboos. In addition, the separation of brothers and sisters virtually ended once Indian children were enrolled in public schools. Reservation life did not completely remove the importance of puberty, however, and tribes, determined to carry on ancient rituals, found ways to maintain tradition in a modern world. Jennifer Davis Sources for Further Study Driver, Harold E. Indians of North America. 1961. Reprint. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969. Frisbie, Charlotte Johnson. Kinaalda: A Study of the Navaho Girl’s Puberty Ceremony. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1967. Gill, Sam D. Dictionary of Native American Mythology. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio, 1992. Lowie, Robert H. Indians of the Plains. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1954. White, Jon Manchip. Everyday Life of the North American Indian. New York: Holmes and Meier, 1979. See also: Children; Gender Relations and Roles; Menses and Menstruation; Names and Naming; Rites of Passage; Sweatlodges and Sweatbaths; Visions and Vision Quests.
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Pueblo Tribes affected: Pueblo people (prehistoric to modern) Significance: The Anasazi, the most creative and enduring of the prehistoric cultures of the Southwest, were the first to acquire the architectural and engineering skills needed to build aboveground pueblos, establishing a tradition that survives today. At the beginning of the Pueblo period, around 700 c.e., the Anasazi pit house evolved in two different directions: It came up above the ground to become a house, and it sank deeper into the ground to be formalized as a kiva. Building on mesa tops and in valleys at sites such as Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, and Kayenta, the Anasazi chose communal dwellings over individual houses. They constructed slightly curved rows of single-story contiguous rooms, using a method known as “jacal.” Walls were built using posts set a few inches apart, with adobe packed into the spaces between. Then, around the base of each wall, stone slabs were set in place with adobe mortar. Roofs consisted of slender cross-poles interlaced with brush and twigs and topped with a layer of mud several inches thick. The rooms, each housing an entire family, faced to the inside of the curve, with several kivas in the center. Gradually, the Anasazi dispensed with the wooden framework and developed a crude masonry technique using large, unshaped rocks laid in irregular rows and packed with adobe, which often made up more than half the wall. As they refined their masonry techniques, the Anasazi began to shape sandstone into building blocks by using stone tools that were not much harder than the sandstone itself. As construction techniques improved, the size and complexity of the pueblos increased, finally resulting in the great cities of the Classic Pueblo period. The largest of these, Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, housed a probable population in excess of one thousand people in its more than eight hundred rooms, which rose to four and five stories and covered some 3 acres of ground. Pueblo Bonito was arranged in a horseshoe pattern around a central plaza, with
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each row of rooms rising one story at a time toward the rear. A row of single-story rooms across the front enclosed the plaza, which contained the ceremonial kivas. As they had done since Developmental Pueblo times, the women of the pueblo used the rooftops for cooking and other household chores. Under Anasazi influence, the Mogollon and Hohokam peoples began to build surface pueblos, as did the later Sinagua and Salado. As the Anasazi moved away from the northern plateaus around 1300 c.e., they migrated to three main areas: the Rio Grande Valley and Zuñi in New Mexico, and the Hopi Mesas in Arizona. The cultures that developed in these areas in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are ancestral to the Pueblo cultures that exist there now. Although construction of these pueblos varied with time and place, in general the Anasazi traditions of communal living have prevailed, with pueblos consisting of large numbers of rooms, built of masonry or adobe, arranged around a central plaza containing several ceremonial kivas. LouAnn Faris Culley See also: Adobe; Anasazi Civilization; Architecture: Southwest; Cliff Dwellings; Kivas; Pit House.
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Quetzalcóatl Tribes affected: Aztec, Maya Significance: Quetzalcóatl, one of the three great Aztec gods, was a benevolent deity who presided over learning and the priesthood. Quetzalcóatl, commonly referred to as the Feathered or Plumed Serpent, was one of the three Aztec “great gods.” These gods ranked in importance immediately under the four creative deities and above the various gods of fertility, nature, the planets, and constellations. The other two great gods were Huitzilopochtli, Hummingbird Wizard or Hummingbird of the South, war and sun god, the chief god of Tenochtitlán (present-day Mexico City), and Tezcatlipoca, Smoking Mirror, chief god of the pantheon, often described in solar terms, the chief god of Texcoco. Quetzalcóatl, the third great god, was the god of learning and the priesthood and the chief god of Cholula (where the ruins of a temple dedicated to him may still be seen). Aztec myth held that Quetzalcóatl had once been a man, presiding over a golden age in the state of Anahuac. He is generally depicted in sculpture, fresco, and carvings as a man of tall stature with a light complexion, long, dark hair and a substantial beard. Quetzalcóatl somehow angered one of the principal gods and was exiled. He left his followers at the Gulf of Mexico, departing in a wizard skiff made of serpent skins, promising to return. Given Quetzalcóatl’s physical characteristics and his gallant promise to return as recorded in Aztec folk myth, the Spaniards cannot have understood their phenomenal luck in chancing to approach the Mexican coast from the same Gulf of Mexico waters whence Quetzalcóatl left. In an interesting expression of crosstribal influence, Laguna Pueblo novelist Leslie Marmon Silko uses the Aztec Quetzalcóatl in Almanac of the Dead (1991) as one of the recurring symbols of the text (a stone serpent that appears overnight) and in the retelling of the Aztec cosmogony myth (similar to the Osiris limb-gathering creation myth). Richard Sax See also: Aztec Empire.
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Quillwork Tribes affected: Pantribal throughout the porcupine’s natural habitat Significance: Quillwork is a form of decoration that was used across the northeastern United States and Canada and as far west as the western slopes of the Rockies and through the central Plains south and east to the coast—the area where porcupines are native; it is still used today by artists from these areas. Porcupine quills provided many tribes with material that could be dyed a variety of bright colors. Several methods were used, and the quillwork of the Plains may be differentiated from that of the eastern nations. In both cases the quills were taken from the porcupine by rolling it in a soft robe. The quills would stick and could be removed individually; the barbs were cut off and the quills were cleaned. Quills are tubular in shape but could be flattened by pulling them between the teeth. Plant and animal dyes were used to dye them bright colors. Popular colors were bright pink, bright yellow, purple, green, and red. Some northern nations used quills in their natural color, off-white with dark brown ends. After dyeing, they were ready to be plaited together, often in rows creating both geometric designs and pictorial representations. Plains nations preferred geometric designs, whereas those of the Eastern Woodlands tended to be floral in pattern. Good quillwork was tiny, tight, and colorful, and it created beautiful decorations on any article of clothing. Several techniques were used. The quills could be wrapped around a narrow strip of stiff rawhide or one that had been cut into symbolic shapes, such as medicine wheels. These small strips of wrapped rawhide could also be sewn onto any article of clothing, often in adjoining rows as decoration. Another technique was to quill directly onto the garment, weaving the quills together; they were then secured by sinew threads. This was a more common technique for larger pictures or whole areas of clothing that were quilled.
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Quality quillwork was greatly valued, and girls were taught the art carefully by loving and talented relatives. A talented quillworker was revered for her artistry, and her creations were highly valued by those lucky enough to wear items of her handiwork. Quilled moccasins, shirts, bandoliers, gloves, hats, jackets, breechcloths, leggings, dresses, and robes were all valued exchange items in giveaways and other acts of generosity, necessary in demonstrating a family’s goodness. Quillwork was a lightweight decoration that was both durable and flexible. It could get wet and retain its shape, so it was an exceptionally practical form of ornamentation. Quillwork was later replaced by beadwork as Europeans poured into the continent, disrupting and influencing the native peoples. Like any new item, beads were desired. Beadmaking with European glass beads replaced native beadmaking from seashells. Because the European beads from Czechoslovakia and eastern Europe were colorful and small, they could be used to replicate quillwork decorations. The colors, however, were different. No longer were the bright pinks, yellows, and purples of quillwork common; now, reds, blues, yellows, and greens became more popular. The best quillworkers continued as long as they could find quills. Their work can be seen in many museums, still beautifully durable. Nancy H. Omaha Boy Sources for Further Study Dubin, Lois Sherr. North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present. New York: Henry N. Abrams, 1999. Halvorson, Mark J. Sacred Beauty: Quillwork of Plains Women. Bismarck: State Historical Society of North Dakota, North Dakota Heritage Center, 1998. See also: Arts and Crafts: Subarctic; Beads and Beadwork; Dress and Adornment.
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Ranching Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Many Native American tribes adopted the cattle and sheep ranching practices of European Americans, which gave them a steady food supply and a means of livelihood. North American Indians’ experience with ranching may be dated back to the appearance of the Spanish in the Southwest during the sixteenth century. Although at first the Indians captured stock for food and consumed the stolen animals quickly, eventually they began to breed animals acquired as gifts or through further raiding. When the Spanish established settlements in the Southwest, their rancherías of cattle and sheep became targets for stock raids to supplement the desert fare of local Indians. Cattle were as yet not tended but were butchered and prepared for food as was native wild game, such as buffalo, the only “cattle” the Indians had known. The Navajo learned the value of ranching early, and sheep herds became a focal point of their lifestyle. The sheep provided them with a manageable food source in the arid Southwest, and the wool provided material for superior clothing and blankets. The nomadic lifestyle of sheepherders suited the Navajo people, who had earlier been raiders of the Pueblo tribes. Eastern Indians subdued by European invasion attempted to assimilate themselves into the dominant society by taking up farming and the management of livestock. The Cherokee, in particular, did very well until they were forced westward by the pressure of white settlers. Western Indians who found their reservation lands unsuitable for farming often attempted ranching to survive. Sometimes these ventures were successful, but often grazing lands were instead leased to European Americans to provide some income for the tribe or individual. Modern American Indians continue to engage in ranching as a means of livelihood. The Navajo, for example, raise sheep, horses,
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and cattle, and their colorful rugs woven from animal fibers command high prices. In Arizona, the San Carlos Apaches operate five cattle associations on their reservation. As an additional source of revenue, the tribe owns two herds, one of which is designated as the “old folks herd” and benefits elderly Apaches. Patricia Masserman See also: Agriculture; Subsistence.
Religion Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: American Indian religions are varied, but they generally contain concepts that stress harmony and the interrelatedness of all life and existence; a wide range of activities may be considered religious, because American Indian religions are not based on the division into sacred and secular realms that is characteristic of many modern religions. Until relatively recently, descriptions of American Indian religions have been written from the perspective of Europeans and their American descendants, ranging from the earliest explorers and missionaries to modern anthropologists. Discussions tended to be framed by a number of questions that reflected the European tradition, including whether American Indians had religion at all, what type of religion they had, and what they held sacred. Another problematic aspect to the study of Indian religions is that there is no way to determine what American Indian religions were truly like before contact with Europeans; there is no way to recover the stories, rituals, norms of behavior, and organizational norms as they existed before they were influenced—sometimes subtly, sometimes radically—by Europeans. Pre-Contact. The first written details of American Indian religion were recorded by French and Spanish Catholics or English
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Protestants. For them “religion” meant the Christian religion, and specifically their own version of it. One either had this religion or did not. Clearly the American Indians did not. Thus they were called pagans and were criticized for their superstitions; sometimes they were feared as agents of the devil. For these European Christians, religion dealt with God, the supernatural, an invisible world, and sacred books, rites, and people. Religion was thought to be able to move beyond ethnic or national borders without losing its validity. They found little of this type of religion among American Indians. One reason was that there was not one single American Indian religion. There were many American Indian religions. In a sense, each tribe was its own religion; some tribes had no word or idea equivalent to the Western notion of “religion.” The concept as presented by Europeans was foreign to their way of life; the typical religious institutions, stories, and rituals of Christianity did not stand out as religiously distinct from nonreligious ones. Europeans looked for religious stories and activity which resembled their own. An Indian’s entire life was religious: Constructing a canoe among the Nootka was a religious act, a treaty discussion among the Iroquois was religious, farming among the Hopi was a religious act, the rabbit drive among the Rappahannock was a religious act. These acts were not considered religious from the perspective of Europeans and thus they saw no religion in them. On the other hand, they heard stories which sounded like some of their own religious stories and saw rituals that seemed somewhat like theirs. These they described as the Indian religion. The French missionaries were most acute among the Europeans in showing respect for what they considered the religion of the Indians. The Great Spirit became God. The vision quest was viewed as the search for one’s call by God. The French saw in their versions of American Indian religions hints of the ancient Roman and Greek religions to which they wished to bring, as a complement, Catholicism. The American Indians, however, saw little of religious import in the European way of life. The things that gave the Indians’ lives
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direction and purpose seemed lacking in the Europeans’ way of life. Europeans did not honor and respect equally the material and immaterial world, and they did not seek to keep a balance between their inner and outer life. They viewed the afterlife as a horrible place for those who disobeyed religious law, and they were unable to speak, chant, sing, dance, and celebrate their life without written words. The Europeans, from the Indian perspective, lacked coherence and direction to their life. At the same time there were many attractive aspects to European life. Surrounded by the European way of life, of which its religion was a part, the Indian religions were overwhelmed and changed but not destroyed. Post-Contact. From the moment of first contact, Indian religions changed. All religions change when they encounter powerful new cultural traditions. When these religions have a written history, scholars can trace how they change. Since Indian religions are not based on a written tradition, however, there is no clear idea of how much they have subtly changed in accepting European Christian ideas, items of worship, rituals, and images. It has been suggested that many Christian Indians kept their tribal religions alive while adopting and practicing Christianity without realizing that they were also maintaining their traditional religions—in other words they adopted the Christian view of what was “religious” and did not consider that the tribal traditions they were maintaining were in fact religious ones. Christianity never considered, for example, making a canoe to be religious; therefore, European Christianity had nothing “religious” to say about it. Many aspects of American Indian religions were retained because the nature of Indian religion itself is dynamic. An oral tradition is able to adapt and change in a way that a literate tradition is not. Because Indian religions kept their inherent vitality and practical qualities, Indians were many times able to accept Christianity and keep their own religion. Animistic Approach. When cultural anthropologists have studied the religions of various cultures, they have frequently em-
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ployed the views and descriptions of a field of study known as comparative religion. One example is the classification of types of religious systems, one of which is called animism. Another is the concept that religion involves the realm of the sacred, which is contrasted with the secular or profane realm of everyday life. Animism is a theory of religious origins which claims that early humans believed that everything that exists has its own spirit or living power which governs its existence. Thus the first humans heard the wind howl and thought that it must possess a life like the lives of animals that howl. They found themselves surrounded by spirits: rain spirits, tree spirits, pond spirits, sun and moon spirits. As small children talk to trees and flowers—and wait for an answer—so these first, primitive people did the same. The conversation among the spirits, human and otherwise, became the first prayers, rituals, rules, and institutions known as religion. A theory of origins is nothing unless it also describes what comes afterward. What eventually came after the “primitive,” according to this theory, was the modern Western world of writing, mathematics, and science. In this classification system, since American Indians did not write and had not developed the other “advanced” aspects of European societies, they were primitive peoples. Therefore, it was assumed, they probably had a spirit religion, or animistic religion. It did not take long for a significant body of literature to develop which described the animistic world of Indian religion. The Lakota wakan and the Algonquian manitou were understood to belong to the world of the spirits. The Pawnee Indians of the Plains were seen to have a hierarchy of star spirits, all subservient to the great spirit in the sky, Tirawa. The Plains Indians’ Sun Dance was seen as a dance to win support from the Great Spirit. Buffalo Spirit, Caribou Spirit, and Corn Spirit were seen to direct the coming or growth of these animals or plants. There are guardian spirits won in fasting visions by youths of the Plateau and the Northeast Woodlands. The hunting tribes were described as depending on their hunters’ ability to be possessed by one or several of these spirits in order to be able to have the power of that spirit. The tribe itself was seen to have a deep relation with
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its guardian spirit, or totem, which appeared in the form of an animal. Many books written about Indian religion have used the theory of animism to describe that religion. The Sacred. Throughout most of the twentieth century, the sacred and its various manifestations were understood to be central to religious life by most scholars of religion. Although they disagreed about details, they agreed that the sacred was separate from the profane or ordinary, was a manifestation of eternal realities, was known in ways different from those by which ordinary reality was known, and existed before and after those who experienced it. From this perspective, Indian life was surrounded by the sacred. It was manifested in all nature, in special people such as the shamans and medicine men and women, in rituals in which sacred objects and sacred sounds enabled people to be in contact with the power of the surrounding spirits, and in sacred poles which held up the sky. Their sacred stories or myths enabled them to reach back to the beginning of time and to re-create time and life itself. They could reach back to the creation of a sacred reality that gave direction and purpose to all life; this reality was the people themselves. A number of scholars exploring American Indian religion from the perspective of religion’s sacred realm have found it an attractive alternative to the way modern Western religion divides the sacred and secular into two realms, thereby helping make possible the repetitive boredom of industrialized societies. Influence of Lifestyles. Indian religion has been described in terms of hunting and agricultural lifestyles. The religion of the Paleolithic hunting culture of Eurasia is seen reflected in such common American Indian beliefs and practices as Thunderbird, Mother Earth, the bear ritual, hunting taboos, and certain shamanic rituals. This religion was gradually replaced (7000-5000 b.c.e.) by religions reflective of specialized regional farming cultures in which maize and tobacco became central parts of religious rituals.
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The religion of the hunter centers on the hunt: going into the field and tracking, then killing, the animal. This religion sees a symbiosis between the hunter and the hunted. They share the same life energies or spirit. The intricate rearrangement of bones after a kill found among some tribes reflected this sharing. The placing of a small piece of salmon underneath the floor of a snowhouse by the Netsilik Inuit was a sign of respect for the salmon’s “soul.” Chants to a dead bird or animal were common. Another common feature among hunting religions is the belief that animal species have a “master spirit” that, under, certain conditions, allows them into the hunter’s world. The Caribou Man among the Naskapi Indians of Labrador, for example, is said to live in a world of caribou hair as white as snow and deep as mountains. These mountains are the immense house of the Caribou Man. He is surrounded by thousands of larger-than-life spiritual caribou, who pass in and out of his caribou paradise along paths which he controls for his purposes. The animals’ spirits circulate, waiting to be sent back to the hunter’s world in new fleshly bodies. If the bones and the animal are treated properly, the enfleshed animal will return. The religion of the farmer focused on earth, seasons, life, and death. While in many parts of the world farming religions seem to have led to an increase in animal, human, and plant sacrifice, this does not seem to have been the case in North America. Sacrifice did occur, however: White dogs were sacrificed by the natives of Northeast Woodlands; self-mutilation occurred in the Sun Dance of the Lakota and in the Mandan Okeepa (Okipa) ceremony; the Pawnee sacrificed a young captive girl to Morning Star. This latter example is expressive of the major life-death-life theme found in farming religions, for the young girl was a personification of the vegetation whose necessary death promotes the growth of plants. Farmers’ cultures are more settled, and their religions reflect the complexity of living all year long in the same place. The intricate religious hierarchy of the Pueblo Indians reflects this complexity. Religion Today. Passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978 in the United States and the recognition of ab-
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original rights in the Canadian constitution have had far-reaching consequences. The search for identity now occurring among American Indians is also a search for religion. This search proceeds in two directions: one which seeks to find an Indian religion that can be shared among all tribes—a pan-Indian religion—and another which attempts to affirm the religious distinctiveness and variety found in each tribe before the first encounters with the Europeans. Current writings take strong stands in support of either of these positions. Indian religion has always been a vital part of Indian life, and it continues to be. Since the beginning, missionaries and scholars alike have tried to impose their questions and answers on Indian ways of life, which always contained more than they saw. Therefore, Indians have always had to struggle to retain Indian spirituality, Indian sacrality, Indian Christianity, and Indian lifestyles. Indian religions began as oral traditions. They were sung, danced, spoken, and lived. The written investigations of nonIndians, while valuable in recording a tradition, abstracted that tradition from the people who enlivened it. This orality is still present, contextualizing the everyday religious life of American Indians. Harmony. Harmony is found in a deep sense of connectedness with the entire universe. Harmony and balance are to be expected and considered normal. One’s life (individual and social) is to sustain this harmony among creatures and within space and time. There is harmony among all creatures, living and dead. Names such as Grandmother Spider, Corn Mother, and Coyote the Trickster help indicate this. The entire universe is like an intricate network of family members, each dependent upon each. There are stories that connect the past and present in such a way that the listener becomes aware of how alive this present world is to its past. When one hears the Inuit story of Sedna the unwilling bride, one becomes aware of how the game animals of the sea grew from the joints of her fingers. When one hears the Pueblo stories of Corn Woman, one sees them reflected in the four colors of corn.
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The best-known stories of the various Tricksters such as Coyote, Raven, Mink, and Blue Jay help one realize that each of these reorders the universe through its actions and thus returns the surrounding world to the harmony necessary for it to continue. These are not stories that attempt only to connect one to an ancient past; they are stories that enliven the present. The world is always more than meets the senses. What one experiences is a world which is connected: a harmony of the inner world of one’s dreams and visions and the outer world of one’s senses. The vision quest of the young teen seeks not so much a spirit as a harmony between the inner self and the surrounding world marked by taking a new name which reflects that harmony. When one is sick, harmony has been destroyed, either because some object has entered into the sick person or because one’s inner world has been stolen. The task of the “medicine” man or woman is to bring into balance the inner and outer worlds so that health or wholeness returns. This same harmony is achieved through prayers, offerings, and ritual actions. Prayers may be short or long but are always seen as creative. In a literate culture the “pen is mightier than the sword”; in an oral culture the spoken word is the creative and ordering word. Offerings are found in many forms, but the pipe ceremony was, and is, one of the most common. Center of the Circle. Space, time, and inner and outer worlds are all connected in the circle. Circles are sacred for Indians because they reflect and imitate shapes in nature. To be in harmony means to live as part of the circle. When a person stands and thinks of the six directions at equal points around him or her, the person is at the center of a three-dimensional circle. It is in this knowledge of one’s place in the circle that one realizes one’s home. The horizon one sees from one’s place in the circle reflects that landscape which is home. Land itself is important and central because it is coextensive with one’s sense of harmony and thus identity. “Here” includes the waters, the earth, the shape of the horizon, the variations in the weather. That is why so many In-
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dian tribes designate the four points of the compass as important. Directions enable one to know where one lives. In ways of life that focus on the land, on telling the story, and on the harmony between the inner world of dreams and visions and the outer world of hunting or planting, anything can be religious. In the world of today’s American Indians, awareness of one’s place within the harmony and interdependence of life leads to new questions and new answers about Indian religion and life. Nathan R. Kollar Sources for Further Study Deloria, Vine, Jr. God Is Red: A Native View of Religion. Rev. ed. Golden, Colo.: Fulcrum, 2003. A plea by an American Indian for recognition of the uniqueness and pervasiveness of Indian life and religion. Fogelson, Raymond D. “North American Religion: History of Study.” In The Encyclopedia of Religion, edited by Mircea Eliade. New York: Macmillan, 1986. A summary review of the foundational materials necessary to describe Indian religion. Gill, Sam D. Native American Traditions: Sources and Interpretations. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1983. Advocates recognizing the tribal diversity of American Indian religion while striving to discover what is unique to those tribes. Hultkrantz, Ake. Belief and Worship in Native North America. Edited by Christopher Vecsey. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1981. Describes American Indian religion through discussion of supernatural spirits, sacred events, and hunteragricultural lifestyle influences. Paper, Jordan. “Methodological Controversies in the Study of Native American Religions.” Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 22, no. 3 (1993): 365-377. Reviews the state of contemporary studies of Indian religion with an argument for what is pantribal. Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony. New York: Viking Press, 1977. A popular and easy-to-read description of important Indian rituals.
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Vecsey, Christopher. Imagine Ourselves Richly: Mythic Narratives of North American Indians. New York: Crossroads, 1988. A review and thoughtful commentary on stories that exemplify the oral traditions of American Indians. See also: Death and Mortuary Customs; Ethnophilosophy and Worldview; Longhouse Religion; Native American Church; Peyote and Peyote Religion; Religious Specialists; Sacred, the; Sacred Narratives; Visions and Vision Quests.
Religious Specialists Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Religious specialists such as shamans, priests, elders, and, at times of cultural upheaval, prophets, have all been crucial in guiding and maintaining tribal cultures. Observers of American Indian religions from Western traditions have often focused on aspects of supernaturalism in Indian religions, but that is only one way of approaching it. Another viewpoint emphasizes religion as maintaining harmony and reflecting the interdependence of all life. Both views can provide insights into the roles of religious specialists in Indian cultures. Specialists and Otherworldly Religions. The supernatural is the realm beyond the natural world of the senses. The natural and supernatural worlds are linked by spirits that move back and forth between the two worlds. These spirits have power to change things in the natural world, and their presence may be sensed through the power inherent in special (sacred) things, people, times, places, words, and actions. Religious specialists can interact with the spirit world through the use of sacred symbols in a manner that respects both the natural and supernatural worlds. The religious specialist’s title differs from tribe to tribe. The following discussion will use terms (such as
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shaman and priest) devised by academic theorists to describe American Indian religions as they existed before contact with European Christian religions and, in the case of prophets, as they changed after contact. Shamans. Mircea Eliade’s 1964 description of the shaman has left its imprint on all descriptions of religious specialization. He described religious specialists who, through the use of trances, leave their bodies to go to a supernatural world to bring back techniques for dealing with the problems of the everyday world. Shamans may be selected a number of ways. Their own ecstatic experience may mark them as shamans; they may inherit the role from a parent or other ancestry. They may also be chosen by the people themselves. Once they are chosen, they are taught how to interact with the spirit world through dreams, visions, or trances and through traditional techniques learned from other shamans. In general, a shaman undergoes an ecstatic experience in order to gain a spiritual status so as to practice divination and healing. In North America, however, ecstatic techniques are seldom used outside the Subarctic and Pacific Northwest as a consistent technique for dealing with the spirit world. Nevertheless, a set of common traits can be offered which more or less are found in certain people in each tribe. It should be noted that shaman is not a word often used by American Indians to describe these people. Certain individuals profess to have a supernatural power that they use in this natural world. Sometimes this power is obtained in an initiatory vision. Such initiatory visions are especially found among the Inuit, where the shamans describe themselves as going to a supernatural world and, through great trial, gaining certain knowledge and techniques which are beneficial to their people. Part of this knowledge and technique is reflected in the use of esoteric language and rituals that are used to manipulate the spirit world and its powers. This power, as expressed in esoteric formulas, charms, songs, and certain objects, is often translated into English as “medicine.” “Medicine” therefore is the power of the supernatural world as found in these words, chants, rituals, and
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objects. Many of these objects are beautiful and could be considered works of art; others are rather common looking. The Crow medicine bundle might contain feathers, bird and animal skins, animal and human bones, teeth, herbs, pigments, and minerals. Outside the tribal religious context, these things appear valueless. Yet within its religious context, such a bundle contains the history, power, and authority of an ancient people. This power and knowledge are used by the shaman to predict the future and decide a course of action for individuals or the entire tribe. A shaman is thought to be able to control the weather, game animals, the course of war, and the search for lost objects. Among the Inuit, for example, Sedna, who lives under the sea, is the mistress of animals. The shaman helps control the hunt by going to Sedna and caring for her. The shaman many times has to clean her hair, which has become filthy because of the people’s breaking of taboos, so that she will allow the animals to be captured. The ability to tell the future is demonstrated by Plains shamans in the Shaking Tent Ceremony. In this ceremony the shaman enters a tent and reads the messages communicated by the spirits through the shaking of the tent. Among the Algonquian peoples, divination many times occurs by scorching an animal’s shoulder blade and reading the resultant cracks and spots to determine the future. There are other individuals who use supernatural powers to deal with sickness and wounds. Within a supernaturalist perspective, sickness results either from some object entering the body or from one’s spirit leaving the body. The shaman has techniques to deal with either of these causes of illness. The object in one’s body may be there either because a person put it there or because an illness, with a spirit life of its own, enters the body. The common ritual for withdrawing the evil object is to suck it out, with a tube, a horn, or one’s mouth. Sometimes the extracted object is shown to everyone; sometimes it is not. Contending with the spirit life that somehow is not in the body is a more complex affair. The shaman many times must go into a trance, enter the spirit world, and fight for the person’s life spirit to deal with this type of illness. These
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trances involve dramatic rituals that usually fill spectators and patient alike with a sense of awe and mystery. Shamans are essential to all tribes; some are recognized and honored for their role, while others are feared and avoided for the power they possess. The ichta among the Tlingit (in British Columbia and the Yukon) is an example of a shaman who lives at the edge of society. He is dirty, his hair is unkempt, and his dress is rags. He has a number of masks, however, each of which represents and attracts a particular spirit. His power depends upon his ability to control these spirits. By going into a trance and dancing like an animal, he achieves his objectives. A shaman’s power can be used for good or for evil; it is beyond the ordinary or natural means of control. In many traditional North American cultures, the shamanic role is usually open to men and women. Males generally predominate except in California, where there are more female shamans. While the shamanic roles are, for the most part, played by individuals, there are some shamanic societies. The midewiwin of the central Algonquian is an example of a shamanic society. Depending on the tribe, these societies act as carriers of knowledge, as sharers of power, and as necessary helpers in achieving certain ceremonial objectives. A quick survey of the various American Indian cultural areas reveals that among the Inuit the shaman is closest to the nowclassic model of Eliade (Eliade based his model on the study of Siberian tribes). They work individually or in groups through the use of ecstasy and dramatic performances to cure, control the weather, and procure game. Among the Northwest Coast Indians, techniques of ecstasy are less common. There is a shamanic festival during the winter months among some Northwest Coast Indians in which dramatic canoe journeys are taken into the spirit world to struggle with the spirits to win back the souls of the sufferers gathered at the ceremony. The Basin, Plateau, and Northern California areas find the sucking techniques of great importance to the shaman. The costumes assume more importance there than in other shamanic areas. Although visions and trances are expected of many individuals
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among the Plains and Prairie Indians, shamans stand out in how their spiritual power shows itself in their celebration of public ritual, tipi decoration, and the medicine bundles. The Southwest has a complex culture with a mix of various spiritual specialists, including priests. Priests. Another type of religious specialist is the priest. The priest stands as a constant intermediary between the natural and supernatural worlds. In societies that emphasize hunting as a means of subsistence, there is a sense in which every hunter may be considered a priest. Through ritual action, the hunter balances the needs of both worlds so that the natural world sustains its ability to provide the tribe with food and security. Hunting is a sacred responsibility wherein killing animals is a religious act that makes the hunter into a priest. The hunter must be careful of taboos and must show proper respect for the spirits. The Blackfoot hunter, for example, gained his role in the tribe through a vision quest. In his vision or dream he found his role as hunter and his connection with the spirit world; the weapons became part of the spirit world revealed to him in the dream. In an agricultural society priests play a unique role. The Pueblo Indians of the American Southwest, for example, are an agricultural society with a significant priestly class of religious specialists. Pueblo life is one of rich ceremony which is woven into every part of the day and is manifested in all tribal members’ relationships with others. Each Pueblo town has an independent society of priests in charge of the rituals. A general rule, with many exceptions, is that shamans dominate hunter societies and priests dominate agricultural societies. There is another type of religious specialist who has helped American Indians to respond to the challenge of change in their way of life—the prophet. Prophets. In 1925, sociologist Max Weber provided a topology used by many in discussing religious specialization. He wrote of three types of religious leaders: magicians, prophets, and priests.
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The description of the shaman used here includes many of the characteristics of what Weber would call the magician. Priests influence the spirit world by worship and petition; shamans influence it by the power of their spells and personal skills; priests are supported by the entire tribe and exercise their functions regularly; shamans work on an individual basis and do what is needed when it is needed; priests are powerful because of the class to which they belong and the techniques they learn; shamans’ power comes from their personal experience. Both priest and shaman are part of the everyday life of the tribe. In times of crisis there arises another specialist whom Weber calls the prophet. Prophets are agents of change who take personal responsibility for breaking with the established way of doing things. Prophets claim to know what to do because of their visions. Much like shamans, prophets find their role in life through their visions; unlike shamans they receive no remuneration for what they do. The fulfillment of the prophet’s vision is its own reward. There have been many prophets since first contact: San Juan Tewa of the Pueblo people (1680), Neolin of the Delaware (1750’s), Handsome Lake of the Seneca (1799), Tenskwatawa of the Shawnee (1811), Smohalla of the Wanapum (1855), Wodziwob of the Northern Paiute (1860’s), John Slocum of the Puget Sound Salish (1880’s). From these prophets and many more there came a common message: The ways of white culture were evil, a return to the ancient ways as described by the prophet was necessary for the salvation of the tribe, and strict codes of morality must be enforced. The message was ritualized in many different ways. The prophets and the religions which flowed from them have been a significant force in revitalizing the religions of American Indians. Beyond the Supernatural: Harmony. A description of Indian religions from a supernaturalist perspective, while valuable and founded on large amounts of written material gathered by nonIndian researchers, is dualistic. It has a bias in that it tends to focus on what is, or was, important to the European Christian: God, spirits, the other world, the power to change things, and a deeply
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felt conversion experience. The supernaturalist description many times leaves one with the impression that Indian religions are dualistic, with the spirits “out there” in the supernatural world and the shaman, prophet, priest here in the natural world. This is a religious model very much dependent upon European Christianity. Indian religion can be better described not in a dualistic sense but by using a holistic model of harmony and interdependence. An essential characteristic of Indian religions has been their oral character. Any non-Indian religion had to adapt itself to this orality to make any deep and significant headway into the Indian way of life. An oral culture recognizes the need of interdependence and harmony among the generations for its continuance; the need to live in the circle of life for the continuance of life itself. This is best shown in the central role of the elders. Elders and Other Specialists. One’s age is very important in Indian culture. Most tribes have some form of initiation of the young, for example, which often corresponds to the beginning of religious awareness and the acceptance of religious responsibilities. There are many rites of passage which give social form to the necessity of bringing the young more deeply into what is required for community survival. Many tribes have formal religious societies into which individuals are initiated. These societies are sources of religious authority in the tribe. Members of the Crow Tobacco Society, the Winnebago Midewiwin, and the Tewa “Made People” bear enormous responsibility for religious actions. Elders are especially important because with them resides religious wisdom, religious memory, and religious experience. In an oral culture the elders bring the “how, what, and why” of the past into the present in order to forge the future. Without the elders there is no religion and no purpose and direction to life; in a sense, without their guidance there can be no tribe. An oral culture also places great emphasis on storytellers. These religious specialists tell the stories which provide explanations for the why and how of present living. There are the stories told by the
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elders, but in many tribes there are also individuals who specialize in storytelling. Among the Zuñi an individual is appointed as Kyaklo, responsible for telling the creation story cycle. Once every four or eight years Kyaklo comes to a Zuñi village to tell the story. No Zuñi ever hears the entire story in one telling, yet the story is told. In an oral culture telling the story or stories is essential to religious life. Although these stories may deal with everyday life and the reasons for its existence, they are religious since they provide a purposeful direction and unity to individual and social living. The same is true of the Indian sense of place and home. Land itself is important and central because it is coextensive with one’s sense of harmony and thus identity. “Here” includes the waters, the earth, the shape of the horizon, and the variations in the weather. That is why so many Indian tribes give a religious meaning to the four points of the compass. Directions enable one to know where one lives. The stories reinforce the sense of place. Those who tell the stories, build the homes, and provide for “home” are religious specialists. In the Tlingit religion, for example, the house is a ceremonial and spatial representation of the special landscape. The house is a holy place dwelt in by the most recent expression of the ancestor, the yitsati. The house is the male domain. The wife does not know the meanings of the carvings inside the house. Childbirth happens outside the house. The keeper of the house (yitsati) is a priest whose only task is to perform the rituals associated with the house. Nathan R. Kollar Sources for Further Study Eliade, Mircea. Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. Rev. ed. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1964. This is the classic work on shamanism. Gill, Sam D. Native American Religions: An Introduction. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1982. Gill is an exponent of how investigators have read into the written materials their own desires about Indian religion. He should be read to balance the exaggerated romantic claims for a historical pan-Indian religion.
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Hultkrantz, Ake. “Spirit Lodge: A North American Shamanistic Seance.” In Studies in Shamanism, edited by Carl-Martin Edsman. Stockholm: Almquist & Wiksell, 1962. Various definitions of shamanism are reviewed which lead one to conclude, if one uses ecstasy as a normative, that the term “shaman” can be used only in a broad sense when dealing with North America. Paper, Jordan. “Methodological Controversies in the Study of Native American Religions.” Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 22, no. 3 (1993): 365-377. Argues that because of the dynamic character of Indian religion the individual religions adapted and shared what was necessary for survival. Thus there are common religious elements today among the various tribal religions. Weber, Max. Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretative Sociology. Translated by Ephraim Fischoff et al., edited by Günther Roth and Claus Wittich. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978. Weber provided religious studies with practical categories for discerning religious leadership. See also: Death and Mortuary Customs; Ethnophilosophy and Worldview; Longhouse Religion; Medicine and Modes of Curing: Pre-contact; Native American Church; Peyote and Peyote Religion; Religion; Sacred, the; Sacred Narratives; Visions and Vision Quests.
Relocation Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Though the relocation program launched by the U.S. government in the 1950’s did not achieve its goal of assimilation, it did contribute to the rapid urbanization of Native Americans. The 1930’s saw a departure in federal Indian policy from the usual goal of assimilating Indians into the mainstream of American society; instead, the “Indian New Deal” stressed the idea of tribal selfdetermination. After World War II, however, Congress and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) began to press for a return to assimila-
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Relocation Routes, 1830’s
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tion. In the early 1950’s several assimilationist policies emerged: termination, which sought to “free” Native Americans by dissolving their tribes; the assumption by the states of more legal jurisdiction over Indian communities; and relocation, which sought to move Indians to large cities. Although at the time termination gained the most attention, relocation proved more persistent and had the more lasting effect. Planning and Implementation. The BIA began its relocation efforts on a small scale in 1948, with efforts to place Navajos, whose reservation was believed to be overcrowded, in western cities. In 1952 the program was expanded into the national Voluntary Relocation Program. Offices were established on most reservations and in Oklahoma. BIA agents working on a quota system employed a hard-sell approach as they pressured Indians to relocate. Los An-
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geles, Chicago, and Denver were first designated to receive the new urban dwellers; seven other western and midwestern cities were later added to the list. Indians were sometimes sent to more distant cities on purpose in the hope that distance would lessen tribal ties. Indians volunteering for the program were given a month to prepare for the transition. When the time came, they were given one-way bus or train tickets, fifty dollars each to cover moving expenses, and modest sums for subsistence. Once arrived in their new home cities, they received help from the local relocation office in finding housing and employment and a month’s financial assistance (forty dollars per week for an individual or couple). Urban Problems. The experience of many participants in the program often ended in frustration. Most reservation Indians were poorly prepared for life in urban America. Coming from cultures that were communal and cooperative, many found it hard to adjust to the impersonal and competitive character of metropolitan life. The BIA often provided little job training and inadequate counseling. Many Indians found that they could obtain only menial or temporary jobs. Too often, those relocating found themselves becoming slum dwellers cut off from family and friends. Alcoholism became a particular problem. The death in 1955 of war hero Ira Hayes, a Pima whose life was shattered by despair and alcoholism after he was relocated to Chicago, brought attention to the problems often faced by the new urban Indians. By 1959, a third of those participating in the program had returned to the reservation. The BIA attempted to respond to mounting criticism of the program. Relocation officials began to moderate their sales pitches in the later 1950’s, and more attention was given to preparing participants prior to departure. The program continued to attract criticism, however, and many Native Americans closely associated it with the widely hated policy of termination. After the latter policy was ended in 1962, relocation continued. During the administration of President John F. Kennedy, the program’s name and focus
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changed to employment assistance. More attention was paid to job training, and more of an effort was made to place Indians in cities closer to their reservations. Impact of Relocation. As a program to foster the assimilation of Indians into American society, relocation largely failed to achieve its aim. Yet, in other ways, some of them paradoxical, the program had important influences on Native American life. The most evident effect of the program was to foster one of the most important Indian demographic trends of the second half of the twentieth century: urbanization. Despite the difficulties they encountered, Indians continued to move to urban areas. In 1940 only about 7 percent of Indians lived in cities; by 1980 almost half did, and by 2002 nearly two-thirds, or 66 percent, lived in urban areas (although still the lowest percentage of any racial group in the United States). There is some irony in the fact that the majority of Indians who moved to cities did so on their own and not as pro-
Relocated family outside of their home in South Dakota. (National Archives)
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gram participants, largely because of suspicion of the BIA and the tendency to associate relocation with termination. The relocation program, however, did contribute to this informal migration. More than thirty-five thousand Indians relocated under the program, and the cities to which they moved (the ones with relocation offices) became the main centers of Native American urbanization. Regardless of whether they were program participants, urban Indians continued to have more than their share of social problems. They also tended to be less tolerant of substandard conditions and more critical of government policies than reservation Indians. It is not surprising that many of the leaders of the more radical Indian movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s had urban backgrounds. Moreover, urbanization contributed to the growth of PanIndianism. By bringing together Indians of many different tribal backgrounds, the relocation program encouraged interaction among them and the discovery that they shared many problems. It may be the greatest irony of relocation that this assimilationist program fostered instead a greater sense of Indian separateness and encouraged a more activist and confrontational attitude toward the federal government. William C. Lowe Sources for Further Study Burt, Larry W. Tribalism in Crisis: Federal Indian Policy, 1953-61. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1982. Fixico, Donald Lee. The Urban Experience in America. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2000. Lobo, Susan, and Kurt Peters, eds. American Indians and the Urban Experience. Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press, 2001. Olson, James S., and Raymond Wilson. Native Americans in the Twentieth Century. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1984. Philp, Kenneth R. Termination Revisited: American Indians on the Trail to Self-Determination, 1933-1953. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999.
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Prucha, Francis Paul. The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians. 2 vols. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984. See also: Alcoholism; Demography; Employment and Unemployment; Pan-Indianism; Urban Indians.
Repatriation Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Repatriation is the process by which tribes are regaining their ancestors’ human remains and sacred objects that are housed in non-Indian museums and other institutions. In ordinary usage, repatriation generally refers to the return of individuals, either of their own volition or by coercion (deportation), to their countries of origin. Within the context of modern Indianwhite relations, however, the term denotes that process through which cultural, religious, and funerary objects and human remains are restored to their original tribal communities. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, vast numbers of material goods were transferred from Indian to non-Indian hands. Historian Douglas Cole’s description of the draining of Northwest Coast Indian communities of their cultural patrimony suggests the immense proportions of this removal: During the half-century or so after 1875, a staggering quantity of material, both secular and sacred . . . left the hands of their native creators and users for the private and public collections of the European world. The scramble was on. . . . By the time it ended there was more Kwakiutl material in Milwaukee than in Mamalillikulla, more Salish pieces in Cambridge than in Comox. The City of Washington contained more Northwest Coast material than the state of Washington and New York City probably housed more British Columbia material than British Columbia itself.
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The situation was equally dire, if not worse, with regards to skeletal remains and funerary objects. Ethnohistorian John Wunder reported that in as many as two million Native American remains were disturbed in the twentieth century alone: “Grave robbers [were] encouraged and employed by museums, universities, government agencies, and private tourist businesses.” In 2000, attorneys Jack F. Trope and Walter R. Echo-Hawk identified the unilateral transfer of Indian property into non-Indian hands as one of the defining patterns of Indian-white relations in the United States. Lacking political influence and voice, tribes were powerless throughout most of their history of dealings with non-Indian Americans to challenge the social and economic structures and assumptions that generated this pattern. However, with the advent of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s, the passage of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act in 1975, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978, and continuing debates over the nature and operation of Indian sovereignty, the sociocultural and legal groundwork was established for tribes to litigate for the return of their deceased ancestors and burial objects for reinterment. During the 1980’s, attorneys from the Native American Rights Association (NARA) and other organizations filed a series of suits in state courts to retrieve skeletal remains and funerary objects housed in the collections of state museums and historical societies. They also engaged in intense lobbying in several states, winning passage of repatriation acts in the Kansas, Nebraska, Arizona, and California legislatures. With the discovery by a group of Northern Cheyennes in 1986 that the Smithsonian Institution housed nearly nineteen thousand Indian remains, these advocates shifted their attention from a state to a federal level, pursuing passage of a law that would protect native grave sites from future intrusions and would aid in the return of those remains and funerary objects held by nontribal institutions. Their efforts culminated in congressional passage of the National Museum of the American Indian Act (Public Law 101-185) on November 28, 1989. This law provided funds for the creation of a new Smithsonian museum (the National Museum of the Ameri-
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can Indian (NMAI)) dedicated exclusively to the histories and cultures of the native peoples of the Americas. More important, it also instructed the museum to inventory the human remains and funerary objects in its possession, determine their tribal provenance, and establish a procedure that would allow tribes to petition for their return and traditional disposition, usually ceremonial reburial. The law also directed the NMAI to pursue its missions of repatriation, preservation, and education in consultation with tribal lay and spiritual leaders. Nearly one year following its passage of the NMAI Act, Congress approved the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act (Public Law 101-601). Generally referred to by the acronym NAGPRA, this law strengthened the protection of Native American burial sites set forth in earlier bills. It also ordered all federal and federally funded institutions to make available inventories of their Indian artifacts and human remains to their tribes of origin and to establish policies and procedures for the repatriation of these holdings. Noncompliance on the part of these organizations carried with it the loss of federal monies. The philosophy and goals of repatriation remain sources of contestation, especially between tribes and archaeologists. Anthropologist Larry J. Zimmerman summarized the range of positions and responses found in each these two groups. According to Zimmerman, many Indians consider the “excavation, study, and curation of human remains [as] sacrilegious or, at the very least, disrespectful to the dead and spiritually dangerous.” Many, he continues, see the issue as a form of scientific colonialism by the dominant society. Some demand no archaeological excavation or study and the complete return of all remains in existing collections. Others are more willing to compromise, realizing that potentially valuable information is provided by the remains.
With regard to archaeologists, Zimmerman has observed that their responses vary: Some wish to see passage of resolutions against reburial, whereas others hope for compromise legislation.
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Whatever course the debate over repatriation might take, it seems clear that most of the decisions surrounding the contested rights and responsibilities at issue will be debated in the country’s courts and legislatures. At the center of this evolution will be the increasing sentiment among many tribes that decision-making power over the disposition and treatment of their ancestors’ remains, funerary objects, and cultural and religious artifacts is an essential part of their struggle for sovereignty. Harvey Markowitz Sources for Further Study Cole, Douglas. Captured Heritage: The Scramble for Northwest Coast Artifacts. Norman : University of Oklahoma Press, 1995. Mihesuah, Devon A., ed. Repatriation Reader: Who Owns American Indian Remains. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000. Trope, Jack F., and Walter R. Echo-Hawk. “The Native American Graves Protection Act: Background and Legislative History.” In Repatriation Reader: Who Owns American Indian Remains, edited by Devon A. Mihesuah. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000. Zimmerman, Larry. “Reburial Issue.” In Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America: An Encyclopedia, edited by Guy Gibbon. New York: Garland, 1998. See also: Pan-Indianism.
Resource Use: Pre-contact Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Native Americans traded food and other utilitarian resources along established routes. All Native Americans utilized surface and subsurface resources, which, in raw or finished form, were often traded with contiguous groups or to more distant areas along established trade routes. The
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natural differential occurrence of resources (and related manipulative skills) was the primary basis for some exogamous marriage patterns, the maintenance of complex group trading relationships, the development of inherited trading partners, and the existence of trade languages. Trade was conducted directly or by stages between groups from different culture areas, in some instances covering distances of many hundreds of miles. Trading by maritime groups and peoples inhabiting major riverine systems was facilitated by watercraft, and it was frequently a way for individuals to achieve socioeconomic status. The control, esoteric knowledge, and skill of manipulating certain resources was sometimes based on a person’s particular supernatural power, which was often maintained within a family by inheritance. Great respect for natural resources tended to characterize the worldview of Native Americans. Individual or collective ritual was observed before collecting and utilizing many food resources, and one’s activities were controlled by behavioral and dietary taboos. The primary concerns of all Native Americans, when exploiting and gathering natural resources, particularly foods, were the logistical strategies of converging at sites of productive occurrence when the resource was available, and of transporting such needed resources to inhabitation and storage areas. Consequently, hunters and gatherers subscribed to an annual subsistence round, one which required a high degree of mobility and knowledge of the terrain and its so-called carrying capacity, particularly of animal protein. Hunting and gathering cultures stored approximately three times the amount of food resources normally needed in case of prolonged winters or the destruction of stored foods by weather or animals. It was not unusual, during times of starvation, for people to partially exploit the stored nuts, seeds, and certain tubers of rodents and muskrats. Dried high-protein foods, such as bison, salmon, and even pemmican, were traded to peoples devoid of such resources. The various highly prized by-products of land mammals and birds were traded in raw form or after skillful conversion by artisans. An ex-
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ample is laminated bows made of mountain sheep horn traded on the Plains. Traded food products became a necessary part of the utilitarian predation technology, but there was also a vast inventory of non-utilitarian trade resources, particularly various mollusk and dentalium shell beads. Lithic (stone) materials, such as obsidian, slate, and chert for making projectile points and knives, were traded usually as “blanks”—the user would finish the tool as desired. Clays and orchers, and even native copper, were valuable natural resources, traveling considerable distances. In such cases, the item became more valuable the farther it was traded from the place of exploitation or mining. Resource areas, whether clamming beaches, hunting areas, nut or cambium groves, lithic sites, root fields, berry patches, or animal jumps, were the property of a particular group, but permission for exploitation (right of usufruct) was usually extended to non-kin members if requested. The incursion of European American peoples and the early introduction of their trade items had, in some instances, a devastating effect upon the indigenous utilization and distribution of traditional resources, particularly the socioeconomic behaviors that had maintained land-use patterns. Tribalization and the insidious development of restricted reservations, invariably on nonproductive lands, essentially destroyed Native American access to and preservation of natural resources and effectively terminated a traditional way of life and sociopolitical and economic autonomy. For example, the destruction of bison and the reduction of salmon runs forced a drastic change in many people’s subsistence base, bringing a rapid deterioration of health and creating a sense of relative deprivation. As time passed, various governmental legislation further reduced the Native American land base and subsequent control of resources. In 1955, with the U.S. government’s need for uranium, coal, oil, and certain metal ores facing off against pending native lawsuits for loss of traditional lands and resources, government legislation was passed to terminate reservations and Indian status. It is only relatively recently that some Native American tribes have
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been able to gain partial control of some of their resources, particularly in the development of tourism by those tribes situated on navigable bodies of water. Some Native American tribes receive annual per capita payments from resources, such as oil, gas, and timber, extracted from aboriginal areas. John Alan Ross See also: Metalwork; Resources; Subsistence; Technology; Tools; Trade.
Resources Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Reservations and tribal governments confront a difficult task in deciding on the most effective ways to develop a reservation’s natural resources. Natural resources such as coal, timber, natural gas, uranium, and oil have important places in many tribes’ economic development plans. Reservations comprise some of the poorest regions in the United States, so the type of development and the extent of tribal control over these assets is crucial. General History. Tribal economic dependence on the sale of natural resources gained importance in the late nineteenth century as tribal leaders and individuals began to sell reservation land and individual allotted lands. Though tribes retained possessory rights to timber and subsurface minerals, the absence of market demand and of legislation that granted tribes authority to sell timber or minerals apart from the land hindered development. Resources were simply ceded during land sales of this era, depriving tribes of benefits from these commodities. In 1891, Congress enacted leasing legislation that provided a mechanism for tribes to lease land, coal, oil, and natural gas without selling their real estate. Tribes could control outside access to
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energy minerals by approving or disapproving of leases. At the time, few leases were made because of low demand for tribal resources. Congress revised reservation leasing in the 1938 Omnibus Tribal Leasing Act, which required competitive bidding and the posting of bonds by successful bidders. The legislation favored outside developers, not the tribal landowners, because it emphasized quick monetary returns for the tribe in the leasing process rather than ensuring technical expertise on a tribe’s behalf. These reservation leasing guidelines were quickly outdated, but they remained operative for the next four decades. During that time, outsiders leased tribal minerals at less than market value and continued to enjoy the privilege thanks to continuous production clauses. Some outside interests even built power plants on reservations. Energy Minerals. As a result of the 1970’s energy crisis, tribal leaders demanded greater roles in making energy mineral decisions and in writing regulations governing reservation mineral development. Reservations possessed 3 percent of the nation’s oil and natural gas reserves and 13 percent of the coal reserves. Rising demand for reservation energy resources created a false impression that tribes possessing coal, oil, and natural gas were wealthy. In 1976, the comptroller general reported that tribal resources were underdeveloped and that information on the extent of tribal energy resources was lacking, depriving tribes of revenue. At the same time, the United States failed to monitor lessor reclamation compliance, production figures, and royalty collection from reservation energy contracts. As a result, some tribes were reluctant to enter into energy development simply because too many questions remained unanswered. The Council of Energy Resource Tribes was created, its primary task to provide tribal leaders with energy mineral information. Tribal leaders became increasingly convinced of the need for local tribal control over energy mineral resources. As a result of Native American assertions regarding control over resource development on tribal land, the Bureau of Indian Af-
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fairs in 1977 began requiring reservation energy mineral leasing contractors to comply with the provisions of the 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. In 1982, as a result of tribal initiative, Congress passed the Indian Minerals Development Act, allowing tribes to become energy producers. Greater tribal control did not end energy mineral development problems. Monitoring and compliance issues continued to hinder tribal efforts to secure fair market value for their resources and to assure that tribal lands were not ruined in the process of mineral extraction. Timber. In 1910, Congress passed legislation authorizing the logging of reservation forests. To fund a professional forestry program, administrative charges were deducted from tribal timber contracts. In 1972, the administrative fee program was modified and passage of the 1975 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act gave tribal leaders increased tribal control over reservation timber. Reservation leaders began planning to increase timber revenues by developing value-added wood product industries. The creation of the Intertribal Timber Council in 1979 provided tribes with technical assistance to develop wood product industries. In 1990, Congress passed the National Indian Forest Resources Management Act, which increased tribal decision-making powers over reservation timber and provided the potential for greater monetary support for tribal conservation efforts. Despite positive directions in reservation natural resource development, tribes do not possess adequate energy minerals and forested lands to control markets. As a result, tribes remain market dependent. At best, natural resource revenues provided sporadic, small per-capita payments to tribal members during the duration of a timber cutting contract or an energy mineral lease. Natural resources have not provided long-term reservation employment opportunities because of the vagaries of the energy and lumber markets. Richmond Clow
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Sources for Further Study Ambler, Marjane. Breaking the Iron Bonds: Indian Control of Energy Development. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1990. Fixico, Donald L. The Invasion of Indian Country in the Twentieth Century: American Capitalism and Tribal Natural Resources. Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1998. Reno, Philip. Mother Earth, Father Sky, and Economic Development: Navajo Resources and Their Use. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1981. U.S. Congress. Senate. Select Committee on Indian Affairs. Special Committee on Investigations. Final Report and Legislative Recommendations: A Report of the Special Committee on Investigations of the Select Committee on Indian Affairs. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989. See also: Land Claims; Resource Use: Pre-contact.
Rite of Consolation Tribes affected: Iroquois Confederacy, including Cayuga, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Seneca Significance: This religious, social, and political funeral ceremony functions to ease grief and restore leadership. The Rite of Consolation is a ceremonial event that takes place on the death of one of the principal chiefs of the Iroquois Confederacy. The members of the confederacy, in the persons of the assigned leaders, assemble. The bereaved nation is host and is visited by those called the “clearminded,” who come to offer consolation, advice, and support. The rite consists of a prescribed series of songs and orations. Taken together, these compose a long elegy; the songs and speeches—traditionally keyed to belts of wampum— offer spiritual insight into the meaning of life and rationalize death within a philosophical system. The rite offers more, however, than comfort for the loss of an in-
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dividual. It reminds the participants of the founders and history of the league, in particular the heroic Hiawatha and his antagonist, Atotarho, making it an educational and patriotic event. Furthermore, the rite provides for the choice and installation of a successor to the late chief. The new leader is given the name of his predecessor, and in this way the names of the original leaders are preserved. The rite thus offers a symbolic death and rebirth, both of the individual leader and of the healed and restored community. Helen Jaskoski See also: Death and Mortuary Customs; Political Organization and Leadership.
Rites of Passage Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Rite of passage ceremonies mark status-changing events in the life cycle, such as birth, naming, puberty, initiation, marriage, and death. Rites of passage are ceremonies associated with the transformation from one stage of life to another. The four primary events of birth, naming, puberty, and death are celebrated as spiritual occasions. The secondary events of marriage and initiation into societies are considered social by some tribes and spiritual by others. Three stages can be identified in any rite of passage. In the separation phase one loses the old status; in the marginal phase one has essentially no identity; and in the re-entry phase one takes on a new identity within the community, gaining new rights and obligations. An element of danger exists in the transition. The time between two states has a mysterious quality, during which the individual requires protection from potential harm. This marginal phase is a symbolic death of the old status. Childbirth. Among traditional people, childbirth was a time of crisis for mother and child, since the mortality rate for both
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was highest then. Childbirth was also regarded as a time of danger for males in the community. The miraculous new life within the mother’s body held the sacred power of the Creator. It could endanger those not as powerful. This belief, along with the practical concerns of comfort and privacy, plus the need for concentrated attention during birthing, led to the segregation of women in labor. The period of labor represented the “between” phase, requiring protection for both mother and infant through petitions to the spirits for guidance. A woman in labor was usually assisted in the birthing hut by other women, but a Southwest Caddo woman went alone to a nearby river when labor began. She built her own shelter, delivered her baby, and, even in winter, bathed herself and the child in the river. She returned to the village right away. Among the Nez Perce of Idaho, mother and infant were secluded for as long as three months after delivery, and in the Great Basin tribes the father also stayed in bed and ate special foods. Naming. Anyone without a name was considered powerless, because the spirits would not recognize them. Not all babies received names; some tribes waited until a particular trait suggested a name. A name could be revealed through a parent’s dream, or given in a formal ceremony after months or years of waiting. A person could have several names throughout life: as an infant, a young child, at puberty, and upon a worthy achievement. Omaha newborns were thought to be just other beings in nature. An infant was presented to the powers of nature with prayers for safety on its journey through life. With its first steps, the baby became a member of the tribe and was given a new pair of moccasins containing a little hole. In case the spirits called, the child could respond, “I can’t travel now; my moccasins are worn out.” Marriage. Some tribes had no marriage ceremony. A couple would announce their plans, but the tribe might not consider them truly married until a child was born. In more formal marriages, the groom brought gifts for the bride’s parents, such as horses in the
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Plains, and cedar blankets or carved boxes in the Northwest. Marriage was accomplished through an exchange of gifts between both families among the California Pomo. A Cherokee bride and groom feasted separately with their relatives, then met later in the community ceremony. The groom’s mother gave him a leg of venison and a blanket; the bride’s mother gave her an ear of corn and a blanket. The couple exchanged the food and wrapped themselves in their blankets. A similar ritual completed an Ojibwa marriage; in addition, the couple had the hems of their coats sewed together. Hopi marriage customs required the girl to grind corn for several days at home, then go to her groom’s home and grind corn for three more days. The groom’s aunts called her lazy and jokingly taunted her for stealing their favorite nephew. On the wedding day, the two were joined for life when the couple’s mothers washed the bride and groom’s heads in one basin and twisted their hair together. Later, they went to the edge of the mesa to pray to the rising sun. After the wedding breakfast, the groom went with townsmen into the kiva (ceremonial chamber) to weave the bride’s wedding garments while she spent the long days grinding more corn. The two white robes and the long white belt would be used eventually to wrap her body for her journey into the spirit world. Death, Burial, and Mourning. The greatest of mysteries surrounds this final rite of passage, and the most varied ceremonies mark the transition. Among the Apache and Navajo, where death is deeply feared, burial is simple and swift, and mourning is brief. The deceased is bathed, dressed in fine clothing and jewelry, and then placed in a crevice and covered with stones. If the person died at home, the house and possessions were burned and the family moved to a new house. In the Great Basin, burial sites were caves, and on the Plains, scaffolds and trees were used. Cremation was common in California; wooden cabins, boxes, or canoes on posts were burial places in the Northwest. The Eastern Ojibwa wrapped their dead in birchbark and placed them in a grave lined with cedar boughs. A small
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house was built over the grave, a fire was lit, and food was left for the spirit’s journey. The Iroquois Rite of Consolation, a ceremony for a deceased sachem (chief), recounted deeds of ancestors, acknowledged the departed one’s greatness, and comforted the bereaved, symbolically reinforcing the past, present, and future of the Iroquois League. The Huron of the East held a Feast of the Dead every ten to twelve years. The souls were released in an extended mourning ceremony as relatives removed bodies from temporary burial sites, cleaned the bones and put them into bundles. Mourners carried their bundles to a communal burial site, and at dawn, with a great wailing, they deposited their bundles into the pit. This mingling of ancestral bones symbolized an obligation to tribal unity. An extraordinary burial custom existed among the Natchez of the Southeast, where the highest class members were required to marry commoners. When the highborn one died, the commoner spouse and children were sacrificed to accompany the deceased on the journey. Gale M. Thompson Sources for Further Study Allen, Paula Gunn. The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions. Reprint. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992. Garbarino, Merwyn S. Native American Heritage. Boston: Little, Brown, 1976. Johnston, Basil. Ojibwa Ceremonies. Illustrated by David Beyer. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1982. Niethammer, Carolyn. Daughters of the Earth: The Lives and Legends of American Indian Women. New York: Collier Books, 1977. Turner, Victor W. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Chicago: Aldine, 1969. See also: Children; Death and Mortuary Customs; Feast of the Dead; Marriage and Divorce; Menses and Menstruation; Names and Naming; Puberty and Initiation Rites; Rite of Consolation; Women.
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Sachem Tribes affected: Massachusett, Mohegan, Narragansett, Nauset, Niantic, Nipmuc, Pawtucket, Pequot, Pocomtuck, Quinnipiac, Wampanoag Significance: The general term “sachem” was used to designate band leaders and tribal chiefs among the Algonquian-speaking peoples of southern New England. Along the coastal region of southern New England in the early contact period, the word sachem was used for political leaders. In northern New England, the corresponding term was sagamore. The sachem was most commonly the head or leader of a single village (or band). Some sachems, however, had a more extensive but illdefined influence over an entire tribe or alliance of villages. Examples of sachems with this wider influence were Massasoit and his
A sketch depicting the sachem Atotarho (right), a founding member of the Iroquois confederacy. (Library of Congress)
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son Metacomet (King Philip) of the Wampanoag, and Miantonomo of the Narragansett. Whether a sachem’s authority was confined to a single village or was much wider, his power was limited by tribal traditions and exercised through persuasion. Important decisions were made in consultation with a council of important men (called pneises among the Massachusett and Wampanoag). Sachems were chosen from among men born into a chiefly lineage or family, the office descending most commonly from father to son. Occasionally women served as sachems (called “squaw sachems” by the English). Weetamoo of the Pocasset was an example. The sachem assigned agricultural fields, sentenced criminals, and was responsible for diplomacy and external trade. A sachem dwelt in an unusually large wigwam and was supported by the work of his wives, by the yield from special fields cultivated for him, and by gifts or tribute. This food and other goods were given back through feasts and reciprocal gifts. Bert M. Mutersbaugh See also: Political Organization and Leadership.
Sacred, the Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Every American Indian tribe holds a concept of the sacred at the core of its belief system; although known by different names, this concept is related to spiritual power. In American Indian tribal languages, there is no word for “religion.” Religion is not a separate category with specific times and places for expression. Rather, the spiritual is embedded in everything that exists and is therefore part of every activity. Sacred ways were, and are, the technology of tribal peoples. Through a system of shared beliefs, symbols, and practices, this technology of the sacred provides the structure which determines the customs and guides the daily life of a people.
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Aside from formal ceremony, everyday tasks such as hunting, gathering, preparing food, making art and music, and fashioning tools and clothing are performed within the context of sacred knowledge and often involve ritual action. When these common activities are combined with the use of symbols, colors, or numbers and various songs, chants, or prayers, the invisible is brought into visibility and is to some degree a manifestation of the sacred. The sacred is equivalent to spiritual power, and according to tribal peoples, it can be manifested in seemingly inanimate objects such as a star, a lake, or a stone. These things are not worshiped for themselves but are honored because they express the intangible, yet very real power of the sacred. In this way, they become something else, while paradoxically remaining in their original forms. They are held in awe and respect by all, but only people who have power, or “medicine,” can perceive their sacred quality and appropriately use sacred objects. The acquisition of power is arduous and sometimes dangerous. Technicians of the sacred have gained their wisdom by experimenting with the forces of nature. After extensive guidance from an elder, and then ritual “purification” in preparation to receive it, they must undertake the solitary journey to seek their power. Once received, the power must be honored and rightly used. Spiritual power is respected, even feared, by the untrained. For example, some tribal people express concern about repercussions if they do not act correctly in the presence of a medicine bundle. Spiritual leaders carry responsibility for sacred ways, not for themselves, but on behalf of the people. Humility and integrity are desirable characteristics for those granted power, because the use of sacred power for personal gain has serious consequences. Power can turn against the one who misuses it, and the result can be illness, loss of power, or even death. To keep the sacred ways alive, they must be shared by the people. In the context of sacred ceremony, both the people and the traditions are revitalized. Names of the Sacred. The source of sacred power is known by various names such as Manitou (Manido, Manito) to the Ojibwa,
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Wakan (Wakanda) to the Sioux, and Orenda to the Iroquois, with each tribe having its own way of interpreting, contacting, and making use of this power. Manifestations of power can be found most often in nature, and these spiritual forces can be addressed through offerings, prayer, and a sacrifice, a term which means “to make sacred” or to empower with ritual. After the time of European contact, comparisons made to Christianity led to misinterpretations of some of the original meanings of the terms wakan, manitou, and orenda. For example, Kitchi Manitou, Great Spirit, became commonly accepted as the equivalent of God. Many tribes also use the term Creator when referring to this source of sacred power. Manitou. As chief of the manitous, Kitchi (also spelled “Gitche” and “Gitshe”) Manitou is not a personality but the expression of all good. Beneficent, yet invisible and nonmaterial, Kitchi Manitou is the Uncreated God, the source of all. Other manitous, eternal spirits brought into being at the creation, are prototypes of rocks, plants, animals, birds, and elemental forces. Sun, moon, winds, thunder, lightning, and even the seasons are manitous. In Ojibwa belief, everything was animate, and manitous had power to cause great problems. Fortunately, in such a potentially hostile environment, the help of compassionate spirits could be obtained though humble petition. For the Ojibwa, the seeking of a vision was the preferred method for finding one’s manitou or guardian spirit. The seeker went out in solitude, prayed, offered tobacco, and sacrificed by fasting for several days until contact had been made, often in a dream. It was believed that the more humble or pitiable the seeker, the more likely the spirits were to grant a vision. Once a relationship was made, it was usually kept secret so that the sacred power received would not be diminished. The person could call upon the guardian spirit for help in many circumstances. Among the manitous were cedar and birch trees, deer, bear, moose, otter, sturgeon, hummingbird, and eagle. Spirit helpers responded to prescribed rules within the tradition, and mem-
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bers of the Midewiwin, the Grand Medicine Society, could assist in making contact with the appropriate manitous for any situation. Wakan. As a general term, “wakan” means sacred or holy, imbued with the life-giving force of spiritual power. A thing or person is wakan to the extent that the principles of that sacred quality are expressed. Although originally wakan had many meanings and several manifestations, perhaps the order of spiritual powers of the Sioux would be most comparable to the hierarchy of Christian deities, with Wakan (Great Mystery) akin to the Godhead and Wakan-Tanka (Great Spirit) similar to God. Wanbli Galeshka (Spotted Eagle), who carries prayers to Great Spirit, could be compared to Jesus Christ. A holy person, wichasha wakan, has the power to make others wakan. Their powers have been acquired through dreams and vision experiences, often over many years, and they are qualified to lead others in seeking spiritual vision. Holy people are sometimes incorrectly called “medicine people.” In some traditions the terms “medicine” and “spiritual power” are synonymous; however, among the Sioux, a medicine person is one who has knowledge of curative herbs. When using herbs, a medicine person is said to be “doctoring.” It is possible for a holy person to be a medicine person as well. A wakan woman brought the calf pipe to the Sioux. White Buffalo-Calf Maiden, known also as Calf Pipe Woman, presented the pipe bundle to the people, calling it lela wakan, very sacred, and telling them, “When you pray with this pipe, you pray for and with everything.” The sacred pipe, sometimes incorrectly called peace pipe, was given so the people might have knowledge. This wakan woman also taught that the wingeds, the two-leggeds, and the four-leggeds, and those born to them, were all wakan. As gifts from Wakan-Tanka (Father or Grandfather) they deserved respect. She explained that the earth (Mother or Grandmother) was wakan and that every step taken upon her should be a prayer. Through the sacred pipe, the people were connected to all that is sacred and
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told to walk the path of life—the sacred red road—and to honor everything and everyone as wakan. Orenda. The Iroquois term “orenda” identifies a power that can be likened to electricity in that it is invisible, flowing energy. As limitless power orenda is not a spirit or entity but is present in earth, sky, nature—all that exists. Inherent in this power, and derived from it, are the dualisms of visible and invisible, material and spiritual, life and beyond life. The Master of Life, who willed the world into being, had an evil brother who constantly battled against him. Although the Iroquois had no hierarchy of spirit beings to direct orenda, all supernatural power came from this impersonal energy, which was accessed through dreams. A deep reverence was held for one’s own orenda. Beyond this power the Iroquois believed in animal spirits, such as eagle and bear, and many unranked supernaturals, including the Earth Mother, Sun, and the Master of Life. Adults and young people sought to communicate with the supernatural individually through vision experiences or collectively through tribal ceremonies. The Iroquois had no category of spiritual guides to the people; such duties were performed as needed by those designated to maintain the traditions. These males and females were called Keepers of the Faith. Others had acquired the ability to cure illnesses. Members of the False Face Society, a wellknown Iroquois curing society, would arrive at a patient’s house wearing wooden masks carved to represent spiritual beings. Amid grunts, shouts, and scraping of their turtle-shell rattles, they entered the house and scattered ashes on the patient to drive away the illness. They were given gifts and special food in exchange for the curing ritual. A practical application of the concept of the sacred exists within the Iroquois’ agricultural tradition in the special designation given to the main foods of the Iroquois—corn, beans, and squash. They were known as “the three sisters,” and the people called them “our life” or “our supporters.” It was believed that each kind of food was originally brought about by supernatural causes, and it was
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the custom to offer the first harvest obtained to the particular spirit who controlled it. Festivals were held to honor strawberries, maple sap, green corn, and ripe corn. Feminine Aspects of the Sacred. For many Pueblo tribes, the source of the sacred, the spirit within everything, is seen as predominantly female. Many tribal people consider the power to make life to be the source of all power. Old Spider Woman, Corn Woman, Earth Woman, and Thought Woman—all are aspects of this female Creator, for out of thought all things are born. In her various aspects, woman makes all things sacred. Creative power, made visible in the mystery of birth, gives predominance in many tribes to the role of mother. Nor is woman’s power only life-giving; she also destroys. Born of Earth Mother, all life returns to her in death to complete the sacred cycle. Gale M. Thompson Sources for Further Study Allen, Paula Gunn. The Sacred Hoop. Boston: Beacon Press, 1986. Reprint. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992. Essays written from the perspective of a Laguna-Sioux Indian woman. Shows importance of Native American female deities to creation myths. Poetry, chants, and stories emphasize the significance of oral tradition. Detailed notes, extensive categorized bibliography, index. Beck, Peggy V., Anna Lee Walters, and Nia Francisco. The Sacred: Ways of Knowledge, Sources of Life. Redesigned ed. Tsaile, Ariz.: Navajo Community College Press, 1992. A comprehensive study of sacred ways. Incorporates numerous quotations from wellknown texts and from interviews with members of various tribes. Includes definitions within text. Suggests additional readings for each chapter. Photographs, illustrations, drawings, maps, and charts. Extensive bibliography, listing of films and filmstrips, index. Black Elk. The Sacred Pipe. Edited by Joseph Epes Brown. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1953. Narrative of teachings from Black Elk, holy man of the Oglala Sioux, from 1947 to 1950.
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Features story of the sacred pipe. Details the seven rites of the Sioux, including sweatlodge, vision quest, and Sun Dance. Photographs, illustrations, index. Brown, Joseph Epes. The Spiritual Legacy of the American Indian. New York: Crossroad, 1982. A collection of essays on the diversity of Native American spiritual heritages within the context of world religious traditions. Quotations, songs, chants, and myths. Chapter notes; map of North American culture areas. Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane. Translated by Willard R. Trask. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1959. Defines the opposition between two modalities of experience: sacred and profane, or real and unreal. Discusses sacred space and time; examines concept of nature as sacred. Compares Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Native American religions. Bibliography, index. Highwater, Jamake. The Primal Mind. New York: Harper & Row, 1981. A contrast of lifestyles and worldviews of American Indians with ideas and values of Western culture. Highwater redefines “primitive” mind and suggests the possibility of a potent blending of primal and Western thought. Bibliography, name and source index, subject index. Landes, Ruth. Ojibwa Religion and the Midéwiwin. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1968. An anthropological account of Ojibwa life in the 1930’s. Enhanced by narratives from two Ojibwa informants, a shaman and a visionary. Rituals, songs, and prayers of the Midewiwin. Photographs and illustrations. Glossary, bibliography, index. Appendices include dreams, birchbark, scrolls, rock paintings. See also: Bundles, Sacred; Calumets and Pipe Bags; Ethnophilosophy and Worldview; Religion; Religious Specialists; Sacred Narratives.
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Sacred Narratives Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Sacred narratives, important to tribal identity and reflecting tribal philosophy, tell of such things as the origin of the world, of the people themselves, and of certain ceremonies. The most ancient and sacred narratives are those that recount the origins of the earth and the development of its life forms. Many of these events also incorporate understanding of historical events such as migrations, establishment of clans, or the transition from hunting-gathering to an agricultural economy. Two major creation story themes are the earth-diver story and the emergence myth; these stories explain how the present world of human beings and society came into being, and both are widely distributed over North America. Earth-Diver Stories. Earth-diver stories tell of the creation or re-creation of the world. An Ojibwa (Chippewa) story provides an example. The great trickster/hero Wenebojo (or Manibozho) has, by failing to curb his instincts, caused a flood to cover the world; it has left him standing on top of a tree. Wenebojo sends down small animals to bring up a bit of earth, but the first ones fail. Finally, Muskrat floats up dead but with a grain of sand in each paw and in his mouth; Wenebojo breathes life back into Muskrat and then, flinging the grains of sand over the water, creates an island that will become the present world. The previous world was considered to be a different place, one which is now inaccessible to ordinary people. The story has been interpreted on various levels: a psychological/moral interpretation sees Wenebojo as Everyman, who must dive within himself to form his character; a symbolical/ historical exegesis notes that the story offers a symbolic union between Wenebojo and the earth, establishing the people belonging to Wenebojo as the appropriate dwellers in this particular place. Emergence Stories. Also distributed throughout the continent but most concentrated in the Southwest are emergence narratives
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of creation. These stories recount the travels of the people as they begin in lower worlds under the earth and move upward through succeeding levels until finally, with the help of powerful beings such as Hummingbird, they are able to squeeze through a narrow passageway such as a reed or hollow log into the present world. The number of underground worlds varies from story to story, as do the identities of the sacred helpers and the natures of the underground worlds. These are stories of evolution and progression, modeled on the processes of fetal development and birth, which also depict moral and social evolution. Typically, the people begin in a sorry state, sometimes blind or maimed, copulating and killing indiscriminately, and they learn human and humane behavior as part of their progress to the present world. Emergence stories establish the relationship of the people to their territory through the metaphor of being born from the earth; they also include migration stories and establish the origins of clans and tribal laws. Choctaw origin stories show many of these features: the Choctaw origin story tells of a migration from the southwest, from the great cultures of central Mexico, and of an emergence from a sacred burial mound at the center of their homeland along the Mississippi. Other Creation Stories. Emergence and earth-diver stories are well known and have been published in many versions and texts. Many other stories, equally profound, are less noted. For example, the creation myth of the Achumawi, a small nation living near Mount Shasta in northern California, is a story rich in insight, humor, and mystical understanding. The world emerges from a haze of mist and hills through the thinking and acting of mysterious beings Annikadel, Aether Man, Sun Woman and Moon Man, Coyote, Frog Woman and others. In many stories the first creator is a mysterious or remarkable being such as Annikadel, but in other cases the creator is a familiar creature, such as Grandmother Spider, who, in the Southwest, spins the world from her body and creates things by thinking of them and naming them.
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Trickster Stories. The figure of Coyote the Trickster has entered the folklore of the mainstream culture. Originally, Coyote, like the other trickster figures, was a being of supernatural power who determined through his various adventures the shape and function of the present world. Paul Radin’s publication of The Trickster (1956) and subsequent commentary by scholars such as Karl Kerenyi and Carl Gustav Jung made this figure one of the most familiar to nonIndians. The Winnebago trickster story is an extended meditation on the relationship between nature and society as it examines the possibilities and consequences of the behavior of purely “natural” man unmediated by any social structures. It has also been read as an allegory of development from immaturity and infantilism to something approaching adulthood, and it includes an account of trickster’s part in creating the world. The Winnebago trickster is a warrior; other beings that play the part of trickster in different tribes include, besides Coyote, Blue Jay, Raven, and Hare. Origins of Ceremonies. A great many sacred stories relate the origins of a religious ceremony. These stories often follow a pattern of infraction/punishment-exile/test/guidance/return. The protagonist breaks some rule or law, is punished by exile or even death, receives the guidance of supernatural beings in passing various tests, and eventually returns to the community with a ceremony or song that was learned on the journey and that will help the community heal and sustain itself. A highly elaborated example of one of these ceremonial origin myths is the story of the stricken brothers that underlies the Nightway, the most complex of the Navajo chantways. The journey theme of ceremonial origin myths has inspired contemporary writers such as Leslie Marmon Silko, whose novel Ceremony (1977) is structured as such a story. Helen Jaskoski Sources for Further Study Bierhorst, John, ed. The Red Swan: Myths and Tales of the American Indians. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1976.
