American Indian Religion and Philosophy

NEW AGE/NATIVE

AMERICAN STUDIES

$15.95 FPT

$21.95 in Canada

Combining both historical and

present-day perspectives, this book

provides a far-ranging and richly

illustrated account of the spiritual

traditions of the indigenous peoples

of North America, from the Inuit of the

Canadian north to the Pueblo of the

Arizona desert.

Beginning with an examination of the

history of Native Americans, from

before the arrival of the Europeans

to the legacy of the settlers, Native

North America moves on to explore

the individual culture areas region by

region.

At the heart of the book is a treat-

ment of Native ritual and ceremony

that illuminates the expression of the

spiritual and the sacred in such forms

as personal and communal ritual,

initiation rites, and curing ceremonies.

The final chapter examines the issues

that are leading Native peoples into

the twenty-first century.

The reference section at the back

of the book includes valuable

supplementary information about

languages, social organization,

population trends, and land issues.

02971545

Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation

https://archive.org/details/nativenorthameriOOzimm

NATIVE NORTH AMERICA

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NATIVE NORTH AMERICA

LARRY J. ZIMMERMAN ASSOCIATE AUTHOR: BRIAN LEIGH MOLYNEAUX

CD BR

E98 . R3 Z56 1996

SERIES CONSULTANT: PIERS VITEBSKY

Little, Brown and Company

BOSTON NEW YORK TORONTO LONDON

Contents

Copyright © 1996 by Duncan Baird Publishers. For copyright of photographs, see page 183.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

First American Edition

Conceived, Edited, and Designed by Duncan Baird Publishers, London, England.

Editor: Peter Bently Editorial coordinators: Daphne Bien Tebbe, Kirsty Seymour-Ure Designer: Steve Painter Design assistant: Richard Florsford Picture research: Jan Croot and Photosearch Inc., New York

ISBN 0-316-98822-7

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 96-75907

10987654321

Published simultaneously in Canada by Little, Brown & Company (Canada) Limited.

Typeset in Times NR MT. Color reproduction by Colourscan, Singapore. Printed in Singapore by Imago Publishing Limited.

Introduction 6

The First American

Peoples 8

Identity 10

Concepts of time 12

The peopling of North

America 14

Site 1: Cahokia 18

Dispossession 20

Forced movements 22

Reservations 24

The impact of

Christianity 26

Two faces of history 28

Leading figures 32

Lands and Peoples 36

The Northeast 38

Site 2: Peterborough

petroglyphs 42

The Southeast 44

The Plains 46

The Great Basin 50

The Southwest 52

Site 3: Chaco Canyon 56

California 58

The Northwest coast and

Plateau 60

The Subarctic 64

The Arctic 66

Patterns and symbols 70

The Life of the Spirit 74

Foundations of the

sacred 76

Nature and spirit 78

Kinship and spirit 80

Site 4\ Flaida villages 82

Sacred societies 84

Ceremonial

transformations 88

The powwow 90

Holy people 92

Seeking the spirit 98

Rites of passage 100

Celebrating the past 104

Site 5: The Great

Serpent Mound 106

Honouring the

animals 108

Plant rituals 110

World renewal 112

Sacred History 114

Creation stories 116

Culture heroes 120

Recording history 124

The Survival of the

Sacred 126

Keeping traditional

ways 128

Dreams 130

Nativistic movements 132

The Ghost Dance 136

To the Seventh

Generation 138

The drum is a circle 140

The drum is a

heartbeat 142

Reclaiming the past 144

Native scholars 146

Contemporary curing 148

Cottage industries to

casinos 150

Tourism 152

Site 6: Bear Butte 154

The Red Road 156

Native media 158

Documentary Reference 160

Current land issues 161

Languages 164

Social organization 166

Population l 168

Population 2: Map 170

Glossary 172

Bibliography ■ 173

Index 17 5

Picture credits 183

6

Introduction

Native North Americans are among the most culturally diverse populations on earth, yet also among the most stereo- typed by outsiders. Thus, in the 18th century, Native people were character- ized as “noble savages”, while today’s environmentalists call them “the first ecologists”. In old Hollywood Westerns, Indians are often portrayed as blood- thirsty savages. More recently, the film Dances With Wolves presents Indians as peace-loving victims of “progress”.

Contradictory representations such as these expose the ambivalence inherent in white attitudes toward Indians. On the one hand, whites see themselves as greatly more advanced: white society is sophisti- cated, civilized and modern; Indian society is primitive and traditional. Yet whites also see Indians as naturally wise and close to the earth, possessing a way

of life that respects the planet. Native peoples have different reac-

tions to different white perceptions. Most understandably reject images that emphasize savagery. They are also sus- picious of those who, as they see it, take Indian beliefs out of context and incor- porate them in “New Age” belief sys- tems. On the other hand, it is unlikely that many Indians resent their cultures being seen by some outsiders as models for environmental salvation.

Indians lay great emphasis on respect. To be respectful, non-Indians should not pry too deeply into what Indians hold sacred, or exploit Indian beliefs in their own quests for spiritual redemption. Non-Indians should be wary of assum- ing that they know what Indians think. For example, liberal whites may scrupu- lously avoid the word “Indian”, but it is

INTRODUCTION 7

perfectly satisfactory to many Native people. The Native activist Russell Means (see p.33) argues that “Indian” is acceptable because, he claims, Colum- bus described aboriginal Americans not as Indios (“people of India”) but as peo- ple In Dios (“in God”).

To show respect, non-Indians must also accept that Indians have valid ways of knowing the world that are different from those proposed by Western science and history. Indians are entitled to ignore archaeological theories about their origins that deny oral traditions possibly millennia old. Westerners take the voice of science for granted, but Indians who reject their own version of who they are and where they came from take a step toward cultural extinction.

Indians, like any group or culture, do not possess a monopoly of truth about

themselves. However, non-Indians must understand that their own knowledge of Indians has limits: they can know about Indians but can never assume that they know what it means to be Indian. Non- Indians are often unaware that Indians still exist at all. Native peoples are not mere artefacts of the past: they are very much present in the modern world. Native cultures possess a richness, flexi- bility and adaptability that can never be conveyed by crude stereotyping. It is precisely these qualities that have enabled Indians to survive the traumatic five centuries since whites first set foot on North American soil.

A view of Valiev of Fire, Nevada, now a State

Park but formerly part of the territory of the Southern Paiutes before they were dispossessed

by whites in the 19th century (see pp. 50-51).

8

The First American Peoples

According to the holy people, North America was never an empty land. It came into being when the first humans scrambled up to the surface from other worlds within the womb of the earth, or descended from parallel worlds that existed above the sky Whether they lived on the rocky coasts or on the vast, endless plain, in the forests of the Northeast or the deserts of the Southwest, each group recognized its own spiritual homeland, a place where the people could see the evidence of their beginnings.

Archaeologists searching for the origins of the earliest North American cultures have found the remains of hearths, animal bones and distinctive, finely-flaked stone tools more than 10,000 years old. They were left by hunters whose forebears had followed mammoths and other large animals of the last Ice Age from Asia into the Americas. During the great freeze, sea levels sank so low that what are now Siberia and Alaska were linked by a stretch of land that scientists call Beringia. Hunting bands probably ranged freely back and forth across Beringia before it was claimed once more by the sea. Only very gradually did the hunters penetrate deeper into the Americas. However, by C.8000BC, human beings had established themselves in almost every part of the continent.

Evidence of the presence of early North Americans is widespread

in prehistoric petroglyphs throughout the continent. These handprint designs are on a rock at Galisteo Basin, New Mexico.

Possibly up to 2,000 years old, their purpose remains a mystery

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10 THE FIRST AMERICAN PEOPLES

Identity

Native North America has confusion of names and identities, reflecting the tumultuous events of the last 500 years of aborigi- nal history. The people referred to as Ojibway, Ojibwa or Chippewa, for example, call them- selves Anishinabe and Arctic hunters known around the world as Eskimos might speak of themselves as Inuit or Aleut.

The names by which Native groups refer to themselves recall a time when the land was a mosaic of societies that had devel- oped over thousands of

Tsimshian sculptors excelled in realistic portraits, such as this

mask. Elsewhere on the

Northwest Coast - for example, among the Haida - there was less emphasis on individual identity.

years. Identity was strong and exclusive, because each group lived in its own world, with a distinct territory and lan- guage or dialect, and unique traditions. Many names of tribes and nations, such as Anishinabe and Inuit, can roughly be translated as, simply, “the people”.

Many groups acquired their tribal names only recently from white mis- sionaries, explorers and traders, who were struck by distinct characteristics of people such as the Nez Perce (French: “Pierced Nose”). Europeans sometimes adopted names used by other groups. “Sioux”, from the Ojibway for “snake”, means “enemies”. Modern Inuit dislike “Eskimo”, an Algonquian word mean- ing “eaters of raw meat”, not because it is incorrect, but rather because it was conferred by a traditional enemy.

The term “Indian” derives from Columbus’s famous

blunder in mistaking for Asians the aboriginal Americans whom he encountered. As a name applied to the diversity of Native peoples, it still symbol- izes for some the lack of understanding on

the part of white soci- ety ever since Colum- bus landed. To redress this wrong, at least symbolically, there are now a number of alter- native names: Native Americans, Native Can- adians, Native North Americans, aboriginal people, Native people and First Nations peo-

ple. However, these names are largely used by governments and the liberal white middle class. Most Native people, sensitive to their own specific identities, prefer to use tribal names, and many also freely call themselves Indians. The expe- rience of Tom Hudson (Black Wolf’s Shadow), an Ojibway Vietnam veteran, is not untypical: “When I was a kid, I was called a Half Breed ... around the age of 15,1 was just called Breed. When I got out of the Army, I was called a Native American. When I was in my 30s, I was called a Native North American. When I was over 35,1 was called a Native North American with aboriginal rights. Now that I am over 40,1 think it would be nice if people would just call me Tom!” The point is that what to call Indi- ans is a decision for Indians themselves.

IDENTITY 11

The question of Native identity is now an important social issue involving a complex interweaving of ancestry, pol- itics, economics and spirituality. It is complicated today by the intermixing of tribal groups and the injection through intermarriage of European, African and Asian blood. One group, the Metis, a people with an identifiable history and material culture in Canada, was pro- duced by the union of French fur traders with Native women. The Metis are still fighting for status as an aborig- inal people. Native identity may also be subject to legal tests. The US govern- ment has introduced a controversial law

allowing only Native Americans to pro- duce Native American crafts. This laws definition of Native American depends not on ethnic ancestry, but on accep- tance as an Indian by a legally-consti- tuted tribe or nation.

Being a Native North American is therefore a question of social identifica- tion and sympathy, involving participa- tion in a certain kind of life and a particular view of the past and future. It lies more in a personal commitment to an identity extending back thousands of years, than in the superficial trappings of “Indianness'”, such as its popularized rituals, religions and modes of dress.

Many white educators in North America aimed to eradicate Indian identity altogether and to accomplish the complete assimilation of Native peoples into the dominant European society. The

Carlisle Indian Industrial School, founded by Richard H. Pratt in 1879 at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, was one of the leading institutions for “civilizing” Indians. These photographs show Tom Torlino, a

Navajo, before and after his admission to the school (see also p.25).

12 THE FIRST AMERICAN PEOPLES

Concepts of time

A European conceives of the past as a long straight road leading backward from the here and now to a distant invisible point on the horizon. This out- look makes the past a remote and for- eign place, distancing people from the ancients, including their own ancestors. However, many Indian groups conceive of the passage of time not as linear but as circular, marked by the birth, growth, maturity, death and regeneration of all things that share the earth - plants, ani- mals, people. This pattern is echoed in the rising and setting of the sun and the lunar and solar cycles. The past is a place where all things reside that have completed the cycle. All things are “out there” now, not distant but immanent.

For Native North Americans, irre- spective of cultural tradition, the rising and setting of the sun form the basic rhythm of daily life, just as it does for most peoples. Indians chart the pas- sage of longer periods in a diver- sity of ways, often observing a natural calendar whose markers are

the changes in the world around them. For example, the spawning of the salmon is a key seasonal marker for peoples of the Northwest Coast, while desert dwellers note the ripening of the fruit of the saguaro cactus (see p. 112). In many cultures, communal life follows the rhythms of nature. For example, the Iroquois peoples traditionally celebrate the coming of spring, summer and autumn, respectively, on the occasions of the flowing of the maple sap (Febru- ary to March), the first strawberries (June) and the maturing of the com (maize) crop (October).

It is probable also that some peoples measured time by observing the posi- tions of heavenly bodies. For example, the enigmatic “medicine wheels” of the northern Plains may have been used to chart astronomical events (see p.77).

Battles between Indians and US troops, depicted on the tipi of a 19th-century

Kiowa chief. The Indian artist felt no need

to represent events in linear, chronological

CONCEPTS OF TIME 13

A shaft of sunlight falls onto a spiral and cross etched on a rock by prehistoric Anasazi peoples near

present-day Tuba City, Arizona. Such “sundials” may have helped to determine the time for planting and other agricultural events. Among the Hopi, a “sun watcher” observes the rising sun every day to

establish when the solstices occur. The time of the last frosts is calculated from the winter solstice.

THE LIVING PAST

Many Indians believe that

the ancestors and other ancient beings are never far from the living or from each other. When a person dies, he or she joins the ancestors in another state of being within the present. Where a European might say “My grandfather lived in the 20th century and Sitting Bull in the 19th century”, an Indian would say “Grandfather and Sitting Bull are here now”.

Many Native groups are reminded of the living

presence of the ancients in stories and works of art. For example, the peoples of the Northwest Coast lived in a world that was saturated with visual representations of Raven (see p. 123), Killer Whale and other sacred ancestral beings, many of whom were responsible for

the great events that formed the world and the people. They were constantly present in images carved on totem poles, houses, canoes, fine clothing, dance costumes, masks, ceremonial dishes and everyday housewares.

Totem poles at the

Tsimshian village of Kitwancool in British Columbia displayed images

of ancestral clan culture heroes.

14 THE FIRST AMERICAN PEOPLES

The peopling of North America

Traces of the lives of the earliest inhab- itants of North America are often buried beneath layers of soil accumu- lated over thousands of years. Signs of an early human presence - chipped stone tools, animal bones, firepits and other remains - are rarely discovered: they might be unearthed as a result of the erosion of the sides of a valley, or found by chance under debris in rock shelters and caves. Nevertheless, every discovery helps archaeologists to create a picture of human life on the continent at the time of the last Ice Age.

The current physical evidence indi- cates that more than 10,000 years ago, hunting peoples were living in several widely separated regions: the North- east, the western Plains and Southwest, and northern Alaska. This ancient world was sparsely populated by small groups who hunted mammoth, masto- don, giant bison and many medium- sized and smaller animals, such as deer and rabbits. The hunters lived in tem- porary dwellings and moved according to the availability of game. They pur- sued a way of life that was to be found

This map shows the extent of the ice caps during the

“Wisconsin" period, the final great glacial advance of the last Ice Age. So much water was locked up in the ice caps that the sea level fell to expose a strip of land linking Siberia to Alaska across the Bering

Straits. It was across this strip - known as Beringici -

that people are thought to have wandered from northeast Asia into North America and

gradually spread out over the continent. The migration routes, which are highly

speculative, show how people might have moved into the interior of the continent along ice-free corridors during brief

periods of thaw.

□ Beringia land bridge

□ Wisconsin ice cap Possible migration routes

THE PEOPLING OF NORTH AMERICA 15

WEAPONS FOR BIG GAME HUNTERS

The North American hunters of the so-called Palaeo-Indian era - the period immediately following the last Ice Age - developed effective weapons to hunt the mammoth, giant bison and other large, thick- skinned animals that provided them with food and, presumably, other resources such as hides. The hunters developed two main types of stone point, known as Clovis

and Folsom after two sites in New Mexico. The stone was finely chipped from the centre toward the edges on both sides in order to form a slender and very sharp arrow or spearhead. The base of the point was finely fluted so that it could be firmly attached to a shaft.

A stone spearhead lies between the ribs of a giant

bison killed 10,000 years ago. The spearhead was discovered near Folsom, New Mexico.

until recent times deep in the subarctic forests of northern Canada.

The oldest human remains found in the Americas belong to a much later period than the oldest remains found in Asia. During the last Ice Age, the Beringia land bridge effectively made North America and Asia a single conti- nent. These facts, coupled with the gen- eral physical similarity of Native North American and northern Asian peoples, suggest that the mammoth-hunters may have moved into the Americas from the west. Although the great ice caps cov- ered most of the north during the last Ice Age, periods of slightly warmer weather at various times in the past 40,000 years opened up ice-free corridors into the interior of the continent, one probably along the coast and one or more running parallel with the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. The possibility of migration across Beringia came to an end as the climate warmed, the ice retreated for the last time and the land bridge was submerged by the rising sea.

The theory that the human occupa-

tion of the continent was relatively recent is based on the absence of sites in North America that can be securely dated from before 15,000BC. However, evidence from South America suggests that the pattern of human occupation of the Americas may have been much more complex. In the far south, in Patagonia, there are sites that were occupied as early as any in North America: humans must therefore have migrated into North America consider- ably earlier than this. Recent excava- tions in Brazil are even more surprising: they have yielded artefacts which, archaeologists there suggest, may be more than 30,000 years old. This implies that humans may have first moved into North America at a time when there was no land bridge. Cer- tainly, the absence of a land bridge did not prevent seafaring Asian Arctic peo- ples - ancestors of the Inuit - from set- tling the northern coasts of Alaska and Canada several thousand years later. However, there is no absolutely firm evi- dence of a human presence in North

16 THE FIRST AMERICAN PEOPLES

America before C.15,000BC. The presence or absence of datable

evidence is not the only issue at stake when discussing the peopling of North America. Europeans, who are accus- tomed to scientific solutions, tend to favour the migration theories derived from the systematic analysis of sites, artefacts, chronological tables and maps. In accepting the scientific view, it is tempting to overlook the undoubted fact that the first North Americans never thought of themselves as migrants who left one continent for a new life in another. They simply lived as they had always done, moving from place to place in pursuit of game.

There is another explanation of the human presence in America: that peo- ple have occupied the land since the beginning of time. This idea occurs in many Native traditions and remains a religious and political issue to this day. The mythologies of many present-day Indian peoples, such as the Ojibway and Hopi (see box below), recount how the first people wandered from a place of origin to their eventual homeland. Ori- gin stories (see pp. 116—19) may also reflect a people’s way of life. For exam- ple, the creation stories of settled farm- ing peoples, such as the Pueblo Indians,

THE HOPI MIGRATION STORY

According to the Hopi, the first people migrated upward through three worlds, eventually emerging in this, the Fourth World.

Native hunting methods were perfected over thousands of years of adaptation to the American environment. In this watercolour of 1585 by the English artist-explorer John White, North Carolina Indians are shown using traditional fishing equipment, including spears,

nets and fish traps, to exploit the abundant natural resources of the coasted waters.

Masaw, their guardian spirit, told them to

migrate north, south, east and west until they reached the sea, and then to retrace their steps to find their common homeland. Not all clans

completed the journey. Some stayed in the

THE PEOPLING OF NORTH AMERICA 17

tell of emergence from the earth at pre- cise places in the landscape. The cre- ation stories of many traditional hunting and gathering peoples reflect their traditional questing lives, search- ing for game or seeking visions. These stories often recount how a number of beings dived to the bottom of a great sea in quest of soil from which to form the first land (see p.l 17).

As the climate warmed and became drier, the glaciers and tundra retreated to the north, to be replaced by grass- lands and forests. The giant Ice Age ani- mals disappeared - some scientists think that they were hunted to extinc- tion. People adopted a more generalized hunting and gathering lifestyle. Inven- tions such as the bow and arrow and pottery appeared several thousand years later and, in places where the cli- mate was suitable and the soil fertile, people were able to produce corn (maize), beans and other crops. With the introduction of agriculture, fertile valleys, such as those of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, furnished the succes- sive Adena, Hopewell and Mississip- pi cultures with the resources and energy to build large towns, raise great earth monuments, create spectacular art and develop elaborate religious beliefs.

In other places, humans hunted, fished and gathered as they had always done.

The peoples of North America were by no means static and isolated in the thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. They traded materials such as stone (for tools) and shells (for orna- mentation) over great distances. As groups moved from place to place, lan- guages multiplied and spread. The scale of activity in these times is seen in the way that speakers of related languages are now separated by huge distances. For example, the Navajo and Apache languages of the Southwest are related to the languages of hunters in Alaska and the Yukon (see pp. 164-5).

On the eve of the European invasion, therefore. North America was a place where humans had thrived for at least 15,000 years and perhaps much longer. The changes that followed, which were to have such a devastating impact on Native peoples, were due in part to the vast differences in perception that still divide aboriginal cultures from Euro- peans. As far as Native North Ameri- cans were concerned, the land was occupied, managed and familiar. But the white explorers and settlers saw nothing but empty wilderness, waiting to be conquered.

tropics and others lost their way. Those who returned symbolized their migrations by two types of spiral: square, representing their turning back at the seas, and round, showing how they wandered ever closer to their home.

The whole pattern traced by the people’s journeys forms a great cross, Tuwanasavi (Centre of the Universe), whose centre is in

the present-day Hopi homeland.

18 THE FIRST AMERICAN PEOPLES

Cahokia

The largest settlement in North Amer- ica before the beginning of the 19th cen- tury was a complex of mounds, plazas, palisades and residential areas near the Mississippi River, seven miles (11.2km) from present-day St Louis, Missouri. This urban area, now called Cahokia, covered over five square miles (13km2), and developed from a small farming vil- lage established sometime between AD600 and AD800. The people planted corn (maize) in the fertile soil of the floodplain, just as the Hopewell inhabi- tants of the region (see pp.39-40) had done before them. But the Cahokians had hybrid varieties of corn, similar to those grown in Mexico, that were hardier and produced larger crops. With this wealth in corn, Cahokia, along with other villages on the Mississippi and its tributaries, thrived and expanded.

Each of these Mississippian settle- ments was organized around large earth mounds and plazas, features strikingly similar to the temple and plaza com- plexes of Mesoamerica. One settlement, at Moundville, Alabama, had 20 mounds arranged in a circle. Some were for burials, others were temples and elite residences. In Wisconsin, a 20-acre 18- ha) fortified town, Aztalan, stood beside a series of massive animal and bird effigy mounds built along the river by an earlier culture. But Cahokia was the most sophisticated urban centre north of Mexico.

When the Spanish travelled up the Mississippi in the 16th century, Cahokia had long been abandoned. A possible cause of Cahokia’s decline, and of the decline of the Mississippian towns as a whole, was overpopulation leading to epidemics, social strife and drought.

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SITE 1: CAHOKIA 19

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A modern view of Cahokici. At its peak, between AD850 and 1150, the city had over 100

flat-topped pyramids and earthen mounds, of which about 20 are still visible. Large wooden

structures -probably high-status residences - once stood on the mounds, but most citizens lived in smaller wooden buildings around the

mounds and plazas. The population may have been over 10,000, and as many as 40,000 people may have lived in outlying villages.

A plan of the city, showing the extent of the urban area and the principal plazas, mounds and

dwellings. The largest mound, the so-called Monks Mound, rose 100 feet (30m) above the central plaza and supported a wattle-and-daub building with a thatched roof - either a temple or the home of a ruler or religious leader.

The ring of stakes, or woodhenge (see plan;

this is a modern reconstruction in situ/ was probably a solar calendar, used to determine the dates of importan t festivals and religious ceremonies. The henge consisted of a centred pole and an outer ring, including the so-called “solstice pole”, immediately behind and to its left in the photo (marked with a white band).

At dawn on the summer solstice, the “solstice pole” and the central pole of the woodhenge are in exact alignment with the sun as it appears above the Monks Mound. The main mounds of the site stand along the same alignment.

The two sides of a clay tablet, one of thousands of artefacts found at Ccdiokia. It is known as the

“Birdman Tablet” from the figure depicted on one side, who may be a deity or a priest. Similar

figures have been discovered on objects found at other Mississippian sites.

20

Dispossession

The first European incursions into North America were belittled by the sheer size of the continent. Small groups of Vikings and Basque fishermen on the northeast coast, and the first Spanish, French and English explorers, did little to disturb thousands of years of culture. When the first small European trading posts, missions and settlements appeared, they were like tiny islands in a great sea of wilderness.

But when Europeans planted flags they laid claim to the land itself, and within 400 years they had completely dispossessed the aboriginal people. Although some Native groups controlled hunting or gathering grounds, and all respected the boundaries of sacred places, none had any concept of territory as lines on a map - divided, bought and sold. The settlers, however, imposed this alien concept with ruthless vigour.

There were three types of European invasion: physical (the occupation of territory by immigrants), spiritual (the imposition of Christianity) and material (the introduction of goods such as guns and alcohol). Native people were driven out, swindled by unobserved treaties, subjugated, shattered, plied with alcohol and confined to reservations. But their culture was not destroyed. Under the influence of inspired leaders, traditional Native cultures have survived into the modern world.

This Portuguese map of1546 shows the St Lawrence River (“Rio do Canada”) and Jacques Cartier (in black and red), who explored

the region 1534-42 and claimed it for France. South is at top.

22 DISPOSSESSION

Forced movements

The displacement of Native North Americans from their homelands was subtle at first. Missions and trading posts from New France (northeast Canada) to Florida distracted Indian people from the encroachments of the settlers with the lure of ready-made cloth, kettles, guns, knives and other useful goods. The first settlers were attracted to fertile, well-watered land close to navigable waterways, and it was not long before the coastal areas and river valleys quickly became out of bounds to the Indians.

The demand for Indian slaves in the English colonies of America and on sugar plantations in the West Indies forced many small southern coastal tribes to flee inland. Compelled to com- pete for diminishing land and resources, Indian groups preyed on one another. Enticed by pay-offs in trade goods, they often joined forces with the settlers. In 1704, James Moore, the British gover- nor of Carolina, marched into Spanish- held Florida with a band of colonists and a thousand Creek, Apalachicola and Yuchi Indians. They almost wiped out the Apalachee, Timucua and Calusa people - who had already suf- fered under the brutal Spanish occupa- tion - and returned home with more than 6,000 captives for the slave market.

Further north, the pressure of Euro- pean settlement and competition in the lucrative fur trade also caused conflict among the Indian tribes. Armed by the

This map shows some of the most notable - or notorious -forced relocations of Native

American peoples, with the dates of their first removal from their homelands and of their final resettlement in the Indian Territory.

Dutch and English, the Iroquois League (see p.41) dispersed the Fluron and pushed the Ojibway into Sioux territory in the western Great Lakes; the Ojibway in turn pushed the Sioux into the Plains. The Iroquois lost their homeland after the American War of Independence (1775-83), fleeing to British Canada as the victorious United States consoli- dated its hold on the territory. But in Canada, too, Indian land effectively ceased to exist as the Crown assumed ownership of all land, regardless of the rights of the aboriginal inhabitants.

In 1787, the US Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance, which declared that “[the Indians’] lands and property shall never be taken from them without

I863«

Routes of forced migration

: Indian Territory, 1854

National frontiers

Present-day state boundaries 7

FORCED MOVEMENTS 23

their consent”. The continuing presence of Indians, however, was felt to be a hin- drance to white settlement, and these fine words soon rang hollow. From the Carolinas to California, small Native groups were sometimes exterminated by gangs or driven away. The official solu- tion, initially, was to remove them from areas earmarked for white settlers to small plots of marginal land. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson went further with the Indian Removal Act, which compelled all Native people to move west of the Mississippi, leaving the east to the whites. In theory, the Indians were to live freely in their own “Indian Territory”, but in practice, westward white expansion forged ahead unabated.

As soon as their lands were required by settlers, Indians were generally forced onto reservations (see pp.24-5).

Resistance to the trauma of disloca- tion was met with harsh military action. For example, when the Navajo fought back in the 1850s, the New Mexico Volunteers, led by Colonel Kit Carson, ravaged their country. In 1864, the Navajo surrendered after a last stand at their sacred site of Canyon de Chelly. More than 8,000 people - most on foot - were forced to cross 300 miles (480km) of mountain and desert to Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Many died en route. After several years of intense suffering, the survivors were allowed to return to a reservation within their original lands.

24 DISPOSSESSION

Reservations

The establishment of reservations dur- ing the period of white expansion aimed at first to keep Indians entirely apart from white society. Later, it was hoped that the marginalization of Native cul- ture would hasten the assimilation of the Indians into the dominant society.

The concept of reserved areas for Indians originated in the “praying towns” of the 17th century (see p.27). The first reservations in the more mod- ern sense were created in the Northeast in the first decades after US indepen- dence. They tended to be portions of a group’s homeland, but as the white demand for land increased, the author- ities abandoned all pretence of retaining tribal integrity. Thousands of years of

cultural adaptation to particular envi- ronments were nullified in just a few decades as Native farmers and forest peoples were resettled in unfamiliar ter- rain, usually on marginal land.

In 1825, the US government envis- aged a permanent solution to the “Indian question” in the form of a vast Indian Country west of the Mississippi. Officially known as Indian Territory from 1834, the proposed territory cov- ered present-day Kansas, Oklahoma and parts of Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming. The first reservations there were for the five displaced peoples of the Southeast (see p.45). For a time they thrived, achieving a level of economic prosperity and literacy greater than that

Members of the Rosebud Sioux tribe wait for the federal government’s issue of beef on the Rosebud Reservation in the southern part of Dakota Territory (present-day South Dakota) in the early 1890s.

The Sioux were among the last peoples to put up armed resistance to their removal to reservations.

RESERVATIONS 25

SCHOOLS FOR INDIANS

Western-style schools were established on most Indian reservations, but in order to speed up assimilation Indian boarding schools were also set up across the US and Canada. Children were taken from their homes and kept at these schools for most of the year, often until adulthood. The goal, as the founder of the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania put it, was to ‘Till the Indian ... and save the man”. Pupils had to learn English, adopt Christianity, study Western subjects and reject their native dress.

too

language and religion. A few successfully absorbed white culture, but most left with little more than a profoundly confused cultural identity.

The mission school on the Seneca Reservation near Niagara Falls, 1821. At this

time, reservation school pupils still wore traditional dress.

of some neighbouring states. But the disruption of the US Civil War in the 1860s brought economic ruin. By the end of the war, tribes were forced to agree to new treaties and to give up land to Comanche, Kiowa and Cheyenne groups, and to peoples removed from the north. The future Oklahoma became a dumping ground for more than 65 disparate tribes and bands - farmers, hunters, friends, enemies and strangers alike (see map, pp.22-3).

White settlement encroached on the Indian Territory even before the Civil War. The “inviolable” Indian lands were gradually organized as states, and when Oklahoma achieved statehood in 1907 the Indian Territory ceased to exist. By 1975 Oklahoma’s 29 tribes controlled only 65,000 acres (26,000ha).

The loss of territory was hastened by the allotment of tribal lands to individ- ual owners, a measure that aimed to speed up Indian assimilation. The

Dawes General Allotment Act of 1887 sought to break up tribal lands into small plots of at most 160 acres (64ha), a policy alien to Indian traditions of communality. The result was the loss of 95 million acres (38 million ha) of reser- vation. A final attempt to dismantle reservations came in 1953, when Congress resolved to buy back reserva- tion lands. Before this policy fell out of favour, 19 tribes lost more than 2.5 mil- lion acres (1 million ha) of land.

The trend has been reversed in recent decades with the settlement of some land claims. There have been notable settlements in Canada, which histori- cally had followed, although less harshly than in the US, a similar process of confining Indians to reserves. Under an agreement finalized in the early 1990s, the Northwest Territories are to be divided between Indians (the Dene and Metis) in the west and the Inuit in the east. (See also map, pp. 170-71.)

26 DISPOSSESSION

The impact of Christianity

The Huron were suspicious of the French Jesuits - strange, black-robed, celibate men bearing gifts and the promise of eternal life. The Jesuits lived in Huron villages and learned the Huron language, but they did not want to live Huron lives. They rejected Indian spirituality and urged people to accept the teachings of an alien religion.

Although the Christian God was a great spirit, and so compatible with the beliefs of some Indians, the sacred fig- ures of the Christian story lived in a land that was unimaginable and distant, rather than in territory that the tribe knew and could enter. Christian teach- ings centred on a book that the Indians could not read, and were expressed in alien imagery, symbolism and music.

Nevertheless, the missionaries won converts. For many, Christianity was a matter of economic opportunism. The

The Spanish church at Picuris in New Mexico was founded in 1621. Pueblo "converts" often practised traditional religion in secret.

Huron found that adopting the trap- pings of French culture won them greater access to the fur trade. The prospect of an alliance with the French prompted Membertou, a Micrnac chief, to be baptized together with several members of his family by the French missionary Recollets in 1610 at Port Royal in present-day Nova Scotia.

Those who offered Christianity as a solution to the sufferings of Native peo- ples were the very settlers who had caused those sufferings in the first place. For the Timucua of Florida, conversion represented one means of easing the depredations of their vindictive Spanish overlords. Similarly, the Mohawk of the Northeast requested missionaries after the French destroyed their villages in a punitive raid in 1666.

Converts were required to reject tra- ditional forms of belief and ritual - the essence of their culture and identity. The Puritan settlers of New England used force to ensure compliance. The Wam- panoag, largely reduced to servitude by 1662, were prosecuted for hunting and fishing on the Sabbath, using Indian medicines and marrying outside the Christian church. In Plymouth, Mass- achusetts, Indians faced the death sen- tence for denying Christianity. William Duncan, a 19th-century Anglican lay minister, encouraged the Tsimshian of the Northwest Coast to destroy much of their heritage of masks, costumes and other religious regalia. Such actions were typical. In the United States, the Bureau of Indian Affairs issued a Code of Religious Offences in 1883 which banned, among other rituals, the Sun Dance (see p. 112) as well as Native med- ical practices. At around the same time.

THE IMPACT OF CHRISTIANITY 27

the Canadian government banned the potlatch (see p.62).

Roman Catholicism proved to be a particularly strong force, because many of its features had familiar resonances for the converts: the cult of the Virgin recalled their own reverence for Mother Earth, the saints were not unlike Indian sacred beings, and dramatic ceremonial- ism was a feature of both Catholicism and many Indian cultures.

While Christianity took hold among some Native groups, for many peoples it failed to supplant traditional spiritual- ity. For example, it said little about respect for the natural world, which was a central feature of many Native American traditions. Brought from a foreign land by people whose influence was not generally perceived as benign, Christianity remained essentially a for- eign doctrine for most Indians.

PRAYING TOWNS

The task of converting Indians was often difficult, because outside the missions Native life continued unchanged. For conversion to be effective, converts had to be isolated from their traditional culture. In 1650 the English Puritan missionary John Eliot took this idea to its extreme. In keeping with the ideals of his own community, a religious colony, he established a “Red Puritan” settlement for his converts at Natick, south of Boston. Converts built the town in an English style, complete with a public meeting house and a footbridge over the local river. The townspeople replaced their hereditary leadership with elected representatives in the English manner, and outlawed such Native practices as polygamy, seasonal migration and shamanic curing.

The idea spread quickly along the coast and 20 more such “praying towns” sprang up. However, they lasted only until the devastating war between the Puritans and an alliance of Wampanoags and Narragansetts in 1675.

A Presbyterian missionary, Kate McBeth, with four Nez Perce converts at a mission in Idaho around the turn of the 20th century. As well as receiving religious instruction, Indians who attended Me Beth's

mission school were taught how to conduct themselves in polite white society.

28 DISPOSSESSION

Two faces of history

When Indian guides led the first Euro- pean adventurers into the continent, they travelled up rivers and lakes in the same vessels, ate the same food and suf- fered equally the rigours of the environ- ment. As fellow humans, they had identical physical needs, but their per- ceptions of the world about them were utterly different. A huge chasm sepa- rated their cultural outlooks.

Native people were no doubt amazed at their first sight of Europeans. An old Micmac tale of the coming of the white man recounts that the first European ships to appear on the horizon were thought to be floating islands with a few bare trees; some people even thought that they could make out bears climbing in the branches. The first European traders would have thrilled the natives with familiar objects in wonderful new materials: knives not of stone but of sharp steel; cooking vessels of copper that did not break in the fire; and beads of glass in endless vibrant colours. Guns were clearly magical. The swiftly-fired bow and silent arrow were better suited

to the tactics of stealth and surprise favoured by Indian warriors than the loud, heavy, cumbersome muzzle-load- ing firearms brought by the first whites. But a bow was effective only at close range, while a gun could magically kill an enemy or an animal from afar in the blinking of an eye.

The driving force behind the great European voyages of discovery was rarely a curiosity to explore new lands and cultures. Far from it: the adventur- ers were motivated principally by the prospect of extending Europe’s markets and resources. When Spanish, French, English and Russian explorers, traders and settlers encountered North Amer- ica’s native inhabitants, there was no question of reaching an accommoda- tion with them. They came with the eyes of conquerors, who saw not a rich diver- sity of cultures but people who seemed to live rudimentary lives in poverty. They also saw an opportunity to exploit the land and its abundant resources.

The perception of Native people as economically deprived - when they had

The presence of Europeans in the Southwest was recorded, probably in the 16th century, by the Indian artist who produced these petroglyphs in the Canyon de Chelly, Arizona. The strange new beasts -

horses -probably inspired the artist as much as their white riders, a Spanish friar and his companions.

TWO FACES OF HISTORY 29

THE IRON HORSE

European Americans saw the railway as a great advance in civilization. As so often, however, what the white man

hailed as progress proved to be yet another nail in the coffin of the traditional

Native way of life. Although many Indian tribes resisted

the coming of the “iron horse" to their lands, by 1891 there were four railways spanning the US and one, the Canadian Pacific, across

Canada. For Plains Indians who depended on bison meat,

hide, bone and sinew for their livelihood, the impact was devastating, because buffalo hunting from the trains became a favourite travellers’ sport. Between 1869, when

the Union and Central Pacific railroads linked up, and 1890, railborne hunters reduced the bison population from six million to barely a thousand.

A bison shoot from a train; an engraving of 1882. Railborne

bison hunts became especially popular after the market for

hides boomed in the 1870s.

lived successfully for countless generations in their homelands - was influenced by the notion that European material civ- ilization represented the pinnacle of worldly achievement. Other peo- ples lagged behind, per- haps because they lived outside the sanction of God or because they belonged to a lower order of beings. This view seems to have underlain the attitude of Spaniard and English Puritan alike toward abo- riginal North Americans well into the 18th century. Europeans were not impressed with how the natural world seemed to be an integral part of the cul- ture and spirituality of the Indians.

An Iroquois comb carved by a

Cayuga artist in the late 17th century. It depicts Europeans - perhaps French missionaries or traders associated with the establishment of the Sulpician and Jesuit missions in Cayuga territory in 1668.

Christian doctrine saw nature as a servant of humanity, to be controlled and conquered, not emu- lated or treated as an equal. In the mid-19th century, Charles Darwin’s theory of

evolution served to reinforce the Euro- pean belief in the “baseness” of the Indians. They were judged to be either the degraded survivors of a once-great race, or a people whose evolution was

30 DISPOSSESSION

less advanced than that of whites. Therefore, at the core of relations

between the aboriginal people and the whites, there was no common language or worldview and, little sense of com- mon humanity, at least on the part of Europeans. As settlers flooded to their “New World” in increasing numbers, this lack of mutual understanding proved a tragedy for Native North Americans. Although there was some Native ownership of resource areas, the idea that land could be a personal pos- session was generally unintelligible. Whether they were farmers or hunters, Indian people had to share to survive and had learned to maximize their effi- ciency by following the rhythm of the seasons and moving from place to place as required. As a result, the barter of land for trade goods and, later, money must have had a sense of unreality

about it. Natives may well have been delighted that the Europeans were pre- pared to pay for the right to use land that Indians regarded as free for any- one’s use.

Such optimism, based on an igno- rance of European legal concepts, soon turned sour for every people with whom land deals were negotiated. Not only did whites stay put, they also refused to share the land from the moment a treaty or agreement was signed. As far as whites were concerned, if the Indians could not show a legal title to the land, then they would be made to give it up by force if not by treaty.