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Bright, William. Coyote Stories. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978. Diné bahane: The Navajo Creation Story. Translated by Paul G. Zolbrod. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984. Hale, Horatio. The Iroquois Book of Rites. 1883. Reprint. Edited by William N. Fenton. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1963. Jones, William, ed. Ojibwa Texts. Edited by Truman Michelson. Publications of the American Ethnological Society 7, no. 2 (1919). Matthews, Washington, ed. The Night Chant. 1902. Reprint. New York: AMS Press, 1978. Radin, Paul, ed. The Trickster: A Study in American Indian Mythology. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1956. Reprint. New York: Schocken Books, 1972. Thompson, Stith, ed. Tales of the North American Indians. 1929. Reprint. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1968. See also: Ethnophilosophy and Worldview; Manibozho; Oral Literatures; Religion; Religious Specialists; Tricksters.
Salmon Tribes affected: Northwest Coast tribes Significance: The abundance of salmon in predictable spawning runs made them a critical food resource on the Northwest Coast. Salmon frequent the oceans off both coasts of North America, but Pacific salmon have had the greatest significance to American Indians. Pacific salmon (Oncorhyncus) are of five species: pink, chum, coho, sockeye, and chinook. All are anadromous, living primarily in the ocean and returning to fresh water to spawn. During those spawning runs, huge numbers of salmon surge upstream and can be caught with ease, usually with nets, weirs, or traps, but sometimes with spears, clubs, or even the hands. Salmon transformed the Northwest Coast Indian way of life. All salmon spawn primarily in the fall, though chinook spawn
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Salmon drying in an Alaskan Aleut village during the late nineteenth century. (National Archives)
almost year-round. Indians began coming to falls and rapids to capture salmon at least by 4000 b.c.e. By 1000 b.c.e. huge quantities of salmon were being caught, then dried and smoked for use throughout the year. Carrying the store of salmon through seasonal movements was no longer practical. Villages became fixed at or near good fishing spots, sometimes with a single year-round village, sometimes with separate winter and summer villages. Prosperity derived from salmon translated into great wealth, impressive arts, and material comfort. Chiefs controlled rights to particular salmon-fishing areas, consolidating their political power. Traditionally, all aspects of salmon usage were surrounded with rituals and taboos. Overfishing and obstruction of waterways by dams have jeopardized the future of both commercial and traditional salmon fishing by Indians. Russell J. Barber See also: Fish and Fishing; Pemmican; Weirs and Traps.
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Salt Tribes affected: All agricultural tribes Significance: Salt, a necessary nutrient, was used as a condiment by agriculturalists; the salt trade was particularly significant in eastern North America. Human beings require salt in their diets, and hunting-gathering people usually consume adequate amounts of salt through the meat they eat. Agriculturalists, however, typically consume less meat and are forced to use salt as a condiment. Salt was produced and traded extensively in prehistoric eastern North America after about 800 c.e. At Avery Island, Louisiana, for example, a salt dome was mined more or less constantly from around 800 to the mid-1600’s. The salt removed was placed in pottery jars and traded to agriculturalist tribes around the South and perhaps as far north as Illinois. Certain tribes, such as the Tunica, became prosperous through the salt trade. Salt also was produced by evaporation of briny water. This was particularly important in the Ohio Valley after about 1000 c.e. There, salty water was placed in distinctive broad, shallow ceramic vessels. After the water had evaporated completely, the salt crystals left behind were scraped from the bottom of these “salt pans.” Salt for the tribes of the Southwest mostly was produced by evaporation on the coast and traded inland. Wherever salt was used in native North America, there were taboos associated with it. Among the Pueblo peoples, for example, men had to abstain from consuming salt before participating in religious ceremonies in the kivas. Salt also typically was forbidden during rites of passage among many tribes. Russell J. Barber See also: Agriculture; Food Preparation and Cooking; Subsistence; Trade.
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Sand Painting Tribes affected: Apache, Arapaho, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Gabrielino, Luiseño, Navajo, Pueblo, Tohono O’odham Significance: Sand paintings are pictures made of finely ground sand derived from stone or other colored material; such paintings are at the center of the Navajo ceremonial system. Traditionally an impermanent art form between painting and mosaic, sand painting (or dry painting, as it is also known) has been used by American Indians of the Southwest and Plains for ceremonial and religious purposes. Little is known about sand painting done by tribes other than the Navajo, either because they did not do sand painting to a great extent, the paintings vanished from use, or they were never recorded. Navajo sand painting was borrowed from the Pueblos and altered to conform to the Navajo worldview. There are possibly as many as six hundred different sand paintings referring to different aspects or events in Navajo mythology, with every chant or ceremony having its own paintings. The paintings, representing the Navajo cosmological myths and events, are circular, semicircular, or rectangular in shape and are made in three major patterns composed with either a linear or radial emphasis or a dominant center motif. The design is surrounded on three sides by a guardian spirit, with the opening to the east. Designs are symmetrical overall but contain asymmetrical details. Motifs include plants, animals, astral bodies, and supernatural entities called “Yei.” Abstracted figures are shown frontally or in profile with full face. Traditional sand paintings are softly colored in tones of brown, red, blue, black, and gold on a tan background. In sand painting, the act of creating the painting is an essential element in the ritual use of the painting. The paintings are made by singers, also called chanters, with the help of many apprentice assistants, and are made from memory in a prescribed order. Left unfinished or incomplete, the paintings remain secular in nature. The
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paintings must be made completely and accurately in order to attract supernatural beings called “Holy People” to the paintings, making them sacred and efficacious to the ritual purpose. The final step occurs when the singer sprinkles the complete painting with sacred corn pollen. Immediately after ritual use, the paintings are destroyed to guard against misuse of the sacred power. Because of the highly sacred nature of sand painting, the Navajo long did not allow them to be observed or made by laymen or unbelievers. When the Navajo began to allow them to be reproduced in permanent form around 1900, it was only because there was a growing concern for preserving this aspect of Navajo life. By leaving them incomplete or inaccurate, they believed the sacred content would be protected because the Holy People would be prevented from infusing them with their power. Today, sand paintings are made and marketed by both Indians and non-Indians. The Indian Arts and Crafts Board has established
Two Navajo sandpainters in Ganado, Arizona. (Museum of New Mexico)
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criteria for authentic Navajo sand paintings in an attempt to designate as authentic only those sand paintings made by American Indians. Diane C. Van Noord Sources for Further Study Berlo, Janet Catherine. Native North American Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Congdon-Martin, Douglas. Navajo Art of Sandpainting. 2d ed. Atglen, Pa.: Schiffer Publishing, 1999. Parezo, Nancy J. Navajo Sandpainting: From Religious Act to Commercial Art. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1991. See also: Arts and Crafts: Southwest; Chantways; Hand Tremblers; Symbolism in Art.
Scalps and Scalping Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Scalping appears to have been a widespread custom of warfare that antedated European contact; it is often connected with spirit-keeping traditions. Scalping was a widely diffused warfare custom among many Indian tribes in the United States, Canada, and South America. Strong evidence suggests that scalping was an aboriginal custom predating the arrival of Europeans, although Europeans, particularly the French and English, did eventually encourage scalp taking and paid bounties to Indian allies for enemy scalps. Scalping seems to have become more widespread after the arrival of Europeans. The earliest European records carry accounts of scalping from widely different areas of the Americas. These European accounts express surprise at the practice of scalping, and they attempt to document and explain the ritualized customs connected with scalp-
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An eighteenth century English engraving of a warrior holding a scalp. (Library of Congress)
ing. Indian languages from many culture areas also contain extensive and precise language referring to the scalp, the act of scalping, and the victim of scalping. Also widely diffused among tribes is the common hairdressing practice of wearing a small braid or lock of hair on the crown of the head. This scalplock was often adorned with paint or ornaments which marked achievements or honors. Hair, because it continues to grow throughout a person’s lifetime, was commonly believed to be visual evidence that an individual’s
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soul or spirit was a living thing. It was a commonly held belief among many tribes that the scalplock was synonymous with a person’s identity or soul and so represented the metaphysical part of the individual’s being. Therefore, it was a grave insult to touch the scalplock casually. The physical act of scalping consisted of grabbing the braid of the scalplock with one hand and cutting a circle about two to three inches in diameter around the base of it with a knife; a quick jerk tore the scalp from the skull. Scalps were taken from dead and wounded enemies, but the act of scalping was not fatal. If a living person was scalped, the skin grew over the wound but hair did not. Among many tribes those who survived a scalping were feared, because the physical emanation of the soul had been taken. There were many elaborate customs connected with the taking and care of scalps, and these extended broadly across culture groups. A common practice was to stretch the scalp on a small hoop and then attach this to a long pole or to a bridle or an item of clothing. Most tribes who practiced scalping had a victory dance (often referred to as a “scalp dance”) in which the scalps were displayed and the scalp takers were honored for their bravery. Many tribes considered the scalp a living spirit of the enemy and therefore practiced spirit-keeping rituals. The spirit-keeping rituals varied from tribe to tribe, but essentially the scalplock was cared for because it represented the soul of the individual, a respected enemy. The scalplock was sometimes painted, washed, wrapped in a bundle, or buried on the battlefield. There is also evidence that among some tribes scalps were taken to desecrate a hated enemy because they would forever wander on this earth if they died an unwhole person. Carole A. Barrett See also: Grooming; Tomahawks; Torture; Warfare and Conflict.
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Sculpture Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Sculpture, whether in wood, pottery, stone, or—in more recent times—various metals, has been an important part of American Indian cultural expression. Native American sculpture represents a deep belief in rhythm, balance, and symmetry. For example, arrow and tool points from some twelve thousand years ago demonstrate admirable craftsmanship and a blending of form and function. Modern Native American sculptors embrace tradition, spiritual legends, and naturalistic symbols, combining these ideas with their own emotion to join feeling and design. In the Hohokam culture (dating between 700 and 900 c.e.), carved bone objects were used for body ornamentations such as hairpins and armbands; designs included geometrics, birds, and animals. Clay figures decorated jars, and petroglyphs were distributed throughout the Southwest. The subject matter of the petroglyphs is fairly consistent: curvilinear patterns, geometric designs, and numerous life forms. Humans often appear sitting or standing, playing the flute, throwing a spear, or dancing in groups. Skills in sculpture were passed down through the generations. As new materials became available and new techniques developed, each generation contributed interpretations and innovations. Regardless of their background, most contemporary Indian sculptors take pride in their ancestry and turn to traditional culture for inspiration. One problem that arises from this approach is the issue of using sacred objects in designs. Sculptors must decide where to draw the line between artistic freedom and the violation of their tribe’s spiritual essence. A variety of sculpture exists in contemporary Native American art. Designs in alabaster, brass, bronze castings, porcelain, clay, black soapstone, limestone, and cottonwood (often used for kachinas and Shalakos) are only some of the materials being used. Subject matter is equally varied. Native American cultures share
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the idea that humans should live in harmony with nature. Motifs of almost every natural element—the sun, plants, animals—appear from ancient times to the present, and depictions of everyday life as well as more ceremonial matters are common. Kimberly Manning Source for Further Study Berlo, Janet Catherine. Native North American Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. See also: Art and Artists: Contemporary; Arts and Crafts: Arctic; Arts and Crafts: Southwest; Effigy Mounds; Metalwork; Petroglyphs; Pottery; Symbolism in Art; Totem Poles.
Secotan Tribe affected: Algonquian Significance: Secotan is perhaps the most familiar of all American Indian villages. The village of Secotan (or Secoton) was immortalized by the English watercolorist and first governor of the English colony on the island of Roanoke, John White, who visited this Indian town on July 15 and 16, 1585, as part of Grenville’s exploration of the Pamlico Sound. Many of White’s now famous watercolors of native life in the region of Roanoke Island are depictions of scenes from Secotan. Through the years, his painting of the village probably has been the most frequently reproduced depiction of any native subject. The painting indicates that this Algonquian village consisted of eleven houses, several fields, charnel house, dance ground, paths, and communal fires and cooking areas. It was an open village, not enclosed by a stockade wall. Corn, tobacco, and sunflower were growing unmolested by wildlife, as the fields were watched over by a person on a stand. Secotan was the westernmost town of the
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Wingandacoa, or Secotan, whose leader was Wingina and whose territory was bounded by the Pamlico River and Albermarle Sound. The Secotan had been at war with their southern neighbors, the Pomouike of the Neuse River, just prior to the visitation by the Grenville party. Unfortunately, more is known about the spatial arrangement of activities inside the village, because of White’s painting, than is known about where the village was located. Several Englishmen mention the village during the era of the Roanoke voyages, giving a fairly good idea of its general position south of Roanoke Island and saying that it was the most southerly of their explorations. The town itself was situated on the Pamlico River. A sketch map executed by an unknown artist in White’s party placed Secotan on the north shore. The White map of Raleigh’s Virginia shows Secotan to be on the south side of the first large river south of Lake Mattamuskeet. David Quinn’s exhaustive study of the documents pertinent to the Roanoke voyages of 1584-1590 reconstructs Grenville’s journey to have taken the group up the Pamlico River past the Pungo River then right up Bath Creek, where they visited Cotan, back across the Pamlico and up Durham Creek to Secotan, which he would place at present-day Bonnerton, North Carolina. The possibility of “Cotan” and “Secotan” being the same village has been advanced in the past and should not be dismissed. Several archaeological projects have attempted to locate the famous village along either shore of the Pamlico River, with almost every new researcher proposing a new location. Attempts were made in 1954, 1955, 1965, 1968, and 1980, although only in the latter two projects was the area targeted by Quinn searched. As a result of these projects, all candidates for the historic village have been eliminated with the exception of one on the north shore of the Pamlico River. Cheryl Claassen See also: Architecture: Northeast.
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Secret Societies Tribes affected: Widespread but not pantribal Significance: Secret societies performed important political and religious functions within a tribe. No secret societies existed in the Plateau or Great Basin. They seem to be associated with cultures with true political organization and relatively complex socioeconomic institutions. Though kinship was on occasion a reason for one’s membership, acceptance was based on invitation, apprenticeship, and initiation rites. During initiation, the novitiate might be abducted by men disguised as spirit monsters and taken to a secluded area, where he would undergo a metamorphosis and acquire a tutelary spirit. Rarely did an individual belong to more than one secret society. Membership was usually voluntary, and sometimes a fee would be paid, as with the Ojibwa. Members instructed the neophyte in the religious meanings of their rituals, and membership was believed to ensure a long and successful life for members. Recruitment in some societies was based on replacing a deceased member. Among some Plains secret societies, membership was achieved by exceptional acts of bravery or military accomplishments. Some groups, like the Kwakiutl, would wear elaborate costumes with concealed animal bladders filled with blood, which was released at the appropriate time during initiations. Members used masks representing various spirits or animals, some elaborately carved, painted, and even articulated—the outer mask would open to reveal an inside mask, indicating the individual’s spiritual transformation. With many secret society members, once they assumed the garb of a particular animal or bird, they were then empowered with that animal’s unique characteristics of sound and motion. Secret society rituals were invariably staged within sacred dwellings or chambers, which sometimes served as dormitories, where members kept their religious paraphernalia. Performances were heightened through the use of hidden speaking tubes in the wall, or through the use of tunnels with trap doors for a sudden appear-
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ance of an actor, or by the presence of suspended articulated animals or birds worked by hidden cords. The most dramatic ceremony was when a person would be possessed by a cannibal spirit and commit mock anthropophagy by eating a small, smoked bear corpse representing a human. Hallucinogens were sometimes used for spirit flight and prophetic predictions. Secret societies were internally graded or ranked, and served specific functions for the group, such as influencing central political control, training shamans, curing disease, particularly in ceremonies, and instructing in mythology and religion. Matters of weather and the occurrence of economically important animals were the ritual concern of certain secret societies. Affiliation further served to integrate members and afford them status with their peers. Some secret societies originated after European American incursion, probably as a response to deculturative effects, but they were not true nativitistic movements. John Alan Ross See also: Military Societies; Social Control; Societies: Non-kinbased.
Serpent Mounds Cultures affected: Adena, Hopewell Significance: Earthen mounds, whether effigy mounds, burial mounds, or temple mounds, are especially prevalent in North America from western New York State through the Great Lakes region and down the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys to the Southeast. It was estimated early in the twentieth century that there were ten thousand mounds in the Ohio Valley alone, but many have been lost to farming, construction, fortune hunters, and even a few archaeologists. The mounds appear in a number of different configurations: Some are conical or sectioned triangles; others are effigies of birds, reptiles, beasts, and people. Perhaps the best known and
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certainly the largest effigy mound in North America is the Great Serpent Mound on Brush Creek in Adams County, Ohio. Scholarly conjecture about the identity of the Mound Builders of ancient America has held since early in the twentieth century that the Great Serpent Mound was produced during the Adena cultural tradition, roughly between 1000 b.c.e. and 700 c.e. (The name “Adena” comes from the name of the estate of Thomas Worthington where, in 1901, William Mills excavated a mound and found many significant artifacts.) The Great Serpent is 1,254 feet long, 20 feet in average width, and 4 to 5 feet in average height. The earthen serpent has a writhing, circuitous shape with seven coils in its long body and a triple-coiled tail. Its jaws are wide open, holding an oval figure that might be a frog, an egg, or a moon or sun symbol. A serpent symbol is prevalent in many cultures, but since there is no oral or written tradition to describe either the Mound Builders or their purposes in fabricating the mounds, it remains problematic to establish with any certainty the cultural use of the serpent mounds. The enlarged head creates a natural oval embankment that could be variously used as a fireplace or altar or as a place of community meeting, ritual, or worship. The Great Serpent Mound has been preserved for posterity. In 1883, F. W. Putnam of the Peabody Museum, Boston, viewed the Great Serpent Mound when it still belonged to John Lovett, a farmer. When Lovett decided to sell his land in 1886, Putnam started a campaign to raise money to buy the land in order to preserve the mound. In 1887, on behalf of many (mostly Boston-area) contributors, the Peabody Museum purchased the Lovett farm, including the Great Serpent Mound. In 1888, complete with a turnstile and horse trough, the area opened as Serpent Mound Park. In 1900, the Peabody Museum deeded the land to the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society; it remains today as a state park. Richard Sax See also: Effigy Mounds; Mounds and Moundbuilders; Ohio Mound Builders.
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Shaker Church Tribes affected: Originally Skokomish; later most Northwest Coast tribes Significance: The Shaker Church of the Northwest Coast area, originating in the late nineteenth century, stresses healing and refraining from behaviors such as gambling and alcohol use. The Shaker Church is a native religious movement of the Pacific Northwest and western Canada that originated among the various tribes of the area surrounding Puget Sound in Washington State. This movement should be carefully differentiated from the more widely known historical movement, the “Shakers,” founded under the leadership of former Quaker Mother Ann Lee. This latter Shaker movement has very few adherents today (it tends to be associated with furniture styles and American folklore), while the Indian Shaker Church is still widespread among native tribes of the Pacific Northwest. The two movements have no historic or ideological connection, and the “shaking” itself is a different phenomenon in each group. The Shaker Church began as a result of the visions of John Slocum but was supplemented by the activities of his wife, Mary Slocum, who contributed the ritual movements that gave the church its “shaker” name. Research by H. G. Barnett recorded a number of versions of the events leading to the founding of the Shaker Church, but a general description can be made. In 1881, John Slocum, a Skokomish (Coast Salish) Indian living at Mud Bay, Washington, appeared to die after spending many years involved in gambling and alcoholism. Many descriptions report that he said that he ascended into heaven, spoke with God, and was instructed to begin a new renewal movement to save the Indian people. The message appeared to involve a preparation for the second coming of Jesus Christ and demanded of his listeners that they stop gambling and give up alcohol. It was also suggested that the dead relatives of the Indian people would soon be restored. He was sent back to his
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body, where he began to awaken in the presence of family and friends who had gathered to mourn his death. His resurrection amazed his family and was the initial motivation for the starting of the movement. It is often said that Slocum immediately asked for a church building to be constructed, where he began to preach and teach the message that he believed he had been given. After a period of time, Slocum himself returned to his previous lifestyle and went through another episode of near-death. During his long illness (or, in some versions, a second death), his wife Mary went to a riverbank to get some water; while there she was overcome by bodily shaking. When she returned to John’s side, it was seen that her shaking was associated with John’s recovery, and the shaking became a part of the movement at that time. This shaking was associated with healing power, and healing became one of the central activities of the adherents of the Shaker movement. The movement spread rapidly among Northwest tribes, and adherents faced opposition and harassment by missionaries from other Christian denominations. There were also internal difficulties. The movement has experienced some divisions, based on both personalities and doctrine. In 1946, for example, a branch that asserted belief in the Bible broke away and called themselves “Full Gospel” to differentiate themselves from the Shaker Church, known among believers as the “1910 Shakers.” The latter group maintains that the Bible is not central to its religious practice. The movement asserts itself as a uniquely Indian movement, and whites are typically not invited to participate. Clearly part of Slocum’s original vision was the restoration of Indian rights in the face of increasing white control of land. In 1855, tribes in the Puget Sound area had ceded all claims to their traditional lands and accepted reservations in return. The slow decline of many of the Northwest tribes resulted. Today, the central tenets of the Shaker Church are the importance of the events of John Slocum’s life and the significance of his message, and God’s gift to the Shaker people of the shaking and its healing powers. The latter is particularly important, as Shaker
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Church members value healing as historically one of the most important activities of the movement. The movement can be considered a Christian sect and may be seen as related to other native renewal movements such as the Ghost Dance religion and the Longhouse religion. As with those other movements, modern practitioners are chary of open discussions of the exact nature of the rites, rituals, and beliefs of the movement, particularly with non-Indians. Sources for Further Study Barnett, Homer G. Indian Shakers: A Messianic Cult of the Pacific Northwest. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1957. Ruby, Robert H., and John A. Brown. John Slocum and the Indian Shaker Church. Foreword by Richard A. Gould. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996. See also: Longhouse Religion; Native American Church; Religion; Visions and Vision Quests.
Shaking Tent Ceremony Tribes affected: Cree, Menominee, Montagnais, Ojibwa, other northeastern Canadian tribes Significance: The Shaking Tent Ceremony, a shamanistic tradition, was particularly important in Cree culture. The Shaking Tent Ceremony is practiced mainly by the Cree Nation in Canada. Although Cree religious life today is dominated by the influence of Christian missionaries, some aspects of traditional belief remain. Cree religion includes varying forms of belief in a central “great spirit” (Kitchi Manitu) and varying versions of a belief in a malevolent, evil spirit (Matci Manitu) who must occasionally be placated in order to prevent illness and other problems of social life. There are shamans who are practiced in various forms
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of witchcraft. One of the most prevalent features of Cree religious/ social life is the “Shaking Tent.” The actual tent is a structure reserved for this ceremony and storytelling. The ceremony is dependent on the context of shamanism as a major religious expression of the Cree Nation. A shaman figure would sit within a special tent erected solely for the ceremony, and the presence of various spirits would be perceived in the shaking of the poles and sides of the tent. Those who sought the help of the shaman in the shaking tent would typically be involved in an attempt to communicate with spirits, cure illness, or find the whereabouts of missing persons. A number of preparations were necessary to the ceremony, including fasting, praying, and a sweatlodge ceremony. Sometimes the shaman would participate in spectacular feats, such as escaping from fetters while hung upside down within the tent—attributed to the power of the spirits and the power of the shaman himself. The ceremony would involve hearing voices and discerning the spirits from the movement of the tent. The shaman would typically chant songs, sometimes revealed to him in dreams for his use in the ceremonies. The ceremonies were generally performed alone. Although mainly a Cree phenomenon, the Shaking Tent ceremony spread among the Cree, Menominee, Montagnais, Ojibwa, Ottawa, and Saulteaux nations of northeastern Canada. In European tradition, certain of the shamans gained fame or notoriety. Etienne Pigarouich, for example, was a seventeenthcentury Montagnais who converted to Catholicism in 1639 but often reconverted—to the considerable consternation of the local Jesuits, who recorded many stories about him. There are many recorded instances of Jesuit challenges to the reality of the Shaking Tent powers. Today, the Shaking Tent is still a feature of larger Cree social gatherings but often as a source of amusement rather than an occasion for awe at the power of spirits. Daniel L. Smith-Christopher See also: Religion; Religious Specialists.
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Shalako Tribe affected: Zuñi Significance: Shalako was a winter ceremony to mark the return of the supernaturals to the village, symbolizing the close relationship between the Zuñi and the spirit world. In the Pueblo ceremonial calendar, summer ceremonies stress agricultural abundance and rain, while in the winter, curing, warfare, and hunting ceremonies occur. The shalako ceremony takes place at the end of the ritual year, in late November or early December, before the winter solstice ceremonies. Shalako marks the annual return of supernatural beings to the village and reinforces the harmony of the Zuñi people with the spirit world. During Shalako, Zuñis have the opportunity to bargain with the supernaturals, calling upon them to cure illness or remove evil. During the ceremony, the Shalakos (six masked kachina figures) enter the village in a procession symbolizing the migration of the Zuñi to “The Middle Place,” or the world in which the people live. The Shalakos visit homes, where they are fed and spend the night, and where they hold a dialogue with the house owner, recounting the stories of creation and the migration of the Zuñi people. In the morning, the Shalakos return to their home in the west. Lynne Getz See also: Kachinas.
Shells and Shellwork Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Shells have a long history of use for ornamentation by native peoples of the Americas; the presence of marine shells inland implies social interaction between groups. The oldest shell objects in North America may be the local freshwater gastropod shell beads recovered at the Ervin site in Tennes-
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see, which are approximately seven thousand years old. Marine shells were modified as beads, cups, pendants, earspools, gorgets, hoes, and axes all across the eastern United States, where they largely appear as grave goods. Thirty-five species of marine shells (mostly gastropods) were utilized as beads during the Archaic period in western New York, for example. Most noteworthy are the gorgets and engraved shell cups of the Mississippian period, particularly those from the site of Spiro, and wampum used by Northeast tribes in historic times. In the western United States, shell beads appeared about four thousand years ago. Shell button blankets were important cere-
During the early twentieth century this Tolowa woman wears an apron decorated with shells. (Library of Congress)
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monial items in the Northwest. Shell jewelry and inlaid shell in the Southwest commonly consisted of the species Oliva, Olivella, Glycymeris, and Conus. Bracelets were the most popular jewelry form, followed by necklaces. Techniques for shellworking included incising, carving, abrading, mosaic, inlay, drilling, and etching. Etching was performed with a brew made from fruit of the saguaro cactus. The shell was covered with pitch to preserve a final shape, then acid was applied to the exposed shell. Etched shell was often painted. Among the Maya, shell symbolized death, south, zero, completion, and fertility. In North American beliefs, gastropod shells served as hiding places for the soul and deities. Shell could hold the soul and help purify decaying flesh. In some regions shell bead usage resembled the usage of money, and in many regions below the Arctic, shell beads were among the most valuable items a person could own. Dentalium among the Northwest Coast tribes was so central to the social organization that young men were instructed to dream of dentalium and to think of it when walking. In some cases the species of a shell is sufficient to indicate its origin. Shells excavated in southwestern sites came from the Gulf of California or the Pacific coast. Those from the Gulf of California were brought up the Gila River into Hohokam territory, then traded northward. West Coast shell followed several routes into the northern and southern Southwest. The route of the few shells which came from the Gulf of Mexico is not clear. There are dentalium shells from the West Indies present in Archaic sites in Alabama, and fossil dentalium shells were quarried and used in South Dakota. Pacific dentalium comes from local habitats. For the eastern United States, however, there are few species with limited habitats. There has been some success with chemically sourcing the Atlantic whelks of the Busycon genus, which has indicated origins for shells found in Kentucky, Missouri, and South Dakota as including both temperate and tropical waters. Other evidence suggests Tampa Bay and the coast of Veracruz as shell sources. Cheryl Claassen
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Source for Further Study Dubin, Lois Sherr. North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present. New York: Henry N. Abrams, 1999. See also: Dress and Adornment; Money; Mosaic and Inlay; Ornaments; Wampum.
Shields Tribes affected: Plains and Southwestern tribes Significance: From prehistoric times to the late nineteenth century American Indian warriors, principally those in the Southwest and Plains areas, carried thick rawhide shields into combat. Though the shield afforded some physical protection, its real protective powers were thought to emanate from the images painted on it. The shield was the most important object a warrior owned. History. Graphic evidence of the use of shields is found in prehistoric rock art on canyon or cave walls and boulders from southern Alberta and deep into the Southwest. The rawhide shields depicted in the rock art are large, thirty to forty inches in diameter, and are referred to as “walking shields.” They covered large areas of the carrier’s torso and were in use prior to the arrival of the horse among the North American tribes. After the horse came among the Southwestern and Plains people, the rawhide shields carried by warriors were considerably smaller, about 17 to 20 inches (approximately half a meter) in diameter. These shields were protective devices used by warriors, and they were believed to safeguard both the physical and spiritual well-being of the owner. Construction. Shields were made from the thick hump or neck hide of a buffalo bull and construction of the smaller war shields is well-documented. In some tribes, such as the Apache, there was a select group of men who were considered to have the ability to
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An Apache chief, San Juan, holding a shield and spear. (National Archives)
manufacture strong and powerful shields. However, in most tribes each warrior made his own shield, and it became one of his most important possessions throughout his lifetime. A man prepared carefully for making his shield and he often called upon his close female relatives and his fellow society members to assist him. While engaged in constructing a shield it was common for a man to dress in his society regalia, pray, and sing sacred songs. The actual manufacture of a shield involved stretching a green buffalo
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hide about twice the size of the finished product across a pit filled with hot stones and covered with a thin layer of sand. Within an hour the hide shrank to half its original size, and then the warrior worked to make it flat and smooth. Power and Use. The most important aspect of the shield was the unique design painted on it. This derived from the owner’s personal vision, and the selection of color and design elements was very important. Drawings on shields are highly symbolic. Once the image was painted onto the shield the article was said to be invested with the power of the vision, and it was believed this would provide protection to the owner. Commonly men attached objects to their shields such as golden eagle feathers, small medicine bundles, strips of cloth, or tiny brass hawk bells. Each item had symbolic meaning to the owner and was thought to enhance the power of the shield. If the owner had a vision of a bear and he painted that image on his shield he was said to have the help and power of the bear each time he engaged in warfare. Most shields could provide protection against arrows, lances, and bullets from muzzle-loaded rifles; however they were not good protection against higherpowered munitions. Nonetheless, warriors carried them into battle, because they believed the real protection came from the spirit invested in the shield, not simply from the physical object. If a man was wounded or killed in battle while carrying his shield the people believed he had made some human error, but the power of the shield was still very strong. A warrior who carried a fine shield into battle often became the target for a coup, because it was evident that such a man had much power and it would be a great honor to touch him in battle. Ownership of a shield often meant an individual had to observe certain taboos, and men came to understand these prohibitions through their visions. Sitting Bull received direction that he was not to eat food handled by women other than his wives or mother. Other owners of shields could not eat buffalo heart or food touched by metal, for instance. A warrior’s face paint and the way he painted his war horse usually reflected the image and the colors
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on his shield. Men who owned shields believed they provided protection, and in return they observed any restrictions that came with ownership. Warriors had to be sure their shields never touched the ground, and when the men were in camp they attached their shield to a sturdy tripod which they placed outside on a sunny day and turned to the west. It was believed the shield could absorb power from the sun as well as provide protection to the warrior’s family. Because the images on the shield were sacred and powerful, the owners often made a buckskin cover to hide the face of the shield. The covers often had symbolic designs painted on them, but these differed from the sacred images on the shield itself. Because the most sacred and potent possession a warrior possessed was his shield, it was placed with him at the time of his burial. It was believed that the shield would provide final protection to him as he journeyed into the next world. Carole A. Barrett Sources for Further Study Dyck, Paul. “The Plains Shield.” American Indian Art Magazine 1, no. 1 (1975): 34-41. Irwin, Lee. The Dream Seekers: Native American Visionary Traditions of the Northern Plains. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994. McCoy, Ronald. Circles of Power. Flagstaff: Museum of Northern Arizona, 1984. Mails, Thomas E. Mystic Warriors of the Plains. New York: Doubleday and Company, 1972. Powell, Father Peter J. “Beauty for New Life: An Introduction to Cheyenne and Lakota Sacred Art.” In Evan M. Mauer, The Native American Heritage. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1977. Wright, Barton. Pueblo Shields. Flagstaff, Ariz.: Northland Press, 1976. See also: Guardian Spirits; Sacred, the; Symbolism in Art; Visions and Vision Quests; Warfare and Conflict.
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Sign Language Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: In North America, sign language facilitated communication and economic transactions among groups which spoke different languages, and it served additional purposes in some cultural settings. Sign language is a nonverbal communication utilizing movements of the hands or body to convey meaning. In many areas of the world, such as Africa or Australia, sign languages were used by hunters to communicate hunting strategies silently to one another. In northeastern Mexico, Texas, and western Louisiana, sign language almost certainly predated European contact, since there are several early historical accounts of its use. A late seventeenth century journal entry of explorer Pierre le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville records the use of sign language among the Bayogoula and other unnamed groups along the lower Mississippi River. Additional accounts of communication by signs were written by early traders. It seems likely that the sign language used in these areas diffused northward into the Plains. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the use of sign language continued to spread through the Plains and across the northern Plateau, as described in articles in D. Jean Umiker-Sebeok and Thomas A. Sebeok’s Aboriginal Sign Languages of the Americas and Australia (1978). Among the Plains peoples, the Kiowa generally were deemed to be early users of sign language. The Kiowa occupied different locations at different time periods, but in the nineteenth century they were hunting bison in the southwestern Plains. Therefore aboriginal accounts uphold the thesis that sign language diffused from south to north and may have originated in the Gulf Coast region. The Plains sign language is better documented than that of other areas, and the meanings of many signs were recorded; in the Southeast, on the other hand, the signs were lost at an earlier date. In addition, for the Plains area, information concerning the social context of sign language was recorded. For example, many nine-
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teenth century reports indicate that signs were used primarily by Plains Indian men, although some women also knew the signs. Many Plains groups used signs in a variety of social contexts, such as during storytelling or intimate conversation among family members, in addition to recognizing its value for conversing with outsiders who did not speak the same language. Susan J. Wurtzburg See also: Language Families; Oratory; Trade.
Silverworking Tribes affected: Navajo, Hopi, Zuñi Significance: Silverworking among the tribes of the Southwest is a highly developed art and a major source of income. The art of working with silver has been practiced by a variety of Native American peoples. In what is now Peru, Chimu and Sican silversmiths were master artisans long before the arrival of the Europeans. The Inca, who became politically dominant in Peru, learned silverworking techniques from the craftsmen of these other nations. The Native American groups of North America generally learned work with silver from the Europeans. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, most of the nations of the Northeast Woodlands had taken up the techniques of silversmithing introduced by the European colonists. They worked mainly with coins, hammering these to flat sheets. Brooches were the most common pieces of silver jewelry, but the artists of the Northeast also made earrings, rings, combs, headbands, and other pieces. The Navajo, Hopi, and Zuñi peoples of the North American Southwest developed the most sophisticated and best-known traditions in the art of working with silver. These three groups are responsible for about three-quarters of the Native American silver jewelry in North America. As in the Northeast, it is a relatively
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new art, introduced to by the Spanish, who dug silver mines in Mexico. The Navajo are believed to have been the first in this region to take up working with the metal. During the 1850’s, the Navajo artisan Atsidi Sani is believed to have learned his craft from a metalworker from Mexico and to have passed his knowledge on to his four sons and then to other Navajo. Native silversmiths began
A late nineteenth century engraving of Indians working in a silver mine in Chihuahua, Mexico. (The Institute of Texan Cultures, San Antonio, Texas)
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to make rapid progress in the late 1870’s, after the Navajos went back to their reservation following several years of captivity by the U.S. Army at Fort Summer. By the time Atsidi Sani died, in 1918, silversmithing had become an established art form in the Southwest. The smith known as Atsidi Chon is said to have taught the craft to a Zuñi named Lanyade. In turn, Lanyade is believed to have taught a Hopi named Sikyatala. The Navajo style involves placing fairly large turquoise stones in a relatively large quantity of silver. Today, the squash blossom necklace with a crescent pennant, the concha belt, and the ketoh bowguard may be the best-known pieces of Navajo silverwork. The Hopi tend to use little turquoise, relying primarily on silver overlay for decoration. The Zuñi frequently place small, elaborate settings of turquoise, jet, and coral in their silver. Native American silverworking techniques and materials have become more sophisticated over the years. Before 1940, the artists used sandpaper or abrasive powders to polish their work. After that date, mechanical buffing wheels came into wide usage. In the nineteenth century, coins provided the silver, with Mexican coins preferred to the coins of the United States due to the higher silver content of the former. During the twentieth century, sheet metal became the commonly used material. Carl L. Bankston III Sources for Further Study Cirillo, Dexter. Southwest Indian Jewelry. New York: Abbeville Press, 1992. Dubin, Lois Sherr. North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present. New York: Harry N. Adams, 1999. Jacka, Lois Essary. Navajo Jewelry: A Legacy of Silver and Stone. Flagstaff, Ariz.: Northland, 1995. See also: Arts and Crafts: Southwest; Gold and Goldworking; Metalwork; Ornaments; Turquoise.
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Slavery Tribes affected: Widespread but not pantribal Significance: Before European settlement, slavery helped determine status within many Indian societies; after European settlement, Indian slavery became an important economic institution and significantly influenced Indian-white relations. Slavery, a social institution which existed in most human societies before the twentieth century, was practiced by many native North American cultures. Aboriginal Slavery. All forms of slavery exist to bring honor and power to the master. Before contact with Europeans, American Indian societies did not envision status and power in economic terms, and slavery was not primarily a system of labor. Aboriginal Indian bondage brought power and honor to the master through his absolute domination of a living being. Most Indian slaves were acquired as war captives, and their enslavement was viewed as a substitute for death in battle. As a replacement for actual death, Indian slavery became a living “social death.” The war captive forever lost his status as an independent person and became an appendage of his master’s will. The loss of status was marked by rituals of dishonor. The heads of slaves were often shorn as a symbol of dishonor. Among the Tlingit of the Northwest Coast, female slaves were not allowed to adorn themselves with facial decorations. Slaves were often renamed to dishonor them and to sever connections with their lineage and past. The Nootka gave their female slaves insulting names. The Cherokee and Iroquois word for “slave” was also used to refer to dogs, cats, or other nonhuman living things that were owned. The master’s absolute power reached its highest level in the Pacific Northwest, where Indians often killed their slaves while mourning dead family members or celebrating important ceremonial occasions.
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Slave Trade. European settlement changed Indian slavery into an economic institution. The Europeans needed laborers to develop their colonies and often purchased Indian slaves. An elaborate Indian slave trade system eventually spanned the North American continent. Each of the European nations which colonized North America participated in this system. In the 1640’s, the Dutch colonists of present-day New York purchased slaves from the Indians and sold them to European colonies in the West Indies. Beginning in the late seventeenth century, French traders from Canada purchased slaves through Illinois middlemen. By the 1720’s, French traders from Louisiana were conducting a thriving trade for Indian slaves with the Pawnee and Osage. Some slaves worked on French plantations in Louisiana; others were resold to the French West Indies. Russian settlers in Alaska began using Aleut and Eskimo slaves in the 1790’s. Slavery caused a rapid decline in the native population, prompting the Russians to purchase slaves from the Fraser Valley and the region surrounding Puget Sound. The Spanish and English conducted the largest trade in Indian slaves. In the 1530’s, Spanish traders from Mexico began purchasing Indian slaves in the American Southwest. Although the Spanish government outlawed Indian slavery in the sixteenth century, the laws were often violated. By the mid-seventeenth century, the Spanish trade had expanded to the American Great Plains. During the eighteenth century, Taos in present-day New Mexico became an important trading center for Indian slaves. As late as the 1850’s, the Taos-based slave trade remained active as the Utes sold their captives to Mexico. The Apaches, Comanches, and Pueblos were most often the victims of the Spanish slave trade. The first Indians enslaved by the English were war captives, seized by Virginians in battle in 1622. Subsequently, every English colony used Indian slaves. By the 1670’s, the English slave trade reached far into the interior of North America through Indian intermediaries. At a time when English settlement extended only 100 miles beyond the Atlantic Coast, the English slave trade reached beyond the Mississippi River. English colonists purchased
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slaves originally captured in Illinois, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Most of the English slave trade funneled through the Carolina colony. From Charleston, Indian slaves were sold to New England, New York, and the West Indies. Some slaves were kept in the Carolina colony, and in 1708 Indian slaves constituted nearly 15 percent of the Carolina population. The trade in Indian slaves significantly influenced diplomatic relations among Indian nations. Because most Indian societies obtained their slaves from war captives, the economic demand for Indian slaves caused some tribes to wage war solely for the purpose of acquiring slaves. European colonies and Indian nations formed several military alliances to obtain slaves through warfare. English, Spanish, and French colonists often sold their own Indian war captives to the West Indies. Decline of Indian Slavery. During the eighteenth century, Indian slavery declined as whites came to prefer African slaves. Indian slaves were increasingly hard to obtain because of the rapid decline of the native population from new diseases borne by white settlers. Whites also found it difficult to prevent Indian slaves from escaping in their own native land, and Africans provided more efficient labor because of their familiarity with large farms in Africa. The enslavement of Indians often created tension with nearby Indian societies and led to diplomatic difficulties for European colonies. Nevertheless, the use of Indian slaves by whites was surprisingly long-lived. There were still some Indian slaves in Louisiana and Rhode Island during the 1770’s, in Massachusetts during the 1790’s, and in the American Southwest during the 1850’s. Black Slavery Among the Indians. During the early nineteenth century, the international market for cotton caused the rapid expansion of white settlement into lands inhabited by southeastern Indian nations. Responding to this development, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek nations also turned to commercial farming and began to use black slave labor. Even after their forced migration to the Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma during
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the 1830’s, these Indian nations continued to use black slaves. By 1860, black slaves made up 14 percent of the population in the Indian Territory. During the Civil War, many Indian slaveholders supported the Confederacy against the Union. After the Union victory, the U.S. government required the abolition of slavery among the southeastern Indians, which was accomplished by treaty in 1866. Harold D. Tallant Sources for Further Study Bailey, L. R. Indian Slave Trade in the Southwest. Los Angeles: Westernlore Press, 1966. Gallay, Alan. The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South, 1670-1717. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002. Patterson, Orlando. Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982. Perdue, Theda. Slavery and the Evolution of Cherokee Society, 15401866. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1979. Schneider, Dorothy, and Carl J. Schneider. Slavery in America: From Colonial Times to the Civil War. New York: Facts on File, 2000. Starna, William A., and Ralph Watkins. “Northern Iroquoian Slavery.” Ethnohistory 38, no. 1 (Winter, 1991): 34-57. Washburn, Wilcomb E., ed. History of Indian-White Relations. Vol. 4 in Handbook of North American Indians, edited by William Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988. Wiegers, Robert P. “A Proposal for Indian Slave Trading in the Mississippi Valley and Its Impact on the Osage.” Plains Anthropologist 33 (May, 1988): 187-202. See also: Adoption; Captivity and Captivity Narratives; Warfare and Conflict.
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Snake Dance Tribe affected: Hopi Significance: The Snake Dance promotes harmony between the Hopis and the universe and facilitates a bountiful supply of food, rain, and good hunting. The Hopi tribe believes itself to be an integral and interrelated part of nature and the universe. All parts must be kept in harmony, balance, and equilibrium. If the tribe upsets this balance, then it will suffer catastrophe. The Snake Dance is one of several Hopi ceremonial dances that facilitate this harmony and balance. It also enhances correct succession of the four seasons, an abundant supply of food and rain, and a profitable season of hunting. The Snake Dance is performed in late August each year. A solar observance that begins about four in the afternoon, it is held in different villages during odd- and even-numbered years. The dance is an open ceremonial; visitors may attend and observe. The dance is preceded by extensive preparation. Males of the snake and antelope fraternities leave their kivas in paint and costume. They go into the desert in each of the four directions for four days to gather snakes. The snakes are placed in a cottonwood tower, or kisi, in the center of the village plaza. A wooden plank covering a hole in the ground sits in front of the kisi and symbolizes the entrance to the underworld, or sipapu. Antelope priests line one side of the plaza to await the arrival of the snake priests. Upon arriving, the snake priests jump on the sipapu and so announce to the underworld gods the commencement of the snake dance. Dance rattles made from gourds are vibrated to imitate the rattlesnake, and a chorus sings. At the end of the song the snake priests, who have lined up along the side of the plaza opposite the antelope priests, break up and regroup in threes. As they pass by the kisi, one is handed a snake by a priest hidden in it and places the snake in his mouth. The second member places his arm over the shoulder of the snake bearer and controls the snake if necessary. The third member walks behind.
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Each snake priest dances a circle four times. He then drops the snake to the ground, and the third member picks it up. Depending on how many snakes have been caught and how many priests participate in the dance, a priest may repeat the dance several times with different snakes. When all the snakes have been danced with, they are dropped onto a circular design made of corn meal drawn on the ground. The snake priests then grab several snakes and run from the village into the desert to release them. The antelope priests jump on the plank so that the underworld knows the ceremony has ended, and the village then celebrates for four days. Laurence Miller See also: Dances and Dancing; Pow-wows and Celebrations.
Social Control Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Social control among Indian tribes was maintained by mock battles, ridicule, gossip, public beatings, and execution, among a variety of other means. All Native American tribes had definite rules of behavior and strict concepts of what constituted permissible and antisocial behavior, as defined by the group’s established norms. These norms, or mores, were traditionally accepted rules based on a peoples’ religion and were long established through oral history as a “given way” for individual and group behavior, if the group was to survive. Admittedly, as in warfare and certain types of intergroup theft, ingroup behavior could differ from how one interacted with nontribal or non-aligned people. In fact, one could acquire certain status by violating the property of an antagonistic individual of an enemy group, or even taking the life of an enemy. As with most unicentric political and legal systems, social control resided within the kin group and in daily face-to-face associa-
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tion with other village or band members. It was generally assumed that an extended family would resolve its conflicts privately. For example, among the Illinois, a man could punish his wife’s adultery with mutilation or death. Once a conflict escalated and became public, however, the village or a council would intercede in an effort to restore harmony by resolving the family’s problem. Social stability was favored; in-group antisocial behavior was deemed dysfunctional, interrupting basic survival tasks or leading to ongoing conflict. Despite the usual involvement of the group with adjudication, there existed what is termed “self-help,” or right of direct reprisal, often in the cases of murder, wife-stealing, or theft. For example, among the Inuit, when an individual was found guilty of a serious crime, a man was publicly executed by stabbing; a woman was publicly strangled. Certain crimes of a public nature, ones detrimental to a group’s welfare and tribal authority, often were reviewed by a council, chiefs, or, in some instances, by elders who gave advice and assistance in resolving moral transgressions and secular crimes. These leaders and advisers seldom had absolute power or the force to implement any decisions, but relied upon their office and prestige for settling transgressions and grievances, serving as mediators without coercive prerogatives. Consequently, legal decisions usually reflected the group’s consensus of opinion. Among most Plains tribes, however, particularly during communal bison hunting, military societies were a real force who possessed undisputed authority to maintain uniform communal action, disciplining men whose individual actions jeopardized the hunt. The guilty man’s weapons, property, and horse could be confiscated. Witchcraft was a major crime, resulting usually in the accused’s death. Accused sorcerers likewise could be assassinated without repercussions by the accused person’s kin group. One accused of murder may provide the family of the deceased with wampum, or be expiated by other forms of compensation, depending upon the tribe. The bereaved family may refuse compensation, however, and could retaliate in kind without condemnation. An incorrigible
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thief could be killed with no fear of retaliation, for vengeance was rare and usually the offended family accepted compensation. Among some Northwest Coast tribes, local feuds or accusations were settled by payment of traditional forms of wealth or by staging mock battles to resolve conflicts, sometimes “capturing” and holding as hostage high-ranking individuals. Many bands and tribes feared actions and retaliations that could lead to feuds, which usually meant counteraction and breaches, and could lead to excommunication or segmentation of a kin group if an equitable settlement was not reached. The methods of social control differed cross-culturally, but the most effective means were through threat of sorcery or witchcraft, ridicule, consensus of opinion, mock battles between groups, gossip, excommunication, execution, public beatings or whippings, and even threats of serious illness or spiritual death. The Inuit employed song duels to ridicule their adversaries and engaged in public fistfights and wrestling, but withdrawal also remained an effective means of conflict resolution. Delinquent adolescent Native American children could be ostracized, mocked, or simply ignored. Traditional native legal systems began to disintegrate in many northerly groups with the advent of the fur trade. Throughout North America, traditional native legal systems changed drastically through tribes’ confinement to a reservation system, European American-induced religious and sociopolitical factionalism and the accompanying breakdown of clan and general kinship structure, replacement of traditional leaders by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and general dominance by a multicentric European legal system. John Alan Ross See also: Clans; Humor; Kinship and Social Organization; Political Organization and Leadership; Witchcraft and Sorcery.
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Societies: Non-kin-based Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Non-kin-based societies provided American Indians with a sense of prestige, position, identity, and fraternity; ceremonies presented and supervised by the societies renewed tribal unity and traditions. Traditional American Indian societies had a wide variety of societies whose memberships were not limited to relatives or fellow clansmen. Non-kin-based societies served many functions for their membership and the tribe as a whole. These social organizations provided members with friendship, prestige and a sense of identity outside the family unit. Many societies supervised and/or performed public ceremonies that entertained, recounted tribal legends, celebrated traditions, and increased tribal unity. Many societies existed for more than one purpose and did not fit into a single category. The lines defining different societal classifications, membership qualifications, and responsibilities were often intertwined. Membership qualifications were as varied as the number of societies. Memberships were based on personal achievement or ability, common beliefs, age, occupation, inheritance, or even a physical feature. Though a few societies accepted women, most memberships were restricted to adult males. Medicine Societies. Medicine societies were the most widespread of Indian societies. Medicine society membership included shamans and curers considered to have special curative powers and/or contacts with the spiritual world. These societies usually met secretly and exchanged information regarding the curative powers of various rituals and plants. These clandestine meetings ensured that an element of secrecy and mysticism would cling to the society’s curative powers. Each society possessed its own songs, dances, rites, and medicines particular to its area of expertise. Many medicine societies were formed to cure specific illnesses. Others contained experts in a particular treatment. The
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northeastern Little Water Society used water to cure the sick. The Plains Blood Doctors practiced bloodletting. Membership requirements differed. Some candidates applied to a shaman for instruction. Others were recruited. Several societies accepted members who had been afflicted by and cured of a malady the society treated. Other members joined as a result of a dream directing them to become a member. Members sometimes belonged to more than one medicine society. Most members of the northeastern Shake the Pumpkin Society belonged to other medicine societies. This practice increased the expertise and prestige of the principal society. As a group, medicine societies presented ceremonies believed to strengthen their medicine and cure the ill. During these celebrations, society members often demonstrated their remarkable powers. Members of the powerful Hopi Bear Shamans appeared to eat a human liver without harming the victim. Members of the Iruska Fire in Me Society, which treated burns, displayed their powers by walking on hot coals. Medicine societies sometimes existed for reasons other than curing ill members of the tribe. Many medicine societies were in charge of annual celebrations and religious rituals. Curer societies of the Pueblo Indians were also responsible for the general welfare of the tribe. Pueblo curers were in charge of providing sufficient rainfall and ensuring fruitful harvests and healthy domestic animals. The Hopi Powamu Society possessed powers to make maize and beans grow. The headmen of the three Cochita Pueblo Indian medicine societies, the Flint, Giant and Shikami, chose important officials for the tribe, including the War Captains. The prestigious Kwakiutl Cannibal Society and the Hopi Agaves Society were in charge of initiating young males into the tribe. Warrior Societies. Warrior and hunting societies were most prevalent in the western half of the United States. In many tribes, a man was not considered an adult until he was initiated into one of these societies. Most tribes had more than one warrior society. A
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single-warrior society usually boasted the bravest fighters, and rivalry among the societies was common. Membership requirements varied from tribe to tribe and society to society. Warrior society membership was usually voluntary. Every adult male in the Southwestern Hopi tribe became a member of the Hopi Warrior Society. Some societies had to be applied to; others required an invitation. Some societies required the accomplishment of a special feat or act of bravery for membership. Laguna Pueblo warriors had to return with an enemy scalp to become a member of the Scalp-Takers. Two Cheyenne warrior societies allowed women to participate in feasts and dances. Among the Cheyenne, boys between the ages of thirteen and sixteen, with some exceptions, could choose which society they wished to join. Most chose to enter their father’s warrior society. Candidates were rigorously trained for membership and then initiated in an elaborate celebration that often lasted several days. Feasts were given by the new warrior or his parents to celebrate. Warrior society members gathered prestige through courageous actions in raids and warfare. They were expected to be brave in battle and not allowed to leave the battlefield alone. Members of the Sioux Sacred Bow Society were expected to fight to the death. Age sometimes placed conditions on the society a candidate could join or affected their rank within the society. Teen members might still be considered in training. Older warriors could retire from the society or become inactive members. Some societies were formed specifically for older members, like the Sioux Chief’s Society or the Crow Muddy Hands. The Mandan Dog Society had three strata to accommodate different age groups—the Little Dogs, Dogs, and Old Dogs. Some warrior and hunting societies were temporary, formed for a specific purpose. When the Pawnee decided to conduct a raid, a Wolf Society was formed. The wolf was the spiritual patron of warfare and members of the society modeled themselves after their spiritual guide by covering themselves in wolfskin when going into battle. A Wolf Society raid was led by any man who presented himself as leader, usually an outstanding warrior. The leader could
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call off the raid at any time and was expected to be bravest in battle. Anyone wishing to follow the party smoked from a sacred pipe. Priests blessed the group through special prayers and ceremonies. Sacred bundles and special foods were carried to secure their power. Successful or not, the society disbanded when the party returned. Warrior societies also performed ceremonies that demonstrated their power and recounted stories of the warriors’ successes and failures. The dances and rituals purified society members and renewed the power of warriors and their weaponry. Each society had its own songs, dances, body paint, and regalia. The Horse Dance of the Great Basin not only honored the society’s guiding spirit, but rallied support and increased tribal unity. Some warrior societies provided other services to the tribe. The Blackfoot Prairie Dogs acted as an internal camp police force. At times, the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers, which contained up to half of the Cheyenne warriors, controlled tribal politics. Older members of the Warrior or Scalp Society guarded Pueblo Indian medicine society meetings. Ceremonial and Secret Societies. Ceremonial and secret societies were the keepers of tribal history, legend, and customs. The rites and celebrations performed by these societies entertained and renewed tribal identity, heritage, and pride. Some ceremonial societies developed into religious movements. Many of the secret societies of the Northwest coastal culture region were formed as prestigious, ritual dance fraternities. Members performed an elaborate series of dances at feasts, potlatches, and ceremonies. These dances were inspired by powerful spiritual beings encountered by the society’s ancestors. Dancers dramatized the spiritual encounter, its possession of and exorcism from the societal elder. Dancers of the Northwest coast utilized elaborate masks, rattles, costumes, and body paint and performed amazing physical feats during ceremonies. The Kwakiutl Cannibal Society appeared to eat human flesh. Members of the Fire-Throwing Society swallowed or walked on hot coals.
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Northwestern secret societies usually had strict membership qualifications and were often stratified. Nobles were allowed to join higher grade societies. The Wakashan and Bella Coola secret societies required individuals to inherit or marry into the right to be initiated. The Bella Coola Sisaok Society was restricted to relatives of certain chiefs. Women were allowed to participate in the lower dances, but there were no secret societies exclusively for women. Tribesmen could join as many societies as desired and societal memberships were proudly displayed at feasts and public ceremonies. Ceremonial presentations performed by the Bella Coola Kusiut included demonstrations of their supernatural powers. Young male candidates for the Kusiut, or Black Face, Society were forcibly recruited. Masked Society members grabbed potential candidates, painted their faces black and took them to a secret hut outside the village for instruction on the methods used to deceive audiences. Any nonmember who discovered the society’s secrets was either initiated or killed. Any member who divulged society secrets was killed. The Midewiwin, or Medicine Lodge, Society of the Northeast was one of the most influential in the region. The Midewiwin Society began as a nativistic medicine society and later controlled many aspects of tribal life. The Midewiwin Society officiated at many feasts and celebrations. Members of the Mide priesthood were the keepers of tribal traditions, history, mythology, and legends. They possessed knowledge of curative plants, medicine bundles, and other objects that hurt or healed. Midewiwin Society practices varied among the different tribes. Among the Chippewa, Midewiwin membership began when a person became ill or dreamed he should join the society. The candidate then sought advice from a Midewiwin priest who agreed to instruct him. Substantial fees were required and were sometimes paid in the form of blankets and pails. Candidates were expected to host a number of feasts. During a period of training, candidates learned the society’s curative secrets, stories, and songs. At initiation, new members received birchbark scrolls with pictographic
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representations of Mide songs and Mide bags containing healing herbs. The Ottawa and a few other tribes allowed women to join their Midewiwin Society. Spiritual Societies. Spiritual societies protected their tribe from evil spirits and delivered the gifts of kind spirits. Dances and rituals performed by the society worshiped and glorified the spirit world and warded off wicked spells. Members were often considered shamans because they had the ability to keep evil spirits at bay. The Plains Bundle Societies existed to honor sacred bundles that had been given to the tribe or society as ancient gifts from the stars. Members of the society were not only responsible for the physical sacred bundle but the legends and ceremonies surrounding it. Sacred bundles ensured successful raids, hunting, warfare, and the well-being of the tribe. Separate societies were formed around each bundle. Candidates for membership in a Pawnee bundle society, such as the Horse, Brave Raven, or Those Coming Behind societies, had to undergo tests specific to the bundle society before initiation. If the candidate failed the test, he was forever barred from that bundle society, but he could apply to others. Those who could not pass any test might form their own society. Some societies were formed by members who shared similar spiritual guides, such as the Iroquois Bear, Buffalo, and Otter societies. Society rituals glorified and gave thanks to the society’s spiritual mentor, who provided food and materials for the tribe. Society members often took on characteristics of their spiritual animal and imitated its traits at ceremonial dances. Male or female members of the California Kuksu secret societies were held in high regard by other members of the tribe. Kuksu ceremonies recreated gods, ghosts, spirits, and sacred times prior to the creation of man in order to renew the spirit of the tribe. Candidates were invited to join based on birthright or personal achievements. Candidates underwent strenuous rites of passage and instruction before initiation into the society.
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The southwestern kachina societies honored the ancient spirits of the various kachinas believed to live in the mountains and lakes surrounding the tribes. Kachinas were kind, benevolent, funloving, and sometimes comical creatures who provided the tribe with many of their needs. Society members impersonated kachina characters in their dances and retold stories of their lives, adventures, and kindnesses in order to cure the ill and ensure a good harvest. The Iroquois False Face Society, so named for their use of masks, existed to counteract witch societies believed to be in league with the Evil Spirit. Members were people who dreamed they should join and left when they dreamed they should. The society was proficient at curing nosebleeds, toothaches, swellings, and eye inflammations, as well as at protecting the tribe from evil spirits. Miscellaneous Societies. Additional societies included the Contraries of the Plains, Great Basin, and Southwest tribes. If a Sioux Indian dreamed of clowns, it was a sign he should join the Heyoka or Thunder Dreamers Society. Members talked and walked backward. They ate scalding hot food and complained that it was too cold. The Crow Contraries, or Crazy Dogs Wishing to Die, was a more serious, and usually very temporary, society. Members were motivated to join by feelings of desperation resulting from the loss of a relative or personal embarrassment. Crazy Dogs also did ordinary things backward. Members painted themselves in black war paint during peacetime or ignored an enemy attack on their camp. Crazy Dogs also performed “courageous” deeds in battle, however, coming closest to the enemy and usually dying first. A few tribes had Berdache societies. Society members were men who dreamed or decided they should take on the role of a woman. After a ceremony in which they were initiated by the other sex, they dressed and acted as women. Among some tribes, berdache were considered powerful shamans. Others took a berdache with them into battle because they were considered good luck. Several tribes had women’s societies or allowed women to
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join men’s societies. Female members usually did not acquire the same status or privileges as male members. Women were allowed to become active members of the Californian Kuksu secret societies. Plains Indians had Shield Bearer Societies for the mothers and wives of great warriors. Normally, women were not allowed to touch weaponry, but Shield Bearers were allowed to carry weapons during special ceremonies. Other women’s societies acknowledged skill in artistry. The Plains Indian Quill Workers were women adept at weaving with porcupine quills. Non-kin-based societies suffered as a result of population declines, acculturation, and dispersion of tribes. Memberships dwindled, and many societies dissolved. Other societies have witnessed a resurgence in popularity as a result of interest in renewing tribal heritage and tradition. Midewiwin ceremonies are still practiced in the Northeast when tribes gather. A number of Native Americans consult medicine society members to cure illnesses, and many of the kachina and warrior society dances are still performed. Leslie Stricker Sources for Further Study Laubin, Reginald, and Gladys Laubin. Indian Dances of North America: Their Importance to Indian Life. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1977. Describes ceremonial rituals performed by North American Indians. Details dances, costumes, and ceremonial objects used and the meanings behind their use. Murie, James R. Pawnee Indian Societies. New York: The Trustees, 1914. Vol. 11, part 7, in the series Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, published by the museum’s trustees. This work details Pawnee societies as well as other aspects of Pawnee life. Oswalt, Wendell H. This Land Was Theirs: A Study of North American Indians. 7th ed. Mountain View, Calif.: Mayfield, 2001. This work takes representative tribes from each culture area and describes their spiritual life, social relations, subsistence activities, technology, and history. Sturtevant, William C., gen. ed. Handbook of North American Indi-
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ans. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 19782001. This multivolume set is an excellent reference for every aspect of North American Indian tribal life. It also includes maps, charts, and photographs. Underhill, Ruth M. Red Man’s Religion: Beliefs and Practices of the Indians North of Mexico. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965. Details the origins and beliefs of many North American tribes from each culture area. Describes songs, dances, prayers, and rituals practiced and the societies in which they were practiced. Wissler, Clark. Societies and Ceremonial Associations in the Oglala Division of the Teton-Dakota. New York: The Trustees, 1912. Vol. 11, part 1, in the series Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, published by the museum’s trustees. Gives insight into Plains warrior societies by concentrating on the Oglala Sioux. See also: Clans; Hamatsa; Husk Face Society; Kuksu Rituals and Society; Midewiwin; Military Societies; Secret Societies; Women’s Societies.
Spirit Dancing Tribe affected: Salish Significance: Male members of the Salish tribe danced the Spirit Dance to communicate with their personal spirits. Spirit dancing was practiced by male members of the Salish tribe, a group of Indians living along the Northwest Coast. The reason for this dancing was to welcome the visitation of a participant’s spirit. Since the Salish people believed that the spirits were on the other side of the earth during the summer, the visitations were always in the winter, when the tribal members had more time for leisure. Whenever a spirit paid a visit to a person, that person would begin to sing his spirit song, while others would join in as they
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learned his particular song. In addition to this singing, the person undergoing the visitation would have his face painted. He would then sing and dance wildly around a fire within the confines of his house. As he danced, he uttered low moans and glanced about as though he were in a trance. Spectators helped to ensure that the dancer, in his frenzy, did not hurt himself by running into the posts of the house or jumping into the fire. Ruffin Stirling See also: Dances and Dancing; Music and Song.
Sports Mascots Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Indian mascots, logos, and names for athletic teams are widespread in the United States, and with the rise of Native American activism ignited controversy in the 1970’s and again in the 1990’s. Many saw such names and mascots as dehumanizing and proliferating misunderstandings about Indian peoples; others maintained that Indian mascots honor Indian people and the strength of their cultures. History. Professional and collegiate athletic teams began adopting Indian mascots and names toward the end of the nineteenth century and early in the twentieth century when football and baseball became important pastimes in the United States. In many instances, the team names were drawn from historic tribes who had lived in the geographic locale; other teams drew the names from romanticized ideas about Indians. During this period many wellrespected historians and social scientists predicted that Indians would soon vanish as a race. Indian populations were dwindling due to poor health conditions and difficult economic conditions on reservations. On most reservations in the west and southwest deaths exceeded births, and it seemed that the predictions would soon be true—Indians as racial and cultural groups would soon cease to exist. This incited romanticism and nostalgia for the “no-
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ble red man” along with a interest in Indian lifeways, customs, dress, and histories. Such interest translated into team names intended to memorialize and honor Indian warriors and their fighting spirit. Many teams, professional, amateur, or collegiate, created highly romanticized and fictional stories of tribal customs and even tribal names. Over time many tribal cultural traditions and customs were highly embellished, and among other things, mascots began to beat drums, dance and leap around, mimic scalping, whoop and yell, and wear odd clothing. Indians did not vanish, but the fascination with Indian mascots, nicknames, and logos continued to grow, particularly among institutions of higher education and professional or amateur teams. Cleveland’s baseball team became the Indians in 1914. Previously they were known as the Naps after legendary second baseman Napoleon Lajoie. During the 1930’s, as intercollegiate sports rivalries deepened, numerous colleges and universities renamed their teams and adopted Indian mascots. As examples, Arkansas State University dropped their nicknames Aggies or Farmers and officially became the Indians, and the University of North Dakota abandoned Flickertails, the name of the state bird, in favor of the Fighting Sioux. Most teams invented their Indian mascots, which had little or no connection to any tribal group. Controversy. During the 1970’s, the civil rights movement brought heightened awareness of racial and ethnic issues, and American Indian groups began to raise issues about the inappropriateness of the Indian mascots, their antics during games, and their mockery of Indian people and culture. In 1972 the American Indian Center of Cleveland, Ohio, launched a $9 million lawsuit against the Cleveland Indians for its insulting and stereotypical logo, Chief Wahoo. This prompted some college and university campuses to reevaluate their Indian mascots and halftime shows depicting Indian culture. Eventually, some schools changed their mascots in response to student and faculty protest. The Dartmouth Indians became the Big Green, the Stanford Indians became the Cardinals, and the Syracuse Indian mascot, the Saltine Warrior, be-
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came the fruit Otto Orange. Over the years many universities have retired their Indian mascots. Professional sports teams have been the target of protests and lawsuits enjoining them to discontinue using a particular Indian mascot, logo, or nickname because it is derogatory and harmful. In 1992 seven prominent American Indians brought suit against the National Football League and petitioned the United States Patent Office to cancel federal trademark protections. The basis of the lawsuit was that the name Redskins is insulting to American Indians and causes them to be regarded with contempt. In 1999 a federal panel of judges ruled on the side of the Indian plaintiffs in this case, Harjo et al v. Pro Football, and found cause to cancel the federal trademarks. The case was appealed by team owners. The Road to Reform. The protests over the Washington Redskins rekindled the issue of Indian mascots on college campuses, and there were calls to drop all such mascots. Typically, at universities pressure to change Indian mascots originated with student groups or faculty on the grounds that such mascots were perpetuating inappropriate, inaccurate, and harmful images of living people, their cultures, and their histories. Opposition to changing Indian mascots tended to come from the Greek societies, alumni groups, and school administrators and trustees, who appealed to the sense of tradition at the school and asserted that Indian mascots honor Indian people. In many instances, alumni groups pressured their alma maters, threatening to withdraw monetary support if school mascots were dropped. In 2003, more than eighty institutions of higher education maintained Indian mascots, logos, or nicknames. The activism surrounding the mascots had led universities to tone down raucous halftime exhibitions, ensure that mascots were dressed in attire appropriate to the tribe represented by the mascot, and develop sensitivity courses for the athletes. Today a number of institutions of higher education offer scholarships to American Indian students. At most schools with an Indian mascot, there are unresolved controversies.
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Innumerable elementary and high schools still have teams with names such as the Braves, Warriors, Indians, and so on, and these too have been challenged. The states of Michigan, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have asked all schools in their states to rename teams, retire their mascots, and redesign their logos. School districts have also mandated change in some areas. Schools in Los Angeles, Dallas, and other locales have replaced their Indian mascots. Within American Indian communities the mascot issue is controversial. For many Indian people, economic development, tribal sovereignty, and education are more important issues, and this group tends to resist becoming embroiled in the mascot controversy. Other American Indian people believe that the controversies surrounding mascots speak to basic cultural and human dignity, and they are convinced that until all Indian mascots and nicknames are dropped, they will not be able to advance their rights in other areas of life. Carole A. Barrett Sources for Further Study King, C. Richard, and Charles Frueling Springwood, eds. Team Spirits: The Native American Mascots Controversy. Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 2001. Sigelman, Lee. “Hail to the Redskins? Public Reactions to a Racially Insensitive Team Name.” Sociology of Sport Journal 15 (1998): 317-325. Slowikowski, Synthia Sydnor. “Cultural Performances and Sports Mascots.” Journal of Sport and Social Issues 17, no. 1 (1993): 23-33. Spindel, Carol. Dancing at Halftime: Sports and the Controversy over American Indian Mascots. New York: New York University Press, 2002. See also: Stereotypes.
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Squash Tribes affected: All agricultural tribes Significance: One of the earliest domesticated foods in North America, squash was widely eaten and used for implements. “Squash” covers a variety of related plants, divided into the hard squashes (including pumpkins and many gourds) and soft squashes (such as zucchini). Hard squashes can be stored for several months and have high sugar content; they were domesticated in Mesoamerica and diffused to North America at least by 4500 b.c.e. The soft squashes are bountiful but somewhat less nutritious and impossible to store simply. Recent research suggests that soft squashes were domesticated in Arkansas around 1000 c.e. Hard squashes were eaten baked or boiled, and their seeds usually also were eaten, either raw as snacks or ground into flour. Soft squashes usually were eaten boiled, often as part of stews. While squashes were used primarily for food, they also were important for the making of tools. Hard gourds provided ready-
Image not available
Preserved squash seeds. (Payson D. Sheets)
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made bottles; a hole was drilled, the seeds were removed, and a stopper was added. Slightly more ambitious cutting created spoons, ladles, cups, and other implements. Left completely intact, a gourd will dry, and its seeds will separate from the shell, creating a natural rattle. The early spread of squashes may have been hastened by the exchange of rattles, since the dried seeds remain viable for many years. Russell J. Barber See also: Agriculture; Beans; Corn; Food Preparation and Cooking; Subsistence.
Star Quilts Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Star quilts, which feature elaborate and colorful eightpointed designs, are a fixture of American Indian life in many culture areas of the United States and Canada, particularly among the Plains tribes. Star quilts play an important role in modern Native American life. These quilts are made to give away in traditional ceremonies to honor individuals such as high school graduates or veterans; babies are wrapped in star quilts made by grandmothers and aunts; those participating in rituals such as making-a-relative or vision quests wrap up in star quilts made specially for the occasion; and star quilts form a source of economic development for some women who make them to sell. Traditionally, Plains tribes used buffalo robes as blankets, as robes for protection against the cold, and as tipi liners. The robes were elaborately decorated with intricate painting and quillwork. Customarily, men painted realistic scenes on their robes, often depictions of their exploits in battle, while women painted geometric designs. One of the most prized of the women’s designs was the war bonnet motif, a series of diamonds arranged in concentric circles.
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Native Plains women may have been introduced to quilting through mission schools and churches. As part of their missionizing effort, churchwomen taught Indian women how to sew and sponsored quilting bees. When Indian children were placed in boarding schools, Native American girls were taught quilting techniques. The star quilt designs are a series of diamonds arranged in a large and colorful eight-pointed pattern reminiscent of the war bonnet patterns on the robes. Plains Indian women therefore seem to have adapted their traditional designs for use in making the star quilts. Traditionally, the most skilled women artisans among the Plains tribes were honored for their craftsmanship and were invited to become members of women’s societies. During the large summer encampments, these women’s societies sponsored feasts and put on displays of their work. The most gifted artisans were highly acclaimed by both male and female tribal members. About 1880, in the early days of the reservation period, Indian women also began to display their quilts at annual summer church gatherings, much as they had displayed their earlier quillwork and beadwork. The best quilters were admired for their sense of design and artistry. By this time, animal hides, especially buffalo hides, were scarce, so the Plains women’s ability to incorporate their designs into quilts served to extend their cultural traditions. Star quilts replaced the hide blankets used to wrap babies; children now stood on star quilts rather than buffalo hides when they received their Indian name. The quilts were also given as gifts to honor individuals on special occasions or for notable accomplishments. Quilting became a significant part of early reservation life and facilitated extension of many of the old traditions into reservation life. Making quilts continues to be an important part of many contemporary native communities, and the women who make them are deeply respected and admired by their people. Carole A. Barrett See also: Blankets; Gifts and Gift Giving; Hides and Hidework; Missions and Missionaries; Weaving; Women; Women’s Societies.
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Stereotypes
Stereotypes Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Outmoded stereotypes of Native Americans have long dominated various media; these stereotypes may affect public policy as well as individual perceptions. Stereotypes are generalizations concerning groups of people. Because they are commonly based on false or incomplete information, they are frequently inaccurate. A central problem with stereotypes is that behavior toward individuals may be based on stereotypical assumptions concerning a group to which they belong, which means that people may be penalized (or occasionally rewarded) for traits which they as individuals may not in fact possess. Such behavior is manifestly unfair, and for this reason it is important to understand stereotypes concerning Native Americans and to correct these misconceptions. Stereotyping of American Indian groups is not a recent phenomenon, and it is not confined to non-Indian stereotyping of Indians. Many Indian groups’ names for themselves simply mean “the people” in their native tongues. Outsiders, however (including other Native Americans), often used names for them which were considered derogatory, such as Eskimo (said to mean “eaters of raw flesh”) or Atakapa (“eaters of people”). Traditionally, many Indians considered those who did not speak their languages or share their cultural norms to be less than human. In anthropological terms, such behavior is called “ethnocentric,” a reference to people’s tendency to esteem their own culture and denigrate those of others, describing others’ behavior as deviant or inappropriate. Early European Stereotyping. With the arrival of Europeans in the Americas, additional stereotypes emerged and were soon recorded in various media. The first stereotypes appeared in the print media, such as literature, journalism, and government archives, and visual media, such as drawings, paintings, and photographs. Later came film and video images and aural recordings of
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music and spoken dialogue. Since the Europeans and their descendants in the Americas maintained extensive written and visual records, most studies concerning stereotyping of Native Americans concern the historic period. The earliest historic descriptions of “New World” cultures were written by the Spanish about peoples of the Caribbean and Central and South America. They did not describe the Aztec and Maya as possessing different but worthwhile cultural traits; rather, Spanish narratives characterized them as lacking Christianity and “civilization.” These distinctions allowed the Spanish to place native populations in a category apart from Europeans and to justify their own horrific treatment of aboriginal peoples. The later colonization of North America by the English and French (among others) incorporated the assimilated Spanish preconceptions. The terms “Indian,” “savage,” “infidel,” “barbarian,”
An engraving from a sixteenth century German history book that falsely depicts the character of Native Americans. (Library of Congress)
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and “heathen” were widely used by the seventeenth century English to identify a large number of different Native American cultures and to treat them all as members of the same group. The French used the term sauvage for the same purpose. This collapsing of individual and cultural differences into broad generalizations was typical of the colonial period in North America. Such mental templates occasionally justified illogical policies, such as plans to relocate different cultural groups onto the same tract of land. The planners did not seem to recognize, or did not care, that such policies often resulted in severe cultural conflicts. It was common (and, given the mindset of Europeans at the time, probably unavoidable) to describe Indians not simply as they were but in terms of their differences from Europeans; the differences were generally regarded as deficiencies. Europeans often evaluated Native Americans according to their own Christian moral code, dismissing as immoral behavior that which was perfectly appropriate and sensible within the distinctive cultures they were so judging. “Good” and “Bad” Indians. Colonialism gave rise to two general categories of Native American stereotypes that, with variations and refinements, continued for centuries: the “good” Indian and the “bad” Indian. These categorizations had far more to do with intellectual currents among Europeans than with Indian cultures themselves. If Europeans wished to criticize their own society, they often turned to accounts of American Indians, supposedly unspoiled by the artificiality and constraints of civilization, to demonstrate the deplorable state of European culture. These conventions are most apparent in eighteenth century French literature and philosophy, as in the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and his notion of the “noble savage.” Conversely, when Europeans wished to uphold the worth of their own social mores, they often called upon the stereotype of the Indian as dirty, wretched, and bloodthirsty to enhance, by comparison, the value of European society. Among early English colonists, Puritan publications such as captivity narratives had didactic and social motives, namely to
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trumpet the virtues of Christianity, to support Christian conversion of Native Americans, and to justify colonial settlements on Indian lands. The “good” Indian motif was not prevalent in America until independence from England. At that time, American literature with indigenous themes came to seem patriotic. American literary nationalism discovered the “proud and noble” Indian, and this theme was later incorporated into the works of painters and photographers. By the mid-1880’s, authors had turned their frontier obsession to cowboys. “Wild west” shows became a popular form of public entertainment, combining stereotypical images of cowboys, soldiers (“Indian fighters”), and Indians. Modern Times. With the arrival of the twentieth century, radio, films, and television continued to popularize various outdated views of Native Americans. A general misconception, still prevalent, is that Indian culture was timeless and unchanging until contact with the Europeans, at which time it was destroyed. This denial of both Native American history and survival suggests that the only true Indians existed before European contact and that their descendants somehow do not exhibit real “Indian-ness.” This type of misconception underlies accounts of North American history which describe white settlement as progress advancing across a huge expanse of seemingly unoccupied land and pushing the frontier west. Such accounts ignore native peoples as prime movers in their own right, and they deny the ethnicity and cultural diversity of a significant proportion of the North and Central American populations. Since the 1970’s, American Indians themselves, in addition to non-Indian scholars, have confronted these and other stereotypes. Through publication and educational reform, they work to break the pattern of ongoing stereotyping. Susan J. Wurtzburg Sources for Further Study Allen, Paula Gunn, ed. Studies in American Indian Literature: Critical Essays and Course Designs. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1983.
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Barnett, Louise K. The Ignoble Savage: American Literary Racism, 1790-1890. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1975. Bataille, Gretchen M., and Charles L. P. Silet, eds. The Pretend Indians: Images of Native Americans in the Movies. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1980. Berkhofer, Robert F., Jr. The White Man’s Indian: Images of the American Indian from Columbus to the Present. New York: Vintage Books, 1979. Hilger, Michael. The American Indian in Film. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1986. Howard, Helen Addison. American Indian Poetry. Boston: Twayne, 1979. Larson, Charles R. American Indian Fiction. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1978. Mihesuah, Devon A. American Indians: Stereotypes and Realities. Atlanta, Ga.: Clarity, 1996. Muñoz, Braulio. Sons of the Wind: The Search for Identity in Spanish American Indian Literature. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1982. Nichols, Roger L., ed. The American Indian: Past and Present. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992. Rollins, Peter C., and John E. O’Connor, eds. Hollywood’s Indian: The Portrayal of the Native American in Film. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1998. Washburn, Wilcomb, E., ed. History of Indian-White Relations. Vol. 4 in Handbook of North American Indians, edited by William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988. See also: Captivity and Captivity Narratives; Gender Relations and Roles; Sports Mascots; Women.
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Stomp Dance Tribes affected: Creek, Seminole Significance: Marking the beginning of the Creek and Seminole yearly ceremonial cycle, the Stomp Dance is an all-night dance first performed in the early spring, then repeated several times between spring and fall. Referring both to the nighttime dances held at the Square Ground (the physical center of religious and political life) and to a specific form, the Stomp Dance is a principal feature of Creek and Seminole ceremonial life. After purifying themselves by washing and drinking Hoyvniji, an emetic, men begin the Stomp Dance at the Square Ground, where a sacred fire is burning. Like most Creek and all Seminole ceremonial dances, the fire is a focal point for the dancing ritual. The Stomp Dance consists of a leader who begins dancing in a clockwise circle around the fire, inviting other experienced male dancers to join him. The dancers are accompanied by “shell-shaker girls” wearing leg rattles who provide the rhythmic background for the dance. After all the male dancers are participating, women are permitted to join them. A principal ceremonial feature of the dance is the sacrifice of meat, which is fed to the sacred fire. Stomp dances are performed in early spring, in May and June as preliminaries to the Green Corn Ceremony (the major ceremonial observance of the year), and also in August and September. Mary E. Virginia See also: Dances and Dancing; Green Corn Dance.
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Subsistence
Subsistence Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: In their thousands of years of residence in the Americas, Native Americans have obtained their food by various strategies. The Asians who crossed the Bering land bridge and became the first American Indians were hunter-gatherers, relying entirely on the plants and animals provided by nature for their food supplies. Over the millennia, their descendants developed a great variety of ways of gaining their livelihood, some continuing to exploit nature exclusively, some domesticating and cultivating crops, some herding domestic animals, and some combining these subsistence modes. Choices regarding what modes of subsistence to follow were neither capricious nor dictated by ignorance of other options: rather, they were rational decisions based on the advantages and disadvantages of each. The option that was chosen carried strong implications for the way of life, often leading a people down a path from which later departure was difficult. Hunting-Gathering. The hunting-gathering way of life was based on utilizing food sources as they occurred naturally. Berries were picked from the berry patches, but no berry seeds were planted to create new berry patches; deer were stalked and killed, but they were neither herded nor bred to intensify characteristics preferred by the hunter. Fish were netted, but they were not impounded in ponds for breeding and harvest. This simplified view of hunting-gathering overlooks some purposeful human modification of the environment. Indians in both the Northeast and California, for example, selectively burned areas, encouraging the growth of certain plants that colonize disturbed areas. Many of the weeds that first grow in burned areas were excellent eaten as greens and often bore starchy seeds that could be made into flour. Berry bushes also entered such areas soon after burning, and hunter-gatherers could take advantage of their fruits. Most important, deer (the most common meat source
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for North American hunter-gatherers) would find more browsing fodder in recently burned areas, and their numbers would increase. Burning, then, provided a measure of control over the foods that nature produced, encouraging the types desired by people; nevertheless, hunter-gatherers remained basically dependent on what nature offered. Dependence on nature did not limit the ingenuity of American Indian hunter-gatherers in designing and using technology to aid hunting and fishing. Clever traps and weirs captured game and fish while the hunter or fisher was doing something else; spearthrowing aids effectively lengthened the hunter’s arm in throwing a spear, increasing the power generated; plant poisons that stunned fish but did not render their flesh toxic to human beings were used widely in quiet stretches of rivers. In contrast, the gathering of plants remained labor-intensive, with few devices to improve its efficiency. Hunting-gathering provided a generally good life. Except in marginal environments such as deserts, hunter-gatherers typically could obtain a day’s food for their families with only a few hours’ work, leaving much time for other activities. The wide variety of foods eaten by most hunter-gatherers provided sufficient nutritional diversity to maintain good health. Hunter-gatherers found it desirable to move with the seasons, taking advantage of the seasonal abundance of one or another food source and settling near it for the period it was available; this movement ensured huntergatherers of clean, new quarters on a regular basis, again helping preserve good health. The requirements of hunting-gathering, however, placed some restrictions on American Indians following this mode of subsistence. Seasonal movements were necessary to take advantage of natural distributions of food sources over time and space; therefore, hunter-gatherers were limited in the amount of material items they could accumulate or transport. Duplicate tools could be made and stored at the different settlements in anticipation of next year’s return, but it was difficult or impossible to stockpile large quantities of food. This was a limitation in seasonal environments,
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such as northern regions where several months of winter saw limited food supplies and sometimes starvation. The limitation of available food for the lean season meant that populations could attain only moderate densities in most environments. The same problem meant that the number of people in a settlement could not be too large, since the surrounding locale could provide only so much food. Hunter-gatherers usually had relatively uncomplicated ways of governing themselves. Their leaders typically served at the pleasure of the community, and leaders rarely could do more than encourage people to follow the course of action they deemed appropriate. Hunter-gatherers usually had religions that stressed individual relations to spirits, and shamans often were the primary religious functionaries. Kinship relationships usually were patrilineal (traced through the male lines). Transition to Agriculture. While hunting-gathering was a successful way of life, the limitation on the amount of food available during the lean season was a serious one. Hunter-gatherers searched for ways to increase the amount of food they provided their families, but the limitations remained. Food scarcity in the lean season resulted in higher child mortality. Rarely did children starve, and parents usually tried to protect them from the worst shortages, but undernourishment resulted in lowered resistance to disease, and children probably bore the brunt of lean-season deaths. All peoples have realized the connection between seeds and plant growth. Hunter-gatherers doubtless turned to cultivating plants in an attempt to limit the problems of the lean season. Some of the earliest plant cultivation in the Americas is known from the Tehuacán Valley of central Mexico around 6000 b.c.e. Avocados and chili peppers were grown there by American Indians as an adjunct to hunting-gathering. These same Indians began growing corn by 5000 b.c.e. and beans and squash within the next few centuries. Not until 3500 b.c.e. or later, however, did these cultivators establish year-round settlements. Instead, they continued their
Primary Subsistence Types
Game Fish Wild Plants Cultivated Plants Both wild plants and animal foods Source: After Driver, Harold E., and William C. Massey, Comparative Studies of North American Indians, 1957.
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seasonal movements and emphasis on hunting and gathering nature’s bounty. Eventually, however, they became dependent on agriculture and placed their primary efforts in that field, utilizing wild plants and animals only as adjuncts to their agricultural produce. At this point, their ties to fields and storage facilities became greater than the benefits of seasonal movement, and they became sedentary. The same process that took place in the Tehuacán Valley occurred in many other places in the Americas, though at different times. Between 3500 and 500 b.c.e. in the Southwest, the same process of using a few cultivated crops as an adjunct to huntinggathering evolved into agricultural dependence; between perhaps 1200 b.c.e. and 800 c.e. in the Illinois Valley, a parallel process occurred. As people became dependent on agricultural crops, they no longer were satisfied to continue growing wild plants. Instead, they modified them, choosing those with the fastest growing season, the largest fruits or seeds, or the greatest resistance to drought. By selecting the seeds or cuttings of these individual plants, the next generation would have a higher frequency of the desired trait, and gradually the plant was modified. This is the selective breeding process used in modern agronomy to establish new varieties of crops, and it achieved tremendous success in pre-Columbian America. Over thousands of years, tiny cobs of corn no larger than a little finger were converted to the sausage-sized cobs of historic times; beans became larger and more drought-resistant; squash became larger and sweeter. The process of domestication was so successful that some crops, corn included, lost their ability to reproduce themselves without human intervention. Agriculturalists domesticated and cultivated a large inventory of crops in the Americas, including chili peppers, avocados, corn, squash, beans, sunflowers, tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, manioc, pineapples, and amaranth, a tiny seed crop eaten extensively in various places. The most important crops always were ones that could be stored effectively. In this way, agriculture helped reduce the problem of the lean season, and regional populations
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always grew at the onset of agricultural dependence. After a few generations, the ability to return to hunting-gathering probably was lost, since the higher population levels required the greater amounts of food that came with agriculture, especially during the lean season. At some point as agriculture became more important, people had to settle down. Moving from one place to another with the seasons became impractical, since carrying their supply of stored foods would require unreasonable amounts of labor. With this sedentism, people could begin accumulating larger amounts of material goods, and they could live in larger communities. These communities often found it desirable to have a leader who had greater authority than any individual did under the hunter-gatherer system. In some places, populations were large enough that the people submitted to leaders who wielded coercive power, permitting these chiefs to enforce their decisions. The ultimate in this development was the Aztec Empire of Mexico, with its divine emperor who had life-and-death power over every member of the empire. The relations between the sexes also changed under agriculture. Most hunter-gatherers assigned men the more dangerous task of hunting and women the more time-consuming chores of gathering plants, which typically formed the greatest part of the huntergatherer diet. Fishing might be assigned to either sex. As huntergatherers invested more in agriculture, women transferred their control of wild plants to domesticated crops. Fields often were controlled or even owned by women, who passed them on to their daughters. In this manner, the emphasis shifted in many cases to reckoning kinship primarily through women: matrilineality. A concern with the success of agriculture also began a greater focus on group-oriented religious ceremonies. Pastoralism. For reasons that are unclear, American Indians never domesticated many animals. In South America, llamas and other camelids were domesticated for food and transportation, but in North America and Mexico, only turkeys and muscovy ducks
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were important domestications. (Dogs probably had been domesticated by the time they crossed over the Bering land bridge with the first American Indians.) When Europeans came into the Americas after 1492, they brought a variety of domesticated animals with them, especially horses, cattle, and sheep. These provided North American Indians with the first opportunity to begin pastoralism, the raising of domestic animals as a primary mode of subsistence. The death and dislocations that accompanied the European conquest of the Americas kept most Indian groups from adopting pastoralism, but a few groups in the Southwest have done so successfully, notably the Navajo, some Apache groups, and the Tohono O’odham. The Navajo serve as the prime example of pastoralists, since they typically move with their flocks. They focus on sheepherding, and most rural Navajo family groups have at least a few sheep. The demands of these livestock mean that the family must maintain considerable flexibility. If the grass runs out, the sheep have to be shifted to new pasturage, and bad years mean many shifts. If circumstances are particularly bad, relatives must be called upon for assistance, and flexibility in reckoning kinship ties is important. The size of the household must reflect the size and viability of the herd, and a bad year may mean that the family splits up for a time. Pastoralists rarely can meet all their needs, and they usually have strong trading ties with settled agriculturalists. Because of this trade, some pastoralists may be able to accumulate a fair amount of wealth, at least enough to permit them to settle in a town and live off their profits. These individuals, called “ricos” among the Navajo, often abandon their former pastoralist ways. Culture Areas and Subsistence. In traditional times, North American Indians in certain portions of the continent shared similar lifestyles and patterns of culture. In part, these similarities were engendered by living as neighbors, interacting and communicating with one another. Other similarities, however, probably
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were more the result of similar modes of subsistence. In eastern North America, for example, Indian tribes shared considerable similarity. All tribes south of the latitude of central Maine were agriculturalists, relying heavily on corn, beans, and squash. All of these plants had been domesticated in tropical Mexico, and it had taken centuries for them to be transported this far and to be adapted to the rigors of the colder climate in eastern North America. These same plants had been adopted earlier in the Southeast, and population levels had risen, achieving higher levels there than in the Northeast. The largest towns in the Southeast before European contact were probably two or three times as large as their counterparts in the Northeast. As a result, many of the Southeast tribes had developed the chiefdom form of government, with a coercive leader. The Natchez, for example, had a single ruler called “the Sun,” who had total control over his subjects, though he could be removed from office for lack of bravery or other offenses. In the Northeast, government was less strong and intrusive, and leaders were more likely to lead by example than decree. The leadership of the Iroquois tribes, while more coercive than that of their Algonquian neighbors, was far less able to enforce an unpopular decree than were most leaders in the Southeast. Before the advent of Europeans in North America, the Plains tribes were mostly similar to Eastern Woodlands tribes. They were agriculturalists, carving farms out of the tough sod of the prairies and living in villages of rarely more than a dozen families. Their leaders led by example, and religious ceremonies largely were conducted by kin groups and voluntary societies. Kinship was primarily matrilineal. The coming of the Europeans, however, brought the horse, and it changed Plains life massively. Tribes formerly had hunted bison on foot seasonably, but the inefficiency of the process meant that this could not be relied upon as the primary means of subsistence. The horse, however, made bison hunting efficient, and most Plains tribes abandoned farming in favor of a new lifestyle based first on bison hunting and later augmented with raiding on neighbors and
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Europeans. As the tribes converted from agriculturalists to huntergatherers, they returned to reckoning kinship through the male line, and many group-oriented ceremonies became less central to the community. The Indian tribes of the Southwest before the coming of the Europeans fell into two groups: settled agriculturalists (the Pueblo peoples and the Pima and Tohono O’odham) and the mobile huntergatherers (the Apache, including those that later would become the Navajo) that lived in the areas between their settlements. The matrilineal agriculturalists lived in quite sizeable settlements, practicing group-oriented religious ceremonies and recognizing leaders who ruled by example. The hunter-gatherers exploited the foods of nature, traded with the settled peoples for corn and other goods, and occasionally took advantage of their mobility to raid the settled villages for goods. The Northwest Coast of North America is a great exception to the generalizations presented about the relationship between subsistence and way of life. Tribes of this culture area never adopted agriculture, but the Northwest Coast possessed great natural bounty, especially in terms of salmon and other fish. As a result, dense populations developed and settled into sedentary villages along prime fishing rivers. The control of fishing areas was largely in the hands of the chiefs, and they often developed considerable power over others, in part through their personal wealth, in part through the coercive power given them by the people. This is one of the few cases known around the world where coercive leadership has developed among a hunting-gathering society. In the far northern parts of North America, the growing season was too short to permit agriculture of any kind, and huntergatherers were the exclusive residents of these areas. The environment dictated small group sizes, great seasonal mobility, and the uncluttered government that is desirable under these characteristics. While hunter-gatherers typically gain most of their food from plants, far northern Indian tribes and the Inuit are exceptional. In this area, plants are few and the growing season is short, so people must resort to a diet dominated by animal flesh. Such a diet is
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likely to be short of vitamins, but the eating of internal organs, a major source of vitamins, helps offset that deficiency. Russell J. Barber Sources for Further Study Brody, Hugh. The Other Side of Eden: Hunters, Farmers, and the Shaping of the World. New York: North Point Press, 2001. An analysis of the beliefs, thought processes, and practices that differentiate hunters and farmers. Byers, Douglas S., ed. Prehistory of the Tehuacán Valley. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1967. This multivolume work provides great detail on all aspects of the archaeology of the Tehuacán Valley. Articles by Richard S. MacNeish summarize changes in subsistence, plant domestication, and associated adjustments in settlement size and seasonal movement. Flannery, Kent V. “The Origins of Agriculture.” In Annual Reviews in Anthropology 2. Palo Alto, Calif.: Annual Reviews, 1973. An excellent review of thinking on why agriculture developed and the adjustments it required from the hunting-gathering lifestyle. Emphasis is on agriculture in the Americas. Kupferer, Harriet J. Ancient Drums, Other Moccasins: Native American Cultural Adaptations. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1988. An overview of ten Indian tribes, approached from the viewpoint of the relationship between subsistence and culture. Accessible and nontechnical, but not very detailed. Lee, Richard B., and Irven DeVore, eds. Man, the Hunter. Chicago: Aldine, 1968. A classic collection of essays on hunter-gatherers around the world. They explode many myths—that huntergatherers work long hours, that they do not understand seed growth, and so forth. The articles by Suttles and Sahlins on the Northwest Coast are particularly relevant. Panter-Brick, Catherine, Robert H. Layton, and Peter RowleyConwy, eds. Hunter-gatherers: An Interdisciplinary Perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. An examination of the demography, history, social organization, and technology of assorted hunter-gatherer societies.
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Steward, Julian. Basin-Plateau Aboriginal Sociopolitical Groups. Bulletin 120. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of American Ethnology, 1938. A truly classic discussion of how ecological constraints and hunting-gathering shaped the social and political structures of tribes in western North America’s desert. See also: Agriculture; Buffalo; Fish and Fishing; Hunting and Gathering; Ranching; Weirs and Traps.
Suicide Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: The destruction of traditional culture and the corresponding economic deprivation of much reservation life has made suicide epidemic in the Indian population. Traditionally, Native Americans recognized the sanctity of life and stressed family and community responsibility. Suicide was thus uncommon, though it was permitted in some cultures under exceptional circumstances. Throughout North America, the aged and infirm often asked to be left to die rather than impose a burden. Among Plains Indians, suicide was sometimes regarded as preferable to social disgrace or severe physical deformity. Some saw suicide as permissible to avoid pain if all responsibilities had been fulfilled. Others, such as the Navajo, discouraged suicide, believing that it left behind a dangerous ghost. Studies begun in the 1940’s, however, uncovered a disturbing trend. With the breakdown of cultural traditions, family instability, poverty, and lack of opportunity, Indian suicide has become commonplace, especially among young males. The overall suicide rate for Indians is 30 percent higher than for the general population, and for young males (ages twelve to twenty-four), the rate is double. After age forty-five, the comparative rate begins to decline, and for the elderly it is significantly below the national average. Charles Louis Kammer III
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Sources for Further Study Chandler, Michael J., et al. with commentary by James E. Marcia. Personal Persistence, Identity Development, and Suicide: A Study of Native and Non-native North American Adolescents. Boston: Blackwell, 2003. Lester, David. Suicide in American Indians. New York: Nova Science, 1997. Rhoades, Everett R., ed. American Indian Health: Innovations in Health Care, Promotion, and Policy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. Trafzer, Clifford E., and Diane Weiner, eds. Medicine Ways: Disease, Health, and Survival Among Native Americans. Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press, 2001. See also: Alcoholism; Disease and Intergroup Contact; Employment and Unemployment.
Sun Dance Tribes affected: Arapaho, Arikara, Assiniboine, Blackfoot, Crow, Dakota, Gros Ventre, Hidatsa, Kiowa, Lakota, Ojibwa, Plains Cree, Sarsi, Shoshone, Siseton, Ute Significance: Conducted primarily to ask the Spirit to bring the tribe a successful bison hunt, the Sun Dance also celebrates the creation of the world, re-creating the interaction of time, space, mass, and energy as mythologically perceived by various tribes, all of whom added their own sequences of steps to signal syncretic features unique to their own perceptions. “Ceremony is a picture of one’s relationship to that which is being honored,” said Nicholas Black Elk. Ritual is a ceremony repeated at specific times for specific purposes. To gaze at the sun while dancing and be gazed at by the sun while dancing was the only calendrical ritual of the Plains tribes done by a group, band, or tribe. It was (and is) held annually either during the full moon
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when the berries ripen (June-July) or during the moon when the cherries blacken (July-August). Various bands gathered for the great “making of meat”—the hunting, cutting, spreading, drying, preserving, and storing of buffalo meat. The bison were central to the economy of the Plains tribes, and the bison is “of the earth.” It occupied a central place in the mythology of many tribes. History. The Sun Dance goes by different names—"dance without drinking" (Cree), “ceremony of the life renewal” (Cheyenne), “the sacred or mysterious dance” (Ponca), and “the sun gazes at the dance” (Dakota). Sun Dancing was most elaborate among the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Crow, and Sioux. The Pawnee, Comanche, Kiowa, and Ute copied it as late as 1890, the time when the wave of Ghost Dances was sweeping many Indian nations. When the horse was introduced to Indian cultures, it changed the syncretic sequences of various dances, and since that time immediate histories of various tribes have been inscribed onto the Sun Dance. Following the years 1890-1891 and the massacre at Wounded Knee, and under reservation strictures, the pattern of the dance was curbed and changed drastically. From 1881 to 1920 the Sun Dance involving piercing of the flesh went underground. Semisecret Sun Dances without piercing were held in the 1920’s. Following the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, Sun Dances without piercing were held openly. In the late 1950’s, enthusiasm revived, and Sun Dances including piercing became common on Plains reservations. The Pine Ridge Tribal Council even promoted them as a tourist attraction, “a re-enactment of the old ways,” and presented a dance in conjunction with the Fourth of July Fair. A number of descriptions of Sun Dances have been published, dating from as early as 1882. No two Sun Dances even in the same tribe are conducted the same; perhaps they never were. Honoring and Giving Back. The Sun Dance is a picture of the tribe’s “relationship to that which is being honored,” and that relationship changes with time and with the various Sun Dance intercessors’ (holy men’s) interpretations. In the old times, the “Tree
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An artists rendering of an early twentieth century Sioux sun dance. (National Archives)
of Life,” the Sun, the Buffalo, the “Center of the Universe,” and warrior societies were honored. These icons were honored with thanksgiving prayers for their very existence. In the long underground years from 1881 to 1934, many of the original instructions were reinterpreted. Much Christian, especially Catholic, influence came to bear. The Sun Dance, originally a thanksgiving rite, changed to a rite of repentance and self-mortification. In the old days there were flesh offerings, dragging of skulls, and suspension from skewers in the skin attached by rope to scaffolds or the center tree of life, but such acts were considered “giving back.” In the beginning, according to Albert White Hat, Jr., a tribal archivist at Sinte Gleska College on the Rosebud Reservation, the very first power created all there is by “opening a vein” and letting energy flow. Thus, returning some of one’s own flesh and blood to the Creator was considered a thanksgiving, a giving back; it was not considered immolation, mortification, or torture.
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Originally those who vowed to dance for personal reasons usually did so because their life or a loved one’s life had been spared or because a medicine was given and instruction for its use granted. Personal vows often took months, sometimes a year of preparation. Proper preparation for a Sun Dance requires months of constructing and readying the instruments used in the ceremony. Abstinence from sexual activity is recommended, varying with tribes from four days to four months before the ceremony. Sun Dances were powerful and deeply emotional rituals lasting four days from opening to close and involving much personal sacrifice. Dancers abstained from food or water during the dance. They suffered from the heat and from hyperventilation caused by blowing continually on an eagle bone whistle. Some dancers also used the ritual to make giveaways of personal possessions. In giving thanks by making a blood sacrifice in one of several ways at this communal annual ritual, people prayed for the welfare of the entire tribe. To paraphrase Frances Densmore’s Teton Sioux Music (1918), a vow to dance was usually made at sunrise and was made to the daybreak star of understanding. A proper offering of bison fat was held in the left hand, and the right hand was raised as the vow was spoken. The spoken vow was only that the man would participate in a Sun Dance, but in his heart was the secret vow of the form of that participation. The man would vow either to dance, to be suspended from poles, or to drag buffalo skulls. In mid-June of 1876, many bands gathered along Rosebud Creek in southeastern Montana. It was known that the U.S. Army was coming at them from three sides. Sioux, Cheyenne, and some Arapaho decided to hold the Sun Dance rather than run. Sitting Bull, among all the great men who were there, was chosen leader. Surrounded by the army, the Plains tribes held to their ancient beliefs and sought the power and a successful bison hunt. Sitting Bull knew that the army was close, but he also knew that the Indians would be safe during the Sun Dance. On June 17, two days after the dance, the bands were attacked by General Crook. One thousand Indian warriors forced seven hundred army troops into re-
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treat. The Indians then moved to a river called the Little Bighorn, where they were attacked again by General George Custer. It was their last great victory. The Sun Dance Today. Today the dance seems to be primarily a celebration of personal renewal. There is a special relationship between the dancer and the spiritual world, and the Sun Dance is an event of a highly religious nature. The revival of this ritual in our times is more than a visual representation. This ritual takes place on both mythological and real planes of existence and is the source of symbolic and expressionistic power. Because the mythological element is still so evident, many Indians do not understand why nontribal members would want to Sun Dance. They believe that non-Indians who dance without any clear understanding of the mythology being re-enacted are probably dancing for personal gratification or egotistical need. Purists also complain about the crass commercialism and religious degeneration of these dances. The most visible Sun Dances held in the United States in modern times are on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations in South Dakota and on the Crow Reservation in Montana. Many modern Sun Dances have become arenas where traditionalists and those who wish to capitalize on the ritual vent their anger toward one another. Yet modern Sun Dances satisfy the social needs of the tribes, whether members are traditionalists or modernists. Thousands of tribal people attend the Sun Dances, setting up old-style nomadic camps and catching up with friends and relatives from other reservations. Regardless of whether the contemporary Sun Dance is a syncretic version of old and new, it exists as a powerful mediating force between factions on reservations and allows all in attendance to assert their religious beliefs. Among all tribes there are certain similarities and consistencies in the Sun Dances. There is always the establishment of a sacred center, symbolizing the center of the universe. This helps any of the various tribes experience their place of emergence, as nearly all American Indians have myth stories describing their “emergence” into this plane of existence. At the finding of the center, prayers,
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songs, drums, and rattles are used to drive away evil. Members of the scout society who conduct their lives in an exemplary way are sent to find the tree which will be placed in the center. Every action pertinent to the ritual is supported by prayers and songs. Sweatlodges and purification by smoke from sage, sweetgrass, and cedar are central to the ritual. Sacred icons or instruments such as pipes, arrows, or sacred bundles are also central to the rituals. There is always a recitation of the mythology of the people. There are often naming ceremonies for children. At Sun Dances each year, tribal identities are upheld and sustained. There is always a feast at the conclusion of the dance. The Sun Dance is conducted by holy men (interpreters), who talk with spirit forces. If the camp circle is very large and several holy men are present, they will decide among themselves who will conduct the dance. It is generally known who will be the intercessor, and often the same man will serve in this capacity for a number of years. Bearing this responsibility requires long and special preparation. The duties traditionally included offering prayers for all the people, singing certain ancient songs at exactly the right time, painting sacred objects, handling the most sacred instruments of the nation, and preparing the sacred place. A Teton Sioux man named Red Bird once told Frances Densmore that “the tribe would never appoint an unworthy man to the office of intercessor. In his prayers and offerings he represented the people, and if he were not a good man he might even send disaster upon the tribe.” There is much confusion surrounding Sun Dances today. Traditionalists say that one should dance to see and that there are too many now who are dancing to be seen. Many dance unprepared; others dance with little or no knowledge of the mythology of the people whose ceremony they are enacting. A proper Sun Dance may be likened to a carefully orchestrated symphony of the entire religion of the people. Power is called and set in motion for another year, “that the people may live.” Glenn J. Schiffman
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Sources for Further Study Bonnefoy, Yves. Mythologies. Translated by Wendy Donniger. Vol. 2. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. Brown, Joseph Epes, ed. The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk’s Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989. Dorsey, George A. The Cheyenne Indians: The Sun Dance. Glorietta, N.Mex.: Rio Grande Press, 1971. Hull, Michael. Sun Dancing: A Spiritual Journey on the Red Road. Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions International, 2000. Mails, Thomas E. Sundancing at Rosebud and Pine Ridge. Sioux Falls, S.Dak.: Center for Western Studies, Augustana College, 1978. _______. Sundancing: The Great Sioux Piercing Ritual. 2d ed. Tulsa, Okla.: Council Oak Books, 1998. Neihardt, John. Black Elk Speaks. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1979. Schiffman, Glenn, ed. Black Elk Speaks. Illuminated Books and Manuscripts: An Interactive Program. Los Angeles: IBM, 1990. _______. Relationship with Fire. Los Angeles: Word of Mouth Press, 1988. See also: Dances and Dancing; Ghost Dance; Okeepa; Religion.
Sweatlodges and Sweatbaths Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Sweatlodges and sweatbaths are widely used for ceremonial, social, and medicinal purposes. The sweatlodge is a traditional ceremonial enclosure, usually circular in design. It is generally framed with saplings, wooden poles in a conical arrangement, or cedar planks. The enclosure can be from 4 to 8 feet across and 4 to 6 feet in height. It was traditionally covered with animal skins, bark, or earth. Today blankets or other
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coverings are often used. Lodge design is varied according to tribe and available building materials. A shallow pit, approximately a foot across, is dug in the center of the sweatlodge floor. This pit is the receptacle for the seven to twenty-eight stones used to heat the enclosure. They are brought in, in one to four rounds of approximately fifteen to twenty minutes duration. Volcanic stones hold heat the best. Temperatures in the sweatlodge can exceed 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Participants disrobe, either completely or partially, and walk clockwise around the lodge. They enter the lodge from the east side and sit on the earthen floor. It is covered with cedar or other evergreen boughs. The entry is closed, and the interior is dark except for the glowing stones. Water is scooped from a gourd or other container and poured on the stones to make steam. A sacred pipe is sometimes passed. It is filled with tobacco, sage, and other medicinal plants which can
The entrance to a Yurok sweatlodge. (Library of Congress)
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also be sprinkled on the stones, making the steam fragrant and healing. Prayers are made and songs are sung. This continues until the stones cool. The specifics of the structure of the sweatlodge and ceremony used vary from one community to another. Michael W. Simpson Source for Further Study Bucko, Raymond A. The Lakota Ritual of the Sweat Lodge: History and Contemporary Practice. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press in cooperation with the American Indian Studies Research Institute, 1998. See also: Ethnophilosophy and Worldview; Medicine and Modes of Curing: Pre-contact; Religion.
Syllabaries Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Syllabic writing systems first made it possible to record American Indian languages; Sequoyah, a Cherokee, produced the first syllabary for an Indian language. A syllabary is a phonetic transcription of a spoken language. It is distinct from pictographs, which are symbols of objects and actions. Technically, it may also be distinguished from an alphabet; in a syllabary, symbols represent syllables, whereas in an alphabet, they represent shorter units of sound (consonants and vowels). It is generally accepted that the first knowledge the Indians had of alphabets was when they were contacted by European explorers starting in the late fifteenth century. Among the explorers were Christian missionaries, who were very much interested in converting the natives and therefore tried both to teach them European languages and to transliterate native languages into European alphabets. Considerable difficulties were involved, however, and early attempts were unsuccessful.
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In 1821 a Cherokee leader named Sequoyah created the first syllabic writing system for an American Indian language. Sequoyah had been a volunteer under General Andrew Jackson, and he had been impressed with the white people’s method of writing that enabled them to communicate over great distances. Sequoyah’s syllabary had eighty-six characters for syllables in the Cherokee language. Although he used some English characters, the sounds they represented were distinct from those they represented in English. The Cherokee tribal council, impressed at its effectiveness, sanctioned its use. The Cherokee Phoenix, begun in 1828 and called the first American Indian newspaper, printed articles in both English and the Cherokee syllabary. As use of the syllabary spread, books were translated into the Cherokee language; soon books were being written using the syllabary. The Bible was translated into the Cherokee syllabary by missionary Samuel Worcester. Soon other missionaries and tribal leaders alike began to use the syllabic approach. Missionary John Fleming developed a syllabary for the Creek language; Cyrus Bovington created one for the Choctaw language that could also be used by the Chickasaws. Farther north, a syllabary came into use among the Cree people of Canada and was adapted by some Inuit groups. Eventually the alphabet used by the European settlers and their descendants won out over syllabic systems in most areas. One reason is simply that most books were available in European languages and were not available in the syllabaries. There has always been difficulty in translating native languages into the Roman alphabet because the phonetic systems are extremely different; scholars and linguists have grappled with these problems for many years with varying degrees of success. Marc Goldstein See also: Language Families; Pictographs.
American Indian Culture
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MAGILL’S C H O I C E
American Indian Culture Volume 3 Symbolism in Art—Zapotec Civilization Appendices Indexes Edited by
Carole A. Barrett University of Mary
Harvey J. Markowitz Washington and Lee University Salem Press, Inc. Pasadena, California
Hackensack, New Jersey
Copyright © 2004, by Salem Press, Inc. All rights in this book are reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address the publisher, Salem Press, Inc., P.O. Box 50062, Pasadena, California 91115. ∞ The paper used in these volumes conforms to the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, Z39.481992 (R1997) Most of the essays appearing within are drawn from Ready Reference: American Indians (1995), Great Events from History: Revised North American Series (1997), and Racial and Ethnic Relations in America (1999); essays have been updated and new essays have been added.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data American Indian culture / edited by Carole A. Barrett, Harvey J. Markowitz. p. cm. — (Magill’s choice) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-58765-192-0 (set : alk. paper) — ISBN 1-58765-193-9 (vol. 1 : alk. paper) — ISBN 1-58765-194-7 (vol. 2 : alk. paper) — ISBN 1-58765-247-1 (vol. 3 : alk. paper) 1. Indians of North America—Social life and customs. I. Barrett, Carole A. II. Markowitz, Harvey. III. Series. E98.S7A44 2004 970.004′97—dc22 2004001362
First Printing
printed in the united states of america
Contents Alphabetical List of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xlvii Symbolism in Art. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713 Tanning . . . . . . . . . . . Tattoos and Tattooing . . . Technology . . . . . . . . . Tipi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tobacco . . . . . . . . . . . Tobacco Society and Dance Tomahawks . . . . . . . . . Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . Torture . . . . . . . . . . . . Totem Poles . . . . . . . . . Totems . . . . . . . . . . . . Tourism . . . . . . . . . . . Toys . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . Transportation Modes . . . Tribal Colleges . . . . . . . Tribal Councils . . . . . . . Tribal Courts . . . . . . . . Tricksters . . . . . . . . . . Turquoise . . . . . . . . . . Twins. . . . . . . . . . . . .
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715 715 717 725 727 728 730 731 737 739 741 743 746 747 751 754 759 761 763 766 768
Urban Indians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769 Visions and Vision Quests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 774 Walam Olum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777 Wampum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778 War Bonnets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781 xlv
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Warfare and Conflict . . Wattle and Daub . . . . Weapons . . . . . . . . . Weaving . . . . . . . . . Weirs and Traps. . . . . Whales and Whaling . . White Buffalo Society . White Deerskin Dance . Wickiup . . . . . . . . . Wigwam . . . . . . . . . Wild Rice . . . . . . . . Windigo . . . . . . . . . Wintercounts . . . . . . Witchcraft and Sorcery. Women. . . . . . . . . . Women’s Societies . . .
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783 790 791 794 799 801 803 804 805 806 808 810 811 812 814 822
Zapotec Civilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 824 Educational Institutions and Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829 Festivals and Pow-Wows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 857 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 874 Mediagraphy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888 Museums, Archives, and Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 938 Organizations, Agencies, and Societies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 976 Tribes by Culture Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991 Web Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019 Category Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1029 Culture Area Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1037 Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1043
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Alphabetical List of Contents Volume 1 Acorns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Adobe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Adoption . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Alcoholism . . . . . . . . . . . 14 American Indian Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Anasazi Civilization . . . . . . 26 Appliqué and Ribbonwork . . . . . . . . . 31 Architecture: Arctic. . . . . . . 35 Architecture: California . . . . 40 Architecture: Great Basin . . . 43 Architecture: Northeast . . . . 45 Architecture: Northwest Coast . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Architecture: Plains. . . . . . . 53 Architecture: Plateau . . . . . . 56 Architecture: Southeast . . . . 58 Architecture: Southwest . . . . 61 Architecture: Subarctic . . . . . 66 Art and Artists: Contemporary . . . . . . . . 67 Arts and Crafts: Arctic . . . . . 71 Arts and Crafts: California. . . . . . . . . . . 75 Arts and Crafts: Great Basin. . . . . . . . . . 79 Arts and Crafts: Northeast. . . . . . . . . . . 83 Arts and Crafts: Northwest Coast . . . . . . 86
Arts and Crafts: Plains . . . . . 90 Arts and Crafts: Plateau . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Arts and Crafts: Southeast . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Arts and Crafts: Southwest. . . . . . . . . . 100 Arts and Crafts: Subarctic . . . . . . . . . . 104 Astronomy . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Atlatl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Aztec Empire. . . . . . . . . . 110 Ball Game and Courts. . . Banner Stones . . . . . . . Baskets and Basketry . . . Beads and Beadwork . . . Beans . . . . . . . . . . . . Berdache . . . . . . . . . . Birchbark . . . . . . . . . . Black Drink . . . . . . . . Black Hills . . . . . . . . . Bladder Festival . . . . . . Blankets . . . . . . . . . . Boarding and Residential Schools . . . . . . . . . Boats and Watercraft . . . Booger Dance . . . . . . . Bows, Arrows, and Quivers . . . . . . . . . Bragskins . . . . . . . . . . Buffalo . . . . . . . . . . .
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Alphabetical List of Contents Buffalo Dance . . . . . . . . . 155 Bundles, Sacred . . . . . . . . 156 Cacique . . . . . . . . . . Calumets and Pipe Bags . . . . . . . . . . Captivity and Captivity Narratives . . . . . . Chantways . . . . . . . . Chickee . . . . . . . . . . Children . . . . . . . . . Chilkat Blankets . . . . . Clans . . . . . . . . . . . Cliff Dwellings. . . . . . Clowns . . . . . . . . . . Codices . . . . . . . . . . Corn. . . . . . . . . . . . Corn Woman. . . . . . . Cotton . . . . . . . . . . Coup Sticks and Counting . . . . . . . Culture Areas . . . . . . Dances and Dancing . . Death and Mortuary Customs. . . . . . . . Deer Dance. . . . . . . . Demography . . . . . . . Disease and Intergroup Contact . . . . . . . . Dogs . . . . . . . . . . . Dream Catchers . . . . . Dress and Adornment . Drums . . . . . . . . . .
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Earthlodge . . . . . . . . . . . 243 Education: Post-contact. . . . 245 Education: Pre-contact . . . . 254
Effigy Mounds . . . . . Elderly . . . . . . . . . Employment and Unemployment . . Ethnophilosophy and Worldview . . . . . False Face Ceremony . Feast of the Dead . . . Feasts . . . . . . . . . . Feathers and Featherwork . . . . Fire and Firemaking. . Fish and Fishing . . . . Flutes . . . . . . . . . . Food Preparation and Cooking . . . . . . .
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Gambling. . . . . . . . . Games and Contests . . Gender Relations and Roles. . . . . . . . . . Ghost Dance . . . . . . . Gifts and Gift Giving . . Gold and Goldworking . Gourd Dance. . . . . . . Grass Dance . . . . . . . Grass House . . . . . . . Green Corn Dance. . . . Grooming . . . . . . . . Guardian Spirits . . . . . Guns . . . . . . . . . . .
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Alphabetical List of Contents
Volume 2 Hides and Hidework . . Hogan . . . . . . . . . . Hohokam Culture . . . . Horses . . . . . . . . . . Humor . . . . . . . . . . Hunting and Gathering. Husk Face Society . . . .
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Igloo . . . . . . . . . . . . Incest Taboo . . . . . . . . Indian Police and Judges . Irrigation . . . . . . . . . .
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Maru Cult . . . . . . . . Masks . . . . . . . . . . . Mathematics . . . . . . . Mayan Civilization . . . Medicine and Modes of Curing: Post-contact . Medicine and Modes of Curing: Pre-contact . Medicine Bundles . . . . Medicine Wheels . . . . Menses and Menstruation . . . . . Metalwork . . . . . . . . Midewiwin. . . . . . . . Midwinter Ceremony . . Military Societies . . . . Missions and Missionaries . . . . . Mississippian Culture. . Moccasins . . . . . . . . Mogollon Culture . . . . Money . . . . . . . . . . Morning Star Ceremony Mosaic and Inlay . . . . Mother Earth. . . . . . . Mounds and Mound Builders . . . . . . . . Music and Song . . . . .
353 355 356 362 365 366 369 370 371 372 374
Joking Relations . . . . . . . . 375 Kachinas . . . . . . Kinnikinnick . . . . Kinship and Social Organization . . Kivas . . . . . . . . Knives . . . . . . . Kuksu Rituals and Society. . . . . .
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Lacrosse . . . . . . . Lances and Spears. . Land Claims . . . . . Language Families . Lean-To . . . . . . . . Longhouse . . . . . . Longhouse Religion .
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395 396 397 402 412 414 415
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456 457 459 460 462
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463 468 473 474 479 481 482 483
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Names and Naming. . . . . . 496 Native American Church . . . 498 Ohio Mound Builders. . . . . 501 Okeepa . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506 Olmec Civilization . . . . . . 507
Manibozho . . . . . . . . . . . 418 Maple Syrup and Sugar . . . 420 Marriage and Divorce. . . . . 422 xlix
Alphabetical List of Contents Oral Literatures . . . . . . . . 512 Oratory . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520 Ornaments . . . . . . . . . . . 523
Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . 614 Rite of Consolation . . . . . . 617 Rites of Passage . . . . . . . . 618
Paints and Painting . . Pan-Indianism . . . . . Parfleche . . . . . . . . Pemmican . . . . . . . Petroglyphs . . . . . . Peyote and Peyote Religion . . . . . . . Pictographs . . . . . . Pipestone Quarries . . Pit House . . . . . . . . Plank House . . . . . . Pochteca . . . . . . . . Political Organization and Leadership. . . Potlatch . . . . . . . . . Pottery . . . . . . . . . Pow-wows and Celebrations . . . . Praying Indians . . . . Projectile Points . . . . Puberty and Initiation Rites . . . . . . . . . Pueblo . . . . . . . . .
Sachem . . . . . . . . . . Sacred, the . . . . . . . . Sacred Narratives . . . . Salmon . . . . . . . . . . Salt . . . . . . . . . . . . Sand Painting . . . . . . Scalps and Scalping . . . Sculpture . . . . . . . . . Secotan . . . . . . . . . . Secret Societies. . . . . . Serpent Mounds . . . . . Shaker Church . . . . . . Shaking Tent Ceremony Shalako . . . . . . . . . . Shells and Shellwork . . Shields . . . . . . . . . . Sign Language . . . . . . Silverworking . . . . . . Slavery . . . . . . . . . . Snake Dance . . . . . . . Social Control . . . . . . Societies: Non-kin-based Spirit Dancing . . . . . . Sports Mascots. . . . . . Squash . . . . . . . . . . Star Quilts . . . . . . . . Stereotypes . . . . . . . . Stomp Dance. . . . . . . Subsistence . . . . . . . . Suicide . . . . . . . . . . Sun Dance . . . . . . . . Sweatlodges and Sweatbaths . . . . . . Syllabaries . . . . . . . .
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524 526 531 532 533
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536 540 544 545 547 549
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Quetzalcóatl . . . . . . . . . . 582 Quillwork . . . . . . . . . . . 583 Ranching . . . . . . . Religion. . . . . . . . Religious Specialists. Relocation . . . . . . Repatriation . . . . . Resource Use: Pre-contact . . . .
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585 586 595 603 608
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622 623 630 633 635 636 638 641 642 644 645 647 649 651 651 654 658 659 662 666 667 670 678 679 683 684 686 691 692 702 703
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Alphabetical List of Contents
Volume 3 Weapons . . . . . . . . Weaving . . . . . . . . Weirs and Traps . . . . Whales and Whaling . White Buffalo Society . White Deerskin Dance Wickiup. . . . . . . . . Wigwam . . . . . . . . Wild Rice . . . . . . . . Windigo . . . . . . . . Wintercounts . . . . . . Witchcraft and Sorcery Women . . . . . . . . . Women’s Societies. . .
Symbolism in Art . . . . . . . 713 Tanning . . . . . . . . . Tattoos and Tattooing . Technology . . . . . . . Tipi . . . . . . . . . . . Tobacco . . . . . . . . . Tobacco Society and Dance . . . . . . . . Tomahawks . . . . . . Tools . . . . . . . . . . Torture . . . . . . . . . Totem Poles . . . . . . Totems . . . . . . . . . Tourism. . . . . . . . . Toys . . . . . . . . . . . Trade . . . . . . . . . . Transportation Modes Tribal Colleges . . . . . Tribal Councils. . . . . Tribal Courts . . . . . . Tricksters . . . . . . . . Turquoise. . . . . . . . Twins . . . . . . . . . .
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715 715 717 725 727
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728 730 731 737 739 741 743 746 747 751 754 759 761 763 766 768
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791 794 799 801 803 804 805 806 808 810 811 812 814 822
Educational Institutions and Programs . . . . . . . 829 Festivals and Pow-Wows . . . . . . . . . 857 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . 874 Mediagraphy . . . . . . . . . 888 Museums, Archives, and Libraries . . . . . . . . 938 Organizations, Agencies, and Societies . . . . . . . . 976 Tribes by Culture Area . . . . 985 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . 991 Web Resources . . . . . . . . 1019
Visions and Vision Quests . . . . . . . . . . . . 774 . . . . .
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Zapotec Civilization. . . . . . 824
Urban Indians . . . . . . . . . 769
Walam Olum . . . . . Wampum . . . . . . . War Bonnets . . . . . Warfare and Conflict Wattle and Daub. . .
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777 778 781 783 790
Category Index . . . . . . . . 1029 Culture Area Index . . . . . 1037 Subject Index . . . . . . . . . 1043
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American Indian Culture
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Symbolism in Art
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Symbolism in Art Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: The seemingly abstract designs that appear on American Indian structures, baskets, and pottery represent various aspects of Indian cosmology. Art historians distinguish between abstract and representational Native American art, but in the sense that all design elements are significant, all can be said to be representational. A ubiquitous element is the circle. Oglala mystic Black Elk explained the importance of circularity as imitating an important principle of the universe; hence tipi design, the whole tipi village, and designs on clothing and houses signify the circular wholeness of the earth and the circle of the seasons. Circularity also represents the sun, the central divinity and astronomical anchor of the nomadic Plains people, and a circle or concentric circles with branches or rays appears in beadwork, painted on hides, and worked into other artifacts. Circularity is significant in house design in many tribes, whether grass houses in California or the Southwest, Navajo hogans, Eskimo winter dwellings or Apache wickiups; the house is a symbolic microcosm of the earth, and some groups place the opening to the east to receive the day’s first light, symbolizing the creative mating of earth and sky. On a smaller scale, circularity is inherent in such artifacts as coiled baskets and pottery, where applied or inlaid design often reflects natural forms such as spider webs or coiled snakes. Tiny pottery seed pots from the southwestern pueblos symbolize the earth, with a minute hole representing the maternal opening through which the first people emerged in the process of creation. The complementary abstract figure is the cross or X-shaped figure. This design element most often signifies the four directions; when placed within a circle, it represents a centering of the individual within the community and of the community within the universe. Black Elk alludes to such a figure in describing his great
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vision, and the figure of the quartered circle appears in such creations as Navajo sand paintings. The quartered circle is also part of the general patterning of four that recurs in many Plains and Southwest cultures: Sets of pairs and multiples of four recur in all aspects of art, including numbers of repetitions of songs during ceremonies, figures in sand paintings and on woven blankets, jewelry, household implements, and other artifacts. A major significance of such quarternary patterning is the idea of balance: matched pairs of opposites represent the balance between male and female, light and dark, hard and soft, life and death, and good and evil that must be maintained in the universe. Not all groups have four as their significant number; five and seven are also significant, as are other numbers. Color symbolism is highly elaborated in many traditions, though different meanings may be associated with colors. Hence, black may signify the north in one context, while white is the color for the north in another; in body painting, black may signify mourning for one people, whereas it is part of a warrior’s outfit for another. The idea of balance is also expressed through color symbolism, as in the alternating black and white stripes of Hopi clowns. The distinction between art and non-art is not central to native traditions, and symbolic significance permeates the creation of almost every object, whether for practical use or aesthetic contemplation. Helen Jaskoski Source for Further Study Berlo, Janet Catherine. Native North American Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. See also: Art and Artists: Contemporary; Bragskins; Paints and Painting; Petroglyphs; Pictographs; Sand Painting; Sculpture.
Tattoos and Tattooing
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Tanning Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Tanning enabled animal hides to be preserved and used. The tanning of deer, elk, bison, and small animal hides was accomplished by women, using the brains of the animals or human urine. Most hides were tanned on both sides, but sometimes the hide was tanned only on the underside (if the hair was left in place). In the Arctic, the Inuit tanned only with urine, which was often stored during the winter in ice troughs. Plains and Plateau peoples would mash animal brains with moss into small cakes for later use in tanning. A woman’s status was determined by her ability to do hide work, which included preparing the hide, tanning, and sewing. To remove the hair, a woman could bury the hide in ashes for several days, or she could use a sharpened hand stone or one hafted to a leg bone as a scraper. The hide was next beamed with an animal rib to break the grain, then pegged to the ground or placed on a vertical rack to facilitate rubbing the brains or urine into the hide. After tanning, the hide could be smoked with “punk” wood in a small tipi structure in order to prevent it from cracking when it was dried after being wet. John Alan Ross See also: Buffalo; Hides and Hidework.
Tattoos and Tattooing Tribes affected: Widespread but not pantribal Significance: Tattooing was one of the most widespread native practices in pre-contact North America and later. Tattooing was one of the most widespread native practices in the Americas. Techniques ranged from cutting with blades to pricking with needles or other sharp instruments. Among the Aleut
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and Northwest Coast peoples, a common technique was to “sew” the design into the flesh with a needle. The most common pigment was charcoal, and all parts of the face and body were tattooed. Tattooing was used to enhance physical beauty, indicate social status, and commemorate rites of passage. High-ranking Bella Coola men were tattooed with their parents’ totemic animals. Among the Mandan, chiefs were usually the only men with tattoos, often on one arm and breast. Natchez nobility wore tattoos on their faces, arms, legs, chests and backs. Osage shamans tattooed their chests with symbols associated with their heritage of knowledge. The Tlingit often made tattoos during the final potlatch of the mortuary cycle, and they used hand tattoos as a sign of nobility. Tattooing was often undertaken as medicine. Ojibwa healers used tattooing to treat arthritis, toothaches, broken bones, sprains, dislocated joints, and backaches. Instruments included three or four fish spines, bone splinters, or needles inserted and fastened into a split stick handle. Charred birchbark, gunpowder, or other medicines were applied either to the affected area or to the pricking instruments. Tattoos were made in the form of circular spots above the source of pain. When the affected area was large, marks were made in rows or lines. Tattoos appear to have been most frequently worn by women. Women in the Great Plains tattooed their faces between the mouth and the chin. Tattoos were considered among the most attractive features of Netsilik Eskimo women, for whom there were separate afterlives for women with tattoos (who joined skillful hunters) and without them (who sat through eternity with bowed heads). John Hoopes Sources for Further Study Dubin, Lois Sherr. North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present. New York: Henry N. Abrams, 1999.
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Caplan, Jane, ed. Written on the Body: The Tattoo in European and American History. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2000. See also: Dress and Adornment; Grooming; Medicine and Modes of Curing: Pre-contact; Paints and Painting; Rites of Passage.
Technology Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Technology has had a powerful impact on Native Americans, resulting in both improvement and deterioration of their quality of life. There is an old story about a group of Quechan Indians who were being brought to Mexico City by train to be wined and dined by politicians who wanted to buy some of their land. As the locomotive left the station, one of the Quechan, Yellow Feather, pointed at a nearby bluff and said something calmly in his native tongue that the Mexicans who were with them did not understand. Soon passing an enormous cactus, again Yellow Feather pointed and spoke, though he spoke more quickly this time because the train was moving faster now. As the train picked up steam, now racing through his ancestral lands, Yellow Feather pointed here and there, every moment speaking more quickly and frantically. Then it was quiet. Startled by the sudden silence, one of the Mexican escorts looked over and noticed that Yellow Feather was now only looking out the window and weeping. “What’s wrong with him?” the escort asked. “It is our custom,” replied one of the other Quechan, “to recall who we are and where we come from as we travel through our lands. Landmarks, such as the Coyote’s Blood Cliffs or the Cactus Giant, have stories attached to them, which we tell as we travel by them. This not only helps us to remember who we are, but it is also an honor to the spirits who inhabit each place.
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Yellow Feather cries because the locomotive travels so fast that it is impossible for him to remember himself.” Technology and Change. Technology has always been an agent of change. Typically, “technology” refers to the application of an idea to a particular problem. In other words, technology solves problems. When a weight needs to be lifted but is too heavy for a human to lift alone, perhaps a lever and fulcrum may be applied to the weight to shift it. The lever, as simple as it is, constitutes “technology” because it solves the problem of how to move a heavy weight. For the same reason, using a sharp rock to scrape the hair from a hide or tying a piece of leather to one’s forearm to prevent chafing from a bowstring are also technologies. It is important to understand, however, that when a particular technology solves a particular problem, new problems frequently arise from the solution. In the story above, Yellow Feather solves the problem of taking weeks to travel to Mexico City for an important meeting by agreeing to go by train; but because the train moves so quickly, Yellow Feather must forgo the ancient tribal custom of geographic storytelling. The application of technology accomplishes several things simultaneously. First, it makes living easier in some way—since it solves a problem—though it can make other aspects of life more difficult. Second, technology helps humans control their environment. By building huts with mud-covered stone, many Native Americans were able to keep cool in the heat and warm in the cold. By cutting channels from rivers to farm fields with specially made stone tools, agriculturally based Indians were able to irrigate land that would otherwise have been unusable. Third, technology changes people’s relationship with the environment. An undesirable environment—dry soil, predators, clay that makes fragile pottery—can be changed with irrigation ditches, bows and arrows, and fiber-tempered clay. Finally, technology changes people’s relationship with others. Perhaps a member of a tribe discovers that a harpoon point that rotates freely on the end of its shaft is a more effective weapon for hunting seals than a harpoon with a
Technology
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719
fixed point. That inventor may become greatly admired among the tribe, and on a more extended level, that tribe may come to be more respected, or despised, by other neighboring tribes. Thus, technology initiates change in both obvious and desirable ways, and in ways unexpected and sometimes disastrous. For both pre- and post-contact Native Americans, the most significant technological developments were made in five general areas: tools, hunting and gathering, agriculture, battle gear, and transportation. Pre-contact Influences—Tools. Technology, by its nature, requires tools. For pre-contact Native Americans, tools were often as simple as specially shaped stones, bones, and wood. With these materials, hand axes, scrapers, hammers, chisels, files, grinders, and knives were made. As the tools were improved, so were the crafts that they helped make. A good tool can help a craftsperson make an even better tool, which, in turn, can help make the craftspeople develop better technology. For example, early North American spears were tipped with stones that were somewhat sharp, though their characteristics were not uniform because stone-shaping was difficult. To offset the weight of the stone points, hunters used long, heavy shafts; these ensured a more controlled flight. The drawback with these early spears was that because they were so cumbersome, they were difficult to carry and throw, especially in a forest or with heavy garments on. Eventually, hunters found that a dull-pointed piece of bone could flake off small pieces of a stone much more easily than a piece of rock, which had been their previous tool. Using the bone tool, they found that they could better control the shaping of a stone, which subsequently allowed them to make smaller, lighter, and sharper blades than before. This meant that spears and arrows could be lighter, and so could travel farther, and were more deadly. Hunting and Gathering. North American natives originally drew their sustenance from hunting and gathering food that grew in the wild. Crudely made stone axes and knives were in use more than seventy thousand years ago for activities such as scraping
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Technology
and cutting hides, stripping the bark from branches, and chipping other stones into new tools. By the 1500’s, Native Americans were using their tools to design and build complex equipment that helped to make their lives easier. They were perfecting stone arrow and spear points and shafts for maximum penetration; they were experimenting with improved nets and weirs, and were developing highly efficient traps and snares; they were inventing new ways to prepare foods, including stone ovens and nonmetallic containers that could contain and store hot liquids; they were developing airtight and waterproof baskets; and they were becoming increasingly aware of how best to protect themselves from the elements using a combination of natural fibers and leather. These improvements were changing the Native Americans. Provided that the natural resources were available, hunting and gathering became more effective and efficient: With a bow and arrow, a hunter’s stealth becomes less important than his or her accuracy with the weapon. Airtight containers meant food could be preserved longer, making wandering tribes less dependent on locating wild crops. Better garments meant fewer injuries, which meant more healthy workers to help support the tribe. All of these technological improvements created new problems, such as having too many healthy, hungry people for a given area to support and migration delays that resulted in the people arriving late to areas and finding that the region’s food had rotted and that the game had already migrated or hibernated. Agriculture. Many anthropologists attribute the waxing of Native American agriculture and the waning of hunter-gatherer societies to technological development. According to this theory, as tools, weapons, and pottery became more effective, it became less necessary for the people to wander from location to location looking for food. With their improved tools, it was now easier to stay in one place, harvesting the local crops and hunting the local animals, and storing the surplus for difficult times. By developing ways of planting and irrigating soil, that is, by controlling their environment, the agriculturally inclined Native Americans were better
Technology
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721
able to control their food supplies, and thus their lives. As their technology improved, they became less subject to the whims of nature. Battle Gear. As in any other culture, desperation, envy, jealousy, and greed often compelled Native American neighbors to fight with each other, sometimes quite ruthlessly. The tools of war were developed along with hunting tools and weapons. Wooden and leather shields were constructed to protect against arrows and spears. Arrow tips were designed to pierce the new shields, as were more powerful bows. Stories abound as to the power of these weapons, one of the most telling being found in a nineteenth century diary that describes a man’s skull suspended from a tree trunk and held in place by a single deeply embedded arrow piercing both sides of the bony cranium. Simple forms of body armor and helmets were developed by some tribes to protect them in battle from throwing knives, throwing sticks, and clubs. Like other technologies, the development of weapons was self-perpetuating. Curved arrow shafts gave way to artificially straightened arrow shafts that dramatically improved the arrow’s flight and the archer’s accuracy. Spears went from being heavy and short-ranged to being lighter and having more range. Even in these early times there was an arms race. Transport. Because other developing technologies were encouraging the transformation of the hunter-gatherer into a farmer, the technologies involving transportation remained fairly undeveloped in pre-contact times. The primary means of getting around were by foot, raft, and canoe. Improved footwear in the form of sandals, moccasins, and boots made foot travel more comfortable. This comfort made the traversal of longer distances and difficult terrain more possible. Pre-contact rafts, usually fashioned from logs and branches lashed together with vine and water weeds, were more often grasped than ridden. More often than transporting people, rafts carried supplies. Canoes at this time were mainly hollowed-out tree trunks, sometimes with an outrigger for stabil-
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ity. In general, a tribe’s transport by land or water increased its contact with other people, environments, and customs. This created situations that were sometimes complementary and sometimes hostile. Post-contact Influences. After 1500 c.e., Native American technology changed more than it had in the previous fifty thousand years. Along with the technological changes, there were also tremendous social and cultural changes. The primary catalysts for these changes were the Europeans, who, having discovered the “new world,” were now enduring danger and hardship to explore it and claim it as their own. As they encountered Native Americans, they sought to “civilize” them by encouraging them in more or less coercive ways to abandon their natural developmental process and to adopt a way of living, technologically speaking, that was hundreds of years in the Native American’s future. After contact, Native American technological changes were not so much developmental as they were adoptive. As trade began between the Europeans and the natives, stone knives and axes gave way to the metal knives and axes that were more easily handled and that could hold a sharper edge better. Iron and steel tools, such as chisels and plows, became highly desirable among the tribes, especially among those that were quickly adopting European ways of life. While early European guns were inferior to bows and arrows both for hunting and warfare, their foreignness, complexity, and loudness impressed Native Americans. Oral and written accounts of how natives used guns suggest that, prior to the development of a reliable repeating rifle, natives used guns as symbols of their wealth, rather than as weapons; it required many supplies to trade for a single firearm, and more still to get the lead and black powder to fire it. Frontier journals indicate that a skilled archer could powerfully and accurately shoot at least ten arrows in the time it took an early rifler to shoot once, reload, and fire again. The development of railroads and commercial waterways also changed the ways of Native Americans, especially since both of
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these transportational technologies helped bring in more invaders. Eventually, Native Americans learned to distrust the European Americans, who with increasing frequency broke treaties and invaded their lands with large machines. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the technologies that govern natural resources became particularly important for Native Americans. For more than a century, Native Americans have fought for the right to exploit the natural resources that exist on their lands but that are being stolen by European American technologies such as dams, artificially made canals, oil drilling, strip mining, and timbering. Using legal and political power, contemporary Native Americans are slowly regaining some of the rights over the oil under their land, the ores in their mountains, and the waters that flow through their land. Technology allows people to solve problems and to dominate particular forces. When the Europeans came to North America with their more advanced technologies, Native Americans were often awed, impressed, and afraid. In the diaries and journals written on the early American frontier by Europeans making their way through “Indian country,” one gets the sense that, for these invaders, the Native Americans were the problem to be solved. The old saying, “The pen is mightier than the sword” is particularly relevant to the issue of Native American technology, because with both of these technologies—the pen that wrote treaties never meant to be kept, that wrote bills of sale for millions of acres of land for a few supplies, that signed away the children of illiterate Native American parents to European mission schools; and the sword, which was brought to bear on natives who would not cooperate with the pen—the European invaders dominated all of North America, ultimately changing the oldest inhabitants on the continent into one of the most exploited peoples in the Western Hemisphere. Kenneth S. McAllister
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Sources for Further Study Ambler, Marjane. Breaking the Iron Bonds: Indian Control of Energy Development. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1990. A well-researched and developed book that introduces the history of federal Native American policies, particularly those that relate to reservation energy development. Includes numerous illustrations, maps, and tables, as well as an excellent bibliography and index. Browman, David L., ed. Early Native Americans: Prehistoric Demography, Economy, and Technology. New York: Mouton, 1980. An anthology of articles with varying perspectives addressing the issues surrounding the entry and early technological development of human beings in North America. Many excellent photographs, charts, and time lines, along with an index of names and an index of subjects. Johnson, Jay K., and Carol A. Morrow, eds. The Organization of Core Technology. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1987. A collection of essays that reexamine the way that tool manufacturing developed in North and Central America up to the contact period. Several dozen tables detail locations, materials, and types of early tools. Laubin, Reginald, and Gladys Laubin. Photographs by Gladys Laubin. Drawings by Reginald Laubin. American Indian Archery. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980. An engagingly written book about bows, arrows, spears, and darts that combines scholarship and anecdote. Includes both black-and-white and color photographs along with numerous drawings, a bibliography, and an index. Sassaman, Kenneth E. Early Pottery in the Southeast: Tradition and Innovation in Cooking Technology. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1993. A book that discusses the socio-economic and political importance of early pottery and cooking technology, refuting long-held interpretations about the significance of these technologies on the Native Americans’ change from hunters and gatherers to farmers. A lengthy bibliography and an index.
Tipi
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Van Buren, G. E. Arrowheads and Projectile Points: With a Classification Guide for Lithic Artifacts. Garden Grove, Calif.: Arrowhead, 1974. Basically intended for field researchers, this book details a system by which stone tools can be correctly identified and archived. There are many excellent photographs and drawings of tools such as scrapers, arrow points, and spear heads, as well as historical and formative information about them. Contains a bibliography and index. See also: Agriculture; Irrigation; Metalwork; Pottery; Tools; Transportation Modes; Weapons.
Tipi Tribes affected: Arapaho, Cheyenne, Crow, Dakota, Kiowa, Pawnee, others Significance: Undoubtedly the most widely known of all American Indian structures, the tipi is a practical and comfortable form of shelter that was ideally suited to life on the Plains. The tipi (or tepee) is a cone-shaped dwelling made of wooden poles covered with skin or bark that was used primarily by the Plains peoples. The word is Dakota in origin and combines the words ti, meaning to dwell, and pi, which refers to the third-person plural, or “they.” Thus the word in translation means “they dwell.” The tipi was made of three primary poles, usually of willow because of its smoothness and strength, 20 to 30 feet long tied together at the top. Fifteen to sixteen more poles, slightly shorter, were added, along with the lifting pole used to raise them. Two smoke flap holes were used to aid in the control of air flow. The conical structure was tilted slightly to keep rain out and assist air circulation. It was covered with animal hides, usually buffalo or deer, or with bark of various sorts, depending on locale. A flap was used for the door, which was secured with wooden pegs.
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Tipi
Tipi
Before the introduction of the horse, these portable lodgings would be about 12 to 15 feet across at the base and could be readily and rapidly assembled and disassembled. They were dragged along behind large domesticated dogs, the main poles slung across their backs, with the secondary poles and skin covering carried between them. After the horse became an integral part of Plains life, the tipi increased in size and could be from 20 to 30 feet across at the base. For winter use a secondary lining was made for the interior to increase the insulating properties of the outer covering. A fire pit was dug in the middle of the floor, and the ground was often cleared and packed hard, then covered with grasses, leaves, and
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hides. These dwellings were very warm and comfortable in the winter, and they could be made open and airy in the warmer seasons by removing the lining, opening the flap, and raising the outer covering a few inches above the ground to increase air flow. Modern tipis are made using a variety of materials for the poles. They are often covered with canvas and can measure up to 40 feet across at the base. Michael W. Simpson See also: Architecture: Plains; Hides and Hidework; Horses.
Tobacco Tribes affected: Pantribal but especially Southeast and Southwest tribes Significance: Tobacco was an important recreational and ceremonial substance for many Indian tribes. As early as 1500 b.c.e., the Tamaulipas farmers of Mesoamerica (Central America) cultivated tobacco. In the Southwest, tobacco was grown as early as 630 c.e., though the tobacco grown by eastern Indians was not introduced until after the Spanish conquest. The Southwest Pima tribe approached tobacco farming scientifically, cultivating seed crops and rotating planting sites. Their neighbors, the Tohono O’odham, simply planted all the seed from a previous year. Only old men and some women smoked, as both the Pima and Tohono O’odham believed that tobacco inflicted a cough and made one lethargic and less resistant to cold. Southwest Indians did not chew tobacco. They still grow a small amount of tobacco today. Exploring Florida in 1539, John Hawkins reported that the Indians were smoking a dried herb. This tobacco was apparently introduced to the Florida Indians by Spanish explorers. In the piedmont and the Cumberland Plateau, Algonquin farmers raised tobacco plants three feet high, dried the leaves over a fire, and ground
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them to smoke in pipes. They eventually adopted a milder tobacco from the West Indies, introduced into Virginia by John Rolfe. In the north, the explorer Jacques Cartier reported that the Indians around present-day Montreal were growing and using tobacco. By the eighteenth century, tobacco cultivation had become a major enterprise among the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Huron Indians. Much of the agricultural process of growing tobacco was ultimately learned from the Indians by white agricultural interests. David N. Mielke Sources for Further Study Champagne, Duane, ed. Contemporary Native American Cultural Issues. Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press, 1999. Winter, Joseph C., ed. Tobacco Use by Native North Americans: Sacred Smoke and Silent Killer. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2000. See also: Calumets and Pipe Bags; Pipestone Quarries; Tobacco Society and Dance.
Tobacco Society and Dance Tribes affected: Widespread but highly developed among the Crow Significance: Tobacco societies controlled the complex rituals surrounding planting, caring for, and harvesting tobacco. Of all North American tribes, the Plains Crow developed the most elaborate Tobacco Society. The tobacco species Nicotiana multivalvis was considered holy, a supernatural gift having its own ceremony and mystically associated taboos. After the earth was formed, the Creator saw a human, transformed a star into a tobacco plant, and decreed that the Crow should honor tobacco with ceremony. Consequently, tobacco was their mainstay of living.
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From this founder or ceremonial “father” came adopted novices, newcomers who had independent visions that revealed unique revelations for adopting further novices. Approximately thirty groups, under the leadership of a Mixer, possessed their own distinctive songs and emblems. These groups formed independent military societies, each with its own bird and animal symbols. The main function of the Tobacco Society was to perpetuate the welfare of society and integrate society with the supernatural, and natural worlds by controlling the complex ritual required to plant, care for, and harvest this sacred plant. Tobacco was believed to be capable of conferring special benefits to its votaries. A main element of the tobacco complex was dreaming and visions, ones prophetic of future deeds. Tobacco visions helped decide who should become a member. A man or woman was adopted by a “father,” and usually a husband and wife were initiated together. The candidate was instructed in songs and rituals during the winter, and in the spring was formally initiated, after the tobacco planting. Installed members encouraged nonmembers with gift-giving. The four-day spring Tobacco Dance was staged in a specially built conical lodge of ten large pine trunks, with an altar strewn with juniper to represent the Tobacco Garden. Drummers participated, but the distinctive instrument was the rattle to imitate thunder. The specially painted participants laid their bundles of sacred tobacco seed in a row. Participants sang individual songs, danced, and then sweated in a willow sweatlodge and were washed with wild carrot root infusion or scrubbed with sagebrush to purify them and help them resist disease for one year. John Alan Ross See also: Dances and Dancing; Tobacco; Visions and Vision Quests.
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Tomahawks Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Tomahawks were both weapons and tools that aided North American Indians in fundamental survival. “Tomahawk” comes from the Algonquian word otomahuk, meaning “to knock down.” Tomahawks are small axes that were used by North American Indians as tools, weapons, and hunting devices.
This poster illustrates the European fear of Native Americans and their weapons. (Library of Congress)
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Originally, tomahawks consisted of a head made of stone or bone mounted on a wooden handle. These tomahawks generally measured eighteen inches in length or less and were light in weight. Following the arrival of the Europeans, hatchets with metal heads were made by white artisans. These tomahawks became a valuable trading item between whites and Indians. Indians used tomahawks as throwing hatchets against their enemies in battle. They were also used to chop wood, to drive stakes into the ground, and to hunt food. Some tomahawks were used simply for ceremonial purposes. One example of this type of tomahawk is a “pipe tomahawk,” which had a pipe bowl attached to its head and a hollow handle. These tomahawks were smoked during ceremonies. It is widely believed that the expression “bury the hatchet” came from the Indian custom of burying a tomahawk as part of a peace ceremony at the end of hostilities among Indians. Jennifer Raye James Source for Further Study Taylor, Colin F. Native American Weapons. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. See also: Scalps and Scalping; Tools; Warfare and Conflict; Weapons.
Tools Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: The many tools that were manufactured by American Indians enabled them to hunt, fish, farm, make clothing, build their homes, and protect themselves from both wild animals and hostile strangers. Before European traders and settlers emigrated to North America, American Indians were limited in the materials available to them for the preparation of their tools. Inland Indian tribes utilized
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stone, wood, and animal bone almost exclusively. Indians living near the oceans also used seashells. In most tribes each man or woman made his or her own tools, and considerable time was spent in searching for the right piece of a useful mineral or for a type of wooden branch to make into the desired tool. Effort was spent in the conceptualization of how to prepare a desired tool most appropriately from the few materials available and how to make it most attractive. Tool preparation was arduous in most cases, and the tools that Indians used—axes, arrowheads, arrows, bows, clubs, hammers, harpoons, knives, farm and home implements, nets, scrapers, spear heads, tomahawks, traps, and so on— combined ingenuity and aesthetic sensibility. Hammers, Axes, and Adzes. Preparation of these tools first required the choice of an appropriate stone. Hammers, very common Indian tools, were prepared in several stages. First the chosen stone was chipped roughly with another stone and a bone chisel to produce the general shape of the desired hammer. Then more careful chipping yielded a more exact hammer shape. Finally, grinding with wet sand or sandstone completed the process. The stone most often chosen for hammers was granite, because the repeated pounding that is involved in hammering does not easily split or shatter this exceptionally tough stone. Good stone axes were rare because minerals that could yield a sharp enough point to shape logs were scarce. Even the best axes Indians could make (prior to their contact with Europeans, who provided metal tools) were poor shaping tools. Only in the American Northwest did Indians do extensive woodworking. There, available minerals such as serpentine could be used to make adzes (cutting tools with thin, arched blades). Clubs and Tomahawks. Two other very common Indian tools were clubs and tomahawks, although these Indian artifacts were most commonly used as weapons in warfare. Clubs were often made by shaping a heavy piece of wood with a knot at one end. The eastern Indian tribes, especially the Algonquian groups, are
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credited with the invention of the tomahawk. The first tomahawks were clubs with a pointed stone inset into the knot in the club. Tomahawks were heavier, sharper, and deadlier than were clubs and spread slowly through the Indian tribes. They reached the height of deadliness and wide use only after European traders introduced the axlike metal tomahawks that many tribes came to favor. Arrowheads, Harpoons, Knives, Scrapers, and Spearheads. These ubiquitous Indian implements were very often made of flint, chert, or black obsidian (volcanic glass), all stones that can be chipped to produce very sharp cutting edges. In order to make them (an arrowhead, or projectile point, for example), the Indian artisan positioned a bone chisel against a chosen place at the edge of the stone to be used. Then the chisel was struck repeatedly with a hammer, until a stone chip was knocked off by the percussion. After chipping away at the entire edge of the chosen stone, a sharp, serrated edge was produced. Then, carrying out the same overall procedure on the other edge of the stone produced a typical arrow-
Mohawk elm bark bucket Comanche bonehandled scraper Zia (Pueblo) pump drill
Paiute basketry seed beater
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head. Longer stones of various sizes, edged on one side only, became knives or scrapers. The blades of harpoons and spears were made in a similar fashion, but they were much larger. In a great many instances, these implements were attached to short handles (such as knife hafts) or long handles (spear or arrow shafts). Stone implements were thus necessarily engineered so that the haft or the shaft could be attached by the use of rawhide or sinew straps. Harpoons were designed so that a long rope was firmly attached to the harpoon head. This was necessary for efficient recovery of the fish or other aquatic creatures hunted with these tools. Bow and Arrow Design. The bow-and-arrow combination derived from efforts of Indians to cast spears for longer distances than was possible when they were simply thrown by hand. The wooden or reed shafts of arrows were chosen for straightness, strength, and lightness. The arrow’s back end was notched to fit a bow string and fletched with two or three bird feather pieces. Fletching facilitated straight flight upon release from a bow. Arrows were considered to be quite valuable and were very timeconsuming to make, so most Indians marked them so that they could be easily identified and reclaimed for reuse. Bows were made of strong, springy wood (such as hickory, oak, or ash) that was reinforced for even greater strength by use of added bone and sinew. These tools of the hunt and of war varied according to whether the Indian using them traveled on foot or on horseback. Those who rode on horses used short, curved bows. Such bows were often double-curved compound bows of the shape sometimes called a Cupid’s bow. Made mostly of wood or animal horn, they were strengthened in the middle by pieces of bone or sinew. Indians who traveled on foot often used very simple wooden bows usually as long as the bow wielder was tall; they were much less curved than the bows of horsemen. The bow strings utilized by various Indians varied from twisted plant fiber cords to animal sinew, depending on the tensile strength that was required by the user.
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Farm and Home Implements. The axes, hammers, knives, and scrapers previously described were everyday tools that were used both in the home and in the fields. In addition to stone tools, many bone implements were utilized because of their hardness, the plentiful occurrence of bone in game animals eaten, the varied shapes and sizes of animal bones, and the fact that bones could be broken into very sharp fragments when struck with hammers or even with unworked stones. Sharp bone slivers could be used as awls that drilled holes in skins to make into footwear and other clothing or as chisels utilized in toolmaking. The shoulder blades of large animals were also made into hoes by some tribes that farmed. Deer antlers were used as picks for the digging of the ores and gemstones (copper and turquoise, for example) used to make jewelry. Bone, stone, or wood hooks used to catch fish were also made by many tribes. Sinew, Tools, Nets, and Traps. Animal sinews were highly valued items widely used in Indian toolmaking. Their use was based on their strength and on the fact that a wet sinew shrinks when it dries. It has already been mentioned that sinew was used for bowstrings wherever possible. In addition, sinew lashings were the preferred way to affix bladed tools to their handles. Where sinew was used, it was first wet thoroughly. Then it was used to tie the stone part of the tool to its handle tightly and allowed to dry. The shrunken, dried lashings held the parts of the tool together firmly and became quite hard. Nets and other types of animal traps were also widely utilized by American Indians in their hunting and fishing activities. Nets were made of the fibrous inner bark of trees, of grasses woven into cordage, or of combinations of these materials and strips of animal hide or sinews. They were used to catch fish or smaller land animals. Sometimes they were also incorporated into traps into which aquatic animals or land animals were driven by large groups of Indians. Other traps for catching solitary, large game included wooden pens, spring traps, and deadfall traps. These last two types of traps caught animals by dropping heavy weights on them or by
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catching them by a foot after they were attracted by bait. It is now believed that many Indian tribes obtained more food animals with nets and traps than with archery, spear casting, and hook fishing. Simple Wooden Tools. Many tools used by Indians were made of wood only. For example, many arrows used to hunt birds and other small game were merely sharpened sticks. Such arrows were more expendable, and stone points were not necessary to kill such animals. Planting sticks used by Indians who farmed were usually long branches, forked near the bottom. One fork end was sharpened to be used in the actual planting; the other end was a foot rest. In addition, many hoes and clubs were made of wood only. Sanford S. Singer Sources for Further Study Adair, James. Adair’s History of the American Indians. Edited by Samuel Cole Williams. 1930. Reprint. New York: Promontory Press, 1974. This book, first published in 1775 and edited by Williams, describes the lifestyle of many American Indians, therein illustrating the preparation and the use of many Indian tools. Cobb, Charles R., ed. Stone Tool Traditions in the Contact Era. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2003. A review of the various types of stone tools used by Native Americans. Hothem, Lar. Arrowheads and Projectile Points. Paducah, Ky.: Collector Books, 1983. This well-illustrated book describes arrowheads and other projectile points, their preparation by various Indian tribes, the materials and techniques used, and ways to identify fakes of various types. It is interesting and contains very good illustrations. _______. Indian Flints of Ohio. Lancaster, Ohio: Hothem House Books, 1986. Illustrates Indian tools and their provenance from 8000 b.c.e. to 1650 c.e. Engenders an understanding of the evolution of Indian toolmaking and of how the tools were mated with components that completed them. Montgomery, David R. Indian Crafts and Skills: An Illustrated Guide for Making Authentic Indian Clothing, Shelters, and Ornaments.
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Bountiful, Utah: Horizon, 1985. Most interesting here are the illustrated descriptions of the preparation of common Indian tools and of several types of traps. Tools and traps are related to other aspects of Indian life. Russell, Virgil Y. Indian Artifacts. Boulder, Colo.: Johnson, 1981. Describes and illustrates most types of Indian tools and other artifacts. Explains how many of the Indian artifacts were fabricated. See also: Bows, Arrows, and Quivers; Knives; Lances and Spears; Technology; Tomahawks; Weapons.