Until recently, the outside world gen- erally heard only the white people’s view of four centuries of North American history. A case in point is the Battle of the Little Bighorn, otherwise referred to as Custer’s Last Stand. The legend is

TWO FACES OF HISTORY 31

riveting and seductive. On 25 June 1876, a detachment of US Cavalry was ambushed on the Little Bighorn River m Montana and surrounded by Plains Indian warriors. Greatly outnumbered, the soldiers fought gallantly until there was only one man left: General George Armstrong Custer. This Civil War hero, with golden hair down to his shoulders, stood on the crest of a hill, surrounded by the bodies of his men and horses, his guns still blazing, the last man to die. The battle became the most famous event of the Indian Wars, an ignomin- ious defeat transformed into an exam- ple of the indomitable pioneer spirit. This version of events was constructed by US army officers, officials, artists and historians. According to the legend, no one had lived to tell the tale of the Last Stand, and in the absence of eyewit- nesses white Americans were content to

accept the official account. In fact, many men had survived the

battle: Sioux, Arapaho and Cheyenne warriors and their families. Their testi- mony was ignored because they were Indian and therefore biased - the bias of US officials themselves never coming into question. But accounts retained in Native American oral tradition present a consistent picture of the battle that tallies with the results of recent archae- ological work. The Little Bighorn was no heroic, protracted, Last Stand but a disorderly rout, over in half an hour.

The painting by Edgar Paxson (below) shows a buckskin-clad Custer and his troops - including the artist’s brother - vainly but valiantly holding off the Indians at the Little Bighorn. The Sioux drawing (below, left) depicts the battle as the chaotic rout it really was. However, Paxson is more truthful in one respect: Custer had had his celebrated long hair cut shortly before the battle.

32 DISPOSSESSION

Leading figures

Native traditions recognize no clear dis- tinction between what Western anthro- pology would define as mythology, legend and history. A discussion of Native North American “leading fig- ures” from an Indian point of view would include mythological characters such as Raven, Gluskap, Kokopelli and others, who were all remembered as real beings who brought great benefits to the people (see pp. 120-123).

Confining the discussion of leader- ship to humans who have upheld Native integrity in the face of white incursion poses its own difficulties. All Native cul- tures have celebrated the wisdom, strength and courage of elders, chiefs and holy people of recent generations. But because Native history is an oral tradition, the nature of their contribu- tion to Native life is now largely lost,

Sitting Bull (1831-90), more than any other Plains Indian, symbolizes the Indian virtues of

generosity, bravery, tenacity and resistance to white incursion. At the age of 10 he proved his generosity by killing a buffalo calf and giving the meat to the needy. By 14, he had counted his

first coup on an enemy, showing his bravery. He earned membership in the Strong Heart Warrior Society and was recognized as a wichasa wakan, or holy man. From 1863. he resisted

white intrusion into Hunkpapa Sioux hunting grounds, and he was named principal chief of the Teton Sioux Nation in 1867. In 1876, Sitting Bull had a Sun Dance vision of a vic t ory over

white soldiers. A few weeks later, he helped lead Lakota and Cheyenne forces that annihilated

Custer’s forces at the Little Bighorn River (see pp.30-31). He led his people to Canada, but

returned and toured for a time with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show before retiring to a reservation. In 1890, he was shot dead by tribal policemen who were sent to arrest him for his

involvement in the Ghost Dance (see pp. 136-7).

since their families and communities were wiped out during the European onslaught. There are notable excep- tions, such as Black Elk, an Oglala holy man who lived through the triumphs and sorrows of the last days of Plains Indian freedom (see p. 133).

The best-remembered Native figures are the resistance leaders who opposed the troops, settlers and politicians of the incoming Europeans and their Amer- ican successors. The exploits of war chiefs such as Goyathlay (Geronimo), Sitting Bull, Chief Joseph and others were recounted by their descendants, recorded in official documents and cov- ered by white journalists, writers and photographers. This was especially the case during the Indian Wars of the Plains in the late 19th century. However, the first Native leader to become widely

LEADING FIGURES 33

known to outsiders was Wahunson- acock, or Powhatan, chief of the Pow- hatan tribe in the early 17th century. He forged an alliance of southeastern coastal tribes and sought to maintain the integrity of his nation after the English established a colony in Virginia in 1607. A skilled diplomat, Powhatan even allowed his daughter, Pocahontas, to marry an Englishman, John Rolfe. (Rolfe took her to England, where she died of smallpox in 1617, aged 21.)

Native leaders generally found that diplomacy, even when conducted accor- ding to Western standards, was to no avail in countering European intrusion. John Ross, the principal chief of the Cherokee nation in the 1830s, did much to “civilize” his people in the eyes of white Americans, only to find them ordered to leave their traditional lands

under the notorious Indian Removal Act of 1830. Ross successfully fought the order in the Supreme Court, but the ruling was ignored and he was in the last group to be forced west in 1838. In the following years he worked hard to restore the fortunes of the Cherokee in their new homeland.

Many other leaders, driven by the sheer despair of losing their families and homelands, resorted to armed resis- tance. In 1763, the Ottawa chief Pontiac, a great orator, joined with a powerful visionary known as the Delaware Pro- phet to lead northeastern tribes, includ- ing the Ojibway, Huron, Seneca and Delaware, against the British. Forts and trading posts fell, almost 2,000 settlers died, and Pontiac and his forces laid siege to Fort Detroit for several months.

In the century or so following the

The name of the Chiricahua Apache chief

Geronimo (1829-1909) is synonymous with brilliant military strategy: his resistance to the

whites and his phenomenal guerrilla warfare

tactics captured the imagination of both Indian and non-Indian alike. Born in southern Arizona, his Apache name was Goyathlay, The One Who Yawns; he was given his Spanish name by the Mexicans after a number of daring raids. He

was not a hereditary leader, but often acted as a spokesman for his people. After the Chiricahua

were forcibly removed in 1876 to arid land at San Carlos, he and a band fled to Mexico, only to be arrested and returned to the new reservation. In 1881, he resumed his raids, but

finally surrendered in late 1886. The army sent him and his followers to Florida and eventually to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1894 (see map on pp.22-3). Geronimo became a rancher. Late in life he appeared at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St Louis, sold Geronimo souvenirs

and rode in President Theodore Roosevelt ’s 1905 inaugural parade in Washington, DC.

34 DISPOSSESSION

foundation of the United States, every tribe had warriors who were willing to fight the US Army, usually against over- whelming odds. Among the more cele- brated are the Sauk leader Black Hawk, who led a resistance in the Mississippi Valley in 1832; Manuelito, a Navajo leader between 1863 and 1866; Lone Wolf, a Kiowa chief in the Red River War (1874-5) on the southern Plains; and Dull Knife, a Northern Cheyenne chief, who fought in the central Plains and led a dramatic breakout from cap- tivity at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, in 1879 (see pp. 122-3).

The rebellions of these leaders ended in failure, and those who survived had to bear the shame and suffering of defeat. Some, like the Sioux Crazy Horse, remained defiant and died in captivity. Others, such as Geronimo,

Chief Joseph (1840-1904) was a leader of the Nez Perce in Oregon, who at first enjoyed peaceful relations with whites. Joseph, whose father was a Christian convert, initially offered only passive resistance to US government efforts to take away land that had been granted as a reservation in 1855. His people were given just 30 days to relocate to Idaho, and their patience held out no longer. Fighting broke out on 12 June 1877. Successful for three months against

superior government forces, Joseph showed great military skill and courage in eluding troops and enemy Indian bands. But the odds turned against

him. and, a peaceful man at heart, he decided to surrender on 5 October. Joseph is said to have

given an eloquent and moving surrender speech including the words: “1 will fight no more forever.” However, his exact words are not

known and were elaborated by journalists. Many of his followers escaped to Canada. Joseph himself was sent to Kansas, then to Indian Territory (Oklahoma). He spent his last days

in Washington state, where he died.

had their spirits broken or, like Sitting Bull and Chief Joseph, lived out the rest of their days on reservations, often far from their original homelands. To the last, however, they remained preoccu- pied with the welfare of their peoples. In the case of Sitting Bull, this preoccupa- tion ultimately cost him his life.

The spirit of these resistance leaders persists in the more peaceable, but equally determined, Native leaders of the present day. Activists such as Dennis Banks and Russell Means still press for the right to live in a distinct Native North American society, as do adminis- trators and politicians such as Wilma P. Mankiller, a university-educated activist and former chief of the Cherokee Nation, and Nellie Cornoyea, an Inuvi- aluk who was elected leader of the gov- ernment of the Northwest Territories in

LEADING FIGURES 35

1991. These leaders seek compensation for the past loss of lands and people, and aim to secure the educational and economic opportunities that are taken for granted in much of modern North American society.

Native leaders are also gaining more strength through political power in the very assemblies and legislatures that in the past had voted for the removal, con-* finement and destruction of their peo- ple. In 1990, Elijah Harper, a Cree member of the Manitoba legislature, single-handedly blocked the passage of the Meech Lake Accord, a proposal to amend Canada's federal constitution in response to demands by the franco- phone Quebecois to be considered a dis- tinct society within Canada. Harper refused to lend support to a bill that did not aim to secure equivalent rights for

I

the country’s aboriginal peoples. In recent years, cultural trends within

the dominant white society have tended to heighten the fame of spiritual leaders such as Black Elk. Native North American art has also been brought before an international audience by those who continue to work within Native traditions. Among the more renowned artists are Charles Edenshaw and Bill Reid (see p. 119), carvers in tra- ditional Haida style; Charles Loloma, a Hopi jewelry maker; Datsolalee, a Washo basketmaker; and the Inuit sculptors and printmakers Etungat and Kenojuak. In addition, there are many writers, actors, dancers and dramatists whose work, while perhaps adopting Western forms, has also served to show the beauty, drama and colour inherent in aboriginal North American culture.

Born in 1940, the Oglala-Ihanktonwan Sioux Russell Means belongs to the generation of militant Native North Americans who came to prominence in the 1960s. He has courted

controversy as a way of showing that Indians remain an important part of North American society in the late 20th century. His career was partly determined by his childhood experience

of being moved from a reservation school to California, where he was taunted for being an Indian. He drifted into drugs and delinquency before meeting Dennis Banks, co-founder in

1968 of the American Indian Movement (AIM). Means became a national media figure and led many AIM protests, notably the occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973. He has acted as an attorney in legal cases and has stood for US Vice President. He has also appeared

in films, notably The Last of the Mohicans (1992) and (as the voice of Powhatan) in

Disney’s Pocahontas (1995). Although no longer affiliated with the AIM, Means remains

a foremost spokesman for Indian causes.

36

Lands and Peoples

The land has always been fundamental to Native identity. Like all peoples, especially in tribal societies, Indians dealt closely with the physical world in every waking moment, whether foraging for plants or stalking game, cutting down a tree, working on the soil, or simply walking through a forest or across a field. The structure of Native life and the nature of Indian cultural expression were determined, above all, by the timeless natural rhythms of the particular environments in which people lived.

The intimacy forged between Indian peoples and the landscape may be strong, but it can rapidly be altered or broken. For example, drought forced the ancient Anasazi to abandon their sophisticated towns and adopt a simpler way of life elsewhere (see p.53). The arrival of horses and guns - both brought by whites - on the Plains and in neighbouring regions created new relationships between hunting peoples and the lands where they hunted (see pp.47-8). However, such changes were more gradual than the traumatic dislocation which occurred as white settlers moved west in the last century, forcing Indian peoples from their traditional landscapes. Despite this, Native life went on, determined as always by what a people could take from the earth and give in return.

In this photograph by Roland Reed (1864-1934), two Navajos look out on the so-called “White House”, a nan set in the face

of a huge, cliff in Canyon de Chelly, New Mexico. It was built by the Anasazi (see p.53), whose intimate knowledge of the mesas,

cliffs and canyons of their homeland is reflected in their skill at constructing villages in the most apparently inhospitable places.

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38 LANDS AND PEOPLES

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The Northeast is a region of forests, lakes and rivers, stretching from cold, rocky landscapes scoured out by gla- ciers north of the Great Lakes and the St Lawrence River, to broad, warm and fertile plains along the Atlantic coast and the Mississippi and Ohio valleys.

People on the northern margins of this culture area, bordering the vast pine and spruce forests of the Subarctic, lived with late thaws and sharp, early frosts that would have killed the corn (maize) and other crops grown by their neighbours to the south. So the Ojib- way, Abenaki, Micmac and other north- ern Algonquian-speaking groups led a nomadic life, guiding their birch-bark canoes along seemingly endless lakes

and waterways in a seasonal round of hunting, gathering and fishing. The dis- tant ancestors of the more southerly horticultural tribes probably followed a very similar way of life. Campsites left by highly mobile bands of big game hunters have been discovered dating from perhaps as early as 16,000BC, a time when glaciers covered the north.

When Algonquian-speakers travelled through their territory, they often set up simple conical tipis or tents clad with bark or animal skins. At their more per- manent summer and winter camps, from which they ranged to gather food, they built wigwams, sophisticated dome structures of saplings covered with sewn birch or elm bark or animal skins.

THE NORTHEAST 39

The people of the northern wood- lands gathered a wide variety of plant foods, from wild rice, a seed-bearing grass of lake margins, to blueberries, competing with bears for this delicacy of fire-ravaged hillsides. Animals such as deer and moose were hunted and honoured as gifts of animal spirits (see pp. 108-9), who were sometimes recog- nized as ancestors of the hunters them- selves. The Micmac built weirs of stone and interlaced branches to trap eels, and used seagoing canoes to hunt porpoises.

A semi-nomadic life was less neces- sary south of Lakes Superior and Erie, where a mantle of rich soil covers the bedrock and the hardy spruce and fir are replaced by pine and deciduous for- est. Longer summers and milder winters allowed maize, beans and squash to thrive. Algonquian-speakers such as the Illinois, southern Ojibway and Men- ominee, developed a more settled way of life than their northern neighbours. So too did the Winnebago and other Siouan-speakers, and the Delaware,

Wampanoag and other peoples of the Atlantic coastal plain. Hunting and gathering were still important - espe- cially for those who were “able to harvest shellfish and other rich resources of the sea - but the agricultural season domi- nated the rhythm of their lives.

The impact of agriculture is especially seen in the mound-building cultures that developed in fertile river valleys from C.500BC. The Adena were hunters and gatherers, but the resources of the Ohio Valley were so rich that they were able to develop an elaborate ritual and ceremonial life, symbolized by monu- mental earthworks such as the Great Serpent Mound (see pp. 106-7). When the Hopewell culture emerged in the region several hundred years later, its people developed an even more power- ful and sophisticated society. Unlike the more or less egalitarian societies around them, the Hopewell seem to have lav- ished their creative efforts on a social and religious elite. They have left exquisite examples of artistry in stone,

A traditional birch-bark canoe carries an Ojibway family in this photograph taken in Ontario in 1913. The bark of a birch tree was stripped in one piece for the canoes, which were built by specialists.

40 LANDS AND PEOPLES

ceramics, wood and metal, and a grand ceremonial mound complex near the present-day town of Hopewell, Ohio, from which the culture takes its name. The Hopewell eventually transformed the cultural life of the Midwest from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico for almost 500 years. The Mississippian cul- ture that succeeded the Hopewell C.AD700 continued these elaborate tradi- tions (see pp. 18-19). But outside the Mississippi valley, northeastern agricul- tural societies never again conducted their ritual lives on such a scale.

In the inland forests running from Lake Huron eastward and southward to the Appalachian mountains, a distinct group of peoples with their own lan-

guage, Iroquoian, emerged amid the surrounding Algonquian culture. The Iroquoians were farmers with highly developed slash-and-burn agriculture techniques. In spite of their inferior numbers, they had come to dominate the Northeast by the end of the 17th century. Most Iroquoian-speakers lived south of the St Lawrence River, in what is now upper New York State; another group occupied the lowlands between Lakes Huron, Erie and Ontario. Iro- quois life was centred on villages of longhouses, rectangular structures with rounded roofs (see pp. 166-7), with accompanying clearings planted mainly with maize. Each longhouse accommo- dated a number of related families.

THE FUR TRADE

When the French explorer Samuel de Champlain stayed with the Huron in 1615, he saw women grinding corn (maize) to trade with the neighbouring Algonquians for furs and other forest products. De Champlain and other French traders also wanted furs, but not in the small quantities typical of intertribal trade. In return they offered guns, knives, kettles, cloth, liquor and other goods. Some of these items seriously affected native culture, exaggerating the importance of hunting and wiping out traditional manufacture. Alcohol devastated tribal life.

By 1635, the beaver was virtually extinct in Huron territory, but the Huron were able to obtain furs from the

Nipissings and Ottawas. The Iroquois were also fur traders and competed with the Huron after their own resources ran out. In 1649, they attacked the Huron and took control of the fur trade.

In the 1840s, the beaver hat went out of style in Europe and the demand for fur plummeted. By this time, however, there were few fur- bearing animals left in northeastern forests.

European fur traders in Canada negotiate the price of a pelt with an Indian trapper in this engraving of 1777.

THE NORTHEAST 41

Sometime before the 15th century, five Iroquois groups (the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga and Sen- eca) formed a league or confederacy called the Five Nations of the Hauden- osaunee (“People of the Longhouse”). The league, which extended from the Hudson River to Lake Erie, was joined by a sixth nation, the Tuscarora, in 1714. During the 18th century, the Six Nations were able to dominate the fur trade. At the height of their power, they controlled the heart of the Northeast, overrunning the Huron to the north and pushing back Algonquians to the east and west. As the foremost Indian power, the league became deeply involved in Anglo-French colonial rivalry. After 1783, they also set an example to the leaders of the new US through their political acumen, diplomacy and com- mand of a vast and complex territory.

A 19th-century chairback made by a Native cirtesan for the white market. It uses a traditional Northeastern technique of flattened porcupine

quills woven in geometric patterns.

LACROSSE

Many Native North American groups play

lacrosse, a rough sport with much body contact between

two teams occupying opposite ends of a large field (or, in modern times, arena). The word lacrosse comes from la crosse (“crosier”), the name given to the game by a French missionary in the 17th century because the players’ curved stick reminded him of a bishop’s crook. The object of the game is to carry a

wooden ball with the stick,

which has netting over the end, through the opponent’s goalposts, passing the ball as necessary.

Until the early days of European occupation, matches were often played between villages, with teams

of up to 100 men each, and many hundreds of spectators. It was, however, more than a

game. The Iroquois, to whom we owe the modern form of lacrosse, regarded it as a gift from the Creator. They played it as part of

ceremonial occasions, such

as planting and harvest rituals, as a way of propitiating spirits.

A traditional Iroquois hickory and rawhide

lacrosse stick and large wooden ball.

42 LANDS AND PEOPLES

Near Stony Lake in Peterborough County, Ontario, prehistoric artists carved hundreds of images on a massive outcrop of white, crystalline limestone on the southern fringes of the Canadian Shield. The artists may have been drawn to the site by the strange appearance of the rock. The effects of weathering have left it covered with holes, crevices and hollows that seem to penetrate into the darkness of the underworld. In the spring, the eeriness of the setting is enhanced by noises rising through the holes - the muffled sounds of under- ground water. Perhaps, to the people who made the pictures, these sounds were considered magical or believed to be the voices of spirits.

Archaeological excavations of soil and debris at the bottom of some of the crevices have revealed fragments of pot- tery and a number of stone tools. These artefacts suggest that the carvers wor- ked on the site between 500 and 1,000 years ago.

Peterborough is remarkable for the diversity of its images. They range from animal, bird and human figures reminis- cent of rock paintings and petroglyphs at other sites in the region, to solar fig- ures and large solar boats that bear a startling resemblance to rock carvings in Scandinavia. The Ojibway call this site Kinomagewapkong, meaning “the rocks that teach”. For Indians, Peter- borough is a place for spiritual reflec- tion and inspiration.

The rock pictures now form part of a Petroglyphs Provincial Park and are protected from further weathering by an aluminium and glass building. The Ojibway are responsible for the care and operation of the site.

SITE 2: THE PETERBOROUGH PETROGLYPHS 43

• PETERBOROUGH

North Atlantic Ocean

The artists of Peterborough pecked out more than 900 human and animal figures, turtles,

snakes, canoes and other images in the soft crystalline limestone surface of the rock, using tools of harder stone. Centuries offreezing and thawing have caused further weathering of the crystalline surface, making the originally sharp and clear images almost invisible. In order to record the site, the archaeologists Drs J. M. and R. K. Vastokas darkened the petroglyphs, revealing their beauty and variety to modern viewers. The artists are unknown, but they were probably ancestors of the Algonquian peoples who inhabit the region today, such as the Ojibway. The Algonquians have a rich artistic tradition, as seen in rock paintings scattered across the vast rocky region known as the Canadian Shield, and in the sacred art incised

by the Midewewin on birch bark scrolls.

Celestial symbolism is often associated with religious ecstasy, and this large solar figure may represent a holy person, depicted symbolically as one who derives powers from the heavens. According to another theory, it may represent Kit chi Manitou, the Great Spirit of the Algonquians.

This boat is unlike any traditional Native vessel.

Its bow and stern are elongated and curved upward, and its mast bears a solar symbol. Similar boats incorporating celestial imagery are found only in Scandinavia. This image and

the solar figure (2) are among the site’s largest petroglyphs, both over three feet (lm) long.

For the Algonquians, the turtle is one of the most sacred creatures, as it is a symbol of the earth and its fertility. The oval petroglyphs to the left may represent the creature’s eggs.

Pacific Ocean

<o*°

3 Cv

°nde

44 LANDS AND PEOPLES

The Southeast.

CADDO .<£ AVer CHEROKEE

A A

Atlantic Ocean

CHICKASAW CATAWBA

-A

.

<

CREEK

A CHOCTAW

NATCHEZ

Gulf of Mexico

TIMUCUA

SEMINOLE

Lake Okeechobee

CALUSA

□ Southeast cultural region Modern political boundaries

From the rugged Appalachian moun- tains to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico and west beyond the lower Mississippi to the arid lowlands of southeast Texas, the warm, wet and fertile Southeast supported a cornucopia of plants and animals. Most of the people living in the region were village-dwelling farmers, but unlike their northern counterparts they could raise two crops of corn (maize) a year, together with squash, pumpkins, gourds and sunflowers. In the subtropical regions, around the Gulf of Mexico, farmers also raised bananas, rice, sweet potatoes and sugar cane. Some tribes, such as the Calusans of southern Florida, remained hunters and gatherers, exploiting the abundant wildfowl, reptiles, fish, whales and seals, and edible roots along the subtropical coastal fringes of the Atlantic and the

Gulf of Mexico. Inland, edible fruits, wild nuts and abundant game were to be found in the region’s forests and open country, and the rivers teemed with fish.

Hunting demanded special tech- niques, because in the Southeast there was no snow to slow down the deer. For example, most southeastern hunters perfected deer calls to attract the ani- mals within the range of their weapons.

Typical dwellings, such as those of the Creeks, consisted of rectangular, gabled mud-plastered summer houses and large, conical winter houses set partly in the ground for insulation. In subtropical areas, housing was open to the hot cli- mate. The Seminoles lived in open-sided dwellings thatched with palm branches.

Because of the great abundance and variety of the plants that grew around them, it is likely that the Indians of the

THE SOUTHEAST 45

Southeast had many herbal medicines and used numerous plant substances for ritual occasions. People grew tobacco, which they smoked in pipes during cere- monies and conjuring rituals or rubbed on the body as a healing medium.

When the Spanish arrived in the region at the end of the 15th century, southeastern tribes still bore features of the Mississippian culture, the last of the great river valley civilizations of ancient North America (see p.40). The tribes spoke a diversity of languages: Creeks, Chocktaws and Chickasaws spoke Muskogean dialects, the Catawbas were Siouan-speakers and the Cherokees spoke Iroquoian. It is difficult to obtain a more detailed picture of the region’s cultural complexity, since these peoples bore the brunt of early European con- tacts, beginning with a Spanish expedi- tion in 1513. Successive intrusions of Spanish, French and English colonists and North American settlers brought war, disease and dislocation to the

A 19th-century photograph of a Seminole family

outside their palm-thatched hut in Florida. They are wearing traditional long, striped clothing.

THE CHEROKEE SYLLABARY

Cherokee was the first Native language to have its own script, a syllabary created by Sequoyah (1770-1843). He spent over a decade devising

his system, which reduced Cherokee to 86 syllables. The script was taken up enthusiastically, and a Bible was published in 1824. A bilingual newspaper, The Cherokee Phoenix,

and a written Cherokee constitution appeared in 1828. The

, syllabary undoubtedly

A / helped to preserve Cherokee culture in the

face of white oppression in the 1830s and 1840s.

Sequoyah with his syllabary.

Indians and ensured their rapid decline. The heaviest blow to the southeastern

tribes was dealt by President Andrew Jackson, whose Indian Removal Act (1830) forbade Indians to remain east of the Mississippi. The measure was aimed mainly at the peoples who, ironically, had done so much to accommodate the white man that they were known as the Five Civilized Tribes (the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, Creek and Cher- okee). Most were sent west, often on forced marches that left thousands dead (see map, pp.22-3). The Cherokee called their trek “the Trail of Tears”, a phrase that other nations adopted to describe their own similar ordeals.

PLAINS CREE

BLACKFOOT

7D

o o GROS VENTRE

PLAINS OJIBWAY

HIDATSA

o & ■z-

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Badlands

CROW MANDAN

ARIKARA Black Hills

LAKOTA CHEYENNE

NAKOTA

DAKOTA

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SIOUX

-7 PAWNEE' /Qne/?. ARAPAHO

Sand Hills

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KIOWA-APACHE

Red R/,

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LIPAN APACHE

Phms cultural region Modern political boundaries

The interior of the North American continent consists of vast plains and prairies stretching from the parklands below the ancient granite rock of the Canadian Shield in northern Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta to the low- lands of Texas; and from the crumpled eastern flanks of the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi Valley. Hills rise up like strange islands in an inland sea: the Black Hills, the South Dakota Bad-

lands, the Sand Hills of Nebraska. River valleys, hidden until the prairie suddenly drops away, pro- vide water, trees, plant and animal life and refuge I from biting prairie winds.

Great herds of animals, ! mainly buffalo (bison), | once swarmed beneath I the vast expanse of sky, living off the abundant prairie grasses. With no natural barriers in their way and no animal pred- j ators, the bison prolifer- I ated in their millions. I Humans clung to the rivers, initially living off the resources of the val- leys, including bear, deer, rabbit and game birds. | They hunted bison on foot, trapping them in j gullies or driving them I over cliffs (see p.48).

Around 1,000 years ago, some groups migra- ted into the Plains and I nomadic groups began to I settle in villages, trans- forming the fertile flood-

plains into gardens. These culture-. 1

thrived until they came into contact ‘ with whites. Climatic changes often | necessitated adjustments to the village ; lifestyle when droughts harmed the corn (maize), beans, squash, tobacco and 1

other crops. Villages might also have been forced to relocate because of scarce timber for lodges and fire, or occasional warfare. |

Ancestors of the Mandan originated !

THE PLAINS 47

in the middle Missouri River valley. By the late 12th century, they had come into contact with the ancestors of the Arikara and Pawnee, who migrated from present-day Nebraska and Kansas to escape drought. Some mixing of cul- tures occurred. By the time the Euro- peans arrived, most groups lived in large palisaded earthlodge villages along the major rivers. The Pawnee lived in Nebraska, the Arikara in most of present-day South Dakota and the Mandan in North Dakota. These “gar- deners” were all highly skilled farmers, whose lives followed a similar rhythm: planting in the spring, buffalo hunting in the summer and early autumn, and harvesting before the long winter.

Life on the Plains was destined to change forever when, in the 16th cen- tury, the Spanish reintroduced the horse, an animal extinct in North America for thousands of years (see p.49). First the Pawnee and then, by the end of the 17th century, other tribes in

the region adopted the horse and began to range out of the river valleys. Far- mers could more easily carry out their seasonal bison hunts. Some woodland tribes, such as the Cheyenne, moved into the Plains to become farmers, but with the horse they rapidly became full- time buffalo hunters instead. With increased mobility and a flood of immi- grants into the Plains, further rivalries developed over land and resources.

A critical factor in the adaptation to a more mobile life was the tipi. This con- ical dwelling, developed by Indians of the northern forests, fitted perfectly into Plains life. The poles and bison skins with which it was constructed could be quickly dismantled and transported by horse-drawn travois (see p.49).

By the 19th century, the Plains had become a cosmopolitan landscape. One southern Arapaho chief said that he had met Comanches, Kiowas, Apaches, Caddos, Pawnees, Crows, Gros Ventres, Snakes, Osages, Arikaras and Nez

A woman hanging up meat to dry outside her tipi on the Fort Belknap Reservation, Montana, which is

shared by two Plains tribes, the Siouan-speaking Assiniboines and Algonquian-speaking Gros Ventres.

48 LANDS AND PEOPLES

Perces, and communicated with them in the Indian sign language that was once the lingua franca of the Plains.

The introduction of the horse brought many benefits. The gun, how- ever, was a less positive influence. Armed with guns, the northern Algon- quians and the Iroquois league (see p.41) expanded westward in their strug- gle to gain advantage in the fur trade. Under pressure from the east, the Ojibway had pushed the Sioux into the Plains from Minnesota by the early 1700s. The Sioux, in turn, fought for resources with the Mandan, Arikara and Hidatsa along the Missouri River.

Horses made bison easy to hunt, and when breech-loading rifles were intro-

duced in the mid-19th century, the num- ber of buffalo taken by hunters rose dra- matically. When whites joined the hunt, the defenceless animal came close to extinction (see p.29), depriving the Plains Indians of one of their greatest natural resources.

White settlement, warfare, disease and the disappearance of the bison spelled the end of traditional Plains Indian life. In due course, peoples who had once freely roamed the great expanses were confined to reservations. There was greater resistance to white encroachment on the Plains than else- where, but this ended with the massacre of 200 Lakota Sioux at Wounded Knee in South Dakota in 1890 (see p. 137).

THE BUFFALO JUMP

Buffalo have poor eyesight. As grazing animals of the featureless Plains, there was

little they needed to see but the grass in front of them. This myopia was a boon to the Indians, especially before

they had horses. Hunters would stampede bison toward a cliff or precipice, directing them down a natural gully or

creating an artificial channel from rocks and brush. The beasts would not have seen the sudden drop until it was too late, and dozens, perhaps hundreds of animals might die in a single “jump”. One site, Head-Smashed-In in Alberta, was evidently used for over 5,000 years to hunt buffalo and contains the bones of hundreds of thousands of animals. The presence of fully articulated

skeletons alongside butchered bones shows that sometimes many more animals died than were needed for food, hides and other materials. However,

before the animal’s decimation in the 19th century, the huge bison population could easily withstand such overkill.

Two hunters in wolfskins approach a herd of buffalo (1822-3), by George Carlin (1794-1872), a celebrated painter of Indian life.

THE PLAINS 49

The horses depicted on this 19th-century Sioux beaded waistcoat are ridden by two war chiefs with lances bearing US flags.

THE HORSE

At first the Indians thought

of the horse as a wondrous gift from the spirits. They called the animal “Spirit Dog” or “Medicine Dog”

because, as a Spaniard

travelling with the gold- hunter Francisco de Coronado wrote in 1541, the

Plains Indians traditionally transported their goods from place to place by dog. They used dogs to haul a device

that the French called a

travois, consisting of two long poles with the load suspended between them.

The Plains horse, a short, stocky, shaggy descendant of

the mixed Andalusian and

Arabian breeds introduced by the Spanish, was a liberating

force in the agricultural villages and hunters’ camps of the Plains. The new animal brought a fantastic increase in power and mobility, and quickly became indispensable to hunter and warrior alike.

The horse was most often used by men, who were

warriors and buffalo hunters, but women in many tribes also owned horses. Horse and rider had to be agile for the

buffalo hunt and for competitive intertribal

struggles, such as horse raiding, that became a feature of Plains Indian life. People

and horses grew together; children rode ponies and quickly learned how to

master the equestrian skills that would be essential in adult life. The ability to slip down the side of a galloping horse was an essential skill.

because in battle the side of a horse was a vital shield.

Hunters and warriors rode bareback or used small, light

saddles stuffed with buffalo hair or grass. For more casual riding, Plains people also

made a heavy wooden saddle. They controlled the horse with braided rawhide reins

and a bit that was made from a piece of rawhide looped through the lower jaw.

By the beginning of the

19th century, a new and dynamic Plains culture had emerged, one in which the horse was a potent tool, a symbol of status and wealth,

and an expression of tribal pride. The horse was a

prestigious possession. Some war chiefs owned herds of

more than 1,000 horses, and one Comanche band of 2,000 owned 15,000 horses. A man

presented horses to a woman’s family when he married her, and horses bore the symbols of the warrior

and tribe into battle. Like the battle honours painted on the sides of a modern jet fighter, a

horse might bear painted hoofprints to represent previous raids, and handprints to represent enemies killed in combat.

50 LANDS AND PEOPLES

The Great Basin

NORTHERN PAIUTE

^oke RNe<

05

m TO

TO

> WESTERN SHOSHONI

Great Salt

Lake

NORTHERN Q

SHOSHONI ^

Great Salt Lake Desert

o

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PAIUTE A 0 A

c° UTE

Grand

Cany°n

The Great Basin was once a series of huge lakes, hemmed in by mountains and full of the meltwater of ice-age glac- iers. But thousands of years of intense summer heat have transformed the ancient lakebeds into rocky desert, and rivers from the surrounding uplands trickle into small, alkaline lakes or sim- ply disappear into the ground.

Survival is not easy in this parched land of sagebrush, pinyon trees and juniper. It favours small game, such as ground squirrels, gophers, rats and

Modern political boundaries

jackrabbits, which can burrow or shelter among the rocks and live on seeds, grass and only a little water. Deer and ante- lope are scarce in the region and keep to the river and lake margins where they can graze and browse. This inhospitable terrain is also the traditional home of hunting and gathering peoples of the Shoshoni, Ute and Paiute nations.

In the more arid parts of the Basin, the people spent most of the year rang- ing across the desert in small family groups. No one place could yield

THE GREAT BASIN 51

enough food to support village life, and people had no strong sense of territori- ality. Their dwellings were most often simple, open-topped, conical structures made from willow frames covered with brush or reeds. They hunted and gath- ered what the desert yielded in its sea- sonal round, from small game, pine nuts and seeds thrashed from grasses, bushes and trees, to ants, grasshoppers, horned toads and lizards.

The Shoshoni and other people of the more arid country had relatively meagre food supplies, but followed the subtle rhythms of the desert to exploit seasonal bounties. In the spring, ground squirrels and groundhogs were still fat and slow after hibernation. Sage grouse were pre- occupied during spring mating and could be netted. For those who lived near lakes and streams, fish were avail- able all year round.

As autumn approached, the scattered families began to come together for cooperative harvests of pine nuts. What was not eaten was stored in pits for the winter. The Shoshoni constructed great corrals up to two miles (3.2 km) long of sagebrush, stones and wood, in order to trap antelope, which could not leap over them. Rabbits were flushed from bushes and from the sagebrush into nets. This time of plenty was critical to survival over the winter and also to spiritual well-being. Through ceremony and the sharing of tasks, the people were able to reassert their collective identity and tribal integrity.

There was enough moisture in the region occupied by the Ute to support large game such as elk, bison and mountain sheep, while the Paiute on the eastern Sierra Nevada could irrigate

meadows and maintain their food stocks for longer.

As elsewhere, Europeans had a pro- found affect on the Basin and its peo- ples. With the introduction of the horse by c.1700 (see p.47), the Shoshoni in particular turned to the Plains for resources and adopted Plains traditions. When gold was found in California and western Nevada, the people remaining in the Basin could not resist white incur- sions, as they had nothing to fight with and no warrior tradition. In 1863, the US government simply took over the region. By 1874, most Indians were involved in waged labour or fully depen- dent on the government.

A late 19th-century photograph of a Ute man by his open-topped willow-and-brush hut in southern Utah. He wears Western clothes: traditionally, Basin peoples wove clothing from shredded sage-

brush and cedar bark and, in winter, rabbit skins.

52 LANDS AND PEOPLES

The Southwest

i Grand Canyon HOPI

Painted Black Mesa

■§ Desert

£ Sonoran Salt River

Desert A. G"a R,\

NAVAJO

Chaco Canyon

JICARILLA APACHE

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° PIMA MESCALERO APACHE

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5. YAQUI O

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73 73

Pacific Ocean

Gulf of

Mexico

O Southwest cultural region Modern political boundaries

The Southwest is an arid, beautiful land of sand and stone, sculpted by millions of years of erosion into flat-topped mesas, dusty plains and deep canyons. Endless shades of red, brown, black and yellow greet the eye, together with the surprising greens of desert plants. Rugged mountains and volcanic domes crowd distant horizons, dark against brilliant deep blue skies. Rain brings life here, most often in short, violent sum- mer storms that briefly flood canyons, stream out over the deserts and quickly sink into the sands. Several large rivers cut through the rocky wastes: the Rio

Grande in the east, the Colorado in the west, and the Salt and Gila north of Mexico.

Plants and animals fol- low a fragile natural cycle, sensitive to varia- tions in moisture. On higher elevations, pine and juniper cluster in shallow soil among the rocks and in the gullies; on the flat desert plains, desert shrubs, cacti and mesquite thrive in all but the driest places, such as Death Valley, which endures extreme heat and endless drought.

Water, or the lack of it, has determined the course of human life in this region. Thousands of years ago, people gath- ered and hunted as they have always done in deserts, making use of all available living things for

food, clothing and shelter. But some of these ancients also raised corn (maize) and squash, using knowledge acquired from Mesoamerica. In the arid South- west, agriculture flourished to an extent that was rare in North America.

The success of these ancient desert agriculturalists is seen in the elaborate art, technology and ritual of the region’s prehistoric civilizations. One group, known as the Mogollon, lived in the mountains, tolerating the extremes of climate in well-insulated pit houses, set three or four feet (0.9-1.2m) into the ground and built with log frames and

THE SOUTHWEST 53

roofs of sticks, reeds and mud. They grew corn, beans, squash, tobacco and cotton. Their creativity is evident in a type of pottery known as Mimbres, dec- orated with striking black-and-white geometric designs and figures of ani- mals, humans and other creatures.

Between C.AD1200 and c.1400, the Mogollon seem to have been over- whelmed by another desert civilization known as the Anasazi (“Ancient Ones”), who first emerged among high mesas and deep canyons C.IOOBC, rais- ing crops on terraced slopes and in irri- gated fields. Like the Mogollon, they lived in pit houses, but C.AD750, they developed a radical new type of dwelling. It was built of adobe (mud brick) and had a roof of sticks, grass and mud supported by wooden beams.

By joining these houses together, the Anasazi built enormous dwelling com- plexes or pueblos (Spanish: “villages”) on mesa tops and in the recesses of canyon walls. Each storey was set back from the one below. One such complex, Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, was begun C.AD900 and has five storeys and around 700 rooms (see pp.56-7).

The Anasazi left behind a wonderful array of painted pots, colourful fabrics, mosaics, exquisite turquoise jewelry, feathered clothing and other elaborate finery. But their civilization was brought to an end by droughts lasting several generations. By c.AD 1300, the Anasazi had abandoned their settlements and either moved closer to the rivers or reverted to a nomadic hunting and gathering lifestyle.

A view of the terraced adobe dwellings of Taos Pueblo in New Mexico. The home to this day of the

Taos people, it is one of a cluster of ancient pueblos around the northern reaches of the Rio Grande.

54 LANDS AND PEOPLES

At the time of the first Spanish incur- sions in 1539 and 1540, some Indian groups lived in villages and farmed along the rivers or in the desert uplands. These included the Pueblo tribes, Hopi and Zuni, and the Pima and Tohono O’odham (Papago). Others, such as the Apache and Navajo, moved from place to place, hunting and gathering. The Hopi inherited the Anasazi way of life and adapted it to the Colorado River region. At Oraibi Pueblo, perched on Black Mesa in Arizona, Hopi farmers, hunters and gatherers climbed down precipitous tracks cut into cracks and crevices in the sandstone ramparts to the plain hundreds of feet below. Hopi men planted their corn deep in the

sandy soil to catch the underground moisture that was fed by summer storms. The women ground the dried kernels into a flour with smooth, hard stones to make piki, a flatbread of corn- meal, water and wood ash, baked on a greased slab of sandstone. Women also made wicker baskets of rabbit brush and sumach twigs, and pots in a style reminiscent of the Anasazi, decorated with simple, elegant forms in red, brown and black on the light clay. Men gath- ered, carded and spun cotton, and women dyed it in the desert colours of yellow, orange, green, black and red, and wove it into cloth.