Torture Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Torture was widespread among indigenous tribal peoples for military, social, and religious reasons. Many, if not most, indigenous tribal peoples practiced one or more forms of physical torture of enemies, prisoners, captives, and miscreants within the tribe. Some tribal groups, such as the Puebloan cultures of New Mexico, may have committed very little or no torture. European Americans, themselves no strangers to torturous acts, commented regularly on what seemed to them purposeless or completely sadistic actions by “devilish savages.” Numerous accounts of scalpings and bodily mutilations, such as the famous ones including Colonel Charles Crawford in northern Ohio in 1782 or the Hungate family near Denver in 1864, became standard conversation fare of the frontier and parlor alike. Certainly European Americans misunderstood the reasons behind such actions; falling into stereotyping and feeding readers what they wanted to read, European American writers also undoubtedly overstated the case. Yet actual torture occurred frequently, especially in the Eastern Woodlands and on the Plains.
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Torture took place in several varieties. Often the captors tied enemies to a stake or other framework and burned them with bonfires, firebrands, or coals. Stabbing, beating, and cutting the victims often occurred along with the burnings, as did mutilation and dismemberment. Torturers often shot arrows or, after obtaining guns, bullets into the suffering captives. Some of the unlucky experienced the horrors of feeling themselves disemboweled, flayed, or scalped while they were still alive. On many occasions, however, the goal of torture was not death. With such customs as the gauntlet, in which victims had to run or stagger through rows of kicking, punching, and beating tribal members lined up in parallel or spiral formations, a tribe was often testing captives as potential adoptees or slaves. If a captive showed pluck or fortitude, he or she might even be rewarded with freedom. To individual tribal groups, torture probably had many and different meanings. On one level it was surely an expression of simple revenge. Yet for most groups, torture also served military, social, and religious needs. Tribes could earn a terrifying and fearsome reputation through renowned torture. Members who had not participated in the actual battle or capture could join communally in a torture ceremony. Many indigenous peoples also believed that enemies would haunt them in an afterworld, and mutilation would distinctly disable those enemies. Sometimes torture was propitiation of certain spirits, manitous, or windigos. Whatever the case, torture was not, as many European Americans feared and believed, random, unthinking violence, but rather a custom integrated into the tribal worldview. Thomas L. Altherr See also: Adoption; Captivity and Captivity Narratives; Ethnophilosophy and Worldview; Scalps and Scalping.
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Totem Poles Tribes affected: Northwest Coast tribes Significance: The cultural hallmark of the native peoples of the Northwest Coast is the totem pole, a meticulously carved column representing family history, social rank, and ethnic identity. Totem poles are among the largest wooden sculptures ever created. Typically carved from the single trunk of a western red cedar, they reached up to 80 feet in height in the nineteenth century, with one twentieth century piece from Alert Bay in British Columbia being an astounding 173 feet high. There are different types of carved poles that are usually collectively referred to as “totem poles.” These include freestanding poles erected in front of houses or along village beaches, interior house posts that make up part of the framing, and frontal poles set alongside the main entrance. A dramatic variant of this latter type has an entrance right through the pole itself. A Haida pole at Ninstants, for example, depicts a grizzly bear devouring a human being, and the entrance passes right through the bear’s stomach. Funeral customs are also reflected by the erection of memorial poles, grave markers, and mortuary poles which contain the ashes or support a box with the remains of the deceased chief. Not all tribes had all types of pole. The images on the poles are not really “totems.” They are best seen as valuable family crests which depict a mythic or historic event in their past. This might include the encounter of a clan ancestor in the origin times with a supernatural creature, who bestowed upon him the right to use his crest as well as entitlements to hunting and fishing territories, wealth, or other distinctions. Sometimes historic events were recounted, such as how one clan outsmarted another or how a rival chief had been humiliated. These stories helped to legitimize social standing for the chief, his clan, and his children and to lay claims to new rights. By socially manipulating crest images on totem poles and other works of art, chiefs energetically competed for rank, prerogative, and privilege.
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Although abstracted and complex, crests could usually be identified by the inclusion of conventionalized features. Beaver always had a cross-hatched tail and two large incisors. A toothy “V”shaped smile with spines over the eyes revealed Sculpin. Similar iconic devices disclosed Sea Grizzly, One-Horned Goat, Giant Rock Oyster, Fog Woman, Lightning Snake, Thunderbird, and a host of others. The carving of totem poles flourished in the mid-1800’s because of an influx of metal tools and commercial paints. Along with these aids, however, came acculturative forces that led to the virtual extinction of the art form by the early 1900’s. The potlatch, a ceremonial feast central to the erection of totem poles and the telling of their stories, was outlawed by the Canadian government in 1884. Disease as well as missionary and other pressures undermined the social and ceremonial fabric that supported carving.
Totem poles on Queen Charlotte Island, British Columbia, during the early twentieth century. (Thomas Lunt, American Museum of Natural Histor y)
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A resurgence of ethnic pride has reversed this trend. A revised Canadian Indian Act of 1951 dropped the ban on potlatching. Church-related groups such as the Alaska Native Brotherhood gave up resistance to traditional ceremonialism. Training schools for artists were established, and totem poles once again began to be raised. Carving began to be accepted as art rather than merely as an ethnic curiosity, and poles can now be found from museums to malls and internationally from Germany to Japan. Gary A. Olson Source for Further Study Hawker, Ronald W. Tales of Ghosts: First Nations Art in British Columbia, 1922-61. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2003. See also: Architecture: Northwest Coast; Arts and Crafts: Northwest Coast; Potlatch; Sculpture; Totems.
Totems Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Totems were animal spirit guardians who helped individuals and families survive. American Indians share the concept of the totem, or guardian spirit, with many aboriginal peoples, including those of Australia. Help with survival in a demanding environment was sought by individuals and families, and among some tribes, an individual might have a personal guardian spirit as well as a clan totem associated with his or her extended family. Creation myths and other oral tales of American Indians refer to a time when animals talked and behaved much as people do, and the idea of a totem spirit that communicates with those seeking its assistance may be linked to those stories.
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Many of the Pacific Northwest and Alaskan tribes carved elaborate wooden totem poles that served as illustrations of the lineage of the clan. The totem pole also served to trace the history and interrelationship of the clans, with important events recorded symbolically on the poles. The acquisition of a personal guardian spirit was made through a visitation of the spirit, usually in animal form, in a dream or during a vision quest. The spirit might take the form of a bear, eagle, beaver, or other familiar animal. Less often, the spirit was associated with natural forces such as lightning, and an individual associated with such a totem would be regarded as powerfully protected. The spirit might teach the chosen individual certain songs to call forth its power, and different types and levels of power were associated with various totem spirits. During its appearance, the spirit would also convey certain taboos or activities necessary to observe in order to keep the totem’s favor. Entire families of the Bear Clan, for example, would refrain from killing or eating bears, for the spirit was believed to take the animal’s form to appear, and they could not risk angering it. While not all tribes believed that people were descended from animals, some tribes might consider the animal spirits to be their ancestors, and worthy of the highest respect. One may be born into a family already possessing a certain totem, but the protection of any particular spirit was never actively sought. It was believed that the spirit chose whom it believed to be worthy. Not every seeker received a guardian, and the totem could withdraw its favor and protection if something was done to displease it. Patricia Masserman Source for Further Study Berlo, Janet Catherine. Native North American Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. See also: Guardian Spirits; Religion; Totem Poles; Visions and Vision Quests.
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Tourism Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Tourism has become a valuable economic resource for many tribes, but it may also involve catering to popular stereotypes and sometimes the jobs it provides offer low wages. Until the late nineteenth century, the European Americans who made contact with Native American tribes were mainly explorers, trappers, and pioneers. By the end of that century, though, two historical developments turned the native groups into tourist attractions. First, conflict had ended with the victory of European American society. This meant that the earlier inhabitants had to find ways of adjusting to the dominant civilization. Second, railroads and other means of transportation made possible travel to reservations and other native settlements. Native American tourism was encouraged in the 1960’s and 1970’s by cultural trends and political events. Fascination with Native American cultures and ways grew in the larger population, particularly among those involved with the youth “counterculture” of the time. During the same decade, the control of many tribes over their own lands and resources increased. In 1975, the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975, designed to provide federal assistance to enable tribes and reservations to achieve greater economic and social independence. During the late 1960’s and 1970’s, also, the legal sophistication of a number of native groups, such as the Native American Rights Fund, enabled tribes to enlarge their territories and to expand their rights to use their own lands. Tourism was one way that Native Americans could profit from these lands. Throughout the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, Native Americans sought to use tourism to retain their ethnic identities while surviving economically. With the help of government assistance and business partnerships, tribes developed recreational facilities and organized powwows and other cultural attractions. In Arizona, for example, the White Mountain
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This father and son are displaying examples of ethnic art to be sold to tourists. (Jay Foreman, Unicorn Stock Photos)
Apache Tribe developed the Apache Cultural Center, a ski resort, and facilities for camping and fishing. Farther north, the Wisconsin Native American Cultural Tour brought visitors to the Oneida Nation, Menominee Nation, Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans, and the Forest County Potawatomi. In Colorado, the Western American Indian Chamber was formed in Denver in 1989. With funding from the American Express Company, the Chamber promoted tourism to reservations. It also sponsored a yearly Native Tourism Alliance Conference in Denver in the spring of each year. Gambling on reservations was one type of tourism that became especially common and controversial. The 1988 Gambling Regulatory Act legalized casinos on reservations in many states, promoting this kind of tourist attraction. Researchers have found that gambling does bring profits, but that it may also result in problems such as increases in crime and bankruptcy.
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Many Native Americans see tourism in general as a mixed blessing. It is a substantial source of income for many tribes. It enables members of some groups to remain in their homelands, instead of seeking work elsewhere. However, many of the jobs generated by most forms of tourism provide relatively low wages. Appealing to a mass tourist market may also involve catering to Euro-American stereotypes about Native American ways. For example, tipis may be erected in tourist areas to represent dwellings of native groups that historically did not live in tipis; likewise, natives in various parts of the country may be called on to dress in costumes of the Plains Indians, made familiar in films, even though such dress is foreign to their particular band or tribe. Carl L. Bankston III Sources for Further Study Berkhofer, Robert F. The White Man’s Indian: Images of the American Indian from Columbus to the Present. New York: Vintage Books, 1978. Bordewich, Fergus M. Killing the White Man’s Indian: Reinventing Native Americans at the End of the Twentieth Century. New York: Anchor Press, 1996. Cantor, George. North American Indian Landmarks: A Traveler’s Guide. Detroit, Mich.: Visible Ink Press, 1989. Lew, Alan A., and George A. Van Otten. Tourism and Gaming on American Indian Lands. New York: Cognizant Communication, 1998. See also: Employment and Unemployment; Gambling; Metalwork; Stereotypes.
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Toys
Toys Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: The toys with which American Indian children played were meant both to amuse and to prepare children for their roles as adults. In traditional American Indian societies, children played with toys, as children in every society do. Many traditional Indian toys were similar to the types of toys widely found in other cultures, such as dolls, spinning tops, noisemaking toys, items (such as balls and sticks) used in games, and miniature versions of tools used by adults. Toys were generally made of materials that could easily be found locally—wood, stone, bone, or clay. Toys designed for infants were intended to be amusing and to hold attention. These types of toys included rattles and attractive objects hung on the bow of the cradleboard, such as strings of carved bones that would rattle when the baby moved them by hand. Children often made crude clay figurines of sheep, goats, horses, dogs, cats, cradleboards, canoes, and humans. They utilized bits of stone, wood, and rags in their play, much as children do today when pretending. Dolls were common, and it was not unusual for dolls to have clothing, cradleboards and houses. Some dolls were actually hollow pottery with pebbles inside. Small play utensils and implements helped children learn the work that would be required of them as adults. Children of most tribes made cat’s-cradles with string, jumped rope, spun tops, bowled hoops, and played with balls. The tops were made of wood, stone, or bone and spun with a long thong of buckskin. The handles for the tops were made of sticks, sometimes whittled into a spoonlike shape. As the children matured they played with checkers, dice cut from sticks, knucklebones, or shells, and pitched quoits. “Buzzer” or “hummer” toys operated by strings were common. Boys in some tribes had bull-roarers, which were made of a flat piece of wood, tapered at one end, with a stout cord that passed
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through a hole at the other end. When this toy was swung rapidly at arm’s length, its blade rotated and produced a roaring noise that could be heard for some distance. Some tribes regarded this to be an important sound producer and used it in ceremonies, but most thought it a child’s toy. Boys were given miniature bows and arrows and were taught to stalk game and hunt very early. During play, boys would imitate medicine men and had medicine bags made of squirrel or bird skins with small white shells or pebbles for charms. Boys of the Sioux tribe, and probably others, imitated white traders, using fur for a beard and birchbark for hats and shirts. They would smear their faces with light-colored dirt to imitate pale skin. Hopi children received kachina dolls and toy weapons from adults during the kachina dances. Children also had drums and peashooters. Inuit children possessed sleds, boats, hunting outfits, bows and arrows, carved figures of ducks or seals, and dolls (often with fur clothing), which were carved from ivory, wood, or stone. The children of Plains Indians had dolls, sleds, clay blocks, balls, and tops. Ojibwa children had dolls and small animals made of cattails. Lynn M. Mason See also: Children; Games and Contests; Hand Games.
Trade Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Before Europeans arrived in the Americas, American Indians had well-established systems and routes of trade; the European concept of trade soon altered the traditional ways. Pre-contact Indian tribes had philosophies about property that differed dramatically from those of most Europeans; their philosophies limited the notion of what was to be traded and by whom. Most Indian property was personal, such as clothing, weapons,
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and subsistence items. This personal property did not usually include land. Indian tribes and kin groups, rather than individuals, had rights to land. There was no concept of real estate as being privately owned. Among agricultural groups of Indians, garden areas were tended by groups; produce from these areas was shared. When Indians gathered or fished, they had the right to do so at will anywhere within their group’s or tribe’s territory. The same was the case for hunting. In addition, Indians interpreted land rights as rights to use the land productively. Land was not to be destroyed or even left unused, and if land were left unused for some time, it was ordinarily allotted to other groups within the tribe. Since land could not be traded or sold in the ethic of most tribes, there was an inevitable conflict with Europeans who wanted to purchase tribal properties. Traditional Trade Patterns. With a great range of climate, topography, and flora and fauna, Indian peoples conformed to their environments in diverse ways. East of the Mississippi, in heavily forested areas, tribes traded extensively with one another by traveling on established trails or on rivers. In the Southeast, among the Creeks, for example, corn was a product communally produced and offered to other tribes. Plains tribes subsisted largely on buffalo, and they traded buffalo meat and skins with other tribes that came west such as the Sioux, Cheyennes, and Arapahos. In the Southwest, the Navajos planted crops on the floors of canyons and arroyos, while the Indians of the Great Basin and California wandered in small family groups, gathering seeds and nuts and snaring small animals. Each of the above cultures considered itself a self-sufficient people with communal functions and responsibilities. None considered itself an owner of properties in a European sense. Trade entailed gift-giving and a mutual exchange of items of use. It was not commerce with the European idea of accumulating material toward wealth. It was also not commerce in the sense of acquiring material that would be considered personally owned indefinitely.
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Trade with Europeans. Many Indian tribes, however, were increasingly fascinated by European goods. French and English, and later Dutch and Swedish, explorers viewed trade with Indians as a way of acquiring domination over them. After 1600, with colonies established on the eastern coast of North America, trade was not only a simple exchange of goods from which each side benefited; the process of post-contact interaction became a cultural conflict and a struggle over land rights and uses. Initially, some Indians converted European articles to functions other than those originally intended, such as tools and body ornaments. This changed, however, with European objects such as guns and farming tools. Indian cultures were being changed by trade with whites, while European settlers and adventurers were acquiring large tracts of Indian territories through trade. Commercial hunting began to overtake traditional Indian subsistence hunting, and it demanded
A depiction of Indians trading at a frontier town that appeared in an 1875 edition of Harpers Weekly. (Library of Congress)
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far more time and effort. Indians were soon becoming more dependent on European markets for their raw materials and were affected by fluctuating European prices. Hunted species dwindled, hunters traveled to other tribes’ territories, and intertribal conflicts ensued. A debtor dependency developed, with Indians often being forced to give up land in this new commercial process. The forced transition to reservation life was the final blow to the hope that Indian groups could effectively participate in large-scale trade with the dominant culture as the United States became increasingly populated and industrialized. It was not until the second half of the twentieth century that tribes began to enter the mainstream economy in significant numbers, and success has varied widely among tribes. Types of participation in the modern economy included ranching, the production of resources (such as gas and oil), the tourist trade, the sale of Indian art and crafts (such as jewelry), and, most recently, running gambling casinos on Indian land. In the case of bingo halls and other gambling centers, the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (1988) recognized the right of tribes to engage in this type of economic activity on their own land without having to follow the same restrictions that apply to non-Indians. A number of controversies and questions have arisen, however, over the possible participation of organized crime groups in some operations, over non-Indian management of some centers, and over whether this type of “trade” should be considered appropriate use of a group’s environment. Nevertheless, gambling centers represent one Indian adaptation to the European American concept of trade that has resulted from the extremely limited possibilities that exist on the land to which most Indian groups were restricted. Max Orezzoli and William T. Osborne Source for Further Study Kennedy, Margaret A. The Whiskey Trade of the Northwestern Plains: A Multidisciplinary Study. New York: P. Lang, 1997. See also: Gambling; Gifts and Gift Giving; Money; Resources.
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Transportation Modes Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Long before their contact with European civilization, American Indians had developed a number of unique modes of longdistance transportation, many of which, in their original or modified forms, are in use today. American Indians have traditionally used a wide variety of modes of travel, especially watercraft. Some of these modes are still in use today and have been adopted by the descendants of European settlers. In other cases, traditional ways of transport have been replaced by those made possible by European technology. Transportation on Land. The North American Indians never developed the wheel, which was basic to European land travel. In South America, the wheel was developed but was used only in children’s toys; apparently it was never considered a serious means of transportation. The probable reason for this is that wheeled vehicles require a flat, well-maintained road, and Indian cultures never built these to any great extent. Traveling on foot was therefore the only means of land transportation practiced in the temperate climates of North America until Europeans brought horses to the Americas. A variety of containers, frequently of animal skin or of woven fibers, were developed for carrying necessary travel provisions or trade goods. The Plains tribes used a device called the travois, which consisted of two shafts that could be pulled by a dog (or a person); the shafts supported the load, hung or suspended between them. In snowy conditions, snowshoes were commonly worn for winter travel. They were often made of local wood, wetted and heated to make it pliable; the snowshoes were shaped, then webbed with hide. In other cases they were made entirely of woven hide. Apart from walking, the major mode of land transportation in temperate climates was horseback riding. Although fossil evidence suggests that a small type of horse was once native to the
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Americas, they were extinct before European explorers arrived. The Europeans introduced modern horses at the end of the fifteenth century, and many American Indian tribes, especially in the Great Plains, quickly adopted this mode of transportation. Sleds were a common mode of transportation, especially in the Arctic and Subarctic regions. Among some Inuit groups, dogs were originally considered sacred, and sleds were pulled by humans. At some point, dogs were used, possibly because of the influence of the Athapaskans, the other major group of Arctic and Subarctic natives, who had long been using dogs to pull sleds. Dogsleds were very often quite large, up to 14 feet in length, and could carry heavy loads. Boats. As was the case in pretechnological European society, water travel was considered far more important than land travel for several reasons. Lakes and rivers already existed—no trails needed to be blazed. Many Indian tribes lived by the shores of lakes, rivers, or oceans, as waterways provided an excellent source of food. Travel was faster and easier because waterways are generally unobstructed. Finally, once a route along a waterway was known, it would always be there, and previous travelers could easily explain the routes to others. The type of boat most commonly used by Indians was the canoe, and there were a number of varieties. Dugout canoes were widely popular. These were formed by splitting large trees and hollowing out the middle of half the tree by fire or simply by scooping or chipping out the inside with stone or wooden implements. Also common were canoes made of bark or skin, sometimes caulked with the resin from trees or with animal fat. Canoes varied widely in size. At one extreme, the Iroquois of New York and southeastern Canada made canoes up to 40 feet long. Many other tribes made canoes for one or two persons. The Tlingit of Alaska made dugout canoes of cedar, sometimes as long as 45 feet, which could hold up to sixty people; they also made much smaller canoes for one or two persons. Canoes were paddled in a variety of ways. Usually there were a
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Nootka Indians in a canoe carved from a tree. (Library of Congress)
number of paddles used by people on both sides, with steering accomplished by means of one side paddling while the other side sat idle. Sometimes, however, especially in the longer canoes containing a larger number of people, there was a short paddle used in the back of the boat. The Inuits used kayaks, a variation on the canoe that was paddled with a single oar, swung from side to side. Marc Goldstein
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Sources for Further Study Bancroft-Hunt, Norman. People of the Totem. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1979. Hamilton, Charles, ed. Cry of the Thunderbird: The American Indian’s Own Story. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972. Oswalt, Wendell H. This Land Was Theirs: A Study of North American Indians. 7th ed. Mountain View, Calif.: Mayfield, 2001. Spencer, Robert F., Jesse D. Jennings, et al. The Native Americans. 2d ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1977. Viola, Herman J. After Columbus: The Smithsonian Chronicles of the American Indians. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990. See also: Birchbark; Boats and Watercraft; Dogs; Horses; Technology.
Tribal Colleges Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Tribal colleges were founded and chartered by American Indian tribes to ensure that their members receive culturally relevant and sensitive education. Though appearing under many guises, a consistent aim of nearly all of the first two centuries of United States Indian policy was the assimilation of America’s native peoples into the national mainstream. From the late eighteenth century through the first third of the twentieth century, the federal government sought to achieve this goal through educational curricula and institutions that were designed to strip Indian children of their tribal traditions and replace them with the values and practices of Euro-American society. A major instrument of this policy was the federally operated or contract boarding school, in which students were isolated from their home communities for extended periods of time in the hope
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that they would become white in all but their physical makeup. Informing this aspiration was a philosophy of cultural development that deemed Euro-American culture as the highest stage of human progress, superior to the reputedly savage and barbarous lifeways of American Indian tribes and other non-Western societies. Given this understanding, it is not surprising that General Richard Henry Pratt, the founder and director of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, should have espoused the aim of Native American education to “kill the Indian to save the man.” By the 1960’s, condemnations of the methods and goals of federal educational policies were being voiced by Indians and governmental officials alike. Many of these critics maintained that although government policies had failed to achieve their assimilationist goals, their ethnocidal legacy could nevertheless be witnessed in the high incidence of alcoholism and other social pathologies plaguing American Indian communities. In order to eradicate these evils, tribes sought increased control over the nature and content of the curricula to which their children were exposed. They insisted that classes be both culturally and socially sensitive and relevant, contributing to the survival of tribal languages, customs, and values. These demands were both consistent with and supported by a number of federal initiatives that encouraged bilingual and bicultural education, including Title VII of the 1968 Bilingual Education Act, the Indian Education Act of 1972, and the 1975 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. One of the landmark developments to emerge during this period was the Rough Rock Demonstration School, which was founded in 1966 at Chinle, New Mexico, on the Navajo Reservation. Supported by grants from the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Rough Rock was the first Indian school to be controlled and operated by an American Indian tribe. The success of the school’s bilingual curriculum and community-based programs soon made it an inspiration and model for other Indian communities seeking to initiate indigenous educational programs for their children.
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Rough Rock’s achievements spawned an additional innovation among the Navajos that was destined to transform the face of American Indian Higher Education. Up through the early 1970’s, it was rare for Navajos or other Native Americans to pursue postsecondary degrees. In the first place, going to college required Indians from reservations to leave their communities and live in populations overwhelmingly composed of non-native peoples. Second, those few individuals who did matriculate often found the values and goals of non-Indian academic culture so alienating and the class offerings so foreign to tribal interests and needs that they dropped out before graduating. Aware of these dismal conditions, many of Rough Rock’s founders believed the time was ripe to attempt to found a community-based institution of higher education that would offer Indian-centered majors and programs. Pooling funds from the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the Navajo tribe, and private foundations, they opened Navajo Community College (NCC) in 1968. Located in the BIA high school at Many Farms, NCC (now Diné College) was the first institution of higher education that was directed by Native Americans. At the center of the school’s curriculum was a Navajo Studies Program, which included courses in Navajo history, language, and culture. However, the college also offered a wide variety of vocational classes intended to help tribal members find on-reservation employment. The school operated out of Many Farms High School until 1971, when the U.S. Congress passed the Navajo Community College Act, which earmarked $5.5 million to construct its center at Tsaile, Arizona. The success of Diné College motivated action by citizens of other tribes who wished to establish community-based institutions of higher education among their own peoples. In 1970, members of the Rosebud Sioux Reservation launched Sinte Gleska College (now University), followed by the opening of Oglala Lakota College on the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation and D-Q University in Davis, California, in 1971. Between 1971 and 1978, eight new tribally controlled colleges opened their doors. These included
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Turtle Mountain Community College in Belcourt, North Dakota (1972); Nebraska Indian Community College in Macy, Nebraska (1972); Cankdeska Cikana Community College in Spirit Lake, North Dakota (1974); Chief Dull Knife Memorial College in Lame Deer, Montana (1975); Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College in Baraga, Michigan (1975) Salish-Kootenai College in Pablo, Montana (1977); Si Tanka (formerly Cheyenne River Community College) at Eagle Butte, South Dakota (1978); Fort Peck Community College in Poplar, Montana (1978). In the quarter century between 1978 to 2003, nineteen more tribally controlled colleges commenced operation. The reason for this steady growth was partly economic. In 1978, the U.S. Congress passed the Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act, making funds available to tribal communities that would otherwise have been unable to found institutions of higher education. This legislation allocated grants of $4,000 per full-time stu-
Image not available
Representatives from American Indian tribes, education, and business sectors watch as President George W. Bush signs an executive order expected to help Indian tribal colleges and universities. (AP/Wide World Photos)
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dent (later increased to $6,000) for those tribally chartered institutions whose student bodies and governing boards were formed predominantly of American Indians and whose missions and plans met the criteria the act set forth. These colleges included: Blackfeet Community College, in Browning, Montana (1979); Little Big Horn College at Crow Agency, Montana (1980); Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College in Wisconsin (1982); Northwest Indian College, in Bellingham, Washington (1983); Bay Mills Community College in Brimley, Michigan (1984); Fort Belknap College in Harlem, Montana (1984); Sisseton-Wahpeton College in Sisseton, South Dakota (1984); Stone Child College in Box Elder, Montana (1984); Sitting Bull College in Fort Yates, North Dakota (1986); Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in Cloquet, Michigan (1987); United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, North Dakota (1987); Fort Berthold Community College in New Town, North Dakota (1988); Leech Lake Tribal College in Cass Lake, Minnesota (1992); College of the Menominee Nation in Kesheena, Wisconsin (1993); Crownpoint Institute of Technology in Crownpoint, New Mexico (1993); Little Priest Community College in Winnebago, Nebraska (1996); White Earth Tribal and Community College in Mahnomen, Minnesota (1997); Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College in Mount Pleasant, Michigan (1998); and Tohono O’odham Community College in Sells, Arizona (1998). In 1972, representatives of the then-existing tribal colleges established the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) to act as their major lobbying agency. AIHEC began to publish a periodical entitled Tribal College Journal in 1981. In 1989, this consortium created the American Indian College Fund (AICF) as a fundraising arm for its member colleges and their students. Historian Cary Michael Carney reported that as of 1997 approximately one-fifth or 25,000 of the 127,372 American Indian students attending institutions of higher education were enrolled in tribal colleges. These students represent more than 250 Indian nations. Harvey Markowitz
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Sources for Further Study Carney, Cary Michael. Native American Higher Education in the United States. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction, 2000. Deloria, Vine, Jr., and Daniel R. Wildcat. Power and Place: Indian Education in America. Golden, Colo.: Fulcrum, 2001. Szasz, Margaret Connell. Eduation and the American Indian: The Road to Self-Determination Since 1928. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998. See also: American Indian Studies; Boarding Schools; Education: Post-contact.
Tribal Councils Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Tribal councils, established by the U.S. government as reservation-based decision-making bodies representing tribal members, were opposed by many native people. At one time each native tribe ruled with a form of government unique to its culture but usually based on a consensus process. As the tribes were conquered, they were deprived of their sovereignty and subjected to the rule of the U.S. government through the agents of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). In 1871, Congress ended treaty-making with the tribes, and the relationship of the government to the tribes became one of guardian to ward. In 1934, Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA), which has been the subject of heated debate ever since. Under the provisions of this act, any tribe, or the people of any reservation, could organize themselves as a corporation, adopt a constitution and bylaws, and exercise certain forms of self-government. Because the IRA did not recognize existing traditional forms of government, such as those provided by spiritual leaders and elders, many people boycotted the process of voting in these IRA-
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sanctioned governments. As a result, only a minority of tribal members voted to establish the tribal councils, which are structured after European American and hierarchical models. The matters with which these councils could deal were strictly limited, and decisions and actions were subject to the approval of the BIA. In fact, the reservation superintendent, an agent of the secretary of interior, had full control over the property and financial affairs of the tribe and could veto anything the council did. Because of this, tribal councils were often labeled puppet governments of the BIA. Various attempts have been made by tribal members to address this situation. In 1944, tribal leaders formed a pan-Indian organization called the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI). In 1961, several hundred native activists issued a “Declaration of Indian Purpose,” which called for, among other things, the government’s recognition of the rights of tribes. As tribes continue to assert their sovereignty, power has moved from the BIA to the individual tribal councils, which represent the needs of the people. Lucy Ganje Source for Further Study Canby, William C., Jr. American Indian Law in a Nutshell. St. Paul, Minn.: West Group, 1998. See also: Political Organization and Leadership; Tribal Courts.
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Tribal Courts Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: All tribes had aboriginal mechanisms for resolving disputes; with the establishment of reservations, however, new courts were created by the U.S. Department of the Interior, and most of these courts have been replaced by tribal courts. Prior to European contact all American Indian tribes and bands had institutional mechanisms for settling disputes. The mechanisms varied from Eskimo song duels and Yurok mediation to Cheyenne and Pueblo councils. Under United States law, tribal governments have the right to retain or modify adjudication procedures unless Congress limits that right. For example, in the nineteenth century the Cherokee legal system went through a series of changes from a clan- and councilbased system to a system based on an Anglo-American model. In the late nineteenth century Congress expanded federal court jurisdiction in Cherokee territory and finally passed the Curtis Act (1898), which abolished Cherokee tribal courts. Pueblo adjudicatory systems have been influenced by Spanish and U.S. institutions and policies but were never abolished by federal edict and continue to develop. For example, many Keresan pueblos have a council which decides cases. Many disputes are settled before a partial council or single official acting as a mediator. Important cases are decided by the full council; the presiding officer may act as both prosecutor and a judge. Litigants may be advised by kinsmen or ceremonial group members. In a modification of this system, Laguna Pueblo has a full-time judge while retaining the council as an appellate court. In the mid-nineteenth century a number of tribes were confined to reservations, creating new problems of social order. In 1883 the Department of the Interior established Courts of Indian Offenses. The judges, tribal members appointed by reservation superintendents, enforced administrative rules established by the Department of the Interior. The superintendent had appellate power over
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the judges’ decisions. In 1888 Congress implicitly recognized the legitimacy of these courts by appropriating funds for judges’ salaries. By 1900 Courts of Indian Offenses had been established on about two-thirds of the reservations. These courts were even established in some pueblos, where they competed with indigenous legal systems. Courts of Indian Offenses have an enduring legacy as a model for the procedures and codes of many contemporary tribal judicial systems. In 1935 substantive law administered by the Courts of Indian Offenses was revised. Moreover, the Indian Reorganization Act (1934) made it easier for tribes to establish court systems less dominated by the Interior Department. Insufficient tribal economic growth slowed replacement of the Courts of Indian Offenses. By 1992, however, only twenty-two remained. By contrast, there were more than 150 tribal courts. Tribal courts vary in size, procedure, and other matters. The Navajo Nation, for example, now has an independent judicial branch which processed more than eighty-five thousand cases in 1992. There are seven judicial districts and fourteen district court judges. The practice of law before these courts is regulated. Appeals may be taken to the high court. Appellate decisions of note are published. In addition, there are local “peacemaker” courts with 227 peacemakers who act generally as mediators. Eric Henderson Sources for Further Study Carrillo, Jo, ed. Readings in American Indian Law: Recalling the Rhythm of Survival. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998. Pommersheim, Frank. Braid of Feathers: American Indian Law and Contemporary Tribal Life. Reprint. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995. See also: Indian Police and Judges; Tribal Councils.
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Tricksters Tribes affected: Widespread but not pantribal Significance: Tricksters are ambiguous supernatural figures common to North American Indian mythology who are said to have helped in creating human culture. Tricksters were common features of North American Indian mythology. Supernatural in origin, tricksters played an important mythological role in giving significant technologies or cultural traits, such as fire or food plants, to a particular cultural group, though often unintentionally. Tricksters were not thought to be basically concerned with human welfare; rather, their gifts to humanity were usually the result of a joke or an accident. Tricksters were often seen as good-natured buffoons, and trickster tales were a source of entertainment as well as morality tales for children. Ambiguous Natures. The fundamental characteristic of a trickster figure was its ambiguity. Tricksters were seen as being supernatural in their origins, but they were definitely not godlike: They laughed, played jokes, and reveled in bawdy or scandalous behavior. They most often took the form of an animal, especially a coyote, raven, or hare, but an animal that could talk and act like a human; alternatively a trickster could be portrayed as an old or ageless man. Whatever their form, tricksters could usually transform themselves, as from male to female or from animal into human form. Never the biggest, strongest, or best-looking of supernatural characters, tricksters lived by their wits. Nevertheless, they were usually too clever for their own good, with their schemes or jokes rebounding on them to get them into trouble. In fact, the sly trickster was also a numbskull, fooled by his own guile into fighting with his own reflection or eating his own body parts. Even successful tricks seldom paid off for the trickster; after securing a meal through a trick, for example, the meal would be lost through the trickster’s foolishness. Many of a trickster’s actions might seem heroic, such as fighting with a monster or giving humanity some
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key skill such as flint-knapping, but the heroic behavior was usually unintentional. Moreover, the hero trickster often turned around and next did something disrespectful or disreputable. Tricksters wandered the earth, with their enormous appetites for food and for sex getting them into one tight fix after another. Tricksters were ageless. They could die, and often did as a result of their exploits; however, the trickster was able to survive death and would rebound in another form or be caught in another predicament. Creators of Humankind. Tricksters were often seen as the creators of a particular culture. For example, among the Nez Perce, the trickster was Coyote. In the Nez Perce origin myth, a monster exists that eats all the animals except Coyote, who ties himself to a high mountain to escape. Finding he cannot reach Coyote, the monster befriends him instead. Using his friendship, Coyote asks if he can go into the monster’s stomach and visit his animal friends who were eaten, and to this the monster agrees. Once inside the monster’s stomach, Coyote builds a fire and then cuts out the monster’s heart with a knife; all the animals are able to escape. Coyote dismembers the monster with his knife and throws the parts around the earth. Everywhere a piece lands, a tribe of Indians is created. When Coyote is finished, his friend Fox points out that there is no tribe on the spot where the monster died. So Coyote washes the monster’s blood from his hands and lets the drops fall to the ground; the Nez Perce are created in this way. Coyote says, “Here on this ground I will make the Nez Perce. They will be few in number, but they will be strong and pure.” The tale is typical of trickster myths in which the trickster acts as the creator of humankind. In other tales humans already exist, but they lack the necessary skills or social behavior really to be human beings. Among the usual gifts the trickster bestows on humanity are fire, flint, tobacco, food animals, or cultivated plants, and the regulation of weather or the seasons. In the Northwest, Raven as trickster creates dry earth as well for humans to stand on. In addition, the trick-
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ster often brings mortality, portrayed as natural or necessary, to humanity. In the Winnebago trickster tale, Hare originally makes humans immortal but soon realizes that immortality will cause humanity to cover the earth, which would create great suffering from insufficient food supplies. He thus undoes his gift to create a natural balance between humanity and the ability of the earth to support life. Telling the Tale. Trickster tales were usually narrated by highly respected specialists in the community. These specialists memorized the tales, which were maintained by an oral tradition, and presented them in creative and dramatic tellings. Most of the members of the community knew the outline of the tales, but the specialist’s acting ability brought them alive. These specialists were permitted to expand or embellish on the tales as they saw fit; the fundamental plot and the primary actors were retained, but considerable liberty could be taken with the details. Trickster tales were among the most entertaining these specialists presented; the combination of buffoonery, scandalous behavior, and drama in the tales made them good listening. In addition, trickster tales were presented as morality tales for children. As the trickster found himself in trouble because of excessive pride, lust, or greed, children could be reminded of proper behavior. Some authorities believe that the trickster tales served as safety valves for adults as well by making fun of serious rituals or difficult social situations. When the trickster joked with his mother-in-law—ordinarily a very formal relationship among North American Indians—or flaunted the fasts which accompanied many rituals, he was doing something many would have liked to have done but could not because of social requirements. All in all, the trickster was—and is— a popular figure in North American mythology. Even if he was too vain, clever, or greedy for his own good, he was always amusing, and he accomplished much for humankind, even if by accident. David J. Minderhout
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Sources for Further Study Boas, Franz. Race, Language, and Culture. New York: Macmillan, 1940. de Waal Malefijt, Annemarie. Religion and Culture: An Introduction to Anthropology of Religion. 1968. Reprint. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press, 1989. Kidwell, Clara Sue, Homer Noley, and George E. “Tink” Tinker. A Native American Theology. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2001. An examination of the role of the trickster in Native American religious beliefs. Leeming, David, and Jake Page. The Mythology of Native North America. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998. Includes a chapter on tricksters. Pandian, Jacob. Culture, Religion, and the Sacred Self. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1991. Radin, Paul. The Trickster: A Study in American Indian Mythology. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1956. Wilson, Samuel M. “Trickster Treats.” Natural History, October, 1991, 4-8. See also: Clowns; False Face Ceremony; Humor; Manibozho; Religion; Sacred Narratives.
Turquoise Tribes affected: Great Basin, Mesoamerican, Southwest tribes Significance: Turquoise was made into jewelry used in burial ceremonies and was an important trade item in Mexico and the Southwest. Turquoise is a carbonaceous mineral that was prized by many Native American groups primarily for its bright blue-green color. Major turquoise sources were located throughout the American Great Basin, the Southwest, and western Mexico, and turquoise was traded extensively throughout the western United States and Mexico.
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As early as 300 b.c.e., the Anasazi Basket Maker culture as far north as Utah worked turquoise for jewelry, which was commonly interred in burials, and traded it as far south as central Mexico. Native American craftsmen from the American Southwest traded turquoise for shell from the Gulf of California and the Pacific coast. Turquoise was frequently worked into thin tesserae used in mosaic inlays over shell ornaments. Similar mosaics covered burial masks from the central Mexican site of Teotihuacán during the fifth and sixth centuries, as well as later Aztec and Mixtec sculpture. By 1000 c.e., large-scale Anasazi sites such as Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico contained specialized turquoise workshops and served as distribution centers for interregional turquoise trade networks. Modern Navajo and Pueblo artisans, particularly Hopi and Zuñi, have maintained a strong tradition of turquoise jewelry and carved fetish figures during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In addition, ground turquoise frequently provided pigment for blue paint. Turquoise held high symbolic import because of its distinctive bright color and relative scarcity. Turquoise stones or nuggets were believed to possess spiritual power and were common components of shaman’s medicine bags as curing charms. The color blue commonly symbolized concepts of rain or water, freshness, fertility, and the western horizon, the direction of the setting sun. Mesoamerican cultures revered jade for similar reasons. In Pueblo mythology, turquoise was so revered that a specific divinity, called Huruing Wuhti in Hopi (loosely translated as “Hard Substances Old Woman”), was considered the patron deity of turquoise, shell, and coral. James D. Farmer Source for Further Study Dubin, Lois Sherr. North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present. New York: Henry N. Abrams, 1999. See also: Arts and Crafts: Southwest; Dress and Adornment; Metalwork; Mosaic and Inlay; Shells and Shellwork; Silverworking; Trade.
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Twins Tribes affected: Widespread but especially the Navajo, Pueblo tribes, Seneca, Sioux Significance: The concept of twins formed an important part of religious mythology, explaining the process and structure of creation and providing models for human behavior. Twins are common in Native American mythology, but their roles have tribal variants. For the Seneca, the twins Sprout and Flint represent the bipolar structure of existence, the tension between good and evil. Sprout makes deer, and Flint makes mountain lions to eat them. Sprout creates fruits and berries; Flint, thorns and poison ivy. More common is the myth of the War Twins, who are sons of the Father Sun. In the Zuñi tradition, they help with creation, leading the Zuñi to the surface world and transforming them into humans. Like the Navajo twins, Monsterslayer and Born of Water, they receive weapons from Father Sun and rid the world of monsters, becoming protectors of the tribe. They also often have astronomical significance, creating constellations from the monsters they have slain. In Zuñi myth, the twins are identified with the evening and morning stars. In Navajo culture, the twins serve as models for boys as they develop into adulthood. Like the twins, male children receive toy weapons from their father. The twins are important figures in rites of passage. In Lakota Sioux culture, twins have a special sacredness, and many healers claim that their power comes from a previous existence as a twin. Charles Louis Kammer III See also: Ethnophilosophy and Worldview; Religion.
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Urban Indians Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: As of July, 2002, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that nearly two-thirds of American Indians resided in urban areas. Although this is the lowest percentage among U.S. “racial” (ethnic) groups, the percentage has risen over the years. The term “urban Indians” is problematic for most non-Native Americans. Whether thinking of Native Americans brings forth positive, negative, or neutral images, most non-natives do not imagine natives as members of an urban, technological society, and this lack of urban image has led to a blindness regarding the presence and needs of Native Americans in the cities. Identification of the urban Native American has therefore been one of the central problems surrounding government policy making regarding American Indians since the early 1960’s. Relocation and Migration. All members of a federally recognized tribe in the United States, according to the U.S. Constitution, are due certain benefits and services, by right of their heritage. This unique legal relationship with the U.S. government was never meant to end once an individual moved to a metropolitan area, but in effect that is what has happened. In the mid-1950’s, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), in accord with Congress, began the Voluntary Relocation Program. BIA officers on each reservation were instructed to “sell” the idea of city living to likely candidates. Individuals, and sometimes families, were given a one-way ticket to the chosen city, where housing and employment awaited, all arranged by the BIA. Subsistence money was guaranteed for six weeks, after which these newest immigrants were on their own. It was informally known as a “sink-or-swim policy.” As anthropologist Sol Tax noted twenty years after relocation, however, “Indians don’t sink or swim, they float.” Most Indians who arrived in the city under the relocation program left as soon as they got a good look at their new way of life.
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Many of the jobs were unskilled, and Native Americans found they were able to afford only the worst housing available in the city. Under these conditions, transition to city dwelling was, for many, impossible. Yet the BIA did not recognize the shortcomings of its multimillion-dollar program and continued to relocate as many Native Americans as possible. Noticing that many of their clients were returning to their reservations, the BIA began relocating people as far away from their reservations as could be managed, to make it as difficult as possible to return. Part of the plan was to terminate the reservations eventually. Watt Spade and Willard Walker illustrated one Indian view of this phase of the relocation program, relating a discussion between two American Indian men about the government’s wanting to land a man on the moon. It could be done, one man said, but nobody knew how to get the man home again after he landed on the moon. All the government had to do, he said, was put an Indian in the rocket ship and tell him he was being relocated: “Then, after he got to the moon, that Indian would find his own way home again and the government wouldn’t have to figure that part out at all.” The Voluntary Relocation Program was a failure according to its own goals. This program was based on the prejudiced notion that Native American culture and lifeways would, and should, disappear. The BIA and the U.S. Congress of the 1950’s counted on America’s cities to speed that process. Most Native Americans who now live in urban areas did not arrive through the relocation program but migrated independently, usually looking for employment, and settled near relatives or friends from their reservation or hometown. Many are permanent residents, but an approximately equal number are transient— relocating within the city, going from city to city, or spending part of the year in the city and part on the reservation. There is no known “typical” pattern of migration; tribal nations, families, and individuals differ according to their needs. A family may live in the city during the winter so the children can stay in school, then leave for the reservation in the summer. Construction workers are often busy in the cities during the warm months and leave in
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the winter. The pow-wow season and harvests also draw many urban Native Americans back to the reservations. In 1975, Jeanne Guillemin pointed out in Urban Renegades that the young Micmac women of Boston often preferred to return to their kin in the Canadian Maritime Provinces when it is time to give birth, where they could receive physical, emotional, and spiritual support and avoid the frightening aspects of the city, such as its clinics and hospitals. This pattern remains: The frequent moving to and from the reservation and within the city is one factor in the urban Native American’s invisibility or elusiveness. Urban Indian Identity. Another factor has been Native Americans’ reluctance to identify themselves as Native Americans to non-Native Americans in the city. In 1976 the director of the American Indian Health Service in Chicago illustrated this problem with an anecdote. A young man had been playing baseball and had been hit hard by the bat. When he was taken to the emergency room, he removed all his turquoise beads, giving them to a friend to keep for him, and stuffed his long braids inside his baseball cap; he said, “Now the receptionist will think I’m a Mexican.” His friend said they frequently tried to pass as Mexicans in order to be treated better. The urban Indians’ attempts to remain unidentified, coupled with the tremendous mobility of individuals and families, has in past years made it impossible for the U.S. Census to come close to an accurate count in the cities. In the 1990 U.S. Census, however, there was a huge increase in people identifying themselves as Native Americans, Eskimos, and Aleuts, and there was yet another significant increase in the 2000 Census. These increases cannot be completely explained by actual population growth, so there has been much speculation regarding what has made so many more Native Americans willing to be identified. Some cynical observers insist that the motive must be monetary: to obtain funds and services that are due Native Americans under the law. One thing that scholars studying Native American culture have learned over the decades, however, is that Native Americans usually cannot be
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coaxed to take a particular course of action because of the promise of money. Most Native Americans living in cities do not receive federal funds or services of any kind, because of distrust of Indian or non-Indian agencies and a preference for finding survival strategies among one another. In the past, most sociological studies have focused on the atypical urban Native American—the one most visible, “lying in the gutter,” cut off from kin. It is important to learn how most urban Native Americans (neither the upper middle-class professionals nor the indigent) have found their way in this foreign environment, maintaining strong kin relationships and networks and not necessarily assimilating. Native Americans have arrived in cities all over the United States for many reasons; work opportunities and education are the most commonly cited. Guillemin pointed to another very important reason in her chapter “The City as Adventure.” For the Micmac of Canada, she noted, going to Boston was seen as extending one’s tribal boundaries. While trying to survive in this environment, young Micmacs learn much about coping with conditions as they meet them in the South End, a settling ground for immigrants from all over the world. Their risk taking and networking are important parts of a young urban Native American’s education. Flexibility is seen as one key to their tribal nation’s survival. While it is often assumed that cities temper and neutralize (if not actually melt) the unique cultures of their residents, in this case a native people is claiming the city as their own and using it for their own purposes—to strengthen themselves as members of an Indian nation as well as to survive and enjoy themselves. Some cities, such as Chicago, operate high-quality schools for Native American children as further insurance against their losing precious traditions and ways of thinking. Pan-Indianism. In several respects, the increase in the nation’s urban-based Native American population can be seen as the basis for broad, non-tribal movements of the 1970’s and later. In 1978, the American Indian Movement (AIM) organized the Longest Walk—a five-month trek from Alcatraz Island in San Francisco
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Many urban Indians participated in The Longest Walka protest march that began in San Francisco in 1978 and ended five months later in Washington, D.C. (Library of Congress)
Bay to Washington, D.C., in which many urban Indians as well as others participated. This watershed event brought many formerly isolated Native Americans together and built a foundation for selfrespect, self-actualization, political activism, and later economic improvements such as the gaming movement of the late 1980’s and 1990’s, which has done much to improve economic conditions on the reservation. Although controversial for its tendency to lump many tribes and nations into one group, this Pan-Indianism has provided a social and political connection for many formerly isolated Native Americans, advancing their interests in a way that would be impracticable if not impossible for individual nations or tribal groups. Roberta Fiske-Rusciano Sources for Further Study Fixico, Donald Lee. The Urban Experience in America. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2000.
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Guillemin, Jeanne. Urban Renegades. New York: Columbia University Press, 1975. LaGrand, James B. Indian Metropolis: Native Americans in Chicago, 1945-75. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002. Lobo, Susan, and Kurt Peters, eds. American Indians and the Urban Experience. Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press, 2001. Spade, Watt, and Willard Walker. “Relocation.” In The Way: An Anthology of American Indian Life, edited by Shirley Hill Witt and Stan Steiner. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1972. Waldman, Carl. Atlas of the North American Indian. Rev. ed. New York: Facts on File, 2000. Weibel-Orlando, Joan. Indian Country, L.A.: Maintaining Ethnic Community in Complex Society. Rev. ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999. See also: Alcoholism; Demography; Employment and unemployment; Gambling; Pan-Indianism; Relocation.
Visions and Vision Quests Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: In the vision quest, an individual fasts in a secluded place, seeking knowledge or help from the spiritual world. The vision quest is a ritual conducted traditionally by men, but occasionally by women, seeking spiritual help. The vision quest is a personal experience. In an isolated place—sometimes a secluded place away from the village, sometimes a confined space such as a pit—a man fasts, avoiding food and water, commonly for a period of four days. The man humbles himself before the Great Mystery and seeks health or help for himself or his family. For example, a man might seek the courage needed to undergo a Sun Dance, seek protection before going to war, or pray for the health of a sick relative. He might go on a vision quest in thanksgiving because a great
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gift has been bestowed, or he might simply seek help in providing food and shelter for his family. Afterward, a holy man interprets the dream or spiritual instruction that has been received during the fast. Personal visions are kept in confidence. “Vision question” is an American term for the process. Nicholas Black Elk called it “to go out lamenting,” a translation of the Sioux word hanbleceya. Hanbleceya has also been translated as “crying for a dream,” or “night journey.” To understand the purpose of a vision quest, the spiritual difference between “being called” and “having a calling” must first be understood. Among Indian nations it was not uncommon for young men, usually before they reached puberty, to have a profound religious experience in the form of a vision. The vision or dream involved one or more of the archetypal spirit masks of the tribe. A spiritual teacher would instruct a young man on how to use his visionary experience for the good of the people, since spiritual gifts were useless if not shared. The process of instruction about how to use the spiritual knowledge invariably involved fasting and sacrifice, the experience that in modern times has become known as the vision quest. Whether men only or both men and women can seek visions is particular to each tribe. The fasting experience of the Arapaho involves teams of men and women chosen by elders, and it is so sacred to that culture that sharing the experience with non-Arapahos is out of the question. Plains, Eastern Woodland, Southeast, Great Southwest, and Northwest Coast cultures trained their medicine people in very different ways, but in each case fasting and personal sacrifice were involved. Traditionally, vision quests commonly resulted in instructions on how to use power from the spiritual world in the course of conducting tribal rituals and ceremonies, dreams of where to find curative herbs for the health of the people, or dreams of animals— these animals might help the seeker feed his family, help a warrior in battle, or help a scout in pursuit of the enemy. Animal visions often gave the seeker a song which would call that animal helper in the future.
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Nearly all tribes shared the belief that anyone could have a personal, unique religious experience, one which was also sent for the good of all the people. Those with similar visions would form dream societies that might be dedicated to healing or to dancing— even sacred clown societies were formed. Spiritual gifts humble the gifted; in humility the power is enhanced. Thomas Mails’s Fools Crow: Wisdom and Power (1989) discusses Fools Crow becoming a “hollow bone” through which spiritual power flowed. Today, if a man or a woman chooses to undertake a night journey to discover his or her calling or purpose in life, the person will usually present a gift and a cultural instrument of prayer (Plains tribes use a stone pipe) to a respected holy person and ask for guidance and help in the undertaking. A purification rite is performed in a sweatlodge preceding the quest. The seeker is then taken to an isolated place by the holy man. The faster is told to stay in that place “no matter what happens” until the holy man returns. The vision circle in which the seekers stays is often a pit, but it does not have to be. When a pit is not used, prayer flags (colored cloth symbolizing the four directions, with tobacco offerings bundled into them and tobacco ties attached to a string) create a circle around the seeker. As described in Black Elk Speaks (1932): “Within the circle thus formed, two paths are created, one running north and south, the other east and west. The seeker walks these paths, praying and weeping.” Finally, it should be noted that in recent years the vision quest has become widely known (as well as widely misunderstood) and commercialized; commercialization of vision questing disregards the original purpose of the rite: the channeling of spiritual healing or instructional power through an individual (a humble servant) to then be shared for the good of the people. Glenn J. Schiffman Sources for Further Study Brown, Joseph Epes, ed. The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk’s Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989.
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Mails, Thomas E. Fools Crow: Wisdom and Power. Tulsa, Okla.: Live Oak Press, 1989. See also: Ethnophilosophy and Worldview; Guardian Spirits; Puberty and Initiation Rites; Religion; Rites of Passage; Totems.
Walam Olum Tribe affected: Lenni Lenape Significance: The creation story and pre-contact history of the Lenni Lenape nation is told in this set of verses. The Walam Olum is a long set of verses keyed to mnemonic drawings and preserved as the creation myth and traditional history of the Lenni Lenape, or Delaware, people, who formerly lived on the East Coast in the present state of Delaware. The poem begins with the creation of the world by the great creator, Manitou; it is a peaceful paradise in which men and animals live harmoniously. An evil snake threatens this paradise, but the world is saved through the efforts of Nanabush the trickster/creator, who shapes the present world on the back of a great turtle. Following these events is an account of migration from a land of wind and snow to a land with milder climate where technology emerges. The remaining verses recite clan origins and the list of chiefs up to the first encounter with Europeans. The present text of the Walam Olum derives from a manuscript written down in the early part of the nineteenth century by an unknown scribe who was apparently not fluent in Delaware; it was first printed by Daniel Brinton in The Lenape and Their Legends (1885). Delaware is an Algonquian language, and themes and characters such as the earth-supporting turtle and the character of Nanabush are familiar from other Algonquian traditions. Helen Jaskoski See also: Tricksters.
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Wampum Tribes affected: Widespread but not pantribal Significance: Native Americans used wampum to record the lives of significant people, tribal laws and events, and treaties or alliances. The historical literature points out that the term “wampum” is not an Indian one. Instead, wampum was coined from New England settlers who shortened an Algonquin term, Wampumpeag, meaning a string of white beads. In the Seneca language, it is called Otekoa, a name for a small freshwater spiral shell. Wampum has been described as finely embroidered belts or strings, many with glass beads that were typically cylindrically shaped, about one-fourth of an inch long and half that in diameter. The original bead, before glass ones were introduced, was purported to be a round clam shell (called quahog) that was traditionally drilled by hand, using stone or reed drills, before iron drill bits came from Europeans. Porcupine quills and animal whiskers were also traditionally used, and the Mohawks claim that even eagle feathers were earlier evident in wampum. The first to use wampum were the coastal Indians along the Atlantic seaboard and the New England indigenous peoples. The Long Island Indians were especially noted for their skill in manufacturing wampum, which took a lot of labor and patience in a time-consuming process. The belts and strings could be of varying length and width, depending on their representative purpose. Five- to ten-foot lengths of wampum could be made in one day. Wampum strings were made from bark or leather, and later beaver skins and painted sticks were utilized. The native nations primarily used wampum for commercial relations, often symbolizing a ritualization of reciprocity. It was only later that the belts were made for ornamentation or adornment to wear as jewelry, which eventually led them to be viewed as craft art showpieces for exhibition. A wampum myth is that the term is synonymous with “Indian money”—the traditional Indian societies never used it as currency. It was actually American colonialists
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who were the first to initiate its use as money. The Dutch, in 1627, were the first to produce counterfeit wampum. Wampum was originally used for documentation and recordkeeping of significant events and agreements, such as treaties between two sociopolitical entities, as well as seals of friendship. They were also viewed as certificates of authority and credentials that guaranteed a message or promise. They were thought of as ritual ratification when accompanying treaties or alliances, which may have involved emigration, a prisoner’s ransom, or the extradition of a criminal. The Iroquois used wampum for both official communication and religious purposes. According to their oral history, it was introduced to the Eastern Woodland nations by Hiawatha at the time of the founding of the League of the Five Nations. The Iroquois Council meetings were recorded with wampum, and there were Wampum Keepers who kept the records among the Onondaga Nation. At special councils, these recordkeepers would recite the message or law that went with a particular wampum to a gathering of the people. It is also said that the Great Orator first in-
A belt and string made of wampum from the late nineteenth century. (National Archives)
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troduced wampum to the Mohawks to bring binding peace among disagreeing parties, and to take the place of the shedding of blood. Each people among the Iroquois traditionally had a unique design of wampum that was to represent their respective nation. It is also said that traditionally every chief of the confederacy and every clan mother had a designated wampum as a certificate of his or her esteemed office. Wampum could also be named for an individual important to the confederacy or a particular membership group among the people of the nations. Some of the most wellknown wampum belts are named after significant events in tribal history. Even though there are still a few native individuals who act as guardians of certain wampum belts and strings, most of those that have not been lost are found in glass-enclosed showcases in U.S. museums. A very few non-Indians may even have one or two in their own private possession as collector’s items, but this is unusual. The traditional meaning and use of wampum has been denigrated by American law and policy. Its mnemonic significance is still a powerful one of unity and hope for the future among those native nations who still honor its sacred symbolism, if not its secular use in rituals of ratification and reciprocity. M. A. Jaimes Sources for Further Study Beauchamp, W. M. “Wampum Used in Council and As Currency.” American Antiquarian 20, no. 1 (January/February, 1931): 1-13. Fenton, W. N. “The New York State Wampum Collection: The Case for the Integrity of Cultural Treasures.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 115, no. 6 (December, 1983): 437-461. Tehanetorens. Wampum Belts. Reprint. Ohsweken, Ontario: Iroqrafts, 1983. See also: Money; Oral Literatures; Oratory; Pictographs; Shells and Shellwork.
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War Bonnets Tribes affected: Apache of Oklahoma, Arapaho, Arikara, Assiniboine, Atsina, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Comanche, Cree, Crow, Flathead, Fox, Hidatsa, Iowa, Jicarilla Apache, Kansa (Kaw), Kiowa, Lipan Apache, Mandan, Missouri, Nez Perce, Omaha, Osage, Oto, Pawnee, Ponca, Sarsi, Sauk, Shoshone, Sioux, Ute, Wichita Significance: In Plains societies, a war bonnet was one of the most valued articles that a warrior could own. Plains culture centered on the hunt and war, making conflict an integral part of western Indian society. The war bonnet was one way warriors recorded their achievements in battle. Two types of bonnets characterized those headdresses designed for battle: the golden eagle-feathered headdress and the split-horned bonnet. The golden eagle-feathered bonnet was fashioned by placing twenty-eight to thirty-six eagle tail feathers into a circular skullcap base made of buffalo hide. The different cone shapes formed by the arrangement of the feathers were often an indication of the tribe to which the owner belonged. The tail of the bonnet, also made from buffalo hide, hung from the cap to the ground and was decorated with approximately thirty eagle tail feathers. The feathers were attached by their quills with rawhide and flannel cloth. Fixed to these feathers with glue and white clay were horse hair and eagle feathers. The size of these war bonnets was considerable; however, they could be rolled and folded into a diameter of eight inches, then reopened to achieve their perfect shape. Every part of the eagle-feathered headdress had special meaning that was understood by the tribe members, including the tubular form of the Cheyenne and Blackfoot war bonnets. The feathers standing straight up from the skullcap were radiating shafts of light that symbolized the universe and brought enlightenment to the wearer from the One Above. Red, the sacred color, was the most commonly used dye on feathers, used to indicate the owner’s accomplishments in battle.
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The second type of war bonnet, the split-horned headdress, held the highest position in the warrior society. Only a few of the highest-ranking leaders in each band were given the right to wear the split-horned bonnet. This headdress was constructed with a buffalo hide and a tail cut into two lengths. The short tail still had the buffalo fur on it and hung to the middle back of the warrior, while the long tail was decorated with eagle wing, hawk, or owl feathers placed at right angles. The bison horns, after being hollowed out to reduce their weight, were attached to the skullcap. Items placed on the skullcap often marked significant moments in the warrior’s life. These items might include sea shells, clusters of split or whole feathers, braided and dyed horse tails, beaded headbands, white ermine skins, and felt fringe. All split-horned war bonnets also possessed a long plume, the Sun Dance plume, which extended twenty-four inches from the peak of the bonnet. A man might make four to five bonnets in his lifetime, each one a little different from the others. The war bonnets, though not worn into battle until the outcome was assured, were always worn in religious gatherings. Periodically, the headdresses were blessed in ceremonial dances performed by honored women selected to wear the bonnet during the dance. A war bonnet, which might bring three horses if bartered, was one of the most valued articles that a warrior could own. Jennifer Rivers See also: Dress and Adornment; Feathers and Featherwork; Headdresses; Warfare and Conflict.
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Warfare and Conflict Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: The causes and modes of Indian warfare before contact with Europeans reflected the social values and religious beliefs of the various Indian cultures; the arrival of Europeans modified and intensified Indian warfare. Warfare was endemic among the Indian peoples of North America before European contact. War was most emphasized and most frequent in the Northeast, Southeast, and Great Plains culture areas. It was much less emphasized in the Great Basin, Plateau, and California culture areas and among many of the peoples of the Southwest area. In many places there were traditional alliances, and individual tribes often had traditional enemies with whom war was more or less constant. The practices and motives discussed below applied—with specific cultural variations—throughout North America. Economic Causes of War. Before the arrival of Europeans, there seem to have been few economic reasons for waging war. Traditional subsistence economies offered little incentive to attack neighbors and few effective means for occupying and exploiting a neighbor’s lands. There were examples, however, of a tribe yielding part of its territory because of repeated raids by a neighbor. Another exception, found especially in the Northeast, occurred when a powerful tribe forced a weaker one to acknowledge its client status and pay an annual tribute. The two were then allies with reciprocal responsibilities, but one tribe was dominant. The Pequot, for example, forced a number of weaker tribes to become tributaries. In the Northeast in the early seventeenth century, tribute came to be paid in wampum. There were other exceptions to the weakness of economic motives in aboriginal warfare, such as the raids of Athapaskan-speaking hunter-gatherers on the settled Pueblo peoples of the Southwest after the Athapaskans arrived there about 1500 c.e.
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Mourning War. In eastern North America and in the Great Plains, the most common form of warfare has been labeled “mourning war” by historians. Mourning war resulted from grief over the death of a family member. Usually, but not always, the lost loved one had been slain by an enemy. Among the Iroquois of the Northeast, such grief was expected to be extreme, even temporarily incapacitating, and it could only be assuaged by securing an enemy life in retaliation. Such revenge was also necessary to quiet the angry spirit of the slain. It was a moral duty, therefore, to join in such a raid. The family of the deceased, especially the women, would urge kinsmen to join a raiding party. To refuse would be to risk the charge of cowardice. A raiding party would be organized under the leadership of a recognized warrior or war chief; with the appropriate rituals performed, the party would set out for an enemy village. Typically, there were a number of nations with whom a tribe considered itself always at war. Such a war party might be very small (a halfdozen men or even fewer), or it might number a hundred or more. In either case, its aim was to kill a few of the enemy—or, even better, to take prisoners—and to return with no casualties of its own. Such raids had no purpose other than to inflict a few deaths and thereby relieve the grief of suffering kinsmen. These raids, the most common mode of aboriginal warfare, had no economic motive. Adoption of Captives. A captive brought in by a raiding party would belong to the warrior who had taken him (or her), typically by being first to lay hands on the victim. An adult male captive would be required to “run the gauntlet”—when blows would be rained on him by the assembled people, who in this way acted out their rage. The successful warrior would then make a grieving friend or relative a present of the prisoner. The recipient would decide the captive’s fate: If adopted, the prisoner would become a member of the family, taking the place of a lost son, husband, daughter, or other family member. Raiding for prisoners was a widely practiced means of restoring families and of maintaining numbers in tribal groups experiencing population decline. In time, hundreds of non-Indian captives were adopted in this way,
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and the accounts that some of them wrote (“captivity narratives”) are a fascinating historical source. Captives rejected as unsuitable for adoption were usually killed—often tortured to death by burning—thereby appeasing the spirits of the grieving. These torture rituals, probably most elaborate among the Iroquois and Huron, were religious ceremonies as well, with the prisoners being dedicated to the god of war. Public War. The raiding parties that characterized mourning war were typically organized and carried out without reference to or permission from any village or tribal council or authority. There was sometimes a “higher” form of war, however, in which tribal chiefs in council, or sachems and their councils, made decisions for or against war that involved an entire people. Participation in such a larger war was left to individual decision, however. There was no compulsion, largely because participation in war was so bound up with religion and personal magic. Warfare, Religion, and Magic. A prisoner burned by the Iroquois was dedicated to Aireskoi, their god of war, and great care was taken to keep the prisoner alive through the night-long burning with firebrands so that he might be taken outdoors at dawn and placed on a special raised platform. When the first sliver of the sun appeared, the charred but still living victim was killed by a blow. Then the body was butchered and boiled in a kettle, and the flesh was shared in a community-wide feast. If no human enemies had been sacrificed for a time, the Iroquois might sacrifice a bear to Aireskoi, with apologies. Before joining a war party, a warrior would devote much care to purification rituals in order to strengthen his personal magic or “medicine.” If the warrior felt doubts about his medicine, or if his preparation rituals were inadvertently spoiled, it was understood that he was to abandon the project. Village shamans would perform augury rituals to divine the raid’s prospects, and unfavorable signs would produce its cancellation. Each warrior had a personal medicine pouch or bundle with sacred objects connected with his
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tutelary spirit. Among some peoples, such as the Cherokees, Chickasaws, and Creeks of the Southeast, the leader of a war party carried on his back a special wooden box, about a foot wide by a foot-and-a-half high, filled with sacred objects of proven power. Pre-raid and post-raid war rituals, in which the entire village participated, served to strengthen group solidarity. War Honors and Personal Status. War was so important in the cultures of many American Indian societies that success in war was the principal means of attaining personal esteem and status. As a result, war trophies and war honors had a special significance in many cultures. The best-known example is the taking and displaying of scalps. Most historians agree that scalping—the removal of the skin and attached hair from the top of the head—was widely practiced in pre-contact North America. Jacques Cartier reported the custom along the St. Lawrence River in 1535, and members of the Hernando de Soto expedition (1539-1543) reported it in the Southeast at almost the same time. While each tribal group had its own particular customs, the curing and preserving of enemy scalps for display on certain ceremonial occasions was a widely practiced custom. In such ceremonies, the warrior was permitted to recite his war exploits, while other warriors or elders affirmed them. Among many peoples of eastern North America, it was the practice for men to wear their own hair in a special “scalplock,” with the rest of the head shaved. In the Southeast culture area, the winning of war names and titles was of fundamental importance. Among the Creek, for example, a warrior winning recognition would be given a traditional war name owned by his clan (“Crazy Snake” was one) in an impressive ceremony. In the Chickasaw ceremony in which war names were conferred, the recipients wore red moccasins and other special adornments. Creek warriors were ranked in three grades: warriors, big warriors, and war chiefs. Promotion through these ranks depended on war exploits, especially the number of scalps taken. Before taking scalps (and being recognized as a warrior) a Creek continued to do the menial work required of boys.
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Among the Plains tribes, although scalps were taken, they did not have the importance as war honors that scalps had in the Northeast and Southeast. Among Plains Indians, the “coup” (from the French for “a blow”) was more important. A warrior “counted coup” by touching an enemy with his hand or with a “coup stick.” Many Plains warriors carried a specially decorated coup stick to be used to “strike coup.” This was a light wand, not a weapon. Among the Cheyenne, it was striped like a barber’s pole. To touch the person of an enemy during battle, as opposed to shooting him with a bow or gun, was to demonstrate one’s fearlessness. Killing an enemy, therefore, unless it involved touching him, was less honored than counting coup. To be the second, third, or even the fourth to touch an enemy carried merit in a recognized scale of honors. The Cheyenne allowed three men to count coup on the same enemy, with the first to touch him accorded the greatest merit. The enemy need not even be alive; to be the first to touch the body of a fallen enemy also conferred honor. Other war honors were earned by taking something from the enemy in battle, such as a shield, a gun, or a horse. Capturing horses from an enemy camp by stealth, especially a horse picketed near its owner’s tipi, was another feat conferring honor. These graded war honors both emphasized personal courage and encouraged military aggression in the form of raiding. War honors were recognized and publicized in a number of ways. In war dances before and after a raid, the entire band or village celebrated such achievements. A warrior’s exploits could be painted on his tipi cover. He recited his deeds on special occasions, and many Plains tribes used a special symbolism in the construction of feather headdresses or war bonnets. An Assiniboine wore an eagle feather for each slain enemy. As in eastern North America, the winning of war honors and the quieting of the grief of mourners were the principal motives of aboriginal warfare on the Plains. European American Influences on Warfare. The arrival of European fur traders and colonists began to modify Indian warfare patterns in the early seventeenth century, because European guns
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were deadlier than aboriginal bows and warclubs. Even in the early seventeenth century, muskets had a much longer effective killing range than did bows, so that a group armed with muskets could inflict heavy losses on an enemy armed with bows. Indians quickly recognized the advantages of the new weapons (and the superiority of steel knives, hatchets, and arrowpoints) and exerted themselves to obtain them. This was imperative, because warriors armed with traditional weapons were vulnerable not only to European soldiers but also to Indian enemies equipped with European weapons. Almost the only way to obtain these weapons was through the fur trade. The fur trade, and in the Southeast the deerskin trade, had ramifications that extended ever more deeply into eastern North America, intensifying warfare and providing new economic motives for it. Some of the most spectacular and best-documented effects occurred in the wars of the Iroquois, especially with their traditional enemies, the Huron. By the 1620’s the Iroquois were obtaining guns in significant numbers at the Dutch trading post of Fort Orange (Albany, New York), near the junction of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers. The beaver, which provided the bulk of the pelts in the trade, were trapped out by about 1640 in the home territories of the Iroquois nations. Their scarcity started the Beaver Wars. By the 1640’s, to obtain furs, the Iroquois were raiding far to the north to intercept Algonquian and Montagnais hunters as they were carrying their catch to market, as well as raiding the villages of their neighbors— Hurons, Eries, Neutrals, Petuns, and Susquehannocks—to drive them out and win their hunting territories. Within a few years, the Iroquois were raiding into Ohio and as far west as Illinois. The scale of these attacks, especially the number of deaths produced, eclipsed that of traditional warfare. In these same years, a series of severe epidemics sharply reduced the populations of Iroquois villages, bringing an even greater need for captives to maintain numbers. This intensified warfare cost more lives, necessitating more raids for captives. The Huron Confederacy and the Erie, Neutral, and Petun nations were destroyed, and entire villages of the de-
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feated were adopted as Iroquois. By the end of the seventeenth century the Iroquois themselves acknowledged defeat. Although the eruption of the Iroquois was the most extreme example of the European American impact on Indian warfare, the effect was felt everywhere. On the Plains, the arrival of the horse (and later, the gun) had profound consequences. As Plains Indians became mounted, economic motives for warfare appeared. Capturing horses became the most common reason for raids. Bert M. Mutersbaugh Sources for Further Study Axtell, James, and William C. Sturtevant. “The Unkindest Cut: Or, Who Invented Scalping?” William and Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., 37 (July, 1980): 451-472. An excellent scholarly inquiry into a tradition that has been seen as a stereotype of Indian culture. Ewers, John C. “Intertribal Warfare as the Precursor of IndianWhite Warfare on the Northern Great Plains.” Western Historical Quarterly 6 (October, 1975): 397-410. A look at pre-contact war among various Indian nations. Hudson, Charles. The Southeastern Indians. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1976. A thorough examination of the Southeast nations and warfare in social and political terms. Richter, Daniel K. The Ordeal of the Longhouse: The Peoples of the Iroquois League in the Era of European Colonization. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992. A study of traditional warfare and how it was influenced by the arrival of Europeans. _______. “War and Culture: The Iroquois Experience.” William and Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., 40 (October, 1983): 528-559. A brief treatment of the Iroquois reasons for and approach to warfare. Smith, Marian W. “The War Complex of the Plains Indians.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 78 (1937): 425-461. Discusses the culture of and motives for warfare of the Plains tribes. Taylor, Colin F. Native American Hunting and Fighting Skills. The Lyons Press, 2003. A survey of Native American warfare and battle tactics.
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Trigger, Bruce G. The Children of the Aataentsic: A History of the Huron People to 1660. 2 vols. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1976. An examination of the social and political worlds of traditional warfare and the effects of European contact. Wallace, Anthony F. C. Death and Rebirth of the Seneca. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1973. A study of the mental world of the Iroquois people, carrying their history into the period after their defeat. See also: Adoption; Bragskins; Captivity and Captivity Narratives; Ethnophilosophy and Worldview; Scalps and Scalping; Slavery; War Bonnets; Weapons.
Wattle and Daub Tribes affected: Primarily tribes in the Southeast Significance: Wattle and daub dwellings provided effective shelter in the relatively mild environmental conditions of the Southeast.
Wattle and daub
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The term “wattle and daub” refers to a type of construction that, with variations, was widely used for dwellings in North America, especially in the Southeast. Wattle and daub construction involves a pole framework around which is interwoven a latticework of branches, twigs, or vines (the wattle). The construction is then covered with clay or mud plaster (the daub). The typical wattle and daub dwelling of the Southeast was roughly rectangular in shape and had a thatched roof with a smoke hole. The ancient “jacal” construction which preceded true masonry techniques in the Southwest was similar to wattle and daub; in jacal construction, stone slabs, held in place with adobe, were placed against the bottoms of walls. See also: Architecture: Southeast; Chickee.
Weapons Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: The demands of daily living, such as hunting and warfare with other tribes and white settlers, required a variety of weapons. American Indian life required weapons for hunting game and, in many cases, for fighting with other tribes (and eventually with white settlers and soldiers). Accordingly, a variety of weapons were developed. Bow and Arrow. This weapon preceded the arrival of whites in North America. Indian archers were skilled marksmen, and they developed a variety of bows and arrows with a deadly combination of accuracy and power. For example, chain-mail armor worn by the soldiers of the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto could be pierced by an arrow at 150 paces. Even soldiers wearing plate armor could be felled by arrows through the eyes, mouth, or throat. In less than four years, de Soto lost 250 troops and 150 horses to the bow and arrow. Silent and quickly reloaded, the bow and arrow was universally used by North American Indians for centuries.
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Weapons
Karankawa war club
Wampanoag war club
Iroquois tomahawk
Abenaki bow and arrow
Ute Shield
Crossbow. It is highly likely that Indians borrowed the crossbow from whites, as the earliest French and Spanish explorers had them. They were used by some eastern tribes (Cherokees, Potawatomis), but it is not known when they first came into use. The crossbow had a gun-shaped grooved stock in which the arrow was placed. The bow was mounted at a right angle at the stock’s forward end, and the bowstring was released by a trigger device. Although very powerful and accurate, the crossbow never attained the popularity and universal use of the bow and arrow— possibly because it was more difficult to carry and slower to reload or because it was developed at about the same time that the bow and arrow began to be supplanted by firearms. Tomahawk and Lance. The tomahawk was commonly used by the Algonquian tribes of the eastern United States during combat at close quarters. It was made of wood and consisted of a stem or handle about 3 feet long and a head which was a round ball or
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solid knob of wood. Where the stem pierced the head, a point projected forward which could be thrust like a lance. When the Indians were taught the use of iron and steel, the wooden tomahawk gave way to metal hatchets. The lance was a long pole to whose end was attached a warhead made of chipped stone, not unlike an arrowhead. It was widely distributed among American Indians and developed into a number of varieties depending on the environment and type of animal hunted. For example, the Inuits developed the greatest variety, in response to an environment characterized by numerous animal forms. The Plains Indians made more extensive use of the lance as a weapon of war than other tribes did, because it adapted well to use from the horse. Blowgun and Dagger. The blowgun was used by a few tribes, including the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Iroquois, solely for hunting small game—not for war. It was a hollow tube from 6 to 10 feet in length made from plant material such as cane or walnut. Darts, ranging in length from 15 to 26 inches, were placed in the end of the blowgun and expelled with a quick, sharp breath. This was a versatile weapon: Highly accurate at fairly short distances, it could also propel a dart more than a hundred yards. The dagger was a sharp-pointed instrument used to stab and thrust at close range. Originally made of stone or bone, later versions were of copper, iron, or steel. Rifle. Muskets were obtained from whites as early as the 1600’s by eastern tribes, primarily through fur trading. The Indians became accomplished marksmen and also built their own forges and engaged in gunsmithing. Firearms spread west and were utilized by many tribes, often with great advantage to the tribes who used them first. For example, the Chippewa became the first in their region to receive firearms from white traders, which enabled them to drive the Sioux from the woodlands in the late 1600’s. The rifle was used at first as a supplement to native weapons rather than as a replacement for them. The bow and arrow was
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Weaving
cheap and readily available, and its rapid rate of fire made it an excellent weapon. It was not until the development of the repeating rifle that native weapons gave way significantly to firearms. Laurence Miller Source for Further Study Taylor, Colin F. Native American Weapons. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. See also: Bows, Arrows, and Quivers; Guns; Lances and Spears; Tomahawks; Tools; Warfare and Conflict.