In the deserts watered by the Salt and Gila rivers, the Pima still follow a way of

Navajo Code Talkers at a 1991 reunion at Window Rock, Arizona.

Corps deployed 420 Navajo men to convey the most

important messages among Allied forces in the Pacific. Navajo is spoken by very few people outside the tribe and the Japanese were never able

to crack the encoded Navajo

communications. The recruits coined new Navajo terms for unfamiliar military concepts. For example, “submarine”

was translated into Navajo as “Iron Fish”.

CODE TALKERS

In the wars of the 20th century. Native people served in virtually every capacity in

the US forces - despite their former hostility to the US

military. But Indians viewed service as a way of preserving their proud warrior traditions and tended to be volunteers.

One of their contributions to the US war effort was their ability to communicate in languages of which their

enemies had no knowledge. During the First World War,

Germans who tapped into Allied lines could not understand the strange words used by Choctaw Code

Talkers. In the Second World War, the US Army Signal

Corps used men from several Indian nations. Most significantly, the US Marine

THE SOUTHWEST 55

life established by another ancient peo- ple, the Hohokam. The Hohokam con- structed irrigation canals up to ten miles (16km) long in the desert in order to water their fields of corn, beans, squash, tobacco and cotton. In the drier uplands, people such as the Tohono O'odham of the Sonoran Desert har- vested cactus - especially saguaro - and hunted small game, including mountain sheep, deer, turkeys, geese and rabbits.

The origins of the Apache and Navajo lie a long way from the Southwest: they speak Athapaskan languages like those of the Indians of the far north of Canada and Alaska. It is uncertain when they migrated south. The Apache generally continued to live the nomadic lives of

their northern cousins, hunting bison and antelope on the Plains and deer and elk in the mountains, and gathering wild plants. However, the Jicarilla Apache of northern New Mexico learned agricul- ture from the Pueblos, although the Apaches did not integrate into the Pueblo cultural landscape. On the con- trary, they often fought Pueblos for desert resources. The Navajo retained their ancestral hunter-gatherer lifestyle until they acquired domesticated sheep from the Spanish. They then turned to herding and became expert spinners and weavers. Unlike the restless Apache, the Navajo quickly settled in small, widely scattered groups and adopted the desert as their home.

CACTUS: FOOD FOR BODY AND SOUL

The many species of cactus that grow in the

deserts provide both physical and spiritual nourishment. They are a useful source of water in the desert and their juice, flesh or fruit may

be used in sacred ceremonies. Beneath the tough skin and dangerous spines, the flesh is moist from the water stored by the plant for

the long droughts it must endure. Cactus juice is squeezed out and drunk fresh. The Tohono O’odham (Papago) boil down the sweet juice of

the fruit of the saguaro to produce a syrup, which in turn is fermented to make a wine used in an annual rainmaking ceremony. The fruit is

also eaten fresh or dried (see also p. 112). Peyote is a spineless cactus that grows mostly

underground; above ground there appears only

a rounded button which provides a hallucinogenic drug that is used for ritual and non-ritual purposes. Peyote is eaten or drunk

in a beverage and is central to the rites of the Native American Church (see p. 131).

Tohono O’odham women harvest saguaro fruit

with a pole made from dried saguaro ribs.

56 LANDS AND PEOPLES

Chaco Canyon

Chaco Wash, New Mexico, is dry for most of the year, but after thunder- storms it comes to life, carrying torrents of rainwater across the desert. Most of the water eventually disappears into the ground, but where the wash has cut deepest, in Chaco Canyon, the flood- plain remains moist enough to support agriculture. In this region, the ancient desert farmers known as the Anasazi (Ancient Ones) established their home- land (see p.53).

The Anasazi began building in ear- nest in Chaco Canyon from C.AD1020 in order to accommodate a thriving farm- ing population. The ruins of nine pueb- los (villages or towns) are to be found along the canyon, eight in the canyon itself and the ninth, Pueblo Alto (“High Village”), on the north mesa. The sur- rounding area has yielded thousands of smaller sites of archaeological interest.

Pueblo Bonito (“Beautiful Village”), the largest of the pueblos, became a major processing centre for turquoise. Its skilled workers received the raw material from distant mines and trans- formed it into polished stones that were traded south into Mexico. The wealth that resulted is suggested by the variety of exotic goods and materials found at Pueblo Bonito, including copper bells, sea shells and parrot feathers.

Anasazi culture came to an abrupt end when the area was hit C.ADI 130 by a severe drought that lasted for 60 years. Without the seasonal abundance pro- vided by Chaco Wash, the Anasazi could not survive, and by C.ADI220 they had abandoned their towns and dis- persed to distant river valleys. Chaco Canyon now forms part of Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

NORTH MES,

• Chetro Ketl

WEST MESA Hungo Pavi

Una Vida

SOUTH MESA Fajada Butte

CHACRA ME

Ancient Anasazi roads

SITE 3: CHACO CANYON 57

The largest town in Chaco Canyon is known as Pueblo Bonito. It was an architectural marvel. From the outside, it would have appeared tike a

fortress, encompassed by a massive, almost featureless semicircular wall. However, the wall enclosed a multistorey complex of nearly 700 rooms facing onto a large plaza - the largest

block in the world before the 20th century. The plaza was dominated by two large, circular kivas (ritual chambers), each capable

of accommodating hundreds of people. These and nearly 40 smaller kivas attest to the active

spiritual life of the pueblo’s inhabitants. Some of the first European outsiders to see Pueblo Bonito refused to believe that it was built by ancestors of the present-day Pueblo tribes, and instead attributed it to the Toltec or Aztec civilizations of Mesoamerica.

A plan of the canyon and its various settlements and other structures, showing the seasonal

course of Chaco Wash through the four mesas

of the area. The brown lines on the map are long, straight tracks that formed part of a wider network of approximately 400 miles (640km) of roads that held the scattered Anasazi communities together (see also 4, below).

The Casa Rinconada (see map) is the largest kiva in the canyon. Over 60 feet (18m) in diameter, the kiva had space for up to 250

people. It may have served as a ceremonial centre for several pueblos.

Some of the “roads” end at the canyon edge,

where they lead to flights of carved steps that descend steeply to the mesa floor, as shown here. These roads and steps may have been for ceremonial purposes, rather than for practiced, everyday use.

North Atlantic Ocean

Pacific Ocean

,*er %.

• CHACO CANYON

58 LANDS AND PEOPLES

California

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HUPA

POMO

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CHUMASH

San Joaquin River

Mojave Desert

LUISENO

Pacific Ocean

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California cultural region Modern political boundaries

The southwestern edge of North America is enclosed by mountains: a range that follows the coast and runs

down into the sea south of Baja Cali- fornia, and the towering Sierra Nevada to the east. The warm Pacific air sheds its moisture in California, watering fer- tile valleys and transforming parts of the Southwest, Great Basin and Plateau into rocky wasteland and desert. People found the abundance nurtured by this fertile environment irresistible, and set- tled on rivers, uplands and coastal shores. These ancient migrants came from many other places, as the mixture of languages shows. In general, each of them occupied a small territory that combined uplands and either a river or a stretch of coast. This area contained all they needed to thrive.

On the coast, fish were available most of the year. The Chumash picked shell- fish from the sands, and caught tuna, halibut, bonito, albacore and many other fish. They rode the seas in large plank boats, hunting whales, seals, sea lions, dolphins and otters. Inland, deer, rabbits and other small game roamed the landscape, fish swarmed in rivers and streams and the land yielded a cor- nucopia of wild plants for food and medicine. The autumn acorn harvest was crucial, as it provided a staple food: when acorns are pounded and leached in several changes of water, they make a palatable flour that can be boiled into mush or baked as an unleavened bread.

The Luiseno, who lived north of Baja California, could easily harvest the bounties of land and water in one place, but for most Californians, the seasonal cycle involved a longer journey to and from the sea.

Food resources were so well defined in time and place that the hunting and gathering life followed regular rhythms,

CALIFORNIA 59

more like that of settled agriculturalists than of the foragers of the plains and woodlands to the north and east. A group might make temporary tipi dwellings of redwood bark. When they travelled further into the interior, they might take with them a complete winter village of pole frame and thatch dwellings, each housing several families, and even a ceremonial lodge for com- munal gatherings.

There was some group control of land that was particularly rich in resources. The Chumash, for example, divided up hunting lands, and other groups owned wild plant tracts, animal habitats and prime fishing spots. In some places, sev- eral extended families combined to form larger entities with definite territo- ries, each with a main village and chiefs.

With such plenty, trade was common. The Hupa bartered acorns and other interior foods with the Yurok for sea- weed, dried fish and redwood dugouts. Californians used forms of money, such as dentalia shells, in trade, as symbols of power and status, and as burial goods.

Wealth of a different kind was to be the undoing of the first Californians. The discovery of gold in 1848 accom-

Captain John, a leading figure among the Hupa

Indians, seen here in 1905 outside a traditional plank hut, part of which is below ground.

plished what Spanish and Mexican mis- sions did not. Floods of settlers came in search of gold and found the riches of the landscape. The Hupa managed to survive, protected in their isolated river valley, but for the Chumash, Luiseno,

Porno and other peoples, the life of plenty came to an abrupt end.

Californian Indians were expert basket- weavers. Pomo women and men wove containers, pots, hats and other articles with colourful geometric designs, sometimes even working in feathers and shells. The impact of

the European presence is clearly evident in this Pomo basket decorated with a geometric

representation of a train. The basket is made using a traditional Pomo coiling technique.

60 LANDS AND PEOPLES

The Northwest Coast and Plateau

Gulf of Alaska

Alexander Archipelago

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Queen

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;£j Northwest Coast and Plateau cultural region Modern political boundaries 1

The western mountains sweep down to the sea along the Northwest Coast. Where there are no large offshore islands to offer protection, the Pacific surf crashes against steep and densely wooded slopes and the tides surge many miles up steep flooded valleys into cool inland forests. Warm ocean currents weave among the islands and along the coastal plains, creating lush temperate rainforests fringed by sand and smooth rock beaches. Beyond the coastal moun- tains and fjords is a large dry plateau where coniferous forests are broken by a hilly terrain of open grassland and sage- brush, dotted with oak. Glacier melt- water from surrounding mountains feeds scattered lakes and two great river systems, the Columbia and the Fraser.

The peoples of these contrasting landscapes shared a reliance on the salmon. In the spring, mature adult fish swarmed far upstream from the sea to spawn in shallow river gravels. Salmon was a food source as predictable as the seasons, and the only agriculture in the fertile river deltas and on the coasts was some scattered tobacco growing.

Even without salmon, food on the coast was abundant: trout, cod, halibut, herring, smelt and other fish. One small fish, the oolichan, contained so much oil that it could be dried, run through with a wick and burned like a candle. Sea mammals also flourished. The Nootka and Makah hunted whales, and all peoples took seals, porpoises, sea lions and sea otters. Clams, mussels, sea urchins and oysters were so plentiful that ancient village sites are marked by heaps of shells many feet deep. Sur- rounding woods were full of starchy roots and berries, as well as deer,

THE NORTHWEST COAST AND PLATEAU 61

The Kwakiutl village ofNewitti on Vancouver Island, 1881. The cedar houses, totem pole and canoes are typical of this part of the Northwest Coast. The elaborate decoration of the house on the right indicates its owner’s status: it was home, the sign in English declares, to Newitti’s “head chief”.

beavers, bears, marten and other small game. Hunters at higher altitudes could pursue elk, goat, wolf and grizzly bear.

This great natural abundance nur- tured a culture that became as elaborate as any in North America. Its raw mater- ial was the soft but durable red cedar (see p.63). Northern houses had log uprights sheathed in overlapping cedar planks, with a large ridgepole holding up a gabled roof. The houses were often carved and painted. Houses in the south of the region were bigger, but had shed roofs and little or no decoration. A

number of related families shared the windowless interior, each family occu- pying a shelf-like space around a large, communal central area.

Northern artists carved and painted poles, house fronts, boats and even household utensils with heraldic crests in amazingly intricate and distinctive styles. So-called “totem poles” were the most vigorous artistic expression of a belief in fundamental creative forces, especially among the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian. This artistic energy went hand in hand with the highly class-con-

62 LANDS AND PEOPLES

scious nature of much of Northwest Coast society. In those parts of the region where people were classed as nobles, commoners or slaves, the mate- rial representation of status was essen- tial. Individuals, families and clans owned and displayed images of animal ancestors and other mythological fig- ures. They held the rights to names, titles, songs, dances and myths, as well as to fishing and hunting grounds and shellfish beds. In areas where society was less stratified, as among the Salish and Chinook, there were fewer status symbols, and artists confined their work mainly to religious objects.

Inland, people living on the Fraser and Columbia river systems were hunters and gatherers, relying on fish, deer, elk, mountain sheep, rabbits and other small game, and on grassland and forest plants. However, they were not entirely isolated from the cultures around them. Pacific Coast culture had been brought to them in trading canoes probably since ancient times, as sug- gested by stone carvings of human and animal effigies. In more recent times, groups such as the Nez Perce found that the horse was ideally suited to the grass- lands of the Plateau, and consequently emulated the lifestyles of the Plains.

THE POTLATCH

In communities where each

individual had a defined rank and status, people would

demonstrate the extent of their material wealth by

giving part of it away - or even burning it - at a potlatch ceremony. A clan chief or other noble would entertain sometimes hundreds of guests with spectacular dances and huge feasts. The wealth involved was truly impressive: goods given away or piled up in bonfires might include cloth, furs, clothing, basketry,

utensils, beads and canoes. The potlatch was

traditionally held to mark rites of passage such as birth, puberty, marriage,

inheritance and death. At a potlatch, a clan would display its wealth, strength and continuity with the past. Each song, dance, image and costume represented the

A Kwakiutl blanket of c. 1900 with mother-of-pearl button design.

Such blankets were worn at potlatches and other special occasions.

clan’s inheritance and vitality. Potlatching reached great

heights with the arrival of cheap mass-produced European trade goods: on one occasion, 33,000 blankets

were given away. When traditional life came under

pressure, potlatches took on such huge proportions that

the Canadian government banned them in 1885 as wasteful and anti-progressive. However, they continued in

secret in many places before the ban was lifted in 1950.

THE NORTHWEST COAST AND PLATEAU 63

capes and various other forms of clothing.

Cedarwood itself is soft and easily worked, but also highly resilient, resistant to

the wet climate and salty sea air. Elaborately carved cedar

totem poles survived longer than the villages in which they stood. Large cedar logs were sometimes dug out, widened in the middle by a

process of steaming and stretching, and chiselled to produce streamlined, ocean- going canoes - those of the Haida could be up to 70 feet (21m) long. Carvers transformed wooden blocks

into dramatic masks and elaborate feast bowls, and they reproduced the dense and complicated styles of Northwest Coast painting on wooden panels.

The grain of cedar is so straight that the wood can

easily be split into long, thin planks and shingles, ideal for

the construction of the large communal houses typical of the Northwest Coast. The

softness and straightness of the wood were also exploited to make “bentwood” boxes, which were steamed and bent into shape from a single plank of cedar.

A Nooika shrine in its original location at Friendly Cove, Vancouver Island. At the shrine, an important individual underwent ritual purification in order to

encourage whales to beach nearby to provide the people with food and other resources. In 1904, the shrine, with its 80 cedarwood guardian effigies (left), was dismantled and shipped away to the American Museum of Natural History.

THE CEDAR TREE

The lush, dense rainforests that cover the islands and

mountain slopes along the

Pacific Coast were once

dominated by red cedar trees. Unlike the straight and sober

Douglas fir and the gnarled arbutus, the mature red cedar was a shaggy giant, its massive ribbed and lined trunk rising high out of the

dense undergrowth. Shredded cedar bark was a valuable

source of fibre that w'as woven into a wide range of objects, such as baskets,

ropes, mats.

64 LANDS AND PEOPLES

The Subarctic.

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Gulf of Alaska

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SWAMPY

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Hudson Bay

Lake Winnipeg CREE

OJIBWAY

Lake Superior

NASKAPI

MISTASSINI

CREE James

Bay MONTAGNAIS

TETE DE

BOULE CREE

BEOTHUK

Gulf of Saint Lawrence

Atlantic Ocean

□ Subarctic cultural region Modern political boundaries

North of the prairies and the wood- lands of the Northeast, and sweeping around Hudson Bay, is an immense for- est, interrupted by innumerable lakes, bogs, streams and rivers. Hardy pine, spruce and fir thrive on thin, rocky and infertile soils; and in sheltered spots, aspen, willow and birch tolerate the long and extremely cold winters. Lichens and mosses are everywhere, clinging to trees, rocks and the ground. Further north, the forest gives way to a frigid tundra. Subarctic summers can be warm, but in the tundra and the adja- cent forests this is not a time of ease, because the air is clogged with black- flies, mosquitoes and other biting insects. Under a thin mantle thawed by the sun, the ground remains perma- nently frozen.

Most people in this rugged land hunted, fished and foraged in small,

family bands. East of the Rockies, the Chipewyan, Dogrib, Slave, Kutchin (Gwich’in) and others spoke Atha- paskan languages. The glacier-scoured granite landscape around Hudson Bay and eastward to the Atlantic Ocean was home to Algonquian-speakers, includ- ing the Cree, Ojibway, Naskapi and Montagnais peoples.

Hunting groups all followed the game. In the winter, they lived by frozen lakes to ensure a supply of fish, setting up lean-tos or small tipis. But they also moved about, either on foot with snow- shoes or by sled and toboggan. Some groups recognized family hunting and trapping territories, and all returned year after year to favoured hunting,. fishing or gathering spots. It was easy to pursue caribou, moose and other game that left tracks in the snow. When the spring thaw turned the land into bog,

THE SUBARCTIC 65

the people kept to the rivers and lakes in birch-bark canoes.

Life in the northern Subarctic revolved around the caribou, or rein- deer. People used all parts of the animal for a range of purposes, from caribou- hide tipi covers to weapons and tools made from bone and antler. Caribou spend the winter in small scattered groups inside the tree-line, but early in the spring they migrate to calving grounds far north in the tundra. In the brief northern summer, they trek back south with their calves. En route, they are harassed by wolves and, at river crossings, where they are most vulnera- ble, by people.

Other game included moose, musk ox, deer, fur-bearing animals such as beaver, mink, hare and otter, and, in the

forests north of the Plains, bison. The western mountains of the Yukon and Alaska had Dali sheep and mountain goats. Throughout the forests, porcu- pines provided meat, as well as quills, which were dyed, flattened and embroi- dered into clothing and accessories. Wildfowl were plentiful. Plant foods were most common in the southern forests - berries, roots, wild rice and the soft inner bark of poplar.

Farther north, the Chipewyan lived almost entirely on meat and fish. Isola- tion and hardship did not prevent these northern bands from maintaining net- works of relations over great distances, exchanging marriage partners, gather- ing for caribou hunts or making con- tacts through trade in the copper, flint and quartzite needed for tools.

Two Kutchin (Gwich’in) women photographed in 1982 outside their winter hunting lodge in the Yukon. Subarctic women are skilled at trapping small game. They are also traditionally responsible for

skinning caribou and tanning its hide, as well as for butchering and preparing the meat.

66 LANDS AND PEOPLES

The Arctic

o.

Bering Sea

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INUPIAT

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MACKENZIE S INUIT

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Baffin Bay

IGLULIK NETSILIK INUIT

INUIT

COPPER INUIT

CARIBOU INUIT

Hudson Bay QUEBEC INUIT

% ■/j >

Atlantic Ocean

Pacific Ocean

Arctic cultural region Modern political boundaries

The land near the top of the world is a vast frigid waste stretching from Siberia to Greenland, its shores bounded by the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic oceans. For three months in the summer people live in endless sunshine, but in winter the sun slips below the horizon for three months of perpetual night, lit only by the moon and stars, the northern lights and the glimmer of twilight in the south.

In winter, this seems like the harshest land on earth. The temperature remains below freezing for up to nine months, transforming both land and sea into an indistinguishable expanse of craggy ice and wind-whipped snow. But as the land warms in the rising sun, the snow melts to reveal a treeless, stony tundra covered with lichens and mosses, hardy flowering plants and grasses, and small

patches of dwarf willow and other scrub. Sea ice retreats from the main- land coast and southern offshore islands. Animal life emerges: seals climb onto ice floes to bask in the sun, wal- ruses gather along the shore, herds of caribou return to calve and musk oxen browse new growth on the bushes. The air is full of the sounds of birds: ravens, ptarmigan and snowy owls, which have wintered here; and other species return- ing to breed after a winter in the tropics. Grizzly bears, wolves, foxes and weasels prowl for ground squirrels, lemmings and other small game.

People began to hunt and fish along the Arctic coasts e.4,500 years ago, drawn from the Pacific Coast by the ani- mal wealth. The first peoples in the cen- tral and eastern Arctic are known to

THE ARCTIC 67

anthropologists as the Dorset and the Thule. They had kayaks, sleds and other- equipment essential to life in the snow. The Thule hunted whale and other sea mammals. Several hundred years ago, the climate cooled and only the sea adjacent to the warm Pacific currents remained open. Those people remaining in the central and eastern Arctic became seal hunters.

The present-day Arctic peoples - the Inuit and the Aleut - are closely related, speaking languages of one family, Eskimo-Aleut. They are different in physical appearance from other Native North Americans, closely resembling the peoples of the far northeast of Asia. The Aleut live on the Aleutians, a chain of nearly 100 barren islands strung out between Asia and North America. They resemble the Inuit physically, and like them they hunt sea mammals. The Aleut and Inuit have traditionally

shared some of the same technology: both used kayaks, burned seal oil in stone lamps and lived in large commu- nal houses set partly underground and roofed with driftwood or whalebone and sod.

However, the Pacific gave the Aleut a different way of life. They fished for salmon, gathered shellfish and sea urchins, caught octopuses among the rocks, dug up edible roots and picked berries. The Aleut had extensive con- tacts with the Tlingit and other peoples of the Northwest Coast region to the south. Aleut society, like that of its southern neighbours, was highly strati- fied, with the people classed as chiefs,

An Inuit dog team pulling a sled on the frozen sea near Iglulik, north of the Arctic Circle on the Melville Peninsula. Before the advent of the

horse, dogs provided the main mode of transport for many of the aboriginal peoples of North

America (see also p.49).

68 LANDS AND PEOPLES

An Inuit hunter dressed in a polar bear pelt, part of the traditional method of training hunting dogs to recognize the scent of their prey.

commoners or slaves. The Aleuts also recognized the material wealth that this stratification required.

The Inuit live from sea to sea across the extent of the north polar cap. All Inuit peoples, from the Yuit of Siberia to the Kallaalit of Greenland, share both language and lifestyle. The Inuit of the vast region from the Mackenzie River to Hudson Bay, including the Netsilik, Iglulik and Aivilik, led the life

that the rest of the world identifies as “Eskimo”, although the Inuit dislike this name (see p. 10). To resist the cold they wore thick parkas, trousers of cari- bou hide (with the hair against the skin) or polar bear skin (with the fur outside), and boots of caribou or sealskin. Like their ancient ancestors, they used dog- sleds and built temporary snow houses (igloos) when travelling in the winter. Their equipment included snow goggles

THE ARCTIC 69

that were worn against the blinding reflection of sun on snow and ice in the spring and summer.

The Inuit year was organized around hunting. In the winter, a number of fam- ilies would gather together to hunt seals, the main source of food. Seals must breathe several times an hour, so as the water begins to freeze they keep small breathing holes open by scratching the ice away from beneath. Dogs helped the Inuit to locate these holes, which were often hidden under drifting snow, and hunters might then have to wait many hours in the cold before they could spear their prey. When a sealing ground was exhausted, the people moved camp.

As soon as the snow melted on the tundra, the large winter camps broke up, and the Inuit ranged across the tun- dra in small family groups to take advantage of the brief, intense explosion

of life in the spring and summer. They trapped fox and other small game, fished for cod in the sea, set up weirs for char and other fish in the rivers, hunted birds and gathered eggs. Seals were eas- ier prey as they sunned themselves on ice floes in the open water and gathered in their breeding and feeding grounds. Beluga whales appeared, sometimes in great numbers. The walrus hunt was important, because walrus ivory was essential for tools and weapons. It was also an ideal medium for carving small, intricate human, animal and spirit fig- ures - an artistic tradition going back to ancient times. Some Inuit headed south to hunt caribou at their river crossings.

By August, the first persistent snows had arrived, and by September, rivers and lakes were frozen. The small family groups returned to the coast to await the ice, the seals and the long winter.

WHALING

Whaling is a dangerous task: hunters

must venture into the open sea and manoeuvre among a herd just to harpoon one creature. But the effort is worthwhile, because many families can be provided for by the tons of meat and blubber yielded by one whale.

The whaling season begins in spring, when bowhead whales migrate north along the coasts of Alaska and Labrador to their summer haunts near the polar icecap. Whale hunters

take to the sea in a umiak, a boat of driftwood covered in stretched walrus hide or sealskin. It is about 30 feet (9m) long and can hold a crew of up to ten. When a

whale surfaces near the boat, the harpooner plunges his weapon,

Inuit walrus-ivory charms are used to lure

fish and whales.

once tipped with ivory but later of steel, into the animal. The wounded

whale dives quickly, pulling with it a line to which inflated floats made of sealskin are attached. Each time the struggling animal comes to the surface, the hunters spear it with more harpoons. Finally, exhausted from its

injuries and its attempts to dive while restrained by the floats, the whale gives up the fight and is despatched with one last thrust of a hunter’s lance.

The hunters tow the dead whale to shore - a difficult task in heavy seas - where the

animal is butchered. Its flesh and blubber are shared among

the people and surplus meat is stored in “larders” dug into the permafrost. Whale blubber is rendered into oil for trade

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70 LANDS AND PEOPLES

Patterns and symbols

People of all Native North American cultures use art to express their connec- tion with the sacred earth and the plants and animals with which they share it. The symbols and patterns on everything from pots to footwear allow artist and people to reflect on the world around them and to be reminded of its religious and secular significance. Finely-made objects are also intended to be enjoyed in themselves, and artistic skill is traditionally highly prized. As in other cultures, access to the best artists and craftspeople was a mark of social prestige among Indian peoples.

Decorative patterns and symbols can be made from, and applied to, almost

any material. Hides may be painted or covered with beads or quills. Wood, antler, bone, shell and stone are carved, etched or painted. Clay pottery or fig- ures are also often incised or painted. Plant fibres and animal hair are spun and woven into netting and textiles.

Motifs are to some degree limited by the medium. Baskets, beadwork and woven fabrics commonly have geomet- ric patterns, which are the easiest to exe- cute in these media. Where naturalistic figures are used, the limits of the mate- rial may result in a degree of stylization. Greater naturalism may be found in painting and carving, but truth to nature is not necessarily an artistic or

ABOVE In this photograph of c.1900, a Haida woman paints a woven hat with characteristic motifs. Male and female artists might specialize - for

example, on the Northwest Coast, basketweaving was

more often done by women, who used a range of techniques

to make baskets, cradles and even watertight cooking vessels from bark fibres and grasses. They were particularly skilled at fine work with spruce roots.

ABOVE Butterflies of many

colours adorn this basket made in traditional style by Paiute craftswoman Marilu Lehi in 1984.

H§j > A 1 -v~ - !

PATTERNS AND SYMBOLS 71

cultural ideal. Individual artists work inside established traditions, but may experiment within acceptable limits.

Symbols and patterns often reflect the artist’s natural surroundings. For exam- ple, woodlands art often uses floral and other plant motifs, while coastal groups tend to depict sea animals. Other motifs are drawn from the people’s cosmology, and mythical creatures such as thunder- birds, serpents and other supernatural beings are frequently encountered.

A number of regions are renowned for their skilled basketmakers - for example, the Southwest and the North- west Coast. Among the Hopi, utilitar- ian and ceremonial basketry most often

displays geometric, animal and kachina spirit designs. Triangles and concentric circles are the most popular geometric motifs, which frequently include bright colours and intricate patterns. The eagle and the Crow Mother Kachina are common subjects, but turtles have recently become more popular. Basket- weavers of the Northwest Coast draw upon a range of animal and anthropo- morphic motifs (see pictures below and on opposite page).

Pueblo potters are also celebrated for the elegance and intricacy of their work, which continues a tradition with roots in the great pre-contact cultures of the region, such as that of the Anasazi.

TOP Stylized motifs from the Southwest representing real

and mythical animals. Left to right: Cloud Serpent, deer, lion, turtle, Rain Serpent. ABOVE A kachina motif from

a Hopi basketwork tray.

ABOVE A killer-whale hunt is depicted among the designs on

this 18th-century Nootka woman’s woven hat. The killer

whale, or orca, is often denoted by its prominent

dorsal fin.

ABOVE Northeast woodlands art often uses motifs reflecting

the region’s rich vegetation. The O jibway design (top) is

geometric and stylized, in contrast to the Menominee floral pattern (bottom).

72 LANDS AND PEOPLES

Geometric and traditional animal motifs, such as serpents and thunder- birds, are depicted in black, white and rich natural reds, browns and creams.

More than 30,000 Navajo women are weavers, and their rugs show an aston- ishing variety. According to Navajo leg- end, the weavers learned their craft from Spider Woman, a being who instructed them how to weave grass, yucca, cedar bark and cotton. However, as the Navajo became shepherds, wool came to be the dominant material. The col- ours used in Navajo rugs have changed in recent times from natural earth hues to pastels for the tourist market. There are several regional styles of patterning.

For example, the “crystal” style basi- cally uses stripes, with many variations. Yei (“god”) and Yeibichai (“masked dancer”) rugs employ motifs from sacred sandpaintings, although the rugs have no ritual significance of their own.

Around the Great Lakes, skilled workers flatten porcupine quills and dye them with plant pigments. The quills are then used to decorate bags and moc- casins. Women of the Huron, Micmac and other Northeastern tribes embroi- dered skins, cloth and birch bark with dyed moose-hair. As colourful glass beads were traded into the area by Europeans, they were combined with traditional materials or even replaced

TOP A range of moccasin

designs from the Great Plains ( Dakota, Blackfoot and

Arapaho). Geometric designs based on circles, chequered patterns and zig-zags predominate.

ABOVE, LEFT In many Native traditions, the sky and its

powers, such as rain, thunder and wind, are embodied by the Thunderbird, a giant eagle. This stylized Thunderbird is

from an ancient Pueblo pot.

ABOVE A blanket or shawl made by an Osage weaver of

the southern Plains. Red was considered the colour of life, and was often used in garments for women, who were

revered as the givers of life.

PATTERNS AND SYMBOLS 73

them altogether. Intricate floral motifs are most common, but simple geo- metric patterns may adorn a utilitarian object such as a knife sheath or pouch.

The people of the Plains also used quillwork for their pipebags and moc- casins. Bison-hide tipi covers and indi- vidual hides may bear naturalistic images of buffalo or horses, but other- wise, Plains patterning tends to be more geometric, with circles, rectangles and triangles. Circles may symbolize the dome of the sky, a domed earthlodge or the floor of a tipi. As in many other Native North American cultures, the circle was an expression of the related- ness of everything on the earth and of

the eternal cycles of nature. Much art of the Northwest Coast is

described as representational - that is, key elements or characteristics of an animal or person may be emphasized, sometimes to the exclusion of any other feature. For example, a beaver may be represented only by two large front incisors and a broad, cross-hatched tail, and ravens and seahawks by their char- acteristic beak and eyes. In the three- dimensional carvings on totem poles, the representation might be more com- plete than on two-dimensional objects. Animal figures are often anthropomor- phized, combining both animal and human features.

ABOVE A late 19th-century

Navajo “steer weaving” blanket, showing two steers against a striped background,

with chequered diamond motifs around the edges. The stripes are arranged in five

bands, a typical Navajo design

of this period. The head between the two animals resembles the sacred figures in Navajo sandpaintings and may represent a Yei (god) or

some other sacred being.

ABOVE Anthropomorphic an ima l figures from Ha id a

totem poles. Clockwise from top left: a hawk (curved beak), raven (straight beak), bear (long tongue) and beaver (large incisors and broad tail).

74

The Life of the Spirit

According to Native North American traditions, everything that the Creator made, whether animate or not, has a spirit. Therefore, all things are related and all things are sacred. Relationships between humans, Mother Earth, other creatures and the ancestors are well defined. The earth provides for the “two-leggeds” - the people - and for all others who were put on it by the Creator. People are therefore expected to respect the earth. Many “four-leggeds” - the animals - willingly sacrifice themselves to feed and clothe the people, who in consequence are obliged to show respect for them. The ancestors, who dwell in the realms of the spirits, gave life to those who now live, and the living, for their part, must respect the ancestors. Humans must also respect their living kin, and must provide and care for each other in order to survive.

This complex system of mutual respect is expressed not only in daily life, but also in the people’s ritual and ceremonial practices. Every traditional rite and ceremony celebrates the spirit that unites all things on earth and reaffirms the sacred relationships.

An Indian dancer at a powwow (see pp. 90-91). Dance is central to much Native American ceremonial. The most colourful dance costumes are for “fancy dancing”; more traditional costumes employ more natural colours, furs and fewer feathers.

76 THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

Foundations of the sacred

It is not entirely appropriate to speak of Native North American “religions” or “belief systems”, since these terms often imply a formally-structured spiritual life conducted alongside, but distinct from, everyday secular existence. How- ever, in Native North American soci- eties the threads of ordinary life and spirituality are so tightly interwoven that the sacred and the secular are indis- tinguishable. Indian sacred life extends beyond the communal festivals and cer- emonies that punctuate the year and the rituals that accompany puberty and

Prehistoric rock art at Harvest Scene Site in Utah depicts elongated figures which are thought

to be sacred beings. These petroglyphs, which are perhaps 2,000 years old, may have been produced as part of propitiation rituals.

other times of passage (see pp. 100-103). For many Indians, the simplest everyday act has spiritual meaning.

The sacred life of each Indian nation is unique and intimately linked to its own particular environment. It is based on the sense of community that a people develops with the local landscape and climate, and with the beings and spirits that are perceived to dwell around them. However, Native traditions do share certain common underlying concepts and attitudes. Spirit power - “medicine” - is believed to reside in all things. Every plant and animal, even the soil itself, possesses a soul that is mutually depen- dent on other souls. The cycles of nature, such as the seasons and the pas- sage of the sun and moon across the sky, are evidence of the eternal circle of exis- tence and the timelessness of Creation.

Some peoples view the powers that maintain the world as entities revealing themselves in the form of natural phe- nomena, such as winds, rivers, corn (maize) and buffalo. These are regarded as relatives, and community life is struc- tured around the rights and obligations due to such kin. For other peoples, the controlling powers are formless, mystic energies, such as the Manitou of the Algonquians, Wakan of the Lakota and Sila of the Baffin Bay Inuit.

Each Native people has its own ways of conducting its relationship with the cosmic entities, of controlling and har- nessing the “medicine”. Some individu- als actively seek the power to deal directly with the spirits; others acquire it by accident of birth or through a life cri- sis. However, everyone must pay due heed to the spirits every day as part of his or her obligations to them just for

FOUNDATIONS OF THE SACRED 77

being alive. The notions of good or evil are expressed largely in terms of whether or not obligations to the spirits are being met. Failure in this regard is a sign of disrespect, and upsets the bal- ance and harmony of the world. Most

virtues taught by elders, such as wis- dom, bravery, generosity and selfless- ness, aim to ensure proper respect, so that the cosmic balance may be main- tained or restored and the community’s survival guaranteed.

MEDICINE WHEELS

Scattered across the plains and prairies of North

America are large stone circles known as "medicine wheels”. They were built out of the small boulders left on

the surface of the earth by retreating glaciers. The "hub” of each medicine

wheel is a pile of stones, or cairn; other cairns may

be positioned around the circumference. Lines of stones sometimes radiate

like spokes from the central cairn to the outer ring.

The best-known of

these structures is the Big Horn medicine wheel in Wyoming, which is nearly 100

feet (30m) in diameter with 28 spokes and six small cairns around the rim. The identity of its builders, and when and why it was made, are unknown. A widely-held theory is that the “spokes” of

i. .IS*?

a medicine wheel are (or were originally) aligned with astronomical events, such as the position of the sun at dawn on Midsummer’s Day.

Another theory is that

medicine wheels are more purely symbolic, perhaps intended as visual representations of sacred cyclical principles that bind the universe. They resemble

forms found in Native dance and the shape of some lodges. Many are on high ground, so their form may symbolize the

dome of the heavens.

A plan of the Big Horn wheel. The hub and protruding cairn align with the rising sun on the summer solstice.

The medicine wheel in the Big Horn mountains of northern Wyoming. It may have been constructed by one of the Plains peoples, such as the Arapaho, Cheyenne or Crow.

78 THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

Nature and spirit

According to many Native North American traditions, nature and spirit are inseparable and mutually depen- dent: spirit resides in all things and all things are part of nature. The earth is at the centre of this scheme. Most Native peoples respect the earth as the source of an endless cycle of generation, destruction and regeneration, through which all things are believed to pass. The view of the earth as a powerful nurturing force is expressed in the common Native concept of Mother Earth, but there is considerable scholarly controversy as to whether this imagery predates contact with whites or is essentially a European construct.

Fundamental to many Native narratives is the understanding that the earth acts as a host to human beings. Many Native traditions view humans as spiritually rooted in the earth, which gave them life just as the soil gives life to a plant. But people are seen as no more important than any other living or non-living thing. All beings must share the earth as equal partners, each responsible to the other.

This attitude is in contrast to that of the Judaeo-Christian tradition brought by missionaries, in which God gave humans dominion over the earth and all other creatures. Animals are widely

revered in Native North American tra- ditions, and some peoples believe that they created the world (see pp.l 16-19). For many, the creator was an earthdiver, a turtle or other small creature who

brought up mud from the depths of the prim-

"2* eval waters and fash- ioned the land from it

(see pp. 116-17). A Crow story tells how Old Man

Coyote made the earth by blowing on a small lump of

mud that ducks had brought from the bottom of the waters.

In Native belief, ani- mals have spirits, just like human beings, and

enjoy a complex recip- rocal relationship with people, plants and the

earth. Animals often play an important role in

teaching people how to behave. Tricksters, for example, who frequently appear in the form of animals, provide their human neighbours with valuable moral lessons (see pp. 120-23).

At the core of each Native culture is an abid- ing reverence for the

region in which the people live. The landscape is sacred, a source of identity and strength. Alfonso Ortiz, a Tewa anthropologist, has spoken of how his grandmother instructed him to return home whenever he felt distant from his soul, in order to be spiritually refreshed by the four sacred mountains that mark the boundaries of the Tewa world.

An image of a polar bear carved out of a washed-up

whale vertebra by a 20th- century Inuit artist. The bear

itself (top) has a spirit owner with human features, who is

depicted on the reverse of the carving (below). The spirit

owner's face is visually composed from the forms of

two leaping killer whales.

NATURE AND SPIRIT 79

BIG THUNDER SPEAKS OF THE EARTH

In early 1900, Bedagi, or Big

Thunder, a famous orator of the Wabanakis (Micmac,

Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Maliseet), gave a speech on the relationship between

nature, birth and death. There are numerous

variations of the speech, but its central theme is clear: humans, animals and plants all come from the earth, ,are part of it and will ultimately return to it.

“The Great Spirit is our Father, but the earth is our Mother. She nourishes us.

What we put in the ground she gives back to us, and healing plants as well. If we are wounded, we go to our

Mother and seek to lay the wounded part against her, to

be healed. When we hunt, no matter how powerful the bow, it is not our arrow that

kills the moose; it is nature that kills him. The arrow sticks in his hide, and like all

living things, he goes to our Mother to be healed by laying his wound against the

earth, but this makes the arrow go further in.

“Meanwhile, I follow him. He is out of sight, but by putting my ear against a tree,

I can hear when the moose makes his next leap, and I follow. Every time he stops

and rubs his side the arrow is pushed in deeper. Eventually I find him, he is exhausted,

and the arrow is driven clean through his body.”

A Hopi kachina (spirit) effigy

made by William Quotskuyva in 1939. It represents the deity Masau’u, protector of the soil and also ruler of the dead, who were said to bring rain.

The Badlands of South Dakota, a landscape of stark beauty that is sacred to the Sioux peoples. Followers of the Ghost Dance (see pp. 136-7) fled here in 1890 before the massacre at Wounded Knee.