Weaving Tribes affected: Pantribal but especially the Navajo Significance: Textiles were made and used by the American Indian for everyday life as well as for trade and gift giving; the best-known and most prolific weavers were the Navajo. Weaving is the creation of a textile by means of a mechanical device called a loom. Vertical yarns (the “warp”) and horizontal (the “weft”) are interlaced in a variety of patterns to produce goods such as blankets, cloth, and rugs. Weaving—a very old art, preceded historically by basketry and finger weaving—progressed as different types of looms were developed and put to use. Pre-contact Textiles. Before Europeans arrived in the Americas, the native populations made fabrics from cotton, milkweed, yucca fiber, bark fiber, strips of fur, twine, and hair. Textiles had utilitarian purposes heavily influenced by regional and climatic considerations. They were generally soft, two-dimensional items, but by 500 c.e. the Anasazi of the Southwest were making woven footwear and bags. By 700, the Anasazi probably had a simple upright loom. By the time Europeans arrived, weaving was technically quite
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advanced, having slowly progressed from plaiting, braiding, and finger weaving. Three basic types of loom were in use: elementary one-beam looms for use with unstretched warp yarns, two-beam looms that used stretched warp (the first true loom), and the combination loom on which the warp was stretched over a roller loom. The latter variety, used in the area around Puget Sound, Washington, was a considerable advancement over the simpler methods, producing more even, finished, and wider pieces in less time. In the early years, color was usually rubbed or painted onto the finished woven piece. Eventually, the fibers were dyed first and then woven. Textiles were decorated with embroidery, applique and beadwork. Beads were sometimes woven into the work. European Influence. By the nineteenth century, the influence of Europeans had been felt. The settlers brought new materials, such as commercial dyes, and new styles and design concepts to the American Indian weaver—as well as different markets. Spanish settlers and missionaries introduced sheep in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, adding wool to the fiber content in blankets and rugs. The use of Shroud cloth (made in Shroud, England, in the early seventeenth century) became widespread except in the Southwest, replacing the majority of native weaving by the mideighteenth century. Regional Centers. While weaving was practiced at some level throughout American Indian culture, some prominent practitioners can be identified. These were the Indians of the Southwest and Great Lakes region, the Tlingit of Alaska, and the Salish of the Puget Sound area. The Pueblo are known to have been weavers since around 800 c.e., and the Navajo—known for high-quality blankets and rugs— since around 1700. The Great Lakes area was known for the weaving of flat, rectangular wool bags, and the Tlingit weavers of southeastern Alaska produced the prized Chilkat blanket. The Salish of the Northwest Coast area were known for using mountain goat and dog hair to make blankets.
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Weaving
Weavers of the Pueblo culture wove blankets and articles of clothing of cotton; after the Spanish introduced sheep into the area, they began to use wool. In Central America, Mexican serapes and blankets were made in Saltillo and Oaxaca. Little is known about prehistoric weaving of the Tlingit people, largely because of the ill effects of their climate on the preservation of goods and materials, but it is believed that the Chilkat blankets they made are evidence of the survival of a very old primitive craft. These blankets were produced on a simple “suspension” or “bar” loom using cedar-bark fibers and mountain-goat wool. Each took from six months to a year to complete. Design motifs—all of which were symmetrically balanced and intricately patterned—featured totemic animals, family crests and natural forms in black, white,
A Navajo woman engaged in the art of weaving circa 1930. (Museum of New Mexico)
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yellow, and green. Blankets were five-sided and fringed on two or three of the five sides. The Tlingit were also known for making ceremonial dance skirts and robes. In the Eastern Woodlands areas, Indians made twined medicine bags, storage bags and woven belts with beadwork. In the Plains region, where leather and beadwork were more prevalent than weaving, woven mats were used to cover medicine bundles and as altar cloths for displaying objects. The Cherokee were very active weavers who used the English loom and allowed their weaving to be influenced by social and artistic forces outside their tribal group. The best-known textiles were produced by Navajo women who made blankets, rugs, clothing, and other household items. They would use a simple loom made of two straight poles hung between two trees or a backstrap loom which had one end attached to a wall or tree and the other anchored at the weaver’s waist. On these looms they produced narrow lengths of cloth used for headbands, belts, and sashes. The development of Navajo weaving was connected to the introduction of sheep-raising. At first, the Navajo used undyed natural wool in white, black, and brown. After 1800, dyed bayeta cloth imported from Spain and England to Mexico made its way into their work; they unravelled the cloth and rewove the yarns into their own designs. Experimentation with dyes and a variety of weaves began about this time as well, although they seldom used more than five colors in addition to black, white, and undyed wool. Designs were simple, using the repetition of a few elements on a plain or striped background. The Chief’s Blanket, also popular with the Plains Indians, was considered the best product of the Navajo. By the mid-1800’s, during what is known as the Classic period of Navajo weaving, Navajo weavings were the most valuable product of the Southwest. After 1925, however, because of increased commercialization, the level of quality dropped. More recently there has been a rise in quality with smaller quantities of higher-quality goods generally being produced.
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Social Aspects. Social forces exerted an influence in the design and use of woven items. Textiles were highly valued not only for their beauty and utility but also because they represented an interweaving, so to speak, of social, religious, historic, and economic forces. Traditional ceremonial and mythological symbols particular to the tribe were made a part of the design. A variety of statements about social position or wealth, such as the wearing of the Chief’s Blanket or Chilkat robe, could be made. Textiles were also used in gift giving, courtship, and intertribal trade as well as commerce with whites, for whom the blanket represented a standard of currency. Diane C. Van Noord Sources for Further Study Bennett, Noèl, Tiana Bighorse. Navajo Weaving Way: The Path from Fleece to Rug. Loveland, Colo.: Interweave Press, 1997. Conn, Richard. Native American Art in the Denver Art Museum. Denver: Denver Art Museum, 1979. Coulter, Lane, ed. Navajo Saddle Blankets: Textiles to Ride in the American West. Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, 2002. Dockstader, Frederick J. Weaving Arts of the North American Indian. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1978. Kapoun, Robert W. Language of the Robe. Salt Lake City, Utah: Peregrine Smith Books, 1992. LaFarge, Oliver, et al. Introduction to American Indian Art. Glorieta, N.Mex.: Rio Grande Press, 1973. Rodee, Marian E. Weaving of the Southwest. Westchester, Pa.: Schiffer, 1987. Zolbrod, Paul, and Roseann Willink. Weaving a World: Textiles and the Navajo Way of Seeing. Santa Fe: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. See also: Arts and Crafts: Plateau; Arts and Crafts: Southwest; Blankets; Chilkat Blankets; Cotton; Star Quilts.
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Weirs and Traps Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Ingenious traps were used throughout North America for capturing fish and animals. Hunting and fishing were labor-intensive activities, but various inventions permitted the capture of animals with less time and effort. All Indian tribes, including agriculturalists, used these devices both before and after contact with Europeans. Their variety in native North America was tremendous, but they can be divided into three classes: enclosing, arresting, and killing devices. Enclosing devices prevented an animal—who was unharmed— from escaping. Pits, camouflaged with leaf-covered mats and dug into game trails; and wicker fences on mudflats adjoining estuaries, forming enclosures (“weirs”) to trap fish as high tides receded, are examples of enclosing devices. Arresting devices went one step further, grabbing or entangling an animal. Nets, set between trees to catch birds, or under water to catch fish and aquatic mammals, are one form of this device. Another is the snare, which trapped an animal’s leg in a noose. The Montagnais used an ingenious spiked-wheel trap, a tethered hoop of wood with flexible, sharp rods pointing inward like spokes but not quite meeting. A caribou would step into such a trap and be unable to escape. Killing devices incorporated some means of killing the prey, as when a weight was released by a trigger tripped by the animal (a deadfall). The Tanaina used a complicated torsion trap in which a striker would be held under tension from twisted rawhide until an animal tripped a trigger, releasing the trap on itself. An ingenious, if rather gruesome, killing device used by the Inuit was a sharpened strip of whale baleen, bent double, encased in animal fat and frozen. Left in a place frequented by bears or wolves, it would be swallowed whole by one of these predators and then suddenly spring open after thawing in the animal’s stomach, killing it from within.
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An artists depiction of Native Americans using nets, traps, and spears to fish in late nineteenth century North Carolina. (National Archives)
Indian traps often were cleverly designed to catch only game of a predetermined size. The mesh size of fish nets, for example, was determined by the size of the desired catch, since smaller fish could swim through the mesh and larger fish could not insert their heads far enough to become snagged at the gills. Among the Indians of the Atlantic Coast, mesh gauges were used in making nets so that the desired mesh size would be maintained throughout.
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Most traps have left few remains that can be studied, so it is difficult to estimate when traps came into use in North America. Net weights, however, indicate that birds or fish probably were netted in most of eastern North America by 3500 b.c.e. Weirs leave distinctive remains, and the Boylston Street Fishweir under the streets of Boston dates from as early as 2500 b.c.e.; other less well-dated weirs may have predated these by as much as three thousand years. The European fur trade stimulated Indian fur-trapping, and traditional trap technology was inadequate to the task. The older methods gave way to the use of efficient European iron traps. Russell J. Barber See also: Fish and Fishing; Hunting and Gathering; Subsistence; Trade.
Whales and Whaling Tribes affected: Clallam, Inuit, Makah, Nootka, Quileute, Quinault Significance: Whales provided a primary source of food, grease, and oil for personal use and trade; whales and whaling also fostered a sense of solidarity and provided the basis for religious and magic rituals. The coastal dwelling Inuit (Eskimo) of the Arctic culture area depended exclusively on animals as their food source for much of their history. The spring whale migration was an important source of food and oil, especially in the western region. A successful hunt marked the beginning of a good year and reaffirmed the interrelationship between the two worlds, animal and Inuit. An unsuccessful hunt was inauspicious; it meant further expenditures of energy and time hunting other sea mammals—and the possibility of starvation if the effort failed. The whale was an integral part of tribal life in the Northwest Coast culture area as well. The Makah, Nootka, Quileute, and
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Quinault embarked on expeditions to kill humpback, finback, and California gray whale, as they moved up the Olympic peninsula in the spring on their way to summer in the Arctic. The Clallam, on the other hand, hunted whales only if they entered their inland waters. Other tribes, such as the Chinook and Salish, only took dead whales that drifted to shore. Whaling expeditions were suffused with specialized knowledge, ritual, and ceremony. The Inuit knew the various whale migration routes and schedules in minute detail, and they developed a system to describe the whales themselves in great detail. Magical charms were placed in the whaling boat, which was then launched by ritually selected women who danced and dispensed gifts. The crew sang magic songs to weaken the whale and entice it to the surface. The captain and owner, or umialik, exerted religious and economic authority. When the whale was brought to shore the head was severed in order to release the spirit of the whale. The boat owner’s wife, herself a type of priestess, would then offer the
Twentieth century Eskimos harpoon a whale in Point Barrow, Alaska. (National Archives)
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head a cup of water and thank it for coming, after which the spirit was urged to return to the land of living whales and report how well it had been treated. For the Inuit, who lack a true villagebased community, whaling helped to impart a sense of community solidarity. Among Northwest Coast tribes the harpooner generally owned the boat and equipment and commanded the appropriate magic to ensure success; magical powers were imputed to the harpooner to explain his extraordinary strength and skills. Songs were sung to bring the whale near, to make it gentle when harpooned, and to bring it safely to shore. The harpooner’s share of blubber (whale fat) was placed on display and decorated with feathers to please the whale’s spirit; it was believed that otherwise the harpooner might not live to kill another. The ritual ended with the giveaway feast, which was also an occasion for the harpooner to present gifts (usually whale oil) to the tribe and to honor the whales so that they would return the following year. The depletion of whale populations, their international protection, the movement of tribal members to inland urban cities, and the development of other economies have all reduced the importance of whales and whaling in contemporary tribal life. Laurence Miller See also: Fish and Fishing.
White Buffalo Society Tribes affected: Hidatsa, Mandan Significance: The purpose of the all-female White Buffalo Society was to entice buffalo herds to come near the village. The function of the White Buffalo Society, the highest order among women’s societies of the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes, was to entice the buffalo herds to come near the village. It was especially used during times of want, when hunting efforts had not proved suc-
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White Deerskin Dance
cessful and further measures were deemed necessary. The idea was that if the buffalo were mimicked, they would draw near to the hunters. This society was an age society with collective purchase: When prospective members were of a certain age, they would buy the right to join the group from the oldest members, whose time it was to leave the group. This purchase provided for the rights to use and practice certain dances, songs, and regalia of the society. White Buffalo Society members imitated a herd of buffalo. They grouped together in a sort of loose huddle and mimicked the steps and movements of the buffalo with dances and gestures. Each member wore a cap topped with a fan of hawk feathers. The cap itself was high and round, made from the prized skin of an albino buffalo. As they performed their ceremony, the women carried dry branches with tufts of eagle down fastened to the ends of the branches. Ruffin Stirling See also: Buffalo; Gender Relations and Roles; Societies: Non-kinbased; Women’s Societies.
White Deerskin Dance Tribe affected: Yurok Significance: This world-renewal ceremony celebrates the continuing cycles of life. The White Deerskin Dance, performed during the fall, lasts from twelve to sixteen days. While essentially a reenactment of the Yurok creation story, it is much more than a retelling: The dance itself is thought to put the world back in order. The ceremony is designed to correct temporary flaws in the relationship of the human community to the natural world and thus to enable the seasonal cycles to continue properly. At the center of the story is the life cy-
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cle of the salmon, the main source of sustenance along the rivers of the Yurok homeland. The name “White Deerskin Dance” was given to this ceremony by non-Indian people and is something of a misnomer. “White” refers to specially prepared deerskins, decorated with feathers, shells, and other materials, that are held up on poles by the dancers during the exoteric portion of the ceremony. The skins are not always white in color. White, for the Yurok, represents not only a color but also a concept of something pure and clear. It also refers to a tradition of an ancient race of people, called “white” or “clear,” who embodied the highest virtues and nobility. Helen Jaskoski See also: Dances and Dancing; Salmon.
Wickiup Tribes affected: Apache, Paiute, Ute, other Great Basin tribes Significance: The wickiup, a dome-shaped structure, was widely used in the Great Basin culture area. “Wickiup” is the popular name for a dome-shaped dwelling made of a circular framework of poles bent over and tied together at the top and covered with brush, bark, animal skins, or earth. The name appears to have origins in the Algonquian languages, where the word Wikiyapi can mean house, dwelling, or lodge. The wickiup was used by the mobile hunter-gatherers of the Great Basin culture area—the Apache, Ute, and Paiute in particular—as a temporary residence while moving from area to area in search of food. This type of housing could accommodate from one to several people. In some cases, an elongated and arched entry, made of the same poles and brush as the domed portion of the structure, was added to form a shaded porch under which people could sit during the
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heat of the day while eating, talking, or sleeping. When local food supplies were used up, the wickiup was simply abandoned as people moved on to other areas. Michael W. Simpson See also: Architecture: Great Basin; Grass House.
Wigwam Tribes affected: Northeast tribes Significance: The wigwam was a type of dwelling used by tribes in the Northeast. Wigwam is an Algonquian word for a house type that was used throughout the Northeast. The wigwam was an oval or round structure of light poles whose lower ends were stuck in the ground and whose upper ends were bent over and lashed together in the
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shape of a hoop. Lighter horizontal poles were lashed to the uprights to give the framework strength. Over this frame large sheets of bark (or, sometimes, mats woven of reeds) were lashed, overlapping like shingles. In one end was a door; a small hole in the roof let out smoke. Daniel Gookin described seventeenth century New England wigwams: The best sort of their houses are covered very neatly, tight and warm, with bark of trees. . . . These houses they make . . . some twenty, some forty feet long, and broad. Some I have seen sixty or a hundred feet long, and thirty feet broad. . . . In the greater houses they make two, three, or four fires, at a distance from one another.
Gookin said he “found them as warm as the best English houses.” One or two nuclear families lived in the small wigwams; several shared the larger ones. Bert M. Mutersbaugh See also: Architecture: Northeast; Architecture: Subarctic.
Wigwam
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Wild Rice
Wild Rice Tribes affected: Menominee, Ojibwa, Winnebago, other tribes of the Upper Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes regions Significance: Wild rice, an abundant grain that requires no agricultural effort, was gathered for food by various tribes of north-central North America. Wild rice grows along the shores of rivers, streams, and lakes from New Brunswick to Manitoba and southward as far as Massachusetts and Nebraska. It is found in greatest abundance around the Great Lakes and in the upper Mississippi Valley, where it forms dense stands covering extensive areas. It is believed that all occurrences outside this area are historic plantings by humans. Most wild rice is of the species Zizania aquatica; common names include Indian rice, Canadian rice, water oats, water rice, tuscarora, manomin, and folle avoine. Wild rice is an annual grass that grows to several feet above water level. It produces several thousand rice grains per plant, each long and black with a starchy core. These are attached to the stem by a very brittle connection, and even a slight breeze can detach the grains and drop them into the water, where they germinate to produce the next generation. Indian harvesting took advantage of this brittle attachment. The most common method was to glide a canoe into a stand of wild rice as gently as possible and then bend the stems delicately over the canoe and shake them gently, with the ripe grain simply falling into the canoe. Since individual grains mature at different rates, one stand might be visited several times over the two-week ripening period in late summer. An alternate harvesting method involved bundling several stems together with twine while the grains were immature, then returning at maturity and shearing off the entire bundle for threshing on land. Women used distinctive bundle patterns to designate their rights to particular bundles. Either technique permitted enough seeds to escape to ensure a good growth the following year.
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After harvesting, the grain was dried in its hulls and could be stored effectively in baskets for a year. Small portions were hulled as needed by heating the grain gently until it split the hull, when it could then be winnowed in baskets. Wild rice was—and is— cooked exclusively by boiling. It is not known when wild rice was first exploited by Indians. Some hunting-gathering tribes, especially in Wisconsin and Minnesota, depended so strongly on wild rice that they stored large quantities of it and, in the process, became virtually sedentary. Others, especially in more northerly areas, used it as an adjunct to other foods in a seasonal pattern. In modern times, wild rice has been an important cash crop on some Indian reservations. There, harvesting and sale have been restricted to bona fide members of the tribe using the traditional canoe-harvesting method. Planting and mechanical harvesting of wild rice by commercial concerns, particularly in California, has increased production and lowered prices since the 1980’s— adversely affecting the economy of wild-rice producers in the traditional heartland. Russell J. Barber Source for Further Study Vennum, Thomas, Jr. Wild Rice and the Ojibway People. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1988. See also: Hunting and Gathering; Subsistence.
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Windigo
Windigo Tribes affected: Cree, Montagnais, Naskapi, Ojibwa (Chippewa) Significance: A legendary cannibalistic Algonquian giant, the Windigo personifies the unrelenting forces of winter and starvation that can drive a person to antisocial acts of violence. One of a category of mythic beings found in Northern Algonquian mythology and folklore, the Windigo is usually visualized as an emaciated, filthy, bestial creature of prodigious strength and size that roams the snow-covered boreal forests, seeking to assuage its insatiable hunger for human flesh. Thunderous roars, terrifying whistles, and strange, sparkling lights can all herald its approach, leaving its victim paralyzed with fear. Particularly powerful shamans, however, can defeat a Windigo in “spiritual” combat, whereas native therapists can treat humans in the throes of Windigo transformation—a metamorphosis induced by anthropophagous acts, sorcery, or a vision encounter with a Windigo spirit—through the application of large doses of hot grease, intended to “melt” the patient’s icy heart before he or she completely passes from a human state. Windigo symptomatology described in native and non-native oral and documentary accounts have led some anthropologists to hypothesize the existence of a differentiated “windigo psychosis,” a rare, psychopathological disorder of the northern Algonquians. Joseph C. Jastrzembski See also: Ethnophilosophy and Worldview; Religion.
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Wintercounts Tribes affected: Dakota and Lakota Sioux Significance: Wintercounts were pictorial records kept by bands of the Lakota and Dakota to record the most important event of each year. The events recorded form a chronology and are an organized way to preserve band history. Originally, wintercounts were recorded on hide—deer, elk, or buffalo—and in later years, as these materials became scarcer, wintercounts were kept on cloth or paper. Many tribes in the Americas kept some picture records on rock, cave walls, ivory, bone, birch bark, and so on. Wintercounts, however, refer specifically to the records kept by the Lakota and Dakota bands to document their history. One man in each band was selected as the keeper of the wintercount, and he was responsible for consulting with the headmen in the tribe; together they decided on some event or phenomenon to represent for the year. Among the Dakota and Lakota people their year extended from winter to winter, and so wintercounts span two calendar years according to the Gregorian calendar (the dominant calendar in the West). The keeper of the wintercount was the official band historian, and he was expected to recite the details of each year so that the band had a sense of history. Generally, all adult band members could retell the history of their people. Artistic skill was not a prerequisite for keepers of the wintercount. Keepers of the wintercounts were well-respected men who performed an important cultural obligation to preserve their band history. The chosen event was represented symbolically, often in a few shorthand strokes. Drawings were terse and served as mnemonic devices for band history. Because wintercounts were individualized records of events intended to reflect and preserve cultural and band history, they varied from group to group. A wintercount kept by a Yanktonais Dakota named Lone Dog depicted a human shape with spots all over to represent the year 1801-1802. This was denoted as “The Winter When Many Died of Smallpox.” In another
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drawing on this wintercount, 1833-1834 is “The Winter When the Stars Fell,” and it memorialized a meteor shower that was observed all over the United States on November 12, 1833. Wintercounts kept on hide often began in the center and then spiraled outward. The keeper of the wintercount would use a porous bone or fibrous piece of wood as a painting tool. Generally, the image was drawn in black outline and then filled in with colored pigments. In order to make paint, a beaver tail was boiled to make glue, which was then mixed with ground clays or plant juices. In later years, when wintercounts began to be recorded on cloth and paper, band historians often used crayons, colored pencils, or watercolors. Carole A. Barrett Source for Further Study Cheney, Roberta Carkeek. Sioux Wintercount: 131 Years of Dakota History, 1796-1926. Interpreted by Kills Two. Happy Camp, Calif.: Naturegraph, 1998. See also: Bragskins; Petroglyphs; Pictographs.
Witchcraft and Sorcery Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Witchcraft provided a means, although largely a socially unacceptable one, of dealing with offenses that could not be corrected in other ways. The use of witchcraft and sorcery, although considered deviant, was common among American Indians, and it operated along with religion in providing an understanding of everyday life. Within a community, witchcraft was often employed by someone, usually male, who believed that a wrong had been committed against him, especially when that wrong could not be redressed through other socially sanctioned means. A disaffected person
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would seek the satisfaction that would come with harming or even causing the death of the transgressor. Witchcraft was usually condemned in native cultures, and suspected witches or sorcerers could be killed by members of the community for the offense. It is notable that among the Pueblo, men considered overly ambitious for political power were automatically suspected of witchcraft. In some cultures, datura, or jimson weed, was used as a tonic to determine who was guilty of witchcraft. Among the Navajo, one who was accused of witchcraft and captured was pressured to confess. If no confession was forthcoming, the accused was executed. If there was a confession, it was believed that the witch would soon die of the same witchcraft he was practicing on his victim. Witches were seen in some communities as part of a long-term aberrant subculture, with apprentice witches learning their art from an older relative, and employing complicated rituals of membership. Less serious were sorcerers, whose spells were carried out less violently and without all the ritual trappings. Witchcraft directed at a rival community was also considered possible, and along with revenge for deaths, desire for captives, misappropriation of hunting land or other resources, it was considered an appropriate reason for competing groups to go to war. When social constraints such as the need for community harmony or preserving the established leadership structure prevented individuals in native communities from achieving what they perceived as justice, they might resort to witchcraft. Thomas P. Carroll See also: Ethnophilosophy and Worldview; Religion; Religious Specialists; Social Control.
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Women
Women Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Women have held more central and more powerful roles within Indian communities than outsiders have often realized, although in many cases their power was diminished after tribal contact with Europeans. The lives of Indian women have been as varied as those of any women. Not only have their experiences differed greatly among regions and tribes (and among individuals within those groups), but also Indian women’s lives have undergone significant changes historically, both before and after colonization. Perhaps the most useful generalization one can make about Indian women is that they have often been overlooked and misunderstood by non-Indians. In popular films and novels, when included at all, Indian women typically have been depicted as more passive and less important than Indian men. Indian women have also often been missing from studies authored by historians and social scientists. The few American Indian women who have gained widespread attention among non-Indians quite often have been those thought to have come to the aid of settlers. Probably the most famous of such women is Pocahontas, who popular legend has credited with saving the life of Captain John Smith and assisting the settlers of the Jamestown colony. In visual images of the colonial era, Pocahontas was used to embody the New World—imagined as a welcoming, feminine, and fertile body. Other women remembered by nonIndians for their aid to whites include Sacajawea of the Shoshone, Winema of the Modoc, and Nancy Ward of the Cherokee—women whose lives were much more complex than one might guess from their popular reputations as charitable maidens and princesses. Also not very well known is the fact that Indian women were often the most determined to resist European influence. Seventeenth century Huron women, for example, proved far more difficult than Huron men for Jesuit missionaries to convert to Christianity.
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One of the main reasons the Huron women gave for their resistance was that they could not imagine how they could agree to make a lifetime commitment of marriage. Many Huron women rightly suspected that the missionaries were offering women the possibility of salvation in exchange for less freedom and control over their lives than they had previously enjoyed. Economic and Social Contributions. Early European and European American accounts of Indians frequently characterized Indian women as subservient drudges, as poor “squaws” who were abused by Indian men. Such characterizations should be understood in relation to the expectation of many European Americans, especially prevalent during the nineteenth century, that in their own societies virtuous women were incapable of and demeaned by physically demanding labor, particularly labor performed outdoors. When European Americans observed native women vigorously hauling firewood, planting and harvesting crops, or tanning hides, they erroneously inferred that Indian women occupied a lowly position in society. Outside observers frequently failed to recognize that women often took great pride in their work and acquired significant respect within their communities as a result of it. Moreover, the work of Indian men was often less visible from the perspective of a village or camp, if, as was often the case, it focused on hunting. The specific tasks performed by men and women varied considerably among tribes, and there were exceptions to the typical patterns—in many Plains societies, for example, there were women who departed from the norm and became known as warriors, hunting big game and leading war parties. In general, however, women tended to have greater responsibilities than men in caring for children and preparing food. Among some groups, such as the Iroquois tribes, women not only prepared food, but were responsible for farming, fishing, and gathering wild plant products valued for medicinal as well as nutritional purposes; many Indian women also maintained the right to distribute any food, even that procured by men.
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Throughout Indian history, Indian women have gained great admiration and personal satisfaction from producing and designing objects; in pre-contact societies, much of women’s everyday labor involved creative, artistic abilities. In the Southwest, for example, many women were highly skilled potters, who made wares valued for their aesthetic and religious importance as well as for their practical usefulness. Especially among Plains Indians, many women took great pride in decorating leather and designing clothing. In many areas, women wove extraordinarily beautiful and functional baskets. Although today Indian women have much less often produced objects such as pots and baskets for use within their own communities, many Indian women have established successful careers as artists; two of the most renowned include Hopi potter Nampeyo and San Ildefonso potter María Martínez. In parts of the Southwest, pottery and basketry, still made by women more often than men, currently provide significant sources of income for Indian communities as well as a sense of continuity, with designs and techniques handed down among generations of women. Many modern native women have also developed artistic skills in fields not typically associated with Indian people— including oil painting, photography, and performing arts such as ballet. In interpreting early written accounts of Indian women’s labor, in addition to considering the possible biases of outside observers, it is useful to consider how perceptions of Indian women as hapless drudges might reflect how women’s lives may already have been transformed by interactions with Europeans. For example, during periods when Indian people were trading vast quantities of furs and skins to Europeans, the workloads of many native women increased dramatically. Furthermore, social changes brought about by increased warfare, famine, dependence on trade, and disease epidemics often had a negative influence on the position women occupied within their communities. The social problems endemic to many Indian communities have added to women’s domestic and economic responsibilities; many Indian women rear families single-handedly. Some researchers have suggested, however, that
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Indian women’s great responsibilities for home and family, while difficult, have also been an important source of strength, stability, and determination. Religion, Healing, Myth, and Storytelling. Among many Indian communities, past and present, women have been as likely as men to serve as spiritual leaders and doctors. Women have been powerful members of religious societies—some composed of women only, others including both women and men—within tribal communities. Many Indian communities have also held their most powerful and sacred ceremonies centering around female rites of passage, such as a girl’s first menstruation. Yet even when indigenous religious practices might appear to be more men’s affairs than women’s, beliefs about power, deities, and the nature of the universe have tended to emphasize and venerate women. Among Pueblo people in the Southwest, for example, even though women have been excluded from many of the most significant religious activities, the most important deities are female. Many Southwestern Indian people tell sacred stories of female creators and teachers, such as Thought Woman, Changing Woman, Salt Woman, or Spider Woman. Lakota people tell of Falling Star, who on earth became White Buffalo Calf Woman and gave the Lakotas their sacred ceremonies. Similar stories of divine female beings can be found throughout native North America; such beliefs contrast sharply with Christian notions of a single, allpowerful, male creator. Nevertheless, in many cases Indian women have responded enthusiastically to Christianity, often blending Christian traditions with indigenous ones. They also have taken up powerful positions in many religious revitalization movements that combine Christianity and indigenous beliefs and practices. Among California Indians, for example, women have been among the most prominent leaders in the Bole Maru movement, frequently serving as “Dreamers,” a role with political as well as spiritual dimensions. Women have also held important roles within the Native American Church.
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In addition to occupying specialized roles within religious systems, Indian women have an ancient history of passing down knowledge and values as storytellers and as family and community historians. Many Indian women continue to be especially revered for their formal and informal storytelling. Some have incorporated oral traditions into written literature; writing for Indian and non-Indian audiences, Native women—including Louise Erdrich, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Joy Harjo—have become renowned novelists and poets. Others, such as Ella Cara Deloria and Beatrice Medicine, have made significant contributions to anthropology and history. Politics and Policies. In precolonial societies, Indian women usually had their own particular ways of exerting political authority. Among the Iroquois, for example, women did not serve on the Council of Elders, but the men who served were appointed and could always be deposed by Iroquois matrons. In Cherokee council meetings, women tended to observe rather then actively contribute, voicing their opinions outside of the public forum. Occasionally, women departed from the usual political roles and occupied leadership positions typically taken by men. In many societies, women’s authority was strengthened by matrilineal and matrilocal kinship systems, in which property and land-use rights were inherited through women and which required a man to live with his wife’s family after marriage. Kinship and politics were often inseparable, and women often retained the right to arrange marriages for their children; divorces typically could be initiated by men or women. During the colonial and early reservation periods, the political authority of Indian women was undermined in a number of important ways. Missionary and government agents tended to encourage patrilineal systems of naming and inheritance and often did not recognize the ways in which women had previously influenced political appointments and decisions. For example, in contrast to the way that many Indian Communities traced inheritance and identity through mothers, the Canadian Indian Act of 1876 de-
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nied an official native identity to native women and their children who married men from outside their band; native men who married non-native women, however, suffered no similar loss of identity or recognition. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Indian women in the United States and Canada were subject to federal education policies designed to train native women as domestic servants and housekeepers. Among tribes where women had once carried out all the farming, government programs attempted to teach men to farm, while women were trained in such domestic skills as cooking and sewing. Despite such misguided policies, many Indian women emerged in this period as influential proponents of Indian rights and policy reform. These women included Sarah Winnemucca, who worked as a scout and interpreter for the U.S. Army in the 1870’s before writing a book and giving lectures to audiences around the country urging public support for her people, the Northern Paiutes. In the early twentieth century, Gertrude Simmons Bonnin wrote books and articles based on her experiences as a Sioux and devoted much research, writing, and public speaking to issues important to Indian people throughout the United States. Other influential women of this period include writer and administrator Ruth Muskrat Bronson, anthropologist Ella Cara Deloria, and physician Susan La Flesche Picotte. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, many women took part in Indianrelated activism, such as the Trail of Broken Treaties, the standoff with the FBI at Wounded Knee, and the occupation of Alcatraz. Although women tended to be less prominent than men in such activities, many women who took part in them went on to become especially influential leaders. One such woman was Wilma Mankiller, who in 1985 became the chief of the Cherokee Nation. Increasingly, native women are being elected to tribal councils and are filling other politically important roles as policymakers, judges, and lawyers. Indian women leaders have been most concerned with issues that pertain to both men and women in Indian communities. Their
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identities as Indian people—or as members of particular Indian communities—have tended to take precedence over identities as women. Since the 1970’s, however, native women have begun to organize politically around concerns specifically identified with Indian women—including their representation in tribal politics, problems with domestic violence, health care, and access to legal services. The Women of All Red Nations (WARN) was formed in 1978; many other native women’s organizations have been formed since, both national and local. Although the polar stereotypes of Pocahontas and lowly squaw continue to survive in non-Indian thinking, they have been continually challenged by Indian women. The stereotypes have also been challenged by a growing body of scholarship and writing, which increasingly is being produced by Indian women themselves. Molly H. Mullin Sources for Further Study Albers, Patricia, and Beatrice Medicine, eds. The Hidden Half: Studies of Plains Indian Women. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1983. A volume of essays offering diverse perspectives on Plains women. The essays cover topics such as women’s work, the persistent biases of outside observers, and historical changes in Plains Indian women’s lives. Allen, Paula Gunn, ed. Spider Woman’s Granddaughters: Traditional Tales and Contemporary Writing by Native North American Women. New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1989. An anthology of works written and told by native women. Informative introduction by Allen, who has written widely on native women’s literature. Anderson, Karen L. Chain Her by One Foot: The Subjugation of Women in Seventeenth-Century New France. New York: Routledge, 1991. A study of how Huron and Montagnais women responded to Europeans, particularly Jesuit missionaries, and how religious conversion involved dramatic changes in beliefs about women. Bataille, Gretchen M., and Kathleen Mullen. American Indian Women: A Guide to Research. New York: Garland, 1991. An extensive an-
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notated bibliography of writing and films pertaining to North American Indian women, including more than 1,500 citations. Bataille, Gretchen M., and Kathleen Mullen Sands. American Indian Women: Telling Their Lives. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984. Much can be learned about native women’s lives from their autobiographies, but it is useful to know something about the context in which these autobiographies were produced. This guide to native women’s autobiographical narratives includes an annotated bibliography. Deloria, Ella Cara. Waterlily. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1988. A fictional portrayal of nineteenth century Sioux women. Written in the 1930’s by a Sioux historian and anthropologist who devoted her career to combatting popular stereotypes of Indians. Devens, Carol. Countering Colonization: Native American Women and the Great Lakes Missions, 1630-1900. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. A study of the diverse ways in which women among the Ojibwa, Cree, and other tribes of the Great Lakes region responded to and were affected by colonization. Katz, Jane, ed. I Am the Fire of Time: Voices of Native American Women. New York: Dutton, 1977. A wide-ranging collection of material, including songs, prayers, and essays, from various tribes and historical periods. Powers, Marla N. Oglala Women: Myth, Ritual, and Reality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. A study of Oglala Sioux women, past and present, illustrated with black-and-white photographs. Emphasizes the central role of women in Sioux myth and cosmology and women’s perspectives on the important changes in their lives. Underhill, Ruth M. Papago Woman. 1936. Reprint. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1979. The life story of a Papago (Tohono O’odham) woman with particular skills as a healer, born in 1845. Includes songs, stories, and descriptions of tribal life. See also: Gender Relations and Roles; Kinship and Social Organization; Marriage and Divorce; Stereotypes; Women’s Societies.
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Women’s Societies Tribes affected: Pantribal Significance: Societies for both men and women were important organizations that created a sense of tribal identity, instilling a sense of allegiance beyond the bonds of family. Members of societies had obligations to each other, strict rules for membership, and an obligation to work for benefit of their people. Indian women’s societies were of three major types: craft, religious, and those connected to warfare. The origins of all Indian societies lay in the dream or vision of a founder, and this often contained information on the number of members allowed, rules for participation, goals of the society, ceremonial clothing, and rituals. Almost all societies had a medicine bundle, which contained objects to remind members of the sacred origins of the founder’s vision. Women’s societies generally were one of three types: craft guilds, religious groups, and war-related societies. Craft Guilds. Craft guilds involved the most women. These societies recognized women who were especially gifted in the arts of the tribe, such as tanning, painting robes, designing and applying quillwork or beadwork patterns, making baby carriers, and manufacturing moccasins. These non-kin-based societies were considered as important as the men’s societies. Members of the craft guild taught their art to other women, and the most talented students were invited into the society. Each craft society sponsored an annual feast at which their members’ handiwork was displayed, and in this way the women’s work was exalted. Religious Societies. Women’s religious societies had fewer members and different rules for participation. To become a member of a religious society, a woman had to have a very strong vision that led her to understand how she could work for the welfare of the people by performing rituals to ensure healing, plentiful crops, or a successful hunt. Women who performed as healers had exten-
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sive knowledge of roots and herbs; they generally specialized in illnesses of women and children and assisted in childbirth. Because women, in their roles as wives and mothers, were often associated with bounty, women’s religious societies often conducted the ceremonies that would ensure abundant crops or attract game closer to the village. In some tribes, women’s religious societies sponsored important rituals. For instance, among the Blackfeet the Women’s Fasting Society was responsible for initiating the Sun Dance. In other tribes, women’s religious societies reenacted the sacred stories of origin. Women in religious societies gave generously of their time and knowledge and sought to maintain blessings for their people. War Societies. Women’s war societies functioned in various ways. Generally these groups were adjuncts to the men’s warrior societies. It was relatively common for wives to accompany their husbands to war in order to cook for them and sing songs of encouragement. Though there are accounts of women who fought alongside the men or sought to avenge the death of their husbands on the battlefield, such activity was relatively rare. Women’s war society members also took a lead role in celebrating the return of the men from battle and in comforting the widows and mothers of the slain, roles that continue into the present day in many tribes. The modern versions of these societies arrange feasts and celebrations to greet returning veterans, lead honor dances at pow-wows, comfort relatives if a soldier is killed. Carole A. Barrett See also: Medicine and Modes of Curing: Pre-contact; Military Societies; Societies: Non-kin-based; White Buffalo Society; Women.
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Zapotec Civilization
Zapotec Civilization Significance: Their early urban culture thrived and flourished at Monte Albán, influencing later generations of central Mexico. Five hundred years before the Christian era, the Zapotec peoples of the mountains and valleys of central Mexico—the modern state of Oaxaca—laid foundations for a brilliant culture that reached its height between 700 and 900 c.e. Because the Zapotec had no written language (although they devised hieroglyphs), knowledge of their civilization depends entirely upon the discoveries and analyses of archaeologists and cultural anthropologists. The work of these experts ranges from studies of historic Mesoamerican farming, religion, political organization, and ecology to science, mining, metalworking, trade, and systematic archaeological reconstructions of the great urban site at Monte Albán, as well as lesser sites at Mitla, Etla, Tlacolula, and in the Zimatlán valleys. Such evidence suggests that by the time Zapotec culture appears in the historical record, about 500 b.c.e., it was already characterized by increasing social and political complexity marked by communities of villages and temple centers. Between the opening of the Christian era and 500 c.e., the Zapotecs had developed a regional political state that reached its cultural apogee at the great urban center at Monte Albán between two hundred and four hundred years later, even as Aztec expansion, military unrest, and large-scale migrations had begun to affect it adversely. Between the years 900 and 1520, the heart of Zapotec civilization shifted from Monte Albán to Mitla, as Aztec military expansion and attempts to incorporate the Zapotecs into an Aztec confederation marked a decline that was completed by the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Zapotec origins are unknown, although the Zapotecs probably lived side by side with other central Mexican cultures during what archaeologists designate as the region’s archaic, or Middle Formative and Late Formative, eras. The Zapotecs themselves ascribed their origins to their ancestors’ birth directly from rocks, trees, and
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jaguars in a mythic past. From the earliest available records, they appear to have been a sedentary farming people, predisposed to living in communities and urban centers and committed to substantial trading activities involving products of their mines, as well as sophisticated, high-quality copper and gold work. Although much of Oaxaca consists of eroded mountains that were unsuitable for agriculture, the valleys of its central section were fertile, subtropical, and frost-free, and thus helped develop the Zapotecs’ penchant for urban living. Like other peoples of Mexico’s central plateau, the Zapotecs broke the soil with digging sticks, planted corn, beans, tomatoes, and chili peppers, and supplemented their diets with fish and game. During the Formative era, they irrigated their fields with pots and canals. Having learned metalworking from cultures to their south, they not only were among the first Mesoamericans to work in metals but also soon exceeded all others except the Maya in their repoussé work, the quality of their bas-relief stonework (learned from the Olmecs to the south), and their gold, silver, and
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turquoise jewelry. Trade in these manufactures was facilitated by the Zapotecs’ locational advantage in the paths of people moving north and south through Mesoamerica, as well as people traveling from the Pacific coast to the Gulf of Mexico. The lives of the Zapotecs were dominated by religion. They worshiped a number of gods, the most important of which was Cosijo, the god of lightning and rain. Their affairs were partially ruled over by a hierarchy of priests; therefore, their political establishment functioned as a centralized theocracy, although it seems that power never was concentrated in the hands of a single individual. Power was divided between a monarch, who probably represented the army along with other worldly interests, and a high priest whose authority may have been greater than that of the king. Zapotecs also had developed an elaborate cult of the dead; accordingly, they were devoted to the worship of their ancestors, whom they believed inhabited an idyllic underworld. Their scientific achievements, which experts have ranked as equal to those of the Maya, related closely to their religious beliefs. Their ritual calendar, or tonalpohuali, consisted of 260 days, but they also were familiar with the solar calendar—evidence indicates that this had been true since before the Christian era. At its height, between 700 and 900 c.e., Zapotec culture was epitomized by its capital, Monte Albán, the origins of which preceded the Christian era. The Zapotecs’ first capital had been located at Teotitlán del Valle in the Tlacolula Valley. By the time a shift was made to Monte Albán—reasons for which are unclear— the Zapotecs had evolved an advanced culture comparable to others in the central highlands. Scholars estimate that between 600 and 200 b.c.e., the transformation of Monte Albán was under way and its superb plaza four hundred meters above the valley had begun taking shape. Toward the end of this Middle Formative period, Monte Albán had become the site of religious structures notable among archaeologists for their beautiful carved and inscribed columns and decorated bases that showed Olmec influences. After a transitional period, during which some of the earlier structures on Monte Albán were covered by newer buildings,
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the Zapotec culture that was centered there became one of the most influential—both politically and culturally—in Mesoamerica. Several scholars have described Monte Albán’s Great Plaza as one of the most splendid civic spaces created by humankind, as well as the most beautiful in Mesoamerica. In conformity with the religious values that informed their construction, the score of impressive structures running along the mountaintop on a rough north-south axis close off views of the valleys below, heightening the feeling of completion and enclosure. When occupied, these structures—one of them an astronomical observatory—were painted but, unlike elsewhere in Mesoamerican cultures, they featured little decoration, although what little there was, was elegant. Their builders relied on the contrasting effects of sunlight and shadow to emphasize their meaning. It was from this mountaintop that Zapotec merchants and metal workers extended their commercial route, including the turquoise trade, across thousands of miles, from central Mexico as far northward as the Colorado Basin. After 900 c.e., Monte Albán began to decline, and the focus of Zapotec civilization shifted to Mitla, now a well-researched ruin. Monte Albán remained occupied until the Spanish conquest that was carried into Oaxaca in 1521 by Francisco de Orozco. Mitla became a significant religious center as well as a necropolis, serving as the burial place of kings and the Zapotecs’ chief priests during the years when the Zapotecs struggled to remain independent of the expanding Aztec confederation and then confronted the Spaniards. Neither Monte Albán nor Mitla was fortified, relying instead on the reputation of their great religious authority to dissuade potential enemies. Archaeological investigation of both Monte Albán and Mitla continues, as Monte Albán alone covered more than forty square kilometers and embraced a substantial population spread beyond its immediate precincts throughout nearby valleys. Clifton K. Yearley Sources for Further Study Chinas, Beverly. The Isthmus Zapotecs. 2d ed. Fort Worth, Tex.: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992. Chinas, a specialist on Zapotec
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women, focuses on their traditional matrilineal roles, which cast light on lingering Monte Albán influences. Coe, Michael D., and Rex Koontz. Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs. 5th ed. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2002. An exhaustive introduction to Mexico’s early history and peoples. Flannery, Kent V., and Joyce Marcus, eds. The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations. New York: Academic Press, 1983. A comparison of the development of two major Mesoamerican cultures. Hardoy, Jorge E. Pre-Columbian Cities. Translated by Judith Thorne. New York: Walker, 1973. Excellent synthesis of extant knowledge from archaeologists and cultural historians about Zapotec cities during their formation. Kearney, Michael. The Winds of Ixtepeji. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1972. Deals with modern Zapotec society in one town; also reveals myths and folkways that trace back to the Zapotecs’ earliest origins. Marcus, Joyce, and Kent V. Flannery. Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996. An analysis of the development of the Zapotec civilization and the growth of Monte Albán. Wiley, Gordon, and Jeremy A. Sabloff. A History of American Archaeology. London: Thames and Hudson, 1974. Includes numerous comments about archaeologists who studied the Zapotecs, what they discovered, and how they proceeded to design and classify chronologies that fit evidence about the ancient Zapotecs. Wolf, Eric. Sons of the Shaking Earth. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966. A historical-archaeological study of the peoples of Mexico and Guatemala and their cultures, which places the evolution of the Zapotecs in context. See also: Culture Areas; Gold and Goldworking; Metalwork; Religion; Silverworking; Trade; Turquoise.
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Educational Institutions and Programs The following is a select list of institutions with various types of American Indian studies programs. Tribally controlled colleges are included in the section headed “American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) Member Institutions.” “Canadian Institutions” are covered in the final section. —H.J.M.
U.S. UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES Alaska, University of Fairbanks Native studies program. Major and minor. Alaska Native Language Center, established in 1972, conducts research and publishes story collections, histories, geographies, dictionaries, and grammars. Arizona, University of Tucson American Indian studies program. M.A. in American studies. Courses in Hopi and Tohono O’odham languages. Arizona State University Tempe American Indian studies program offering a B.S. Emphasis on issues related to American Indian sovereignty, theory and application of American Indian law, economic development, cultures, languages, arts, and education. Associated with Center for Indian Education, which publishes the Journal of American Indian Education. First such center in the United States, established in 1959.
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Augsburg College Minneapolis, Minn. American Indian Support Program. Bacone College Muskogee, Okla. Founded as Indian University in 1880. The college has a special mission to serve American Indian students. Bemidji State University Bemidji, Minn. Indian Studies Department. Major and minor. Minor in Ojibwa language. Black Hills State College Spearfish, S.Dak. Minor in American Indian studies. California, University of Berkeley Native American Studies Program offers a B.A. major and an Ph.D. in ethnic studies with a concentration in Native American studies. Classes focus on the historical, literary, and cultural analysis of Native American cultures as well as present-day legal and social circumstances of Native American communities. Course topics include Native American oral and written literary traditions, Native American law, tribal governments, Native American women, and reservation economic development. California, University of Davis Native American Studies Department. Major.
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California, University of Irvine Native American Studies Program offers an interdisciplinary minor with courses in history, sociology, ecology, history, and other humanities and social sciences. California, University of Los Angeles American Indian Studies Center offers a B.A. major and minor in American Indian studies; an M.A. in American Indian studies; a J.D./M.A. in law and American Indian studies. Program focuses on four areas: history and law; expressive arts; social relations; and literature, folklore, and language. Publishes American Indian Culture and Research Journal. California, University of Riverside Native American Studies Program offers a B.A. in Native American studies; minor in Native American studies; B.A. in ethnic studies with emphasis in Native American studies; Ph.D. in Native American history, and a major or minor Ph.D. fields. Course offerings include Indian histories of California, Southwest, and Northwest; history of disease among Americans Indians; American Indian oral and written literatures; Ojibwa history, resistance and survival movements, and strategies. California State University Chico Minor in Native American studies. California State University Fresno Courses in American Indian studies.
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Educational Institutions and Programs
California State University Long Beach American Indian Studies Program. Minor, certificate, and concentration. California State University Sacramento Major and minor in Native American studies. Colgate College Hamilton, N.Y. Native American Studies Program offers major and minor concentrations. Takes a comparative and historical orientation to North, Central, and South America, focusing on the integrity and richness of traditional American Indian cultures as well as the reciprocal effects of colonization. Colorado, University of Boulder American Indian Studies Program offers a B.A and minor in ethnic studies. Class topics include American Indian religious traditions, the history of tribal governments, American Indian women’s experience, Native American and environmental ethics, Marxism and Native Americans, and portrayals of Indians in motion pictures. Connecticut, University of Storrs Native American Studies Program. An interdisciplinary course of study offering a B.A. that focuses on Native American social studies, history, art, and literature.
Educational Institutions and Programs
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833
Cornell University Ithaca, N.Y. American Indian Program offers both undergraduate and graduate minors. Program focuses on the unique heritage and perspectives of North American Indians, issues of sovereignty, and the contemporary importance of American Indian environmental concepts and values. Publishes the American Indian studies journal Akwe:kon. Dakota Wesleyan University Mitchell, S.Dak. Major and minor in American Indian studies. Offers course in Lakota language. Dartmouth College Hanover, N.H. Native American Studies Department (founded 1972) offers B.A. Includes classes on histories and cultures of North American Indians, American Indian religious systems, American Indian law and federal Indian policy, American Indian languages, and American Indian literature. Sponsors annual symposium on Native American subjects. Dartmouth was founded in 1769 to educate Indians using money raised in Great Britain by Samson Occom, a Mohegan. Five College, Inc. Amherst, Mass. Native American studies consortium with courses offered on five campuses, including University of Massachusetts, Amherst College, Hampshire College, Smith College, and Mount Holyoke College, in different fields of study. Classes focus on issues affecting the history and current conditions of indigenous peoples.
834
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Educational Institutions and Programs
Fort Lewis College Durango, Colo. Offers B.A. in Southwest studies. Courses include Navajo language. Free tuition for all American Indians and Alaska Natives. Hampton University Hampton, Va. American Indian Educational Opportunities Program. Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute first accepted Indian students in 1878. Harvard University Cambridge, Mass. Harvard’s Native American Program prepares American Indians to fill leadership positions in schools and school systems. Part of Harvard’s original 1636 charter was to Christianize Indians. Haskell Indian Nations University Lawrence, Kans. Founded as an Indian boarding school in 1884, Haskell became Haskell Indian Junior College in 1970 and was renamed again in 1993, the same year that a four-year teacher education program was added. Haskell is the only university operated directly by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Humboldt State University Arcata, Calif. Offers B.A. and M.A. in Native American studies. Indian Teacher and Education Personnel Program. Natural Resource, Science, and Engineering Program.
Educational Institutions and Programs
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835
Illinois, University of Chicago Native American Studies Program. Minor in Native American studies. Iowa, University of Iowa City American Indian and Native Studies Programs offer undergraduate and graduate minors with certificates in American Indian and Native studies. Program is interdisciplinary, including classes in American Indian histories, cultures, languages, political and social organizations, economies, and contemporary political and legal questions. Iowa State University Ames American Indian Studies Program offers minor in American Indian studies. Class topics include American Indian literature, anthropology, history of Prairies-Plains, and contemporary issues. Kansas, University of Lawrence Center for Indigenous Nations Studies offers an M.A. in indigenous nations studies. Among the program’s goals are to train graduate students to understand the complexities of Native peoples of the hemisphere, to prepare them for academic teaching and research, and to prepare candidates to assume leadership and policy-making roles in indigenous communities and in state, national, and international institutions and organizations
836
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Educational Institutions and Programs
Maine, University of Orono Native American Studies offers an interdisciplinary academic program with a minor in Native American studies. The goal of the program is to educate students concerning indigenous perspectives on their traditions and self-determination. Massachusetts, University of Amherst Native American Studies Program offers approximately twenty courses in anthropology, history, geosciences, legal studies, English, Afro-American studies, linguistics, and STPEC (social thought and political economy). Students may also take courses offered by the Five Colleges consortium. Minnesota, University of Duluth Duluth American Indian Teacher Training Program and a variety of other programs that serve Indian students. Minnesota, University of Twin Cities, Minneapolis American Indian Studies Program offers major and minor. Courses in Ojibwa and Dakota languages. Montana, University of Missoula Native American studies with a B.A major and minor. An interdisciplinary holistic and humanistic program that focuses on the diversity and continued evolution of American Indian cultures, histories, and experiences. Montana State University Billings Minor in Native American studies.
Educational Institutions and Programs
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837
Montana State University Bozeman Center for Native American Studies offers M.A. in Native American studies, B.A. minor in Native American studies. An interdisciplinary program that provides students opportunities for independent study, seminars, internships, and courses in special topics. Morehead State University Morehead, Minn. Minor in American Indian studies. NAES (Native American Educational Services) College Chicago, Ill. Offers a degree in tribal administration and has campuses on the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana, the Menominee Reservation in Wisconsin, Chicago, and Minneapolis. Nebraska, University of Lincoln Native American Studies Program offers a B.A. major or minor. Courses include Native American anthropology, ethnography, history, and literature with emphasis on Northern Plains. New Mexico, University of Albuquerque Native American Studies Center offers B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. Classes in education and communication; expressive arts and technology; governance, law, and economics; health and environment; history, politics, and ethics; language and literature; science, religion, and philosophy; societies and cultures. The University of New Mexico was the first in the United States to offer an American Indian studies Ph.D. program.
838
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Educational Institutions and Programs
New York, State University of Buffalo Program in Indigenous Studies offers B.A. in American studies with a concentration in indigenous and Native American studies; M.A. and Ph.D. in American studies with a concentration in indigenous and Native American studies. Courses included Indians and film, American Indian law, indigenous women, introduction to Native American history, mythology, contemporary problems of American Indians, indigenous health and healing, Native American literature. New York, State University of New Paltz Native American Studies Program offers B.A. with minor in North American Indian studies. Courses include North American ethnology, archaeology of Mesoamerica, and archaeology of New York State. North Carolina, University of Pembroke American Indian Studies Program offers B.A. major, minor, or concentration. Classes on North and Latin American Indian history and culture; American Indian religions, art, and literature; American Indian women; and American Indians and film. North Dakota, University of Grand Forks Indian Studies Department offers B.A. major and minor. Indians into Medicine (INMED) program serves pre-med and medical students. North Dakota State University Fargo Native American Pharmacy Program.
Educational Institutions and Programs
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839
Northeastern State University Tahlequah, Okla. Native American Studies Program offers major and minor. Has Center for Tribal Studies. Located on the site of the former Cherokee Female Seminary. Northern Arizona University Flagstaff Four Corners Intertribal Science and Mathematics Summer Program, Native American Forestry Program, and Indian Education Program. Courses in Navajo language. Northern Kentucky University Highland Heights Native American Studies Program offers minor in Native American studies. Classes include North and Mesoamerican Indians, Plains Indian history, North and South American archaeology, and modern American Indians. Northern State University Aberdeen, S.Dak. American Indian studies minor. Oklahoma, University of Norman Native American studies program offers B.A. major and minor. Students select relevant courses from different departments, including anthropology, history, geography, English, communications, music, and fine arts, to fulfill degree requirements. Publishes American Indian Quarterly. American Indian Institute houses Native American Research Information Service. Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma City Native American Center of Excellence program dedicated to increasing the number of Native American physicians.
840
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Educational Institutions and Programs
Pembroke State University Pembroke, N.C. Department of American Indian Studies offers major and minor. Founded in 1887 as the Croatan Normal School to serve the Lumbee Indians of North Carolina. Pennsylvania State University University Park American Indian Leadership Program offers M.A. and Ph.D. Prescott College Prescott, Ariz. Center for Indian Bilingual Teacher Training. St. Scholastica, College of Duluth, Minn. Department of American Indian Studies offers minor. San Diego State University San Diego, Calif. Department of Indian Studies offers minor with a B.A. in another field. Program includes classes on American Indian heritage, American Indian oral literature, American Indian poetry and fiction, federal Indian law, American Indian languages (survey), Native American educational issues, and media images of American Indians. San Francisco State University San Francisco, Calif. Department of American Indian Studies offers a minor in American Indian studies; can constitute part of a special major or be an emphasis of an M.A. in ethnic studies. Program stresses a multidisciplinary appreciation for the historic and contemporary diversity of American Indian tribes and tribal lifeways.
Educational Institutions and Programs
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841
Santa Fe at Albuquerque, College of Albuquerque, N.Mex. Sponsored Summer Institute of Linguistics for Native Americans (SILNA) in 1994. South Dakota, University of Vermillion American Indian Studies Program offers B.A. major, double major, and minor. Curriculum includes anthropology; Lakota language, thought, and culture; American Indian law; American Indian literature; American Indian history; history of American Indian education; American Indian government. South Dakota State University Brookings American Indian Studies Program. This interdisciplinary program offers a minor and includes classes in anthropology, English, geography, history, languages (Lakota), philosophy, political science, religion, and sociology that deal with American Indian topics and issues. Stanford University Stanford, Calif. Native American Cultural Center/The American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Program. Primary mission is to meet the needs of the students by recognizing the variables that exist within the Native American community and creating programs that assist them in successfully addressing the factors that influence degree progress and completion. Tulsa, University of Tulsa, Okla. Native American Law Center offers certification in American Indian law as part of a J.D. program. Curriculum includes nine specialized Indian law courses and the opportunity for students to help tribal members as part of a Center-run clinic.
842
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Educational Institutions and Programs
Washington, University of Seattle American Indian Studies Center offers B.A. (individual studies). Program includes courses on American Indian history, ethnology, religions, federal Indian policy, Navajo language, folklore, contemporary literature, and museology, with special attention given to Western and Northwest Coast tribes. School of Medicine’s Native American Center for Excellence promotes medical careers for Indian students. Washington State University Pullman Offers B.A. in comparative American cultures. Minor in Native American studies. Wisconsin, University of Eau Claire American Indian Studies Program grants B.A. major and minor in American Indian studies. Also offers graduate studies in American Indian history and literature. Wisconsin, University of Madison American Indian Studies Program offers a certificate in American Indian studies. Includes classes in anthropology, sociology, social work, history, archaeology, history, law, and literature. Wisconsin, University of Milwaukee American Indian Studies Program offers an interdisciplinary degree option.
Educational Institutions and Programs
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843
Wyoming, University of Laramie American Indian Studies Program offers minor. Interdisciplinary approach includes classes in anthropology, sociology, history, literature, and geography.
AMERICAN INDIAN HIGHER EDUCATION CONSORTIUM (AIHEC) MEMBER INSTITUTIONS American Indian Arts, Institute of Santa Fe, N.Mex. Associate’s degree. American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) Washington, D.C. Represents thirty-one Indian-controlled colleges in the United States and Canada. Collects data on tribal colleges and sponsors Tribal College: Journal of American Indian Higher Education. Bay Mills Community College Brimley, Minn. Associate’s degree. Blackfeet Community College Browning, Mont. Associate’s degree. Cankdeska Cikana (Little Hoop) Community College Fort Totten, N.Dak. Associate’s degree. Chief Dull Knife College Lame Deer, Mont. Associate’s degree.
844
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Educational Institutions and Programs
College of the Menominee Nation Keshena, Wis. Associate’s degree. Crownpoint Institute of Technology Crownpoint, N.Mex. Associate’s degree. Diné College Tsaile, Ariz. Associate’s degree. D-Q University Davis, Calif. Associate’s degree. Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College Cloquet, Minn. Associate’s degree. Fort Belknap College Harlem, Mont. Associate’s degree. Fort Berthold Community College New Town, Mont. Associate’s degree. Fort Peck Community College Poplar, Mont. Associate’s degree. Haskell Indian Nations University Lawrence, Kans. Associate’s and bachelor’s degrees.
Educational Institutions and Programs
Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College Baraga, Minn. Associate’s degree. Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College Hayward, Wis. Associate’s degree. Leech Lake Tribal College Cass Lake, Minn. Associate’s degree. Little Big Horn College Crow Agency, Mont. Associate’s degree. Little Priest Tribal College Winnebago, Nebr. Associate’s degree. Nebraska Indian Community College Macy, Nebr. Associate’s degree. Northwest Indian College Bellingham, Wash. Associate’s degree. Oglala Lakota College Kyle, S.Dak. Associate’s, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees. Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College Mount Pleasant, Minn. Associate’s degree.
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845
846
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Educational Institutions and Programs
Salish Kootenai College Pablo, Mont. Associate’s and bachelor’s degrees. Sinte Gleska University Rosebud, S.Dak. Associate’s, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees. Sisseton Wahpeton Community College Sisseton, S.Dak. Associate’s degree. Si Tanka/Huron University Eagle Butte, S.Dak. Associate’s degree. Sitting Bull College Fort Yates, N.Dak. Associate’s degree. Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute Albuquerque, N.Mex. Associate’s degree. Stone Child College Box Elder, Mont. Associate’s degree. Tohono O’odham Community College Sells, Ariz. Associate’s degree. Turtle Mountain Community College Belcourt, N.Dak. Associate’s degree.
Educational Institutions and Programs
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847
United Tribes Technical College Bismarck, N.Dak. Associate’s degree. White Earth Tribal and Community College Mahnomen, Minn. Associate’s degree.
OTHER U.S. EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND PROGRAMS Akwesasne Freedom School Rooseveltown, N.Y. Alternative elementary school provides a bilingual MohawkEnglish curriculum. American Indian Graduate Center Albuquerque, N.Mex. National nonprofit organization founded in 1969 to enhance the cultural and economic well-being of American Indian graduate students. American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) Washington, D.C. Represents thirty-one Indian-controlled colleges in the United States and Canada. Collects data on tribal colleges and sponsors Tribal College: Journal of American Indian Higher Education. American Indian Science and Engineering Society Boulder, Colo. Sponsors various programs to encourage Indian students to major in the sciences and engineering. Publishes Winds of Change magazine.
848
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Educational Institutions and Programs
American Indian Studies Research Institute Bloomington, Ind. Established at Indiana University to in 1985 to serve as an interdisciplinary research center for projects concerning Indian peoples of the Americas. Provides the institutional structure necessary to carry out research and educational projects funded by outside sources. Arizona Department of Education, Indian Education Office Phoenix Offers support for general education, from literacy programs to higher education, and publishes educational material about Arizona Indians. Blue Quills Native Education Centre St. Paul, Alta. Formerly Blue Quills Residential School, the Centre was opened under local control in 1970 to serve students from seven different bands. Offers Cree language courses. Started postsecondary extension courses in 1975. California Department of Education, American Indian Education Office Sacramento Publishes a handbook on American Indians for educators. Chemewa Indian School Salem, Oreg. An off-reservation boarding high school founded in 1880 and sponsored by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. D’Arcy McNickle Center for the History of the American Indian, Newberry Library Chicago, Ill. Sponsors programs to promote the study of American Indian history.
Educational Institutions and Programs
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849
Denver Indian Center, Circle of Learning Pre-K Program Denver, Colo. Culturally based preschool classes, home-based instruction, and parent education services for Indian families. ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools (ERIC/CRESS) Charleston, W.Va. Federal education clearinghouse serving American Indian education. Publishes digests and monographs on American Indian education. Flandreau Indian School Flandreau, S.Dak. An off-reservation boarding high school established in 1893 and supported by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Greyhills Academy Tuba City, Ariz. A high school with a model song, dance, and drama program, funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Heard Museum Phoenix, Ariz. Sponsors a variety of educational outreach programs focusing on the American Indian. Heart of the Earth Survival School Minneapolis, Minn. Alternative school serving urban Indian students.
850
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Educational Institutions and Programs
Institute of American Indian Arts Santa Fe, N.Mex. Government-chartered postsecondary school serving the entire United States. Founded in 1962 and chartered by the U.S. government in 1988. Serves more than two hundred students from seventy different tribes. Mt. Edgecumbe High School Sitka, Alaska State-operated magnet boarding school serving Alaska’s Native and non-Native population. National Indian Education Association (NIEA) Washington, D.C. Founded in 1970, NIEA lobbies Congress on legislation affecting Indian education, sponsors annual state and national Indian education workshops, and recognizes outstanding Indian educators at its conferences. National Museum of the American Indian Washington, D.C. Cultural Resources Center houses library, archives. Native American Language Issues (NALI) Choctaw, Okla. Promotes the maintenance and renewal of American Indian languages through annual conferences and legislative activity. Navajo Area School Board Association Window Rock, Ariz. Works with members at schools operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Educational Institutions and Programs
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851
Navajo Ceremonial Art, Museum of Santa Fe, N.Mex. Collection and educational materials focus on traditional Navajo religion. Navajo Division of Education Window Rock, Ariz. Sponsors Navajo tribal scholarships, research on Navajo education, Navajo North Central Accreditation Association, and a variety of other programs. Navajo Nation Public School Boards Association Window Rock, Ariz. Works with members in public schools serving Navajo students. Navajo Preparatory Academy Farmington, N.Mex. High school funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to train Navajo leaders. Northwest Indian Head Start Coalition Fort Washakie, Wyo. Works to improve Indian Head Start programs. Office of Indian Education, U.S. Department of Education Washington, D.C. Administers programs funded through the Indian Education Act. Programs include educational personnel development, educational services, formula grant, Indian fellowship, Indian gifted and talented pilot, and Indian-controlled schools enrichment. Six regional Indian education technical assistance centers serve the various regions of the United States.
852
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Educational Institutions and Programs
Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP), Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior Washington, D.C. Administers Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) schools and BIAfunded schools. Maintains twenty-five offices throughout the United States. The 185 elementary and secondary schools funded by the federal government teach 50,000 students from birth through grade 12. Also operates two colleges and funds twenty-five colleges operated by tribes and tribal organizations. OIEP programs include adult education, bilingual education, Close Up (grades nine through twelve civic education), effective schools, exceptional education, family and child education, higher education grants, Johnson O’Malley funding (assistance to public schools for the education of Indian children), junior achievement, National Indian School Board Association, Principals Leadership Academy, Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories (providing training to teachers in math and science), science and math summer workshops, showcase of excellence (showcasing outstanding boarding school programs), Solo Parent (for single-parent high school students), Special Higher Education Grants (funds for Indian students to pursue graduate degrees), summer law, and Whole Language Summer Workshop. Peach Springs School District Peach Springs, Ariz. Hualapai Bilingual Academic Excellence Program. Publishes a variety of Hualapai curriculum materials. Piegan Institute Browning, Mont. Founded in 1887 to increase the number of Blackfeet speakers and knowledge of Blackfeet culture. Operates the Nizipuhwahsin Blackfeet language immersion program for grades K-8; conducts seminars and conferences; and produces written, audio, and video materials on Blackfeet language and history.
Educational Institutions and Programs
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853
Riverside Indian School Anadarko, Okla. Off-reservation boarding school sponsored by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, serving grades 2-12. Rock Point Community School Rock Point, Ariz. A former boarding school of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Rock Point became a locally controlled BIA-funded school in 1977. Rock Point pioneered English as a second language (ESL) and Navajo-English bilingual curricula. Rough Rock Demonstration School Chinle, Ariz. First Indian-controlled school in modern times, founded in 1966. Rough Rock Press publishes a variety of Navajo curriculum materials. San Juan School District Blanding, Utah Publishes Navajo curriculum material. Santa Fe Indian School Santa Fe, N.Mex. Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school opened in 1890, serving nineteen Pueblo tribes plus Navajo, Hopi, Mescalero Apache, and Jicarilla Apache students. Sherman Indian High School Riverside, Calif. Bureau of Indian Affairs off-reservation boarding school founded in 1902.
854
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Educational Institutions and Programs
Wahpeton Indian Boarding School Wahpeton, N.Dak. Bureau of Indian Affairs off-reservation boarding school serving grades 4-8. Wingate High School Fort Wingate, N.Mex. Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school serving Navajo and surrounding tribes.
CANADIAN INSTITUTIONS Alberta, University of Edmonton School of Native Studies. B.A. in Native studies; combined degree program of B.A. (Native studies) and B.Ed. offers classes in First Nations issues and perspectives, economic development, Cree languages, Aboriginal government and political systems, patterns of land use, Native arts and oral traditions, Aboriginal health issues, Metis politics. Brandon University Brandon, Man. Department of Native Studies. Has Native teacher training program and publishes Canadian Journal of Native Studies. British Columbia, University of Vancouver First Nations House of Learning. Special programs for Native Canadian students. Publishes the Canadian Journal of Native Education in association with the University of Alberta, Edmonton.
Educational Institutions and Programs
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855
Dene Standardization Project Yellowknife, N.W.T. Started in 1986 to develop a standardized writing system for northern Dene languages for use in schools and other areas of Dene life. Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Ottawa, Ont. Funds First Nation schools throughout Canada. Gabriel Dumont Institute of Native Studies and Applied Resesarch Regina, Sask. Promotes and publishes research on the Metis and Cree in Canada. James Bay Cree School Board James Bay, Que. Manages Cree schools in Quebec since 1978. Kahnawake Education Centre Kahnawake, Que. Offering Mohawk immersion classes since 1979 in primary grades and bilingual Mohawk-English classes in intermediate grades. Kahnawake Survival School Kahnawake, Que. Since 1978, this high school has emphasized Mohawk history and culture. Mi’kmawey School Chapel Island, N.S. A bilingual, bicultural school opened in 1981 to serve Mi’kmaq Indian children.
856
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Educational Institutions and Programs
N’ungosuk Pre-school Project West Bay, Ont. Ojibwa preschool established in 1981. Saskatchewan, University of Saskatoon Native Studies Department offers B.A. and M.A. Classes stress community-based experiences and histories of Canada’s First Nations. Saskatchewan Indian Federated College Regina Founded in 1976 in federation with the University of Regina. Simon Fraser University Vancouver, B.C. Mount Currie Teacher Training program established in 1975 to train teachers for the Lil’wat Band. Toronto, University of Toronto, Ont. Aboriginal Studies Program offers B.A. major and minor. Focuses on First Nations’ cultures, histories, and languages, as well as their relationship with the Canadian government.
857
Festivals and Pow-Wows A select calendar, not intended to be inclusive, of annual American Indian gatherings. –C.A.B.
JANUARY Annual Native American Film Festival Southwest Museum Los Angeles, California
Mid-Winter Pow-wow United Native American Cultural Center Fort Devens, Massachusetts
Evening Firelight Dance San Ildefonso Pueblo Santa Fe, New Mexico
New Year’s Pow-wow St. Francis, South Dakota San Ildefonso Feast Day San Ildefonso Pueblo Santa Fe, New Mexico
Kachina Dances Hopi Cultural Center Second Mesa, Arizona King’s Day Celebration: Buffalo, Deer, Eagle, and Elk Dances All Pueblos in New Mexico
Turtle Dance Taos Pueblo, New Mexico
FEBRUARY Candelaria Day Celebration Dances Picuris Pueblo, New Mexico San Felipe Pueblo, New Mexico Deer Dances San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico
First Americans in the Arts Awards Beverly Hills, California Grossmont College Pow-wow El Cajon, California
858
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Festivals And Pow-Wows
Lincoln’s Birthday Celebration Pow-wow Warm Springs Tribal Council Warm Springs, Oregon
O’odham Tash Celebration Tohono O’odham Nation Sells, Arizona Seminole Tribal Fair and Rodeo Hollywood Reservation Hollywood, Florida
Marin Indian Art Show San Rafael, California New Hampshire Intertribal Council Pow-wow North Conway, New Hampshire
MARCH Agua Caliente Indian Market Palm Springs, California Denver March Pow-wow Denver, Colorado Easter Celebrations: Basket and Corn Dances All Pueblos in New Mexico Epethes Pow-wow Nez Perce Tribe Lapwai, Idaho Long Beach State Pow-wow Long Beach, California Mother Earth Awakens Powwow Portland, Maine
Mul-Chu-Tha Community Fair Gila River Indian Community Sacaton, Arizona Rug Auction and Trader’s Trunk Show Los Angeles, California San Jose Feast Day Laguna Pueblo Laguna, New Mexico Spring Crafts Fair Sherman Indian High School Riverside, California Sugar Run Pow-wow Laconia, New Hampshire
Festivals And Pow-Wows
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859
APRIL All-Indian Days Pow-wow Scottsdale Community College Scottsdale, Arizona Annual American Indian Days Chico State University Chico, California Annual Intertribal Pow-wow Sherman Indian High School Riverside, California
Cupa Cultural Days Pala, California Fort McDowell Annual Spring Pow-wow Fort McDowell, Arizona Gathering of Nations Powwow Albuquerque, New Mexico Harvard University Annual Pow-wow Cambridge, Massachusetts
Annual Pow-wow Western Washington University Bellingham, Washington
Humboldt State University Pow-wow Arcata, California
Annual South Umpqua Pow-wow Myrtle Creek, Oregon
Institute of American Indian Arts Pow-wow Santa Fe, New Mexico
Annual Spring Pow-wow University of Wyoming Laramie, Wyoming
Spring Pow-wow Gulfport, Mississippi
Arizona State University Pow-wow Tempe, Arizona Cocopah Festivities Day Somerton, Arizona
Spring Roundup All-Indian Rodeo White Mountain Apache Tribal Council Whiteriver, Arizona
860
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Festivals And Pow-Wows
University of Washington Pow-wow Sandpoint Naval Air Station Seattle, Washington
University of California, Berkeley, Pow-wow Berkeley, California
MAY Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi Swanton, Vermont Annual First Peoples Cultural Festival Capilano Longhouse North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Annual Intertribal Pow-wow Trout Lake Community Centre Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Chehalis Tribal Day Celebration Oakville, Washington Choctaw Annual Rodeo Jones Academy Hartshorn, Oklahoma Chumash Intertribal Powwow Thousand Oaks, California Kenel Memorial Day Wacipi Kenel, South Dakota
Louisiana Indian Heritage Association Pow-wow Folsom, Louisiana Montana State University Annual Pow-wow Bozeman, Montana Native Americans at Dartmouth College Hanover, New Hampshire San Carlos Tribal Fair San Carlos Apache Tribe San Carlos, Arizona San Felipe Pueblo Feast Day: Corn Dance San Felipe Pueblo Santa Cruz Feast Day: Blessing of the Fields and Corn Dance Taos Pueblo, New Mexico Spring Pow-wow Portland State University Portland, Oregon
Festivals And Pow-Wows
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861
Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina Pow-wow Tribal Grounds Maxton, North Carolina
Stanford University Annual Pow-wow Palo Alto, California Tse-Ho-Tso Intertribal Pow-wow Window Rick High School Fort Defiance, Arizona
University of Washington Pow-wow Seattle, Washington
JUNE Badlands Celebration Brockton, Montana Bear Dance Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Towaoc, Colorado Big Wind Pow-wow Shoshone and Arapaho Tribes Fort Washakie, Wyoming Blessing of the Fields: Corn Dance TesuQue Pueblo, New Mexico California Basketweavers Gathering Klamath, California Cherokee Pow-wow Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Cherokee, North Carolina
Cheyenne-Arapaho Pow-wow Concho, Oklahoma Comanche Dance Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico Dokis First Nation Pow-wow Honouring All Women Dokis First Nation Ontario, Canada Hinkley Pow-wow Hinkley, Minnesota Honor the Firekeepers Traditional Pow-wow Lake Geneva, Wisconsin Indian Fair San Diego, California
862
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Festivals And Pow-Wows
Noongam Traditional Powwow Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
San Pedro Feast Day: Corn Dance Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico
Osage Tribal Ceremonial Dances Pawhuska, Oklahoma
Shenandoah County Pow-wow Mount Jackson, Virginia
Potawatomi Pow-wow Shawnee, Oklahoma Red Rocks Arts and Crafts Show Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico Rogue Valley Pow-wow Grants Pass, Oregon San Antonio Feast Day: Corn Dances Sandia Pueblo, New Mexico Taos Pueblo, New Mexico San Juan Feast Day Taos Pueblo Taos, New Mexico
Shoshone Indian Days Powwow and Rodeo Fort Washakie, Wyoming Stommish Festival Lummi Indian Tribe Bellingham, Washington Tecumseh Traditional Powwow Tecumseh, Michigan Two Sisters Pow-wow Lowell, Massachusetts Warriors Memorial Pow-wow Nez Perce Tribe Lapwai, Idaho Winds of the Northeast Powwow Olympia, Washington
Festivals And Pow-Wows
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863
JULY Aabita Niibing (Midsummer) Pow-wow Cass Lake, Minnesota
Arikara Celebration and Powwow White Shield, North Dakota
Annual All Nations Pow-wow Big Bear City, California
Arlee Fourth of July Pow-wow Pablo, Montana
Annual Bear River Pow-wow Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin
Bahweting Homecoming Powwow and Spiritual Gathering Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
Annual Chumash Intertribal Pow-wow Santa Ynez, California Annual Competition Powwow Norway House Manitoba, Canada Annual Homecoming Celebration Winnebago, Nebraska Annual Northern Cheyenne Fourth of July Pow-wow Lame Deer, Montana Annual Northern Ute Powwow and Rodeo Fort Duchesne, Utah Annual Taos Pueblo Pow-wow Pow-wow Grounds Taos, New Mexico
Bitterroot Valley All Nations Pow-wow Hamilton, Montana Carrefour des Nations Wendake, Quebec, Canada Coeur d’Alene Pow-wow Plummer, Idaho Eastern Woodland Intertribal Pow-wow Lebanon, Maine Emigrant Lake Pow-wow Ashland, Oregon Flagstaff Indian Days Celebration Flagstaff, Arizona
864
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Festivals And Pow-Wows
Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe Traditional Wacipi Flandreau, South Dakota
Nevada Indian Days Powwow Fallon, Nevada
Harvest and Snake Dances Nambe Pueblo Picuris, New Mexico
North American Indian Days Blackfeet Tribal Council Browning, Montana
Honouring Our Veterans Kettle and Stony First Nation Ontario, Canada
Ochiichagwe’Babigo’Ining Traditional Pow-wow Kenora, Ontario, Canada
Jicarilla Apache Little Beaver Roundup and Rodeo Dulce, New Mexico
Onion Lake Pow-wow Onion Lake Reserve Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Canada
July Fourth Celebration Powwow and Rodeo Window Rock, Arizona
Poundmaker-Nechi Pow-wow St. Albert, Alberta, Canada
Kateri Circle Pow-wow Lakewood, California
Quapaw Pow-wow Quapaw, Oklahoma
Mescalero Festival Mescalero, New Mexico
Santa Ana Feast Day Santa Ana Pueblo Bernalillo, New Mexico
Mihsihkinaahkwa Pow-wow Columbia City, Indiana Mississauga First Nation Annual Pow-wow Blind River, Ontario, Canada Native American Festival Redmond, Oregon
Santiago Feast Day Corn Dance Taos, New Mexico Seafair Indian Days Pow-wow Seattle, Washington
Festivals And Pow-Wows
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865
Shelburne Museum Intertribal Pow-wow Shelburne, Vermont
Swan Lake First Nation Annual Pow-wow Swan Lake, Manitoba, Canada
Shoshone-Paiute Annual Powwow Owyhee, Nevada
Three Rivers Indian Lodge Annual Pow-wow Manteca, California
Sisseton-Wahpeton Pow-wow Sisseton, South Dakota
White Earth Pow-wow White Earth, Minnesota
Standing Tree Pow-wow White Cloud, Michigan
AUGUST American Indian Exposition Anadarko, Oklahoma
Annual Intertribal Indian Ceremonial Church Rock, New Mexico
Annual Abegeweit Pow-wow Panamure Island, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Annual Piegan Indian Days Brocket, Alberta, Canada
Annual Frank Liske Park Pow-wow Concord, North Carolina
Annual Southern California Indian Center Pow-wow Costa Mesa, California
Annual Genaabaajing Traditional Pow-wow Cutler, Ontario, Canada
Annual Stockton Pow-wow Stockton, California
Annual Indian Fair Days and Pow-wow Sierra Mono, California
Cherokee Nation Pow-wow Tahlequah, Oklahoma
866
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Festivals And Pow-Wows
Cheyenne and Arapaho Labor Day Pow-wow Colony Indian Park Colony, Oklahoma Cheyenne River Labor Day Pow-wow Eagle Butte, South Dakota Chief Seattle Days Suquamish, Washington Choctaw Annual Pow-wow Arrowhead State Park Canadian, Oklahoma Crow Creek Sioux Tribe Annual Pow-wow Fort Thompson, South Dakota Crow Fair Crow Agency, Montana Fort Randall Pow-wow Lake Andes, South Dakota Ginoogaming First Nations Pow-wow Longlac, Ontario, Canada Hays Pow-wow Hays, Montana Indian Market, Basket, Butterfly, and Corn Dances Santa Fe, New Mexico
Kalispel Pow-wow Usk, Washington Klamath Restoration Celebration Chiloquin, Oregon Land of the Menominee Powwow Kenosha, Wisconsin Lincoln Indian Club Pow-wow Lincoln, Nebraska Little Shell Pow-wow New Town, North Dakota Long Plain First Nation Celebration Long Plain, Manitoba, Canada Looking Glass Pow-wow Lapwai, Idaho Lower Brule Pow-wow Lower Brule, South Dakota Mihsihkinaahkwa Pow-wow Columbian City, Indiana Morning Star International Pow-wow Litchfield, Maine Native American Gathering Williamston, North Carolina
Festivals And Pow-Wows
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Navajo Nation Fair Window Rock, Arizona
Rocky Boys Pow-wow Box Elder, Montana
Ni-Mi-Win Celebration Duluth, Minnesota
Rosebud Fair and Rodeo Rosebud, South Dakota
Northern Arapaho Pow-wow Arapaho, Wyoming
Saco River Intertribal Pow-wow Kearsarge, New Hampshire
Numi’Pu Council Pow-wow Mount Pleasant, Utah Oglala Nation Pow-wow and Rodeo Pine Ridge, South Dakota Ottawa Pow-wow Miami, Oklahoma Pioneer Days Traditional Pow-wow Wetaskawin, Alberta, Canada Ponca Indian Fair and Pow-wow Ponca City, Oklahoma Rapid River Traditional Anishnabeg Pow-wow Rapid River, Michigan
867
San Antonio Feast Day Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico San Augustin Feast Day Isleta Pueblo, New Mexico San Lorenzo Sunset Vespers and Feast Day Picuris Pueblo Picuris, Pueblo, New Mexico Santa Clara Pueblo Feast Day Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico Santo Domingo Pueblo Feast Day, Corn Dance Santo Domingo Pueblo, New Mexico
868
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Festivals And Pow-Wows
SEPTEMBER American Indian Days Woodson Terrace, Missouri
Kickapoo Pow-wow Horton, Kansas
Arkansas Trail of Tears Annual Pow-wow De Queen, Arkansas
Narragansett Nation: Great Swamp Massacre Kingston, Rhode Island
Bishop Paiute Tribe Annual Handgame Tournament Bishop, California
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Feast Day: Harvest and Social Dances Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico
Corn Dance San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico
Nooksack Days Pow-wow Deming, Washington
Everything Is Sacred Powwow Gathering Thousand Oaks, California
Northern Plains Tribal Arts Show and Pow-wow Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Fall Spirit Festival Harrisville, Pennsylvania
Saint Augustine Feast Day and Harvest Dance Isleta Pueblo, New Mexico
First People’s House McGill University Montreal, Quebec, Canada Four Winds Annual Pow-wow Killeen, Texas Honouring Our Children Pow-wow Midland, Ontario, Canada
Saint Elizabeth Feast Day: Harvest and Social Dances Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico San Estevan Feast Day Harvest Dance Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico
Festivals And Pow-Wows
San Geronimo Feast Day: Buffalo, Comanche, Corn Dances, Trade Fair Taos, New Mexico San Jose Feast Day: Buffalo, Corn, Eagle, Harvest, and Social Dances Old Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico
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Southern Ute Fair and Powwow Ignacio, Colorado Spirit of the North Celebration Mahnomen, Minnesota Spokane Tribal Fair and Powwow Wellpinit, Washington
Santa Ynez Pow-wow Santa Ynez, California
Standing Rock Pow-wow Fort Yates, North Dakota
Semiahmoo First Nation Pow-wow White Rock, British Columbia, Canada
Stone Lake Fiesta Dulce, New Mexico
Shoshone Indian Fair Fort Washakie, Wyoming Shoshone-Bannock Indian Festival and Rodeo Fort Hall, Idaho Siksika Fair Siksika, Alberta, Canada Siletz Indian Pow-wow Siletz, Oregon Snake Dance Hopi Cultural Center Second Mesa, Arizona
869
Sycuan Pow-wow Sycuan, California Thunder Mountain Lenape Nation Native American Festival Saltsburg, Pennsylvania Trail of Tears Pow-wow Hopkinsville, Kentucky Turtle Mountain Labor Day Pow-wow Belcourt, North Dakota Tusumbia Pow-wow Tuscumbia, Alabama
870
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Festivals And Pow-Wows
Tyendinaga Mohawk Traditional Pow-wow Deseronto, Ontario, Canada
Washagamis Bay Traditional Pow-wow Kenora, Ontario
United Tribes International Pow-wow Bismarck, North Dakota
Wichita Tribal Pow-wow Anadarko, Oklahoma
Wadopana Traditional Celebration Wolf Point, Montana
OCTOBER American Indian Pow-wow Honolulu, Hawaii
Boiling Springs Indian Expo Woodward, Okalahoma
American Indian Society of Washington, D.C. Urbana, Maryland
Cherokee Fall Festival Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma Tahlequah, Oklahoma
Annual Canadian Thanksgiving Pow-wow Mt. Currie, British Columbia, Canada
Cherokees of Georgia Gathering and Pow-wow Tribal Grounds St. George, Georgia
Apache Days Globe, Arizona
Chickasaw Nation Annual Day Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, Oklahoma
Black Hills Pow-wow and Art Market Rapid City, South Dakota
Corn Festival Tunkahannock, Pennsylvania
Festivals And Pow-Wows
Drums on the Pocomoke Pocomoke, Maryland Fall Arts Fiesta Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico Four Nations Pow-wow Nez Perce Tribe Lapwai, Idaho Four Winds Cherokee Tribe Pow-wow DeRider, Louisiana
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871
Lakeland Community College Pow-wow Kirtland, Ohio Northern Lights Thanksgiving Pow-wow Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Northern Navajo Fair Shiprock, Arizona Pkanyket/Wampanoag Federation Pow-wow Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Healing of All Nations Accohannock Indian Tribe Fall Festival and Pauwau Marion Station, Maryland
Pow-wow and Fall Festival Nashville, Tennesee
Honoring the Grandmothers Cedartown, Georgia
Saint Margaret Mary’s Feast Day: Harvest and Social Dances Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico
Hopi Tuhisma Arts and Craft Market Kykotsmovi, Arizona Indio Pow-wow Indio, California
San Francisco Feast Day: Corn or Elk Dance Nambe Pueblo, New Mexico San Manuel Pow-wow California State University San Bernardino, California
872
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Festivals And Pow-Wows
NOVEMBER American Indian Film Festival Palace of Fine Arts San Francisco, California
San Diego Feast Day Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico Tesuque Pueblo, New Mexico
Federation of Old Plimouth Indian Tribes
Veterans Day Pow-wow Nespelem Community Center Nespelem, Washington
Annual First People Cultural Festival Plymouth, Massachusetts Poarch Band of Creeks Powwow Atmore, Alabama Red Mountain Eagle Powwow Scottsdale, Arizona
Veterans Day Pow-wow Owyhee, Nevada Veterans Day Rodeo San Carlos, Arizona Walatowa Winter Arts and Crafts Show Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico
DECEMBER Annual All-Indian Rodeo Colorado River Reservation Parker, Arizona
Christmas Pow-wow Portland State University Portland, Oregon
Christmas Dances Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico San Felipe Pueblo, New Mexico Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico Tesuque Pueblo, New Mexico Zia Pueblo, New Mexico
Christmas Pow-wow Umatilla Reservation Pendleton, Oregon Harvest Dance Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico
Festivals And Pow-Wows
Los Matachinas Dance Pojoaque Pueblo, New Mexico Los Matachines Picuris Pueblo, New Mexico Los Matachines and Pine Torch Procession San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico Taos Pueblo, New Mexico Matachina Dance San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico
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873
Palms Band Mission Indians December Pow-wow Indio, California Shalako Zuni Pueblo Zuni, New Mexico Walatowa Winter Arts and Crafts Show Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico
874
Glossary Adobe: Unfired brick, usually made of clay and dried in the sun; a structure made with such bricks. Allotment: U.S. government policy, officially put into effect in 1887, of dividing tribal lands into individually owned parcels, or allotments. The hope of the government and various reformers was that Indians would become typical “American” small farmers and would assimilate into European American society, but the policy ultimately failed. Amerind: A contraction of “American” and “Indian” that is most often used to refer to pre-Columbian settlers of the Americas, with the exception of Eskimos. Amulet: An object or artifact that is worn to ward off evil and danger, such as from witchcraft and spirits. Artifact: Any object found in the context of an archaeological site that was once used by humans; examples include tools, weapons, articles of clothing, and works of art. Assimilation: The process through which a minority cultural group becomes absorbed into the dominant cultural group. Federal policies toward American Indians have historically bounced back and forth regarding whether attempting to force or coerce Indians to assimilate into mainstream American society is an appropriate policy. Atlatl: A notched stick used to throw spears, darts, or harpoons. Band: A tribal subunit, often an extended family; also, in modern Canada, a community of Indians registered under the Indian Act (“status Indians” as opposed to “non-status Indians”). Beadwork: The use of beads (most often of glass) for decorating clothing, bags, and other items; it largely replaced quillwork after trade with Europeans began. Bear: A common character in stories, a powerful ally in healing that is also admired for its hunting skill. Bear Dance: A ceremonial dance of medicine societies in many tribes to foster curing or to ask for a long life.
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875
Berdache: Reversal of sex roles, including cross-dressing and assumption of the other sex’s occupations. Most North American cultures traditionally accommodated the practice, which is not necessarily homosexual in nature (from the French for “male prostitute”). Bola: A hunting weapon, made of two or more thongs with weights on the end that are attached to a longer thong; when thrown, a bola wraps around the prey’s legs or wings, immobilizing it. Buffalo: A key animal in most midwestern and Great Plains cultures, the buffalo, as a guardian spirit, bestows game on humankind, governs fertility in women, protects unmarried women, mediates in love, rewards the generous, and chastens the stingy. Bungling host: A common character type in stories throughout North America, marked by his failure to obtain food even when imitating other animals’ methods. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA): The U.S. agency established as part of the Department of the Interior in 1824 to manage Indian issues; responsible for overseeing reservation and trust lands and providing Indian education. Cacique: A prince, chief, or boss; a political system that centers power in such a figure. Calumet: A sacred pipe; a tobacco pipe made of a reed stem, clay or stone bowl, and feather or carved ornamentation. Cannibals: Among the most pervasive characters in Indian myths, often in the form of monsters or grotesque humans. Clairvoyance: Seeing into the future, a belief upon which many cultures relied to diagnose disease or for other purposes. Clan: A social unit defined by a common lineage from either the female side (matrilineal) or male side (patrilineal). Clown: In Pueblo cultures, clowns, often acting in ceremonial troupes, entertain by joking or by satirizing individuals or features of society, especially by mocking, burlesquing, displaying backwards or inverse behavior, and simulating gluttony or sexual behavior.
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Glossary
Corn: In mythologies and rituals of corn-growing cultures, corn, often personified as a woman, symbolizes fertility and medicine. Coup: In some Plains cultures, particularly the Sioux, the points earned during battle for striking or touching an enemy or other acts of bravery; coup increased a warrior’s honor and prestige (from the French for “a blow”). Coyote: Among the most common characters in North American myths and story traditions, coyote is the supreme trickster; always male, curious, and imitative, he is sometimes said to be responsible for unpleasant features of culture or life in general. Cradleboard: A carrier for infants, most often made of wood and leather and worn on the back. Creation: Although few creation stories start with a cosmic void, as does the creation story in Genesis, most American Indian cultures have stories explaining the beginning of the world and the origin of people, social institutions, animals, plants, and phenomena such as famine and death. Cremation: A funeral at which the body of the dead person is burned. Crest: Among Northwest Coast tribes, an artifact made of copper that represents important lineages; ownership of a crest confers prestige. Crow: An important character in myths, sometimes a trickster. Culture area: A region in which the indigenous population is more similar than dissimilar; environment, language, physical type, and cultural adaptation are considerations in making such a classification. Culture hero: A figure in legend or myth who magically performed a feat or taught humans something that inaugurated a distinctive element of culture or feature of nature. Dance: Dance is an inseparable expression of much Indian ritual, from large-scale public ceremonies (often involving special religious societies) to private rites. Dances can be passed from one generation to the next or invented, usually based upon a vision.
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Datura: Jimsonweed, a psychoactive plant whose roots and leaves are used as medicine and whose roots induce visions. Deer: A common story character, usually female and portrayed as a wife, mother, or sister. Dialect: A group’s distinctive variations in the pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary of a language; although noticeably different, a dialect can be understood by other groups speaking the same language. Dirty boy: A common story figure throughout North America; he appears dirty or crippled and is shunned or mistreated, although actually he is a powerful and handsome young man who lavishly rewards those who treat him kindly. Dog: A significant spirit in myths who is responsible for friendship, faithfulness, and other powers. Dreams: In Indian belief systems, dreams are portals to the spirit world; they can lead to illness, but they can also heal and initiate new belief systems, rituals, or stories. Drum: A shamanistic ritual aid of great power; drumming, like dancing, is a central element in many Indian rituals and celebrations. Eagle: A frequent figure in myth and ritual who possesses great power in hunting and war. Earth diver: A type of creation tale common in North America: A primal animal scoops up soil from the bottom of a worldcovering sea and fashions the first land from it. Earthlodge: A large dome-shaped building with a log frame covered by branches and packed with mud. Endogamy: The practice or custom of marrying within a particular group to which one belongs, such as a clan. Eskimo: A generic term for the Inuit and Yupik peoples of northernmost Alaska and Canada. Its derivation and meaning are debated, but it probably derived from a Montagnais (eastern Canada) word via Basque whalers, and then was adapted into French and English.
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Glossary
Ethnocentrism: The tendency to judge other people’s behavior and values on the basis of one’s own culture, which is usually considered superior. Ethnography: The detailed descriptive study of a particular society and its culture. Exogamy: The practice or custom of marrying outside a particular group to which one belongs, such as a clan. False face: An English term for the wooden masks and masking ceremonies used to promote healing among the Iroquois. Fasting: Abstinence from food, especially in preparation for or as part of a ritual. Federally recognized tribe: A tribe that has official governmentto-government relations with the U.S. government and that is eligible for services the government provides to American Indians. Fetish: An artifact, often a small carved bird or animal, used in rituals and believed to possess power. Flaking: A technique for shaping stone, such as flint, chert, or obsidian, into tools by removing chips. Gambler: A colorful human or animal character that appears frequently in stories, sometimes as a cannibal. Gaming sticks: Sticks of wood, reed, cane, or horn used for gambling. Ghost Dance: There was a Ghost Dance of 1870 that involved Great Basin and California tribes as well as one in 1890 that affected the Great Basin and Plains. Both were religious revitalization movements based upon the expected return of the dead, who would drive out white people and establish a paradise. Ghosts: Stories about spirits, the return of the dead, and beings that help the dead pervade North American cultures; ghosts are sometimes honored with feasts. Giants: Present in myths in a great variety of forms and specializing in stealing children and wives, although some are helpful.
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879
Girls’ puberty rites: The introduction to womanhood upon menarche or soon after often involved seclusion, during which girls learned the responsibilities and privileges of their new status and became eligible for marriage. Giveaways: Practiced in many cultures, the distribution of one’s possessions to members of the community was sometimes a ritual in itself and sometimes part of a larger ritual; examples include the Lakota White Buffalo Ceremony, the Crow Aasshke, the Blackfoot Grass Dance, and, the most widely known, the potlatch of the Pacific Northwest. Gorget: A small breastplate worn suspended from the neck as adornment or rank insignia. Grandmother: A common story character, a solitary old woman who advises a hero about killing monsters, using magic, and escaping dangers. Grass Dance: In the Plains, a strenuous competitive men’s social dance involving much leaping and bending by dancers who wear large amounts of grass tied to belts. Guardian spirits: Across the northern Plains, young men, and sometimes young women, undertake quests for personal visions by fasting in isolation; the power they gain by the experience assumes the form of a being who can later be called on for help. Healing: A primary goal of rituals, because illness, often considered a disorder of society or the world, may be corrected by community involvement. Hogan: A Navajo hut made of wood, sod, mud, or branches. Human-animal transformations: Shape-changing, from animal to human or vice versa, occurs for a variety of reasons, often evil, in myths and stories. Igloo: An Eskimo dome-shaped hut made of blocks of compacted snow. Initiation: A trial of endurance or isolation required for entrance into some societies or a new stage of life.
880
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Glossary
Jerky: Sun-dried meat strips. Joking relationships: Teasing and sexual jokes exchanged between people of the opposite sex in some, but not all, family roles, such as between brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law. Jugglers: Male or female shamans in the Great Lakes and Northeast areas who defanged snakes to display their power over death (from the French jongleur). Kachina: In Pueblo and Southwest cultures, a masked figure or doll representing mediators between the human and spirit worlds. Keeper: The caretaker of a sacred object who also conducts the rituals and ceremonies pertaining to the object. Kinnikinnik: The term, of Delaware origin, for a mixture of sumac leaves, the inner bark of dogwood or willow, and other materials smoked in pipes in place of tobacco or mixed with it. Kiva: In Southwest cultures, most notably Pueblo cultures, a partly subterranean ceremonial council chamber, either circular or rectangular, with an altar. Kokopelli: In Southwest art, the Humpbacked Flute Player, who appears widely in rock art and ancient pottery and has been revived as a motif in modern pottery and jewelry decoration. Koshare: Clowns wearing horned headdresses and black-andwhite stripes in the Pueblo culture. Labret: A stone, shell, or bone ornament inserted through the lip. Lacrosse: A hockey-like field game in which opposing teams try to send a small ball into goals using a hooked stick (from the French crosse). Land cession: Land that Indian tribes gave to Europeans or the United States government as part of a treaty. Leister: A three-pronged fishing harpoon used by Arctic peoples. Longhouse: An Iroquoian dwelling in which several family units within an extended family reside; also, a public building for councils or other meetings.
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881
Makai: In the Southwest, medicine men who concern themselves with crops, war, and weather. Manifest Destiny: A widespread feeling among European Americans, especially in the nineteenth century, that it was the inevitable destiny and right of the United States to stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific; used to justify seizing Indian lands. Manioc: A tropical plant, also called cassava, that is a staple of Caribbean Indians; now used to make tapioca. Manitou: Any of a group of Algonquian spirits and supernatural forces inhabiting all living and inanimate things. Mano and metate: A set of upper and lower millstones used to grind corn and other grains. Matrilineal: Any social organization which bases descent or heritage on the female members. Matrilocal: Any social organization in which husbands move into their wives’ households. Medicine: A term denoting the power in persons, spirits, objects, and activities that can be used for healing, divination, control of nature, or sorcery. Medicine bundle: A bag or wrapping containing feathers, herbs, stones, animal parts, scalps, pipes, or other objects with special powers or significance. Metis: The French word for people of mixed blood, specifically those descended from white fur traders who lived with and married Indians; the term is primarily used in Canada, which has a large Metis population. Military society: A society or club of warriors with special rituals and clothing; most prevalent in Plains cultures. Moccasin: A soft shoe made of deerskin or other leather. Moiety: Either of two classes or halves of a tribal group. Mukluk: A soft Inuit boot made of sealskin. Native American Church: A pantribal system of rites and celebrations centered on the vision-instilling powers of peyote; officially established in 1918.
882
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Glossary
Nomadic: A way of life in which people periodically move from one location to another, usually in search of food. Orenda: An Iroquoian spiritual power or force inherent in all objects; one can communicate with orenda through song. Paddling: A decorative technique for pottery in which a flat or curved paddle is pressed against the wet clay before firing. Paleo-Indian: The prehistoric stone age ancestors of modern Indians. Paleontology: The study of ancient life forms and fossils. Papoose: The Algonquian word for an infant. Parfleche: Rawhide with the hair removed, used in garments. Patrilineal: Any social organization which bases descent or heritage on the male members. Patrilocal: Any social organization in which wives move into their husbands’ households. Pemmican: Lean meat pounded and mixed with melted fat, forming a paste that is shaped into cakes and flavored with berries. Petroglyph: A prehistoric carving or inscription on rock. Peyote: A small cactus, Lophophora williamsii, or the buttonlike structures of the cactus that induce hallucinations. Pictograph: A prehistoric drawing or painting, often depicting an important event. Pipestone: A hard red clay or soft stone used to make tobacco pipes. Pit house: A prehistoric dwelling dug into the ground and generally roofed with tree limbs and mud. Plaiting: A basket or cloth weaving technique in which two different elements cross each other for a checkerboard appearance. Potlatch: A Northwest Coast (particularly Nootka) feast in which gifts are given to guests in order to increase the host’s prestige. Power: A central concept in Indian religious systems; a spiritual force that gives meaning to, and some measure of control of, life.
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883
Pow-wow: A ceremony, celebration, council, or conference that includes dance contests, group dancing, and giveaways. Prayerstick: In the Pueblo culture, a piece of ornamental stone or wood to which is attached a feather or streamer imbued with prayer; it is stuck into the ground so that the streamer can wave in the wind and broadcast the prayer. Pre-Columbian: All human culture and history in the Americas before Christopher Columbus’s voyage of exploration in 1492. Pueblo: A communal village in the Southwest; also, when capitalized, the cultures that built them (from the Spanish for “town”). Quetzalcóatl: The Toltec and Aztec god of the morning and evening star and patron of priests, represented as a plumed or feathered serpent. Quilling: Particularly prevalent in the Plains, the art of using dyed porcupine quills, softened in the mouth, to decorate clothing. Rabbit stick: A curved wooden stick about 70 centimeters long used in rabbit hunts, and possibly as a weapon, in the Southwest. Radiocarbon dating: The measurement of a substance’s age based upon the decay of carbon 14, a radioactive isotope. Rattles: Percussion instruments fastened to arms, legs, or the waist or held in the hand and used to accompany dancing and singing; individual rattles may have special meaning for a ritual. Relocation: The U.S. government policy of the 1950’s according to which rural Indians were encouraged to move to urban areas to find employment. Removal: The U.S. government policy of the 1830’s-1850’s according to which eastern Indians were “removed” to lands west of the Mississippi; the Trail of Tears was the most infamous event of the removal era. Reservation: An area of land set aside for exclusive Indian use by treaty with the United States government; in the initial reservation era, tribes were forced to live on their assigned reservations.
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Glossary
Revitalization movement: Any of various attempts to restore Indian cultural features lost after contact with Europeans. Roach: A hairpiece worn on the head as adornment. Sachem: The overall leader or chief of a Algonquian tribe. Sagamore: An Algonquian chief subordinate to a sachem. Scalping: Flaying the skin and hair from an enemy’s head as part of coup. Seine: A fishing net that hangs from the surface of the water on floats and is anchored with weights on the bottom. Shaking Tent Ceremony: A nighttime conjuring ritual, held in a small hut or tent, in which a conjurer who has been bound sings and beats a drum until spirits release him; thereafter, the spirits divulge information about people or events, which the conjurer translates to his employers. Shaman: A priest or priest-doctor who consults spirits or magical powers in order to guide or cure others. Singer: The English term for a Navajo hataalii, who conducts rituals and preserves religious lore. Six Nations: The six tribes—Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora—that make up the Iroquois Confederacy. Snakes: Frequent characters in stories and myths; live snakes are used in some rituals. Song duel: An opportunity to resolve conflicts among tribal members by ritual exchange of humorous songs; each singer praises himself and makes fun of his opponent’s faults. Sovereignty: Complete national independence; the issue of the sovereignty of Indian tribes or nations has been a perennial problem in Indian-white relations. Under U.S. law, tribes are considered to have distinct but “dependent” governments. Spirits: Invisible, named entities with distinctive personalities who can influence the human world. Status Indians: In Canada, Indians who are officially entitled, according to the Indian Act, to be registered by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.
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885
Storyteller: A highly esteemed person who, from memory, narrates traditional stories, legends, or myths, often as part of a ritual. Subsistence round: A recurrent migration pattern, usually annual, based on the changing availability of various food sources. Sun Dance: A yearly summer dance held by many Plains Indians that lasts for three or four days and is considered fundamental to participants’ spiritual health. Sweatlodge: A structure, usually dome-shaped, for sweating, a rite of purification through exposure to heat generated by a fire or by steam from water poured over hot rocks. Taboo: A restriction or prohibition for reasons of religion or custom. Thunderbird: In stories, a large bird (or flock) that produces thunder by flapping its wings and personifies thunder. Tipi: A tent formed of bark, mats, skins, or canvas on a coneshaped pole frame (also spelled “tepee”). Toboggan: A light sleigh made of thin planks of wood curved at one end. Tomahawk: An ax, made of a shaft about 60 to 90 centimeters long and a sharpened stone, metal, or horn head, used as a weapon and as a tool in agriculture. Totem: The term, from an Algonquian word, for a hereditary mark, emblem, or badge of a clan or tribe that takes the image of an animal or other natural object having spiritual powers. Travois: A sled that consists of a wooden A-frame covered with planks or webbing; pulled by a dog or horse. Treaty: A formal agreement, pact, or contract jointly agreed upon by a tribe and the United States or Canadian government (or, earlier, by a tribe and a European government). Tribe: A general term, first applied to Indian societies by Europeans, for a variety of Indian sociopolitical organizations; among the considerations for tribal identity are common ancestry, language, and culture.
886
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Glossary
Trickster: A widespread type of story character whose principal qualities include cleverness, deception, buffoonish behavior, and misdirection. Trust lands: Indian lands not classified as reservations that are protected by federal or state governments. Tule: A bulrush (Scirpus lacustris or Scirpus tatora) often used as a construction material. Turquoise: A green-blue semiprecious gem used in Great Basin and Southwest jewelry. Two-hearts: A common expression denoting a liar or witch. Underworld: A mythological realm below the earth’s surface; frequently it is the place from which the first humans appeared or in which the dead live. Usufruct: A situation in which a group has access to certain land and its resources, based on a history of usage; no one “owns” the land. Vision: A direct communication with the realm of spirits. Vision quest: The ritualized seeking of visions or dreams through self-deprivation, exposure, or hallucinogenic drugs during a rite of passage or other ritual. Wakan Tanka: Literally, in Lakota Siouan, “the great mystery”; although often translated as “the great spirit,” it stands collectively for the spiritual beings and powers in the Siouan belief system. Walam Olum: The Delaware account of their origin and migrations, painted on sticks in red pictographs. Wampum: Beads threaded into belts, bracelets, or collars that were used as messages and tribal records as well as ornamentation; the concept of wampum as money is largely a European superimposition. War bonnet: A headdress containing feathers that symbolize achievements in battle.
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887
Wattle and daub: A construction method that uses a pole frame interwoven with branches and surfaced with mud or plaster. Weir: A fenced-in enclosure for trapping fish. Wickiup: A temporary shelter made of grass or brush that was widely used in the Great Basin. Wolf: An important character in stories and myths; associated with creation, war, and hunting.
888
Mediagraphy Select films dealing with American Indians. Documentary films are listed first, followed by feature films. A selection of Web sites, sound recordings, and CD-ROMs follows the list of film and video treatments. EDUCATIONAL AND DOCUMENTARY FILMS Again, a Whole Person I Have Become Color. 19 min. 16mm. Shenandoah Film Productions (1982) Stresses the importance of traditional Indian customs for Indian youth. Three tribal elders speak of the wisdom of the old ways; dances and ceremonies are portrayed. Will Sampson narrates. Age of the Buffalo Color. 14 min. 16mm. National Film Board of Canada (1964) Shows how the buffalo met the needs of the Indians for food, clothing, shelter, and adventure, and how life changed when the buffalo were gone. The American Indian Color. 62 min. VHS. Library Distributors of America (1993) Broad view of the origin and culture of American Indians; also examines interactions between Indians and whites. The American Indian: After the White Man Came Color. 27 min. 16mm. Handel Film Corporation (1972) Extensive examination of American Indians since European discovery of the Americas. Moves to a discussion of the problems facing modern Indians.
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The American Indian: Before the White Man Color. 19 min. 16mm. Handel Film Corporation (1972) Comprehensive study of American Indians from the early migration routes to the development of the main tribes of North America. Narrated by Iron Eyes Cody. American Indian in Transition Color. 22 min. 16mm. Atlantis Productions (1976) Presents an Indian point of view about land and heritage, narrated by an Indian mother who uses Indian chronicles and sayings. Provides a compassionate insight into Indian life and thought. American Indian Influence on the United States Color. 20 min. 16mm. Robert Davis Productions (1972) Depicts the manner in which life in the United States has been influenced by the American Indian economically, sociologically, philosophically, and culturally. Nine dances and ceremonies are authentically portrayed. The graphics used in the film include original Indian illustrations. The American Indian Speaks Color. 23 min. 16mm. Encyclopedia Britannica Educational Corporation (1973) Members of three Indian cultures state the position and attitudes of American Indians in the twentieth century. Includes remembrances of the Trail of Tears and Wounded Knee.
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The American Indian Struggle Color. 29 min. VHS. Kent State University (1981) Examination of several important episodes that contributed to the long history of conflict between American Indians and white settlers. With Kent State University professors James Gidney and Philip Weeks. American Indians: A Brief History Color. 22 min. 16mm. National Geographic Society (1985) Numerous examples of diverse Indian artistic and cultural traditions. Provides a history of the roots of conflict between the Indians and European settlers. Identifies several settlements and tribes that existed before Columbus arrived in America. American Indians as Seen by D. H. Lawrence Color. 14 min. 16mm. Lewin/Cort (1966) At the D. H. Lawrence ranch near Taos, New Mexico, Lawrence’s wife, Frieda, speaks about his beliefs and thoughts. Aldous Huxley presents selections from Lawrence’s works. The Americans: The Buffalo Story Color. 28 min. 16mm. O’Laughlin Company (1971) The great usefulness of the buffalo to the Plains Indians is detailed; it furnished them with food, clothing, and shelter. Buffalo masks convey the spirit of the annual Spring Buffalo Dance.
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The Americans: Chief Black Hawk Color. 23 min. 16mm. O’Laughlin Company (1971) Chief White Eagle explains the meaning and logic of sign language and various war paint designs. The story of Black Hawk, war chief of the Sauk Indians, follows, dramatized by paintings and sound effects. The Americans: Chief Crazy Horse Color. 26 min. 16mm. O’Laughlin Company (1971) Beginning with the Bering Strait migration theory of Indian prehistory, Chief White Eagle moves into a description of Indian cultural evolution, including introduction of horses. Crazy Horse, brilliant leader and military strategist of the Sioux, is profiled. The Americans: Chief Joseph Color. 23 min. 16mm. O’Laughlin Company (1971) After describing the kinds of horses that Indians used for various purposes and how these horses were trained, Chief White Eagle tells the story of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce. The Americans: Geronimo Color. 25 min. 16mm. O’Laughlin Company (1971) The Indians’ closeness to nature and ability to forecast weather are discussed. Geronimo is profiled. America’s Great Indian Leaders Color. 65 min. VHS. Questar (1994) Examines the lives and contributions of Crazy Horse, Chief Joseph, Geronimo, and Quanah Parker, who emerged to protect their people and culture.
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America’s Great Indian Nations Color. 65 min. VHS. Questar (1995) Profiles six of the most powerful tribes in American history: the Iroquois, Seminoles, Shawnee, Navajo, Cheyenne, and Lakota Sioux. America’s Indians Six-part series. Color. 13 min. each. VHS. Films for the Humanities & Sciences (1993) The Indians Were There First How North American Indians entered the Americas from Asia; various tribes and some of their characteristics. When the White Man Came Life among the major tribes before Europeans arrived. The Bison Hunters How the Indian became mythologized as the eastern United States became industrialized. The Trail of Tears The harm done by explorers and pioneers. The Warpath How pioneers moving westward ignored treaties reserving land for Indians. The Death of the Bison The many Native American issues that remain unresolved. Ann of the Wolf Clan Color. 60 min. VHS. Rainbow TV Works; Great Plains Instructional TV, University of Nebraska (1982) Young, middle class Indian girl receives the gift of her Cherokee heritage from her great-grandmother while spending a summer on the reservation.
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Apache Color. 30 min. VHS. Schlessinger Video Productions (1993) Examines the history, changing fortunes, and current situation of the Apache tribe. Includes a discussion of their crafts. For grades 5-10. Apache Indian Black and white. 11 min. 16mm. Cort (1943) Shows the life, ceremonies, and industries of the Apaches. The beauty of their native territory forms the setting for the tribal functions and ceremonies, including a puberty ceremony and devil dance. The Apache Indian (Revised version) Color. 11 min. 16mm. VHS. Cort (1975) Acquaints young viewers with the life, culture, and traditions of the Apache of Arizona. Emphasizes the problems that modern living has caused and the Apaches’ struggle for education, health care, and economic opportunity. Arrow to the Sun Color. 22 min. 16mm. Texture (1973) Animated film by Gerald McDermott that illustrates a tale from the Acoma Pueblo of the Southwest. A boy’s search for his father leads him to a dazzling voyage on an arrow to the sun.
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The Ballad of Crowfoot Color/black and white. 11 min. 16mm. VHS. National Film Board of Canada/McGraw-Hill (1968) Documents the events and problems that characterized the relationship between whites and Indians since whites arrived in the Canadian West in the 1820’s. Records Indian traditions and attitudes. Before the White Man Came Black and white. 50 min. Silent. 16mm Northwestern Film Corp. (1921) Filmed in the Bighorn Mountains of Montana and Wyoming in 1921. In an enactment by Indians, every effort was made to present life as it was before the arrival of whites. Behind the Masks Color. 24 min. 16mm. National Film Board of Canada (1973) Study of the meaning and myths behind the masks of the tribes of the Northwest Coast. Commentary and analysis by Claude Levi-Strauss, noted French anthropologist. Black Indians of New Orleans Color. 33 min. 16mm. Maurice M. Martinez (1976) Depicts the activities of highly organized groups of African Americans with mixed Indian ancestry as they prepare for Mardi Gras, with emphasis on their distinctive music, dancing, and costumes.
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895
Bones of Contention: Native American Archaeology Color. 49 min. VHS Films for the Humanities & Sciences (1998) Examines the conflict between Native American groups and scientists, historians, and museum curators concerning the issue of the remains of more than 10,000 Native Americans unearthed at archaeological sites across the United States. Boy of the Navajos Color. 11 min. 16mm. Cort (1975) Shows the living habits and activities of a Navajo family in Arizona, with emphasis on the teenage son. Boy of the Seminoles: Indians of the Everglades Color/black and white. 11 min. 16mm. Cort (1956) Shows the living habits and activities of a teenage Seminole boy and his family in Florida. The Broken Cord: Louise Erdrich and Michael Dorris Color. 30 min. VHS. PBS Video (1991) Authors Louise Erdrich and the late Michael Dorris explain how traditions of spirit and memory weave through the lives of many Native Americans, and how alcoholism and despair have shattered so many other lives. The devastating effect of fetal alcohol syndrome on their adopted son, and on the Native American community as a whole, is also discussed. Hosted by Bill Moyers.
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Broken Treaty at Battle Mountain Color. 73 min. 16mm. Cinnamon Production (1973) The struggle of the Western Shoshone of Nevada to retain their culture and land is dramatically portrayed. The Shoshone struggle to keep 24 million acres of Nevada land originally promised to them by the U.S. government. Narrated by Robert Redford. Catlin and the Indians Color. 25 min. 16mm. National Film Board of Canada/McGraw-Hill (1967) Presents biographical material on George Catlin, historian and painter of Plains Indians. Includes paintings from the Smithsonian’s Catlin collection. Cherokee Color. 26 min. 16mm. British Broadcasting Corporation (1976) Explores the dilemma the Cherokees face in preserving their traditions and captures the beauty of the pageants and ceremonies performed today. Includes scenes from a pageant play that recounts Cherokee history. Cherokee Color. 30 min. VHS. Schlessinger Video Productions (1993) Examines the history and current situation of the Cherokee people. Includes facts about the role of the U.S. government, debunks myths about Native Americans, explores their spiritual relationship with nature, and discusses the role of women in their societies. For grades 5-10.
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897
Cheyenne Color. 30 min. VHS. Schlessinger Video Productions (1993) Examines the history, changing fortunes, and current situation of the Cheyenne tribe. Includes facts about the role of the U.S. government, debunks myths about Native Americans, explores their spiritual relationship with nature, and discusses the role of women in their societies. For grades 5-10. Children of the Eagle: A Tribute to American Indian Children Color. 28 min. 16mm. Oklahoma State University Describes the American Indian family and contrasts contemporary family life with traditional Indian customs. Presents prenatal concerns, parenting behavior, and funeral rituals. Circle of the Sun Color. 30 min. 16mm. VHS. National Film Board of Canada (1960) Studies the way of life and ceremonial customs of the Blood Indians circa 1960. Pictures the Sun Dance camp and analyzes the feelings of the younger generation about the old Indian customs and the influences of whites. Columbus Didn’t Discover Us Color. 24 min. VHS. Turning Tide Productions (1992) In preparation for the Columbus Quincentennial, 300 Native men and women came to the highlands of Ecuador to take part in the first Continental Conference of Indigenous Peoples. Features interviews with participants representing a wide spectrum of Indian nations from North, South, and Central America.
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Comanche Color. 30 min. VHS. Schlessinger Video Productions (1993) Portrayal of the Comanche tribe including their history, culture and way of life today. Challenges many prevalent myths and stereotypes. Examines the issue of the role of the U.S. government, debunks myths about Native Americans, explores their spiritual relationship with nature, and discusses the role of women in their societies. For grades 5-10. Contrary Warriors Color. 60 min. 16mm. VHS. Rattlesnake Productions (1987) The Crazy Dogs, one of the original Crow warrior societies, declared themselves “contrary warriors” and pledged to risk death when challenged by outsiders. Corn Is Life Color. 11 min. 16mm. VHS. University of California Extension Media Center (1983) Shows and explains traditional activities associated with corn that are still an important part of Hopi family and community life. Corn, a major cultural symbol, plays a central role in the life of every Hopi. The Creek Color. 30 min. VHS. Schlessinger Video Productions (1993) Examines the history and current situation of the Creek. Includes a discussion of their language, traditions, and crafts. For grades 5-10.
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The Crow Color. 30 min. VHS. Schlessinger Video Productions (1993) Examines the history and current situation of the Crow, a mobile group of hunters who developed a strict code of conduct and a deeply spiritual religion. For grades 5-10. Crow Dog Color. 57 min. 16mm. Cinema Guild (1979) Focuses on Leonard Crow Dog, spiritual leader of eighty-nine American Indian tribes and a spokesman for many Indians who wish to retain the beliefs and way of life of their forefathers. Documents the politics and spiritual power of the American Indian Movement. Cry of the Yurok Color. 58 min. VHS. Films for the Humanities & Sciences (1991) Details the many problems of the Yurok tribe of California as they struggle to survive encroachment of their lands. Some remain on the reservation, others have moved to cities. All are caught in a many-sided battle between the dominant white world and the world of the Indian. Custer at the Washita Color. 26 min. 16mm. VHS. McGraw-Hill (1966) Account of the Battle of the Washita River, one of the few decisive battles of the American Indian wars. It signaled the end of freedom for the Cheyenne and planted the seeds of Custer’s defeat at the Little Bighorn.
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Dineh Nation: The Navajo Story Color. 26 min. VHS. Filmmakers Library (1991) Focuses on the Navajo people who inhabit the Sovereign Dineh Indian Reservation which occupies parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah—an area rich in oil, coal, and uranium. The Navajo seek to preserve the land but outside forces are at work, strip mining the coal and polluting the water. Film emphasizes the spiritual essence of the Navajo people who consider Mother Earth to be sacred and forbid exploitation of her resources. Discovering American Indian Music Color. 24 min. 16mm. VHS. Inform (1971) Introduces the traditional customs, costumes, and dances associated with the music of eleven representative North American tribes, principally of the Plains and Southwest. The Drummaker Color. 37 min. 16mm. Pennsylvania State University Psych Cinema Register (1978) Presents William Bineshi Baker, Sr., an Ojibwa, one of the last of his people to perfect the art of drummaking. He discusses tradition and his frustration with those who will not take the time to follow it. End of the Trail: The American Plains Indian Black and white. 53 min. 16mm. VHS. McGraw-Hill (1967) Documents the growth and development of the Plains Indian culture, which culminate with the advent of whites. Illustrates many of the hostile acts committed by both sides.
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Family Life of the Navajo Indians Black and white. 31 min. Silent. 16mm. New York University (1943) Highlights some of the ways the Navajo child becomes an adult. 500 Nations Eight-part series. Color. 376 min. VHS. Warner Home Video (1995) An 8-part CBS television documentary exploring the history and culture of Native Americans. Episodes are: The Ancestors: Early Cultures of North America Mexico: The Rise and Fall of the Aztecs Clash of Cultures: The People Who Met Columbus Invasion of the Coast: The First English Settlements Cauldron of War: Iroquois Democracy and the American Revolution Removal: War and Exile in the East Roads Across the Plains: Struggle for the West Attack on Culture: I Will Fight No More Forever Gatecliff: American Indian Rock Shelter Color. 21 min. 16mm. National Geographic Society (1973) Team of amateur archaeologists led by Dr. David Hurst Thomas of the American Museum of Natural History dig in Gatecliff Rock Shelter in Nevada. Layer-by-layer examination reveals information on inhabitants of 5,000 years ago.
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Geronimo and the Apache Resistance Color. 60 min. VHS. PBS Home Video (1990) In 1886, the U.S. government mobilized five thousand men, one quarter of the entire U.S. Army, to capture Geronimo. This profile of Geronimo, believed by his people to have magical powers, highlights the clash of cultures and the legacy of the battles of a century ago. (Part of the PBS series The American Experience.) Girl of the Navajos Color. 15 min. 16mm. Inform/Cort (1977) Young Navajo girl recalls her feelings of fear and loneliness the first time she had to herd her family’s sheep into the canyon alone. Returning to the canyon the following day, she becomes friends with another girl. Filmed on a Navajo reservation. Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message Color. 30 min. VHS. Great Plains National TV Library (1996) Based on the book by Chief Jake Swamp. Presents a Mohawk prayer celebrating the beauty, bounty and resources of the Earth. Part of the Reading Rainbow series hosted by LeVar Burton. The Great Movie Massacre Color. 28 min. 16mm. United Indians of All Tribes Foundation (1979) Explores the beginning of the “savage Indian” myth in popular American literature and entertainment, including wild west shows and early motion pictures. Will Sampson narrates. (Images of Indians Series.)
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903
The Great Plains Experience: The Lakota—One Nation on the Plains Color. 30 min. 16mm. VHS. University of Mid-America (1976) Describes the movement of Indians onto the Great Plains and their adaptation to the new environment, focusing on the Lakota in the eighteenth century. A History of Native Americans Color. 30 min. VHS. Schlessinger Video Productions (1993) Examines the impact of European colonization on Native American tribes, including co-existence and trade, the struggles over land ownership and the effects of European imports like guns, horses, alcohol, religion and disease. Covers the policies of the U.S. government, the forced removal of Indians in the Trail of Tears, the Indian Removal Act and Indian boarding schools that diluted tribal cultures and shared beliefs. For grades 5-10. Home of the Brave Color. 4 min. 16mm. Pyramid Film and Video (1969) The five-hundred-year story of a people is documented with great precision in this four-minute encapsulation. Hopi: Songs of the Fourth World Color. 58 min. 16mm. VHS. Newday (no date given) Study of the Hopi that captures their spirituality and reveals their integration of art and daily life. A farmer, religious elder, grandmother, painter, potter, and weaver speak about the preservation of the Hopi way.
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Hopi Indian Arts and Crafts (Revised version) Color. 10 min. 16mm. Cort (1975) Hopis are shown using their ancient tools and knowledge in basketweaving, potterymaking, silverworking, and weaving. Shows how methods of working are changing. Hopi Indian Village Life Color/Black and White. 11 min. 16mm. Cort (1956) Pictures the Hopi and their mode of living as it existed in the 1950’s, emphasizing the changing character of Hopi life and work. Hopi Kachinas Color. 9 min. 16mm. Inform (1961) The Hopi kachina doll is intended primarily to teach Hopi children to see meaning in religious rituals and dances. Shows an artisan carving, assembling, and painting a doll; also shows Hopi life and dances. Hopi Snake Dance Black and White. 10 min. 16mm. Inform (1951) Presents the preparations of the dancers, handling of snakes, costumes, and part of a snake dance. Hopis: Guardians of the Land Color. 10 min. 16mm. Inform (1972) Hopi living on an Arizona reservation explains the tribal philosophy of seeking peace, brotherhood, and everlasting life by caring for all that is on the land. A nearby power plant and stripmining operations threaten the union of people and land.
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How Hollywood Wins the West Color. 29 min. 16mm. United Indians of All Tribes Foundation (1979) Explores the concept of Manifest Destiny, which encouraged the taking of Indian lands that “nobody owned” by whites in the early nineteenth century. How the West Was Lost Color. 300 min. VHS. Discovery Enterprises Group (1993) Three-part Discovery Channel series exploring the history and culture of Native Americans. Documents the devastating effects of westward expansion on five Native American nations: the Navajo, Nez Perce, Apache, Cheyenne, and Lakota, through the recollection of their descendants, archival photographs, and historical documents. How the West Was Lost II Discovery Enterprises Group (1995) Color. 350 min. VHS. Four additional episodes of How the West Was Lost explore the Native American experience during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Chronicles the history of the Iroquois, Cherokee, Seminole, Dakota, Modoc, Ute, and the Indian Territory. How to Trace Your Native American Heritage Color. 30 min. VHS. Rich-Heape Films (1998) Guide to discovering one’s Native American roots. Explains how to obtain tribal membership and official Native American status.
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The Huron Color. 30 min. VHS. Schlessinger Video Productions (1993) Profiles the Huron, who flourished in southern Ontario, Canada. Originally farmers and craftsmen, a small Huron community still survives in Canada, manufacturing goods for sale or trade while maintaining the Huron heritage. For grades 5-10. I Will Fight No More Forever: The Story of Chief Joseph Color. 106 min. 16mm. VHS. Wolper Productions (1975) How Chief Joseph led three hundred Nez Perce braves along with their women and children in the historic running battle against ten separate commands of the army in 1877. In the White Man’s Image Color. 58 min. VHS. PBS Video (1991) Examines the experiment of federal government boarding schools for Indian children. Tells the story of the attempt to assimilate American Indians into white culture by educating them at special schools such as the Carlisle School for Indians. Founded by Richard Henry Pratt, this school and others like it attempted to wipe out all remnants of Indian culture. Narrated by Stacy Keach. Originally broadcast as an episode of the PBS television series The American Experience. In Whose Honor?: American Indian Mascots in Sports Color. 47 min. VHS. New Day Films (1997) Discussion of Chief Illinewek as the University of Illinois mascot and the effect the mascot has on Native American peoples. Examines the practice of using American Indian mascots and nicknames in sports.
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Incident at Oglala Color. 90 min. VHS, DVD. Miramax (1992) Reexamines the evidence in the 1975 murder case of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The conviction of Leonard Peltier for the murders appears to be a travesty of justice. Directed by Michael Apted; narrated by Robert Redford. Indian Art of the Pueblo Color. 13 min. 16mm. Encyclopedia Britannica Educational Corporation (1976) Introduces the arts and crafts of the Pueblo. Indian Ceremonial Dances of the Southwest Color. 11 min. 16mm. Harold Ambrosch Film Productions (1954) Presents a number of Southwest dances, accompanied by songs and chants. Includes the Apache crown or devil dance, the Laguna shield dance, and the Taos war dance. Indian Crafts: Hopi, Navajo, and Iroquois Color. 12 min. 16mm. BFA Educational Media (1980) Basketmaking, weaving, potterymaking, kachina carving, jewelrymaking, and mask carving. Indian Heroes of America Color. 17 min. 16mm. Altana Films (1979) Seven Indian personages are profiled, each representing an aspect of history from the coming of whites to the final confrontations in the late nineteenth century.
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Indian Hunters Black and white. 10 min. 16mm. Inform (1948) Shows two Indians seeking new hunting grounds for their band in the wilds of northern Canada. Indian Musical Instruments Color. 14 min. 16mm. University of Oklahoma Shows big dance drums, rawhide drums, ring and straight beaters, and other Indian musical instruments in the University of Oklahoma museum. The Indian Speaks Color. 41 min. 16mm. National Film Board of Canada (1970) Presents Indians in parts of Canada who are concerned about preserving what is left of their culture and restoring what is gone. Indians: The Navajos Color. 14 min. 16mm. Hearst Metrotone News (1975) Examines the winds of change that have been affecting the lives of 140,000 Navajos on the largest Indian reservation in the world. Indians Among Us Color. 46 min. VHS. Discovery Communications (1992) Focuses on the Indians of the American Southwest and how they try to maintain their old traditions within a modern lifestyle. Originally part of the television program Roger Kennedy’s Rediscovering America.
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Into the Circle: An Introduction to Native American Powwows. Color. 58 min. VHS. Full Circle Communications (1992) An introduction to Oklahoma powwows through excerpts of dances, songs and drumming sequences, interviews with tribal elders and participants, and historical photographs showing the ongoing evolution of the powwow. Narrated by J. R. Mathews. Iroquois Color. 30 min. VHS. Schlessinger Video Productions (1993) Portrayal of the Iroquois including their history, culture and way of life today. Challenges many still-prevalent myths and stereotypes. Examines the issue of the role of the U.S. government, debunks myths about Native Americans, explores their spiritual relationship with nature, and discusses the role of women in their societies. For grades 5-10. Ishi, the Last Yahi Color. 58 min. VHS. Rattlesnake Productions (1993) Distributed by Center for Media and Independent Learning, Berkeley, Calif.; Shanachie Entertainment, Newton, N.J. Award-winning profile of Ishi, a California Indian who came out of hiding in 1911 and lived at the anthropology museum of the University of California at Berkeley until his death in 1916. Late Woodland Village Color. 20 min. 16mm. University of Iowa AV Center (1974) Excavations of the late Woodland Hartley Fort revealed details of life in a stockaded village of about 900 c.e.
910
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Legend of Corn Color. 26 min. 16mm. Films for the Humanities & Sciences (1985) An Ojibwa legend, dramatized by tribespeople, about how the Great Manitou saved the tribe from starvation. The Lenape Color. 30 min. VHS. Schlessinger Video Productions (1993) Examines the history of the Lenape, who settled in the mid-Atlantic region over 5,000 years ago. Today, the largest population of the tribe now lives on part of the Cherokee Nation reservation. For grades 5-10. Life in the Woodlands Before the White Man Came Color. 12 min. 16mm. ACI Media (1976) Dramatizes the daily life, ceremonies, and rituals of Woodlands Indians before whites arrived. The Maya Color. 30 min. VHS. Schlessinger Video Productions (1993) Examines the ancient civilization of the Maya, their temples, palaces, and immense cities in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and Guatemala. For grades 5-10. The Maya: Temples, Tombs, and Time Color. 53 min. VHS. Questar (1995) Breakthroughs in deciphering Maya glyphs and new archeological discoveries help to provide a fresh look at the Maya, considered to be one of the most advanced of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.
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Meet the Sioux Indian Color. 11 min. 16mm. Associated Film Artists (1949) Portrays the nomadic life of the Sioux and shows how they obtained, prepared, and preserved food, and made clothing. The Menominee Color. 30 min. VHS. Schlessinger Video Productions (1993) Examines the history of the Menominee, hunters and fishermen, who lived in lodges along the upper peninsula of present day Michigan. For grades 5-10. Mesa Verde: Mystery of the Silent Cities Color. 14 min. 16mm. Encyclopedia Britannica Educational Corporation (1975) Extensive aerial photography of the ruined cities and multiplefamily cliff dwellings of a thirteenth-century civilization. Narrated by Jack Palance. Mino-Bimadiziwin: The Good Life Color. 60 min. VHS. Deb Wallwork Productions (1998) Examines the ancient Ojibwe tradition of wild rice harvesting still practiced on Minnesota’s White Earth Indian Reservation. An in-depth portrait of a community whose people continue to live off the land. Explores the themes of continuity and change in Native American society at large. Modern Chippewa Indians Color. 11 min. 16mm. Simmel-Miservey (1946) Shows the life and work of the Chippewa Indians on the Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota.
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Momaday: Voice of the West Color. 30 min. VHS. PBS Home Video (1992) Profiles Pulitzer prize-winning author, painter, poet and teacher, N. Scott Momaday, who reads from his memoirs and published works. More Than Bows and Arrows Color. 56 min. VHS. Camera One Productions (1992) Documents the contributions of American Indians to the development of the United States and Canada. Deals with the role of the American Indian in shaping various aspects of American culture, ranging from food and housing to our view of life. Narrated by N. Scott Momaday. Myths and Moundbuilders Color. 60 min. VHS. PBS Home Video (1990) Examines the ancient Native American practice of mound building. Features archaeological excavations of mounds and examines pottery, jewelry, and other artifacts unearthed. Nanook of the North Black and white. Silent. VHS, DVD. Pathé Exchange (1922) This landmark of documentary filmmaking caused a sensation when it was released. Robert Flaherty spent sixteen months in the Arctic filming an Inuit family. Some events were enacted specifically for the camera, but the portrait of Arctic life is generally realistic.
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The Narragansett Color. 30 min. VHS. Schlessinger Video Productions (1993) Profiles the southern Rhode Island tribe which was once the largest and most powerful of the Northeast, with ancestry dating back 11,000 years. For grades 5-10. Native American Heritage Color. 25 min. VHS. Schlessinger Video Productions (1997) Children are introduced to the history and culture of the diverse groups of Native Americans who first inhabited North America. Native American Life Color. 25 min. VHS. Schlessinger Video Productions (1996) Highlights of Native American history through the use of graphics and animations, live-action portrayals of historic figures, and stories told from a child’s point of view. Narrated by Irene Bedard. The Native Americans Color. 264 min. VHS. Turner Home Entertainment, (1994) Six-part TBS television documentary exploring the history and culture of Native Americans. Series takes a regional look at Indians of the Northeast, Far West, Southeast, Southwest, and Plains. Examines the historical intrusion on Indian lands and the current effort by Native Americans to preserve their heritage. Features traditional as well as original music composed and performed for the series by Robbie Robertson and other Native American musicians. Narrated by Joy Harjo.
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The Native Americans: How the West Was Lost Color. 26 min. 16mm. British Broadcasting Corporation (1976) Highlights the life of the Plains Indians as it changed with the westward movement of whites. Historical photographs and drawings illustrate the Battle of Little Bighorn and the Wounded Knee Massacre. Natives of the Narrowland: The Unwritten History of the First Cape Codders Color. 35 min. VHS. Documentary Educational Resources (1994) Examines the history of the Wampanoag tribe of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Navajo Color. 30 min. VHS. Schlessinger Video Productions (1993) Examines the history, changing fortunes, and current situation of the Navajo tribe. For grades 5-10. Navajo: A People Between Two Worlds Color. 20 min. 16mm. Line Films (1958) Study of the largest Indian tribe in the United States, including life on the land and tribal government. Navajo Night Dances Color. 12 min. 16mm. Lewin (1957) Shows a Navajo family going to the Nine Day Healing Chant, feasting, and watching the Arrow, Feather, and Fire Dance.
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Navajo Talking Picture Color. 40 min. VHS. Women Make Movies (1986) Documents the life of a grandmother on the Navajo Reservation in Lower Greasewood, Arizona. Nez Perce: Portrait of a People Color. 23 min. 16mm. National Audio Visual Center (No date given) Tells of the cultural heritage of the Nez Perce and shows how the Nez Perce National Historical Park has influenced and preserved this culture. North American Indian Legends Color. 21 min. 16mm. CBS (1973) Dramatizes several Indian legends with special-effects photography to emphasize their mythical quality. Northwest Indian Art Color. 10 min. 16mm. Lewin (1966) Examples of the highly sophisticated art of Northwest Coast Indians collected from six museums. Now That the Buffalo’s Gone Color. 7 min. 16mm. Pyramid Film and Video (1969) Uses group and individual still-photograph portraits, combined with footage from old films, to emphasize the dignity of Indian culture.
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Oneota Longhouse People Color. 14 min. 16mm. University of Iowa Audio Visual Center (1973) Archaeological discoveries of longhouses in northwest Iowa. Including a reconstruction of a village and views of how life might have been lived at this site a thousand years ago. Oren Lyons, the Faithkeeper Color. 58 min. VHS. Films for the Humanities & Sciences (1997) Native American Chief Oren Lyons, a leader in the international environmental movement, talks with Bill Moyers about the ancient legends, prophecies, and wisdom that guide the Onondaga tribe. Lyons shares the spiritual basis of his environmentalism—a vision of the degradation of the earth that was revealed to the Onondaga nation in 1799. Paddle to the Sea Color. 25 min. 16mm. National Film Board of Canada (1967) The story of a small, hand-carved Indian and a canoe, both called “paddle to the sea.” From a book of the same name by Holling C. Holling. Painting with Sand: A Navajo Ceremony Color. 11 min. 16mm. Encyclopedia Britannica Educational Corporation (1949) Portrays the traditional sand painting and healing rite as performed by a Navajo medicine man for his ailing son.
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People of the Buffalo Color. 14 min. 16mm. National Film Board of Canada (1969) Depicts the dependence of western Indians on the buffalo for food, shelter, and clothing. Shows how the coming of whites and subsequent slaughter of the buffalo herds changed the lifestyle of the Indians. The Place of the Falling Waters Color. 90 min. VHS. Montana Public Television (1991) Relates the complex and volatile relationship between the people of the Confederated Salish and Koontenai Tribes and a major hydroelectric dam situated within the Flathead Indian Reservation. Covers history of tribal society and culture before the dam’s construction, the construction of the Kerr Dam in the 1930’s and its impact on the reservation, and the hopes and dilemmas of the Salish and Kootenai people as they prepare to take over the dam during the next three decades. Pocahontas: Her True Story Color. 50 min. VHS. A&E Home Video (1995) Portrait of a remarkable native American princess, ambassador, stateswoman, and peacemaker whose brief life left an indelible mark on a fledgling nation. Interviews with Pocahontas’s descendants provide a perspective on her life and times. The Potawatomi Color. 30 min. VHS. Schlessinger Video Productions (1993) Examines the history and current situation of the Potawatomi of the Great Lakes region. Only a few hundred tribe members survive. Some still speak the language and practice the ways of their ancestors. For grades 5-10.
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Potlatch People Color. 26 min. 16mm. Document Associates (1976) With an economy based on the abundant fish of the ocean and rivers, Northwest Coast Indians lived in communal longhouses based on a rigid class system. The Pueblo Color. 30 min. VHS. Schlessinger Video Productions (1993) Examines the history of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, one of the first tribes to make contact with European explorers. Includes a discussion of their ancient ancestors, the Anasazi. For grades 5-10. Pueblo of Laguna: Elders of the Tribe Color. 20 min. 16mm. National Audio Visual Center (No date given) Describes the dynamic program for taking care of elders on a reservation in Laguna, New Mexico. The Pueblo Peoples: First Contact Color. 60 min. VHS. PBS Video (1990) Describes the history of the Pueblo tribe at the time of their first contact with Spanish conquistadors in the mid-1500’s. Briefly discusses Pueblo philosophy and legends. Red Sunday: The Story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn Color. 28 min. 16mm. Pyramid Film and Video (1975) An objective account of America’s most famous U.S. CavalryIndian confrontation. Still photographs, original drawings, paintings, and live action are skillfully blended.
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Report from Wounded Knee Color. 10 min. 16mm. Sterling Educational Films (1971) Details the historical events at Wounded Knee using photographic stills. Sacajawea Color. 24 min. VHS. Southerby Productions (1984) The true story of the young Indian woman who guided the Lewis and Clark expedition. Sacred Buffalo People Color. 56 min. VHS. Deb Wallwork Productions (1992) Explores the powerful bond between Native Americans and the buffalo, viewed by Indians as the sacred provider of life. Traditional beliefs, history, and modern reservation humor are woven together in the stories told today as buffalo return to the plains. Features Indian park rangers, wildlife managers, and dancers, along with photography of buffalo herds and examples of Indian art. Sacred Ground Color. 60 min. VHS. Freewheelin’ Films Ltd. (1991) Tour of American Indian spiritual places such as Devil’s Tower and Bear Butte, and a discussion of myths and legends associated them.
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The Search for Ancient Americans: Ancient Beginnings of Native American Culture Color. 58 min. VHS. Intellimation (1988) Demonstrates how new technologies are changing the way archaeologists work as they examine evidence of the first peoples to reach America. Examined in detail are the Mayan, Anasazi, and Florida tribal cultures. Part of The Infinite Voyage series. Searching for a Native American Identity Color. 30 min. VHS. Films for the Humanities & Sciences (1994) Bill Moyers interviews husband and wife writing team Louise Erdrich and Michael Dorris who discuss their literary collaboration, their shared thinking based upon their like backgrounds as mixed-blood Native Americans, and the Native American characters who people their novels. Originally broadcast as a program in the PBS series, A World of Ideas. Seminole Color. 30 min. VHS. Schlessinger Video Productions (1993) Examines the history, changing fortunes, and current situation of the Seminole people. Includes facts about the role of the U.S. government, debunks myths about Native Americans, explores their spiritual relationship with nature, and discusses the role of women in their societies. For grades 5-10. Seminole Indians Color. 11 min. 16mm. University of Minnesota (1951) Seminole life on the hummocks of the Florida Everglades.
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The Shadow Catcher: Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indian Color. 89 min. VHS. Mystic Fire Video (1993) Video release of a motion picture originally produced in 1974. Profiles photographer, anthropologist and filmmaker Curtis, who spent 34 years recording the American Indian tradition. Between 1896 and 1930 Curtis collected interviews and original Indian stories, recorded some 10,000 songs and took 40,000 pictures many of which are used in the production. Retraces his journeys from the Pueblo regions of the Southwest, north to British Columbia and Alaska. Silent Enemy Black and white. 88 min. 16mm. VHS, DVD. Blackhawk Films (1930) Study of the Ojibwas’ struggle for food before the arrival of European Americans. Filmed on location near Lake Superior. Sioux Indians: Live and Remember Color. 29 min. VHS. Barr Films (1987) Focuses on the struggle of the Dakota Sioux to preserve their heritage. Shows the Dakota people living in squalid camps in the midst of natural beauty. Sitting Bull: Chief of the Lakota Nation Color. 50 min. VHS. A&E Home Entertainment (1995) Portrait of the legendary chief who led the Lakota Sioux to victory over General Custer at Little Big Horn.
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Sitting Bull: A Profile in Power Color. 20 min. 16mm. Learning Corporation of America (1976) The heroic but sad saga of relations between the United States and the Indians unfolds through an imaginary dialogue between an interviewer and the charismatic Sioux chief. Songs of Indian Territory Native American Music Traditions of Oklahoma Color. 38 min. VHS. Full Circle Communications (1990) Features music from the workshops and concert of “The Songs of Indian Territory” held at the Kirkpatrick Center in Oklahoma City, October 14, 1988, and includes on-location highlights. Spirit: A Journey in Dance, Drums and Song Color. 75 min. VHS. USA Films (1998) Stage performance of modern and traditional Native American music, dance, and mythology. Native American flutes, percussion, chants, and keyboards provide evocative music. Narration by Chief Hawk Pope interweaves tribal legends. The Spirit of Crazy Horse Color. 60 min. VHS. PBS Home Video (1990) Milo Yellow Hair recounts the story of the Sioux tribe’s struggle to reclaim their ancestral homeland. Investigates the simmering conflict of recent decades and offers a perspective on the choices that lie ahead. Originally shown as part of the PBS television series, Frontline.
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The Spirit of the Mask Color. 50 min. VHS. Atlas Video (1993) Explores the spiritual and psychological powers of masks used by Northwest Coast native peoples. Features rarely-seen ceremonies, commentary by spiritual leaders and relates how these traditions were repressed by Christian Europeans. Storytellers of the Pacific Color. 120 minutes. VHS. Vision Maker Video (1996) Two-part series focusing on the identity crisis of various Pacific cultures which, many years after colonization, slavery, and oppression, are attempting to reconstruct and live according to their true culture. Areas highlighted include northern Mexico, California, the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, Hawaii, Australia, Samoa, and Guam. Narrated by Joy Harjo. Strangers in Their Own Land Color. 50 min. VHS. Strangers in Their Own Land (1993) Records Native American ceremonies, including an emotional Kiowa wedding ceremony and the initiation of a young brave into an ancient warrior society. The Sun Dagger (Edited version) Color. 28 min. 16mm. VHS. Bullfrog Films (1982) The “dagger,” an ancient Indian celestial calendar rediscovered in 1977, is presently the only known archaeological site in the world that marks the extreme positions of both the sun and the moon.
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Sweating Indian Style: Conflicts Over Native American Ritual Color. 57 min. VHS. Women Make Movies (1994) Presents opposing views on non-Native Americans’ participation in traditional American Indian rites. Tales of Wonder: Traditional Native American Fireside Stories Color. 60 min. VHS. Rich-Heape Films (1998) Collection of traditional stories of creation and myth accompanied by music and illustrations. Appropriate for children. Teaching Indians to Be White Color. 28 min. VHS. Films for the Humanities & Sciences (1993) Shows how schools try to integrate American Indian children into mainstream society and notes problems with turning children away from their families and traditional values. To Find Our Life: The Peyote Hunt of the Huichols of Mexico Color. 65 min. 16mm. University of California Extension Media Center (1968) Filmed and recorded in the field in December, 1966, by anthropologist Peter T. Furst, this is the first documentary of the annual peyote hunt and ceremonies of the Huichol Indians of Western Mexico. The Totem Pole Color. 28 min. 16mm. VHS. Educational Materials Corporation (1961) The Kwakiutl and Haida are the Northwest Indians best known for their totem poles. Shows the several types of poles and how they are decorated.
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Tribal Legacies: The Incas, the Mayas, the Sioux, the Pueblos Color. 296 min. VHS. Pacific Arts (1993) Collection of four videos that depict the history and civilizations of four different native peoples of the Americas: the Incas, Mayas, Sioux, and Pueblo Indians. Valley of the Standing Rocks Color. 24 in. 16mm. Thomas J. Barbre Productions (1957) Vividly portrays the life of the Navajos on their reservation in Arizona and Utah. Walking in a Sacred Manner Color. 23 min. 16mm. Stephen Cross (1982) Using the photographs of Edward S. Curtis, shows how traditional Indian life was centered on the natural world. Winds of Change: A Matter of Promises Color/black and white. 58 min. VHS. PBS Video (1990) Navajos of Arizona and adjacent states and Lummis of Washington State focus on sovereignty, internal politics, the administration of justice, and relations with the U.S. government. Hosted by N. Scott Momaday. Winter on an Indian Reservation Color. 11 min. 16mm. Inform (1973) Shows children on a forest reservation in the Great Lakes area; provides an intimate look at both the hardships and joys of Indian life.
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Wiping the Tears of Seven Generations Color. 57 min. VHS. Film Ideas (1992) History of the Lakota people, culminating in the Bigfoot Memorial Ride, December 1990, intended to end the century of grieving since the Wounded Knee Massacre. Woodland Indians of Early America Color/black and white. 11 min. 16mm. Cort (1958) Depicts a family of hunter-culture Indians, illustrating the migratory nature of such cultures and showing many techniques of hunting, dress, cooking, and home building. Yankton Sioux Color. 30 min. VHS. Schlessinger Video Productions (1993) Extensive location filming takes the viewer to reservations where children and elders discuss what it means to be a Native American today. Includes photographs, film footage, tribal music, crafts and ceremonies. For grades 5-10.
FEATURE FILMS The depictions of Indians in feature films (often by white actors) have historically been misguided and have engendered considerable outrage. What follows is a select list of films that provide relatively accurate portrayals of Indian life, past and present. In some of the films all Indians are portrayed by Indian actors; in others, white actors fill at least some Indian roles.
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Black Robe Color. 100 min. VHS, DVD. Samuel Goldwyn (1991) Seventeenth century Jesuit priest is led by a party of Algonquins to a distant mission. Generally accurate depiction of early Indianwhite relations as well as intertribal Algonquin, Iroquois, and Huron relations and warfare. From Brian Moore’s novel. Lothaire Bluteau, Aden Young, Sandrine Holt. Cheyenne Autumn Color. 159 min. VHS. Warner Bros. (1964) Renowned director of Westerns John Ford filmed this story of Cheyennes fleeing their reservation to return to their homeland. Not without its flaws, this is an early but sympathetic look at the situation of western Indians in the late nineteenth century. Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, Ricardo Montalban, Gilbert Roland. Crazy Horse Color. 94 min. VHS. Turner Home Entertainment (1994) Made-for-cable look at the life of the Sioux and their warriorleader, Crazy Horse, who led his people to victory at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876. Michael Greyeyes, Irene Bedard, August Schellenberg, Wes Studi, Peter Horton. Dance Me Outside Color. 91 min. VHS. Una-Pix Entertainment (1995) The story of the passage into manhood of an 18-year-old Indian on the Kidabanesee Reserve in Ontario. Adapted from a novel by W. P. Kinsella. Ryan Black, Adam Beach, Jennifer Podemski, Lisa LaCroix, Michael Greyeyes.
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Dances with Wolves Color. 181 min. VHS, DVD. Orion Pictures (1990) Troubled Civil War veteran goes West and finds in the lifestyle and hunting grounds of the Lakota Sioux what he has been missing. Generally hailed by critics for its faithful depiction of Indian life and customs. Spoken Lakota is dubbed in English. Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene. Geronimo Color. 102 min. VHS. Turner Home Entertainment (1993) Made-for-cable look at the life of the Chiricahua Apaches and their warrior-leader, Geronimo. Joseph Runningfox, Nick Ramus, Michael Greyeyes, Tailinh Forest Flower. Geronimo: An American Legend Color. 115 min. VHS, DVD. Columbia Pictures (1993) The exploits of the Apache leader during the years 1885 and 1886 are effectively dramatized. Geronimo ultimately becomes a larger-than-life hero and an expression of Apache cultural values. Wes Studi, Jason Patric, Gene Hackman. House Made of Dawn Color 90 min. VHS. New Line Studios (1996) Tells the story of a young American Indian named Abel, home from a foreign war and caught between two worlds: the traditional one of his father and the other of industrial America. An adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by N. Scott Momaday. Larry Littlebird, Judith Doty, Jay Varela, Mesa Bird.
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The Indian in the Cupboard Color. 98 min. VHS, DVD. Columbia/Tristar (1995) Fantasy based on Lynne Reid Banks’s popular children’s book. A young boy discovers that a toy Indian comes to life when it is locked in a cupboard. The boy also discovers that the toy is actually a historical Iroquois warrior who lived in the nineteenth century. A bond eventually develops between the boy and the warrior. Hal Scardino, Litefoot, Lindsay Crouse, David Keith. Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee Color. 113 min. VHS. Turner Home Entertainment (1994) Based on the biography of Mary Crow Dog, who went from an abused childhood and intra-tribal politics to become an eyewitness to the 1973 siege at Wounded Knee. Features an all Native American cast. Irene Bedard, Lawrence Bayne, Michael Horse, Joseph Runningfox, Floyd “Red Crow” Westerman. The Last of the Mohicans Color. 110 min. VHS, DVD. 20th Century Fox (1992) Sweeping adaptation of the James Fenimore Cooper tale of colonial America during the French and Indian War. Hawkeye (Natty Bumppo) and his Indian brother Chingachgook must rescue colonists who have been captured by Indians. Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Russell Means, Eric Schweig. Little Big Man Color. 147 min. VHS, DVD. CBS/Fox Video/Hiller Productions, Ltd. (1970) Jack Crabb, 121-year-old veteran of the Old West and survivor of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, tells his story and stimulates sympathy for Indians along the way. Arthur Penn directed this offbeat epic starring Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, and Chief Dan George.
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A Man Called Horse Color. 114 min. VHS, DVD. Cinema Center (1970) In 1825 an English aristocrat is captured by a group of Sioux and eventually becomes their leader. A relatively realistic, even graphic, portrayal of Indian life and customs, including tribal initiations. Richard Harris, Judith Anderson, Manu Tupou. Medicine River Color. 96 min. VHS. United American Video (1994) Romantic comedy about a worldrenowned photojournalist who returns home to Medicine River after a twenty-year absence to attend his mother’s funeral and is conned into staying to help with a community project. Based on the 1990 Thomas King novel. Graham Greene, Byron Chief-Moon, Tom Jackson, Sheila Tousey. Powwow Highway Color. 89 min. VHS. Anchor Bay Entertainment (1989) An over-sized Cheyenne man-child goes on a spiritual quest to New Mexico while giving a ride to a lifelong Indian activist friend. Gary Farmer, A. Martinez, Graham Greene, Wes Studi, John Trudell. Running Brave Color. 105 min. VHS Buena Vista (1983) Sentimental profile of half-Sioux athlete Billy Mills from his childhood on the Pine Ridge Reservation to his victory at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. (The casting of a white actor in the lead Indian role caused considerable protest when the film was made.) Robbie Benson, Pat Hingle.
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Shadow of the Wolf Color. 108 min. VHS. Triumph (1993) Young Inuit hunter sets out to live in isolation in the Arctic wilderness. After killing a white trader, he is pursued by a Canadian mountie. Lou Diamond Phillips, Jennifer Tilly. Smoke Signals Color. 89 minutes. VHS, DVD. Miramax Home Entertainment (1998) Road movie that bills itself as the first feature film written and directed by Native Americans. Screenwriter Sherman Alexie and director Chris Eyre follow two young Indians, Victor and Thomas, as they journey from Idaho’s Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation to Arizona to collect the ashes and pickup truck of Victor’s dead father. Adam Beach, Evan Adams, Gary Farmer, Cody Lightning, Irene Bedard, John Trudell. Son of the Morning Star Color. 186 min. VHS. Republic Pictures Home Video (1991) Thoughtful look at the life and times of General George Armstrong Custer. Emphasis is on the ill-conceived and disastrous battle against the Sioux at Little Bighorn. Rosanna Arquette, Dean Stockwell, and Rodney A. Grant. Squanto: A Warrior’s Tale Color. 102 min. VHS. Disney (1994) Based on the life of a seventeenth-century American Indian who is abducted and brought to England by British traders. Squanto is befriended by a sympathetic monk who urges him to return to America on a peace-making mission. Adam Beach, Mandy Patinkin, Michael Gambon, Irene Bedard.
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Thunderheart Color. 118 min. VHS, DVD. Tristar Pictures (1992) An FBI agent who is part Sioux is sent to investigate a murder on a Sioux reservation and undergoes a personal transformation. The film is noteworthy for its portrayal of contemporary reservation life. Val Kilmer, Sam Shepard, Graham Greene. Windtalkers Color. 134 min. VHS, DVD. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (2002) Two Marine sergeants are assigned to protect a group of Navajo Marines who use their native language as the basis for a secret code during World War II. Nicholas Cage, Adam Beach, Roger Willie, Christian Slater. Windwalker Color. 108 min. VHS, DVD. United American Video (1980) Newly dead Cheyenne patriarch returns to life to save his family from his son, an evil twin who was stolen at birth and raised by the enemy Crow. In Cheyenne and Crow languages, and subtitled in English. Trevor Howard, Nick Ramus, James Remar, Serene Hedin.
WEB SITES Bureau of Indian Affairs http://www.doi.gov/bureau-indian -affairs.html The Bureau of Indian Affairs On-Line. Provides a directory of information on law, legislation, education, tribal services, reports, and statistics concerning American Indians.
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Guide to Native American Studies Programs in the United States and Canada. Ed. Robert M. Nelson. University of Richmond. http://www.richmond.edu/faculty/ ASAIL/guide/guide.html Comprehensive survey of U.S. and Canadian Native American Studies programs being offered as majors, minors, and certifications at the baccalaureate level or above. Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org/ref/native/ Provides information on primarily contemporary Native North American authors with bibliographies of their published works, biographical information, and links to online resources including interviews, online texts, and tribal Web sites. Labriola National American Indian Data Center Tempe: Arizona State University. http://www.asu.edu/lib/archives/ labriola.htm The Labriola National American Indian Data Center’s research collection brings together current and historic information on government, culture, religion and world view, social life and customs, tribal history, and information on individuals from the United States, Canada, Sonora, and Chihuahua, Mexico. Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center Mashantucket, Conn. http://www.mashantucket.com/ Tribally owned-and-operated complex brings to life the story of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, and serves as a major resource on the history of the tribe, the histories and cultures of other tribes, and the region’s natural history. Information about the museum’s collections, research library, exhibits, and events is available through the Web site.
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Native American Book Resources on the World Wide Web http://www.hanksville.org/NAresources/indices/NAbooks.htm Includes links to Web sites on Native American authors, books available online, organizations, journals, book lists with Native American content, libraries, presses, book reviews, and book stores online that specialize in Native American material. Native American Sites. Ed. Lisa A. Mitten. University of Pittsburgh. http://www.pitt.edu/~lmitten/indians.html Provides access to home pages of individual Native Americans and nations, and to other sites that provide solid information about American Indians. Links are provided to information on individual Native nations, organizations, businesses, Indian education, languages, powwows and festivals, Native music, and contemporary Native American issues. Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian http://www.si.edu/cgi-bin/nav.cgi Home page of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian in New York City. Provides information about the museum’s collections, exhibitions, publications, recordings, and education resources. Includes research information and links to other Native American sites. Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History http://nmnhwww.si.edu/anthro/ outreach/Indbibl/ Bibliography for educators and parents of children K-12, compiled by the Anthropology Outreach Office of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Produced in response to concerns about choosing culturally sensitive and historically accurate books for children about American Indians and Alaska Natives.