80 THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

Kinship and spirit

For many Indian people, kinship was the key to the stability, integrity and survival of the community. For example, to be a nephew or a daughter was to possess a distinct role with well-defined rights and obligations to others. Those who came to villages as strangers - even white captives - were often adopted as “cousins” or “brothers”, making their social position unambiguous and keep- ing the integrity of the group intact.

A particularly important role is played by elders. Traditionally, most child-rearing was done by grandparents, because it was considered that parents were too busy with daily life and did not yet possess enough wisdom to pass on to their children. Elders were, and are, the source of nurture and moral train-

ing, and as storytellers, they are the repository of a people’s mythological and spiritual inheritance. They, above all, are responsible for handing down the sacred traditions of a community.

Indian peoples often see their com- munities as an extension of the spirit- rich natural world. Clans (groups of families) and sacred societies (see pp.84-7) often believed that they were the descendants of an animal spirit, or totem, a word that anthropologists derived from the Ojibway odem, which may be translated as “village”. The Iro- quois peoples, for example, are divided into such groupings as Turtle Clan, Bear Clan and Wolf Clan, each headed by a Clan Mother. The totem animal may have assisted an ancestor in a hunt.

Clan chiefs were revered figures. This engraving of 1591 by Le Moyne illustrates Theodor de Bry’s description of a funeral ceremony for a chief in the Northeast. Among other displays of grief de Bry

recounted, clan members fasted for three days and cut off most of their hair.

KINSHIP AND SPIRIT 81

or helped him or her to find the way home. In other cases, a member of a clan may go on a quest to find an ani- mal to adopt as the clan totem. For example, members of the Osage Spider Clan relate that a young man once went into the forest on just such an expedi- tion. He was following some deer tracks when he fell over a large spider’s web. The spider asked the man how he had come to trip over the web. He replied that he had been tracking a deer, because he was looking for a strong ani- mal to be the symbol of his clan. The spider replied that, although he seemed to be a small, weak creature, he had the virtue of great patience. Furthermore, the spider said, all creatures came to him sooner or later, just as the man had

done. Impressed by these words, the man returned to his clan, which adop- ted the spider as its totem.

Individuals who did not belong to a totem-based society or clan could develop their own relationship with a totem animal, which became their per- sonal spirit guide. Clans and individuals were often thought to assume the char- acteristics of their spirit totem. For example, members of a Bear Clan might be said to possess great strength and ferocity. Mice are very shortsighted, and those who belonged to the Cheyenne Mouse Clan adopted a myopic view of the world: they paid careful attention to what happened nearby and at the pre- sent moment, but took little or no inter- est in anything distant or in the future.

A kiva (ceremonial chamber) built by the prehistoric Anasazipeople at Mesa Verde Pueblo in Colorado. Present-day Pueblo peoples such as the Hopi believe that the totemic clan ancestors

entrusted each clcm with the care of a kiva and of the sacred rituals that are held in it.

fm 7 A

82 THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

Haida villages.

The Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, are the home of the Haida, who call the archipelago Haida Gwaii (“Islands of the People”). They are a proud, maritime people who derive great wealth from the sea, and their vil- lages were once the most prosperous of the Northwest Coast. Until the arrival of Europeans in the 1770s, all 7,000 or so Haida lived in more than 30 shoreline villages of sturdy cedar-plank houses. Some settlements consisted of a small scattering of houses, while others extended along the shore for more than a mile (1.6km).

Haida houses, like others in the northern Northwest Coast region, were large and rectangular, and each was occupied by several related families. A typical house had corner posts, interior posts to support the roof beams, and walls, roof and floor of cedar planks. The planks were either lashed to the beams with rope or fastened with wooden dowels. There were sitting and sleeping platforms around the inside walls, with each family group separated by partitions of wood or cedar matting. Families were arranged by status, with the chief in the favoured location, at the end furthest from the door, and slaves by the doorway. Traditional Haida houses had a single, central hearth and no openings except a doorway and a smokehole in the roof. The doorway was sometimes cut through the body of a figure that was painted on the house front or carved in a totem pole. Such openings reflected the womb-like nature of the dwellings. Villages were mainly occupied in the winter. In the summer, people moved to temporary camps to harvest foods as they came into season.

SITE 4: HAIDA VILLAGES 83

HAIDA • VILLAGES

Pacific Ocean

A° %'S ef

$ o'

Qr*de

The Haida village of Ninstints in the southern Queen Charlotte Islands, as it was in the 19th

century. An outsider would have been struck by the forest of carved cedar poles among the houses of Haida villages. The Haida had more, and taller, poles than any other Northwest Coast peoples. There were three main types: the “totem pole”, which showed the crest of the

families within each house; the memorial pole, which was erected in memory of honoured

ancestors (examples can be seen at far left and in the distance); and mortuary poles, on top of which rested chests that contained the remains of ancestors.

The raising of a new totem pole in Yan, an

abandoned village on Massett inlet, in 1991. European diseases, together with government and missionary resettlement programmes, led to the depopulation and abandonment of many Haida villages during the last decades of the 19th century. By 1900, the 1,000 or so surviving Haida had relocated to the missionary-run towns of Massett and Skidegate in the north of the Queen Charlotte Islands. Yan ceased to be

inhabited after 1890. In 1991, descendants of Ycin’s last residents gathered at the old village

for the ceremonial raising of this new totem pole representing the Bear Clan. The pole was carved from cedar by Jim Hart, one of a new generation of Native artists who, in the last 30 years or so, have dedicated themselves to the revival and preservation of the ancient carving

skills of the Northwest Coast.

The deserted villages of the Haida soon fell into decay. Whites cut down the carved poles for firewood, shipped them out to museums or simply left them to rot where they stood, like these at Ninstints.

North Atlantic Ocean

84 THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

Sacred societies

All but the smallest cultures tend to have ways of organizing themselves in groups other than those based primarily on kinship. For Native North Ameri- cans, such groupings most commonly took the form of sacred societies, asso- ciations based on a particular sacred ideal, ritual, being or object. They were sometimes directly linked with particu- lar clans, but as often as not they cross- cut kinship structures. Although the individual and his or her personal ritual life were important, membership of a sacred society provided a more dis- tinct social identity. If these soci- eties did not exist, or if they functioned improperly, the very survival of the people was feared to be in jeopardy.

Sacred societies drew their power from the spirit world. Often, as among the Kwakiutl, certain spirits took part in ini- tiation rituals in the form of puppets or impersonators. Sometimes a society’s power was centred on a sacred bun- dle of holy objects entrusted to its care by a tribe or clan. Sacred bundles were the focus of special ceremonies. For the Pawnee of the Plains, many sacred bundles were closely associated with the stars and contained symbols of

Kwakiutl puppets of wood, leather and hair representing the ghost No ’tEmg. Ha and its children. The puppets were used to embody these beings during the initiation rituals for the Warrior Spirit sacred society.

the cosmic forces. Alternatively, they might represent the psychological or elemental characteristics of the divinity to whom the bundle was consecrated. The bundle itself might be a piece of hide painted with star patterns that was wrapped around objects such as ears of corn (maize), representing the annual renewal of the earth. The Skull Bundle of the Skidi Pawnee originally con- tained what was said to be the skull of First Man. Later, after that skull broke, it held the skull of an important chief.

Societies of healers were espe- cially prominent in the North- east. The Huron dreaded

sickness and therefore set great store by their curing societies. Each society had a

leader whose office was heredi- tary; sometimes he was also an important chief. One cur- ing society was the atirenda, which had about 80 mem- bers, including six women. In its principal dance, the otakrendoiae, the members pretended to kill one another with charms such as bears’ claws, wolves’ teeth or stones. The atir-

enda was especially skilled at curing ruptures.

Members of the Iro- quois False Face Society wore “twisted face” masks to commemorate their guardian being, a giant who had once challenged the Creator to a test of strength by

moving a mountain. The giant could barely shift

SACRED SOCIETIES 85

it, but the Creator was so successful that the mountain hit the giant in the face before he was able to get out of the way. Chastened, the giant agreed to look after the health of the people from then on. However, his face remained in a per- manent twisted grimace.

Sacred societies were an effective instrument of social control, providing a convenient way to educate youth and to allocate civic responsibilities and sacred obligations. Among some peo- ples, sacred societies played a central role in the running of the tribe. In North Carolina, the Eastern Cherokee (those who had escaped their people’s forced relocation to Oklahoma; see p.45) closely coordinated their political activ- ities with the cycle of major religious ceremonies. Tribal officials belonged to one of two sacred societies, the White Peace Organization or the Red War

This mask, worn by the False Face Society of Iroquois carers, depicts the legendary giant who was the source of their healing powers. His face was twisted in a collision with a mountain.

SACRED TEAM GAMES

Sometimes sacred societies specialized in playing a particular sport. Team games

were certainly recreational activities, but like most aspects of Native life they also served a broader social

and religious purpose. The most widespread

example of such a sport is the

hoop and pole game. Played across the entire continent, the game was exclusively male and consisted basically of

throwing a spear or shooting

or throwing an arrow at a hoop or ring as it rolled along the ground. The hoop in particular possessed symbolic significance. The Zuni version of the game used a hoop strung with netting that symbolized the web of an ancestral protector being called Spider Woman.

The game was of great antiquity and there was remarkable diversity in both the implements used and the rules of play. The number of

players varied, but there always seem to have been two teams, perhaps representing some fundamental duality, such as “we” (the people) and

“they” (the unseen forces). When gambling was involved, as with the Arapaho, the

takings were redistributed among team members.

The timing of matches was sometimes significant. For example, the Wasco of the Northwest Coast, played the game to mark the first salmon run of the season.

86 THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

Organization. Chiefs of the White Peace Organization, together with their assis- tants and seven counsellors, formed a town’s civil and religious tribunal. They were in charge of a ritual cycle which included several corn ceremonies, and the “Reconciliation”, “New Moon” and “Bounding Bush” ceremonies. They also performed civic duties, acting as a criminal court, controlling marriage and divorce and training boys to hunt.

The Red War Organization ran all aspects of warfare, from the initial call- up of warriors to a body-count of the slain, and conducted purification rites before and after battle. The society was

headed by a chief who was aided by var- ious counsellors, surgeons, messengers and scouts, as well as by some older, highly respected matrons who were known as “Pretty Women”. They had an important say in the conduct of war- fare and in the fate of captives.

All-women societies existed alongside all-male ones. Among the Blackfeet of southern Alberta, women were acknow- ledged as the foundation of humanity, and ceremonies could not be run with- out them. Women kept the people’s sacred bundles, without which the most important ceremonies, including the Sun Dance, could not take place. Only

SNAKE DANCERS

In the parched lands of the Southwest, rainmaking

ceremonies are among the most significant events of

the annual ritual calendar. The most important are conducted by specialist sacred societies, such as the

Hopi Snake Dancers, whose week-long rites are held late in the summer every two

years. The Hopi believe that the snake, with its zig-zag shape, is related to the lightning that heralds rain. The dances are intended as a great show of communal

respect toward the snakes, so that they will bring enough rain for the growing harvest.

For the first four days of the ceremony, society

members head north, south, east and west into the desert in order to catch snakes and bring them back to the

village. There follow two

days and nights on which primordial events are ritually re-enacted in a kiva, or

ceremonial chamber, by members of the Hopi sacred societies. The remainder of the festival is taken up with races, dances (in which priests hold snakes in their mouths, even deadly rattlesnakes) and a final blessing. The snakes, which remain unharmed throughout the ceremony, are then gathered up and released back into the wild.

Hopi Snake Dancers blessing

the snakes, 1911. Photographs of the Snake Dances became so popular among white

Americans at the end of the 19th century that the army of competing photographers often outnumbered the dancers and

disrupted the sacred rituals. In the end. the Hopi imposed a ban - in force to this day - on all photography by outsiders during the ceremonies.

SACRED SOCIETIES 87

women were permitted to open the bun- dles and hand the sacred objects over to men, and only women could call up the spirits. Prior to the Sun Dance, mem- bers of the Old Women's Society built a ceremonial lodge in the shape of a buf- falo corral. On the fourth day of the cer- emony, they re-enacted a buffalo drive into the corral, with some members wearing bison headdresses and mimick- ing the animal. The event was staged in honour of the Creator spirit, the buffalo and the history of the people.

Sometimes sacred societies controlled very specific ceremonies. For the Crow of the northwestern Plains, the Tobacco

Society was responsible for the Tobacco Ceremony, which was thought crucial to the prosperity of the tribe. It was also thought that the Crow -would survive only if they continued to plant seeds from the originally cultivated plants. The ceremony began with the ritual planting of seeds by a Tobacco Planter. This role was hereditary, but a person could purchase the right to become a Planter. The planting ritual included abstention from food and water for sev- eral days, as well as cutting or burning the arms and chest. In exchange for the honour of planting the seeds, a Planter had to give up all worldly possessions.

88 THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

Ceremonial transformations

For Native North Ameri- cans, the boundaries between the world of the spirits and the world of living people were not clearly defined: a third, “in-between” world of tran- sition separated them. Every entity to some degree inhabited all three worlds. If a human possessed the power or carried out appropriate rituals, he or she could be transformed into a being from one of the other two worlds.

Such transformations often dupli- cated events of the “beginning time”, when the world came to be as it is through the agency of culture heroes and tricksters (see pp. 120-23). On cere-

monial occasions, an indi- vidual might assume the appearance of such a figure and be thought literally to become that

being. When a Blackfoot holy man put on a yellow

bear hide, for his audience he actually was the bear.

For the Kwakiutl and Flaida of the Northwest Coast, the supernatural beings that shaped the

world in the beginning time often changed themselves into animal or human form or took possession of peo- ple. Such beings were not always benign. In some dances, elaborately painted two-layered masks were used to illustrate the shapeshifting. The outside

This llaida mask portrays the evil Cannibal Spirit. At a

certain point in a dance, the mask opens to release a human

whom the spirit has possessed.

In this painting by modern Apache artist Pablitci Velarde, male Chiricahua Apache dancers assume the guise of the Ga’an, benevolent mountain spirits who bestow blessings during important ceremonies.

CEREMONIAL TRANSFORMATIONS 89

mask might depict the head of a salmon. During the dance, the dancer pulled a string to open the mask and reveal an inner mask depicting the sisi- utl, a fearsome dragon-like creature. Conversely, the mask of a malign spirit might open at some point to reveal the face of the human who until that point had been possessed by the being.

Transformation commonly occurs in “animal-calling” ceremonies, such as the Deer-Calling ceremonies of the

Pueblo peoples, in which men dress as deer. At dawn, hunters call to the deer from the hills, and the shadowy forms of deer-men on all fours emerge into the new sunlight with shaking antlers and hides. They leap about and play before the people while little boys, dressed as fawns, prance around them. The deer- dancers are escorted by a figure known as Mother of Game, who leads the “deer” to the hunters, where they are symbolically killed.

SACRED CLOWNS

Many groups possess respected specialists referred to as “sacred clowns”, who at sacred ceremonies would undergo transformation into disruptive, clownish figures. For example, during the Mandan Okipa ceremony (see p.81), a figure called Foolish One would bring great delight to the audience by imitating a mating male buffalo bull before being unceremoniously driven from the village.

The clowns’ behaviour was often intended to be instructive, teaching by bad example. The Zuni Koyemshi warned against greed by their grotesque gluttony. The Lakota Heyoka were more obviously comic. For example, they might ride a horse while facing backwards or swim in icy water and complain how hot it was.

A young Hopi koshare, or sacred clown, photographed in 1973 during “Indian Day” at his school in Arizona.

90 THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

The powwow

The term “powwow” probably derives from the Algonquian word pauau, meaning a gathering of people. Euro- pean Americans use the term to describe any meeting or social event at which issues of importance are discussed. For Indians, however, the powwow refers to a traditional large tribal or intertribal secular gathering that encompasses singing, dancing, giveaways and hon-

ouring ceremonies. Powwows are dra- matic and public expressions of Indian identity. Sometimes they are open to the general public, but more often they are geared toward Indians themselves. Inter- tribal powwows are obviously larger than tribal ones, but whatever their size, the powwow is an important vehicle for handing down Indian traditions from one generation to the next.

At a powwow held in Browning, Montana, dancers participate in a colourful ceremonial display that includes traditional songs and dances in imitation of animals and natural forces.

THE POWWOW 91

There is a well-established “powwow highway”, or circuit, and Indians travel across the country from late spring to early autumn in order to take part in intertribal powwows. As pan-Indian events, these powwows enable tribal members to foster close relations with other tribes, and they are therefore a demonstration of Native North Ameri- can solidarity as well as a powerful expression of Indian culture.

The event, which is focused on a cen- tral arena, or “arbour", usually begins with a grand entrance. The opening pro- cession is often led by military veterans, who conduct a flag-raising ceremony and brief invocation. War dances usu- ally follow, along with other types of dances, such as round dances, grass dances and rabbit dances. Many of these dances are specifically designated as intertribal. Colourfully costumed, with shawls, beadwork, bustles or elabo- rate headgear, powwow dancers proceed gracefully around the arena, a steady drumbeat directing their movements. Many powwows include dance competi- tions (see below). Contestants often travel great distances to attend these events, which offer substantial cash prizes for dancers and drummers.

Another powwow highlight is the

giveaway ceremony, at which one indi- vidual or family presents another with gifts that may be as elaborate as the handmade “star" quilts of the Sioux or as simple as kitchen utensils. A giveaway ceremony is one way of acknowledging people in the community who have dis- tinguished themselves, such as univer- sity graduates, military personnel and community leaders. Someone who has helped a family during a crisis, such as a period of mourning, might also be honoured. Giveaways usually take place in the afternoon, between dances. The powwow announcer will state the rea- son for the giveaway, who the donors and recipients are, and will then call for an honour dance. The participants then shake hands and the programme of powwow dancing resumes.

At a powwow, socializing is as impor- tant as dancing. It is an occasion for Indians who may belong to many differ- ent tribes to renew old friendships, and they may sit down together for a feast at which traditional Native North Ameri- can foods, such as bison, venison, corn (maize) stew and fry bread, are served. There may be prayers and political speeches, and people sometimes take advantage of the occasion to make extra money by selling handicrafts.

DANCE COMPETITIONS

Dance competitions have

categories depending on style of dance, age and sex, and

may include “traditional”, "fancy”, “grass”, “shawl” and “jingle dress” dancing. Entrants wear different styles of clothing according to the

dance. For example, a male fancy dancer dons feather bustles and beads, while a female shawl dancer wears a long-fringed shawl over an elaborately beaded dress, moccasins and leggings. Jingle dress dancers are so- called from the tin bells that adorn their costumes. The

judges, who are usually former powwow dance champions, mingle among the competitors and judge mastery of style as well as ability to keep time with the song and to end on the last drumbeat. The winners often dance a short solo in front of a cheering crowd.

92 THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

Holy people

Individual religious practices that are based on a personal spirit or totem play an important part in the daily lives of most Native North Americans. However, cer- tain people appear to have greater contact with the spirit world than others. The word “shaman” is widely used by anthropologists to refer to such individu- als. A shaman is a reli- gious specialist who has acquired exceptional powers to deal with the supernatural, usually after he or she has been seized by spirits. How- ever, many Native North Americans dislike “shaman” as a blanket term because it derives from a foreign culture

the Tungus people, reindeer herders of eastern Siberia - and does not encom- pass the diversity of Native specialists. These are probably best referred to as “holy people”.

Holy people range from a person who, without especially seeking it, has just one powerful vision that provides guidance for the future, to a nearly full- time practitioner who is in constant communication with the spirits and capable of manipulating the surround- ing world. The first category includes the famous war chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, who were often thought of as holy men by their people. They used their limited contacts with the spirit world for the benefit of their peo- ple, especially in warfare. They certainly would not be considered as shamans, which might be an appropriate term for

the second type of holy person: one who attempts to influ-

ence or even impose his or her will on the supernat- ural, like the Yaqui shaman who seeks to trans-

form his body into that of an animal. Outsiders often call holy

people “medicine men” or “medicine women”, but these terms are some- times used pejoratively. However, they might be appropriate when a holy person’s power of vision is associated with the diagnosis and curing of illness.

Holy people are seen as a special point of contact between the natural world and the world of spirits. In gen- eral, they would act for the good of their people. Sometimes they may use their abilities to harm individuals or groups identified as the people’s enemies.

Among the most important tasks of holy people is to provide for the physical well-being of their people by preventing, diagnosing and curing illness. The causes for illness were many. For exam- ple, sickness might be the result of sor- cery or witchcraft. The Western Apache believed that some of the most serious illnesses were caused by improper behaviour toward holy things. Maladies struck when someone violated the taboos surrounding things in which sacred power was believed to dwell. For example, boiling a deer’s stomach, eat- ing its tongue or cutting its tail off a hide offended Deer Power. Stepping on a snake’s tail or leaning against a tree

A shell plaque depicting a shamanistic figure with a

severed head in one hand and a ritual wand in the other. Found in Tennessee, the plaque dates

from the Mississippian culture (c. AD1000) and may have

been part of a holy person’s paraphernalia.

HOLY PEOPLE 93

BECOMING A HOLY PERSON

Among the Crow, most adult men actively sought visionary

power. They would engage in

bodily deprivation, even self- torture, in their attempt to

receive visions. If they

succeeded, they would expect to gain special power in battle or to acquire wealth. Most

seekers would never have a vision, so there was no social

stigma attached to failure. For the Washo of the Great

Basin, holy power came

unsought and unwanted. The first signs appeared in a series

of dreams in which an animal or a ghost might feature. This

vision would offer power for

life. The Washo feared such power because it was

dangerous, and the better defined the power, the more

dangerous it became. A man might ignore the offer, but in

this case a spirit being, or

wegaleyo, might inflict ailments on the dreamer. When the subject finally

relented, the wegaleyo would instruct him in dreams. In particular, it would tell him

his own unique holy song or chant, the objects to be used in ceremonies, and the location of a secret pool for ritual ablution and other sacred practices. The subject would be required to seek out

a recognized holy man who could instruct him in the arts of sleight of hand, ventriloquy and other skills

needed for ceremonies. Among the Upper Skagit

people of Washington State, shamans became known only when they started practising

publicly. They themselves chose whether or not to become shamans, after acquiring the necessary spirits through fasting or visions. Many Upper Skagit holy

people waited to acquire spirit power until they reached middle age, when they might inherit the

shamanistic spirit of a deceased parent or brother.

This photograph of 1908 shows a group of Arikara “Mother Night Men ” returning home to then- village, probably after a nightlong ceremony at a sacred earth lodge. Members of the “Medicine Fraternity” of holy men, the Mother Night Men are carrying rattles used in their sacred rituals.

94 THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

that had been hit by lightning would also cause sickness. Taboos against uri- nating in water or defecating in a corn- field had an obvious practical value.

When someone fell ill, a holy person was called in to find the cause and to cure the sickness. Among the Western Apache, curing ceremonials were com- munity endeavours. The holy person or another elder would tell stories sur- rounding the origin of the ritual in order to focus the minds of the audience and to reaffirm their belief in the powers that were at work. The ceremony itself began dramatically, with fires and beat- ing drums. Following this, the holy per- son would enter the patient’s dwelling, sit by the fire and chant, while the patient sat motionless for nearly two hours. There was then a break, in which the curer and the audience ate and drank tulpcii, a fermented corn bever- age, while the patient struggled to remain awake. In the small hours of the morning, at about 3am, the chanting started again, invoking the powers of the Black-tailed Deer and the beings known as the Ga’an. As dawn broke, the holy person stopped chanting, sprinkled the patient’s head and shoulders with cattail pollen and then stroked his or

her forehead with lightning grass. Exhausted, the holy person then sang two more chants, and the ceremony came to an end.

Among the Athapaskan Tanaina of the Subarctic, a holy man would accu- mulate a variety of spiritual helpers for curing. He might dream of natural objects with medicinal properties, which he would then collect and carry in a pouch. A Tanaina holy man had a range of ritual “tools” at his disposal, such as spiritual songs, drums', rattles and masks. Curing involved a ceremo- nial performance to frighten away the evil spirits that caused sickness. Crucial to the process was an ability to go into a trance and converse with the spirit world. With the help of a particular guardian spirit, the holy man was able to ascertain which spirit had caused the problem; he would then intimidate it with a show of his power. Curing often involved the removal of a solid object pulled or sucked from the patient, such as a stone, a piece of string or a bullet. The curer was paid for his treatment by the patient’s family.

Many holy people use medicinal plants m their practice. Sleight of hand is involved in many plant cures, but a

YUWIPI

Performed for specific diagnostic purposes, the Lakota yuwipi curing ceremony requires strict

adherence to ritual form. For example, participants take care to avoid contamination, especially contact with menstruating women. They

must be open and receptive:

any scepticism can cause the ceremony to fail.

To begin with, blankets and

quilts cover the windows to exclude all light. Helpers bind the holy person and roll him up in canvas or a blanket. In

total darkness, spirits are seen as flashes of light, eagles appear to fly across the room and participants hear wings flapping or feel them

brushing their cheeks. These spirits are credited with the success of the ceremony. If a yuwipi is successful, the holy person will experience a vision that will reveal the

cause or source of a patient’s illness and suggest a course of treament. Holy people who have particularly clear and powerful yuwipi visions are highly respected.

HOLY PEOPLE 95

Tek-’ic, a Yakut at Tlingit shaman, c. 1888. BELOW Some ritual tools used by TIingit shamans. The objects were believed to possess great power, as was the shamans long hair.

Eagle-spirit mask

(19th century).

Bone spirit charm (19th century).

Club with human and animal

(19th century). Ceremonial

rattle (pre-1800).

96 THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

holy person is not simply a conjurer: he possesses a substantial knowledge, gained through apprenticeship, of herbs and plants that are pharmacologically active and can effect medical cures.

Another type of holy person is the diviner. Divination is an esoteric reli- gious activity, practised by a few who are especially gifted. Simply put, it is a way of finding things out: a diviner can discover the cause of witchcraft or sor- cery, help to find something that has been lost or stolen, and predict the out- come of a hunting party.

The diviner might help a healer to dis- cover which taboo his patient has bro- ken, and he might also prescribe the correct procedure for a patient’s treat- ment, down to the timing of rituals and which holy person to call upon for assis-

tance. In the Northeast, the Huron had three types of diviner who were highly respected and well paid for their work. One type found lost objects, another could predict future events and the third cured sickness. Those who dealt with the sick were called ocata or saokata. Each had his oki, or familiar spirit, which often revealed the .illness to the diviner in a dream. On other occasions, the diviner might seek revelations by gazing into a bowl of water or into a fire. Some diviners went into a frenzy, fasted or secluded themselves in a dark sweat-house.

The most common form of divination among the Navajo is “hand-trembling”. When a person falls ill, an intermediary (usually a member of the patient’s fam- ily) makes the contact with a holy per-

SHAKING TENT

The Ojibway know that human help is not always sufficient and that people

sometimes need to call upon sacred beings to give answers

to problems. They have many ways of interacting with these beings, or “grandfathers”, which are regarded as a very

real presence in Ojibway life. The divination lodge known as “Shaking Tent” is one method of coming into direct

contact with them. The “tent” itself is a barrel-like framework of poles about seven feet (2m) high. It is set up outdoors and covered with

canvas, skins or birch bark. In it, divination or conjuring is

used to discover the cause of illness or to find a lost object. After dark, the

conjurer enters the tent and calls on the beings that are his own pawagancik, or guardian

spirits. The souls of

living beings (other than

humans) and the dead may be invoked, and their arrival is signalled when the tent is

shaken by the spirits embodying the Winds. No human action is involved -

sometimes the conjurer may even be tied up with rope.

Spirit voices are then heard to come from the tent, often naming themselves or singing

a song; they might be animals or well-known characters from myths. At this point, those in attendance can

sometimes talk directly to the beings to seek answers to their questions.

A fanciful 19th-century drawing of a Shaking Tent,

showing the arrival of various spirit beings.

HOLY PEOPLE 97

A present-day Navajo holy person cleanses his hands with yucca root, a natural soap commonly used for ritual w ashing before curing ceremonies, weddings and other sacred occasions.

son known as a hand-trembler, arranges the time of the visit and offers a fee. The hand-trembler sits down by the patient. After washing his hands and arms, he takes pollen, and working from right to left, puts it on the soles of the patient’s feet, then on the knees, palms, breast, between the shoulders, on top of the head and in the mouth.

Next, the curer sits about three feet (lm) to the right of the patient! He takes more pollen and, starting at a vein on the inside of his own right elbow, traces it along his arm, down to the tips of his fingers. As he does this, he prays: “Black Gila Monster, please tell me what is

wrong with this patient. I am giving you a jet bead to tell me what illness he has.” He repeats the prayer for every finger, each time assigning a new colour to both the gila monster (a type of lizard) and to the bead. He then sings a “gila monster song”, during which his hand and arm tremble, sometimes violently. He interprets the trembling to discover the information that he seeks.

When hand-trembling is used for purposes other than diagnosing illness, the client is not present. For lost items, a piece of clothing is used. For a theft, a hand-trembler can be led to the suspect and will grasp him by the shoulder.

98 THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

Seeking the spirit

According to many Native North American traditions, some people will never be able to traverse the indistinct line dividing the world of the spirits from the world in which people live. However, those who possess special gifts or a characteristic that is appreciated by the spirit world will find the boundary no barrier. Some groups fear the spirit world and endeavour to avoid it. Others, in contrast, actively seek to make con- tact with it and the powers that it con- fers: For yet others, the power of the spirits comes unbidden.

Spirit power is a mysterious force that derives from everything in nature. The few Indian groups that offer a descrip- tion of it say that it is immaterial and gives off a bright, white light like the sun. They believe that people who do not possess spirit power are ineffectual and weak, but that when they acquire it they become strong and capable.

The spirits and spirit power are com- monly said to come in visions. These might be sought on solitary vision quests, especially among Plains peoples (see box, opposite). Individuals partici- pating in certain ceremonies, such as the

Sun Dance (see pp.l 12-13), could also receive a vision through ritual purifica- tion, self-deprivation through fasting, or physical pain. In millennarian move- ments such as the Ghost Dance (see pp. 136-7), a vision of another, better world came to some through physical exhaustion from dancing. The ingestion of the peyote cactus accompanied by communal singing and drumming (see p. 130) can also induce a vision.

Power sometimes comes from the possession of a certain object. For example, many Plains and Southwest- ern groups believed that the circular, leather-covered frame of a shield, made with the help of a holy person, symbol- ized the world and could attract the pro- tection of the spirits. To enhance its power, the shield might be adorned with feathers or other sacred objects, or with painted symbols representing images in a dream or vision. The precise process of manufacture also affected the shield’s power for protection.

Unsought spirits came most fre- quently in dreams. Among groups such as the Mohave of the Southwest or the Iroquois of the Northeast, it is believed

A Sioux, Leonard Crow Dog,

emerges from a sweat lodge (a steam hut). A crucial stage in seeking a vision was the ritual purification undergone in a sweat lodge. The vision seeker would sit in the lodge and create steam by dousing hot rocks with water. After bathing, he or she would scrape off perspiration using

twigs or branches. Sweat lodges are still widely used for relaxation and healing as well as for spiritual purposes.

SEEKING THE SPIRIT 99

that dreams are able to channel power directly from the spirit world to the individual. For the Menominee of the Great Lakes region, all dreams had sig- nificance, and the prophecies or warn- ings that they might contain were always scrupulously observed. For example, if a man frequently dreamed of drowning, he would take care to make a small canoe as a talisman and

carry it about with him at all times. If the meaning of a dream was unclear, a person sought the interpretation of an elder, who, being nearer the end of life, was believed to be closer to the world of spirits. Anyone who had a dream that could not be interpreted, or who did not dream at all, was considered to be cut off from the power of the spirits (see also pp. 130-31).

VISION QUESTS

For many tribes, the most common way of seeking to contact the spirits and receive their power is through a lone vision quest. A person may seek a spiritual vision several times during his or her life, even at an advanced age, although it is traditionally a more common activity among the young. The Upper Skagit of western Washington State believe that spirits can be contacted at any age, but traditionally parents send their children out on vision quests from about the age of four until puberty. Most Indian nations believe that it is important for both girls and boys to experience a vision and acquire spirit power.

To receive spirits, an individual first has to be clean both internally and externally, which is achieved by solitary fasting and bathing in a sweat lodge (see picture opposite). The length of the fast is directly related to the power of the spirit that was sought.

Children receive guidance about which spirit they are to seek. For example, a boy might be told to take a bow on a quest to help him receive a vision of a hunting spirit. If the quest is successful, the child is not supposed to acknowledge it publicly until he or she is older. It is also important that young people call upon the aid of the newly-acquired power only in serious situations.

Medicine Deer Rock in Montana, where the Sioux chief Sitting Bull (see p. 32) came on a vision quest and experienced a premonition of

his victory at the Little Bighorn in 1876.

100 THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

Rites of passage

Most Native North American cultures mark the important times of transition in a person’s life - birth, puberty and adolescence, marriage and death - with important rituals during which the pas- sage from the old state to the new is for- mally enacted. At such times of physical transition, the person is believed to be particulary close to the spirit world. It is a state that is fraught with both danger and great potential.

Unborn and newborn children are especially vulnerable, and many tribes traditionally observed taboos to keep infants from harm. For example, a preg- nant Cherokee woman would not eat speckled trout for fear that her child would have facial blemishes. Apache women avoided eggs, which they believed might cause a child to be born blind, and animal tongue, which might make a child slow to talk.

The most dramatic rites of passage in many cultures accompany the move from childhood to adulthood. Such rites are broadly similar in structure in most Native cultures and, indeed, in tribal societies throughout the world. They often include a period of physical isolation, marking the point at which a person severs the links with his or her former status. This brief exile from soci- ety represents an interim state of “not- being”, and often involves a test of physical endurance, pain or deprivation. The whole process usually ends with a ritual completing one’s incorporation into the new status group. The Nozihzho (“Stand Sleep- ing”) rite of the Omaha included most of these

elements. It was a four-day fasting rite undergone by all Omaha adolescent males (and by any female who so desired). The name refers to the trance experienced by the youths in the course of the rite. In it, they became oblivious to the outside world and conscious only of their inner being. The rite re-created the Omaha origin myth. The boy would find an isolated spot, where he would spread clay over his head in honour of the animals who went to the bottom of a great body of water and brought up mud from which the earth was created (see p. 117). He prayed to Wakoda, the mysterious power that controlled all of nature. The boy filled his mind with thoughts of health, successful hunting and war, and a happy, long life, but it was taboo to ask for special favours.

Wakoda, it was believed, would respond with a vision or dream that would include a sacred song. Dreams of hawks, elks or thunder might bring great fortune. The song was a good luck charm connecting the boy to the powers of the universe. He could use it through- out his lifetime as a way to call for help from guardian spirits in time of crisis.

On his return from the rite, the boy would rest for four days before seeking the advice of an elder who had had a similar dream. Next, the boy would find and kill the creature that had appeared in his dream-vision, keeping a part of it as a sacred possession for his personal

A Plains Indian beaded buckskin pouch in the

form of a turtle. It was made to contain a baby’s

umbilical cord and was fixed to the cradle. Later in life, the pouch was

worn as a talisman.

RITES OF PASSAGE 101

WOMEN S POWER

As the bringer of life, a woman was a microcosm of Mother Earth. For this reason, women were

venerated and their power was sometimes feared. Like other periods of transition

when the body was in a state of physical and spiritual instability, a girl’s first menstruation was considered

to be a time of extraordinary power and potential danger.

Rites of passage marking the first period usually included the girl’s isolation in

a small menstrual hut set apart from the village. She was also instructed on the many taboos she would have to observe during subsequent

menstruations. One reason for such taboos was the belief

that menstrual blood was an especially dangerous substance, and that if it came into contact with sacred objects it could rob them of power and bring illness. For many women this was a strict

A sandpainting used in

Kinaalda, the Navajo puberty rite for girls. It represents the

first Kinaalda, held to mark the menstruation, just four days after her birth, of a figure called Changing Woman, the daugh ter of First Man and

First Woman and ancestor of the Navajo. Kinaalda, which is practised to this day, forms part of Blessingway, a cycle of

ceremonies that encompasses all the Navajo rites of passage.

regimen, because it meant

that there were several days each month when they would

be unable to fulfil their daily tasks. However, it was also a time of rest and regeneration.

The Lakota referred to the the spell of seclusion during menstruation as is anti, or “dwelling alone”. They believed that menstruation

was a form of natural purification, which meant

that a woman did not need to go to the sweat lodge (see p.98) for regular ritual purification as a man did.

WARRIOR “COUPS”

In the course of his career as a warrior, a Dakota Sioux male

enhanced his military status by accomplishing various

“coups” - acts that demonstrated his bravery in battle. Each category of coup entitled the warrior to wear a

different style of feather, trimmed, clipped or dyed according to the coup. Some of these are shown below.

Feather dyed

red: Wounded in battle.

Feather with red spot: Killed an enemy.

Feather with notch: Cut an enemy’s throat and sccdped him.

Feather clipped:

Cut an enemy’s throat.

Feather with

jagged edge: Accomplished four coups.

Feather partly

stripped: A ccomplished

five coups.

102 THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

medicine bundle. He would carry the object to war or use it during rituals.

The Nozihzho ritual was not without its dangers. A dream of snakes could spell trouble. If the boy dreamed of the moon and awoke at the wrong time, he would have to abandon the idea of becoming a man and take up the ways of a woman, living as a mixuga who was instructed by the moon. As a mixuga, he would dress like a woman and wear his hair long, instead of in a man’s roach (with the head shaved except for a strip from nape to brow). He would not hunt and fight, but till, plant and harvest like a woman, and practise a woman’s crafts.

Courtship involved its own special customs. For example, Lakota men ser- enaded young women with specially made courting flutes, which were often carved with animals - usually birds known for their showy courtship

“dances”, such as ducks, cranes and prairie chickens. Often made by holy people, the flutes were thought to pos- sess powerful magic notes that would cause the woman to travel anywhere with her lover.

Native North Americans often viewed marriage as a state that would endure until death, and the marriage rites of some peoples clearly reflect this. Traditional Hopi weddings started at dawn. The couple would sprinkle corn (maize) meal over the eastern boundary of their mesa, toward the rising sun. The groom’s family would then weave for the bride two white cotton wedding robes with fringed sashes. The bride would wear only one robe during the wedding: the other was her burial shroud. The twin garments therefore confirmed a woman’s marital status and also eased her way into the spirit world at death.

A Lakota warrior courts a young woman in this late 19th-century Indian drawing in a ledger. Both

wear their finest attire and sport parasols in accordance with contemporary Plains Indian fashion.

RITES OF PASSAGE 103

DEATH AND THE AFTERLIFE

Indian customs and

beliefs about the end

of life varied from nation to nation,

but many peoples thought that an individual had at least two souls.

One was free and could leave the body during dreams or illness,

while the other was corporeal and remained with the body at all times.

The first soul went to the afterlife after death; the second died with the

body, or w as at least bound to it for an indeterminate

time after death. For the Navajo, death

happened when the wand of

life that came into a body at birth departed. Deaths were generally feared, because while a dead person's goodness contributed to the

balance and harmony of the universe, bad qualities remained behind in the form

of a ghost who could bring harm to the living.

The people most threatened

by the dead were those closest to them in life, and so, among the Tlingit of the Northwest Coast, mortuary rituals were often handled by those of a different kinship group. As happened to people during other rites of passage, the

dead were placed apart and their connections with the living world severed. Among the Yuma of the Southwest,

This bowl, made by prehistoric Indians of the Mimbres River

valley, New Mexico, was “killed" by piercing before

being placed in a grave. According to one theory, this

released the figure depicted on the bowl, who then

accompanied the dead person

into the afterworld.

this was accomplished by burning the residence of the dead, or, if relatives continued to live there, by creating a new door or smokehole so that the dead could not find their way back into the house. A corpse

was disposed of by cremation, burial in an earth mound, or placement on a scaffold under

the open sky. The Lakota wanagi (“things of the shadow’') spirits are said to

guard graves and can cause harm if the dead are

disturbed. Most nations believed

in an afterlife, but it was not always the

stereotypical "happy

hunting grounds” to which Indians were commonly said to

go after death. In most cases, it was believed that one of the dead person's souls

would eventually join the Creator for eternity. Among the Delaware, it was

believed that the corporeal soul passed

through 12 cosmic layers

before doing so. Often, the afterworld was a

stopover before a soul was

reincarnated. For other peoples, the afterlife was a reversal of the world of the living, where rivers ran backwards, seasons were mixed up and people danced with crossed feet.