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SOUND RECORDINGS Creation’s Journey: Native American Music Compact Disc Smithsonian/Folkways (1994) Ceremonial, social, and contemporary music of Native Americans from the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Bolivia. Music by Comanche, Navajo, Seneca, Micmac, Cherokee, Kwakiutl, Zapotec, and other native performers. 500 Nations: A Musical Journey Compact Disc. Epic Soundtrax (1994) Sound track from the CBS television miniseries, 500 Nations. Music by Peter Buffett. Honor the Earth Powwow: Songs of the Great Lakes Indians Compact Disc. Ryko (1991) Songs of the Ojibwa, the Menominee and Winnebago. Recorded July, 1990, at a powwow at the Lac Court Oreilles Reservation, Wisconsin. Music for the Native Americans Compact Disc. Capitol Records (1994) Soundtrack for the Turner Broadcasting Systems mini-series, The Native Americans. Songs composed and performed by Robbie Robertson and the Red Road Ensemble and other Native American musicians. Music of New Mexico: Native American Traditions Compact Disc. 68 min. Smithsonian Folkways (1992) Traditional and contemporary music by Pueblo, Navajo, and Apache musicians from New Mexico.
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Proud Heritage A Celebration of Traditional American Indian Music Compact Disc. Indian House (1996) An anthology of American Indian music sung in various Indian languages including Navajo, Pueblo, Ponca, Kiowa, Creek, and Sioux. Songs of Earth, Water, Fire, and Sky: Music of the American Indian. Compact Disc. New World Records (1991) An anthology of music recorded on various Indian reservations and at powwows. Includes traditional songs of Pueblo, Seneca, Arapaho, Plains, Creek, Yurok, Navajo, and Cherokee tribes. Talking Spirits: Music from the Hopi, Zuni, Laguna & San Juan Pueblos. Compact Disc. Music of the World (1992) Tribal songs and dances recorded on location in New Mexico and Arizona by James Lascelles during the 1980s. Sung in a variety of Native American languages.
CD-ROMS Exploring the Lost Maya Sumeria (1996) Contains historical material written by leading Maya scholar Robert Sharer, interactive maps of major Maya sites, nineteenth century lithographs and historical photos, an interactive multimedia time line of Maya history, movies on several facets of Maya culture, and travel information for those planning to visit the sites.
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500 Nations: Stories of the North American Indian Experience Microsoft Home (1995) Based on a Jack Leustig film of the same title. Hosted by Kevin Costner. Multimedia presentation of the history of North American Indians. Includes over 2,000 images, three-dimensional video, computer-generated recreations, animated sequences, spoken segments, and music. Maya Hull, Quebec: The Museum (1995) Depicts Maya architecture, art, and lifestyle primarily through photographs. Includes a section on the making of the IMAX film, Mystery of the Maya. Published in collaboration with the National Film Board of Canada and the Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografia. Narrated by Geoff Winter. Pomo Indians Compiled by Jeannine Davis-Kimball and Randal S. Brandt. Berkeley: California Indian Library Collections, University of California, Berkeley (1994) Interactive, multimedia collection divided into ten searchable categories, each containing photographs, sound recordings, and textual material. The exhaustive Pomo bibliography is searchable by author, title, periodical, series, keyword, and holdings.
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Museums, Archives, and Libraries Select list of museums, archives, and libraries in four parts: museums in the United States; museums in Canada; libraries and archives in the United States; libraries and archives in Canada. Each part is arranged alphabetically, first by state, territory, or province, then by city.
MUSEUMS IN THE UNITED STATES ALABAMA Alabama Museum of Natural History Smith Hall, University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, 35487-0340 Resource center of Southeastern Indians; ties with Moundville Archaeological Park. ALASKA Alaska State Museum 395 Whittier Street Juneau, 99801-1718 Alaskan Native Gallery; Subarctic and Northwest Coast items. Totem Heritage Center 601 Deermount (mailing address: 629 Dock Street) Ketchikan, 99901 Programs and artifacts in Northwest Coast arts; index to all Alaska totem poles.
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ARIZONA Arizona State Museum University of Arizona Tucson, 85721 Extensive collections from the historic and prehistoric peoples of the area. Colorado River Indian Tribes Museum Route 1, Box 23B Parker, 85344 Artifacts from Mojave, Chemehuevi, Hopi, and Navajo as well as prehistoric cultures. Gila River Arts and Crafts Center P.O. Box 457 Sacaton, 85247 Museum and crafts reflect all tribes of the area. Heard Museum 22 E. Monte Vista Road Phoenix, 85004-1480 Southwest emphasis; inventory of 8,200 Native American artists. Library of 40,000 volumes includes Fred Harvey Company documents and photo archives. Museum of Northern Arizona Fort Valley Road (mailing address: Route 4, P.O. Box 720) Flagstaff, 86001 Southwest Anglo and Indian art, with Hopi and Navajo emphasis. Harold S. Colton Memorial Library of 24,000 volumes.
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Navajo Tribal Museum Highway 264 (mailing address: P.O. Box 308) Window Rock, 86515 Four Corners archaeology and ethnography, including re-creation of 1870-1930 era trading post. ARKANSAS Arkansas State Museum P.O. Box 490 State University, 72467 Emphasizes northeastern Arkansas tribes such as the Osage, Caddo, Chickasaw, and others. CALIFORNIA Bowers Museum of Cultural Art 2002 North Main Street Santa Ana, 92706 Collection of 85,000 items focuses on the fine arts of indigenous peoples, including pre-Columbian and Native American. Fowler Museum of Cultural History University of California, Los Angeles 405 Hilgard Avenue Los Angeles, 90024-1549 Extensive archaeological and ethnographic collections include Native American materials. Maturango Museum 100 E. Las Flores (mailing address: P.O. Box 1776) Ridgecrest, 93556 A small regional museum focusing on one of the richest petroglyph areas in the United States at China Lake.
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Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Times-Mirror Hall of Native American Cultures; Hall of PreColumbian Cultures 900 Exposition Boulevard Los Angeles, 90007 Excellent permanent displays, with changing exhibitions on contemporary issues in art and culture. The Pre-Columbian Hall covers cultures from Mexico to Peru. Southwest Museum 234 Museum Drive (mailing address: P.O. Box 558) Los Angeles, 90065 Collections range from Alaska to South America, with permanent displays focusing on the Southwest, Great Plains, California, and Northwest Coast. Braun Research Library contains 50,000 volumes, 100,000 photos, 900 recordings, and archival material. COLORADO Denver Art Museum 100 W. 14th Avenue Parkway Denver, 80204 Art collection includes Indian clothing, Southwest pottery and kachinas, and Northwest Coast carvings. Frederick H. Douglas Library includes 6,000 volumes. Denver Museum of Natural History 2001 South Colorado Boulevard Denver, 80205 Strong on Paleo-Indian culture, including the original Folsom spear point; a 24,000-volume library.
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Southern Ute Cultural Center and Gallery Highway 172 (mailing address: P.O. Box 737) Ignacio, 81137 Early history; contemporary bead and leather work. CONNECTICUT Institute for American Indian Studies (IAIS) 38 Curtis Road (mailing address: P.O. Box 1260) Washington, 06793-0260 Continental coverage, but focus is on Northeast Woodlands. Reconstructed Indian village, with Indian Habitats Trail; 250,000 artifacts and a 2,000-volume library. Peabody Museum Yale University 170 Whitney New Haven, 06511-8161 Extensive holdings include both archaeological and ethnographic materials of the Americas. DELAWARE Delaware State Museum 316 South Governors Avenue Dover, 19901 Eastern prehistory; 1,000-volume library; State Archaeological Collection. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA U.S. National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution Washington, 20560
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FLORIDA Ah-Tha-Thi-Ki Museum 3240 North 64th Avenue Hollywood, 33024 Artifacts and activities document and preserve Seminole traditions; village, burial site, nature trails. Florida State Museum University of Florida Gainesville, 32601 Pearsall Collection of ethnographic items ranges from Seminole to Inuit. GEORGIA New Echota Route 3 Calhoun, 30701 Restoration of Cherokee capital of 1825-1838. Trail of Tears material. IDAHO Nez Perce National Historic Park Highway 95 (mailing address: P.O. Box 93) Spalding, 83551 Prehistoric as well as historic regional items. Park notes sites of Indian-U.S. battles. A 600-volume library and archive of 3,000 photos.
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ILLINOIS Field Museum of Natural History Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive Chicago, 60605 Extensive Native American collections, including Pawnee earth lodge replica. Webber Resource Center houses books and audiovisual materials on indigenous cultures. INDIANA Eiteljorg Museum of American Indian and Western Art 500 West Washington Street Indianapolis, 46204 Extensive collection that emphasizes Northeast Woodlands, great Plains, and Southwest culture areas. IOWA Putnam Museum of History and Natural Science 1717 West 12th Street Davenport, 52804 Regional ethnographic collections and important Mississippian materials. KANSAS Indian Center Museum 650 North Seneca Wichita, 67203 Collection reflects Indian art and religion.
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KENTUCKY J. B. Speed Art Museum 2035 South Third Street (mailing address: P.O. Box 2600) Louisville, 40201-2600 Collection emphasizes regional materials and the Great Plains, complemented by a 14,000-volume art library that includes the Frederick Weygold Indian Collection. LOUISIANA Tunica-Biloxi Regional Indian Center and Museum Highway 1 (mailing address: P.O. Box 331) Marksville, 71351 Focuses on descendants of the mound builders. The tribal museum is built in a classic Mississippian style. Collections include colonial Indian-European materials returned to the tribe under the Indian Graves and Repatriation Act. MAINE Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum and Studies Center Hubbard Hall, Bowdoin College Brunswick, 04011 MacMillan collection of Inuit and Subarctic material culture. MASSACHUSETTS Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology 11 Divinity Avenue Harvard University Cambridge, 02138 Worldwide collection of 2,000,000 artifacts has a North and South American focus; 180,000-volume library.
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MICHIGAN Cranbrook Institute of Science 500 Lone Pine Road (mailing address: P.O. Box 801) Bloomfield Hills, 48303-0801 Collection reflects all North American culture areas. MINNESOTA Mille Lacs Indian Museum HCR 67 (mailing address: P.O. Box 95) Onamia, 56359 Ojibwa and Dakota artifacts illustrate traditional lifeways. Minnesota Historical Society’s Grand Mound and Interpretive Center Route 7 (mailing address: P.O. Box 453) International Falls, 56649 Burial mounds with extensive exhibits of Woodland, Laurel, and Blackduck cultures. MISSISSIPPI Grand Village of the Natchez Indians 400 Jefferson Davis Boulevard Natchez, 39120 Artifacts explore the culture of the descendants of the Mississippian mound builders.
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MISSOURI St. Louis Science Center 5050 Oakland Avenue St. Louis, 63110 MONTANA Museum of the Plains Indian and Crafts Center U.S. 89 (mailing address: P.O. Box 400) Browning, 59417 Northern Plains material culture; reconstruction of 1850’s Blackfeet camp. NEBRASKA Fur Trade Museum East Highway 20, HC 74 (mailing address: P.O. Box 18) Chadron, 69337 Museum of Nebraska History 131 Centennial Mall North Lincoln, 68508 Anthropology and art of the central Plains tribes. NEVADA Lost City Museum 721 South Highway 169 Overton, 89040 Reconstructed pueblo and kiva; archaeological museum; 400volume library.
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NEW JERSEY Montclair Art Museum 3 South Mountain Avenue Montclair, 07042 Rand Collection of Native American art. Art history library of 13,000 volumes. New Jersey State Museum 205 West State Street Trenton, 08625 Local material as well as Plains, Arctic, Southwest, and Northeast collections. NEW MEXICO Maxwell Museum of Anthropology University of New Mexico Roma and University, N.E. Albuquerque, 87131-1201 Extensive Southwest collections. Library of 12,500 volumes and photo archives. Museum of Indian Arts and Culture 708 Camino Lejo (mailing address: P.O. Box 2087) Santa Fe, 87504 Exhibits focus on Pueblo, Apache, and Navajo cultures. A 20,000volume library on the anthropology of the Southwest. Western New Mexico University Museum (mailing address: P.O. Box 43) Silver City, 88061 Eisele collection of classic Mimbres pottery.
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NEW YORK American Museum of Natural History 79th Street and Central Park West New York, 10024-5192 Exhibitions are especially strong on the cultures of the Arctic and Pacific Northwest. National Museum of the American Indian George Gustav Heye Center Alexander Hamilton Custom House 3753 Broadway at 155th Street New York, 10032 The first of three planned facilities of the National Museum of the American Indian, part of the Smithsonian Institution, opened in New York in 1994. Seneca Iroquois National Museum Broad Street Extension (mailing address: P.O. Box 442) Salamanca, 14779 Special wampum belt exhibit; typical nineteenth century elm-bark longhouse reconstruction; contemporary art. NORTH CAROLINA Indian Museum of the Carolinas 607 Turnpike Road Laurinburg, 28352 Exhibits feature Southeast cultures and lifeways. Native American Resource Center Pembroke State University Pembroke, 28372 Eastern Woodlands materials; North and South America.
950
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Museums, Archives, and Libraries
NORTH DAKOTA North Dakota Heritage Center 612 East Boulevard Bismarck, 58505 Plains cultures. A 100,000-volume library on ethnology and history. Turtle Mountain Chippewa Heritage Center Highway 5 (mailing address: P.O. Box 257) Belcourt, 58316 Promotes tribal history and traditions. Contemporary art gallery. OHIO Cincinnati Museum of Natural History 1301 Western Avenue Cincinnati, 45203 Good selection of mound builder artifacts from the Ohio Valley. Cleveland Museum of Natural History 1 Wade Oval Drive University Circle Cleveland, 44106-1767 Research fields include archaeology and physical anthropology. A 50,000-volume natural history library. OKLAHOMA Cherokee Heritage Center Willis Road (mailing address: P.O. Box 515) Tahlequah, 74465 Reconstructed village; contemporary arts and crafts.
Museums, Archives, and Libraries
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951
Museum of the Great Plains 601 Ferris Avenue Lawton, 73502 Artifacts, library, and photo archives relating to Plains tribes. The Philbrook Museum of Art, Inc. 2727 South Rockford Road Tulsa, 74114 Clark Field Basket Collection; Lawson Collection of Indian clothing; Philbrook Collection of American Indian paintings; Lawson Indian library. Seminole Nation Museum and Library 6th and Wewoka (mailing address: P.O. Box 1532) Wewoka, 74884 OREGON High Desert Museum 59800 South Highway 97 Bend, 97702 Museum of Natural History University of Oregon 1680 East 15th Avenue Eugene, 97403-1224 Collection includes 13,000-year-old Fort Rock Cave artifacts. PENNSYLVANIA Carnegie Museum of Natural History 4400 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, 15213-4080 Wide coverage, including Arctic and Northwest Coast collections.
952
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Museums, Archives, and Libraries
RHODE ISLAND Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology Brown University Bristol, 02809 Arctic and Subarctic materials, including Archaic Period remains of the Red Paint People of Maine. SOUTH CAROLINA McKissick Museum University of South Carolina Columbia, 29208 Catawba pottery and baskets. Folk Art Resource Center. SOUTH DAKOTA Indian Museum of North America Avenue of the Chiefs, Black Hills Crazy Horse, 57730 Sioux Indian Museum and Crafts Center 515 West Boulevard Rapid City, 57709 W. H. Over State Museum 414 East Clark Vermillion, 57069-2390 Plains material culture and contemporary painting. TENNESSEE Frank H. McClung Museum University of Tennessee 1327 Circle Park Drive Knoxville, 37996-3200
Museums, Archives, and Libraries
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953
Tennessee State Museum 505 Deaderick Street Nashville, 37243-1120 Strong in prehistoric Mississippian culture. TEXAS Alabama-Coushatta Museum U.S. Highway 190 Route 3 (mailing address: P.O. Box 540) Livingston, 77351 Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum 2401 Fourth Avenue Canyon, 79016 Hall of the Southern Plains. South and Southwest Indian focus; 10,000-volume library. Texas Memorial Museum University of Texas 24th and Trinity Austin, 78705 Broad focus on the anthropology of the American Indian. Witte Memorial Museum 3801 Broadway San Antonio, 78209 Samples most North American culture areas. UTAH College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum 451 East 400 North Price, 84501 Focuses on Anasazi and Fremont cultures.
954
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Museums, Archives, and Libraries
Utah Museum of Natural History University of Utah Salt Lake City, 84112 Regional, Great Basin, and Southwestern materials. VIRGINIA Jamestown Settlement (mailing address: P.O. Box JF) Williamsburg, 23187 Reconstruction of Indian village and Powhatan’s lodge. Mattaponi Museum West Point, 23181 Important collection of archaeological materials. Pamunkey Indian Museum (mailing address: P.O. Box 2050) King William, 23086 Contemporary and prehistoric art and artifacts. WASHINGTON The Burke Museum University of Washington, DB-10 Seattle, 98195 Northwest Coast and Pacific Rim collections. Makah Cultural and Research Center (mailing address: P.O. Box 160) Neah Bay, 98257 Features remains from the Ozette site, a Late Period pre-contact Makah village buried and preserved in a mudslide. Magnificent Northwest Coast Tradition assemblage of 60,000 artifacts.
Museums, Archives, and Libraries
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955
Seattle Art Museum 100 University Street (mailing address: P.O. Box 22000) Seattle, 98122-9700 Excellent collection of Northwest Coast art. Yakima Nation Cultural Heritage Center Toppenish, 98948 WEST VIRGINIA Grave Creek Mound State Park Moundsville, 26041 Largest mound produced by the Adena ceremonial complex, which flourished around 500 b.c.e. to 100 c.e. WISCONSIN Lac du Flambeau Chippewa Museum (mailing address: P.O. Box 804) Lac du Flambeau, 54538 Eighteenth century dugout canoe, artifacts, and seasonal activities displays. Logan Museum of Anthropology 700 College Street Beloit College Beloit, 53511-5595 Physical and cultural anthropological materials from the Great Lakes, Plains, and Southwest culture areas. Milwaukee Public Museum 800 West Wells Street Milwaukee, 53233 Collections cover North America. A 125,000-volume library.
956
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Museums, Archives, and Libraries
Neville Public Museum 129 South Jefferson Street Green Bay, 54301 Archaic Period materials from the Old Copper and Red Ochre cultures. WYOMING Anthropology Museum University of Wyoming Laramie, 82071
MUSEUMS IN CANADA ALBERTA Glenbow Museum 130 Ninth Avenue, S.E. Calgary, AB T2G 0P3 Provincial Museum of Alberta 12845 102nd Avenue Edmonton, AB T5N 0M6 Regional materials; Inuit; northern Plains. BRITISH COLUMBIA Campbell River Museum 1235 Island Highway Campbell Island, BC V9W 2C7 Arts of the Indian groups of northern Vancouver Island.
Museums, Archives, and Libraries
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957
’Ksan Indian Village (mailing address: P.O. Box 326) Hazelton, BC B0J 1Y0 A center for the display, preservation, and promotion of Gitksan arts and crafts skills. Seven traditional buildings. Museum of Anthropology University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 Major Northwest Coast collections. Center for promotion of traditional arts and customs. Museum of Northern British Columbia (mailing address: P.O. Box 669) Prince Rupert, BC V8J 3S1 Northwest Coast artifacts. Promotes contemporary carving and craft skills. Royal British Columbia Museum 675 Belleville Street Victoria, BC V8V 1X4 Traditional Kwakiutl dance houses; Thunderbird Park totem pole exhibits; art demonstrations. MANITOBA Eskimo Museum La Verendrye Street (mailing address: P.O. Box 10) Churchill, MB R0B 0E0 Inuit materials include kayaks dating back hundreds of years. Also, Subarctic materials from Chippewa and Cree cultures. Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature 190 Rupert Avenue Winnipeg, MB R3B 0N2
958
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Museums, Archives, and Libraries
NEW BRUNSWICK New Brunswick Museum 277 Douglas Avenue Saint John, NB F2K 1E5 Regional and pre-Algonquian artifacts. NEWFOUNDLAND Newfoundland Museum 285 Duckworth Street St. John’s, NF A1C 1G9 Exhibits cover the six major tribal groups of Labrador and Newfoundland. NORTHWEST TERRITORIES Dene Cultural Institute (mailing address: P.O. Box 207) Yellowknife, NT X1A 2N2 Northern Life Museum 110 King Street (mailing address: P.O. Box 420) Fort Smith, NT X0E 0P0 Arctic and Subartic tools and artifacts. NOVA SCOTIA Nova Scotia Museum 1747 Summer Street Halifax, NS B3H 3A6 Artifacts of the Micmac.
Museums, Archives, and Libraries
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959
ONTARIO Museum of Indian Archaeology and Lawson Prehistoric Village 1600 Attawandaron Road London, ON N6G 3M6 Exhibits cover five phases of culture dating back to Paleo-Indian times. On-site excavation. North American Indian Travel College The Living Museum RR 3 Cornwall Island, ON K6H 5R7 Royal Ontario Museum 100 Queen’s Park Crescent Toronto, ON M5S 2C6 Ontario prehistory. Thunder Bay Art Gallery 1080 Keewatin Street (mailing address: P.O. Box 1193) Thunder Bay, ON P7C 4X9 Traditional items as well as contemporary art. PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND Micmac Indian Village (mailing address: P.O. Box 51) Cornwall, PEI C0A 1H0
960
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Museums, Archives, and Libraries
QUEBEC Abenakis Museum Route 226 Odanak, PQ J0G 1H0 Displays reflect tribal traditions and lore. Canadian Museum of Civilization 100 Laurier Street Hull, PQ J8X 4H2 Spectacular collection of national cultural materials. McCord Museum McGill University 690 Sherbrook Street W. Montreal, PQ H3A 1E9 SASKATCHEWAN Regina Plains Museum 1801 Scarth Street Regina, SK S4P 2G9 Metis history and the Riel Rebellions are covered in addition to Plains material. Saskatchewan Museum of Natural History Wascana Park Regina, SK S4P 3V7 Native Peoples Gallery focusing on Subarctic tribes. YUKON TERRITORY MacBride Museum (mailing address: P.O. Box 4037) Whitehorse, YT Y1A 3S9 Artifacts of the Yukon region.
Museums, Archives, and Libraries
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961
LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES IN THE UNITED STATES ALABAMA Alabama Department of Archives and History 624 Washington Avenue Montgomery, 36130 ARIZONA Navajo Nation Library System Drawer K Window Rock, 86515 Collection has 23,000 books, 1,000 manuscripts, and films and tapes. Files of the Navajo Times. Two libraries in Window Rock and one in Navajo, New Mexico. Smoki People Library P.O. Box 123 Prescott, 86302 Library of 600 volumes covers North and South American Indian ceremonials and dances. Tohono Chul park, Inc. 7366 North Paseo del Norte Tucson, 85704 Nature center, ethnic art exhibitions, and 800-volume library on Southwest culture and environment. Western Archaeological and Conservation Center 1415 North Sixth Avenue (mailing address: P.O. Box 41058, Tucson, 85717) Tucson, 85705 Focus on Southwest prehistory and ethnography: 17,000-volume library, 100 periodicals, and 160,000-item photo archive.
962
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Museums, Archives, and Libraries
ARKANSAS Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives (SARA) P.O. Box 134 Washington, 71862 History of Caddo Indians and Southwest Arkansas. CALIFORNIA American Indian Resource Center Public Library of Los Angeles County 6518 Miles Avenue Huntington Park, 90255 Special collections on Indians of North America; 9,000 volumes. Malki Museum Archives 11-795 Fields Road Banning, 92220 Oral history project tapes; field notes of J. P. Harrington and others; manuscript and photo archives. Native American Studies Library University of California at Berkeley 103 Wheeler Berkeley, 94720 Reports of the Bureau of Indian Affairs; Indian Claims Commission materials; special California Indian collection; extensive holdings.
Museums, Archives, and Libraries
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963
Rupert Costo Library UCR Library Special Collections University of California at Riverside Riverside, 92517 The 15,000-volume collection is countrywide in scope with a California concentration. Houses the American Indian Historical Society Archives, donated by the Costos. Manuscripts, field notes, and 300 books cover the customs and medicines of the Chinantec Indians of Oaxaca. Scientific Library San Diego Museum of Man Balboa Park 1350 El Prado San Diego, 92101 Wide coverage of the Americas, including physical anthropology, archaeology, and ethnology. COLORADO Koshare Indian Museum, Inc. 115 West 18th Street La Junta, 81050 The 10,000-volume Special Koshare Collection focuses on Native America and Western United States. National Indian Law Library Native American Rights Fund 1522 Broadway Boulder, 80302-6296 Documents, periodicals, and 7,500 books on U.S.-Indian relations and law.
964
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Museums, Archives, and Libraries
Taylor Museum Reference Library Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center 30 West Dale Street Colorado Springs, 80903 Art of the Southwest; Hispanic and colonial folk art. Collection houses 30,000 volumes; extensive biographies of folk artists. Ute Mountain Tribal Research Archive and Library Tribal Compound (mailing address: P.O. Box CC) Towaoc, 81334 Includes 2,500 books as well as 30,000 archival items, including tribal government documents. CONNECTICUT Mashantucket Pequot Research Library Indiantown Road Ledyard, 06339 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA American Folklife Center U.S. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building - G152 Washington, 20540 Biggest collection of early Indian recordings, including the Frances Densmore Collection of 3,600 cylinders and the Helen Heffron Roberts Collection from the Northwest Coast and California. National Anthropological Archives Natural History Museum MRC 152 10th and Constitution Avenue Washington, 20560 Extensive collections of recordings, photographs, field notes, and manuscripts of the Bureau of Ethnology.
Museums, Archives, and Libraries
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965
Natural Resources Library U.S. Department of the Interior Mail Stop 1151 18th and C Streets, N.W. Washington, 20240 More than 600,000 volumes and extensive periodicals and archival items, including materials on American Indians. GEORGIA Hargrett Rare Books and Manuscript Library University of Georgia Athens, 30602 ILLINOIS Newberry Library D’Arcy McNickle Center for the History of the American Indian 60 West Walton Street Chicago, 60610 More than 100,000 volumes, including the E. E. Ayer Collection. INDIANA Fulton County Historical Society Library Route 3 (mailing address: P.O. Box 89) Rochester, 46975 Collection houses 4,000 volumes, including coverage of Potawatomi removal to Kansas in 1838 (the Trail of Death). Lilly Library Indiana University Bloomington, 47405 Collection includes Indian accounts of Custer’s defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
966
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Museums, Archives, and Libraries
KANSAS Mennonite Library and Archives Bethel College 300 East 27th Street North Newton, 67117-9989 Includes 26,000 books. Petter Manuscript Collection on the Cheyenne; H. R. Voth Manuscript and Photo Collection on the Hopi. Mid-America All Indian Center Library 650 North Seneca Wichita, 67203 Includes 3,000 books and 200 bound periodical volumes on Indian art, history, and culture. Blackbear Bosin Collection of publications and personal papers. LOUISIANA Grindstone Bluff Museum Library (mailing address: P.O. Box 7965) Shreveport, 71107 Contains 6,000 books and 2,000 periodical volumes on regional archaeology and ethnology; emphasis on Caddo Indians. MASSACHUSETTS Fruitlands Museums and Library 102 Prospect Hill Road Harvard, 01451 Mashpee Archives Building Mashpee, 02649
Museums, Archives, and Libraries
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967
MICHIGAN Custer Collection Monroe County Library System Monroe, 48161 Contains 4,000 books and archival materials on Custer and the West. MINNESOTA Minnesota Historical Society Divison of Archives and Manuscripts 345 Kellogg Boulevard West St. Paul, 55102-1906 Materials relating to the Ojibwa and Dakota. MISSOURI Missouri Historical Society Library Jefferson Memorial Building Forest Park St. Louis, 63112 Northern Plains; papers of William Clark from Lewis and Clark expedition. MONTANA Dr. John Woodenlegs Memorial Library Dull Knife Memorial College P.O. Box 98 Lame Deer, 59043-0098 Cheyenne history; oral history collection. Contains 10,000 volumes.
968
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Museums, Archives, and Libraries
NEBRASKA Joslyn Art Museum Art Reference Library 2200 Dodge Street Omaha, 68102 Native American art covered in collection of 25,000 volumes, 3,000 bound periodicals, and 20,000 slides. Native American Public Broadcasting Consortium Library P.O. Box 83111 Lincoln, 68501 Special Collection of Native American video programs (171 titles). Audio program “Spirits of the Present.” NAPBC quarterly newsletter. Materials available by mail. Nebraska State Historical Society Library P.O. Box 82554 Lincoln, 68501 Anderson Collection of Brule Sioux photographs. Library has 70,000 volumes. NEW JERSEY Firestone Library Collections of Western Americana Princeton University Princeton, 08544 NEW MEXICO Mary Cabot Wheelwright Research Library 704 Camino Lejo Santa Fe, 87502 Contains 10,000 volumes; archives on Navajo religion and sandpainting.
Museums, Archives, and Libraries
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969
Millicent Rogers Museum Library P.O. Box A Taos, 87571 Registry of New Mexico Hispanic artists, including a number of Indian artists. Museum of New Mexico Photo Archives P.O. Box 2087 Santa Fe, 87504 NEW YORK Akwesasne Library Route 37-RR 1 (mailing address: P.O. Box 14-C) Hogansburg, 13655 Iroquois Indian Museum Library P.O. Box 9 Bowes Cave, 12042-0009 Contains 1,500 volumes; 500 archival items; exhibition catalogs. Museum of the American Indian Library 9 Westchester Square Bronx, 10461 Contains 40,000 volumes; archives. Seneca Nation Library Allegany Branch P.O. Box 231 Salamanca, 14779 Cattaraugus Branch Irving, 14981
970
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Museums, Archives, and Libraries
NORTH CAROLINA State Archives 109 East Jones Street Raleigh, 27601-2807 OHIO Ohio Historical Society Archives and Library 1982 Velma Avenue Columbus, 43211 OKLAHOMA Chickasaw Nation Library Arlington and Mississippi Streets Ada, 74830 Gilcrease Library 1400 Gilcrease Museum Road Tulsa, 74127 John Ross (Cherokee chief) and Peter Pitchlynn (Choctaw chief) papers; 50,000 volumes. Oklahoma Historical Society Archives and Manuscript Division 2100 North Lincoln Boulevard Oklahoma City, 73105 State Indian Agency records; Dawes Commission papers; 125,000 photographs. OREGON Siletz Library and Archives 119 East Logsden Road, Building II Siletz, 97380
Museums, Archives, and Libraries
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971
PENNSYLVANIA Free Library of Philadelphia Logan Square Philadelphia, 19103 University Museum Library 33rd and Spruce Streets University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, 19104 Brinton Collection on Indian linguistics; Delaware materials. SOUTH DAKOTA Center for Western Studies Augustana College P.O. Box 727 Sioux Falls, 57197 Great Plains history. Collection has 30,000 volumes, 1,500 linear feet of manuscripts. TEXAS Fikes Hall of Special Collections DeGolyer Library Southern Methodist University Dallas, 75275 National Archives Southwest Region 501 Felix at Hemphill, Building 1 P.O. Box 6216 Fort Worth, 76115 Bureau of Indian Affairs records for Oklahoma.
972
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Museums, Archives, and Libraries
UTAH Ute Tribal Museum, Library, and Audio-Visual Center Fort Duchesne, 84026 WASHINGTON Jamestown Klallam Library Blyn, 98382 Special Collections University of Washington Seattle, 98195 WEST VIRGINIA ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools (CRESS) Library 1031 Quarrier Street (mailing address: P.O. Box 1348) Charleston, 25325 Microfiche containing 300,000 documents. Indian/Hispanic issues. WISCONSIN Fairlawn Historical Museum Harvard View Parkway Superior, 54880 George Catlin lithographs; David F. Berry Collection of Indian photographs and portraits. Hoard Historical Museum Library 407 Merchant Avenue Fort Atkinson, 53538 Rare Black Hawk War materials.
Museums, Archives, and Libraries
WYOMING McCracken Research Library Buffalo Bill Historical Center P.O. Box 1000 Cody, 82414
LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES IN CANADA ALBERTA Canadian Circumpolar Library University of Alberta Edmonton, AB T6G 2J8 University of Lethbridge Library Special Collections 4401 University Drive Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4 Native American studies; English literature; education. BRITISH COLUMBIA Alert Bay Library and Museum 199 Fir Street Alert Bay, BC B0N 1A0 Kamloops Museum and Archives 207 Seymour Street Kamloops, BC V2C 2E7 Interior Salish and Shuswap material. University of British Columbia Library 1956 Main Hall Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1
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Museums, Archives, and Libraries
MANITOBA Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Regional Library 275 Portage Avenue Winnipeg, MB R3B 3A3 People’s Library Manitoba Indian Cultural Education Centre 119 Sutherland Avenue Winnipeg, MB R2W 3C9 NEW BRUNSWICK Education Resource Centre University of New Brunswick D’Avray Hall P.O. Box 7500 Fredericton, NB E3B 5H5 NORTHWEST TERRITORIES Thebacha Campus Library Arctic College Fort Smith, NT X0E 0P0 NOVA SCOTIA Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission Library P.O. Box 2221 Halifax, NS B3J 3C4 Rights of indigenous peoples, women, and others; 4,000 books.
Museums, Archives, and Libraries
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975
ONTARIO Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Departmental Library Ottawa, ON K1A 0H4 University of Sudbury Library and Jesuit Archives Sudbury, ON P3E 2C6 QUEBEC Canadian Museum of Civilization Library 100 Laurier Street Hull, PQ J8X 4H2 SASKATCHEWAN Gabriel Dumont Institute of Native Studies and Applied Research Library 121 Broadway Regina, SK S4N 0Z6 Indian History archives; 30,000 volumes. Indian Federated College Library University of Regina Regina, SK S4S 0A2 Collection has 15,000 volumes. Branch library of 4,000 volumes on Saskatoon campus. Saskatchewan Provincial Library 1352 Winnipeg Street Regina, SK S4P 3V7 Has a 4,000-volume Indian collection. Strong in languages.
976
Organizations, Agencies, and Societies All Indian Pueblo Council Founded: 1958 P.O. Box 3256 Albuquerque, NM 87190 American Indian Council of Architects and Engineers Founded: 1976 P.O. Box 230685 Tigard, OR 97223 American Indian Culture Research Center Founded: 1967 Box 98 Blue Cloud Abbey Marvin, SD 57251 American Indian Graduate Center Founded: 1969 4520 Montgomery Boulevard NE Ste. 1-B Albuquerque, NM 87109 American Indian Health Care Association Founded: 1975 245 E. 6th Street Ste. 499 St. Paul, MN 55101
American Indian Heritage Foundation Founded: 1973 6051 Arlington Boulevard Falls Church, VA 22044 American Indian Higher Education Consortium Founded: 1972 513 Capitol Court NE Ste. 100 Washington, DC 20002 American Indian Horse Registry Founded: 1961 Route 3, Box 64 Lockhart, TX 78644 American Indian Liberation Crusade Founded: 1952 4009 S. Halldale Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90062 American Indian Library Association Founded: 1979 50 E. Huron Street Chicago, IL 60611
Organizations, Agencies, and Societies
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977
American Indian Lore Association Founded: 1957 960 Walhonding Avenue Logan, OH 43138
Americans for Indian Opportunity Founded: 1970 3508 Garfield Street NW Washington, DC 20007
American Indian Movement (AIM) Founded: 1968 710 Clayton Street Apartment 1 San Francisco, CA 94117
Arrow, Incorporated (Americans for Restitution and Righting of Old Wrongs) Founded: 1949 1000 Connecticut Avenue NW Ste. 1206 Washington, DC 20036
American Indian Registry for the Performing Arts Founded: 1983 1717 N. Highland Avenue Ste. 614 Los Angeles, CA 90028 American Indian Research and Development Founded: 1982 2424 Springer Drive Ste. 200 Norman, OK 73069 American Indian Science and Engineering Society Founded: 1977 1630 30th Street Ste. 301 Boulder, CO 80301
Associated Community of Friends on Indian Affairs Founded: 1869 Box 1661 Richmond, IN 47375 Association of American Indian Physicians Founded: 1971 Building D 10015 S. Pennsylvania Oklahoma City, OK 73159 Association of Community Tribal Schools Founded: 1982 c/o Dr. Roger Bordeaux 616 4th Avenue W Sisseton, SD 57262-1349
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Organizations, Agencies, and Societies
Association on American Indian Affairs Founded: 1923 432 Park Ave. S. New York, NY 10016
Council for Indian Education Founded: 1970 517 Rimrock Road Billings, MT 59102
Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions Founded: 1874 2021 H Street NW Washington, DC 20006
Council for Native American Indians Founded: 1974 280 Broadway Ste. 316 New York, NY 10007
Cherokee National Historical Society Founded: 1963 P.O. Box 515 Tahlequah, OK 74465 Coalition for Indian Education Founded: 1987 3620 Wyoming Boulevard NE Ste. 206 Albuquerque, NM 87111 Concerned American Indian Parents Founded: 1987 CUHCC Clinic 2016 16th Avenue S Minneapolis, MN 55404 Continental Confederation of Adopted Indians Founded: 1950 960 Walhonding Avenue Logan, OH 43138
Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT) Founded: 1975 1999 Broadway Ste. 2600 Denver, CO 80202 Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation Founded: 1948 The Black Hills Avenue of the Chiefs Crazy Horse, SD 57730 Creek Indian Memorial Association Founded: 1923 Creek County House Museum Town Square Okmulgee, OK 74447
Organizations, Agencies, and Societies
Dakota Women of All Red Nations (DWARN) Founded: 1978 c/o Lorelei DeCora P.O. Box 423 Rosebud, SD 57570 First Nations Development Institute Founded: 1980 69 Kelley Road Falmouth, VA 22405 Gathering of Nations Founded: 1984 P.O. Box 75102 Sta. 14 Albuquerque, NM 87120-1269 Indian Arts and Crafts Association Founded: 1974 122 La Veta Drive NE Ste. B Albuquerque, NM 87108 Indian Heritage Council Founded: 1988 Henry Street Box 2302 Morristown, TN 37816 Indian Law Resource Center Founded: 1978 508 Stuart Street Helena, MT 59601
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Indian Rights Association Founded: 1882 1801 Market Street Philadelphia, PA 19103-1675 Indian Youth of America Founded: 1978 609 Badgerow Building Sioux City, IA 51101 Institute for American Indian Studies Founded: 1971 38 Curtis Road P.O. Box 1260 Washington, CT 06793-0260 Institute for the Development of Indian Law Founded: 1971 c/o K. Kirke Kickingbird Oklahoma City University School of Law 2501 Blackwelder Oklahoma City, OK 73106 Institute for the Study of American Cultures Founded: 1983 The Rankin 1004 Broadway Columbus, GA 31901
980
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Organizations, Agencies, and Societies
Institute for the Study of Traditional American Indian Arts Founded: 1982 P.O. Box 66124 Portland, OR 97290
National American Indian Court Clerks Association Founded: 1980 1000 Connecticut Avenue NW Ste. 1206 Washington, DC 20036
Institute of American Indian Arts Founded: 1962 P.O. Box 20007 Santa Fe, NM 87504
National American Indian Court Judges Association Founded: 1968 1000 Connecticut Avenue NW Ste. 401 Washington, DC 20036
International Indian Treaty Council Founded: 1974 710 Clayton Street Number 1 San Francisco, CA 94117 Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial Association Founded: 1921 Box 1 Church Rock, NM 87311 Lone Indian Fellowship and Lone Scout Alumni Founded: 1926 1104 St. Clair Avenue Sheboygan, WI 53081
National Center for American Indian Alternative Education Founded: 1960 941 E. 17th Ave. Denver, CO 80218 National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development Founded: 1969 953 E. Juanita Avenue Mesa, AZ 85204 National Congress of American Indians Founded: 1944 900 Pennsylvania Avenue SE Washington, DC 20003
Organizations, Agencies, and Societies
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National Council of BIA Educators Founded: 1967 6001 Marble NE Ste. 10 Albuquerque, NM 87110
National Indian Social Workers Association Founded: 1970 410 NW 18th Street Number 101 Portland, OR 97209
National Indian Council on Aging Founded: 1976 6400 Uptown Boulevard NE City Centre Ste. 510-W Albuquerque, NM 87110
National Indian Training and Research Center Founded: 1969 2121 S. Mill Avenue Ste. 216 Tempe, AZ 85282
National Indian Counselors Association Founded: 1980 Learning Research Center Institute of American Indian Arts P.O. Box 20007 Santa Fe, NM 87504 National Indian Education Association Founded: 1970 1819 H Street NW Ste. 800 Washington, DC 20006 National Indian Health Board Founded: 1969 1385 S. Colorado Boulevard Ste. A-708 Denver, CO 80222
National Indian Youth Council Founded: 1961 318 Elm Street SE Albuquerque, NM 87102 National Native American Cooperative Founded: 1969 P.O. Box 1030 San Carlos, AZ 85550-1000 National Urban Indian Council Founded: 1977 10068 University Station Denver, CO 80210
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Organizations, Agencies, and Societies
Native American (Indian) Chamber of Commerce Founded: 1990 c/o Native American Cooperative P.O. Box 1000 San Carlos, AZ 85550-1000 Native American Community Board Founded: 1984 P.O. Box 572 Lake Andes, SD 57356-0572 Native American Educational Services College Founded: 1974 2838 West Peterson Chicago, IL 60659 Native American Indian Housing Council Founded: 1974 900 2nd Street NE Ste. 220 Washington, DC 20002 Native American Policy Network Founded: 1979 Barry University 11300 2nd Avenue NE Miami, FL 33161
Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Founded: 1970 1506 Broadway Boulder, CO 80302 North American Indian Association Founded: 1940 22720 Plymouth Road Detroit, MI 48239 North American Indian Chamber of Commerce Founded: 1983 P.O. Box 5000 San Carlos, AZ 85550-1000 North American Indian Museums Association Founded: 1979 c/o George Abrams 260 Prospect Street Number 669 Hackensack, NJ 07601-2608 North American Indian Women’s Association Founded: 1970 9602 Maestor’s Lane Gaithersburg, MD 20879
Organizations, Agencies, and Societies
North American Native American Indian Information and Trade Center Founded: 1991 P.O. Box 1000 San Carlos, AZ 85550-1000 Order of the Indian Wars Founded: 1979 P.O. Box 7401 Little Rock, AR 72217 Pan-American Indian Association Founded: 1984 P.O. Box 244 Nocatee, FL 33864 Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development Founded: 1977 P.O. Box 10 Forestville, CA 95436 Smoki People Founded: 1921 P.O. Box 123 Prescott, AZ 86302 Survival of American Indians Association Founded: 1964 7803-A Samurai Drive SE Olympia, WA 98503
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Tekakwitha Conference National Center Founded: 1939 P.O. Box 6768 Great Falls, MT 59406-6768 Tiyospaya American Indian Student Organization Founded: 1986 P.O. Box 1954 St. Petersburg, FL 33731 United Indians of All Tribes Foundation Founded: 1970 Daybreak Star Arts Center Discovery Park P.O. Box 99100 Seattle, WA 98199 United Native Americans Founded: 1968 2434 Faria Avenue Pinole, CA 94564 United South and Eastern Tribes Founded: 1969 1101 Kermit Drive Ste. 302 Nashville, TN 37217
Culture Areas of North America
ARCTIC SUBARCTIC
PL AT EA
U
NORTHWEST COAST
GREAT BASIN
PLAINS
NORTHEAST
CALIFORNIA
SOUTHEAST SOUTHWEST
985
Tribes by Culture Area Major tribal groups are listed below their geographical culture areas; language groups represented appear after the culture-area heading.
Arctic Language groups: Eskimo-Aleut (Aleut, Inuit-Iñupiaq, Yupik) Aleut Inuit Yupik
California Language groups: Athapaskan, Chimariko, Chumashan, Esselen, Karok, Maiduan, Palaihnihan, Pom oan, Salinan, Shastan, UtoAztecan, Wintun, Wiyot, Yanan, Yokutsan, Yukian, Yuman, Yurok Achumawi Atsugewi Cahuilla Chemehuevi Chumash Costano Cupeño Diegueño Esselen Fernandeño Gabrielino Hupa Juaneño Kamia Karok Kato Luiseño Maidu Mattole
Miwok Patwin Pomo Quechan Salinan Serrano Shasta Tolowa Tubatulabal Wailaki Wappo Wintun Wiyot Yahi Yana Yokuts Yuki Yurok
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Tribes by Culture Area
Great Basin Language groups: Hokan, Numic (Shoshonean) Bannock Gosiute Kawaiisu Mono (Monache) Numaga (Northern Paiute)
Panamint Paviotso (Northern Paiute) Shoshone Ute Washoe
Northeast Language groups: Algonquian, Iroquoian, Siouan Abenaki Algonquin Cayuga Erie Fox Huron Illinois Kaskaskia Kickapoo Lenni Lenape Mahican Maliseet Massachusett Menominee Miami Micmac Mohawk Nanticoke Narragansett Neutral Nottaway
Oneida Onondaga Ottawa Pamlico Passamaquoddy Pennacook Penobscot Pequot Petun Piankashaw Potawatomi Sauk Secotan Seneca Shawnee Susquehannock Tuscarora Wampanoag Wappinger Winnebago
Tribes by Culture Area
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987
Northwest Coast Language groups: Athapaskan, Chinook, Penutian, Salish Alsea Bella Bella Bella Coola Chehalis Chinook Coast Salish Coos Eyak Gitksan Haida Klamath
Klikitat Kwakiutl Nootka (Nuu-Chah-Nulth) Quileute Quinault Siuslaw Takelma Tillamook Tlingit Tsimshian Umpqua
Plains Language groups: Algonquian, Athapaskan, Caddoan, KiowaTanoan, Siouan, Uto-Aztecan Apache of Oklahoma Arapaho Arikara Assiniboine Atsina Blackfoot (Blood, Piegan, Siksika) Caddo Cheyenne Comanche Crow Hidatsa Iowa Kansa (Kaw)
Kiowa Mandan Missouri Omaha Osage Oto Pawnee Ponca Quapaw Sarsi Sioux (Santee, Teton, Yankton) Tonkawa Waco Wichita
988
/
Tribes by Culture Area
Plateau Language groups: Penutian, Sahaptin, Salishan Coeur d’Alene Colville Flathead Kalispel Klamath Klikitat Kutenai Lake Lillooet Methow Mical Modoc Molala Nez Perce
Okanagan Palouse Sanpoil Shuswap Spokane Tenino Thompson Tyigh Umatilla Walla Walla Wanapam Wauyukma Wenatchi Yakima
Southeast Language groups: Algonquian, Atakapa, Caddoan, Chitimacha, Iroquoian, Muskogean, Natchez, Siouan, Timucuan, Tunican, Yuchi Ais Alabama Anadarko (Hasinai Confederacy) Apalachee Apalachicola Atakapa Bayogoula Biloxi Calusa Cape Fear
Catawba Cheraw Cherokee Chiaha Chickasaw Chitimacha Choctaw Coushatta Creek Guale Guasco (Hasinai Confederacy)
Tribes by Culture Area
Hitchiti Houma Jeaga Manahoac (Mahock) Mobile Nabedache (Hasinai Confederacy) Natchez Ocaneechi Ofo Pamlico Pawokti Powhatan Confederacy
/
989
Seminole Texas (Hasinai Confederacy) Timucua Tiou Tohome Tunica Tuscarora Tuskegee Tutelo Waccamaw Yamasee Yazoo Yuchi
Southwest Language groups: Athapaskan, Keres, Kiowa-Tanoan, Uto-Aztecan, Yuman, Zuni Acoma Apache (including Chiricahua, Jicarilla, and Mescalero) Cochiti Havasupai Hopi Isleta Jemez Karankawa Laguna Nambe Navajo Picuris Pima Pojoaque
San Felipe San Ildefonso San Juan Sandia Santa Ana Santa Clara Santo Domingo Taos Tesuque Tohono O’odham Walapai Yaqui Yavapai Zia Zuñi
990
/
Tribes by Culture Area
Subarctic Language Groups: Algonquian, Athapaskan, Eskimo-Aleut Ahtna Beaver Carrier Chilcotin Chipewyan Cree Dogrib Haida Han Hare Ingalik Inland Tlingit
Koyukon Kutchin Montagnais Mountain Naskapi Saulteaux Slave Tagish Tanaina Tanana Tsetsaut Yellowknife
991
Bibliography The following select bibliography of works on American Indians is organized into four categories: General Studies and Reference, History, Culture Areas (with eight subsections), and Contemporary Life. —C.A.B. GENERAL STUDIES AND REFERENCE American Indian Tribes. 2 vols. Pasadena, Calif.: Salem Press, 2000. Barrett, Carole A., ed. American Indian History. 2 vols. Pasadena, Calif.: Salem Press, 2002. Bataille, Gretchen M., ed. Native American Women: A Biographical Dictionary. New York: Garland, 1993. Bataille, Gretchen M., and Kathleen M. Sands. American Indian Women Telling Their Lives. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984. Berlo, Catherine. Spirit Beings and Sun Dancers: Black Hawk’s Vision of the Lakota World. New York: George Braziller, 2000. Berlo, Catherine, and Ruth Phillips. Native North American Art. New York: Oxford History of Art, 1998. Bierhorst, John. The Mythology of North America. New York: William Morrow, 1985. Boas, Franz. Handbook for American Indian Languages. 3 parts. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 40. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1911. Bowden, Henry Warner. American Indians and Christian Missions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981. Brumble, H. David. An Annotated Bibliography of American Indian and Eskimo Autobiographies. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1981. Campbell, Lyle, and Marianne Mithune, eds. The Languages of Native America: Historical and Comparative Assessment. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1979. Coe, Michael, et al. Atlas of Ancient America. New York: Facts on File, 1986.
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Cohen, Felix. Felix Cohen’s Handbook of Federal Indian Law. 2d ed. Charlottesville, Va.: Michie/Bobbs-Merrill, 1982. Culin, Stewart. Games of the North American Indians. Bureau of American Ethnology, Annual Report 24 (1902-1903). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1907. Curtis, Natalie. The Indians’ Book. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1923. Dawdy, Doris O., comp. Annotated Bibliography of American Indian Painting. Contributions from the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, vol. 21, pt. 2. New York: Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, 1968. Dobyns, Henry F. Native American Historical Demography: A Critical Bibliography. Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian Bibliographical Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1976. Dockstader, Frederick J. Indian Art in America: The Arts and Crafts of the North American Indians. Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphics Society, 1961. Driver, Harold. Indians of North America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975. Eggan, Fred, ed. Social Anthropology of North American Tribes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966. Erdoes, Richard, and Alfonso Ortiz, eds. American Indian Myths and Legends. New York: Pantheon Books, 1984. Feest, Christian F. Native Arts of North America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980. Gill, Sam D. Native American Religions: An Introduction. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1982. Gill, Sam D., and Irene F. Sullivan, comps. Dictionary of Native American Mythology. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 1992. Green, Rayna. Native American Women: A Contextual Bibliography. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1983. Haas, Marilyn L. Indians of North America: Sources for Library Research. Hamden, Conn.: Library Professional Publications, 1983. Hamilton, Charles, ed. Cry of the Thunderbird. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972.
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Hamlin-Wilson, Gail, ed. Biographical Dictionary of the Indians of the Americas. 2 vols. Newport Beach, Calif.: American Indian Publishers, 1991. Harris, R. Cole, ed. Historical Atlas of Canada: From the Beginning to 1800. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1987. Heard, J. Norman. Handbook of the American Frontier: Four Centuries of Indian-White Relations. 3 vols. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1987-1992. Hill, Edward E., comp. Guide to the Records of the National Archives of the United States Relating to American Indians. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Service, 1981. Hirschfelder, Arlene B., et al. Guide to Research on North American Indians. Chicago: American Library Association, 1983. Hirschfelder, Arlene B., and Paulette Molin, comps. The Encyclopedia of Native American Religions: An Introduction. New York: Facts on File, 1992. Hodge, Frederick W., ed. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. 2 vols. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1907-1910. Horr, David A., comp. and ed. American Indian Ethnohistory. 118 vols. New York: Garland, 1974. Hoxie, Frederick E., ed. Indians in American History: An Introduction. Arlington Heights, Ill.: Harlan Davidson, 1988. Hoxie, Frederick E., and Harvey Markowitz, comps. Native Americans: An Annotated Bibliography. Pasadena, Calif.: Salem Press, 1990. Hultkrantz, Ake. The Religions of the American Indians. Translated by Monica Setterwall. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967. Hurt, R. Douglas. Indian Agriculture in America: Prehistory to the Present. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1987. Jenness, Diamond. The Indians of Canada. Ottawa: F. A. Acland, 1932. Johnson, Steven L. Guide to American Indian Documents in the Congressional Series Set, 1817-1899. New York: Clearwater, 1977. Josephy, Alvin M., Jr., ed., and William Brandon. The American Heritage Book of Indians. New York: American Heritage, 1961.
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Kapplar, Charles. Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties. 2 vols. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1904-1941. Klein, Barry T., ed. Reference Encyclopedia of the American Indian. 2 vols. 4th ed. New York: Todd, 1986. Krech, Shepard, III. Native Canadian Anthropology and History: A Selective Bibliography. Winnipeg: Rupert’s Land Research Centre, University of Winnipeg, 1986. Krupat, Arnold. For Those Who Come After: A Study of Native American Autobiography. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985. Laubin, Reginald, and Gladys Laubin. Indian Dances of North America. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1977. Leacock, Eleanor Burke, and Nancy O. Lurie, eds. North American Indians in Historical Perspective. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press, 1988. Liberty, Margot, ed. American Indian Intellectuals. St. Paul, Minn.: West, 1978. Littlefield, Daniel F., Jr., and James W. Parin. A Biobibliography of Native American Writers, 1772-1924. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1981. _______. A Biobibliography of Native American Writers, 1772-1924: Supplement. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1981. Markowitz, Harvey. American Indian Biographies. Pasadena, Calif.: Salem Press, 1998. _______. Ready Reference: American Indians. 3 vols. Pasadena, Calif.: Salem Press, 1995. Marriott, Alice Lee, and Carol Rachlin. American Indian Mythology. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1964. Murdock, George Peter, and Timothy J. O’Leary. Ethnographic Bibliography of North America. 4th ed. 5 vols. New Haven, Conn.: Human Relations Area Files Press, 1975. Nabokov, Peter. Native American Testimony. New York: Harper & Row, 1979. Nabokov, Peter, and Robert Easton. Native American Architecture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Orchard, William C. Beads and Beadwork of the American Indian. New York: Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, 1929.
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_______. The Technique of Porcupine-Quill Decoration Among the North American Indians. New York: Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, 1971. Prucha, Francis Paul. A Bibliographical Guide to the History of IndianWhite Relations in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977. _______, ed. Documents of United States Indian Policy. 2d ed., expanded. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990. _______. Indian-White Relations in the United States: A Bibliography of Works Published 1975-1980. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982. Ronda, James, and James Axtell. Indian Missions: A Critical Bibliography. Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian Bibliographical Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978. Ruoff, A. Lavonne, and Karl Kroeber. American Indian Literatures in the United States: A Basic Bibliography for Teachers. New York: Association for the Study of American Indian Literature, 1983. Schusky, Ernest L., ed. Political Organization of Native North Americans. Washington, D.C.: University of America Press, 1980. Smith, Jane F., and Robert M. Kvasnicka, eds. Indian-White Relations: A Persistent Paradox. Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press, 1976. Snipp, C. Mathew. American Indians: The First of This Land. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1989. Snow, Dean R. The American Indians: Their Archaeology and Prehistory. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1976. _______. Native American Prehistory: A Critical Bibliography. Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian Bibliographical Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1979. Spencer, Robert F., Jesse D. Jennings, et al. The Native Americans. New York: Harper & Row, 1977. Stewart, Omer C. Peyote Religion: A History. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987.
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Stuart, Paul. Nations Within a Nation: Historic Statistics of American Indians. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1987. Sturtevant, William C., gen. ed. Handbook of North American Indians. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1978. Sullivan, Lawrence E., ed. Native American Religions: North America. New York: Macmillan, 1987. Swann, Brian. Smoothing the Ground: Essays on Native American Oral Literature. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983. Taylor, Colin. Native American Weapons. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 2001. Tedlock, Dennis, and Barbara Tedlock, eds. Teachings from the American Earth: Indian Religion and Philosophy. New York: Liveright Press, 1975. Thornton, Russell, and Mary K. Gramsmick. Sociology of American Indians: A Critical Bibliography. Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian Bibliographical Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980. Tyler, S. Lyman. A History of Indian Policy. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1973. Ullom, Judith C., ed. Folklore of the North American Indians: An Annotated Bibliography. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1969. Underhill, Ruth M. Red Man’s Religion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965. Utley, Robert M., and Wilcomb B. Washburn. The American Heritage History of the Indian Wars. New York: American Heritage, 1977. Vogel, Virgil. American Indian Medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970. Waldman, Carl. Atlas of the North American Indians. New York: Facts on File, 1985. Washburn, Wilcomb E. History of Indian-White Relations. Vol. 4 in Handbook of North American Indians. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1988. _______, comp. and ed. The American Indian and the United States. 4 vols. New York: Random House, 1973.
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HISTORY Adams, David Wallace. Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience, 1875-1928. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1995. Adams, Howard. Prison of Grass: Canada from the Native Point of View. Toronto: New Press, 1975. Axtell, James. The European and the Indian: Essays in the Ethnohistory of Colonial North America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981. Berkhofer, Robert F., Jr. Salvation and the Savage: An Analysis of Protestant Missions and American Indian Response 1787-1862. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1965. Bowden, Henry W. American Indians and Christian Missions: Studies in Cultural Conflict. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981. Brown, Dee A. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West. New York: Henry Holt, 1970. Brown, Jennifer S. H. Strangers in Blood: Fur Trade Company Families in Indian Country. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1980. Burt, Larry W. Tribalism in Crisis: Federal Indian Policy, 1953-1961. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1982. Calloway, Colin G. Crown and Calumet: British-Indian Relations, 1783-1815. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987. Child, Brenda. Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000. Cook, Sherburne F. The Conflict Between the California Indian and White Civilization. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974. Cronon, William. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. New York: Hill & Wang, 1983. Crosby, Alfred W., Jr. The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1972. Crow Dog, Leonard, and Richard Erdoes. Crow Dog: Four Generations of Sioux Medicine Men. New York: HarperCollins, 1995. Curtis, Edward S. In a Sacred Manner We Live. Barre, Mass.: Barre Publishers, 1972.
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Hauptman, Laurence. The Iroquois and the New Deal. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1981. Hauptman, Laurence M., and James D. Wherry. The Pequots in Southern New England: The Fall and Rise of an American Indian Nation. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993. Horsman, Reginald. Expansion and American Indian Policy, 17831812. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1967. Hoxie, Frederick E. A Final Promise: The Campaign to Assimilate the Indians, 1880-1920. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984. Huddleston, Lee Eldridge. Origins of the American Indians: European Concepts, 1492-1729. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1967. Jackson, Helen Hunt. A Century of Dishonor: A Sketch of the United States Government’s Dealings with Some of the Indian Tribes. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1881. Jacobs, Wilbur R. Dispossessing the American Indian: Indians and Whites on the Colonial Frontier. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1972. Jaenen, Cornelius J. Friend and Foe: Aspects of French-Amerindian Cultural Contact in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. New York: Columbia University Press, 1976. Jennings, Francis. The Invasion of America. New York: W. W. Norton, 1975. John, Elizabeth A. H. Storms Brewed in Other Men’s Worlds: The Confrontation of Indians, Spanish, and French in the Southwest, 15401795. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1975. Jones, Dorothy V. License for Empire: Colonialism by Treaty in Early America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982. Keller, Robert H. American Protestantism and United States Indian Policy, 1869-82. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983. Kennedy, John H. Jesuit and Savage in New France. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1950. La Flesche, Francis. The Middle Five. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1978. Lame Deer, Archie Fire, and Richard Erdoes. Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions. New York: Pocket Books, 1978.
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United States Indian Policy, 1865-1887. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1942. Prucha, Francis Paul. The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1986. Ray, Arthur J. Indians in the Fur Trade: Their Role as Trappers, Hunters, and Middlemen in the Lands Southwest of Hudson Bay, 1660-1870. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1974. Reyhner, Jon, and Jeanne Eder. A History of Indian Education. Billings: Eastern Montana College, 1989. Riney, Scott. The Rapid City Indian School, 1898-1933. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999. St. Pierre, Mark. Madonna Swan: A Lakota Woman’s Story. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991. Salisbury, Neal. Manitou and Providence: Indians, Europeans, and the Making of New England. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982. Satz, Ronald N. American Indian Policy in the Jacksonian Era. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1975. Sheehan, Bernard W. Savagism and Civility: Indians and Englishmen in Colonial Virginia. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980. _______. Seeds of Extinction: Jeffersonian Philanthropy and the American Indian. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1973. Szasz, Margaret C. Indian Education in the American Colonies, 16071783. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1988. Trennert, Robert A., Jr. Alternative to Extinction: Federal Indian Policy and the Beginnings of the Reservation System, 1846-51. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1975. Trigger, Bruce G. Natives and Newcomers: Canada’s “Heroic Age” Reconsidered. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1985. Utley, Robert M. The Indian Frontier of the American West, 1846-1890. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984. _______. The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull. New York: Ballantine Books, 1994.
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Heizer, Robert F., and Theodora Kroeber, eds. Ishi, the Last Yahi: A Documentary History. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979. Heizer, Robert F., and Mary A. Whipple, comps. and eds. The California Indians: A Source Book. 2d rev., enlarged ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971. Kroeber, Theodora, and Robert F. Heizer. Almost Ancestors: The First Californians, edited by F. David Hales. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1968. Ray, Verne F. Primitive Pragmatists: The Modoc Indians of Northern California. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1963. Shipek, Florence C. Pushed into the Rocks: Southern California Indian Land Tenure, 1769-1986. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1987. Great Basin Bunte, Pamela A., and Robert J. Franklin. From the Sands to the Mountain: Change and Persistence in a Southern Paiute Community. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1987. D’Azevedo, Warren L. Great Basin. Vol. 11 in Handbook of North American Indians. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1986. _______, ed. and comp. The Washo Indians of California and Nevada. University of Utah Anthropological Papers 67. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1963. Densmore, Frances. Northern Ute Music. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 75. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1922. Fowler, Don D., ed. Great Basin Cultural Ecology: A Symposium. Desert Research Institute Publications in the Social Sciences 8. Reno, Nev.: Publications Office of the Desert Research Institute, 1972. Hopkins, Sarah Winnemucca. Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1883. Knack, Martha. Life Is with People. Socorro, N.Mex.: Ballena Press, 1980.
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Knack, Martha, and Omer C. Stewart. As Long as the River Shall Run: An Ethnohistory of Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. Laird, Carobeth. Mirror and Pattern: George Laird’s World of Chemehuevi Mythology. Banning, Calif.: Malki Museum Press, 1984. Madsen, Brigham D. The Bannock of Idaho. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers, 1958. Steward, Julian H. Basin-Plateau Aboriginal Sociopolitical Groups. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 120. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1938. Stewart, Omer C. Indians of the Great Basin: A Critical Bibliography. Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian Bibliographical Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1982. Northeast Anson, Bert. The Miami Indians. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970. Barnouw, Victor. Wisconsin Chippewa Myths and Tales and Their Relation to Chippewa Life. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1977. Black Hawk (Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak). An Autobiography, edited by Donald Jackson. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1955. Brose, David S., et al. Ancient Art of the American Woodlands Indians. New York: Harry N. Abrams, in association with the Detroit Institute of Arts, 1985. Clifton, James A. The Prairie People: Continuity and Change in Potawatomi Indian Culture, 1665-1965. Lawrence: Regents Press of Kansas, 1977. Densmore, Frances. Chippewa Customs. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 86. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1929. _______. Chippewa Music. 2 vols. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletins 45 and 53. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1910-1913.
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_______. Uses of Plants by the Chippewa Indians. Bureau of American Ethnology, Annual Report 44 (1926-1927). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1928. Edmunds, R. David. The Potawatomis: Keepers of the Fire. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1978. Gibson, Arrell M. The Kickapoos: Lords of the Middle Border. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963. Hagan, William T. The Sac and the Fox Indians. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958. Hale, Horatio E., ed. The Iroquois Book of Rites. Brinton’s Library of Aboriginal American Literature 11. Philadelphia: D. G. Brinton, 1883. Hickerson, Harold. The Chippewa and Their Neighbors: A Study in Ethnohistory. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press, 1988. Kinietz, W. Vernon. The Indians of the Western Great Lakes, 16151760. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1940. Landes, Ruth. Ojibwa Religion and the Mdewiwin. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1968. _______. Ojibwa Sociology. Columbia University Contributions to Anthropology 29. New York: Columbia University Press, 1937. Lyford, Carrie A. Iroquois Crafts. Lawrence, Kans.: Haskell Institute Press, 1945. _______. Ojibway Crafts. Lawrence, Kans.: Haskell Institute Press, 1943. Mason, Ronald J. Great Lakes Archaeology. New York: Academic Press, 1981. Morgan, Lewis Henry. League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee or Iroquois. Rochester, N.Y.: Sage and Brothers, 1851. Morgan, William N. Prehistoric Architecture in the Eastern United States. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1980. Mountain Wolf Woman. Mountain Wolf Woman, Sister of Crashing Thunder: The Autobiography of a Winnebago Indian, edited by Nancy O. Lurie. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1961. Quimby, George I. Indian Life in the Upper Great Lakes: 11,000 B.C. to A.D. 1800. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960.
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Radin, Paul. The Winnebago Tribe. Bureau of American Ethnology, Annual Report 37 (1915-1916). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1923. _______, ed. The Autobiography of a Winnebago Indian. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, vol. 16, no. 7. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1920. Ritzenthaler, Robert E., and Pat Ritzenthaler. The Woodland Indians of the Western Great Lakes. Garden City, N.Y.: Natural History Press, 1970. Salisbury, Neal. The Indians of New England: A Critical Bibliography. Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian Bibliographical Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1982. Snow, Dean R. The Archaeology of New England. New York: Academic Press, 1980. Tanner, Helen Hornbeck, et al. Atlas of Great Lakes Indian History. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986. Tooker, Elisabeth. The Indians of the Northeast: A Critical Bibliography. Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian Bibliographical Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978. _______, ed. Native North American Spirituality of the Eastern Woodlands: Sacred Myths, Dreams, Visions, Speeches, Healing Formulas, Rituals, and Ceremonies. Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1979. Trigger, Bruce G. The Huron: Farmers of the North. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969. _______, ed. Northeast. Vol. 15 in Handbook of North American Indians. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1978. Vennum, Thomas, Jr. Wild Rice and the Ojibway People. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1988. Wallace, Anthony F. C. The Death and Rebirth of the Seneca. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1969. Webb, William S., and Charles E. Snow. The Adena People. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1974.
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Northwest Coast and Plateau Amoss, Pamela. Coast Salish Spirit Dancing: The Survival of an Ancestral Religion. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1978. Boas, Franz. Kwakiutl Ethnography, edited by Helen Codere. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966. Codere, Helen. Fighting with Property: A Study of Kwakiutl Potlatching and Warfare 1792-1930. New York: J. J. Augustin, 1950. Drucker, Philip. Cultures of the North Pacific Coast. San Francisco: Chandler, 1965. Fahey, John. The Flathead Indians. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1974. Grumet, Robert S. Native Americans of the Northwest Coast: A Critical Bibliography. Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian Bibliographical Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1979. Haines, Francis. The Nez Percé: Tribesmen of the Columbian Plateau. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1955. Inverarity, Robert B. Art of the Northwest Coast Indians. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1950. Kirk, Ruth, and Richard D. Daughtery. Exploring Washington Archaeology. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1978. Miller, Jay, and Carol Eastman, ed. The Tsimshian and Their Neighbors on the North Pacific Coast. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1984. Mourning Dove (Humishuma). Coyote Stories, edited by Jay Miller. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990. _______. Mourning Dove: A Salishan Autobiography, edited by Jay Miller. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990. People of ‘Ksan. Gathering What the Great Nature Provided: Food Traditions of the Gitksan. Vancouver: Douglas and McIntyre and Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1980. Ruby, Robert H., and John A. Brown. A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986. Samuel, Cheryl. The Chilkat Dancing Blanket. Seattle: Pacific Search Press, 1982.
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Spradley, James, ed. Guests Never Leave Hungry: The Autobiography of James Sewid, a Kwakiutl Indian. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1969. Stewart, Hilary. Artifacts of the Northwest Coast Indians. Saanichton, British Columbia: Hancock House Publishers, 1973. _______. Cedar: Tree of Life to the Northwest Coast Indians. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1984. _______. Indian Fishing: Early Methods on the Northwest Coast. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1977. Plains Albers, Patricia, and Beatrice Medicine. The Hidden Half: Studies in Plains Indian Women. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1983. Baird, W. David. The Quapaw Indians: A History of the Downstream People. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1981. Berthrong, Donald J. The Southern Cheyennes. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963. Black Elk, as told to John G. Neihardt. Black Elk Speaks. New York: William Morrow, 1932. Blaine, Martha R. The Pawnees: A Critical Bibliography. Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian Bibliographical Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980. Blish, Helen H. A Pictographic History of the Oglala Sioux, Drawings by Amos Bad Heart Bull. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1967. Bowers, Alfred W. Mandan Social and Ceremonial Organization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1950. Brown, Joseph E. The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk’s Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1953. DeMallie, Raymond, ed. The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk’s Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984. DeMallie, Raymond, and Douglas R. Parks, eds. Sioux Indian Religion. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987.
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Bibliography
Densmore, Frances. Cheyenne and Arapaho Music. Southwest Museum Papers 10. Los Angeles: Southwest Museum, 1936. _______. Mandan and Hidatsa Music. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 80. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1923. _______. Pawnee Music. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 93. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1929. _______. Teton Sioux Music. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 61. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1918. Dorsey, George A. The Cheyenne. Field Columbian Museum Anthropological Series, vol. 9, nos. 1 and 2. Chicago: The Museum, 1905. Ewers, John C. The Blackfeet: Raiders on the Northwestern Plains. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958. _______. Blackfoot Crafts. Lawrence, Kans.: Haskell Institute Printing Department, 1945. _______. The Horse in Blackfoot Culture. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 159. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1955. Fletcher, Alice C. The Hako: A Pawnee Ceremony. Bureau of American Ethnology, Annual Report 22. (1900-1901). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1904. Fletcher, Alice C., and Francis La Flesche. The Omaha Tribe. 2 vols. Bureau of American Ethnology, Annual Report 27 (1905-1906). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1911. Fowler, Loretta. Arapahoe Politics, 1851-1978. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982. Frison, George. Prehistoric Hunters of the High Plains. New York: Academic Press, 1978. Gilmore, Melvin R. Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region. Bureau of American Ethnology, Annual Report 33 (19111912). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1919. Grinnell, George B. The Cheyenne Indians: Their History and Ways of Life. 2 vols. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1923. Hassrick, Royal B. The Sioux: Life and Customs of a Warrior Society. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1964.
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Hoebel, E. Adamson. The Plains Indians: A Critical Bibliography. Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian Bibliographical Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1979. Holder, Preston. The Hoe and the Horse on the Plains. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1970. Hyde, George E.. Spotted Tail’s Folk: A History of the Brule Sioux. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1961. Iverson, Peter, ed. The Plains Indians of the Twentieth Century. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985. Llewellen, Karl N., and E. Adamson Hoebel. The Cheyenne Way: Conflict and Case Law in Primitive Jurisprudence. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1941. Lowie, Robert H. The Crow Indians. New York: Farrar and Rinehart, 1935. _______. Indians of the Plains. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1954. _______. Myths and Traditions of the Crow Indians. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, vol. 25, pt. 1. New York: Order of Trustees, 1918. _______. Social Life of the Crow Indians. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, vol. 9, pt. 2. New York: Order of Trustees, 1912. Lyford, Carrie A. Quill and Beadwork of the Western Sioux. Lawrence, Kans.: Printing Department, Haskell Institute, 1940. Mandelbaum, David G. The Plains Cree. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, vol. 37, pt. 2. New York: Order of Trustees, 1940. Murie, James R. Ceremonies of the Pawnee. 2 parts, edited by Douglas R. Parks. 2 vols. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981. Newkumet, Vynola Beaver, and Howard L. Meridith. Hasinai: A Traditional History of the Caddo Confederacy. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1988. Petersen, Karen D. Plains Indian Art from Fort Marion. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971. Plenty Coups. American: The Life Story of a Great Indian, Plenty-
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Bibliography
coups, Chief of the Crows, edited by Frank B. Linderman. New York: World Book, 1930. Powell, Peter J. The Cheyennes, Ma’heo’o’s People: A Critical Bibliography. Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian Bibliographical Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980. _______. People of the Sacred Mountain: A History of the Northern Cheyenne Chiefs and Warrior Societies, 1830-1879. 2 vols. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1981. Powers, William K. Yuwipi: Vision and Experience in Oglala Ritual. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982. Standing Bear, Luther. My People the Sioux. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1928. Stands in Timber, John, and Margot Liberty. Cheyenne Memories. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1967. Unrau, William E. The Emigrant Indians of Kansas: A Critical Bibliography. Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian Bibliographical Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1979. Voget, Fred W. The Shoshoni-Crow Sun Dance. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1984. Walker, James R. Lakota Belief and Ritual, edited by Raymond J. DeMallie and Elaine A. Jahner. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1980. _______. Lakota Myth, edited by Elaine A. Jahner. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983. _______. Lakota Society, edited by Raymond J. DeMallie. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982. Wedel, Waldo R., ed. A Plains Archaeology Source Book: Selected Papers of the Nebraska Historical Society. New York: Garland, 1985. Weist, Katherine M., and Susan R. Sharrock. An Annotated Bibliography of Northern Plains Ethnohistory. Missoula: Department of Anthropology, University of Montana, 1985. Wildschut, W., and John C. Ewers. Crow Indian Beadwork. New York: Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, 1959.
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Will, George F., and George E. Hyde. Corn Among the Indians of the Upper Missouri. St. Louis, Mo.: William Harvey Minor Co., 1917. Wissler, Clark, ed. Societies of the Plains Indians. American Museum of Natural History, Anthropological Papers, vol. 11., pts. 1-13. New York: The Trustees, 1912-1916. Wood, W. Raymond, and Margot Liberty, eds. Anthropology on the Great Plains. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1980. Zimmerman, Larry J. Peoples of Prehistoric South Dakota. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1985. Southeast Baird, W. David. The Chickasaw People. Phoenix: Indian Tribal Series, 1974. _______. The Choctaw People. Phoenix: Indian Tribal Series, 1973. _______. Peter Pitchlynn: Chief of the Choctaws. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972. Blu, Karen I. The Lumbee Problem: The Making of an American Indian People. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1980. Densmore, Frances. Choctaw Music. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 136. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1943. _______. Seminole Music. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 161. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1956. Edmunds, R. David. The Shawnee Prophet. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983. Fogelson, Raymond D. The Cherokees: A Critical Bibliography. Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian Bibliographical Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978. Gilliland, Marion Spjut. The Material Culture of Key Marco, Florida. Gainesville: University Presses of Florida, 1975. Green, Michael D. The Creeks: A Critical Bibliography. Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian Bibliographical Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1979. Hudson, Charles M., ed. Ethnology of the Southeastern Indians. New York: Garland, 1985.
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Bibliography
_______. The Southeastern Indians. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1976. Kidwell, Clara Sue, and Charles Roberts. The Choctaws: A Critical Bibliography. Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian Bibliographical Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980. King, Duane H., ed. The Cherokee Indian Nation: A Troubled History. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1979. McReynolds, Edwin C. The Seminoles. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1957. Merrell, James H. The Indians’ New World: Catawbas and Their Neighbors from European Contact Through the Era of Removal. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1989. Milanich, Jerald T., and Charles H. Fairbanks. Florida Archaeology. New York: Academic Press, 1980. Mooney, James. Myths of the Cherokee. Bureau of American Ethnology, Annual Report 19 (1897-1898). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1900. _______. The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees. Bureau of American Ethnology, Annual Report 7 (1885-1886). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1891. Rountree, Helen C. The Powhatan Indians of Virginia: Their Traditional Culture. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989. Swanton, John R. The Indians of the Southeastern United States. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 137. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946. _______. Myths and Tales of the Southeastern Indians. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 88. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1929. Walthall, John A. Prehistoric Indians of the Southeast: Archaeology of Alabama and the Middle South. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1980.
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Southwest Basso, Keith H., ed. Western Apache Raiding and Warfare, from the Notes of Grenville Goodwin. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1971. Benedict, Ruth. Zuni Mythology. 2 vols. New York: Columbia University Press, 1935. Bunzel, Ruth L. The Pueblo Potter: A Study of Creative Imagination in Primitive Art. New York: Columbia University Press, 1929. Cordell, Linda S. Prehistory of the Southwest. Orlando, Fla.: Academic Press, 1984. Densmore, Frances. Papago Music. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 90. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1929. Dobyns, Henry F., and Robert C. Euler. Indians of the Southwest. Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian Bibliographical Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980. Dozier, Edward P. Hano: A Tewa Indian Community in Arizona. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966. Eggan, Fred. Social Organization of the Western Pueblos. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1950. Ferguson, T. J., and Richard E. Hart. A Zuni Atlas. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985. Foster, Morris. Being Comanche: A Social History of an American Indian Community. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1991. Frisbie, Charlotte J. Navajo Medicine Bundles or Jish: Acquisition, Transmission, and Disposition in the Past and Present. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1987. Goodman, James M. The Navajo Atlas: Environments, Resources, People, and History of the Dine Bikeyah. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1982. Haile, O. F. M., Fr. Berard, comp. and trans. Navajo Coyote Tales: The Curly To Aheeddliinii Version, edited by Karl Luckert. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984. Iverson, Peter. Carlos Montezuma and the Changing World of American Indians. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1982.
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_______. The Navajo Nation. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1981. _______. The Navajos: A Critical Bibliography. Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian Bibliographical Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1976. Kent, Kate Peck. Navajo Weaving: Three Centuries of Change. Santa Fe, N.Mex.: School of American Research Press, 1985. _______. Prehistoric Textiles of the Southwest. Santa Fe: School of American Research and Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1983. Kluckhohn, Clyde. Navaho Witchcraft. Boston: Beacon Press, 1962. Laird, W. David. Hopi Bibliography, Comprehensive and Annotated. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1977. Lamphere, Louise. To Run After Them: Cultural and Social Bases of Cooperation in a Navajo Community. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1977. Leighton, Dorothea, and John Adair. People of the Middle Place: A Study of the Zuni Indians. New Haven, Conn.: Human Relations Area Files Press, 1966. Lister, Robert H., and Florence C. Lister. Chaco Canyon: Archaeology and Archaeologists. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1981. Melody, Michael Edward. The Apache: A Critical Bibliography. Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian Bibliographical Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1977. _______. The Tewa World: Space, Time, Being, and Becoming in a Pueblo Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969. Ortiz, Alfonso, ed. New Perspectives on the Pueblos. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1972. _______, ed. Southwest. Vol. 9 in Handbook of North American Indians. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1979. _______, ed. Southwest. Vol. 10 in Handbook of North American Indians. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1983. Parsons, Elsie C. Pueblo Indian Religion. 2 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1939.
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Reichard, Gladys A. Navaho Indian Religion: A Study of Symbolism. 2 vols. New York: Pantheon Books, 1950. Stevenson, Matilda C. The Zuni Indians: Their Mythology, Esoteric Fraternities, and Ceremonies. Bureau of American Ethnology, Annual Report 23 (1901-1902). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1904. Tanner, Clara Lee. Prehistoric Southwestern Craft Arts. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1976. _______. Southwest Indian Painting: A Changing Art. 2d ed. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1973. Underhill, Ruth M. Papago Woman. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1979. Whitewolf, Jim. The Life of a Kiowa Apache Indian, edited by Charles S. Brant. New York: Dover, 1969. Wills, W. H. Early Prehistoric Agriculture in the American Southwest. Santa Fe, N.Mex.: School of American Research Press, 1988.
CONTEMPORARY LIFE Ambler, Marjane. Breaking the Iron Bonds: Indian Control of Energy Development. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1990. Berkhofer, Robert, Jr. The White Man’s Indian. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978. Deloria, Vine, Jr. Behind the Trail of Broken Treaties: An Indian Declaration of Independence. New York: Delta, 1974. _______. God Is Red. New York: Grosset & Dunlop, 1973. Fixico, Donald L. The Urban Indian Experience in America. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2000. Fuchs, Estelle, and Robert Havighurst. To Live on This Earth. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1972. Hagan, William T. Indian Police and Judges: Experiments in Acculturation and Control. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1980. Hertzberg, Hazel W. The Search for an American Indian Identity: Modern Pan-Indian Movements. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1971.
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Bibliography
Highwater, Jamake. The Sweet Grass Lives On: Fifty Contemporary North American Indian Artists. New York: Lippincott and Thomas Y. Crowell, 1980. Hobson, Geary, ed. The Remembered Earth: An Anthology of Contemporary Native American Literature. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1979. Hyer, Sally. One House, One Voice, One Heart: Native American Education at Santa Fe Indian School. Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, 1990. Johnston, Basil. Indian School Days. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989. McNickle, D’Arcy. The Surrounded. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1936. Mihesuah, Devon A. American Indians: Stereotypes and Realities. Atlanta: Clarity Press, 1996. _______. Repatriation Reader: Who Owns American Indian Remains? Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000. Milloy, John S. A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879-1986. Winnipeg: The University of Manitoba Press, 1999. Momaday, N. Scott. House Made of Dawn. New York: Harper & Row, 1968. O’Brien, Sharon. American Indian Tribal Governments. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989. Red Horse, John, et al. The American Indian Family: Strengths and Stresses. Isleta, N.Mex.: American Indian Social Research and Development Associates, 1981. Rosen, Kenneth. The Man to Send Rain Clouds: Contemporary Stories by American Indians. New York: Viking Press, 1974. Silko, Leslie M. Ceremony. New York: Viking Press, 1977. Smith, Paul Chaat, and Robert Allen Warrior. Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee. New York: New Press, 1996. Waddell, Jack O., and O. Michael Watson, eds. The American Indian in Urban Society. Boston: Little, Brown, 1971. Welch, James. Winter in the Blood. New York: Harper & Row, 1974.
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Web Resources American Indian Heritage Foundation (AIHF) http://www.indians.org/ This national foundation, dedicated to assisting underprivileged Native Americans, maintains a resource page with links to federally recognized tribes, Native American literature and art essays and links, and a broad array of other links organized topically. American Indian History and Related Issues http://www.csulb.edu/projects/ais/ A wide-ranging list of links to sites dealing with mostly modern American Indian history. Contains links to tribal home pages, federal departments, image banks, cultural resources, and much more. American Indian History as Told by American Indians http://www.manataka.org/page10.html Links to over one hundred U.S. and Canadian Native American sites with information on American Indian history from a native perspective. American Indian Library Association (AILA) http://www.nativeculture.com/lisamitten/aila.html The affiliate of the American Library Association devoted to Native American libraries, librarians, and collections, offering access to the AILA newsletter and listservs. American Indian Resources http://jupiter.lang.osaka-u.ac.jp/~krkvls/naindex.html A collection of links for academic research in Native American studies. Includes links to oral and written tribal histories, primary source documents, maps, and bibliographies.
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Web Resources
American Indian Tribal Directory http://www.indians.org/tribes/tribes.html Site of the American Indian Heritage Foundation, with a useful directory to all federally recognized tribes and resource library. Black-Indian History Resources http://anpa.ualr.edu/f_black_indian.htm A fascinating site on the intermixing of African Americans and the Five Civilized Tribes. CodeTalk http://www.codetalk.fed.us/ Hosted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Native American Programs, a federal Web site designed as a central electronic resource for all government offices and programs affecting Native Americans. Links to most federal government offices dealing with Indian affairs. Diversity and Ethnic Studies: Recommended American Indian Web Sites http://www.public.iastate.edu/~savega/amer_ind.htm A list of academically reliable Web sites, including links to a number of online journals and newspapers. Doe & Moffitt Libraries, Native American Collections http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/doemoff/gov_ntvam.html The University of California at Berkeley maintains this site, which offers comprehensive links for researching Native American history and culture, including bibliographies and directories; guides and handbooks; law and civil rights; treaties and federal programs; congressional publications; statistical indexes and guides; basic statistics; census data; declassified federal documents and federal surveillance files; special collections; California documents; and Internet resources.
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Edward S. Curtis’s The North American Indian http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award98/ienhtml/ curthome.htmlE Allows search on the text and images of this controversial yet highly influential publication, issued 1907-1930. Curtis’s monumental twenty-volume work contains more than two thousand photogravure images and narrative, representing traditional customs and lifeways of eighty Indian tribes. Organized by tribes and culture areas. The site features more than fifteen hundred illustrations and more than seven hundred plates, browsable or searchable by subject, tribe, or geographic locale. First Nation Information Project http://www.johnco.com/firstnat/index.html A very thorough resource for information on all aspects of life among the Canadian First Nations. First Nations Histories http://www.tolatsga.org/Compacts.html Provides short histories of all Canadian First Nations, along with bibliographies and maps. Harvard University Pluralism Project http://www.pluralism.org A search page offers access to a list and links to Native American spiritual centers nationwide. Index of Native American Resources on the Internet http://www.hanksville.org/NAresources/ A comprehensive index to Internet resources, frequently updated. Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/index.htm A digitized edition of Charles J. Keppler’s 1904 work on the relations between the U.S. government and Native American tribes.
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Indian Peoples of the Northern Great Plains http://libmuse.msu.montana.edu:4000/NAD/nad.home A searchable photographic database. Indian Trusts Assets Management http://www.doi.gov/indiantrust/index.html The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Web site covering issues regarding Indian Trusts, with updates on the ongoing legal disputes. Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) http://www.iaiancad.org/ Established in 1962 by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the is now an independent two-year college, contemporary Indian art musuem, and member of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Its site offers information about programs and exhibitions, a tour of the collection, and access to the virtual library by tribe, subject, or geographical locale. Internet Law Library: Indian Nations and Tribes http://www.nsulaw.nova.edu/library/ushouse/31.htm Links to numerous sites with information on legal relations between the U.S. government and Native American tribes. Includes a number of links dealing with treaties. National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) http://www.indiangaming.org The main advocacy group for Indian gambling enterprises, offering access to government officials, a virtual library and other resources aimed at advancing Indian gaming.
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National Museum of the American Indian http://www.nmai.si.edu/ The Web site for this, one of the Smithsonian museums, lists a calendar of events, exhibitions, and links to the New York, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., facilities. Nearly one million artifacts are in the collection, and an interactive database, planned for inauguration in 2005, will give researchers and the public access to information about many of these pieces. Native American Authors http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/ Maintained by the University of Michigan’s School of Information, this is an interactive search by authors, book titles, and tribes, including biographical information and bibliographical information and links to news stories and other sources for hundreds of Native American authors. Native American Documents Project http://www.csusm.edu/nadp/ Provides primary source documentation of the allotment system, published reports of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the 1870’s, and information on the Rogue River War and the Silitz reservation. Native American History and Studies http://www.tntech.edu/www/acad/hist/nativam.html A collection of historical links hosted by the history department at Tennessee Technological University. Native American Music Awards (Nammys) http://www.nativeamericanmusic.com/ Supports and promotes contemporary Native American artists thourgh the Nammys (which began in 1998) as well as the Native American Music Hall of Fame.
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Native American Research Page http://maple.lemoyne.edu/~bucko/indian.html A collection of links to resources on all aspects of Native American culture and life. Native American Rights Fund (NARF) http://www.narf.org/ Legal activist group dedicated to advancing and defending Native American civil rights and liberties. Maintains pages listing current cases, calls to action, and the National Indian Law Library. NativeCulture.com http://www.nativeculture.com An organized set of links to indigenous culture sites by tribe, arts, and teaching tools. Arts are further categorized under arts, dance, media, music, literature, and “hand arts.” NativeWeb http://www.nativeweb.org/ Maintained by academicians and Web technicians, NativeWeb describes itself as “an international, nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to using telecommunications including computer technology and the Internet to disseminate information from and about indigenous nations, peoples, and organizations around the world; to foster communication between native and non-native peoples; to conduct research involving indigenous peoples’ usage of technology and the Internet; and to provide resources, mentoring, and services to facilitate indigenous peoples’ use of this technology.” Hosts sub-sites such as NativeTech, links to resources, news stories, and other resources related to Native American culture. Accepts donations.
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The Newberry Library http://www.newberry.org Located in Chicago, the Newberry maintains one of the world’s finest collections of books on American Indian culture and history, the Edward E. Ayer Collection. The site offers a searchable catalog. Office of Tribal Justice http://www.usdoj.gov/otj/ The Web site of the division of the U.S. Department of Justice that deal with Native American issues. Includes a statement of the Department of Justice’s sovereignty policy. On This Date in North American Indian History http://americanindian.net/ A site dedicated to timelines of Native American historical events. Smithsonian Institution: Native American History and Culture http://www.si.edu/resource/faq/nmai/start.htm Links to Native American resources at the Smithsonian, including a number of online museum exhibits. The “Native American Portraits from the National Portrait Gallery” exhibit features many historically important Native Americans. Treaty Negotiations Office of the Attorney General of British Columbia http://www.gov.bc.ca/tno/ Contains information about treaties between Canada and First Nations, with updates on current legislation and negotiations. Tribal Law and Policy Institute http://www.tribal-institute.org/lists/tlpi.htm The site of a Native American nonprofit institute dedicated to increasing resources for tribal judicial systems and operations.
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American Indian Culture
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1029
Category Index Agriculture and Foodstuffs Acorns, 1 Agriculture, 5 Beans, 127 Black Drink, 132 Buffalo, 152 Corn, 183 Cotton, 190 Fish and Fishing, 291 Irrigation, 374 Kinnikinnick, 379 Maple Syrup and Sugar, 420 Pemmican, 532 Salmon, 633 Salt, 635 Squash, 683 Subsistence, 692 Tobacco, 727 Whales and Whaling, 801 Wild Rice, 808
Architecture Adobe, 2 Architecture: Arctic, 35 Architecture: California, 40 Architecture: Great Basin, 43 Architecture: Northeast, 45 Architecture: Northwest Coast, 49 Architecture: Plains, 53 Architecture: Plateau, 56 Architecture: Southeast, 58 Architecture: Southwest, 61 Architecture: Subarctic, 66 Chickee, 167
Cliff Dwellings, 178 Earthlodge, 243 Grass House, 329 Hogan, 355 Igloo, 370 Kivas, 388 Lean-To, 412 Longhouse, 414 Pipestone Quarries, 544 Pit House, 545 Plank House, 547 Pueblo, 580 Serpent Mounds, 645 Tipi, 725 Wattle and Daub, 790 Wickiup, 805 Wigwam, 806
Art Forms Appliqué and Ribbonwork, 31 Art and Artists: Contemporary, 67 Arts and Crafts: Arctic, 71 Arts and Crafts: California, 75 Arts and Crafts: Great Basin, 79 Arts and Crafts: Northeast, 83 Arts and Crafts: Northwest Coast, 86 Arts and Crafts: Plains, 90 Arts and Crafts: Plateau, 94 Arts and Crafts: Southeast, 97 Arts and Crafts: Southwest, 100 Arts and Crafts: Subarctic, 104 Baskets and Basketry, 118 Beads and Beadwork, 123
1030
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Category Index
Feathers and Featherwork, 287 Gold and Goldworking, 325 Metalwork, 457 Mosaic and Inlay, 482 Paints and Painting, 524 Petroglyphs, 533 Pictographs, 540 Pottery, 563 Quillwork, 583 Sand Painting, 636 Sculpture, 641 Shells and Shellwork, 651 Silverworking, 659 Star Quilts, 684 Symbolism in Art, 713 Totem Poles, 739 Turquoise, 766 Weaving, 794
Ceremonies, Dances, and Festivals Bladder Festival, 134 Booger Dance, 147 Buffalo Dance, 155 Chantways, 163 Dances and Dancing, 202 Death and Mortuary Customs, 210 Deer Dance, 214 False Face Ceremony, 279 Feast of the Dead, 280 Feasts, 281 Ghost Dance, 319 Gourd Dance, 327 Grass Dance, 328 Green Corn Dance, 330 Hako, 339 Hamatsa, 343
Husk Face Society, 369 Kachinas, 377 Midewiwin, 459 Midwinter Ceremony, 460 Morning Star Ceremony, 481 Music and Song, 487 Okeepa, 506 Potlatch, 561 Pow-wows and Celebrations, 568 Puberty and Initiation Rites, 576 Rite of Consolation, 617 Rites of Passage, 618 Shaking Tent Ceremony, 649 Shalako, 651 Snake Dance, 666 Spirit Dancing, 678 Stomp Dance, 691 Sun Dance, 703 Sweatlodges and Sweatbaths, 709 Tobacco Society and Dance, 728 White Deerskin Dance, 804
Contemporary Life and Issues Alcoholism, 14 American Indian Studies, 19 Art and Artists: Contemporary, 67 Berdache, 128 Boarding and Residential Schools, 138 Children, 168 Demography, 215 Disease and Intergroup Contact, 225 Education: Post-contact, 245 Employment and Unemployment, 263
Category Index Gambling, 298 Guns, 337 Indian Police and Judges, 372 Kinship and Social Organization, 380 Land Claims, 397 Marriage and Divorce, 422 Medicine and Modes of Curing: Post-contact, 438 Missions and Missionaries, 463 Pan-Indianism, 526 Political Organization and Leadership, 550 Pow-wows and Celebrations, 568 Ranching, 585 Religion, 586 Relocation, 603 Repatriation, 608 Resources, 614 Sports Mascots, 679 Stereotypes, 686 Suicide, 702 Technology, 717 Tourism, 743 Tribal Colleges, 754 Tribal Councils, 759 Tribal Courts, 761 Urban Indians, 769 Women, 814
Cultures and Civilizations Anasazi Civilization, 26 Aztec Empire, 110 Ball Game and Courts, 115 Banner Stones, 117 Cliff Dwellings, 178
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1031
Codices, 182 Culture Areas, 192 Effigy Mounds, 258 Gold and Goldworking, 325 Hohokam Culture, 356 Mayan Civilization, 432 Mississippian Culture, 468 Mogollon Culture, 474 Ohio Mound Builders, 501 Olmec Civilization, 507 Projectile Points, 575 Quetzalcóatl, 582 Secotan, 642 Serpent Mounds, 645 Zapotec Civilization, 824
Dress and Adornment Beads and Beadwork, 123 Dress and Adornment, 233 Feathers and Featherwork, 287 Grooming, 332 Headdresses, 348 Hides and Hidework, 353 Moccasins, 473 Ornaments, 523 Quillwork, 583 Shells and Shellwork, 651 Tattoos and Tattooing, 715 War Bonnets, 781
Dwellings Adobe, 2 Architecture: Arctic, 35 Architecture: California, 40 Architecture: Great Basin, 43 Architecture: Northeast, 45 Architecture: Northwest Coast, 49
1032
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Category Index
Architecture: Plains, 53 Architecture: Plateau, 56 Architecture: Southeast, 58 Architecture: Southwest, 61 Architecture: Subarctic, 66 Chickee, 167 Cliff Dwellings, 178 Earthlodge, 243 Grass House, 329 Hogan, 355 Igloo, 370 Lean-To, 412 Longhouse, 414 Pit House, 545 Plank House, 547 Pueblo, 580 Tipi, 725 Wattle and Daub, 790 Wickiup, 805 Wigwam, 806
Economy and Trade Buffalo, 152 Employment and Unemployment, 263 Fish and Fishing, 291 Horses, 362 Hunting and Gathering, 366 Money, 479 Pochteca, 549 Ranching, 585 Resource Use: Pre-contact, 611 Resources, 614 Tourism, 743 Trade, 747 Wampum, 778 Whales and Whaling, 801
Education American Indian Studies, 19 Boarding and Residential Schools, 138 Education: Post-contact, 245 Education: Pre-contact, 254 Puberty and Initiation Rites, 576 Rites of Passage, 618 Social Control, 667 Tribal Colleges, 754
Games and Sports Ball Game and Courts, 115 Games and Contests, 303 Hand Games, 344 Lacrosse, 395 Sports Mascots, 679
Government and Social Organization Cacique, 160 Indian Police and Judges, 372 Kinship and Social Organization, 380 Marriage and Divorce, 422 Military Societies, 462 Political Organization and Leadership, 550 Religious Specialists, 595 Sachem, 622 Secret Societies, 644 Slavery, 662 Social Control, 667 Societies: Non-kin-based, 670 Tribal Councils, 759 Tribal Courts, 761 Women, 814 Women’s Societies, 822
Category Index
Health Alcoholism, 14 Disease and Intergroup Contact, 225 Medicine and Modes of Curing: Post-contact, 438 Medicine and Modes of Curing: Pre-contact, 446
Language, Literature, and Oral Traditions Bragskins, 151 Captivity and Captivity Narratives, 162 Chantways, 163 Codices, 182 Language Families, 402 Oral Literatures, 512 Oratory, 520 Petroglyphs, 533 Pictographs, 540 Sacred Narratives, 630 Sign Language, 658 Syllabaries, 711 Walam Olum, 777 Wintercounts, 811
Religion and Beliefs Bladder Festival, 134 Bundles, Sacred, 156 Corn Woman, 189 Death and Mortuary Customs, 210 Ethnophilosophy and Worldview, 270 False Face Ceremony, 279 Feast of the Dead, 280 Ghost Dance, 319
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1033
Guardian Spirits, 336 Hand Tremblers, 346 Kachinas, 377 Kivas, 388 Kuksu Rituals and Society, 391 Longhouse Religion, 415 Manibozho, 418 Maru Cult, 425 Medicine Bundles, 454 Medicine Wheels, 455 Midewiwin, 459 Mother Earth, 483 Music and Song, 487 Native American Church, 498 Peyote and Peyote Religion, 536 Pow-wows and Celebrations, 568 Praying Indians, 572 Quetzalcóatl, 582 Religion, 586 Religious Specialists, 595 Rite of Consolation, 617 Sacred, the, 623 Sacred Narratives, 630 Sand Painting, 636 Secret Societies, 644 Shaker Church, 647 Shaking Tent Ceremony, 649 Shalako, 651 Symbolism in Art, 713 Totems, 741 Tricksters, 763 Twins, 768 Visions and Vision Quests, 774 Walam Olum, 777 Windigo, 810 Witchcraft and Sorcery, 812
1034
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Category Index
Science and Technology Astronomy, 106 Banner Stones, 117 Fire and Firemaking, 289 Food Preparation and Cooking, 295 Irrigation, 374 Mathematics, 431 Metalwork, 457 Pipestone Quarries, 544 Pottery, 563 Projectile Points, 575 Tanning, 715 Technology, 717 Tools, 731 Wattle and Daub, 790 Weirs and Traps, 799
Social Issues Acorns, 1 Adoption, 3 Alcoholism, 14 Berdache, 128 Demography, 215 Disease and Intergroup Contact, 225 Employment and Unemployment, 263 Gambling, 298 Gender Relations and Roles, 308 Incest Taboo, 371 Land Claims, 397 Marriage and Divorce, 422 Medicine and Modes of Curing: Post-contact, 438 Missions and Missionaries, 463 Pan-Indianism, 526
Relocation, 603 Repatriation, 608 Slavery, 662 Sports Mascots, 679 Stereotypes, 686 Suicide, 702 Technology, 717 Tourism, 743 Twins, 768 Urban Indians, 769
Traditional Lifeways Acorns, 1 Adoption, 3 Agriculture, 5 Atlatl, 108 Baskets and Basketry, 118 Beans, 127 Birchbark, 130 Black Drink, 132 Black Hills, 133 Blankets, 136 Boats and Watercraft, 143 Bows, Arrows, and Quivers, 148 Bragskins, 151 Buffalo, 152 Cacique, 160 Calumets and Pipe Bags, 160 Children, 168 Chilkat Blankets, 173 Clans, 174 Clowns, 180 Codices, 182 Corn, 183 Cotton, 190 Coup Sticks and Counting, 191 Demography, 215
Category Index Dogs, 230 Dream Catchers, 231 Drums, 242 Education: Pre-contact, 254 Elderly, 260 Fire and Firemaking, 289 Fish and Fishing, 291 Flutes, 294 Food Preparation and Cooking, 295 Games and Contests, 303 Gender Relations and Roles, 308 Gifts and Gift Giving, 323 Gold and Goldworking, 325 Grooming, 332 Hand Games, 344 Hides and Hidework, 353 Horses, 362 Humor, 365 Hunting and Gathering, 366 Incest Taboo, 371 Irrigation, 374 Joking Relations, 375 Kinnikinnick, 379 Kinship and Social Organization, 380 Knives, 390 Lacrosse, 395 Lances and Spears, 396 Maple Syrup and Sugar, 420 Marriage and Divorce, 422 Masks, 427 Mathematics, 431 Medicine and Modes of Curing: Pre-contact, 446 Menses and Menstruation, 456 Metalwork, 457
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1035
Military Societies, 462 Money, 479 Mounds and Mound Builders, 484 Music and Song, 487 Names and Naming, 496 Oral Literatures, 512 Oratory, 520 Parfleche, 531 Pemmican, 532 Petroglyphs, 533 Pictographs, 540 Pochteca, 549 Political Organization and Leadership, 550 Pottery, 563 Projectile Points, 575 Puberty and Initiation Rites, 576 Religion, 586 Resource Use: Pre-contact, 611 Sachem, 622 Salmon, 633 Salt, 635 Scalps and Scalping, 638 Secotan, 642 Secret Societies, 644 Shields, 654 Silverworking, 659 Slavery, 662 Social Control, 667 Societies: Non-kin-based, 670 Squash, 683 Star Quilts, 684 Subsistence, 692 Sweatlodges and Sweatbaths, 709 Tanning, 715 Tattoos and Tattooing, 715
1036
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Category Index
Technology, 717 Tobacco, 727 Tomahawks, 730 Tools, 731 Torture, 737 Toys, 746 Trade, 747 Transportation Modes, 751 Twins, 768 Visions and Vision Quests, 774 Wampum, 778 Weaving, 794 Weirs and Traps, 799 Whales and Whaling, 801 White Buffalo Society, 803 Wild Rice, 808 Windigo, 810 Wintercounts, 811 Witchcraft and Sorcery, 812 Women, 814 Women’s Societies, 822
Transportation Boats and Watercraft, 143 Horses, 362 Transportation Modes, 751
Weapons and Warfare Atlatl, 108 Banner Stones, 117 Bows, Arrows, and Quivers, 148 Guns, 337 Knives, 390 Lances and Spears, 396 Military Societies, 462 Projectile Points, 575 Scalps and Scalping, 638 Shields, 654 Tomahawks, 730 Tools, 731 Torture, 737 Warfare and Conflict, 783 Weapons, 791
1037
Culture Area Index Arctic
Northeast
Architecture: Arctic, 35 Arts and Crafts: Arctic, 71 Bladder Festival, 134 Igloo, 370
Acorns, 1 Architecture: Northeast, 45 Arts and Crafts: Northeast, 83 Banner Stones, 117 Birchbark, 130 Dream Catchers, 231 False Face Ceremony, 279 Feast of the Dead, 280 Husk Face Society, 369 Longhouse Religion, 415 Manibozho, 418 Maple Syrup and Sugar, 420 Midewiwin, 459 Midwinter Ceremony, 460 Mounds and Mound Builders, 484 Praying Indians, 572 Rite of Consolation, 617 Sachem, 622 Secotan, 642 Walam Olum, 777 Wigwam, 806 Wild Rice, 808 Windigo, 810
California Acorns, 1 Architecture: California, 40 Arts and Crafts: California, 75 Kuksu Rituals and Society, 391 Maru Cult, 425 White Deerskin Dance, 804
Great Basin Architecture: Great Basin, 43 Arts and Crafts: Great Basin, 79 Turquoise, 766 Wickiup, 805
Mesoamerica Aztec Empire, 110 Ball Game and Courts, 115 Beans, 127 Codices, 182 Gold and Goldworking, 325 Mathematics, 431 Mayan Civilization, 432 Olmec Civilization, 507 Pochteca, 549 Quetzalcóatl, 582 Turquoise, 766 Zapotec Civilization, 824
Northwest Coast Appliqué and Ribbonwork, 31 Architecture: Northwest Coast, 49 Arts and Crafts: Northwest Coast, 86 Chilkat Blankets, 173 Hamatsa, 343 Longhouse, 414
1038
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Culture Area Index
Plank House, 547 Potlatch, 561 Salmon, 633 Shaker Church, 647 Spirit Dancing, 678 Totem Poles, 739
Pantribal Adoption, 3 Agriculture, 5 Alcoholism, 14 American Indian Studies, 19 Art and Artists: Contemporary, 67 Astronomy, 106 Atlatl, 108 Baskets and Basketry, 118 Beads and Beadwork, 123 Beans, 127 Berdache, 128 Blankets, 136 Boarding and Residential Schools, 138 Boats and Watercraft, 143 Bows, Arrows, and Quivers, 148 Bundles, Sacred, 156 Cacique, 160 Calumets and Pipe Bags, 160 Captivity and Captivity Narratives, 162 Children, 168 Clans, 174 Clowns, 180 Corn, 183 Corn Woman, 189 Cotton, 190 Culture Areas, 192
Dances and Dancing, 202 Death and Mortuary Customs, 210 Demography, 215 Disease and Intergroup Contact, 225 Dogs, 230 Dress and Adornment, 233 Drums, 242 Education: Post-contact, 245 Education: Pre-contact, 254 Effigy Mounds, 258 Elderly, 260 Employment and Unemployment, 263 Ethnophilosophy and Worldview, 270 Feasts, 281 Feathers and Featherwork, 287 Fire and Firemaking, 289 Fish and Fishing, 291 Flutes, 294 Food Preparation and Cooking, 295 Gambling, 298 Games and Contests, 303 Gender Relations and Roles, 308 Ghost Dance, 319 Gifts and Gift Giving, 323 Grooming, 332 Guardian Spirits, 336 Guns, 337 Hand Games, 344 Headdresses, 348 Hides and Hidework, 353 Horses, 362 Humor, 365 Hunting and Gathering, 366
Culture Area Index Incest Taboo, 371 Indian Police and Judges, 372 Joking Relations, 375 Kinnikinnick, 379 Kinship and Social Organization, 380 Knives, 390 Lacrosse, 395 Lances and Spears, 396 Land Claims, 397 Language Families, 402 Lean-To, 412 Marriage and Divorce, 422 Masks, 427 Mathematics, 431 Medicine and Modes of Curing: Post-contact, 438 Medicine and Modes of Curing: Pre-contact, 446 Medicine Bundles, 454 Medicine Wheels, 455 Menses and Menstruation, 456 Metalwork, 457 Missions and Missionaries, 463 Mississippian Culture, 468 Moccasins, 473 Money, 479 Mosaic and Inlay, 482 Mother Earth, 483 Music and Song, 487 Names and Naming, 496 Native American Church, 498 Ohio Mound Builders, 501 Oral Literatures, 512 Oratory, 520 Ornaments, 523 Paints and Painting, 524 Pan-Indianism, 526
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1039
Pemmican, 532 Petroglyphs, 533 Peyote and Peyote Religion, 536 Pictographs, 540 Political Organization and Leadership, 550 Pottery, 563 Pow-wows and Celebrations, 568 Projectile Points, 575 Puberty and Initiation Rites, 576 Quillwork, 583 Ranching, 585 Religion, 586 Religious Specialists, 595 Relocation, 603 Repatriation, 608 Resource Use: Pre-contact, 611 Resources, 614 Rites of Passage, 618 Sacred, the, 623 Sacred Narratives, 630 Salt, 635 Scalps and Scalping, 638 Sculpture, 641 Secret Societies, 644 Serpent Mounds, 645 Shaking Tent Ceremony, 649 Shells and Shellwork, 651 Sign Language, 658 Slavery, 662 Social Control, 667 Societies: Non-kin-based, 670 Sports Mascots, 679 Squash, 683 Star Quilts, 684 Stereotypes, 686 Subsistence, 692 Suicide, 702
1040
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Culture Area Index
Sun Dance, 703 Sweatlodges and Sweatbaths, 709 Syllabaries, 711 Symbolism in Art, 713 Tanning, 715 Tattoos and Tattooing, 715 Technology, 717 Tobacco, 727 Tomahawks, 730 Tools, 731 Torture, 737 Totems, 741 Tourism, 743 Toys, 746 Trade, 747 Transportation Modes, 751 Tribal Colleges, 754 Tribal Councils, 759 Tribal Courts, 761 Tricksters, 763 Twins, 768 Urban Indians, 769 Visions and Vision Quests, 774 Wampum, 778 Warfare and Conflict, 783 Weapons, 791 Weaving, 794 Weirs and Traps, 799 Whales and Whaling, 801 Wintercounts, 811 Witchcraft and Sorcery, 812 Women, 814 Women’s Societies, 822
Plains Architecture: Plains, 53 Arts and Crafts: Plains, 90
Bragskins, 151 Buffalo, 152 Buffalo Dance, 155 Coup Sticks and Counting, 191 Earthlodge, 243 Gourd Dance, 327 Grass Dance, 328 Hako, 339 Midewiwin, 459 Military Societies, 462 Morning Star Ceremony, 481 Okeepa, 506 Parfleche, 531 Pipestone Quarries, 544 Sand Painting, 636 Shields, 654 Star Quilts, 684 Tipi, 725 Tobacco Society and Dance, 728 War Bonnets, 781 White Buffalo Society, 803
Plateau Architecture: Plateau, 56 Arts and Crafts: Plateau, 94
Southeast Appliqué and Ribbonwork, 31 Architecture: Southeast, 58 Arts and Crafts: Southeast, 97 Black Drink, 132 Booger Dance, 147 Chickee, 167 Green Corn Dance, 330 Mounds and Mound Builders, 484 Stomp Dance, 691 Wattle and Daub, 790
Culture Area Index
Southwest Adobe, 2 Anasazi Civilization, 26 Architecture: Southwest, 61 Arts and Crafts: Southwest, 100 Black Hills, 133 Chantways, 163 Cliff Dwellings, 178 Deer Dance, 214 Grass House, 329 Hand Tremblers, 346 Hogan, 355 Hohokam Culture, 356 Irrigation, 374 Kachinas, 377
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1041
Kivas, 388 Mogollon Culture, 474 Pit House, 545 Pueblo, 580 Sand Painting, 636 Shalako, 651 Shields, 654 Silverworking, 659 Snake Dance, 666 Turquoise, 766
Subarctic Architecture: Subarctic, 66 Arts and Crafts: Subarctic, 104 Shaking Tent Ceremony, 649
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1043
Subject Index Abenaki, 45 Achumawi, 40 Acorns, 1-2 Adena culture, 502, 645-646; adornment, 234; architecture, 59; dress, 234 Adobe, 2-3, 26, 61-65, 546; pueblos, 580 Adoption, 3-5; captives, 4, 162, 738, 784 Adornment; appliqué and ribbonwork, 31-34; dress, 233241; feathers, 287-289; headdresses, 348-352; personal, 332-335; quillwork, 583-584; shellwork, 651-654. See also Category Index under “Dress and Adornment” Adzes, 732 Agriculture, 5-14, 196, 297, 474, 507; American Revolution, 10; beans, 127; corn, 183-189; Deer Dance, 214; Hohokam, 357; irrigation, 374; Louisiana Purchase, 10; pre-contact, 6; religious aspects, 591; subsistence, 692-694, 696-702; technology, 720. See also Category Index AICF. See American Indian College Fund AIHEC. See American Indian Higher Education Consortium AIM. See American Indian Movement
Alabama, 97 Alcoholics Anonymous, 18 Alcoholism, 14-18, 229, 438; demography, 218; poverty, 14; trade, 15; unemployment, 17 Aleut, 35, 71, 427 Algonquian, 45, 66, 83, 280, 572, 642 Almanac of the Dead (Silko), 582 American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame, 306 American Indian College Fund (AICF), 758 American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), 758 American Indian Movement (AIM), 528 American Indian Policy Review Commission, 16 American Indian Religious Freedom Act (1978), 591, 609 American Indian studies, 19-25, 309, 315, 756 Amerind language family, Greenberg’s categorization, 409 Anadarko, 97 Anasazi civilization, 26-31, 61, 178, 388, 474, 767; adornment, 234; agriculture, 28; architecture, 61, 546; astronomy, 108; basketry, 26; dress, 234; pueblos, 580 Animism, 589
1044
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Subject Index
Apache, 100, 180, 189, 555, 636, 781, 805; documentaries about, 893, 902, 907, 928 Apalachee, 97 Appliqué, 31-34 Arapaho, 90, 191, 328, 636, 703, 725, 781 Archaic Indians, 502 Archery, 148 Architecture; Arctic, 35-40; California, 40, 42-43; Great Basin, 43-45, 805; Mayan, 435; Northeast, 45-48; Northwest Coast, 49, 51-53, 547; Plains, 53, 55-56; Plateau, 56-58; Pueblos, 2; Southeast, 58-60, 791; Southwest, 2-3, 26-31, 6165, 545; Subarctic, 66-67. See also Category Index Arctic, 193, 370; architecture, 3540; arts, 71-75 Arikara, 90, 328, 703, 781 Arrows, 109, 148-150, 734, 791 Artists, 67-71; women, 816 Arts; Arctic, 71-75; California, 75-78; children, 170; contemporary, 67-71, 526; gender roles, 93; Great Basin, 79-83; Northeast, 83-86; Northwest Coast, 86-89; Plains, 90-93; Plateau, 94-97; Southeast, 97-99; Southwest, 100-103; Subarctic, 104-106; symbolism, 713-714. See also Category Index Assimilation, 139, 141, 245, 335, 464, 467, 754 Assiniboine, 90, 191, 328, 703, 781
Astronomy, 29, 106-108, 433; mounds, 107 Atlatls, 108-109, 117, 502 Atsina, 90, 781 Atsugewi, 40 Auinault, 547 Avoidance relations, 375 Axes, 9, 730, 732 Aztec Empire, 110-115, 182, 325, 482, 549, 582; calendar of, 432; gold, 325-326; grooming, 240 Ball games, 115-117, 509 Bandoleer bags, 105 Banks, Dennis, 528 Banner stones, 109, 117-118 Bannock, 43, 56, 79 Basket Maker tradition, 26, 61 Baskets and basketry, 118-122; Arctic, 74; birchbark, 120; bowls, 80; burden, 80; California, 77, 122; Great Basin, 79, 121; jewel, 77; Plateau, 95, 121; Southeast, 98; Southwest, 121; wedding, 79, 121 Bead weaving, 126 Beads, 123-126, 795 Beadwork, 123-126, 584; clothing, 123; Northeast, 85; Plains, 90; Plateau, 96; Southeast, 97 Beans, 7, 127, 297, 694 Beaver, 66, 104 Beaver Wars (1642-1685), 788 Belanger, Lance, 69 Belief systems. See Category Index under “Religion and Beliefs”
Subject Index Bella Bella, 86 Bella Coola, 86, 427, 547, 561 Bellecourt, Clyde, 528 Beothuk, 66, 104 Berdache, 128-130; gender roles, 314; societies, 676 Beringia, 216 BIA. See Bureau of Indian Affairs Bighorn Mountains, 55 Bilingual Education Act (1968), 755 Bingo, 299 Birchbark, 85, 130-131, 421; architecture, 47; canoes, 130, 143-146; longhouses, 131; Subarctic, 105; tipis, 131; uses of, 131 Bison. See Buffalo Black Drink, 132, 471 Black Hills, 133-134; symbolism of, 133 Blackfeet, 90, 191, 328, 544, 636, 703, 781 Blackware pottery, 101 Bladder Festival, 39, 134-136 Blankets, 136-138, 481; button, 32 Blowguns, 793 Boarding schools, 138-142, 245254, 466; Canadian, 139; federal, 754 Boats and watercraft, 752 Body painting, 332 Body piercing, 239, 333 Bonnin, Gertrude Simmons, 819 Booger Dance, 147 Bows, 109, 148-150, 337, 734, 791 Bowstrings, 148
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1045
Bragskins, 151-152, 541 Brain tanning, 354, 715 Breechcloths, 236 Bronson, Ruth Muskrat, 819 Buffalo, 152-155, 364, 481, 533, 699, 748, 803; documentaries about, 888, 890, 915, 917, 919 Buffalo Dance, 155-156, 430 Bundles, sacred, 156-159, 481, 556, 675. See also Medicine bundles Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA); boarding schools, 250; demography, 221; health care, 439; nineteenth century, 466, 559; postwar period, 769; tribal councils, 759 Burial customs, 210-213, 259, 280, 503, 620 Cacique, 160, 189 Caddo, 90 Cahokia, 45, 60, 107, 217, 469, 486, 504 California, 329; architecture, 40, 42-43; arts, 75-78; culture area, 195 Calumets, 160-161, 287, 339, 544; Pan-Indianism, 161 Calusa, 167 Canadian Arctic Producers, 72 Canadian Handicrafts Guild, 72 Canadian Indian Act (1876), 818 Canadian tribes. See Northeast Cannibal Dance. See Hamatsa Cannon, T. C., 68 Canoes, 143-146, 752 Canyon de Chelly, 180
1046
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Subject Index
Captivity, 162-163; narratives, 162-163, 688, 785 Carib, 482 Carlisle Indian School, 140, 248, 755 Carrier, 66, 104 Carving; Hohokam, 359; pipes, 545; Plateau, 96; Southeast, 99; totem poles, 739 Casa Grande, 64 Catawba, 97 Catholicism, 464 Catlinite, 544 Cayuga, 45, 83, 457, 617 Cayuse, 94 CCC. See Civilian Conservation Corps Ceremonies. See Category Index Ceremony (Silko), 632 CERT. See Council of Energy Resource Tribes Chaco Canyon, 29, 63, 180, 580, 767 Chaco Culture National Historical Park, 178 Chakofa, 60 Chanting, 489 Chantways, 163-166, 460 Chehalis, 547, 561 Chemehuevi, 40 Cherokee, 97, 147, 189, 330, 427; night dances, 147; political organization of, 553 Cheyenne, 90, 191, 556, 636, 725, 781 Cheyenne Dog Soldiers, 673 Chiapas, Mexico, 432, 507, 549; 1994 uprising, 400
Chichén Itzá, 115, 434 Chichimec, 482 Chickasaw, 97, 167, 189 Chickee, 60, 167-168 Chief’s Blanket, 797 Chilcotin, 66, 94 Childbirth, 618 Children, 168-173, 342, 366, 376, 765; adoption, 3-5; discipline, 170, 255; education, 138-142, 275, 754; games, 303-307, 344; names, 497; puberty, 576; toys, 746-747 Chilkat. See Tlingit Chilkat blankets, 173-174, 238, 796 Chinook, 49, 547, 561 Chipewyan, 66 Chippewa, 189, 810. See also Ojibwa Chitimacha, 97, 167 Choctaw, 97, 167, 189 Choctaw Academy, 246 Cholera, 229 Christianity, 464-465, 467, 572, 588, 817 Chumash, 40, 75 Circle, symbolism of, 274, 593, 713 Civil Rights movement, 68 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), 265 Civilizations. See Category Index under “Cultures and Civilizations” Clallam, 801 Clans, 110, 174-178, 372, 380, 454, 742
Subject Index Clay, 565 Cliff dwellings, 30, 63, 178-180 Clothing, 31, 531; quillwork, 583; symbolism of, 234 Clowns, 180-181, 763 Clubs, 732 Coalition of Indian Controlled School Boards, 251 Coast Salish, 547 Codex. See Codices Codices, 107, 182-183 Coeur d’Alene, 931 Coiling, 118 Comanche, 90, 781 Cooking, 290, 295-297, 420, 683; beans, 127 Cookware, 567 Cooper, James Fenimore, 929 Coos, 547, 561 Copán, 116, 434 Copper, 457 Corn, 8, 183-189, 297, 330, 358, 469, 481, 507, 694, 748 Corn Woman, 189-190, 628 Costano, 40, 391 Cotton, 8, 190, 234, 474, 794; seeds, 297 Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT), 527, 615 Council of Forty-four, 556 Councils, tribal, 759-760 Counting coup, 191, 287, 787 Coup sticks, 191 Courts, tribal, 761-762 Courts of Indian Offenses, 373, 761 Cowlitz, 49 Coyote the Trickster, 632, 764
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1047
Cradleboards, 81, 169 Crafts; Arctic, 71-75; California, 75-78; Great Basin, 79-83; Northeast, 83-86; Northwest Coast, 86-89; Plains, 90-93; Plateau, 94-97; Southeast, 9799, 563; Southwest, 100-103, 795; Subarctic, 104-106 Crazy Horse, 891, 922, 927 Creation myths, 515, 741, 777 Cree, 66, 90, 104, 649, 703, 781, 810; political organization of, 554; religious beliefs, 649 Creek, 97, 189, 330, 691 Crest poles, 87 Crests, 739 Cross cousins, 371, 375 Crossbow, 792 Crow, 90, 191, 328, 544, 703, 725, 728, 781 Crow Tobacco Society, 601, 728 Culture areas, 192-193, 195-202; Arctic, 72; Great Basin, 79; language families, 403; Plateau, 94; Southwest, 26; subsistence, 698 Cultures. See Category Index Cupeño, 40, 75 Cures and curing rituals, 598, 671; post-contact, 166, 347, 438-445; pre-contact, 279, 446-454 Custer, George Armstrong, 931 Curtis Act (1898), 761 Daggers, 793 Dakota, 703, 725, 811 Dances, 202-210, 491; Booger Dance, 147; Buffalo Dance,
1048
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Subject Index
155-156, 430; Deer Dance, 214, 350; Doorkeeper’s Dance, 279; Ghost Dance, 319-323, 393, 426, 649; Gourd Dance, 327; Grass Dance, 328; Great Feather Dance, 461; Green Corn Dance, 282, 330-331, 471; Hamatsa, 343-344; Hupa Jumping Dance, 351; kachina, 206; pow-wows, 569; rattles, 207; Ribbon Dance, 33; Snake Dance, 666-667; Spirit Dance, 678-679; Stomp Dance, 691; Sun Dance, 578, 589, 703-709; symbolism in, 147; Tobacco Dance, 728-729; White Deerskin Dance, 804-805. See also Category Index under “Ceremonies, Dances, and Festivals” Dawes Severalty Act. See General Allotment Act Death, 210-213, 280, 518, 617, 620 Deer Dance, 214, 350 Delaware. See Lenni Lenape Deloria, Ella Cara, 818 Deloria, Vine, Jr., 527 Demography, 215-230; agriculture, 217; diseases, 216; European contact, 215; reservations, 220 Dentalium, 480, 653 Diabetes, 443 Diet, 187; acorns, 2; beans, 127; fish, 291; pemmican, 533; salt, 635. See also Category Index under “Agriculture and Foodstuffs”
Diné. See Navajo Diseases; alcoholism, 14-18; cirrhosis, 16; European contact, 215-230, 438 Divorce, 422-425 Dog Soldiers (Cheyenne), 673 Dogrib, 66, 104 Dogs, 230, 363, 726, 752 Doorkeeper’s Dance, 279 Dream catchers, 231-232 Dress, 233-241, 473; blankets, 137. See also Category Index Drill-sticks, 290 Drums, 242-243, 294, 392, 538 Drumsticks, 243 Dugout canoes, 143, 752 Durham, Jimmie, 69 Dwellings; cliff dwellings, 178180; grass houses, 329-330; hogans, 355-356; lean-tos, 412413; longhouses, 414-415; pit houses, 545-547; plank houses, 547-548; pueblos, 580-581; shed roof construction, 52; tipis, 725-727; Wakashan construction, 52; wickiups, 805-806; wigwams, 806-807. See also Category Index Earth, 515 Earth-diver stories, 630 Earth Woman, 628 Earthlodges, 55, 243-245; California, 42, 45 Economy. See Category Index Education; boarding schools, 138142; employment, 268; European influence, 138, 245-
Subject Index 254; government-sponsored, 139; higher, 19-25, 756; institutions, 829-856; postcontact, 21, 139, 245-254, 467, 755; pre-contact, 170, 254-258. See also Category Index Effigy mounds, 59, 258-260, 645 Effigy Mounds National Monument, 259 Elderly, 170, 260-262; education, 257; religion and, 601 Eliot, John, 572 Elm bark, 85 Elopement, 424 Embroidery, 105 Emergence stories, 630 Employment, 263-270; tourism, 745; urban Indians, 770 Energy resources, 615 Erdrich, Louise, 818 Erie, 45 Eskimo-Aleut language family, Greenberg’s categorization, 408 Eskimos, 134, 370, 427 Ethnophilosophy, 270-278 European contact, 14, 162, 183, 202; influence on dress, 240; fur trade, 264; gender roles, 316. See also Indian-white relations Exogamy, 372 Fajada Butte, 29 False Face Ceremony, 279, 429 False Face Society, 369, 627, 676 Family life, 248, 380; adoption, 3; boarding schools, 138;
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1049
children, 169; elderly, 261; marriage, 422 Farming. See Agriculture FAS. See Fetal alcohol syndrome Feast of the Dead, 280, 283, 621 Feasts, 281-286, 561, 577; royal, 284 Featherwork; adornment, 339; headdresses, 348; symbolism of, 287-289, 480; war bonnets, 781 Fernandeño, 75 Festivals, 39, 134-136, 857-871, 873. See also Dances; Feasts; Pow-wows; Rituals; Category Index under “Ceremonies, Dances, and Festivals” Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), 17 Fire, 289-291; cooking, 295 Fish, 291-293, 297 Fishing, 799 Five Nations. See Iroquois Confederacy Flathead, 781 Fletcher, Alice C., 339 Fletcher v. Peck (1810), 397 Flute Ceremony, 295 Flutes, 294-295, 495 Food preparation, 282, 293, 295297 Football, 304 Fort Laramie, Treaty of (1868), 134 Fox (Mesquaki), 45, 83, 459, 781 Friendship bags, 105 Fur trade, 788; buffalo, 154; guns, 338
1050
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Subject Index
Gabrielino, 40, 75, 636 Gambling, 116, 298-303, 305, 744, 750. See also Gaming Gambling Regulatory Act (1988), 744 Games, 116, 303-307, 395, 461; symbolism of, 116. See also Category Index Gaming, employment, 268. See also Gambling Gathering, 366-368 Gauntlet, 738, 784 Gender relations; art, 68 Gender roles, 393; agriculture, 7; basketry, 118; children, 128, 168-173; education, 255; hunter-gatherers, 368; kinship, 383; men, 308-319; women, 308-319, 814-821 General Allotment Act (1887), 265, 398; agriculture, 10 Genocide of American Indians, 227 Geronimo, 891, 902, 928 Ghost Dance, 319-323, 393, 426, 527, 649 Gift giving, 323-324, 561; trade, 748 Gila Cliffs, 64 Gila Monster, 346 Gold, 325-326, 458, 825 Gosiute, 43, 56, 79 Gourd Dance, 327 Gourd Dance Society, 327 Government. See Category Index Grand Medicine Society. See Midewiwin Society
Grass Dance, 328 Grass houses, 56, 329-330, 713 Great Basin, 329, 766, 805; architecture, 43-45; arts, 79-83; culture area, 197 Great Depression, 265 Great Feather Dance, 461 Great Lakes region, 130, 808 Great Plaza, 827 Great Serpent Mound, 59, 259, 646 Great Spirit, 459, 587, 625 Great Sun, 383 Green Corn Dance, 158, 282, 330331, 348, 461, 471, 691 Greenberg, Joseph H., 407 Grooming, 332-335, 639 Gros Ventre, 328, 703 Guale, 97 Guardian spirits, 157, 336-337, 589, 625, 741-742 Guns, 337-339, 722, 749, 787, 793 Haida, 49, 86, 427, 547, 561 Hair styles, 239, 334 Haisla, 49, 86 Hako, 339-343 Hamatsa, 343-344 Hammers, 732 Han, 66, 104 Hand games, 344-345 Hand tremblers, 346-347 Handsome Lake, 415, 600; alcoholism, 415 Hare, 66, 104 Harjo, Joy, 818 Harmony concept, 592 Harpoons, 733
Subject Index Headdresses, 240, 348-352; war bonnets, 781-782 Health; post-contact, 226, 438-445. See also Category Index Heap of Birds, Edgar, 69 Herbalists, 447 Hesi ritual, 392 Hidatsa, 90, 328, 703, 781, 803 Hidatsa Dog Society, 349 Hides, 9, 90, 353-355, 473, 531, 654, 725, 812; tanning, 715 HIV. See Human immunodeficiency virus Hogans, 355-356, 713 Hohokam culture, 61, 356-361, 388, 474; adornment, 234; architecture, 64, 545; cotton, 190; dress, 234; sculpture, 641 Holy men, 708, 775 Holy People (mythological figures), 165, 637 Hopewell culture, 60, 457, 502, 645; adornment, 234; dress, 234 Hopi, 61, 100, 659, 666; clans, 176 Horses, 9, 153, 362-364, 699, 726, 752, 789; warfare, 787 Houston, James, 72 Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), 229 Human sacrifice, 276 Humor, 181, 365-366, 375, 763 Hunting and gathering, 148, 263, 366-368, 396, 578, 590, 599, 612, 692-694, 719, 799, 809; atlatl, 109; Bladder Festival, 135;
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1051
buffalo, 153; Deer Dance, 214; dogs, 230; gender roles, 311312; guardian spirits, 336 Hupa, 40, 75, 547, 561 Hupa Jumping Dance, 351 Huron, 45, 83, 280 Huron Confederacy, 552 Husk Face Society, 369, 429, 461 Igloos, 35, 370-371 Illinois, 45 Incest taboo, 371-372, 376, 381 Indian Act of 1951 (Canada), 141 Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (1986), 17 Indian Arts and Crafts Board, 637 Indian Civilization Fund Act (1819), 139 Indian Education Act (1972), 251, 755 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (1988), 299, 750 Indian Health Service, 221, 438; alcoholism, 18 Indian Minerals Development Act (1982), 616 Indian Reorganization Act (1934), 12, 220, 265, 401, 559, 704, 759, 762 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (1975), 609, 616, 743, 755 Indian slave trade, 663 Indian Trade and Intercourse Acts (1834), 16
1052
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Subject Index
Indian-white relations, 609, 664, 688 Infant mortality, 442 Influenza, 229 Ingalik, 66, 104 Initiation rites, 391, 569, 576-579 Inlays, 482-483, 653 Institute of American Indian Arts, 67 International Indian Treaty Council, 529 Intertribal Timber Council (1979), 616 Inuit, 35, 71, 370, 801; adornment, 233; carvings, 72; dress, 233 Iowa, 90, 191, 328, 459, 544, 781 IRA. See Indian Reorganization Act Iroquois, 45, 83, 189, 279-280, 369, 414-415, 427, 457, 460, 617; dance, 208; wars, 788 Iroquois Confederacy, 892, 905, 907, 909 Irrigation, 374-375, 718; Hohokam, 190, 357, 374 Ishi, 909 Jacal construction, 61, 580, 791 Jackson, Edna, 68 Jemison, Peter, 68 Jewelry, 238, 482; gold, 325-326; shells, 653; silver, 659-661; Southwest, 102; turquoise, 766-767 Jicarilla Apache, 781 Johnson-O’Malley Act (1934), 251 Joking relations, 365, 375-376
Joseph, Chief, 891 Juaneño, 40 Judges, 372-374, 761 Kabocca, 305 Kachina cult, 578 Kachina societies, 676 Kachinas, 102, 377-379, 651, 676, 747 Kamia, 40 Kansa, 328, 781 Karigi, 39 Karok, 40, 547, 561 Kaska, 66 Kateo, 40 Kato, 75 Kaw. See Kansa Kawaiisu, 43, 56, 79 Kayaks, 143-146 Kayenta, 29, 64, 580 Kickapoo, 45, 83 Kinaaldá, 577 Kinnikinnick, 379, 419 Kinship, 372, 375; hunting, 366; politics, 383; social control, 667; social organization, 380381, 383-387 Kiowa, 90, 191, 327, 703, 725, 781; Gourd Dance, 327 Kitamat, 86 Kitchi Manitu, 649 Kivas, 27-28, 61, 179, 388-390, 476, 547, 580 Klamath, 547, 561 Klikitat, 94, 547, 561 Knives, 390-391, 575, 733 Kokopelli, 294, 358 Koyukon, 66
Subject Index Kuksu society, 351, 391-394, 675 Kutchin, 66 Kwakiutl, 49, 86, 204, 343-344, 427, 547, 561 Kyaklo, 602 Lacey Act of 1900, 289 Lacrosse, 305, 395 La Flesche Picotte, Susan. See Picotte, Susan La Flesche Lakota, 133, 328, 703, 811 La Marr, Jean, 69 Lances and spears, 396-397, 793 Land claims, 134, 397-402, 613, 749; Canada, 399; European contact, 397; Mexico, 400; reservations, 397 Language. See Category Index Language families, 21, 139, 192, 202, 215, 402-412, 659, 711, 755; Uto-Aztecan, 360 Language in the Americas (Greenberg), 407 Lark, Sylvia, 68 La Venta, 507 Lawrence, D. H., 890 Lean-tos, 56, 66, 412-413 Ledgerbook painting, 91 Legends. See Category Index under “Language, Literature, and Oral Traditions” Lenni Lenape, 45, 83, 427, 777 Lillooet, 94 Lineage patterns, 175, 381 Lipan Apache, 781 Listening, 346
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1053
Literature (oral), 21, 512-520. See also Category Index under “Language, Literature, and Oral Traditions” Little Bighorn, Battle of, 929, 931 Livestock, 9 Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock (1903), 134 Longest Walk (1978), 530 Longhouse religion, 415-418, 649; alcohol use, 16 Longhouses, 46, 414-415, 548; Arctic, 37 Looms, 794 Love stories, 517 Luiseño, 40, 75, 636 Lumbee, 45, 83 Luna, James, 69 Mahican, 45 Maidu, 40, 75, 391 Maiz de Ocho, 187 Maize. See Corn Makah, 86, 427, 801 Maliseet, 45 Mandan, 90, 155, 506, 544, 781, 803; Buffalo Dance, 155; Okeepa ceremony, 506; political organization, 556 Manibozho, 418-419, 630 Manifest Destiny, 220 Manitou, 589, 624-625, 777 Mankiller, Wilma, 819 Manypenny Agreement (1877), 134 Maple syrup and sugar, 420-421 Marriage, 176, 371, 381, 422-425, 619; gender roles, 316 Martínez, María, 816
1054
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Subject Index
Maru cult, 425-427 Mascots (sports), 679-682 Masks, 279, 369, 377, 392, 427-430, 482, 525, 644; Northeast, 83; Northwest Coast, 88 Massachusett, 45, 572, 622 Mathematics, 431-433 Mattaponi, 45 Mattole, 40 Maya, 115, 182, 427, 482; documentaries about, 910, 925 Mayan civilization, 182, 432-437, 482, 582; calendar, 107, 432 Mdewakanton Sioux, 301 Means, Russell, 528 Measles, 229 Medicine, Beatrice, 818 Medicine; post-contact, 438-445; pre-contact, 446-454, 598, 671, 716 Medicine bundles, 157, 166, 454455, 460, 597, 624, 822 Medicine men. See Shamans Medicine Mountain, 455 Medicine societies, 670 Medicine wheels, 55, 107, 455, 583 Men’s houses, 39 Menominee, 45, 83, 328, 459, 649, 808 Menstruation rituals, 456, 577, 817 Meriam Report (1928), 11, 141, 251, 265 Mesa Verde, 29, 63, 179, 580 Mesoamerican culture, 115, 766. See also Aztec Empire; Mayan civilization; Olmec; Zapotec civilization Mesquaki. See Fox
Metalwork, 457-459, 660, 825 Metis, 45 Miami, 45, 83, 459 Micmac, 45, 83 Midewiwin Society, 348, 419, 459460, 626, 674 Midwinter Ceremony, 279, 369, 460-462 Migratory Bird Treaty (1916), 289 Military. See Warfare; Category Index, “Weapons and Warfare” Military societies, 462-463, 668, 729 Mills, Billy, 306, 930 Missionaries, 711; schools, 139 Mississippian culture, 259, 468472, 504, 808; architecture, 60 Missons, 463-468 Missouri, 90, 781 Mitchell, George, 528 Mitla, 827 Miwok, 40, 75, 391 Mixtec, 182, 482 Mobile, 97 Moccasins, 473 Moctezuma II, 113 Modoc, 75 Mogollon culture, 61, 388, 474479; adornment, 234; architecture, 64; dress, 234 Mohawk, 45, 83, 617; gambling, 300 Mohegan, 45, 622 Moieties, 380 Moki, 392 Moneton, 45 Money, 479-481, 653, 779
Subject Index Monk’s Mound, 470 Mono, 43, 79 Montagnais, 45, 649, 810 Montauk, 45 Monte Albán, 824 Montezuma II. See Moctezuma II Moon, 513 Moor’s Charity School, 246 Morning Star Ceremony, 481-482, 591 Mosaic, 482-483, 653 Mother Corn, 341. See also Corn Woman Mother Earth, 270-278, 483-484, 565 Mound Builders, 484-487, 646. See also Ohio Mound Builders Mounds, 258, 470, 484-487, 501; Mound 72, 470 Mountain, 45 Mourning war, 784 Murie, James, 340 Music, 487-496; drums, 242-243 Muskogee. See Creek Mythology, 817; Aztec, 582; baskets, 77; clowns, 180; creation myths, 515; flute players, 294; gender roles, 393; tricksters, 763-766; twins, 768; Windigo, 810 Na-Dene language family, Greenberg’s categorization, 408 NAGPRA. See Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act
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1055
Names, 168, 365, 496-498, 619, 786; translations of, 496 Nampeyo, 816 Nanticoke, 45 NARA. See Native American Rights Association Narragansett, 45, 83, 622 Naskapi, 66, 427, 810 Natchez, 97 National Archives of the United States, 24 National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), 527, 760 National Indian Forest Resources Management Act (1990), 616 National Indian Gaming Commission, 299 National Indian Youth Council, 528 National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), 610 National Museum of the American Indian Act (1989), 609 National Study of American Indian Education (1967-1971), 251 Native American Church, 418, 498-500, 537 Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act (1990), 610 Native American Rights Association (NARA), 609 Native American Rights Fund, 743 Native American studies. See American Indian studies
1056
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Subject Index
Nauset, 45, 622 Navajo, 100, 163, 178, 180, 189, 346, 355, 427, 457, 482, 636, 659, 768, 794; art forms, 660; clans, 176; documentaries about, 892, 895, 900-902, 905, 907-908, 914-916, 925; religious customs, 163-166, 346; weaving, 103, 797 Navajo Community College (NCC), 20, 251, 756 Navajo Community College Act (1971), 756 NCAI. See National Congress of American Indians NCC. See Navajo Community College Neskapi, 104 Nets, 736, 799 Neutral, 45 New Deal, 12 New Year Ceremony, 460 Nez Perce, 94, 781, 891 Niantic, 45, 622 Nipissing, 45 Nipmuc, 45, 622 Nisqually, 49 Nitinat, 86 NMAI. See National Museum of the American Indian Nogonosh, Ron, 70 Nonsense syllables, 490 Nootka, 49, 86, 427, 547, 561, 801 Northeast, 130, 420, 457, 484, 572, 649, 806; architecture, 45-48; arts, 83-86; culture aresa, 199; dance, 207
Northwest Coast, 31, 49, 173, 414, 633, 647, 739; architecture, 49, 51-53; arts, 86-89; culture area, 193; dances, 204 Nottaway, 45 Numaga, 43, 79 Nunavut, 399 Ohio Mound Builders, 259, 486, 501-505. See also Mound Builders Oil tanning, 354 Ojibwa, 45, 104, 231, 328, 418, 459, 649, 703, 808, 810. See also Chippewa Okeepa, 506, 591 Okipa. See Okeepa Old Copper culture, 457 Olmec, 115, 482, 507-511 Omaha, 90, 191, 328, 781 Omnibus Tribal Leasing Act (1938), 615 Oneida, 45, 83, 617 Oneota, 258 Onondaga, 45, 83, 457, 617 Oral traditions, 129, 275, 345, 483, 520, 593, 601, 765, 817; education, 254-258; religion, 592. See also Category Index under “Language, Literature, and Oral Traditions” Oratory, 368, 520-522 Orenda, 625, 627 Ornaments, 459, 523-524, 767 Osage, 90, 781 Oto, 544, 781 Ottawa, 45, 83, 104
Subject Index Pacific Northwest. See Northwest Coast Painting, 524-526; body, 239; facial, 427 Paints, 565 Paiute, 43, 56, 79, 805 Palenque, 434 Panamint, 56 Pan-Indianism, 500, 526-531, 537, 607, 760; Ghost Dance, 527; Tecumseh, 527; Tenskwatawa, 527 Pantribalism, 526 Parallel cousins, 371, 375 Parfleche, 90, 523, 531-532 Parker, Quanah, 891 Passamaquoddy, 45 Pastoralism, 697-698 Patwin, 40, 75, 391 Paviotso, 79 Pawnee, 90, 328, 339, 481, 544, 672, 725, 781 Pawtucket, 622 Pemmican, 297, 531-533, 612 Penicillin, 440 Pennacook, 45 Penobscot, 45 Pequot, 45, 622 Petroglyph National Monument, 535 Petroglyphs, 29, 359, 533-536, 641. See also Rock art Peyote, 536-539 Picotte, Susan La Flesche, 819 Pictographs, 151, 524, 534, 540544, 711; trade, 541 Piercings, 333, 704 Pima, 190
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1057
Pipe bags, 160-161 Pipe ceremonies, 339, 593 Pipe tomahawk, 731 Pipes, 91, 544; sacred bundles, 157 Pipestone Quarries, 544-545 Pit houses, 26, 56, 61, 178, 359, 388, 545-547, 580; California, 42; Plateau, 45 Plains tribes, 53, 151-152, 191, 198, 243, 339, 427, 462, 531, 544, 654; adornment, 236; architecture, 53, 55-56; art forms, 151; arts, 90-93; dress, 236; horses, 58; Northern, 208; Southern, 209 Plaiting, 121 Plank houses, 38, 547-548; Arctic, 35; California, 40; Northwest Coast, 49; Subarctic, 66 Plateau; architecture, 56-58; arts, 94-97; culture area, 195; imbrication, 95 Platforms, earthen, 507 Pleiades, 515 Plow, 9 Pneises, 623 Pocahontas, 814; documentary about, 917 Pochteca, 112, 549 Pocomtuck, 622 Political organization; secret societies, 644; women, 818, 820 Politics, 550-561. See also Category Index under “Government and Social Organzation” Polychrome pottery, 101 Polygamy, 381
1058
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Subject Index
Pomo, 40, 75, 77, 391, 425 Ponca, 90, 328, 459, 544, 781 Population. See Demography Potawatomi, 83 Potlatch, 32, 49, 193, 212, 276, 343, 561-563, 570, 740 Pottery, 290, 525, 563, 565-568; cooking, 295-297; gender roles, 313; Pueblo, 100 Poverty, 222, 267, 438, 702 Powhatan, 97 Pow-wows, 328, 568-572, 857-871, 873 Prayer, 489 Praying Indians, 245, 465, 572-574 Preaching, 521 Prehistoric demography, 215 Priests, 599 Printmaking, 73 Projectile points, 396, 575-576, 733 Prophets, 600 Protest songs, 493 Puberty, 569, 576-579; menstruation, 456-457; vision quests, 775 Pueblo Bonito, 29, 63, 580 Pueblo dwellings, 30, 61, 65, 178, 389, 474, 546, 580-581 Pueblo Grande, 64 Pueblo peoples, 2, 30, 61, 100, 102, 160, 180, 189, 214, 377, 388, 427, 482, 580, 636, 768; dances, 214; masks, 429 Qarmaq, 38 Qasgiq, 39, 135 Quahog, 778
Quechan, 40 Quetzalcóatl, 113, 582 Quileute, 49, 801 Quillwork, 123, 348, 583-584; Northeast, 83; Plains, 90; Subarctic, 104 Quilting, 684-685 Quinault, 561, 801 Quinnipiac, 622 Quivers, 109, 148-150, 734, 791 Ranching, 585-586, 750 Rattles, 294, 666, 729; chantways, 164; music, 495; Northwest Coast, 88; Stomp Dance, 691 Religion, 435, 586-595, 623, 812, 826; dance, 202-210; fire, 290; Longhouse, 415-418; peyote, 499, 536-539; pow-wows, 568572; Sun Dance, 707. See also Category Index Religious ceremonies, 425-427 Religious societies, 822 Religious specialists, 595-603; women, 818 Relocation, 221, 262, 603-608; alcoholism, 605; assimilation, 604; Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), postwar period, 603; demography, 218, 606; employment, 266; unemployment, 605; urban Indians, 769 Removal, 140, 218 Repatriation, 608-611 Reservations, 386; agriculture, 10; employment, 263-270; gambling, 298; impact of, 438,
Subject Index 579; resources, 614; schools, 247; trade, 750; tribal courts, 761-762; urban Indians, 770 Resources, 614-617, 723, 750; precontact, 611-614; timber, 616 Ribbon Dance, 33 Ribbonwork, 31-34, 85, 99 Riggs, Florence, 68 Rite of Consolation, 617-618, 621 Rites of passage, 332, 577, 601, 618-621, 716, 817 Rituals; education, 256; medicine, 459; Morning Star Ceremony, 481; religious, 319, 391, 487; scalping, 640; Sun Dance, 706; tobacco, 729; visions and vision quests, 776; warfare, 785; whales and whaling, 803 Rock art, 28, 78, 525, 654. See also Petroglyphs Rough Rock Demonstration School, 755 Sachems, 622-623 Sacred, the, 590, 623-629 Sacred bundles, 708 Sacred narratives, 630-633 Sacred pipe, 626 Salinan, 40, 75 Salish, 49, 427, 561, 678 Salmon, 282, 293, 533, 612, 633634, 700, 805 Salt, 293, 635 Samish, 49 San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, 507 Sand painting, 163-166, 347, 525, 636-638, 714
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1059
Sarsi, 703, 781 Sauk, 83, 781 Scalp dances, 640 Scalping, 638-640, 738, 786 Scalplock, 639-640 Scholder, Fritz, 67 Schools, missionary, 249, 463-468 Science. See Category Index Scrapers, 733 Sculpture, 641-642, 739; Arctic, 71; Plateau, 96; stone, 508 Secotan, 642-643 Secret societies, 391, 459, 562, 644645, 673-674 Sekani, 104 Selfbow, 148 Seminole, 97, 167, 180, 189, 330, 691 Seneca, 83, 415, 427, 457, 617, 768 Sequoyah, 712 Serpent Mound Park, 646 Serpent mounds, 645-646 Serrano, 40 Sexual relations, 371, 376, 424 Shaker Church, 321, 418, 647-649 Shaking Tent Ceremony, 48, 597, 649-650 Shalako, 651 Shamans, 447, 590, 596, 650; health care, 443; Olmecs, 510 Shasta, 40 Shawnee, 83 Sheepherding, 585, 698 Shellfish, 292 Shells, 480, 651-654 Shields, 151, 463, 482, 654-657, 721, 787
1060
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Subject Index
Shinny, 305 Shoshone, 43, 56, 79, 703, 781 Shroud cloths, 795 Shuswap, 94 Sign language, 658-659 Silko, Leslie Marmon, 582, 632, 818 Silverworking, 102, 458, 659-661 Sinews, 735 Sioux, 90, 133, 180, 191, 544, 768, 781, 811; documentaries about, 891, 892, 911, 921-922, 925-927. See also Dakota; Lakota; Plains tribes; Tetons Siseton, 703 Siuslaw, 49 Skokomish, 647 Slave tribe, 66, 104 Slavery, 263, 276, 557, 662-665, 738 Sleds, 752 Slocum, John, 600, 647 Slocum, Mary, 647 Smallpox, 219, 225-230 Smith, Jaune Quick-to-See, 70 Snake Dance, 666-667 Snaketown, 357 Snares, 799 Snohomish, 49 Snow houses. See Igloos Snowshoes, 751 Snyder Act (1921), 438 Social control, 365, 667-669, 765, 813 Social issues. See Category Index Social organization. See Category Index under “Government and Social Organization”
Societies; False Face, 279; Hamatsa, 343; Husk Face, 369, 461; Maru cult, 425-427; materilineal vs. patrilineal, 380; medicine, 670; Midewiwin, 459-460; military, 462-463; non-kin-based, 670678, 786, 822; religious, 626; secret, 644-645; Tobacco, 728729; White Buffalo, 803-804; women’s, 822-823 Society of American Indians, 527 Sodalities, 462, 578 Song, 487-496, 679; chantways, 164; pow-wows, 569 Sorcery, 371, 446, 448-449, 812-813 Southeast, 31, 58, 330, 484, 727, 790; architecture, 58-60; arts, 97-99; Black Drink, 132; culture area, 200; dance, 206; dress, 237 Southern cult, 471 Southwest, 61, 329, 374, 457, 545, 654, 727, 766; architecture, 6165; arts, 100-103, 659; culture area, 196; dance, 205 Spearheads, 733 Spears, 117, 396-397, 575, 719 Spirit dancing, 678-679 Spiritual societies, 675 Spiritualism, 129, 212, 231, 427, 484, 678; arts, 90; vision quest, 774 Sports. See Category Index under “Games and Sports” Sports mascots, 679-682 Squash, 7, 683-684, 694
Subject Index Squaw sachems, 623 Star quilts, 684-685 Stargazing, 346 Stars, 514 Stereotypes, 680, 686-690, 737, 743; alcoholism, 15; literature, 162; women, 814, 820 Stilt houses, 39 Stomp Dance, 691 Stone masonry; southwestern, 61 Subarctic; architecture, 66-67; arts, 104-106; culture area, 193 Subsistence, 127, 184, 366 Suicide, 16, 222, 443, 702-703 Sun, 513 Sun Dance, 208, 578, 589, 703-709 Supernaturalism, 157, 165, 512, 516, 595-597, 627, 637, 651, 729, 763 Susquehannock, 45, 83 Sweatbaths, 709-711 Sweatlodges, 52, 56, 484, 708-711; vision quests, 776 Sycuan Gaming Center, 301 Syllabaries, 711-712 Symbolism in art, 68, 535, 656, 713-714, 811 Taboos; dietary, 337, 447; hunting, 590, 599; incest, 371-372, 376, 381; salt, 635; totemic, 742; for warriors, 656; for women, 450, 497, 577 Tahltan, 104 Takelma, 547, 561
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1061
Tanaina, 66, 104 Tanning, 715; hides, 353-355 Tattoos and tattooing, 239, 332, 524, 562, 715-717 Technology, 366, 717-725. See also Category Index under “Science and Technology” Temple of Frescoes, 434 Tenochtitlán, 110, 582 Tents, Arctic, 38. See also Shaking Tent Ceremony Teosinte, 8 Teotihuacán, 434 Termination, 251, 604 Tetons, 133 Tewanima, Louis, 306 Thom, Melvin, 528 Thorpe, Jim, 306 Three Fires Society, 460 Three Sisters (corn, beans, squash), 627 Tikal, 433 Tillamook, 49, 547, 561 Timucua, 167 Tipi rings, 53 Tipis, 45, 47, 56, 58, 67, 713, 725727 Tlachtli, 115 Tlingit, 49, 86, 427, 482, 561; blankets, 173; weaving, 797 Tobacco, 8, 45, 379, 451, 538, 590, 727-728; sacred bundles, 157 Tobacco Dance, 728-729 Tobacco Society, 601, 728-729 Tohono O’odham, 636 Tolowa, 40, 75 Toltec, 115 Tomahawks, 730-732, 792
1062
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Subject Index
Tonkawa, 90 Tools, 390, 719, 730-737 Torture, 737-738, 785 Totem poles, 49, 86-89, 336, 739742 Totems, 336, 429, 463, 590, 739, 741-742 Tourism, 568, 743-745; trade, 750 Toys, 377, 746-747 Trachoma, 229 Trade, 612, 747-750; Arctic, 71; Aztec, 549; blankets, 136; gifts, 323; Hopewell, 503; Mogollon, 475; postcontact, 480, 722; shells, 359; turquoise, 766; Zapotec, 825. See also Category Index under “Economics and Trade” Trade and Intercourse Acts (1790’s), 10 Traditional lifeways. See Category Index Transfer Act (1955), 439 Transportation, 721, 751-754; railroads, 743; roads, 29. See also Category Index Traps, 693, 736, 799-801 Travois, 751 Tribal bundles, 158 Tribal College Journal, 758 Tribal colleges, 20, 754-759 Tribal councils, 759-760 Tribal courts, 761-762 Tribal records, 23 Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act (1978), 20, 757
Tricksters, 630, 763-766, 777; Great False Face, 279; Manibozho, 418 Tsetsaut, 104 Tsimshian, 49, 86, 427, 561 Tubatulabal, 40 Tuberculosis, 229, 443 Tupilak sculptures, 73 Turquoise, 102, 459, 483, 661, 766-767, 827 Tuscarora, 83 Tuskegee, 97 Tutchone, 66, 104 Twining, 118 Twins, 768 Umatilla, 94 Umiaks, 146 Umpqua, 49 Unemployment, 222, 263-270, 702. See also Employment Urban Indians, 530, 605, 769-774; demography, 221, 771; elderly, 262; employment, 267; migration, 770 Urine tanning, 354, 715 Ute, 43, 56, 79, 703, 781, 805; adoption, 4 Vegetable tanning, 355 Vision quests, 157, 587, 774-777; alcohol use, 15; curative power, 447; Dakota, 257; guardian spirits, 336, 742; hunting, 599; initiation rites, 578 Visions, 270-278, 774-777; Ghost Dance, 322; Longhouse
Subject Index religion, 415; medicine bundle, 454; shields, 656; tobacco, 729 Voluntary Relocation Program, 604, 769 Wailaki, 40 Wakan, 589, 624, 626 Walam Olum, 777 Walapai, 43, 79 Walla Walla, 94 Wampanoag, 45, 622 Wampum, 617, 652, 778-780, 783 Wappinger, 45 War bonnets, 287, 349, 781-782, 787 War dances, 787 War helmets, 88 War shirts, 236 War societies, 823 War Twins, 768 Warfare, 148, 151, 191, 463, 783790; demography, 217; guns, 337; Plains culture, 781; scalping, 638; slavery, 662; weapons, 791-794. See also Weapons; Category Index under “Weapons and Warfare” WARN. See Women of All Red Nations Warrior societies, 671-673 Warrior, Clyde, 528 Wasco, 94 Washita, Battle of the, 899 Washoe, 43, 56, 79; basketry, 80 Wattle and daub construction, 26, 59, 388, 790-791 Weapons, 109, 148, 396, 791-794; guns, 337-339; technology, 721;
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1063
tomahawks, 730-731; warfare, 788. See also Category Index Weaving, 794-798; Plateau bags, 94 Weirs, 291, 633, 799-801 Wenebojo, 630 Western Pueblo tribes (Hopi, 178 Whales, 801-803 Wheat, 9 Wheels, 751 Whistles, 495 White Buffalo Society, 156, 803804 White Deerskin Dance, 804-805 Whitman, Richard Ray, 70 Wichita, 90, 781 Wickiups, 42-43, 196, 713, 805-806 Wigwams, 46, 67, 806-807 Wild rice, 8, 808-809 Windigo, 810 Winnebago, 45, 83, 459, 808 Winnemucca, Sarah, 819 Wintercounts, 91, 542, 811-812 Wintun, 40, 75 Wishram, 94 Witchcraft, 371, 668, 812-813 Wivot, 547, 561 Wiyot, 40 Wodziwob, 600 Wolf Society, 672 Women, 308-319, 814-821; shamans, 450 Women of All Red Nations (WARN), 529, 820 Women, non-kin-based societies and, 676, 685, 804 Women’s societies, 803, 822-823 Woodlands, 31, 117
1064
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Subject Index
Woodwork, Subarctic, 106 Wool, 796 World War II; employment during, 266; urbanization, 221 Worldviews, 270-278 Wovoka, 319 Yahi, 40 Yakima, 94 Yamasee, 97 Yana, 40, 75
Yazoo, 97 Yellowknife, 66, 104 Yokuts, 40, 75, 391 Yuchi, 97 Yuki, 40 Yupik, 35, 71, 134 Yurok, 40, 75, 547, 561, 804 Zapotec civilization, 482, 824-828 Zuñi, 61, 100, 178, 457, 482, 651, 659
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