Because the dead often suffered anguish at being separated from the living, the living endeavoured to ease their pain. To demonstrate how much a person was missed, some might mourn by slashing themselves or cutting

off a fingertip. Many grieved for a period and others carried out simple, gentle ceremonies, such as offering

food to ease the dead person’s passage into the afterworld. Sometimes people were prepared for death from an early age, as in the case of Hopi brides (see opposite).

104 THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

Celebrating the past

Almost every Native North American ritual represents a celebration of the past, but not always in a way that glori- fies specific events as spectacular or unique. Typically Western events, such as the celebration of a country’s inde- pendence day, primarily commemorate individual events in a past that may be recent or remote, but always removed from the present. But Native ceremonies and rituals acknowledge more than just the particular context in which they are held, or the re-enacted sacred events that they may incorporate. In accor- dance with Native concepts of the “liv- ing past” (see pp. 12-13), they celebrate the whole of the past as an active, invis- ible presence in the life of the people.

Ritual acknowledgments of the past may be very simple, individual and per- sonal. For example, every morning, a Western Shoshoni holy woman rises just before dawn and prays to the east. Each phrase of her prayer ends with, “Now, then, bless the people.” The simple phrase “now, then” represents a thanks- giving for the continuation of her own life, a recognition of the cycles of nature, and a commemoration of her people’s past and journey into the future.

Some commemorations may take the form of traditional communal festivals, such as the potlatch (see p.62). The Kwakiutl potlatch includes songs, dances and sacred rites that have altered little over the centuries. For hundreds of

THE SACRED PIPE

Indian peoples have used pipes in ceremonies for

generations. The sacred pipe is one means by which the

people’s connection with the past remains vital. It

represents the centre of the cosmos. To celebrate the pipe

is to return to a time when

the spirits entered the world of humans and gave a profound gift. The smoke from a pipe may carry prayers

to the ancestors. The Lakota say that their

sacred pipe came to them from a beautiful spirit-being

called White Buffalo Calf

Woman. Two Lakota hunters saw her and one desired her. But a cloud covered him and. when it lifted, only a pile of

bones remained. She came to the tribe and gave them a sacred red pipe, saying: “Behold this pipe! Remember always how sacred it is and treat it as such, for it will take you to the end. Remember, in me there are four ages. I am

leaving, but will look back on your people in every age, and in the end I will return.”

Since then, the Buffalo Calf Pipe has been held by the Keeper of the Sacred Pipe, a member of the Looking

Horse family, who now live on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota.

An Ojibway dancer prays with a pipe at the Grand Portage powwow, Minnesota.

CELEBRATING THE PAST 105

During winter ceremonies, Kwakiutl dancers wore masks that commemorated the totemic animal ancestors of clans and families. Those portrayed by the masked dancers in this early 20th-century

picture by Edward Curtis, one of the most renowned photographers of Native North American

subjects, are the raven, sea eagle, “wild man', mountain goat, grizzly bear, bee, wasp and killer whale.

years, it has also marked the transfer of power from one generation to the next. Valued material objects, such as a large, flat piece of copper incised with the image of a totemic animal, are handed over to a new chief as a symbol of his power and of its transmission from the ancestors and other beings in the past.

Other celebrations combine ancient elements with new formats. An example is the annual Choctaw Fair, held every summer on the Pearl River Reservation in Mississippi by the descendants of Choctaws who refused to move from their ancestral homelands in the 19th century. Choctaws come from all over the US to commemorate their past, tra- ditions and very survival as a nation.

The fair, held at around the time that the Choctaw used to hold a ceremony for the ripening of the corn (maize), includes storytelling, dancing and the traditional ball game ishtaboli.

Also of relatively recent origin but containing ancient elements are the annual Eskimo-Indian Olympics at Fairbanks, Alaska, founded in 1961. A four-day programme of traditional activities includes the Knuckle Hop, in which participants bounce on their knuckles over the floor in imitation of a seal on an ice floe. Many spectators and competitors are urban Indians and Inuit for whom the games and their accompa- nying activities provide an essential con- nection with their traditional past.

106 THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

The Great Serpent Mound

Above Brush Creek in Adams County, Ohio, a large serpentine earthwork loops and coils along the top of a prominent ridge, surrounded by steep wooded slopes and a sheer cliff. Known as the Great Serpent Mound, it is a low, rounded bank, more than 1,250 feet (381m) long, 20 feet (6m) wide and 4 feet (1,2m) high. The mound resembles a snake uncoiling as it moves across the ground, with seven extended coils and three still curled in the tail.

It is not known who constructed this monumental earthwork, but it is proba- bly the work of the Adena culture, which flourished in the region between C.500BC and C.AD200. Although no dat- able artefacts have been found at the serpent itself, a conical burial mound that has been definitely associated with the Adena stands only 400 feet (122m) away. Mound-building was a significant feature of both the Adena and the later Hopewell cultures.

By 1886, the mound had become badly scarred by treasure-hunters and sightseers, and soil erosion had also taken its toll. The monument seemed likely to be turned into a cornfield until P.W. Putnam of the Peabody Museum at Harvard University rescued the site and restored it.

The Great Serpent Mound became part of a state park in 1900, and a view- ing platform was erected for visitors to the site. However, despite this official status, the monument is presently under threat from land developers, who want to dam Brush Creek and build an artifi- cial lake and resort community near the site, and from oil and mining compa- nies, who would destroy the mound in the search for gas, oil and uranium.

SITE 5: THE GREAT SERPENT MOUND 107

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An aerial view of the Great Serpent Mound

today. The earthwork is so long that it can be seen in its entirety only from the sky. The scale

of the construction indicates that the makers were highly organized and efficient, because an

enormous communed effort would have been required to heap thousands of tons of earth - probably by the basketful - to create the effigy. It may have taken hundreds of people many

years to fin ish it.

This engraving of the Serpent Mound appeared in 1848 in Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley by E. G. Squier and E. H.

Davis, the first archaeologists to survey the earthwork. Their report, commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., provoked a flood of visitors, who inflicted serious

damage before Putnam restored the monument.

The serpent effigy appears to hold a large, oval object in its jaws, and it has been suggested that

the earthwork may represent a snake eating an egg, like the Texas rat snake shown here. Snakes play an important role in many Native North American cultures, and this has prompted a number of theories regarding the significance of the earthwork. However, in the absence of substantial evidence, ideas about the precise

purpose and function of the Great Serpent Mound must remain no more than speculation.

It appears likely that the earthwork was the work of the Adena culture, which is named from another site in Ohio. The Adena and the Hopewell culture, which emerged in the Illinois-

Ohio region a few centuries later, built large buried mounds for high-status individuals. Grave goods such as this Adena bird claw of mica illustrate the sophistication of both cultures.

108 THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

Honouring the animals

For Native North Americans, the rela- tionship between people and animals is profound and complex. Many peoples believed themselves to be the direct descendants of animals, or at least, that animals were relatives of the people. Animals are therefore entitled to the rights and respect due to human kin. Above all, people must honour the ani- mals because they are willing to give their lives in order that humans can live.

According to the Koyukon of Alaska, animals understand that people must hunt them to live and they are not offended by this. But they insist at all times that they be treated humanely, whether they are being hunted or not. A

starving moose, stuck in deep snow, should be fed every day until it gains enough strength to pull itself free and walk away. The Koyukon understand that an animal and its spirit are the same thing. The spirit is both individual to the animal but also part of the collec- tive spirit of the species. This means that when one animal is offended, all mem- bers of its species may become aloof from the hunter.

The proper treatment of the animal spirits also involves hundreds of rules and taboos that affect a hunter's good fortune. Luck is regarded as a powerful force that binds humanity to the animal spirits. The Koyukon must honour the animals by observing the rules, or their luck may desert them. If this happens, the people may not survive. For exam- ple, boasting about what has not yet happened may cause the opposite to occur: thus, someone who says he will trap many beavers will suddenly find that he cannot catch any. A man who brags about his bear-hunting prowess may end up being mauled by a bear.

The White Beaver Ritual of the Chawi band of the Pawnee honoured animals at a potent time, when they awoke from hibernation. After the win- ter, it was believed, the animals had new life put into them by the gods. If the proper ritual was observed, some of the divine power could pass to the doctors, who could use it for the benefit of the people. The ritual was run largely by doctors, who formed the third-rankins

A Yaqui deer-dancer of southern Arizona. The

Yaqui, who live in Arizona and Mexico, revere

deer as the bringers of fruitfulness, cures and

water; blessings invoked by deer-dancers.

HONOURING THE ANIMALS 109

after chiefs and priests. In Janu- ary, when the animals began to stir, the keeper of the White Beaver prepared an altar and fireplace in his lodge. He and

another doctor filled a sacred pipe and smoked to the animals. They then sent for immediate kin to bring

meat to the lodge, where they carried out a secret cer-

emony to purify the beaver. Four days later, there began a complex ceremony in which the doctors smoked to the ani- mals and symbolically

breathed life into them. Each doctor prayed: “Now, father, I

am poor; take pity upon me. I want your help to cure the sick.

Keep sickness from our village. Give me good gifts and long life.” If the ani- mals were properly honoured, the supplication would be answered.

HUNTING WITH REVERENCE

Subarctic and Arctic hunters follow stringent codes of

respect toward their prey. At

a feast after a hunt, the Mistassini Cree place food in

the cooking fire so that the dead animals’ spirits can eat from the smoke. Bears are especially sensitive. The bones

of a butchered bear must be placed on a raised platform to keep scavengers away. If a bear finds out that its remains

have been poorly treated, the

offender and his family will suffer. Some Inuit believed that when a caribou had been

killed, its head must be cut off at once to end the suffering of its soul. Whale

hunters keep their camps neat and clean out of respect for their quarry, which is believed

to appreciate tidiness.

The ivory seal and polar bear charms on these handles for

Inuit draglines (straps used to haul dead animals) were said

to win the animals' favour and bring the hunter luck.

On this leather mantle decorated

with shed beads, a deer (right) and a big cat, possibly guardian animal

spirits, flank the figure of a man. The mantle is said to have once

belonged to the 17th-century chief Powhatan (see p. 33).

110 THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

Plant rituals

For most peoples, plants provided more food than could be obtained from hunt- ing and were revered as the gifts of Mother Earth. Some Indian nations had special relationships with particular plants, such as cultivated corn (maize), which people depended on for suste- nance and which in turn depended on human farmers for its existence.

The first domesticated plants, such as sunflower, marsh elder and amaranth, were cultivated in temperate regions along rivers and in villages, where the disturbed nitrogen-rich soil to which they are ideally suited was to be found. Maize, the most important North American domesticate, was being culti- vated in Central America by C.6000BC, and by C.ADIOOO it was grown as far north as southern Canada, wherever the number of frost-free days and the amount of rainfall would allow. Maize supported 30,000 people in the prehis- toric city of Cahokia (see pp. 18-19), and the plant was of central importance

to the cosmology and ceremonial life of most groups for whom it was the prin- cipal crop. For example, the figure of Mother Corn played a focal role in Arikara origin myths. Other peoples for whom maize was prominent were the Mandan and the Pawnee on the Plains and the Choctaw in the Southeast.

The lifestyle of Great Basin peoples such as the Washo was centred on gath- ering the plants that sustained them (see pp. 50—51). They lived in one of the drier regions of western North America and every year had to collect a store of seeds, roots and nuts to see them through the winter. Families would travel almost constantly to obtain a suf- ficient supply of the abundant but widely dispersed plants. The skills of locating and processing certain plants were handed down from mother to daughter, and thus the Washo women assumed great importance at gathering time. Most seeds had to be husked, win- nowed and ground into flour, and

PLANT RITUALS 111

certain nuts, such as acorns, had to be leached to remove harmful ingredients. The need to gather food meant that the Washo lived in small scattered bands for much of the year. However, they came together in the autumn to harvest pin- yon. a name given to any species of pine bearing edible nuts. Pine nuts provided a bounty beyond that of other plants, and the pinyon harvests, or gumsaba, were times of great ritual and sociability.

Native North Americans used many wild plants in ceremonies and curing. People used sage for ritual purification, bathing in its smoke. The medicinal properties of several plants were widely exploited. Chewing certain roots helped to relieve sore throats and headaches, while teas made from the leaves of vari- ous plants eased indigestion. Tobacco, in both wild and cultivated forms, was commonly used in rituals.

CORN WOMEN

Women play a central role in many sacred corn (maize)

ceremonies, and the creation of corn is often attributed to

a female figure. For example, according to the Cherokee,

the first woman, Selu

(“Corn”), gave birth to the first corn after rubbing her stomach. Selu, who also produced the first green

beans from her breasts, is

commemorated in the Green Corn Ceremony, in which she

is represented by young women who carry baskets containing the first harvested

plants of the year. In the Southwest, the Zuni

and a number of other Pueblo peoples ascribe the arrival of corn to beings known as the Six Corn Maidens. During the Hopi New Year celebrations at the time of the winter solstice,

two kachina (spirit) sisters called Blue Corn Girl and Yellow Corn Girl participate in rituals to greet the return

of the sun. According to the Mandan,

a being called Good Fur Robe organized the Goose Women Society, which handled many aspects of corn planting, care and harvesting,

as well as various associated rituals. Goose Women were about 30 years old on

average, but they could join the society at a much younger age. Members gradually

worked their way up in rank. A person known as the Corn

Priest oversaw their activities. Goose Women organized

dances throughout the corn- growing season. In spring

and autumn, dances were linked to the migration of geese. The birds symbolized corn and were considered to

be messengers of Old Woman Who Never Dies, who caused

the grain to grow.

In this 20th-century painting, Cherokee women represent

Selu, the first woman, during the Green Corn Ceremony.

112 THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

World renewal

According to many Native North Americans, the rhythms of the universe are like those of a steady drumbeat, renewed and repeated only for as long as the drummer performs. In order to be renewed, the rhythms and cycles of nature also require human participa- tion, in the form of rituals that mark important points in the cosmic cycle.

Many renewal rituals are held in spring and at other crucial times in the agricultural calendar. For example, the Tohono O’odham (Papago) of the Southwest hold a saguaro wine festival in June or July in order to prepare for

the onset of the rainy season. The flesh of the harvested fruit (see p.55) is scooped into baskets, and the empty pods are left face up on the ground in order to encourage the spirits to fill them with rain. Some fruit is eaten raw, but the rest is boiled to produce a thick red syrup, which women seal in pots and then store. As it ferments, a male elder performs secret rites that are believed to turn the syrup into wine. The villagers gather a few days later to drink the wine during rainmaking cere- monies held to invoke the blessing of the first rains of the season.

The peoples of the Plains have a num- ber of renewal ceremonies and practices, such as hoop dancing, in which a dancer manipulates several hoops to create shapes such as the sun, the moon, an eagle or a caterpillar, metamorphosing from one shape to the other with great skill. The hoops symbolize the eternal cycles of nature and the universal spirit that binds all things.’

However, the principal renewal cere- mony on the Plains is the annual Sun Dance. Held from late spring to early summer, its main purpose is to allow people to renew their faith in the spirits that guide the world. In the past, sun dancing was believed to guarantee a plentiful supply of buffalo in the coming year. For most Plains peoples, the Sun Dance is not a single performance, but a four-day cycle of rituals and sacred dances that relate to the forces of creation. Most dances are long ordeals that may involve self-torture. Dancers

A Canadian hoop dancer at Banff in Alberta.

This hoop dance is being performed to honour the new growth of springtime.

WORLD RENEWAL 113

fast and dance around a sacred tree for hours each day. On the last day, those dancers who have opted for self-torture are attached to the tree by thongs tied to skewers that are pushed through deep gashes in the flesh of their chest or back. They must endure this agony through- out the 24 songs of the dance, which

takes several hours. At the climax of the dance, the exhausted dancers may attempt to pull themselves free of their bonds, ripping the skewers from their flesh as they do so. A dance is consid- ered to be successful if a participant experiences a vision during his pro- tracted ordeal.

THE SURVIVAL OF THE SUN DANCE

In the 19th century, white

observers were shocked by the self-torture associated with the Sun Dance, and the

practice was outlawed in 1881. This was a great blow

to the Plains Indians, who believed that without this essential element the Sun Dance would not be effective and the world would not be renewed. In the following

years, many Indians took to performing public Sun

Dances for whites, simulating the piercing of the flesh by

using harnesses. However, many other groups continued

to hold traditional Sun Dances in secret, complete with the traditional piercing.

Guards would be posted at a distance to warn of the approach of white officials.

Piercing was permitted again under the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, but a full

revival only took place in the 1960s with the growth of Indian militancy. Sun Dances

take place today on most Plains reservations and in some urban areas where there are Indians of Plains origin.

A Cheyenne Sun Dance, by Indian artist Dick West. In a Sun Dance lodge, a dancer hangs by thongs fixed to his chest. Bison skulls attached to his back add to the weight pulling on the thongs.

114

Sacred History

Western anthropology uses the term “mythology” to refer to narratives that serve to explain the relationship between the natural and supernatural. However, Native North Americans prefer the phrase “sacred history”, because of the popular notion that “myth” implies “fiction”. For many Indians, the stories that relate the history of the earth, the origin of the people and the lives of the ancestors and sacred beings are very real. These figures and the great events of their times have left their enduring marks on the landscape, and they are vividly remembered in painted and carved images and in songs, dances and stories.

For some peoples, the earth was created in the union of cosmic giants; for others, it was brought up from the depths of an endless ocean by a small animal. Accounts of the struggles of the first people often tell of great heroes - supernatural beings that often took animal form. They helped the people on the long and arduous journey to their homeland from their place of origin, or brought them light and fire, or protected them from the wrath of destroyers. Danger also lurked in the form of unpredictable tricksters, who caused trouble with their mischief, but also helped to create the world as it is today.

Sam Kills Two, a Brule Dakota artist, adds another image to a

"winter count'' to represent the most notable event of the past year (see p.124). The photograph was taken in 1926, when this method of keeping annual records was already dying out among Plains

peoples. The images on the conn' include sacred beings as well as real people and animals: many Native traditions do not distinguish between what Westerners regard as "real" and "mythical" history.

116 SACRED HISTORY

Creation stories

Native North American accounts of how the world came into being are dra- mas played out with characters and set- tings consistent with the environment in which the stories emerged. Creation sto- ries include people and animals and also supernatural beings in human or animal form. Cosmic events draw upon such human experiences as sexual union, sep- aration, dispute, great tests of strength and long, arduous journeys. The accounts are maintained by oral tradi- tions, and Native holy people, story- tellers and scholars recreate them at each telling, often incorporating new elements that have been acquired from dreams, visions and contemporary experience. In the last five centuries, the teachings of Christianity and pan- Indian religious movements have also been influential. They have brought to bear their own powerful metaphors about the beginnings of the world.

In some narratives, the world is cre- ated in a featureless void by gods. In Apache accounts. Black Wind made the earth and Yellow Wind gave it light, and a host of other gods contributed fea- tures of the landscape and forms of life. Other peoples believe that the world has always existed, but that in the beginning it was a flat, featureless plain, shrouded in darkness until the intervention of a great spirit. For the Shasta of Califor- nia, Chareya (Old Man Above), who lived in the sky world, bored a hole in the sky and climbed down to the earth on a pile of ice and snow that he pushed through the hole. The sun shone through the hole and melted the ice, cre- ating the sea, lakes and rivers. Chareya planted trees, and from their leaves he created birds. The Iroquoian origin

myth also involves descent from the sky (see box, opposite).

Sex plays a role in some origin stories. For example, one Inuit creation account describes how two men emerged from a great world flood and lived together as man and wife. After the “wife” man became pregnant, his penis split and he turned into a woman, then gave birth to the first child.

Many Native North Americans today view the earth as a living essence per- sonified as Mother Earth. For most tribes this is probably a quite recent concept (that is, post-contact with Europeans; see p.78), but for others it is a genuinely ancient tradition. For exam- ple, Salish-speaking peoples in the inte- rior of British Columbia relate that a great spirit. Old One, made the earth out of a woman. This woman lies spread out on her back and people live on her. The trees and grass are her hair, the soil is her flesh, the rocks are her bones and the wind is her breath. When she feels cold, winter comes, and when she feels hot, it is summer. When she moves, there is an earthquake.

Indians have traditionally looked to the landscape and animals for clues to the sacred images, voices and events of the time when things came into being. Familiar animals are often said to play a crucial role in the creation process - for example, in the many stories that feature an “earthdiver”. The earthdiver myth is a heroic creation story found in differ- ent forms all over the world. In many Native North American versions, the earth begins as an endless watery chaos with no dry land. A being asks various animals to dive to the bottom of this ocean to bring up mud. Eventually, one

CREATION STORIES 117

MUSKRAT THE EARTHDIVER

A number of peoples ascribe

the role of earthdiver to a

muskrat. The following Beaver Indian account

demonstrates the fluidity of the oral tradition, in contrast to versions that have been

“tidied up” for non-Indian readers, such as the Iroquois tale recounted below. The Beaver tale was related in

1968 by Peter Chepesia of Prophet River Reserve in British Columbia. God asked Beaver to dive for soil. Beaver failed, so God asked Muskrat:

“Now Muskrat dive and he

been gone for a long time, you know. So deep, you know. I don’t think he get to the bottom right away. Was

gone for a long time. They waiting up on top. And finally that Muskrat came

back. He got a little dirt on his hand. You know. The little earth on his hand. He

came back up. up on top and gave it to that God ... even now them, some of them guys say that Muskrat make the

The sky woman falls through a hole in the sky world, in this depiction of the Iroquois creation myth by Ernest Smith, a Seneca artist. The turtle and the muskrat swim in the vast ocean below.

no earth, only an endless sea. People lived in a sky world above this one, where there was a great sacred tree. After the sky chief’s wife dreamed that the tree was uprooted, the chief heaved it out, leaving a hole where the roots had been. The woman fell

Turtle rattles such as these are used in curing rituals by the

Iroquois False Face Society (see p.84) in honour of the turtle which carries the earth.

through the hole to the world below. Two swans caught her,

but there was no place to put her down. Several birds and

animals took turns to retrieve soil from the bottom of the sea. They all failed, but then

the muskrat tried, and when it floated back to the surface,

almost dead, it had a little mud in its paw. A turtle took

the mud on its back, and the soil grew into a new world, upon which the swans gently let the sky woman down.

118 SACRED HISTORY

creature succeeds, and the dry land is formed from the mud it has retrieved. These animals are called “earthdivers” and are sometimes small and unassum- ing heroes. For example, in the Chero- kee account the earthdiver is a water- beetle, while the Chickasaw say it is a crawfish and the Cheyenne a coot.

Earthdiver stories are most often told by hunting and gathering peoples, who draw upon their rich and profound rela- tionship with the creatures of the woods, deserts or grasslands. Some

farming groups, such as the Iroquois, also share this tradition, which suggests that the story predates their adoption of an agricultural way of life.

Other creation stories relate how the first people emerged from the ground, as crops do. Such accounts are more common among agricultural peoples, for example, the Pueblo peoples of the Southwest. In these myths, the struggle for existence often takes the form of a great migration through a number of worlds until the present world is

THE FOUR WORLDS

The Navajo story of creation tells of an upward migration through three worlds. The dark First World was the home of Begochiddy, First Man, First Woman, Salt

Woman, Fire God and Coyote. Begochiddy, child of the sun, created insects, plants and five mountains. The six beings tired of this world and climbed the stem of a reed into a Second World, where Begochiddy

created more mountains, clouds, plants and various life forms. Conflicts with other beings forced the six to climb the reed into a Third World, which had light, rivers, springs and abundant life.

Begochiddy created human beings, but evil magic caused men and women to fight, and Coyote stole the child of the Water Monster, who angrily caused a great flood. Again, the group climbed the reed, but it did not quite reach the next world. However, with the help of the Spider People and Locust, Begochiddy finally arrived in the Fourth World - this one - and found that it was an island in a vast sea. Four gods caused the waters to recede and winds dried the land. Begochiddy then created the world as the Navajo know it today.

This Navajo sandpainting,

used in the Blessingway curing rituals, depicts various creator beings, including First Man, First Woman and Coyote.

CREATION STORIES 119

The great kiva at Chetro Ketl,

one of the ancient Anasazi pueblos in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico (see pp.56-7). To this day, kivas are the focus

of the traditional ritual life of the Hopi and other Pueblo peoples of the Southwest. In Hopi kivas, a recess in the floor called the sipapu

commemorates the hole through which the first people emerged into the present world,

according to the Hopi origin story (see pp. 16-17).

reached. In the Caddo origin story, the first man, Moon, is said to have created thousands of people in a single village in a world of darkness. With the help of a trickster, Coyote, he led them up through a hole into the present world. Many of them went astray on the jour- ney to the Caddo homeland and these people were the ancestors of other Indian tribes. Those who remained with Moon established their homeland in a place called Tall-Timber-on-Top-of-the- Hill, where, with the help of Moon, Coyote and other beings, they gradually developed into the Caddo tribe. Over time, the speech of those who had strayed developed into different tongues, but originally the first people had all spoken Caddoan.

For most Native North Americans, the landscape preserves the memory of these great events so that the people may always be reminded of their iden-

This cedarwood carving by the modern Haida sculptor Bill Reid illustrates the moment in the

Haida origin story when the first people began to crawl out of a clamshell that was found on the seashore by the creator-hero Raven.

tity. The Tewa world, for example, is enclosed by four sacred mountains and four sacred hills, in the centre of which is the hole whence the people are said to have emerged. For the Hopi, the sacred place of emergence is represented in every kiva (ceremonial chamber) as a hole in the floor.

120 SACRED HISTORY

Culture heroes

The mysterious creator beings who made the

cosmos out of nothing are only very vaguely described in most Native North American oral traditions. They fashioned an empty, featureless world in which the drama of life subse- quently unfolded and developed. Once the world had come into existence, beings who are altogether more familiar and accessible transformed the barren earth and made it habitable. Such char- acters are referred to by Western anthropologists as “culture heroes” or “transformers”, and often possess human or animal personalities and characteristics. They gave the landscape its physical features and natural life, and defended the first people against mon- sters. They moved in and out of human affairs, bringing people light and fire and the tools and technologies of their traditional cultures.

Some of these transformers were unselfish and heroic, and adopted the role of guardians to ensure the survival of the first people and their descen- dants. For example, in one story told by the Penobscot of the Northeast, the hero Gluskap killed a monster frog who caused drought by drinking all the world’s water. Among northern Atha- paskan peoples, there is a hero widely known as Beaver Man (or, in some groups, as Old Man, Wise One or Nav- igator), who fought a number of fierce giants - Bear, Wolverine and others who wanted to devour the first humans. These monsters tried to trap Beaver Man, but he always eluded them.

Other transformers were “tricksters” - unpredictable, selfish and mischievous personalities who often brought about

changes to the world through the reck- lessness of their activities. For example, in Northwest Coast stories, the trickster Mink constantly brought trouble on himself as a result of his voracious sex- ual appetite. However, most of the transformers in Native traditions Raven, Coyote, Cottontail and many others - possessed both heroic and trickster-like attributes.

According to Native North American belief, these beings lived in a sacred past that is not a remote, primordial period but a living, invisible world (see pp. 12-13). This is a difficult concept for Westerners to grasp: it means that although events described in myths such as the Tsimshian story of Raven’s theft of the moon (see p. 123) happened in lin- ear sequence, they have not receded into the past but exist still - together with Raven himself - “out there”.

This “present past" is a world in which animals and people live in soci- eties that are similarly structured. They can converse with each other and exchange forms at will. For example, the Raven in some Tsimshian stories is a man (or man-like being) who wears raven clothes, which he can take off to reveal his human form. Some Apache versions of the widespread hero-trickster Coyote wear Apache dress, speak and act like human beings, but also some- times run around on all fours. It is only in the visible world that humans and animals have distinctive, fixed forms.

Indians perceive the evidence of this “present past” in visions and dreams and in the memories retained in oral tradition. The beings of this time often continue to make their presence felt in the physical

CULTURE HEROES 121

WINDICO

Many North American Indian peoples tell stories of the fearsome creatures who can bring harm and death,

and are often vanquished by

culture heroes. The Northern Ojibway and Cree tell of giant

cannibal ice-monsters known as windigos. A human could

turn into a windigo after being driven to eat human flesh through starvation - an

occasional but very real hazard even in the game-filled northern forests. To kill a real

windigo was considered a truly heroic act. although

spirits often came to the hero’s assistance. The windigo had bulging eyes and long, pointed teeth, and became taller than the tallest trees when it shouted.

A windigo chased hunters on their solitary pursuit of

moose and other game. Hunters who did not return

to their camps were assumed to have fallen victim to a windigo s insatiable lust for human flesh. A windigo

might stalk the woods disguised as an Indian, and any stranger who came to the village would be observed

very carefully in case he was a windigo.

Windigo stories are very popular and are told for

entertainment, like ghost stories among non-Indians. Sometimes they are told to enforce discipline among unruly children. Indian children once played a form of hide-and-seek in which a pretend windigo covered his

head with leaves and hid.

Windigo (1963), by the modern Anishinabe ( Ojibway) artist Norval Morrisseau (born c.1933). In the windigo story illustrated here, the ice-hearted cannibal monster is eating beavers in the belief that they are human beings.

122 SACRED HISTORY

The Thunderbird, lord of the skies and bringer of storms and rain, is depicted on this 19th-century Clayoquot dance robe from the Northwest Coast. Thunderbird features in many Native traditions as a culture hero - for example, killing dragon-like water beasts or catching whales to feed hungry people.

world. For example, every time there is a thunderstorm, a traditional Native North American may perceive the light- ning as the flashing eyes of a being called the Thunderbird, and the wind as the roar of its huge wings.

The stories of heroes and tricksters are kept alive through the spoken word. Narratives are recounted in both reli- gious and secular settings, and although they tell of a sacred time, they by no means constitute an inflexible liturgy

that is rigid in form and content. Versions may differ substantially

in detail. Sometimes two almost

wholly different myths may account for the same phenomenon. One story told by the Washo of California recounts that a figure called Creation Woman made the tribes of California out of cat- tail seeds. However, another Washo story says that the ancestors of the Cal- ifornia peoples were the three quar- relling sons of Creation Man.

The flexibility and adaptability of Native mythology has allowed powerful external influences, such as Christianity, to introduce new characters into the old stories. For example, early in the 20th century, on the Northwest Coast, some

CULTURE HEROES 123

trickster and transformer stories of the Salish people began to include a hero called Jesus the Traveller. He made fish out of fish bones and showed the people how to fashion axes, hammers and salmon traps.

Ancient traditions may have been weakened by external influences, but this has not prevented the appearance of new culture heroes of Native origin. These may be real people - Indians per- ceive no distinction between what a European would categorize as '‘mythi- cal" and “historical". One recent cul- ture hero is Dull Knife, a chief of the Northern Cheyenne. In defiance of his peoples relocation to Oklahoma in 1877, Dull Knife led 383 ill and poorly-

armed Cheyenne back to their homeland. He eluded the US

Army until late October 1878, when he and his followers surrendered. They were incarcerated in an old barracks at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, from where Dull Knife led a spectacular breakout on 9 January 1879. Many of the Chey- enne were later killed, but Dull Knife, his family and others survived, and were eventually granted a reservation on the Tongue River in Montana. Dull Knife is remembered vividly by the modern Northern Cheyenne as the saviour of his nation. His triumphs are considered as magical and important as those of Coy- ote, Raven and other heroes who defied the enemies of the people.

prized possession, the moon, so that the world's people, who until then have lived in a kind of eternal dusk, acquire

light (the moon is understood to be the source of all light). In a version of this story, Raven turned himself into a pine-needle at a waterhole where the sky chief’s daughter

was drinking. She swallowed the needle, became pregnant and gave birth to Raven in the form of a child. Raven joined

the sky chief’s family and cajoled the chief into letting him play with a bladder ball -

the container in which the

RAVEN BRINGS LIGHT

Trickster heroes were valuable

to humankind when they directed their mischief toward other supernatural beings. In

one Tsimshian account, Txamsem (Raven) tricks a

great sky chief out of his

moon was kept. One day, the

family forgot to keep an eye on the child. He bounced the

ball out of the door, changed into his old Raven clothes and flew back to the world of

humans with the bladder. Later, Raven asked a group

of ghost people to give him some of the fish that they had just caught. They refused, and Raven angrily burst the bladder, because he knew how much all ghost people hated

the light. As the bladder split, the moon was released and light flooded the skies. This was the first dawn.

The hero-trickster Raven, portrayed here in a Haida mask, appears in many Native tales of the Northwest Coast. One story relates that Raven was originally white but was

scorched black in the course of stealing fire for humankind.

124 SACRED HISTORY

Recording history

The peoples of North America had no writing and most history was orally transmitted by storytellers who used mnemonics to help them recall often complex details. However, this does not mean that Indians had no way of recording historical events. For exam- ple, many Plains groups possessed a type of permanent record known as the “winter count”. Every year, usually in the winter, a symbol or realistic figure would be painted on a large, specially processed buffalo hide in order to com- memorate the most significant event affecting the community that year (see pp. 114-15). The Kiowa Set-Fan calen- dar for 1882, for example, documents the efforts of a holy man, Pa-tepte, to bring back the herds of buffalo, which at that time were rapidly disappearing from the Plains (see pp.29 and 48). The

calendar shows the figure of a

medicine man seated in his sacred lodge, wearing a ceremonial red blanket trimmed with eagle feathers, with a buf- falo beside him.

The organization of images on the winter count varied, but they were often arranged in a spiral, with the earliest picture in the centre. Some hides cover more than 200 years of tribal history. Few hides recorded any continuous series of events, and a winter count would be kept up only for as long as people were able to recount the events that it depicted.

In the Southwest, the Maricopa, Pima and Tohono O’odham (Papago) would mark the passage of time by carving annual symbols on the flattened side of “calendar sticks” - strips of wood a yard (0.9m) or so long. Each symbol stood for an event that distin- guished a particular year, which would

STORYTELLING

Traditionally, the storyteller is a highly valued member of Native North American society. In many groups, the audience is required to give the teller some gift in exchange for a story - perhaps tobacco or meat, or another food item. Storytelling may be accompanied by certain formalities: among the Maidu, for example, listeners were asked to lie on their backs to stay more attentive. Cheyenne storytellers had first to smooth the ground

The Story Teller, a modern pottery sculpture from Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico.

and then brush their bodies with their hands. Sometimes chants or prayers in a language that the audience could not understand would precede the story.

Stories had traditional opening formulas, rather like the “once upon a time” of English tales. Seneca stories might begin with “When the world was new”, and Zuni ones with “Now we are taking it up”. The actions of storytellers also varied. Some remained seated, using only the inflection of their voice to carry emotional content. Others would play the part of characters in their story, using a combination of voice, motion and gesture.

RECORDING HISTORY 125

be recalled by a ‘'calendar stick keeper”, a specialist who had the same status as curers, singers and potters. A new sym- bol was carved around the time of the summer harvest of the saguaro cactus each year. Keepers from different com- munities shared their knowledge - this enabled them to keep in touch with events that took place outside their immediate community. The sticks were accurate enough to allow senior mem- bers of the tribe to know their own birthdays precisely. Like the winter counts, however, the sticks depended on the memories of individuals for their usefulness as historical documents. On the death of the keepers, they might be sold, but they were often destroyed.

In the Northeast, important events were often recorded in belts of wampum (beads made from seashells). Wampum- keepers would memorize the details of the event commemorated. Wampum belts were used as records of treaties, such as that which founded the Iroquois League (see p.41).

The Lenni Lenape (Delaware) people of the Northeast maintained a pictorial historical record known as the Walum Olum. Painted on bark, it contained more detail than other records, but still relied on the memory of a skilled story- teller. The events depicted on it were recounted at ceremonial storytellings that could last for weeks and involved a major feat of memory on the part of the teller. One surviving fragment deals with the period of contact with Europeans, starting c. 1600 and ending c. 1818.

This wampum belt was presented to the French

by the Huron in 1611. The belt represented a formed request for an alliance.

The Survival of the Sacred

For Native North Americans, the disruption wrought by Europeans and their American successors was violent, far-reaching and often very sudden. Within less than a generation, a peoples way of life could change radically. New diseases decimated populations. Forced relocation disrupted family life and shifted groups to landscapes with which they were unfamiliar and which did not feature in their sacred stories. Displacement led to confrontation not only with whites, but also between Indian groups who were thrown together and forced to compete for ever more meagre resources. The eradication of the buffalo by white hunters destroyed the subsistence base for dozens of peoples.

In these adverse circumstances, Indians tried to hold on to their traditional ways of life for as long as possible. But change was inevitable if Indian groups were ever to adjust to the new situation and survive as distinct cultural entities. New, pan-Indian religious movements arose, some of them millennarian, predicting the end of the white ascendancy and the return ot the old ways. Other spiritual movements saw survival in terms of a continuation of the intimate relationship between people, nature and spirit that was the underlying essence of many Native cultures.

Worshippers gather in Urdu tipis for a ritual of the Native American Church, a spiritual revival movement that became

■ ii hkspread from the lute 19th century (seep. 131).

128 THE SURVIVAL OF THE SACRED

Keeping traditional ways

In spite of the many changes that have beset Indian peoples since the arrival of the first white settlers, their core beliefs have remained firm. In essence, these are that a Creator ordained the laws of nature and the ways of the sacred, which are immutable. As one Southern Cheyenne woman, Viola Hatch, has recently put it: “We do not have a set of guidelines written on a piece of paper to show us how to live. We got it from the Great Spirit. He told us one time, we learned it, followed it to this day.” It is believed that although peoples material circumstances may alter, the sacred cycles of nature will continue as before, and the sacred past will always be close at hand (see pp.12-13). No amount of upheaval and human interference can

Luminarias (bonfires) light up Taos Pueblo, New Mexico, on Christmas Eve. They form part

of traditional midwinter ceremonies that date back to pre-Christian times.

i- mm

alter the most important elements of Native life: one’s people, one’s family and one's sacred relationships with the animal, plant and spirit worlds. As the Lakota elder Matthew King (see p.80) has said: “We have been here for mil- lions of years. God gave us ... laws to govern our people. We cannot change [them]. No one can change [them]. We cannot make laws.”

The oral tradition is central to the survival of Native North American ways. One generation passes ancient stories on to the next as a way of teach- ing traditional morality and history, and the correct way of performing the ancient rituals and ceremonies that punctuate the year. The importance of maintaining the oral tradition is that it prevents ancient stories from becoming fossilized, a tendency whenever sacred narratives are written down. Details of a story will change to reflect new circum- stances in the life of the people.

KEEPING TRADITIONAL WAYS 129

THE RETURN OF THE AHAYU:DA

In recent years, many Indian

peoples have sought the return of sacred objects from museums as part of their attempt to ensure the survival

of Native traditions. One campaign ended in March

1987, when the Zuni of New

Mexico celebrated the return of wooden images of the

Ahayu:da, the twin gods or war gods, that had been removed to the Smithsonian Institution in the 1880s. Every two years, at the winter

solstice, holy men place such images in shrines overlooking Zuni Pueblo as part of a ritual to invoke the protection

of the deities. The Zuni called

for the return of the effigies in 1978. Negotiations with the Smithsonian were protracted, but as Indian efforts to

repatriate sacred objects accelerated nationally, the museum relented. Other US

museums are now also returning A hay u:da effigies to

the Zuni. (See also pp. 144-5.)

Sacred objects, such as those kept in sacred bundles (see p.84), also con- tribute to the maintenance of tradi- tional ways. Bundles may contain items that are said to go back to the first peo- ple, and they may thus encapsulate the entire history of a clan. Personal “medi- cine bundles” remind the owner of his or her personal relationship with the spirit world, as revealed in visions or dreams. A Crow man who had dreamed of a beaver would make a medicine bun- dle from beaver skin, and put in it rocks.

beads and animal parts that he per- ceived to be a source of personal “med- icine” (spirit power).

Like the details of ancient orally- transmitted stories, the contents of a sacred bundle may be renewed periodi- cally. Objects in personal bundles are added or removed as the owner has new spiritual revelations. This openness to change, above all, has ensured that the most ancient traditions have remained relevant to Native North Americans in the modern world (see also pp. 156-7).

130 THE SURVIVAL OF THE SACRED

Dreams

Dreams and visions are of great signifi- cance in most Indian traditions, and have proved important in helping Native peoples to confront the chal- lenge of white intrusion. Dreaming is believed to be a source of spirit power, which may be used to gain knowledge and insight or to foretell the future. For example, the Athapaskan-speaking Beaver Indians of the Peace River in British Columbia and Alberta believed that even the dreams of a small child had significance, but the most impor- tant dreams occurred when a person had been on a vision quest and made a personal “medicine bundle” (see p.129). The medicine bundle would be hung behind the place where its owner slept and was believed to exert a powerful influence over his or her dreams.

Individuals sometimes dreamed of songs that became their personal pos- sessions, and of personal taboos forbid- ding certain foods or activities. A dream could also be used as a defence against witchcraft, and prophets could dream of future events. Dreams usually require interpretation by an elder or a holy per- son, who can help the dreamer to

understand their significance. It is not always easy to distinguish

dreams from visionary experiences that occur during unconscious states other than sleep. For example, it is difficult to know whether what Black Elk described (see opposite page) was really a dream or a vision during a coma caused by ill- ness. Sometimes, an individual may experience a “dream” after embarking on a vision quest (see p.99).

A dream may relate to the daily life of an individual, but sometimes can give access to matters of great importance for a whole people. In the wake of the physical and moral devastation inflicted by whites on Native ways of life, dreams inspired a number of movements that sought to revive Indian morale and to find genuinely Indian ways of coping with a radically changed world. This was the case with the great dream- visions of the Seneca prophet Hand- some Lake (see pp. 132-4) and others. During such prophetic visions, the dreamer is often said to travel outside his or her body to worlds beyond human society, on spiritual journeys full of symbolic images.

This drawing of c.1890 by Walter Bone Shirt, a Lakota Sioux, shows a scene from a

Buffalo Society dance. Members of the society were believed to receive messages from the spirit of the buffalo through dreams. They held special dances to honour the animal, during which a holy man appeared in a buffalo

headdress, as shown here. As he danced, he was stalked by a young man who assumed the role of a Lakota hunter.

DREAMS 131

Black Elk, aged about 82.

period, he experienced a great dream-vision in which two men led him up to the clouds. They showed him a bay horse called the “Horse of the Four Directions” (north, east, south and west). The animal led him to a cloud, where he saw his six “grandfathers” -

ancestral figures who embodied the six directions (north, east, south, west, up

and down). Each of the six told Black Elk of important powers that would make him a holy man who could cure

and settle strife. They gave him the task of leading the

people back to the sacred Red Road, the Indian way (see

p. 156), as a way to ensure their survival. Black Elk is said to have beheld many wonders that enabled his people to cope with the coming white onslaught.

BLACK ELK

Owing to the popularity of John Neihardt’s book Black Elk Speaks, published in

1923, the holy man Black Elk (1864-1950) is probably the best-known Native North American dream visionary of

recent times. He lived at a crucial period for the Oglala Sioux people, the beginning

of conflict with whites that would lead to defeat in the Indian Wars and the beginning of reservation life. Black Elk was instrumental in the establishment of the Ghost Dance (see pp. 136—7),

and worked for his people’s survival until his death. According to Neihardt’s book, when Black Elk was

nine years old, in 1873, he lapsed into unconsciousness for 12 days. During this

This mask of Isanuk. the Walrus Spirit, appeared in a dream to a shaman of the Napciskiagmut

Inuit. The shaman dreamed of a great ceremony that would propitiate Isanuk and the other spirits that were responsible for the supply of game to Inuit hunters. If the

hunters pleased Isanuk, it was believed that he would direct sea mammals to them.

132 THE SURVIVAL OF THE SACRED

Nativistic movements

Many spiritual movements arose to help Indians to come to terms with the upheaval caused by the arrival of whites. Anthropologists refer to such move- ments as “nativistic” - meaning that they represent an attempt by native peo- ples to ensure the survival, in whatever form proves necessary, of aboriginal cul- ture in the face of pressure to assimilate. North American nativistic movements aimed to reaffirm Native North Ameri- can values where altered conditions may have rendered traditional ceremonies - such as those celebrating a landscape where the people no longer lived meaningless or incongruous.

There were two types of nativistic movement: “revitalization” and “mil- lennarian”. Both were syncretic - in other words, they adopted some of the beliefs and practices of the dominant culture - but to different degrees. In the first type, Indians were able to defuse much white criticism of their values by adopting some Christian forms and symbols and eliminating traditional ele- ments that the missionaries denounced as heathen, satanic or superstitious. Some revitalization movements, such as the Handsome Lake Movement and the Native American Church (see box, opposite), took congregational forms

Handsome Lake preaching in the tribal longhouse on the Tonawanda Reservation, by the 20th-century Seneca artist Ernest Smith. Handsome Lake, a holy man of great repute, had his famous dream when he was 64 and had himself fallen victim to the alcohol abuse that afflicted his people. About a quarter

oj the Iroquois had become followers of his teaching by the middle of the 19th century.

NATIViSTIC MOVEMENTS 133

THE NATIVE AMERICAN CHURCH

Among the most important revitalization movements is the Native American Church, sometimes derogatorily called the Peyote Cult. With about 250.000 members, it is also a pan-Indian movement.

Originating in Mexico, the church initially spread across the Plains after the collapse of the Ghost Dance. It has since become popular in the Midwest and Southeast. Church members seek visions by eating parts of the round, mildly hallucinogenic peyote cactus as a sacrament during

used in meetings are among

Native American Church symbols on this tie-slide.

church meetings. Led by a "peyote chief" or "roadman" who travels between groups,

meetings are held in a tipi from dusk to dawn and involve rattles, bone whistles and other traditional elements. Church doctrine is a mixture of Christianity and traditional belief. God is a great spirit and Jesus is a guardian spirit. The ideal of brotherly love and some of the Ten Commandments are among core beliefs. Members do not drink alcohol.

Despite its strictly sacramental use, peyote was outlawed for a time. Its use by the Native American Church is now largely recognized, but many whites still fight to ban it.

similar to those of the Christian churches. Such movements allowed a core of traditional belief to survive almost by camouflage within the trap- pings of Christianity.

The second, and generally more con- frontational, type of nativistic movement is called “millennarian”. Such move- ments arose when subjugation by whites was so rapid that traditional culture was in danger of immediate collapse. Revital- ization movements were sometimes, but not necessarily, headed by prophetic fig- ures. Millennarian movements, however, almost always began with a prophet preaching an imminent, sometimes cata- clysmic end to the current order and a return to traditional ways.

Some scholars suggest that Indian nativistic prophets arose as a result of contact with the Christian prophetic tradition. Millennarian movements in particular appear to have been inspired by Jesus’ call for the Jews to return to

their traditional values, and his promise that God would sweep away the current order and establish a spiritual kingdom that would last a millennium (hence the term “millennarian”). However, other scholars argue that Native prophets had their roots in a type of pre-contact cer- emony called a “Prophet Dance”, a communal dance at which prophesying, exhortations and trances occurred. Whatever the case, the Native prophets were innovators, willing to bring new beliefs and practices to their people.

Prophets usually arose in the worst of circumstances, such as those which beset the Seneca before the rise of Handsome Lake. Many were holy people, such as the Paiute prophet Wodziwob (see pp. 136-7). Other prophets had no sacred training at all, but possessed oratorical or political skills. Most became prophets as a result of personal visions or dreams.

The first great revitalization move- ment, the Handsome Lake Movement,

134 THE SURVIVAL OF THE SACRED

or Longhouse Religion, arose in the Northeast. This syncretic movement began in 1799 among the Seneca, a peo- ple of the Iroquois League (see p.41). After the American Revolution (1775— 83), in which the Seneca had sided with Britain, Seneca lands were confiscated, sold or stolen. Food became scarce and alcoholism hastened the threat of social collapse. It was at this point that Hand- some Lake, the brother of a chief, dreamed of an encounter with spirits, who advised the Seneca to give up alco- hol and all dancing except a “Worship Dance”. They also advised peaceful accommodation with whites. Hand- some Lake’s vision included a heaven and hell for Indians alone. Those who believed in his “Good Message” met for

weekly worship in a longhouse. The reli- gion was very successful among the Six Nations and is practised to this day.

Other movements came to the fore in the early 19th century, such as those of the Shawnee prophet (see below) and the Ojibway prophetess, a nameless, charis- matic Ojibway woman who apparently visited the northern Columbia River region. She may have inspired the Wana- pum prophet Smohalla, “The Preacher”, who was among the best known prophets from the Northwest Coast. A holy man from the Columbia River val- ley, in 1860 he proclaimed a message that he said came from the land of the spirits. The essence of his prophecy was that the fortunes of the Indians would be restored if they refused to follow white

Shawnee returned to the path

of virtue, this paradise would return. Many of the virtues preached by Lalawethika, or Tenskwatawa (“Open Door”), as he now called himself, were

THE SHAWNEE

PROPHET

During the early 1800s,

Shawnee culture was nearing a crisis point. The people were in continual conflict with whites on the frontier,

lands had been overhunted and disease and alcohol had taken a severe toll. In 1805, Lalawethika, the younger brother of the Shawnee chief Tecumseh, fell into a series of visionary trances during an epidemic. Previously a lazy, boastful drinker, he emerged from his visions a new man. He declared that the “Master of Life” had shown him a paradise full of game and fertile

cornfields, as the Shawnee world had been before the arrival of the whites. If the

traditional Shawnee values, but others drew on Christian

teachings. Tenskwatawa attracted many converts, including Tecumseh, most

of whom were not Shawnee. By 1807, the brothers had

established a settlement called Prophet’s Town, and the US government began to see the movement as a threat. In 1811, against

advice, the prophet engaged federal troops at Tippicanoe, outside the town. The Shawnee were routed and

Tenskwatawa abruptly lost almost all his influence. Tecumseh took over from his brother until his own death in battle two years later.

Tenskwatawa, the Shawnee prophet, in a portrait of 1823

by Charles Bird King.

NATIVISTIC MOVEMENTS 135

Bole-Maru dancers,

photographed in 1907

by C. Hart Merriam.

Individuals known as Dreamers, who were privy to messages from the Creator, conducted

Bole- Maru rituals and assumed many

traditional diagnostic and heeding functions.

ways that “wounded” Mother Earth, such as mining and ploughing. Smohal- la’s prophecies became the foundation of many Ghost Dances of the Northwest Coast and Plains (see pp. 136-7).

Smohalla also inspired several nativ- istic movements in California, where severe cultural disruption sparked a rapid succession of movements in the late 19th century. One of these, the Bole- Maru, combined traditional values with Christian-inspired dualistic ideas of heaven and hell, God and the Devil.

The Bole-Maru movement is still active among some Californian peoples, as is the Indian Shaker Church, which arose in the 1880s. Shakers claim to receive power directly from God during trances characterized by fits of trembling. The church emphasizes faith-healing using songs that combine Indian melodies and a mixture of traditional and Chris- tian lyrics. Major ceremonies, which involve some traditional world renewal rituals (see pp.l 12-13), are held around Easter and in August.

136 THE SURVIVAL OF THE SACRED

The Ghost Dance

The most popular and widespread of all millennarian movements was the Ghost Dance, which started among the Paiutes. It was never a unified movement but a series of similar revitalization cults derived from one source. Common Ghost Dance features included a circle dance in which the dancers were said to visit dead relatives in a visionary trance.

In 1870, disease killed more than a tenth of the Paiute population. Shortly afterward, in Fish Lake valley in pre- sent-day Utah, a wovoka, or “weather doctor” - one said to possess powers over rain, earthquakes and other natural phenomena - dreamed that he was given the power to bring back the souls of those who had recently died. According to this dream, the people had to paint themselves and perform circle dances. The wovoka became known as Wodzi- wob, the Paiute term for an elder, a curer or a doctor. When the people rested from dancing, Wodziwob would fall into a trance, during which, he claimed, he visited the dead, who promised to return to their loved ones soon. News of Wodziwob spread into California, the Great Basin and the Plateau, largely through the work of Tavibo, another weather doctor. But the Paiute Ghost Dance came to an abrupt end in 1872, when Wodziwob declared that he had been tricked by an evil witch owl.

Ghost Dances were revived by Tavibo’s son, who was also trained as a weather doctor and came to be known simply by this title (Wovoka). He worked on a Mormon ranch, received

"The Larger Circle", a part of the Arapaho Ghost Dance. This painting by Mary I. Wright is based on a photograph taken by James

Mooney in 1893 for the Smithsonian Institution.

an English name, Jack Wilson, and learned about Christianity. On 1 January 1889, during an illness, Wovoka experienced a trance in which he claimed to visit the land of the dead, where God told him to preach peace. Wovoka said that Native people could meet the dead and visit the former world of traditional Indian ways during circle dances. He preached that Indians must not fight and could even adopt some white ways for the sake of peace.

Many Plains groups sent emissaries to Wovoka. Each group translated his message to meet its own needs. The Lakota version was more revolutionary than its model, and shows Christian influence. The Lakota said that Wovoka was the son of the Great Spirit, who had risen from the dead after being killed by

THE GHOST DANCE 137

whites. Eventually, all whites would be swept away in a fiery cloud, the dead and the bison would return, and a new world would come into being. Like other peoples, many Lakota wore special Ghost Dance shirts, which they believed would protect them from bullets.

The US Army used the spread of the Ghost Dance as an excuse to disarm any Plains Indian groups still seen as a potential threat. During one such operation, at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in December 1890, ner- vous troops massacred 200 Lakota men, women and children. Lor Indians, Wounded Knee stands to this day as a monument to the white suppression not only of the Ghost Dance, but of Native culture in general.

A Pawnee Ghost Dance drum of c. 1890, painted with an image of the Thunderbird (see p.122), a being whose powers were invoked in the dance.

A GHOST DANCE REVIVAL

In 1973, members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) occupied Wounded Knee for several weeks. The spiritual leader of the takeover, Lakota holy man Leonard Crow Dog

(see p.98), had always believed that the Lakota emissaries to Wovoka had misunderstood his message. They should not have thought that

they could bring back the dead, but should have seen the circle dance as a means of keeping traditional ways alive by creating a link with the past and the ancestors. During the protest, Crow Dog conducted a Ghost Dance in the place where it had died in 1890. Women worked throughout the night to make Ghost Dance shirts out of burlap and curtains, painting them in traditional ways. Many dancers wore American flags upside down, a common form of AIM protest.

Since 1973, Crow Dog has continued to practise the Ghost Dance on Crow Dog’s Paradise, his family land on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota.

To the Seventh Generation

Seven is a number with great significance in the traditions of many Indian nations. For example, the Lakota speak of seven “origin people” and had Seven Council Fires. Seneca wisdom distinguishes “seven talents”. The Pawnee used the position of the Seven Stars (known to Europeans as the Pleiades) to determine the beginning of the ceremonial year. Above all, many Native North Americans recognize a profound responsibility to those who will come after them, down to the Seventh Generation.

This means that a person's behaviour is guided by consideration for the future. Some Indians look to the future by keeping alive traditional themes in new, perhaps non- traditional ways - for example, by writing novels and plays, or through art. Others struggle to restore what they regard as the world’s balance by demanding the return of the remains of ancestors and other ancient relics stored on museum shelves, and by reclaiming land illegally taken. Some strive to provide employment where it is needed, or to protect their culture by educating the young in their own traditions, while also giving them the tools that will enable them to compete in the modern world.

A Crow elder and two boys in traditional dress at the annual Crow Fair at Crow Agency, Montana, the centre of the Crow nation. The week-long fair includes powwow dancing, Indian

games and other traditional events. Such festivals play a crucial role in reaffirming tribal identity and passing on Native traditions to the younger generation.

140 TO THE SEVENTH GENERATION

The drum is a circle

In Native North American philosophy, the roundness of a drum symbolizes the inseparable unity of the past, present and future. This unity is a circle that binds all people. The beating of the drum represents the eternal rhythms of nature. For Native North Americans, these rhythms are echoed in the speech of the traditional storyteller and the sto- ries of the modern Indian writer.

Native North American oral tradi- tions encompass a wide range of genres, from simple moral tales to powerful oratory. Contact with other cultures and the development of written Native languages have enabled Native peoples to expand their forms of expression even further. In recent times, the keen storytelling that is a feature of many Native cultures has provided a founda- tion for the growth of written creativity and the appearance of a Native North American literature. Native literature has not only served to keep Native tra- ditions alive, but has also acted as a bridge between Native culture and mainstream white society.

The autobiographical tradition pro- vides perhaps the most direct means of communicating the realities of Indian life to outsiders. The first book in which an Indian author translated the Native experience for non-Natives was proba- bly Son of the Forest by William Apess, a mixed-blood Pequot of the Northeast. In this autobiography, which appeared in 1829, Apess wrote of the abuses he and other Indians had suffered at the hands of whites, and about his personal religious beliefs. Apess has been fol- lowed notably by Luther Standing Bear (Lakota), Charles Eastman (Santee Dakota), John Rogers (Ojibway) and

Paula Gunn Allen (Laguna Pueblo). Biographical works have also been influential - for example, John Nei- hardt’s Black Elk Speaks (1923), about the life of the Lakota visionary Black Elk (see p. 131). However, the genuinely Indian character of this and other, sim- ilar works is doubtful. In such works, a non-Indian author has imposed a nar- rative structure that is not its subject’s own and thus may lack authenticity.

The first novel written by a Native author was Wynema (1891) by Sophie Alice Callahan, a mixed-blood Creek. Her work addressed important tribal issues of her day, such as the Ghost Dance (see pp. 136—7) and the massacre at Wounded Knee. The novel has proved a particularly fruitful genre for

I

THE DRUM IS A CIRCLE 141

Navajo children listen to stories told by an elder. The oral tradition remains central to the survival of Native languages and wisdom in modern

North American society (see also p.124).

(Hopi-Miwok) and Maurice Kenny (Mohawk). A prominent theme of many North American Indian novelists is the problem of Native identity and how to cope with the dominant white culture.

Native poetry has more direct links with the oral tradition, and poets such as Gerald Vizenor and Joy Harjo (Creek) seek to capture the emotional intensity and rhythms of the spoken Native language. Contemporary poetry, like most Indian literature, is written in English, but nonetheless seeks to pre- serve the speech patterns, spirit and con- tent of Native tongues.

The written word is important, but it has not displaced the oral tradition, which continues to thrive, both in Eng- lish and Native languages, as a means of expressing ancient wisdoms and con- temporary conditions. The written and the spoken genres have a shared goal: to record and to clarify the Native North American experience, which outsiders have often distorted or dismissed as being of no significance.

Native writers, several of whom have achieved wide acclaim, such as N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa), winner in 1968 of a Pulitzer Prize for House Made of Dawn. American Book Awards have gone to Louise Erdrich (Ojibway; see below), Gerald Vizenor (Ojibway), Wendy Rose

LOUISE ERDRICH

Among the best-known of contemporary Native North American novelists is Louise Erdrich. born in 1954 of an Ojibway mother and a father of German descent. Her works, many of which are set in the region of North Dakota where she grew up, have received critical praise

both in the US and abroad. Erdrich explores some of the central issues facing modern Native North Americans, in particular the struggle to retain their Indian identity in the face of the almost overwhelming pressure to assimilate imposed by the dominant white culture. This problem, and the strain that it puts on relationships

between and within the older and younger generations, forms the basis of Erdrich’s acclaimed four-volume family saga consisting of Love Medicine (1984, the winner of the National Book Critics’ Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Award), The Beet Queen (1986), Tracks (1988) and The Bingo Palace (1993).

142 TO THE SEVENTH GENERATION

The drum is a heartbeat

Native dancers move to a drumbeat that, for Indians, symbolizes the human pulse and the fundamental rhythms of all life. For this reason, performance has always played an important part in Native expression, and both dance and music have undergone an extraordinary renaissance in recent years. Indian cre- ativity has also found outlets in such non-traditional visual forms as the the- atre and fine art. Indian artistic expres- sion often relates to specific tribal concerns and heritage, but it also touches on pan-Indian themes. Many songs and dances are intertribal, and form part of the repertoire of such noted ensembles as the American Indian Dance Theater.

Native musicians - for example, R. Carlos Nakai and Kevin Locke - have received international acclaim for their flute playing, compositions and danc- ing. Many Native musicians have had success on the “New Age” music scene, but more genuinely traditional forms also thrive. For example, the Ihankton- wan Singers, a group of Yankton Sioux children aged seven to 14, perform widely in the northern Plains region.

Native theatre is also flourishing, especially in Canada, where Native Earth Performing Arts, the leading Canadian aboriginal theatre company, performs plays by noted Indian writers such as Joyce B. Joe and Tomson High- way (see box, opposite).

Each September, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the Northern Plains Tribal Arts Show draws artists from the entire region and thousands of visitors. On display are paintings and sculptures on Native themes, in a range of abstract and figurative styles. There is also work

in traditional media, and the show includes dance and music, from singers of old Indian songs to country-and- western and protest groups. The success of the arts show and the establishment of Native galleries across North Amer- ica testify to the wide interest prompted by the Native artistic resurgence.

THE DRUM IS A HEARTBEAT 143

Comanche dancers Morgan Tosee and Gary Tolsah, members of the American Indian

Dance Theater (AIDT), perform a spectacular Shield Dance. The AIDT is one of many combined Native North American dance and

theatre groups. Other noted ensembles include the Naci Kahidi Theater of southeast Alaska. Both groups have performed widely in North America and abroad.

TOMSON HIGHWAY

Native North Americans have been depicted in the theatre in Canada since the early 17th century, when Marc Lescarbot produced

entertainment for French colonists at Port Royale in present-day Nova Scotia. The stereotyping of Indians that characterized

Lescarbot’s productions of 1603 has been a feature of most other plays in which Native

characters have appeared. For example, behind the sympathetic portrayal of a Native woman in George Ryga’s 1970 play. The Ecstasy of

Rita Joe, lay the common assumption that her culture was dying. However, since 1986,

the works of a young Cree playwright, Tomson Highway, have sought to shatter the overworn

illusions about Native people by presenting modern life as it is really lived on “the rez” (an Indian reserve).

Highway was born in 1951 in a tent along his father’s trapline in northern Manitoba. He endured the common Native Canadian

experience of having to be separated from his family and culture for most of the year at a boarding school. He graduated with an

honours degree in music from the University of Western Ontario.

Highway’s first play, The Rez Sisters (1986), was a fresh, earthy and vigorous examination of the lives of Native Canadian women on the fictional Wasaychigan Hill Reserve. The play was an instant success, winning major Canadian theatre awards and representing Canada at the Edinburgh International

Festival. Highway’s next play, Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing (1989), was another frank examination of Native life - it dealt with

the sensitive subject of male sexism on Indian reserves. He continues to write with warmth and sharp, ironic wit about his people, aiming

to bring Native Canadians clearly and directly into the consciousness of mainstream white Canadian society.

The wider acceptance of Native North American theatre among non-Indians has been difficult to achieve. However, through the work

of Highway and others, the voices of Native playwrights and actors are increasingly to be

heard in mainstream theatre.

144 TO THE SEVENTH GENERATION

Reclaiming the past

As whites took over Native lands, white scholars became keen to study the nature and origins of the Indians, who many felt would soon disappear. In 1867, US Army personnel were ordered to obtain Indian skulls for study at the Army Medical Museum. Thousands of skulls were collected from battlefields and burial grounds. In the following decades, several important museums and universities collected skeletons and burial goods for study and display. Some private collectors looted graves and sold remains and funerary goods as

curios, or exhibited them to tourists. For Native North Americans, such

actions are sacrilegious. Many tradi- tional Indians believe that the dead con- tinue to exist, but in a different world, and that the removal of their remains is an affront to the dignity of the ancestors and a threat to the delicate harmony of nature. For decades, Indians fought to have remains repatriated for reburial. Finally, in 1990, Congress passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Under this act, any organization associated

Native protesters on Alcatraz, the former

island-prison in San Francisco Bay. Around 200 Indians occupied the island in November 1969, shortly after the

US government had closed the prison. They demanded that the island be handed over

to Indians, basing their claim on land treaty

clauses that promised to return territory to

Indians should it ever become surplus to federal requirements. The siege of Alcatraz lasted until 1971, when the last demonstrators

were expelled by federal marshals. But other protests

followed, including a march on Washington, D. C., in 1972 called

"The Trail of Broken

Treaties’', during

which the Bureau of Indian A ffairs was

occupied for six days.

ypRQpmJT--

RECLAIMING THE PAST 145

CROW CREEK

The Crow Creek reburial

provided a model for consultation between Indians

and archaeologists on the issue of ancient graves. In

1978, University of South Dakota archaeologists at the ancient Crow Creek Village site on the Crow Creek Sioux Reservation discovered the

bones of 500 victims of a

massacre that took place C.AD1325 during warfare among ancestors of the

Arikara. The Arikara and the Sioux were traditional enemies, but collaborated to secure the future of the remains. They insisted at hrst that the bones should not be

touched, but when looters began to damage the site they

ABOVE, LEFT Indian holy men

pray at the site of the reburial

which was accompanied by

Christian and traditional rites.

ABOVE The bones as they

were discovered in 1978.

agreed to let the bones be removed for study, as long as

they were returned. In 1981, the bones were reburied close to where they had been found

with the government must return all remains, grave goods and sacred objects to the peoples from which they were taken, and must consult with tribes dir- ectly before excavating any Indian sites.

Indians have had more mixed success in their struggle to regain lands that were lost by treaty or conquest. The legal fight began in 1946, when the US Congress set up the Indian Claims Commission (ICC). The ICC set com- pensation for illegally taken lands at the value of the land when it was seized, plus interest. This brought considerable financial gains to peoples whose claims were allowed. For example, the Pas- samaquoddy of Maine received enough

money to develop housing, industry and education programmes. However, some peoples have refused to accept money on the grounds that the earth is sacred and cannot be bought and sold. The outcome of such cases is uncertain (see also p. 161).

Unlik "he US, Canada recognizes that Indians have rights based on tradi- tional occupation. The government pursues comprehensive agreements that involve land deals and financial settle- ments. The most notable result of this policy has been the creation of the Inuit territory of Nunavut (see pp. 163 and 170-71). However, as in the US, there are many unresolved cases.

146 TO THE SEVENTH GENERATION

Native scholars

Traditionally, Native people learned by listening to and watching their elders and then working with them in the tasks of daily life. Indian children sat at the feet of storytellers, whose tales of war- riors and tricksters and other spirit beings served as lessons in morality, philosophy and religion. Later, as youths, they would begin to learn the responsibilities of adulthood, such as how to gather and prepare plants for food and medicine, to track and hunt, and to make the clothing and tools nec- essary for survival.

Schools put an end to this traditional way of learning. Reservation schools and boarding schools that separated children from their families for up to ten months a year (see p.25) attempted to assimilate Indian and Inuit people by disconnecting the children from their traditional culture. Indian education policies may be less harsh today, but

almost all young Native North Ameri- cans still attend public (state) schools. Systematic, school-based learning is inconsistent with the more flexible and individually-oriented tribal method of learning. But the main problem is that the state school system reflects the her- itage and values of the dominant white society, which often contradict tradi- tional teachings. As a result, many Indi- ans have left school ill-equipped to deal effectively with either their own culture or that of the dominant society.

To provide education that is more sensitive to Native traditions, groups such as the American Indian Movement (AIM) have sought in recent years to establish model schools for Indians. In 1971, in Minneapolis, AIM opened the first Native peoples survival school, which sought to help young Indians to adjust to white society without losing touch with their own culture. Native-

NATIVE SCHOLARS 147

run elementary and secondary schools have blossomed since that time. In Native schools, curricula take into account traditional festivals and other events. For example, at the Nunamiut School in Anaktuvuk, Alaska, classes in October are organized around tradi- tional Inuit activities associated with cranberry picking.

The problems encountered in Native schools also applied to tertiary educa- tion. There were no Native colleges before 1968, when the Navajo Commu- nity College (NCC) was established on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. It was the first college on any reservation to be founded and run by Indians, and other tribes soon followed suit. In Octo- ber 1972, six tribal community colleges formed the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), which today has 30 members in the US and Canada. The AIHEC has proved

an effective tool for Indian economic development and the continuance of cultural tradition. Located on or near reservations, the tribal colleges serve more than 20,000 Indian students at any one time in programmes ranging from vocational and technical subjects to post-graduate degrees. Above all. Native colleges place great emphasis on Indian culture. For example, Sinte Gleska College on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota now offers a degree in “Cultural Resources Man- agement”, which trains tribal members to collect and manage oral history as well as to locate and protect archaeo- logical and historical sites.

The Navajo Community College (NCC) in Tsaile, Arizona. On the left are a tipi and a traditional Navajo hogan dwelling. The NCC

offers a wide range of courses on Navajo culture. For example, students can improve their Navajo

language and study traditional curing.

148 TO THE SEVENTH GENERATION

Contemporary curing

European conquest dealt a blow to traditional curing, not least because many Natives fell victim to the new diseases that ravaged their peoples. Traders, missionaries and military doc- tors first introduced Western- style medical care, and from the early 1800s the US govern- ment hired doctors to visit Indian children on reservations and in boarding schools during epidemics. By the 1870s, more than 20 treaties guaranteed some form of medical services to indi- vidual tribes. From these arrangements there arose the Indian Health Service (IHS), which today provides primary care on most reservations. Nevertheless, the standard of health care among Indians still lags behind that of the non- Indian population.

However, while many Indians undoubtedly recognize the benefits- of Western medicine, its acceptance has varied from nation to nation. Western

A Choctaw doctor examines a baby at the health centre in Philadelphia, Mississippi, chief town of the Mississippi Choctaw Reservation.

medicine is entirely secular in character, whereas Native curing is associated with holy people (see pp.92-7). For this rea- son, Western medicine has often been seen as a tool of white oppression, a means of undermining Native culture and spirituality. Over the years, whites have denounced traditional curers as

A Navajo medicine man

prepares a sandpainting for a traditional curing ceremony. The patient sits on the painting facing east, which is traditionally the source of

blessing. He or she then becomes an actor in the sacred story shown in the sandpainting, which depicts the supernatural beings that have been diagnosed as the

source of illness. Taking part in the myth is thought

to help to cure the patient by restoring his or her

harmonious relationship with the relevant spirits.

CONTEMPORARY CURING 149

witch doctors and ridiculed and con- demned their healing methods. As recently as 1976, Christian mission doc- tors ordered some Navajo families to bring in their medicine bundles to be burned. For many Indians, such atti- tudes are insulting, patronizing and, above all, sacrilegious. In fact. Native medicine has not been displaced. In most Indian communities, people usu- ally rely on a variety of health care resources, from traditional healers to private non-Indian physicians and gov- ernment hospitals.

Old Native methods of curing remain important to many people, but the decline in traditional education (see p. 146) means that it is more difficult today to train healers (although several Indian educational institutions, such as the Navajo Community College, offer courses). Many communities recognize that they must assume greater responsi- bility for directing their own health care, and seek an approach that can accom- modate traditional methods and

values as well as Western medicine. One way to improve the standards of

Indian health care and to decrease the suspicion felt by many toward Western medicine is to increase the number of Native health professionals practising in Indian communities. The IHS funds a programme called Indians into Medi- cine (InMed), which provides Western medical training for a third of all Indian health care professionals. The IHS is attempting to return control of health care to communities, emphasizing tradi- tional values. For example, Indian holis- tic healing methods may be the best way to deal with some of the most common maladies that affect Native people, such as diabetes, hypertension and alco- holism. These are considered to be “white man’s diseases’’ that are related more to social factors (that is, lifestyle) than to physiological causes. A return to Native values in treating such problems is the aim of the numerous “Red Road” schemes that have grown up in recent years (see pp. 156-7).

HEALING PLANTS

Traditional Indian curers use a wide range of medicinal plants in their healing, and a number of Indian discoveries were adopted by Western medicine. For example, a headache cure made from poplar or willow bark contains the active ingredient salicin, which is used in aspirin. For muscular aches, curers extracted an astringent, later known as witch hazel, from the shrub Hamamelis

virginiana. The bark of the shrub Phamnuspurshiana has been used since 1878 in the most common laxative

sold in the US. Many aromatic plants,

such as sage, were used for ritual fumigation. People would “bathe” in the smoke or inhale it for purification. A variety of ailments may be treated with sage infusions.

Salvia columbariae (left) is a variety of sage used by the Numlaki of California for curing and other purposes.

150 TO THE SEVENTH GENERATION

Cottage industries to casinos

In the 19th century, the loss of tribal land (see pp.22-5) and the white demand for furs and other goods (see p.40) quickly destroyed traditional Native economies. Dispossessed of land and excluded from the lucrative side of the fur trade, Native people were reduced to working for meagre pay in cottage industries. Skilled woodcarvers made axe-handles, and the weavers of fine baskets made laundry hampers and other domestic containers for whites.

Not every Indian nation saw a decline in its traditional economy. The North- west Coast peoples still had access to the wealth of the sea, and the Navajo transformed their lands into a rich agri- cultural area for cattle, sheep and a wide variety of crops. However, many peoples of the forests and Plains, forced to attempt farming on infertile, marginal land in forests and on hot, dry prairies, were left with little prospect but assimi- lation or starvation.

In 1934, the US government partly

awoke to this situation and passed the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA). It allowed Indian nations to conduct their own affairs, enabling them to act as cor- porations in order to borrow money and operate businesses. Very gradually, and almost always in a hostile climate, Indians began to develop new economic bases that were more in line with the white society that surrounded them.

Today, NatiVe business as a whole is increasing as part of the broader resur- gence of Indian self-confidence and pride. Even the arts and crafts industry has spread beyond the tourist stalls, and is now heavily commercialized. How- ever. Native unemployment remains high, approaching 90 percent on some reservations. This situation will radi- cally improve only when there are suffi- cient numbers of Indian professionals, skilled technicians and entrepreneurs to enable Native people to take complete control of their own economies and compete freely in the marketplace.

NATIVE CASINOS

The most successful Native- owned businesses in the US are casinos. Organized gambling is banned in most

states, but Indian reservations are quasi-autonomous and

outside state law. Native

entrepreneurs have succeeded in creating a highly profitable

multi-million-dollar industry. One of the largest and most

successful casinos is on the Mashintuquet Pequot Reservation in southeastern

Connecticut. In addition to gaming tables, bingo and

thousands of slot machines,

A bingo-caller at Grand

Casino on the Mille Lacs Ojibway Reservation, Minnesota.

the casino incorporates a 1.500-seat theatre, speciality shops and restaurants. There is even an adjoining hotel.

In accordance with Native North American traditions,

the wealth produced by Indian casinos tends to be

redistributed among the various Native communities

of the reservation. Some tribes prefer to distribute their revenues on a per capita

basis. Others have taken a longer-term view and used funds to improve the tribal

infrastructure by building schools, roads and museums.

Two Mohawk steelworkers on a building site high

above the streets of New York City. The

Caughnawage (Kahnawake )

Mohawk Reserve in Quebec has profited front the steel

industry since 1886. In that year, the

Canadian Pacific Ra ilroad recn t i ted

Mohawks to work on a bridge across the St

Lawrence River, one end of which stood in the reserve. Steel

construction was

dangerous work - more than 30

Mohawks perished when a half-built bridge near Quebec collapsed in 1907 - but white employers

were impressed by the Indians' apparent indifference to heights. Their reputation spread,

and many Mohawks and other Iroquois were employed in the construction of most

of the steel-framed skyscrapers that dominated the New

York skyline after 1900. By the 1960s, a sizeable Mohawk community lived in

the city. Mohawk steelmen were also in demand elsewhere in

the US: for example, they worked on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

152 TO THE SEVENTH GENERATION

Tourism

Tourism was an inevitable outgrowth of European expansion westward. For most whites, Indians existed at a dis- tance, always just beyond the frontier settlements. They were regarded as ter- rifying barbarians who nevertheless possessed a peculiar nobility. It was to satisfy the fascination of a largely urban white public in the eastern US and in Europe that the romanticized “Wild West” was created by 19th-century writ- ers of pulp fiction.

The “Wild West” proved a great tourist attraction. Buffalo hunts, Indian warriors and, of course, heroic white cowboys were all packaged for popular white consumption. Artists such as Karl Bodmer and George Catlin (see p.48) contributed to whites' fascination with their vivid images of Indian life, and pho- tographers such as Edward S. Curtis (see p. 105) created set pieces that lent Indian people a haunting beauty that reflected

the Victorian preoccupation with the “noble savage”. If people could not go to see Indians, the Indians might come to them. William “Buffalo Bill” Cody (1846-1917) hired Native people - including such famous warriors as Sit- ting Bull (see p.32) - to appear in his immensely popular Wild West Show, which toured America and Europe.

With the advent of “Western” films in the 20th century, the Plains Indian chief, resplendent in eagle-feather warbonnet, was established as the enduiing image of the North American Indian. This was what tourists expected to see, and some Native peoples adapted to the popular image in order to make a living. At the turn of the 20th century, tribes across the continent, irrespective of cultural tradi- tion, donned Plains warbonnets to reas- sure tourists that they and their wares were genuinely Indian. Even today, some Indian men are able to earn a living by

TOURISM 153

This store and garage on the Navajo Reservation is adorned with crude images of totem poles, which are a genuine feature only of Northwest Coast cultures. The shop offers “curios", “rugs" and "jewelry" to passing tourists.

TOURIST ART

With the advent of tourism. Native peoples adapted their arts and crafts for a non-Native

market. For example, some Southwestern potters switched from making finely

finished, elegant pots to crude, primitive designs that looked

more “authentic” to visitors. The tourist demand for

souvenirs led to the sale of millions of cheap

wooden and plastic totem poles, tomahawks and other

pseudo-Indian replicas. Most were made in Asian toy factories: Indians have rarely sought to benefit from this lucrative, but low quality,

side of the tourist trade. Authentic, handmade arts and crafts are generally more expensive and of higher quality.

However, while tourism has had a negative effect on some Indian arts and crafts traditions, it has ensured that other Native skills and styles have survived into the present. Since the 1960s, Native artists such as Bill Reid (see p. 119) and Norval Morrisseau (see p. 121), who took the authentic tradition as their starting point, have achieved international fame, and their work commands high prices. Some non-Indians exploited the high-quality Native art market by passing off paintings, sculpture and other popular items as “Indian”. In 1990, the US Congress responded with the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, which aimed to prevent non-Indians from marketing imitations of Native work. Controversially, the measure gives Indian tribes control over the definition of a Native artist (see p. 11). However, the act should ensure that genuine artistic traditions continue to thrive.

ABOVE A pincushion (left) and a pouch, made for the white market in the late 19th century by

Iroquois artists who employed traditional beading techniques of the Northeast.

posing for photographs at tourist sites wearing fringed buckskin, beads and feathered headdresses. However, the days are past when entire communities would turn out to stage important tribal dances and ceremonies, such as the Sun Dance, simply as tourist entertainments.

There are positive aspects of tourism. Importantly, Native people are now taking control of the Indian tourist industry. Inuit tour companies offer dog- sledding, nights in an igloo and North Pole expeditions. Visitors to the South Dakota Badlands (see p.79) can stay at a lodge run by the Oglala Sioux and visit a hideaway where Lakota Indians fled from the US Army in 1890.

154 TO THE SEVENTH GENERATION

Bear Butte WsMm TT:' At $ ygtififA

.

Rising 4,426 feet (1,350m) above the plains of South Dakota, Bear Butte commands startling views of the Paha Sapa (Black Hills) to the west, while open plains stretch to the eastern hori- zon. It is revered as a holy place by a number of Plains peoples, including the Lakota Sioux, who call the outcrop Mato Paha (“Bear Hill”), and the Cheyenne, who call it Noavasse (“Med- icine Lodge”). Every year, many Lakota and Cheyenne go to the butte for a period of prayer and fasting.

The butte is the focus of conflict with non-Indians who wish to develop the area for tourism and recreation. It forms part of Bear Butte State Park, run by the state of South Dakota. The state closes the summit to visitors during important Indian ceremonies, and pro- hibits anyone except Indians from using fasting and vision-quest areas and cere- monial trails. However, many Indians maintain that the park authority has desecrated the butte by developing parking lots and campsites on the lower flanks and a tourist climbing trail on the hill itself. Also, despite the safeguards, sacred areas have been violated.

Lakota and Cheyenne spiritual lead- ers took the state to a federal court under the 1978 American Indian Reli- gious Freedom Act. The court found that Indian interests were outweighed by the state's obligation to improve pub- lic access to a geological and historical landmark and to guarantee the safety and welfare of visitors. In 1983, the US Court of Appeals upheld the decision and the Supreme Court refused to hear the case. However, the Cheyenne and Lakota refuse to abandon their fight to secure this and other sacred sites.

SITE 6: BEAR BUTTE 155

Pacific Ocean

BEAR BUTTE •

er

o'

Ve

Vf>

V?>

"O "O

North Atianti Ocear

| The English name Bear Butte derives from the

Lakota, ivho say that the hill came into existence as the result of a fight between a giant bear and a monster called Unkchegila. The butte marks the spot where the mortally

wounded bear lay down and died. The summit of the butte, the highest point for miles around, is a favoured site for Hanbleceya, the solitary vision quests (see p.99) of the Lakota. It was here, in 1876, that the famous Lakota chief Crazy Horse is said to have experienced a vision of a bear which gave him supernatural powers.

Shortly afterward, Crazy Horse helped to lead the Indian forces that wiped out Custer’s troops at the Little Bighorn River (see pp. 30-31).

Q Each of the cloths attached to this pine tree

E] on the summit of the butte represents a prayer to the spirits. Below the tree (3), Indian worshippers also placed tiny pouches of tobacco as sacred offerings. The butte has attracted other worshippers that the Indians find less

welcome. In 1994, the Lakota protested against the use of the sacred moun tain by “New Agers”, who see the butte as a “powerpoint’’. They conduct summer solstice rituals on the butte

that combine Lakota ceremonial with paganism, shamanism and other non-Indian practices that are considered sacrilegious by many Lakota.

Q Wesley Whiteman (Black Bear), a Cheyenne holy man, on the summit of Bear Butte in 1977. A bison skull, symbolizing power and strength,

is at his feet, and he holds a sack containing a sacred pipe. In Cheyenne tradition, the culture hero Mutsoyef (Sweet Medicine) held a council on the butte that was attended by wise men from all the peoples of the earth. Maiyun, the Great Spirit, gave Mutsoyef four sacred arrows that had great power over buffalo and people.

156 TO THE SEVENTH GENERATION

The Red Road

In Black Elk’s vision (see p. 133), a figure called Grandfather speaks of the con- cept of the “Red Road”: “From where the giant lives [north], to where you always face [south], the red road goes, the road of good, and on it your nation shall walk. The red road is a path con- necting past and future, a road that is sacred, a road that all people can walk.” The Red Road can be understood as the “Indian way”. It is an approach to the modern problems of being an Indian that draws upon traditional Native val- ues, such as bravery, spirituality and respect for kin. The Red Road helps to reaffirm Indian identity within the dom- inant society. Above all, it is a way for Native North Americans to take control of their own destiny.

Many Indian people apply a Red Road approach to modern social prob- lems, such as alcoholism and substance abuse, which affect a large number of families on some reservations. Alco- holism, for example, is a major cause of domestic violence and increased rates of suicide among young Native North

A billboard in Gallup, New Mexico, promotes a brand of wine but bears the warning "Drink Smart or Don’t Start". Alcoholism is five times the US average in Gallup, the first big town on the highway out of the Navajo Reservation. Many liquor businesses thrive on trade to Indians. Recently,

local Navajos organized a 200- mile (320-km) march from Gallup to Santa Fe, the state capital to call for more state

aid in combating alcoholism and to raise money for Native

anti-alcohol programmes.

Americans. Several Red Road pro- grammes have been developed to tackle these problems. For example, Gene Thin Elk’s programme in eastern South Dakota trains counsellors to rehabili- tate alcoholics and drug users through retreats and traditional Native teach- ings and ceremonies. The results have been impressive - Thin Elk’s initiative has achieved a greater level of success than Alcoholics Anonymous among communities that have turned to the programme for help.

The Red Road approach has also been applied to the problem of Indian unemployment, which is higher than 85 percent in some communities. The situ- ation remains serious, but local eco- nomic development projects guided by traditional Native values of commit- ment and generosity are proving suc- cessful. In the 1980s, the Principal Chief of the Cherokee nation, Wilma P. Mankiller, with her husband, Charlie Soap, set up a system of small business loans and consultancy in order to assist local businesses and co-operatives in

THE RED ROAD 157

areas where there was high unemploy- ment and low wages.

Tribal government has also been affected by the revival of Native values. The 1934 Indian Reorganization Act (IRA; see p. 150) imposed Euroamerican forms of representative government on tribes, principally in the form of elected tribal councils. Representative democ- racy often violated traditional forms of consensual government, in which every member of a tribe was directly con- sulted on important tribal decisions. Today, although all tribes must retain their tribal councils for dealing with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other fed- eral or state agencies, some Indian nations have sought to return to more traditional forms of tribal government to work alongside the IRA system. For example, the Ihanktonwan (Yankton Sioux) tribe has restored a form of con- sensual approach, so that all 7,000 enrolled members of the tribe can be directly involved in the drafting of any laws or rules before the tribal council. These range from the allocation of

casino revenues and study programmes at the new Ihanktonwan community college, to measures concerned with the preservation of traditional culture.

The often troubled relations between Natives and non-Natives can also benefit from the Red Road. Not all Indians approve the idea of opening sacred tradi- tions and practices to outsiders. But some Natives, such as Lakota holy man Wal- lace Black Elk (who, while not a blood relative of the earlier Black Elk, considers himself to be a spiritual relative), have worked to foster the Red Road among whites. South Dakota and Minnesota, where relations between Indians and whites have often been tense, have adopted the Red Road as the basis of inter-ethnic reconciliation programmes.

The success of the Red Road initia- tives shows that traditional Indian ways remain dynamic and are capable of being applied successfully to the prob- lems of the present day. For many Indi- ans, the Red Road is the key to the survival of Native North American ways of life into the 21 st century.

A promotional float for the Native-run alcohol and drug programme on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, South Dakota. The Cheyenne River Sioux have approved a

policy aimed at making the reservation completely free of

alcohol and narcotics by the end of the 20th century. Elsewhere, alcohol bans have proved highly effective. In the Indian town of Kotzebue, Alaska, a ban on liquor sales led to a 40 percen t fall in the number of suicides, murders,

assaults and sexual attacks.

158 TO THE SEVENTH GENERATION

Native media .

Native North Americans are bom- barded daily with stereotyped and fre- quently negative images of themselves created by non-Indians. The effect of such images is to increase the pressure to assimilate. Therefore, unless the neg- ative imaging can be countered. Native peoples face cultural extinction. As an Indian might put it, the circle - the con- tinuity of Native spirituality and values - will be broken.

Indian people are now trying to halt this trend by developing radio, televi- sion, newspapers and other Native media, and by writing their own ver- sions of Native history. At the same time, many Indians are seeking to improve communications among Indian peoples across the North Ameri- can continent on issues such as Native legal rights and the preservation of cul- tural heritage. The result, many people

Denise Becenti, a Navajo reporter, conducts an interview for a local television channel serving the Navajo Reservation. Many Indian nations are now served by one or more Native-run

television and radio stations. The Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) recently expanded its membership terms to include Native North Americans working in radio and television.

hope, will be an increased understand- ing of the positive qualities of “Indian- ness”, as defined by Indians and not outsiders.

Priority is given today to the develop- ment of Native-run print and electronic media. Ever since the establishment in 1828 of The Cherokee Phoenix, North America’s first Native newspaper (see pp.45 and 165), there have been contin- uous efforts by Indians to address the need of their communities for reliable and balanced sources of news and infor- mation. In 1984, a group of Native American journalists met to assess the state of the Native media and to discuss ways of developing Native communica- tions. The conference agreed that a national organization was needed to reinvigorate the Indian media, and in particular to address the widespread barriers and challenges that faced Native journalists. They set three goals: an increase in the number of Native journalists; the establishment of train- ing programmes and of support services for Indians already in the field; and an improvement in the general media cov- erage of Native American issues.

One consequence of the 1984 confer- ence was the establishment of the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA), originally for Native print journalists working in the US. The asso- ciation launched Project Phoenix, a summer journalism programme for Indian high school pupils, and intro- duced a national writing competition for high schools. The NAJA recently established a journal. The Native Voice. Membership is now open to those in the electronic media and to Native journal- ists in Canada.

NATIVE MEDIA 159

AKW< 5A*N<

NOTG

Nettire pub/it xitions include intertribal newspapers such as Indian Country

Today, which has the highest circulation of any Native paper, and

The Native Voice, founded in 1995 at the

11th annual convention of the NAJA in Bismarck, North

Dakota. At tribal level, there are newsletters such as the Cherokee Messenger, published by the Cherokee

Cultural Society of Houston, Texas, and

Akwesasne Notes, the quarterly magazine of

the Kahniakehaka (Mohawk) nation of New York State, Ontario and Quebec.

INTERNET INDIANS

Artefacts many thousands of

years old are mute evidence of active communications networks spanning the North American continent: for example, seashells from the

Gulf of Mexico have been found in Manitoba. Where

the spoken tongue was a barrier, people developed sign language. Travellers left silent messages - pictographic symbols painted or scratched on rocks, or charcoal marks on birch bark. News could spread very rapidly among

tribes along the so-called “moccasin telegraph", passed

from person to person by word of mouth.

European settlement broke

these traditional lines of communication. However, in

the last decade, the fragile unity of Native peoples has received a boost from the development of electronic

communications in general and of the Internet in particular. The Internet, a

worldwide computer network, has become a

potent medium through which Native North

Americans can speak to each other and to other indigenous peoples around the world.

The most impressive recent development on the Internet

is the World Wide Web (WWW), which offers users cheap and easy access to text, sounds, pictures and even short films through such

“websites" as NativeWeb (http://ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu/ hnarc/nativeweb.html).

Accessible worldwide to any Internet user, the WWW provides a steadily growing body of information on Native art, literature, languages, journals, videos,

organizations, museums and government resources.

Indians and Inuit are using the WWW to tell their own

stories and to correct misconceptions about Native cultures. Most importantly, perhaps, the WWW is helping to accelerate the development

of pan-Indian - and pan- aboriginal - approaches to common problems that face many First Nations in the modern world.

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161

Documentary Reference

Current land issues

Between 1784 and 1871, Native North Americans ceded nearly two billion acres (810 million ha) to whites in 370 treaties that were often signed under duress or as a result of deliberate trickery. The 1887 Dawes General Allotment Act (see p.25), and amendments to it into the early 1900s, further reduced Indian lands in the US from 139 million acres (56 million ha) to only 34 million acres (14 million ha) by 1934. Nearly half of this area was subject to federal supervision.

Indians went to the courts to seek justice, and their cases clogged the judicial system. The US Congress established the Indian Claims Commission (ICC) in 1946 to hear the claims brought by Native Americans. None of the claims that it investigated were for the return of land, but for financial compensation for lands taken. The ICC sat until 1978, when it was wound up leaving 68 cases unresolved.

Among the most enduring land claims is that of the West- ern Shoshoni, whose ancestors signed the Treaty of Ruby Valley in 1863. The ancestral land that they are claiming includes a third of the state of Nevada, home to many sensi- tive government installations. The Shoshoni claim that the Treaty of Ruby Valley did not give their land away, but sim- ply allowed whites to use it. The case was examined by the ICC, which found that the treaty had indeed resulted in the illegal appropriation of 24 million acres (10 million ha) of Shoshoni lands. The ICC offered the people a settlement of about $1.05 per acre (420 per ha), the 1863 price. However, the Western Shoshoni have accepted no money for the land because many believe that Mother Earth should not be bought and sold. The Shoshoni are currently seeking a reso- lution of their territorial claims through an act of Congress.

Similar problems exist in Canada. Among the most tragic, difficult and protracted cases in Canadian legal history is that of the James Bay Cree. They are embroiled in a struggle to protect their lands against the energy company Hydro- Quebec, which wants to construct the largest single hydro- electric project in North America. Hydro-Quebec has

OPPOSITE A view of Valley

of Fire State Park, part of traditional Indian territory in Nevada. Indian land claims amount to approximately two

thirds of the area of the state.

The Northern Paiute and Southern Paiute (in whose lands the Valley of Fire stands) claim about a third between them, but the biggest single claim is that of the Western Shoshoni. The 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley did not dispute Shoshoni rights to the land, but allowed whites to establish a number of ranches,

railways and mines there in return for annual payments of

$5,000 to the tribe. However, the whites soon abandoned any pretence of abiding by

the treaty and simply took over the territory, confining the Western Shoshoni to a number of small reservations.

162 DOCUMENTARY REFERENCE

a

already put about 4,400 square miles (11,400km2) of land under water and has allegedly had an ecological impact on another 6,800 square miles (17,600km2). It is said that mer- cury contamination from decomposing trees and plants affects the fish that are caught and eaten by the Cree, and some elders have been found to have more than 20 times the acceptable level of mercury in their bodies. The government’s response has been to advise the Cree to stop eating fish. In 1984, a sudden release of water from the Caniapiscau Reser- voir during the migration of the George’s River caribou herd drowned more than 10,000 animals. The continuing environ- mental problems have strengthened Cree opposition to fur- ther development and reinforced their demands for more intensive environmental reviews before any new dams are built. The Cree and other Native Canadian groups have per- sistently called for government intervention, but they remain sceptical and frustrated at the official response.

Some land issues involve disputes between Indian nations, and are rooted in cultural differences, the reservation system and the problems of population growth. The disputes are often complicated by the involvement of government and of energy companies anxious to determine whom they should negotiate with on disputed land. One major argument involves the Hopi and Navajo (Dineh) of the Southwest. The Hopi of Arizona have a traditional land base that overlaps

A dam on Grande-Riviere, Quebec, nears completion.

This and other hydro-electric projects pose a great threat to

the traditional fishing grounds of the Cree communities of the James Bay area.

CURRENT LAND ISSUES 163

that of the Navajo. The Hopi Reservation is completely sur- rounded by the Navajo Reservation. Each group claimed to have its origins in the land and viewed it as sacred, and the treaty of 1882 that created the Hopi Reservation also promised “protection” for other Indians who lived there. In 1882, there were around 1,800 Hopi and 400 Navajo on the shared reservation. After 1900, the Navajo population as a whole grew more sharply than that of the Hopi (in 1900, the Hopi numbered about 2,000 and the total Navajo population about 7,500; today, there are 10,000 Hopi and nearly 275,000 Navajo). In 1950, the Navajo on the Hopi Reservation out- numbered the Hopi, and by 1968, tribal tensions between the traditional enemies were beginning to boil over. In 1974, Congress intervened to split the peoples by formally parti- tioning the Hopi Reservation. The Navajo received more than 900,000 acres (364,000ha) of Hopi land and 400,000 acres (162,000ha) elsewhere to compensate for the land lost by 5,000 Navajos who were obliged to relocate from the new, smaller Hopi Reservation. The Hopi lost half their reserva- tion, but only 100 Hopi were obliged to relocate from the lands given to the Navajo. However, years of legal wrangling, resistance to relocation by Big Mountain Navajo and con- stant media attention mean that the controversy is far from over. The issue has set a precedent for tribes to receive land instead of money as compensation for lost territory. But many problems are unresolved, the most important being the fact that the Hopi have received neither land nor money for the loss of their lands. The social cost has also been high, in terms of the upheaval caused especially to relocated Navajo.

The resolution of one Canadian case stands out as a posi- tive, innovative development in the recognition of Native land rights. In June 1993, Canada’s parliament approved the Nunavut Land Claim Agreement, which had been ratified by the Inuit in 1992. A new self-governing territory, Nunavut, (“Our Land” in the Inuit language, Inuktitut), will come into being early in the 21st century (see map on pp. 170-71). Nunavut is the ancestral home of the Inuit, who have lived in the eastern and central Arctic for thousands of years. Under the agreement, they receive title to 136,000 square miles (350,000km2). The deal gives them more than C$1 billion of federal funding over 14 years, the right to harvest wildlife and equal representation on new bodies to manage wildlife, resources and the environment. They will share federal gov- ernment royalties from gas, oil and mineral exploration on Crown lands. The Inuit will control mineral rights on about ten percent of the land and the right to negotiate with indus- try on Inuit lands. Three national parks will be created.

164 DOCUMENTARY REFERENCE

Languages

The study of Native languages, most of which were unwritten until very recently, has depended heavily on the often highly unsystematic records of anthropologists, linguists, missionar- ies and others who came into contact with Indian peoples. As disease and other depredations decimated entire nations, sev- eral languages and dialects became extinct. The pressure to assimilate also caused many people to stop speaking their mother tongues. In boarding schools run by churches and government agencies (see p.25), Indian children were often punished for using their first language. However, a consider- able number of languages are still spoken by many people - for example, Navajo, which has around 100,000 speakers. In other cases, languages may be spoken by a handful of elders, as in the case of Osage, now the first language of only about half a dozen people.

For such a relatively small Indian population (upward of 1.5 million), there is considerable linguistic diversity. It has been estimated that there may be as many as 300 distinct Indian languages, which may be subdivided further into per- haps 2,000 dialects. The languages can be grouped into at least 57 families, such as Athapaskan, Iroquoian, Musko- gean, Salishan and Siouan. California alone is home to 20 language families and is therefore more linguistically diverse than the whole of Europe. A further 17 language families occur west of the Rocky Mountains, with the remaining 20 covering the rest of the North American continent. It is widely accepted by scholars that the 57 families can be grouped into six macro-families, or phyla: Eskimo-Aleut, Na-Dene, Macro-Algonquian, Macro-Siouan, Aztec- Tanoan and Hokan. A few scholars go even further and posit a single macro-phylum, “Amerindian”, the ancestor of all Native languages. They have sought to relate Amerindian to Asian languages, but most scholars regard Amerindian as too hypothetical for this exercise to be truly fruitful.

This enormous range of languages arose in part from the geographical isolation of many peoples, which led to sharp divergences in related dialects, as among the Tsimshian, whose various dialects are mutually unintelligible. The possi- bility of several migrations from Asia at different times may also be a factor (see pp. 15-16). However, the biggest single reason was the movement of peoples within the continent. Relationships can be detected between the languages of peo- ples who have ended up as far apart as the Dogrib of the Northwest Territories and the Navajo and Apache of the southwestern US, all of whom speak Athapaskan tongues.

There was much cross-fertilization of languages. Tribes borrowed words from each other and from whites. Some

LANGUAGES 165

owy CHEROKEE

JcT^FO^. PH(E5IX.

NEW ECHOTA, THURSDAY FEBRUARY *21, 1^28. NO. 1. VOL. I.

ABITtD BY ELIAS BOUDINOTT.

PUNTED WEEKLY BY

ISAAC IL HARRIS, FOE TBK CIIBMtl M <TIO 5.

At #4 60 if pti(t in Khtiiee, *3 in six **Dth-s or f 3 50 if ptid tt th« end of the jnr.

To wbscritxrs wfco ctn retd only tbe CWr»:« ltofutre th*“ imc<* wilVbe Ct.OO b Urttce, or f9,5® to be ptid within the

E^err oobocriptioo will be considered ts eoefioaed unlew subscribers five notice to the eootrtry before tbe commencement of a •ew year.

TVe Fhttnix will be printed on a Super- ^oral rfveet, with fjrpeenVrely new procur- ed ror tbe purpose. \nv person procuring *ii wiWcrNen, and b*coinin|: responsible fmr tbe payment, aha’l receive a *eventh grots.

Ad«m*n>caU will be nr*rt»AsI teren- •~f-6rr cent* per w.uaie lor tbe fir>l in-tef. wso, tD ! thirty-seven and a haK cent* for •oeh continuance; t©»ger ones in propot-

A^AIl letter* *ddre«ed to the Editor, pootpmd, will receive due attention. j

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A GOOD CONSCIENCE.

WHAT k there, is all the poap of

CONSTt TUTION OF THE CHE- ROKEE NATION,

Fonmd by Convention of Delegates from Iht ttrtnU Districts, at New E- chota, July 18£L

Wt, TH P. REPRESENTATIVES of the people of the CHEROKEE NATION in Conventiou aaaemblevi, in order to es- tablish justice, eoaure tranquility, promote our common welfare, and se- cuFe to ourtelvei and our posterity the blessings of liberty; acknewledg- tug with humility and gratitude the foodnew of the sovereign Ruler of tbe luiverse, in offering us an opportuni-

ty so favorable to the desigu, and im- ploring hi* aid and direction in it* ac- complishment, do ordain mid establish this Constitution for the Government of the Cherokee Natioh.

ARTICLE I.

Sec. 1. THE BOUNDARIES of this nation, embracing the lands solemnly guarantied and reserved forever to tbe Cherokee Natiou by the Treaties concluded with the United States, are as loHows; and shall forever hereaf- ter remain unalterably the same—to wit—Beginning on tbe North Bank of Tennessee River at the upper part of tbe Chickasaw old fields; tnence along tbe maiu channel of saiJ river, includ- ing all the islands therein, to the mouth of the Hiwassee river, thence up tbe main channel of said river, in-

cluding Islands, to the first hill which closes io on said river, about two miles above Hiwassee old Town; thence a- long tbe rid^e which divides the ya-

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readmitsion. Moreover, (bo Legisla*, lure shall have power to adopt such laws and regulations, as its wisdom

may deem expedient and proper, to p>event the citizens from monopoliz- ing improvements with the view ef speculation.

ARTICLE II.

Soc. 1. THE POWER of this Go- vernment shall be divided into three distinct departments;—the Legisla- tive, the Executive, and the Judicial.

Sec. t. Ne person or persona, be- longing to one of these Departments, shall evereise any of the powers |>ro- perly belongir^ to either of tbe oth- ers, except in the coses hereinafter expressly directed or permitted-

• AITICI.E III.

See. I. THE LEGISLATIVE POWER shall be vested In two distinct branches; • Committee, ppd a Coun- cil; each to have * negative on the otber, and both to be styled, the Gene- ral Council of the Cherokee Nation- and tbe style of their acts and laws shall be,

^RESOLVED by the Commiitee snd Council In General Coqpcil conven- ed.”

Sec. 2. The Cherokee Nation, ss hid off into'eight Districts, shall so remaiu.

Sec. S. 'Die Committee sb II con- sist of two members from ea ’* Dis- trict, and the' Council shall consist ef three members from each District, to be chopeo by the qualified electors of their respective Districts for two years; and the eleclions to

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words, such as the Siouan tipi, entered the vocabulary of Indians and whites alike. Other Indian words became part of North American English - for example, “powwow” and “caucus”. US and Canadian place-names are often of Indian origin, such as Connecticut (“Long River”), Ontario (“Sparkling Water”), Chicago (“Place of Onions”) and many other names of provinces, states, towns and physical features. Linguistic borrowing led to the development of lingua fran- cas and hybrids for trade and other purposes. The most famous lingua franca was the Plains Indian sign language. In the Northwest Coast, European words combined with Chi- nook to form “Chinook Jargon”, widely used in trade.

Today, English is the most widespread lingua franca, and indeed has displaced several Native tongues altogether. But many languages are undergoing a revival, including some that were thought to be extinct. For example, Gros Ventre had ceased to be spoken before old recordings of it were found in a museum. Gros Ventre young people are now learning the language. Many Indian schools teach their lan- guage as a standard subject, and universities have incorpo- rated Native languages into their curricula. For example, the University of Oklahoma teaches five Indian languages.

The front page of the first issue of The Cherokee Phoenix, founded in 1828 by Sequoyah, who devised the syllabic Cherokee alphabet (seep.45). The Phoenix, which contained articles in both Cherokee and English, was the first newspaper to appear in a Native North American language. Among those who endeavoured to write down Native tongues were white churchmen who were anxious to propagate the Scriptures. The first Bible produced in any aboriginal language of the Americas was completed in 1663 by John Eliot, an English Protestant minister, in the now extinct Massachuset language of New England.

166 DOCUMENTARY REFERENCE

Social organization

The stereotypical portrayal of North American Indians includes Eurocentric ideas of the lamily and of group orga- nization. In fact, such ideas were often imposed on Indian people by missionaries and government officials. In the cin- ema, Indian families are portrayed as male-centred and nuclear: husbands head the family, couples are monogamous and live with their children within a single dwelling. Tribal organizations are seen as essentially democratic, but headed by a chief who oversees internal affairs and acts as the liaison between the tribe and outsiders.

However, this type of social organization was far from typi- cal. Families were usually not nuclear, but extended, that is, with several generations living in the same household. Nor were marriages usually monogamous: in most Indian groups, a person could have several spouses as long as they could be supported economically. Clan relationships were as impor- tant as the individual family and often formed the basis for political structures. Groups were governed in a great variety of ways, ranging from a consensual approach to the “dicta- torship” of an all-powerful chief or king, such as the heredi- tary “Sun Kings” of the Natchez in the Southeast.

Hunting and gathering groups tended to be patriarchal and patrilineal in structure, which meant that males con- trolled most of the wealth and decision-making, and inheri-

The Algonquian Indian village of Pomeiock on Pamlico

Sound in present-day North Carolina, depicted in 1585

by John White. It shows the longhouses that were typical

of the eastern woodlands. A longliouse was home to one extended family unit, and a

single dwelling might house

30 or more people. White was commissioned to keep a pictorial record of anything “strange to us in England” during the first English expedition to Roanoake Island off the Virginia coast.

The result was a collection of vivid, detailed watercolours portraying Native American societies before they were radically changed through contact with the newcomers.

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 167

tance was traced through the male line. Many groups of the Plains, Arctic, Subarctic, Plateau and California practised variations on this general pattern. The family unit was typi- cally a patrilineal band of around 15 to 25 people, usually consisting of a man, his wives and their children. The group might also include the man’s sons and their families: the extent of the family unit depended largely on what the land could support. Female children married out of the group. Because groups were small, they would band together to form larger units during seasons of abundance in order to carry out rituals, exchange marriage partners and coordinate hunting, warfare, raiding, territorial disputes and other issues. Leadership was usually based on achievement, such as prowess in hunting or warfare. Any status that a leader pos- sessed was accorded only during the time that a group needed his expertise and experience.

Groups that depended on agriculture tended to be matri- archal and matrilineal, with female lines controlling land use and wealth. Some of the farming groups of the Plains, such as the Mandan, and many of the nations of the eastern woodlands fit this general pattern. Family units were large and extended, usually consisting of a woman, her husband or husbands, their daughters and the daughters’ families, all liv- ing in one residence such as an earthlodge or longhouse. The inheritance of horticultural land, political power and some sacred activities might be traced through female lines. Clans (groups of related families) were sometimes subdivided into halves, or “moieties”, which were led by males who traced their ancestry through particular women. Moieties might control sacred bundles (see p.84) and be responsible for orga- nizing warfare or peacetime projects for the whole group. Achievement was valued in a leader, but leadership was based more on ascribed or inherited status. Consensus was a governing principle for group action, but leaders had sub- stantial power to make decisions for the whole group. For certain ritual or secular activities, complex kinship structures frequently worked in tandem with societies that cut across family ties.

An emphasis on social status or even a form of social class structure characterized several groups. For some, status might be based on wealth, but others laid less stress on mate- rial possessions. In such cases, status might be related to per- sonal qualities, such as generosity, which most people prized because of its benefits for group survival. Through exchanges and giveaway ceremonies such as the potlatch (see p.62), clans and social groups served as mutual aid societies, ensur- ing that no one would go without the essentials for survival.

168 DOCUMENTARY REFERENCE

Population 1

22

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Scholars have debated what the aboriginal population of North America might have been before the coming of Europeans. There is, of course, no real way of knowing, but some have tried to calculate numbers using a variety of factors. In the early 1900s, James Mooney of the Smithsonian Institution esti- mated the pre-contact population of each tribe and came to an overall total of slightly more than a million, a figure that is certainly too low. In the late 1960s, Henry Dobyns used depopulation rates to arrive at a figure of between 9.8 and 12.2 million. In 1983, he recalculated this figure, taking into account the sustaining capacity of the environment, and produced a total of 18 million inhabi- tants. Douglas Ubelaker and Russell Thorn- ton, among others, have also used depopulation rates, but both have arrived at about 1.8 million people. Thornton now sug- gests a figure closer to seven million. Future research may bring about a consensus regarding the figure, but meanwhile most experts now accept that the Native North American population on the eve of the arrival of Europeans stood at less than ten million.

One fact that most scholars agree upon is the dramatic decline in the Native population due to diseases brought to America by the first Europeans and Africans. Epidemics hit the Indians hard because they had had no prior contact with the illnesses and therefore no bodily immunities against them. Diseases such as smallpox, influenza and measles had the worst effect, often wiping out entire villages. For example, four outbreaks of smallpox and whooping cough between 1781 and 1856 reduced the population of the Arikara, Man- dan and Hidatsa, farming villagers living along the Missouri River in the Dakotas, from more than 35,000 to fewer than 2,000. Other diseases, such as typhoid, scarlet fever, diphthe- ria, mumps and cholera, also claimed many Indian victims.

Disease was the most significant factor in the decline of the Indian population, but warfare and attempted genocide, including forced removals (see pp.22-3), relocation and star- vation, also played their part. Not all disease was introduced by accident. For example, in 1763, the British military com- mander in Pennsylvania deliberately arranged for smallpox- infested blankets to be sent to Indians. Even in the late 20th century, Indian Health Service doctors are said to have per- formed involuntary sterilization on Indian women. In addi-

1600 1700 1800 1900 2000

Year

This graph illustrates the steep decline in the Native North American population in

the centuries following the first contact with whites, and its subsequent recovery in the 20th century. For the purposes of the graph, the Indian population c.1500 is put at

something over seven million.

POPULATION 1 169

tion, the general destruction of traditional ways has reduced the effectiveness of traditional curing.

By 1900, the Indian population had fallen to well below one million. Considering the immensity of this decline. Native populations have made a remarkable recovery during the 20th century. In part, this results from better health care. Intermarriage with non-Indians and increased fertility have also led to a higher birthrate for Indians than for the general population. According to the 1990 US census, the popu- lation of Indians, Eskimos (this term, rather than Inuit, is still used for census purposes) and Aleuts is close to two mil- lion. Taking into account about 740,000 Native Canadians (Indians, Inuit and Metis), the total population of Native North Americans will be approaching three million by the year 2000.

However, present-day figures are difficult to ascertain because of problems associated with identifying who is or is not Indian. The number of people now calling themselves Natives has increased dramatically. According to one esti- mate, nearly seven million Americans have Indian blood, and the recent popularity of Native North American culture has made more people willing to declare their ancestry. The fed- eral Bureau of Indian Affairs operates a “blood quantum” system whereby a person is usually required to possess at least one Indian grandparent in order to qualify as “Indian” under its rules. But tribes have their own criteria. Some require members to be at least half-Indian by blood, but other tribes will insist only on one Indian great-great grand- parent. A few require only documentation of Indian heritage.

In Canada, Indians have to be registered in order to enjoy the recognition accorded under the Indian Act of Canada. A registered Native person is known as a Status Indian. Non- Status Indians are unregistered, either because they have never registered or because they have given up registered sta- tus in order to become enfranchised (that is, to possess the same rights as any non-Indian Canadian). The Metis, a group of mixed French-Indian ancestry, are culturally dis- tinct but not yet legally recognized. The US government rec- ognizes more than 300 tribes receiving services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. About 125 groups are currently seeking recognition, and more will probably do so in the future. In Canada, there are 596 recognized Indian bands.

Indian populations are starting to reflect the trends of the dominant society, although the birthrate still remains slightly higher among Indian people. The most important trend is that of Native people leaving reservations and reserves in order to find work in the cities.

?-# Barrow

• Nome

ALASKA

• Bethel

• Anchorage

NORTHWEST TERRITORIES YUKON TERRITORY

BRITISH

COLUMBIA MANITOBA

ALBERTA

SASKATCHEWAN

• Edmonton

• Winnipeg Vancouver • Regina

z • Everel^%T ,• Seattle

WASHINGTON NORTH DAKOTA MONTANA

Portland •

OREGON

Denver •

COLORADO KANSAS

Tulsa • Tfy.

• Oklahoma City /%L OKLAHOMA

NEW MEXICO Phoenix • *

• Tucson

170 DOCUMENTARY REFERENCE

Population 2: Map :

IDAHO

Minneapot^-St. Paul*% °Q^

SOUfH DAKOTA MINNESOTA Milwa

OMING $ .

NEBRASKA

IOWA

San Francisco *

** *«NEVADA ,

isroi*Oakian§ 1® * UTAH MISSOU

CALIFORNIA

Los Angeles «# Loag gqach ARJZONA * • Albuquerque

TEXAS

POPULATION 2 171

NEWFOU

MAINE A

Toronto • ' Buffalo ‘A New

-i' '

This map shows the main areas of Native population in present-

day North America. The largest concentrations of Indian peoples in the US are in Oklahoma (the former Indian Territory, to which many tribes were removed; see pp.22-3), California, New Mexico

and Arizona. About a quarter of all Indians live on 278 federal and state reservations, in pueblos and rancherias, or on tribal trust lands. The Navajo Reservation has the largest population, with 145,000 Indian residents. About 64,000 (60 percent) of Alaska’s

Native peoples live in Alaska Native Villages. In Canada, the largest concentrations of registered Indians are in Manitoba,

Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Ontario, with about 70 percent living on the 2,272 Canadian government reserves. An increasing number of Indians have moved to urban areas in recent

years, mainly to enhance job prospects. In the US, many have been encouraged by government financial incentives to leave the reservations and find employment in the cities.

QUEBEC PRINCE

EDWARD A iSLAND j;W

/ •• NOVA f- ’ <;rrm Montreal •

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MARYLAND

A

SOUTH CAROLINA

GEORGIA

• Miami

V-’

g Federal reservations (US)

A State reservations (US)

Federal reserves (Canada: density of dots indicates density of reserves)

• Major urban Indian populations

Province of Nunavut

172

Glossary

adobe Building material made of earth mixed with straw and baked in the sun; constructed of adobe.

Algonquian A family of languages spoken princi- pally in the Northeast (q.v.) and on the Plains (q.v.); also used to refer to any people speaking an Algonquian language, such as the Algonkin (a people of the Great Lakes region), the Mic- mac and the Cheyenne. Also spelled Algonkian.

Anasazi An ancient culture of the Southwest (q.v.) that flourished C.AD700-1300; of or pertaining to this culture (see p.53).

Arctic The culture area stretching from the eastern tip of Siberia along the northern coastal regions of Alaska and Canada to Greenland. It is the homeland of the Aleut and Inuit peoples (see pp.66-9).

Athapaskan A family of languages spoken princi- pally in the Subarctic (q.v.) and the Southwest (q.v.); also used of any people speaking an Atha- paskan language, such as the Beaver and the Nav- ajo. Also spelled Athapascan and Athabascan.

buffalo In this book, “buffalo” always refers to the North American buffalo, or bison.

butte A flat-topped hill, geologically similar to a mesa (q.v.) but covering a smaller area.

California The culture area incorporating most of the present-day state of California in the US-and the Baja (Lower) California peninsula in Mex- ico. It is the homeland of the Hupa, Chumash, Luiseno and other peoples (see pp.58-9).

caribou A large species of deer inhabiting the north- ern tundra. Also known as reindeer.

corn In this book, “corn” always refers to maize, one of the most widely-grown crops of North America, also known as Indian corn.

culture hero A being which assists humans in their primeval struggles - for example, by bringing them fire and daylight and by killing monsters (see pp. 120-23).

earthdiver A being which, in one common type of Native creation myth, dives to the bottom of the primeval waters to retrieve soil, from which the first dry land is then formed (see pp.l 16-18).

Euroamerican An American of European descent; of or pertaining to European American culture.

Eurocentric Showing a tendency to judge the world in terms of Western (that is, European) values and experiences.

Great Basin The culture area covering a vast desert basin of the western US, bounded on all sides except the southwest by the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada and other ranges. It is the tra-

ditional homeland of the Ute, Paiute, Shoshoni and other peoples (see pp.50-51).

Great Lakes Lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario and Superior and the adjacent regions,

hogan A traditional Navajo dwelling, usually con- structed of logs and earth or adobe (q.v.).

Iroquoian A family of languages spoken princi- pally in the Northeast (q.v.); also used to refer to any people speaking an Iroquoian language, such as the Iroquois (q.v.) and the Huron.

Iroquois The collective name given to several Iro- quoian-speaking peoples of the northeastern US and southeastern Canada. Specifically, it refers to six Iroquois peoples who formed an alliance known as the Iroquois League or the Six Nations (the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onon- daga, Seneca and Tuscarora; see p.41).

kachina Among the Hopi and other Pueblo (q.v.) peoples, a kachina is a benevolent ancestral spirit or deity. Kachinas participate in important festivals in the form of masked impersonators,

kiva A partly subterranean chamber used for impor- tant rituals and ceremonies by the Hopi and other Pueblo (q.v.) peoples. The term is also used for similar structures characteristic of the ancient cul- tures of the region, such as the Anasazi (q.v.).

longhouse A type of rectangular dwelling that is home to several families. Longhouses were for- merly characteristic of the Iroquois and other peoples of the Northeast (q.v.) (see p. 166).

medicine bundle A bundle of holy objects that are believed to possess special significance or to be a source of “medicine” (spirit power) for an indi- vidual. It is similar to a sacred bundle (q.v.).

mesa A flat-topped elevated region, similar to a plateau but covering a smaller area.

Northeast The culture area encompassing the tem- perate woodland regions of what are now the northeastern US and southeastern Canada. It is the homeland of most Algonquian and Iro- quoian peoples (see pp.38-41).

Northwest Coast The culture area covering a nar- row coastal belt extending from northern Alaska down to northern California. It is the homeland of the Tlingit, Haida, Kwakiutl, Tsimshian and other peoples (see pp.60-63).

pan-Indian Of, pertaining to or involving all Indian peoples in general, as in “pan-Indian movement”.

Plains or Great Plains The culture area covering the great expanse of plains and prairies that form the heartland of the North American con- tinent, stretching from central Canada to Texas and from the Rocky Mountains to the Missis-

GLOSSARY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 173

sippi River. It is the homeland of many peoples, including the Blackfoot, Mandan and Sioux in the north, the Cheyenne and Pawnee in the cen- tre and the Kiowa and Comanche in the south (see pp.46-9).

pre-contact Of or pertaining to the period before the first contact between Europeans and Native people.

prehistoric Of or pertaining to the time before writ- ten historical records, in other words, any period for which our knowledge is based primarily on archaeology. In Native North American terms, this may refer to any time before the arrival of whites.

pueblo (Spanish: “village”) 1. A traditional town or village of the Southwest (q.v.) constructed of adobe (q.v.) or stone. 2. (With capital) A people of whom such settlements are characteristic, such as the Hopi and the Taos (see p.53).

sacred bundle A bundle of holy objects that are believed to possess special significance or to be a source of great spirit power for a tribe or group. It is similar to a medicine bundle (q.v.).

Siouan A family of languages spoken principally on the northern Plains (q.v.); also used to refer to any people speaking a Siouan language, such as the Sioux and the Winnebago.

Bibliography Bierhorst, J. The Mythology of North America,

William Morrow, New York, 1985 Billard, J.B. The World of the American Indian,

National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C., 1974

Brody, H. Maps and Dreams, Pantheon Books, New York, 1981

Chamberlain, V.D. When Stars Came Down to Earth, Cosmology of the Skidi Pawnee Indians of North America, Ballena Press, Los Altos, California, 1982

Champagne, D. (ed.) Native America: Portrait of the Peoples, Visible Ink Press, Detroit, Michigan, 1994

Cornell, S. The Return of the Native, American Indian Political Resurgence, Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, 1988

Cove, J.J., and G.F McDonald (eds) Tsimshian Narratives I: Tricksters, Shamans and Heroes, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Mercury

Southeast The culture area covering the southeast of the North American continent, from present- day eastern Texas to Virginia. Like the adjacent Northeast region (q.v.) it is largely forest, but the climate is warmer, wetter and in parts subtropical. It is the traditional homeland of the Cherokee, Creek. Seminole and other peoples (see pp.44-5).

Southwest The culture area that covers the arid lands south of the Great Basin (q.v.) and west of the Plains (q.v.) and extends into northern Mex- ico. It is the homeland of the Navajo, the Apache and the agrarian Pueblo peoples (q.v.) (see pp.52-5).

Subarctic The culture area stretching the width of northern North America south of the Arctic (q.v.) and east of the Northwest Coast (q.v.). Characterized by lakes, rivers and hardy conifer- ous forest, it is the homeland of the Kutchin (Gwich'in), Beaver, Cree and other peoples (see pp.64—5).

tipi A conical tent of buffalo hide. It is of Plains (q.v.) origin but was adopted by some other tribes owing to the ease with which it can be dismantled and transported by horse. Also spelled teepee.

wigwam A domed tent of bark or matting, for- merly the characteristic dwelling of many Algon- quian (q.v.) peoples.

Series, Ottawa, 1987 Davis, M.B. (ed.) Native America in the Twentieth

Century, an Encyclopedia, Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London, England, 1994 *

Deloria, V. God is Red, a Native View of Religion, North American Press, Golden, Connecticut, 1992

DeMallie, R. (ed.) The Sixth Grandfather, Black Elk’s Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt, - University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska, and London, England, 1984

Driver, H.E. Indians of North America, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1961

Dyck, N., and J. Waldram Anthropology, Public Policy and Native Peoples in Canada, McGill- Queen’s University Press, Montreal, 1993

Ewers, J.C. Plains Indian Sculpture, Smithsonian Books, Washington, D.C., 1986

Fagan, B. Ancient North America, Thames and Hudson, London and New York, 1995

174 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gatuso, John (ed.) Insight Guide: Native America, APA Publications, Hong Kong, 1992

Gill, S.D. Beyond the Primitive, the Religions of Nonliterate Peoples, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1982

Hardin, T. (ed.) Legends and Lore of the American Indians, Barnes and Noble Inc., New York, 1993

Jonaitis, A. From the Land of the Totem Poles, American Museum of Natural History, New York, 1988

Josephy, A.M. (ed.) America in 1492, Vintage Books, New York, 1993

Kehoe, A.B. The Ghost Dance, Ethnohistory and Revitalization, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Ft. Worth, Texas, 1989

Kehoe, A.B. North American Indians, a Comprehensive Account, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1992

Kopper, P. The Smithsonian Book of North American Indians Before the Coming of the

Europeans, Smithsonian Books, Washington, D.C., 1986

Krupat, A. For Those Who Come After, a Study of Native American Autobiography, University of California Press, Berkeley, California, 1985

Kupferer, H.J. Ancient Drums, Other Moccasins, Native North American Cultural Adaptation,

Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1988

Martin, C. (ed.) The American Indian and the Problem of History, Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, and New York, 1987

Maxwell, J.A. (ed.) America’s Fascinating Indian Heritage, Readers Digest, Pleasantville, New York, 1978

Maurer, E.M. (ed.) Visions of the People, a Pictorial History, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1992

McLuhan, T.C. (ed.) Touch the Earth: a Self- Portrait of Indian Existence, Promontory Press, New York, 1971

Murie, James, and D. Parks (eds) “Ceremonies of the Pawnee” (parts 1 & 2), in Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology, Washington, D.C., 1981, vol. 27

Powers, W.K. Oglala Religion, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska, and London, England, 1975

Price, J. Indians of Canada, Cultural Dynamics, Sheffield Publishing Company, Salem, Wisconsin, 1988

Ridington, R. Trail to Heaven, Knowledge and Narrative in a Northern Native Community,

University of Iowa Press, Iowa City, Iowa, 1988 Schlesier, K.H. Plains Indians, AD500-1500, the

Archaeological Past of Historic Groups,

University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, and London, England, 1994.

Sturtevant, W.C. (gen. ed.) Handbook of North American Indians, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 1981

Trimble, S. The People, Indians of the American Southwest, School for American Research Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1993

Vastokas, J.M., and R.K. Vastokas Sacred Art of the Algonkians, Mansard Press, Peterborough, Ontario, 1973

Waldman, Carl Atlas of the North American Indian, Facts on File, New York, 1984

Wallace, A.F.C. The Death and Rebirth of the Seneca, Vintage, New York, 1972

Weatherford, J. Indian Givers. How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World, Fawcett Columbine, New York, 1988

Weatherford, J. Native Roots, How the Indians Enriched America, Fawcett Columbine, New York, 1991

Will, G.F., and G.E. Hyde Corn Among the Indians of the Upper Missouri, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska, and London, England, 1917

Woodhead, H. (series ed.) The American Indians, Time-Life BoSks, Richmond, Virginia, 1994

175

Index

Page numbers indicate a reference in the main text. There may be references in captions or feature boxes on the same page. Page numbers in italic indicate a reference in an illustration caption only. Page numbers in bold indicate a reference in a feature box.

A Abenaki people 38-9 Adena culture 17, 39, 106,

107 afterlife 103 agriculturalist groups 39-40,

46-7, 52-3, 166 Ahayu:da 129 Aivilik people 68 Alcatraz 144 alcoholism and drugs 20, 40,

132, 134,156-7, 156-7 Aleut people 67-9, 172 Algonkin people 172 Algonquians 38—41. 42-3, 164,

172 Allen. Paula Gunn 140 American Indian Dance

Theater 142, 143 American Indian Higher

Education Consortium 147 American Indian Movement

(AIM) 35, 137, 146 American Indian Religious

Freedom Act 154 American Museum of Natural

History 63 American Revolution see

following entry American War of Independence

22,134 Anasazi people 56-7, 71, 76,

172 Canyon de Chelly 36 Chaco Canyon 56-7 decline of 53, 56 kivas 57, 81, 119 pueblos 53, 56-7

ancestors 13, 105 Ancient Monuments of the

Mississippi Valley 107 Ancient Ones see Anasazi

culture animal-calling ceremonies 89 animals 13, 74, 78, 80, 89 105,

108-9 see also individual species

Anishinabe see Ojibway Apache peoples 47, 173

Chiricahua Apache 22-3, 33, 33,38

Coyote stories 120 creation myths 116 curing ceremonies 94 food taboos 100 Geronimo (Goyathlay) 33,33 hunters and gatherers 55 Jicarilla Apache 55 language 17, 55, 164 religious beliefs 92

Apess. William 140 archaeology

Cahokia 19 Chaco Canyon 56, 57 origins of North American

cultures 7, 8, 14-16 Peterborough petroglyphs 42 repatriation of remains 144-5,

145 Apalachee people 22 Apalachicola people 22 Appalachian Mountains 42 Arapaho people 31, 72, 77, 85,

136 Arctic 66-9, 145, 169 Arikara people 47, 48, 93, 110,

145, 168 art 10, 12, 35, 39, 41, 49, 62,

69, 75 basketweaving 59, 70, 71. 71 modern 142, 143 patterns and symbols 70-73 Sioux star quilts 91 for tourist market 153 walrus-ivory carving 69, 69 woodwork and wood carving

61-2, 63 assimilation of Native peoples

11, 12, 24, 25, 132, 141, 146, 150, 158

astronomical observation 19, 77

Athapaskan languages 164, 172 Aztalan 18

B Badlands (South Dakota) 79,

153 Banks, Dennis 35 basketmaking 59, 63, 70, 70,

71, 71 basketweaving see

basketmaking Bear Butte 154, 155 bears 108, 109 Beaver Man 120 Beaver people 130, 173 beavers 40, 108-9 Becenti. Denise 158 Bedagi 79 Beet Queen, The 141 Begochiddy 118 Bering Straits land bridge

(Beringia) 8, 14, 15 Big Horn medicine wheel 77 Big Thunder 79 Bingo Palace, The 141 “Birdman Tablet” 19 bison see buffalo Black Elk 32, 35, 130, 131, 156 Black Elk Speaks 131, 140 Black Elk, Wallace 157 Black Hawk 34 Blackfoot people 72, 86, 88,

173 Bodmer, Karl 153 Bole-Maru movement 135, 135 Bone Shirt, Walter 130 buffalo 29, 46-7, 48, 48, 65,

112, 126 Buffalo Bill see Cody, William Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show

32, 152 Buffalo Calf Pipe 104 Buffalo Society 130 buildings 59, 61

communal houses 63, 67 earthlodges 47, 93, 167 Haida 82-3 hogans147 igloos 68 longhouses 40,132, 166, 167

176 INDEX

pit houses 52-3, 59 plank houses 59, 82 tipis 12, 38, 47, 59, 126, 147,

173 wattle-and-daub 19 wigwams 38

Bureau of Indian Affairs 26, 144, 157, 169

burial mounds 107

C cactus see peyote; saguaro Caddo people 47, 119 Cahokia 19, 110 calendar sticks 124 Callahan, Sophie Alice 140 Calusa people 22, 44 canoes 13, 39, 61, 63 Canyon de Chelly 23, 28, 36 caribou 64-5, 109, 162, 172 Carlisle Indian Industrial

School 11,25 Carson, Colonel Kit 23 Cartier, Jacques 20 Casa Rinconada (Chaco

Canyon) 57 casinos 150 Catawba people 45 Catlin, George 48, 152 Cayuga people 29, 41, 172 cedarwood 63 ceremonial transformations

88-9 Chaco Canyon 53, 56, 57, 119 Chaco Culture National

Historical Park 56 Champlain, Samuel de 40 Chareya 116 Cherokee people 22-3, 24, 33,

45, 85, 100, 118, 156, 158, 165, 173

Cherokee Phoenix, The 45, 158, 165

Cherokee syllabary 45, 165 Chetro Ketl (Chaco Canyon)

119 Cheyenne people 47, 77, 118,

124, 128, 172 Little Bighorn 31, 32 Bear Butte 154,155

Dull Knife 123 forced movements of 25 Sun Dance 113

Chickasaw people 22-3, 24, 45, 118

Chief Joseph 24, 32, 34 Chinook people 62 Chippewa see Ojibway Chiricahua Apache see

Apache Choctaw people 24, 45, 105,

110, 148 Code Talkers 54

Christianity 26-7, 116, 165 Catholicism 27 conversions 26-7, 27 imposed on Natives 20, 25, 26 Protestants 27

Chumash people 58-9, 172 Civil War, US 24-5 clans 80-81, 166-7 Clayoquot people 122 Code of Religious Offences

26-7 Cody, William (“Buffalo Bill”)

152 Comanche people 25, 47, 49,

143, 173 corn (maize) 52, 105, 110,111,

172 Cornoyea, Nellie 34 cottage industries 150 Cottontail 120 courtship 102, 142 Coyote 78, 118, 119, 120 Crazy Horse 34, 92, 155 creation myths 16-17, 16, 78,

114,116-19, 120 Creation Woman and Man 122 Cree people 64, 109, 161-2, 173 Creek people 22, 24, 44, 45,

121, 140, 141, 173 Crow Creek Village 145 Crow Dog, Leonard 98, 137 Crow Lair 138 Crow people 47, 77, 78, 87, 93,

129,138 Crown ownership of land 22 cultural regions 36-69

Arctic 66-9 California 58-9 Great Basin 50-51

Northeast 38-41 Northwest Coast 60-63 Plains 46-9 Southeast 44-5 Southwest 52-5 Subarctic 64-5

culture heroes 88, 120-23, 172 curing

contemporary 148 rituals 97, 117, 118 shamanistic 27 spirit helpers 94 traditional 94-6, 148-9

curing societies Huron 84 Iroquois 84, 85, 117

Curtis, Edward 105, 152 Custer, General George

Armstrong 31, 32, 155 cyclical pattern of time 12, 76,

77, 112, 128

D Dakota see Sioux Dakota Territory 24 dances 74, 88, 105, 143

at powwows 90, 91, 104, 138 Datsolalee 35 Davis, E.H. 107 Dawes General Allotment Act

25, 161 death 103 Deer-Calling ceremonies 89 Delaware people 34, 39, 103,

125 Delaware Prophet 33 Dene people 25 diseases 83, 92-3, 96, 126, 134,

136, 148, 168 see also curing dispossession of Indian peoples

20-35, 83, 150 map 22 reservations 24-5, 170-79 see also Indian Territory

divination 96-7, 130 see also holy people

Dobyns, Henry 168 dog sleds 67, 67, 68-9, 153 Dogrib people 64, 164 dogs 49, 67, 67, 68, 69

INDEX 177

Dorset culture 67 Dream Dance 130 dreams and visions 98-9, 100,

102, 130-31, 132-7 passim drought 46, 47, 53, 56 drumming 98, 140, 142 Dry Lips Oughta Move to

Kapuskasing 143 Dull Knife 34, 123 Duncan, William 26

E earth mounds 39 see also

Cahokia; Great Serpent Mound

earthdivers 17, 78, 100, 114, 116-18, 117, 172

earthlodges 47, 167 Eastman, Charles 140 Ecstasy of Rita Joe, The 143 Edenshaw, Charles 35 elders 80, 99, 100, 130, 141 Eliot, John 27, 165 Erdrich, Louise 141, 141 Eskimo-Aleut languages 164 Eskimo-Indian Olympics 105 Eskimo see Inuit Etungat 35 Europeans passim

depicted in Native art 28, 29 impact on Native peoples 20,

28-35 trade goods 40, 62

extended families 166, 166, 167

F False Face Society 84, 85, 117 fancy dancing 74, 91 fasting 98, 99, 100, 113 feathers, as insignia 101 Five Civilized Tribes 45 Five Nations of the

Haudenosaunee see Iroquois League

food resources Arctic 66-7, 69 California 58-9 Great Basin 50-51

Northeast 38-9 Northwest Coast 60-61 Plains 46-7 Southeast 44-5 Southwest 52, 55 Subarctic 64-5

forced movements 22-5, 126, 168

Cherokee 85 Cheyenne 123 Chiricahua Apache 33 Haida 83 Indian Removal Act 45, 85 map 22 Nez Perce 34

Fort Belknap 47 Fort Robinson 34, 123 Fort Sill 33 Fort Sumner 23 fur trade 26. 40, 41

G gambling 85, 150 Geronimo (Goyathlay) 32, 33,

34 Ghost Dance movement 79, 98

135, 136-7, 140 Black Elk 131 revival of 137 Sitting Bull 32

giveaway ceremonies 62, 91, 167

Gluskap 32, 120 gold 51, 59 Good Fur Robe 111 Goose Women Society 111, 111 Goyathlay see Geronimo Great Lakes 22, 38-41, 172 Great Serpent Mound 39,

106-7 Gros Ventre 47, 165 gumsaba 111 guns 20, 28, 36, 48 Gwich’in people see Kutchin

people

H Haida people 10, 82-3, 172

canoes 63 carved poles 61, 73, 83 masks 88, 88, 123 origin story 119 spirit possession 88, 88 villages 82-3

hallucinogens 55, 98 Hanbleceya 155 Handsome Lake 130, 132,

133-4 Handsome Lake Movement

132-3 Harjo, Joy 141 Harper, Elijah 35 Hart, Jim 83 Harvest Scene Site 76 Hatch, Viola 128 Head-Smashed-In 48 healing see curing health care 148-9 see also

curing Heyoka 89 Hidatsa people 48, 168 Highway, Tomson 142, 143 Hohokam culture 54-5 holy people 92-7, 104, 116,

130, 131, 145, 148 and passim

acquisition of spirit power 93 divination 96-7 Cheyenne 155 Navajo 96-7, 97, 148 Pawnee 108-9 ritual objects 94, 95 Sioux 98, 137 Tlingit 95

hoop dancing 112, 112 hoop and pole game 85 Hopewell culture 17, 18, 39^10,

107 Hopi people 71, 71, 81, 102,

103, 141 kivas 119, 119 land dispute with Navajo

162-3 migration spirals 16-17 origin stories 16 reservation 162-3 sacred clowns 89 Snake Dancers 86 sun watchers 13 way of life 54

178 INDEX

weddings 102

horses 28, 36, 47-8, 49, 62 House Made of Dawn 141 Hudson, Tom 10

hunters and gatherers 8, 14-17,

54, 58-9, 64-5, 118, 166

hunting 38-69 passim, 74,

108-9

Hupa people 59, 172

Huron people

beaver hunters 40 curing societies 84

diviners 96

embroidery 72-3

forced movements 22

fur trade 26

Iroquois conquest of 41

language 172

hydro-electricity 161-2

I Ice Age 8, 14-17

Iglulik people 68

Ihanktonwan Singers 142

Ihanktonwan Sioux 142, 157

Illinois people 39

illness see disease; curing Indian Act (Canada) 169

Indian Arts and Crafts Act 153 Indian Claims Commission

(ICC) 145, 161

Indian Health Service (IHS)

148-9, 168

Indian identity 10-11, 11, 141,

141, 156 Indian lands

contamination 162

financial compensation

loss of 35, 145, 161

illegal appropriation 22-3,

25, 51, 161, 161

inter-tribal disputes 162-3

reclaimed by Indians 138, 145

see also Cultural areas

Indian languages 164-5

Algonquian 38-9, 42, 64, 172

Apache 17

Athapaskan 55, 64, 94, 120,

130, 164, 172 Aztec-Tanoan 164

Choctaw 54

Code Talkers 54

Eskimo-Aleut 67

Gros Ventre 165

Hokan 164

Iroquoian 40, 45,

164, 172

lingua francas 165 macro-families 164

Massachuset 165

Muskogean 45, 164

Na-Dene 164

Navajo 17, 54. 147, 164 Osage 164

Salishan 116, 164

sign language 48

Siouan 39, 45, 164, 173

Indian Removal Act 23, 33, 45

Indian Reorganization Act

(IRA) 113, 150, 157 Indian peoples see individual

names

Indian resistance to

dispossession 23, 24, 32-4,

126

Indian Shaker Church 135

Indian Territory 22, 23, 24-5,

34

initiation rituals 84 see also

rites of passage

Internet 159 Inuit 10, 15, 67-9, 109, 116,

131, 172

Inugsuk people 68

Iroquoian languages 164, 172

see also Iroquois peoples

Iroquois League 22, 41, 48,

125, 134

Iroquois peoples 29, 40-41, 172

clan groupings 80

creation myths 116, 117, 118 dreams 98

False Face Society 84-5,117

fur traders 40 Handsome Lake Movement

132

lacrosse 41

languages 164, 172

seasonal celebrations 12

slash and burn farmers 40

steelworkers 151

see also individual peoples

irrigation canals 55

Isanuk 131

ishtaboli 105

J Jackson, President Andrew 23,

45

Jesuits 26, 29 Jesus the Traveller 123

Joe, Joyce B. 142

K kachinas 71, 71, 79

Kallalit people 68

kayaks 67

Kenny, Maurice 141

Kenojuak 35

killer whale 13, 71 Kinaalda 101

King, Charles Bird 134

King, Matthew 128

kinship 76, 80-81. 103 Kiowa people 12, 25, 47, 124,

141,173

Kitwancool 13

kivas 57, 81, 86, 119, 172 Kokopelli 32

Koyenshi 89 Koyukon people 108

Kutchin (Gwich’in) people 64,

65, 173

Kwakiutl people 61, 62, 84, 88,

104, 105. 172

L lacrosse 41 Laguna people 140

Lakota Sioux people 32, 128,

138, 140,153

Bear Butte 154, 155

courtship 102

Ghost Dance 136-7

Little Bighorn 32

massacre at Wounded

Knee 48, 137

sacred clowns 89

INDEX 179

sacred pipe 104 Wakan 76

Lalawethika see Tenskwatawa land ownership 20, 25, 30 see

also Indian lands languages see Indian

languages Le Moyne 80 Lehi, Marilu 70 Lenni Lenape see Delaware

people literature 140-41 Little Bighorn, battle of the

30-31, 32, 99, 155 Little Raven 47 Locke, Kevin 142 Loloma, Charles 35 Lone Wolf 34 Longhouse Religion 133 longhouses 40, 132, 166, 167,

172 Louisiana Purchase Exposition

33 Love Medicine 141 Luiseno people 58, 172 luminarias 128

M McBeth, Kate 27 Maidu people 124 maize see com Makah people 60 Maliseet people 79 Mandan people 46-8, 89, 110,

111, 167, 168, 173 Manitou 76, Mankiller, Wilma P. 34, 156 Manuelito 34 maps

Arctic 66 Cahokia 19 California 58 Chaco Canyon 57 Great Basin 50 Indian forced removals 22 Northeast 38 Northwest Coast and

Plateau 60 Plains 46 Reservations, reserves and

urban population centres 171-2

Southeast 44 Southwest 52 Subarctic 64

Maricopa people 124 marriage rites 102 Masau’u 79 masks 13, 63

Haida 88-9, 88,123 Inuit 131 Iroquois False Face Society

84, 85 Kwakiutl 105 Tsimshian 10

Massachuset people 165 Massachusetts 27 Mato Paha see Bear Butte Means, Russell 7, 35 medicine bundle see sacred

bundle Medicine Deer Rock, 99 medicine men and women 92,

94, 97, 102, 148 see also Holy people

medicine (spirit power) 76, 92-7

medicine (curative) 111, 148-9 plants used as 149 see also curing

medicine wheels 12, 77 medicinal plants see medicine

(curative) Meech Lake Accord 35 Membertou 26 memorial poles 83 men

patriarchal societies 166-7 rites of passage 100-103 sacred societies 84—7 see also Holy people

Menominee (Menomini) people 39, 71,99

menstruation 101 Merriam, C. Hart 135 Mesa Verde Pueblo 81 Mesoamerica 18, 52, 57 Metis people 11, 25, 169 Micmac people 26, 28, 38-9,

72, 79, 172 midwinter ceremonies 128 migration spirals (Hopi) 16-17

millennarian movements 98, 126, 133, 136-7

Mimbres pottery 53 Mink 120 missionaries 26, 83 Mississippian culture 17, 18,

19, 40, 45 Mississippi River 17, 18, 23, 24,

40, 46, 107 see also Mississippian culture

Missouri River 46-7 Miwok people 141 mixuga 102 moccasins 72 Mogollon culture 52-3 Mohave people 98 Mohawk people 26, 40^11, 141,

151, 172 Momaday, N. Scott 141 Monks Mound, Cahokia 19 Montagnais people 64 Mooney, James 168 Moore, James 22 Morrisseau, Norval 121,153 mortuary poles 83 mortuary rituals 80, 102, 103 Mother Earth 78, 79, 110 Mother Night Men 93 Moundville, Alabama 18 museums 129, 138 musicians 142 muskrats 117 Mutsoyef 155

N Naa Kahidi Theater 143 Nakai, R. Carlos 142 Narragansett people 27 Naskapi people 64 Natchez people 166 Native American Church 55,

126, 132, 133 Native American Graves

Protection and Repatriation Act 144-5

Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) 158, 158

Native American peoples see individual names

180 INDEX

Native Earth Performing Arts

142

Native identity see Indian

identity

Native media 45, 158-9, 165 Navajo people 73, 141, 147,

147, 149, 150, 173

blanket designs 73

Canyon de Chelly 23

Code Talkers 54 Community College

147, 147, 149

creation myths 118 death and ghosts 103 divination (hand trembling)

96-7

forced movements 23

land dispute with Hopi 162-3

language 17, 55, 147, 164, 172

rug designs 72

sandpainting 101, 118, 148

way of life 54, 55

weaving 72

Neihardt, John 131, 140 Netsilik people 68

New Age movement 6, 142, 155

New Mexico Volunteers 23

Newitti 61

Nez Perce people 10, 27, 48, 62

Ninstints 83

Nipissing people 40 Noavasse see Bear Butte

Nomadic groups 8, 14-17,

38-9, 46-8,

Nootka people 60, 63, 71

Northern Plains Tribal Arts

Show 142

Northwest Ordinance 22-3

Nozihzho ritual 100

Numlaki people 149

Nunavut 25, 145, 163

O Ojibway people 10, 42, 64, 104,

140, 141

displace Sioux 48

divination lodge (Shaking

Tent) 96 forced movements 22

origin stories 16

way of life 38-9

weaving 71

windigos 121 Ojibway prophetess 1 34

Old Women’s Society 87

Omaha people 100-2

Oneida people 40-41, 172

Onondaga people 41, 172

Oraibi Pueblo 54

oral traditions 80-81, 116, 117,

120-23, 128, 129, 140-41

origin myths 16, 16-17, 100, 110, 111, 116-19, 138

Ortiz, Alfonso 78

Osage people 47 , 72, 81, 164

Ottawa people 40

P Paiute people 7, 50, 51, 70, 136,

161, 172 Palaeo-Indian era 15

Papago people see Tohono O’odham people

Passamaquoddy people 79, 145 patterns and symbols 70-73

Pawnee people 47, 84, 108, 110,

137, 138, 173

Paxson. Edgar 31

Penobscot people 79, 120 Pequot people 140

petroglyphs 8, 28, 76

Peterborough 42-3, 43

peyote cactus 55, 98, 133 Picuris Pueblo 26

Pima people 54, 124

pine nuts (pinyon) 51, 111

pit houses 52-3, 59

Plains Indians 32, 46-9 and passim

plants 45, 149, 110-11 plazas 18, 19, 57

Pocahontas 33

poetry 141

polar bears 68, 78

polygamy 27, 166

Pomeiock 166

Porno people 59

Pontiac 33

population statistics 168-9, 171

potlatch 27, 62, 104-5, 167

pottery 55, 71-2

Powhatan, Chief 33, 109

Powhatan people 33

powwows 74, 90-91, 104, 138

Pratt, Richard H. 11

praying towns 27

Pretty Women society 86 Prophet Dance 133

puberty rituals 100-102

Pueblo Alto 56

Pueblo Bonito 53, 56, 57

Pueblo Indians 54-5, 172 see

also individual names

pueblos (villages) 53, 56, 57,

172

Puritans 26, 27, 29

Putnam, P. W. 106, 107

Q quillwork 72-3

Quotskuyva, William 79

R railways 29 rainmaking ceremonies 86, 112

ravens 13, 32, 119, 120, 123 Recollets 26

record keeping 124-5

Red River War 34

Red Road 131, 149, 156-7 Red War Organization 85-6

Reed, Roland 36

registration 169

Reid, Bill 119, 153 religious and spiritual

movements 116, 126, 132-7.

renewal ceremonies 112

reservations 20, 23, 24-5, 48,

123, 150, 161, 162-3

map 170-71

respect, concept of 6-7, 74,

108-9

revitalization movements see

religious and spiritual

movements and individual

names

The Rez Sisters 143 rites of passage 100-103

INDEX 181

river valley civilizations 18-19,

39-40, 45. 106-107

rock art 5, 16-17, 28. 42-3, 76

Rogers. John 140

Rose, Wendy 141

Ross, John 33

rugs 72

Ryga, George 143

S Sac people see Sauk

sacred bundles 84, 86-7, 100,

102, 129. 130, 167

sacred clowns 89 sacred pipes 104. 109, 155 sacred societies 80, 84—7

sacred team games 85 saguaro cactus 12, 55, 55, 112,

125

St Lawrence River 20, 38, 40

Salish people 62, 123

Salishan languages 164

Sam Kills Two 114

sandpaintings 72, 73, 101, 118,

148

Sauk people 22-3, 34

schools 25, 35, 146-7, 164 seals 60, 66, 69

seasonal lifestyle patterns

12, 27, 30, 36, 47, 51, 58-9, 68-9, 112, 128

self-torture 112-13, 113, 113 Seminole people 24, 44—5, 173

Seneca people 25, 33, 41, 124. 132, 133-4, 138, 172

Sequoyah 45 settlers, white 20-35 and passim

seven, significance of 138

Shaking Tent 96 shamans see Holy people

Shasta people 116

Shawnee people 134

Shawnee prophet 134 Shield Dance 143

Shoshoni people 50-51, 104,

161, 161, 172

sign language 48

Sila 76

Siouan languages 39, 173

Sioux people 10, 22, 49, 79, 91,

173

at Little Bighorn 31

chief Sitting Bull 32, 34, 92,

99,152

Crow Creek Village 145 Dakota 72, 101 displaced by Ojibway 48

Lakota see Lakota Sioux

people

Oglala 32, 35, 131, 153

Rosebud reservation 24

Santee (Dakota) 140

Sitting Bull 32, 34. 92, 99, 152

Six Nations of the

Haudenosaunee see

Iroquois League

sky world 116, 117 Slave people 64

slavery 22, 62, 82

Smith, Ernest 117, 132

Smithsonian Institution 107,

129, 136, 168 Smohalla 134-5

Snake Dancers 86

Snake people 47

social organization 166-7

solar calendars 13. 19

Son of the Forest 140

souls 76, 103 Spider Woman 72. 85

spirits and spirit power 74, 77

animal 78, 80

in nature 78, 78

universal 74, 76-7, 78

see also Holy people

Squier, E.G. 107

Standing Bear, Luther 140

steelworkers 151

sterilization 168

storytellers 80, 116, 124, 124, 146

Strong Heart warrior society 32

Sun Dance 26, 32, 86-7, 98,

112-13. 113 Sun Kings (Natchez) 166

sundials 13

sweat lodges 98, 99

T taboos

hunting 108

menstruation 101 personal 130

violation of 92-3, 96, 100

Tanaina people 94

Taos Pueblo, New Mexico 53,

128

Tavibo 136

Tecumseh 134 Tenskwatawa (Shawnee

prophet) 134 teepees see tipis

Teton Sioux 32

Tewa people 119

theatre 142, 143 Thin Elk, Gene 156

Thornton, Russell 168

Thule culture 67

Thunderbird 72, 72, 122, 122,

137

time, Indian concepts of 12-13, 104, 120, 128

Timucua people 22, 26

tipis 12, 38, 47, 59, 73, 126,

147, 173

Tlingit people 61, 67, 95, 103, 172

tobacco 45, 87, 111

Tobacco Society (Crow) 87

Tohono O’odham (Papago)

people 54, 55, 55. 112, 124

Torlino, Tom 11

totems 13, 13, 80-81, 105 totem poles 13, 13, 61, 63, 73,

73

tourism 152-3

Tracks 141 traditions, preservation of

126-7, 138, 156-7

transformers see culture heroes

travois 47, 49 Treaty of Ruby Valley 161, 161

tribal government 157

tricksters 78, 88, 114, 119, 120,

122-3, 123 Tsimshian people 10, 13, 26,

61, 120, 123, 164, 172 Tsistsistas see Cheyenne

Tungus people 92

Tuscarora people 41, 172

Txamsem 123

182 INDEX

U Ubelaker, Douglas 168 umiak 69 unemployment 150, 156 Upper Skagit people 93, 99 Ute people 50-51, 172

V Velarde, Pablita 88 vision quests 81, 93, 98, 98, 99,

100, 113, 130, 155 Vizenor, Gerald 141

W Wabanaki people 79 Wahunsonacock see

Powhatan, Chief Wakan 76 Wakoda 100 walruses 69, 69 Walum Olum 125 Wampanoag people 26, 27, 39 wampum 125, 125 wanagi 103 Wanapum people 134 warrior “coups” insignia 101 Warrior Spirit society 84 Wasco people 85 Washo people 93, 110-11, 122 wealth redistribution 150 weapons 15, 28, 48, 69 weaving 70-73 , 72-3, 150 wegaleyo 93 West, Dick 113 whaling 60, 67, 69, 69, 109 White Beaver Ritual 108-9 White Buffalo Calf Woman 104 White, John 16, 166 White Peace Organization 85-6 Whiteman, Wesley (Black Bear)

155 wichasa wakan 32 wigwams 38, 173 Wilson, Jack (Wovoka) 136 windigo 121 Winnebago 39, 173

winter count 114, 124, 125 Wodziwob 133, 136 women

corn rituals 111 matriarchal societies 167 menstruation 101 rites of passage 100-103 sacred societies 86-7, 111 sterilization 168 see also Holy people

woodhenges 19 World Wide Web 159 Worship Dance 134 Wounded Knee 35, 48, 79, 137,

137,140 Wovoka 136-7 Wright, Mary I. 136 Wynema 140

Y Yaqui people 92, 108 Yan, Queen Charlotte Islands

83 Yuchi people 22 Yuit people 68 Yuma people 103 Yurok people 59 yuwipi ceremony 94

Z Zuni people 54, 85, 89, 124, 129

183

Picture credits

The publisher thanks the photographers and organizations for their kind permission to reproduce the following photographs in this book:

Abbreviations T top; C centre; B bottom; L left; R right

1 Werner Forman Archive; 2 National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution; 6-7 Darwin Wiggett/First Light

The First American Peoples 8-9 Jack Parsons; 10 Werner Forman Archive/Portland Art Museum; 11L US Army Military History Institute; 11R US Army Military History Institute; 13T Sheldon Preston; 13B Peter Furst; 15 Denver Museum of Natural History; 16 e.t.archive; 18-19 (1) Cahokia Mounds Historic Site; (3) Paul Devereux; (4) Cahokia Mounds Historic Site; (5) Cahokia Mounds Historic Site/photo by Pete Bostrom

Dispossession 20-21 Huntington Library, California; 24 Nebraska State Historical Society/John Anderson Collection; 25 Private Collection; 26 Stephen Trimble; 27 Idaho State Historical Society; 28 Frank Spooner Pictures/Gerard Kosicki; 29T Mary Evans Picture Library; 29B Rochester Museum & Science Center; 30 Courtesy of the Southwest Museum. Los Angeles/Photo #CT. 1; 31 Peter Newark’s Western Americana; 32 Library of Congress; 33 Corbis/Bettman: 34 National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution; 35 Wide World/Associated Press

Lands and Peoples 36-7 Alone with the Past by Roland Reed/Kramer Gallery, Minneapolis; 39 Library of Congress; 41T School of American Research/photo Rod Hook; 42-3 (1) J.A. Kraulis/Masterfile; (2) Bill Brooks/Masterfile; (3) Bill Brooks/Masterfile; (4) Alan Marsh/First Light; 45T Library of Congress; 45B from The Indian Tribes of North America by Thomas McKenney and James Hall, 1860; 47 Sumner W. Matteson/Milwaukee Public Museum; 48 Bridgeman Art Library; 49 America Hurrah, NYC; 51 The Burns Archive; 53 Stephen Trimble; 54 Rex Features; 55 Stephen Trimble; 56-7 (1) Jack Parsons; (3) Thomas Maxwell; (4) Paul Devereux; 59T Captain John, The Brooklyn

Museum Archives, Culin Archival Collection. Expedition Reports. 1905, Augustus W. Erickson; 59B America Hurrah, NYC; 61 Neg. No. 42298 (Photo by Edward Dossetter) courtesy of the Department of Library Services/American Museum of Natural History; 62 National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution/photo David Heald; 63L American Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution/Stephen Meyers; 63R American Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution/Department of Library Services; 65 Sherman Hines/Masterfile; 66 Bryan & Cherry Alexander; 69 Bryan & Cherry Alexander; 70L America Hurrah, NYC; 70R Stephen Trimble; 71C British Museum/Museum of Mankind; 72L America Hurrah, NYC; 72BR America Hurrah, NYC; 73L America Hurrah. NYC

The Life of the Spirit 74-5 Lois Ellen Frank/First Light; 76 Thomas Maxwell; 77B Photograph by Richard Collier, Wyoming Dept of Commerce; 78 Peter Furst; 79T Peter Furst; 79B Michael Crummett; 80 e.t.archive; 81 Thomas Maxwell; 82-3 (1) Royal Anthropological Institute, London; (2) James McGuire/Ursus Photography; (3) James McGuire/Ursus Photography; (4) John K.B. Ford/Ursus Photography; 84 Neg. No. 3847 (Photo by Stephen S. Myers) courtesy Department Library Services/American Museum of Natural History; 85 Peter Furst; 86-7 H.F. Robinson, courtesy Museum of New Mexico/ Neg. No. 21603; 88B Amerind Foundation, Dragoon. AZ; 89 Owen Seumptewa, Native Shadows, 1994; 90 Michael Melford; 92 Werner Forman Archive/Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation; 93 Library of Congress; 95 American Museum of Natural History; 97 Susanne Page; 98 Richard Erdoes; 99 Michael Crummett; 100 Werner Forman Archive; 101 Wheelwright Museum of American Art/Herb Lotz; 102 Milwaukee Public Museum; 103 Peabody Museum/Harvard University; 104 Paul Stafford/Minnesota Office of Tourism; 105 Smithsonian Institution; 106-7 (1) Ohio Historical Society; (3) C.C. Lockwood/Animals Animals; (4) Ohio Historical Society; 108 Stephen Trimble; 109 Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; 110 Murv Jacob; 112 Rex Features; 113 Cheyenne Sundance by Dick West/Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa

184 PICTURE CREDITS

Sacred History 115 Nebraska State Historical Society/John Anderson Collection; 117T Rochester Museum & Science Center, Rochester, New York; 117B Peter Furst; 118 Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian; 119T Thomas Maxwell; 119B University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology/ carving by Bill Reid; 121 Windigo by Norval Morrisseau/Glenbow Museum, Calgary; 122 Courtesy of The Burke Memorial Washington State Museum/Cat. No.l 17a; 123B John Bigelow Taylor, NYC/New York State Historical Association @ Clare and Eugene Thaw Collection; 124 Robert Harding Picture Library; 125 Musee de l’Homme, Paris/collection M. Delaplanche

The Survival of the Sacred 126-7 Monty Roessel; 128-9 Stephen Trimble; 130 Rochester Museum & Science Center, Rochester, New York; 132 Private Collection; 133T Peter Furst; 133B National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution; 134 from The Indian Tribes of North America by Thomas McKenney and James Hall, 1860; 135 C. Hart Merriam/Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology; 136-7 National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution/Bureau of American Ethnology Collection; 137T Thaw Collection, Fenimore House Museum, Cooperstown, New York/photo John Bigelow Taylor

To the Seventh Generation 138-9 John Running; 140-41 Michal Heron; 142-3 Frank Spooner Picture Library/ Westernberger Liaison; 144 AP/Wide World; 145L US Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District; 145R State Archaeological Research Center/South Dakota State Historical Society; 146-7 Monty Roessel; 148T Ed Kashi; 148B Michal Heron; 149 Courtesy of the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA; 150 Courtesy of Grand Casino, Mille Lacs; 151 David Grant Noble; 152-3 Ferenz Fedor/Courtesy of the Museum of New Mexico/ Neg. No. 102015 History; 153T & B Patterson Graphics, Inc./Dayton Museum of Natural History; 154-5 (1) South Dakota Tourism; (2) Michael Crummett (3) Michael Crummett; (4) Warren Schwartz/Courtesy of the Center for Western Studies, Augustana College, Sioux Falls,

South Dakota; 156 Elaine Querry; 159 Courtesy of Indian Country Today, The Native Voice, Cherokee Messenger and Audie Griffin, designer. The Cherokee Cultural Society of Houston, Akwesasne Notes

Documentary Reference 160 Bill Brooks/Masterfile; 162 Peter Christopher/Masterfile; 165 Courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society; 166 e.t. archive

Commissioned artwork: 12 Hugh Dixon; 14, 18 (2), 22-3, 38, 43, 44, 46, 50, 52, 56-7 (2), 58, 60, 64, 68, 83, 107 (2), 155 Line + Line; 16-17, 41, 67, 77, 88, 95. 96, 101, 109, 120, 122-3, 131 Gillie Newman

Larry j. Zimmerman is Distinguished Regents Professor of Anthropology and

Director of the anthropology program at , \ •

v .. -\ the University of South Dakota. He is

the Chair of the Society for American

Archaeology’s Native American Scholarship

Committee and former Executive Secretary

of the World Archaeological Congress.

LIVING WISDOM The illustrated guides to the world’s great traditions of body, mind, and spirit

SERIES CONSULTANT: Piers Vitebsky, Ph.D., Head of Social Sciences at the Scott

Polar Research Institute, University of ^

Cambridge, England

Other titles in the Living Wisdom series

are: The Shaman, India, The Sacred Earth,

Animal Spirits, Herbalism, The Vision of the

Buddha, Sex and Spirit

JACKET PHOTO CREDITS

Front: courtesy of the School of American

Research, Santa Fe, New Mexico/photograph

by Robert Hook (top left)-, gift of Mrs Phillip

Stewart, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture,

Santa Fe (bottom left); Images Colour Library

{center); Westenberger/Liaison/Frank Spooner

Pictures {right). Spine: original artwork by Hugh

Dixon. Back: Murv Jacob {top); National

Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian

Institution {left); Peter Furst {right).

Jacket design by Duncan Baird Publishers

Printed in Singapore

ISBN 0-316-98822-7

9 780316 988223

NATIVE NORTH AMERICA

This wide-ranging examination of the spiritual traditions of the Native peoples of North America combines an extensive historical perspective with a fascinating exploration of present day life, covering all aspects of the sacred and the everyday.

• Presents a superb pictorial record of Native North American life, with specially commissioned artwork, diagrams, and mgps,-and over 100 illustrations in color and black and white, including art, artifacts, and landscapes, as \ifell as documentary photos past and present

• Elucidates such key subjects as the first American peoples, identity and dispossession, regional corniaunities and their traditions, worship and

ritual, myths, and sacred histories HH1

• Includes a region-by-region survey of Native American cultures and an examination of the place of Native traditions in modern North American society

• Features a detailed visual treatment of six Native sites, with maps, photography, and artwork

• Concludes with a guide to languages, social organization, population trends, and land issues