Category Archives: Native American customs

Native Americans had created a rich cultural history that was usually disregarded, disdained, and rejected by the larger Anglo-centered population. Native peoples had their own languages, medical methods, religions, rituals and ceremonies, and world outlooks. When the federal government changed its policy from overt warfare, it did not stop trying to destroy Native Americans. The government pursued a policy called “assimilation” which tried to erase all Native American heritage and culture. Fortunately, Native peoples proved themselves stronger than these policies and held on to many of the cultural aspects the government tried to erase.

Native American Harvests

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Buffalo Skulls

Buffalo Skulls

Many people believe buffalo was the primary foodstuff for Native Americans, but that is only a stereotype. Most Native Americans had a bountiful, healthy diet during good years, and preserved food for winter use and bad times. Some tribes grew their own food crops, while others gathered from wild sources.

The “three sisters” is a famous combination planting of squash, beans, and corn in which each crop benefits the other, but Native Americans also ate a wide variety of greens, wild onions, herbs, cactui, nuts and other nutritious foods that were readily available. It is a bit ironic that one of the growing food trends today is foraging for wild edibles.

Indian Woman Working in Cornfield, 1906, Edward S. Curtis

Indian Woman Working in Cornfield, 1906, Edward S. Curtis

“Weeds” such as purslane, ramps chickweed, watercress, and dandelions supply nutritious greens to modern diets, while mushrooms have always been treasured gifts of nature. Experienced foragers are welcome lecturers at organic food conferences and similar venues, and books abound on the topic. Foraging appeals to those who want to lessen their carbon footprints, eat organically, add adventure to their food experience, or prepare for a doomsday scenario.

Native Americans Developed Five Varieties of Corn from a the Plant, Teosinte

Native Americans Developed Five Varieties of Corn from a the Plant, Teosinte

Unfortunately, even this ancient gathering system can create problems in the environment if its practitioners are not careful. Native Americans foraged a wide variety of foods and were careful to leave enough behind to regenerate. Over-enthusiastic gathering today could well play out the way buffalo hunting did, and simply eradicate certain particularly valued wild food. Foraging experts urge newcomers to follow Native American practices of conservation and stewardship so that these wild sources of food remain viable.

 

Time Matters

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Charles Eastman, 1897, courtesy Smithsonian Institution

Charles Eastman, 1897, courtesy Smithsonian Institution

The world was truly a different place when the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians first opened on the last day of 1902. Even something as simple as clothing was remarkably different from what we typically see and wear today. Men dressed far more formally and women were tied down (and sometimes literally weighted down) with voluminous dresses and hats. Continue reading →

Tiny Steps

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ield Matron and Assistants, 1905

Field Matron and Assistants, 1905

Most Europeans settlers believed that their respective cultures were superior to Native American ones, and set about imposing their own ideas upon native peoples as soon as they were able to do so. Continue reading →

A Divided View

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Secotan Indians' Dance in North Carolina, Watercolor by John White, 1585

Secotan Indians’ Dance in North Carolina, Watercolor by John White, 1585

White society saw Native American dancing in two ways: immoral and/or depraved, or as perfectly acceptable cultural expression (see last two posts). Native Americans often pointed out that their dances were not as immoral as white dancing, which included close physical contact as well as uninhibited movements. Continue reading →

Why All the Concern?

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Harvest Dance at Santo Domingo Pueblo

Harvest Dance at Santo Domingo Pueblo

The controversy over Native American dancing did not arise all at once, of course (see last post). European settlers were often surprised at the energy and freedom inherent in many ceremonial dances, but unfortunately attributed much of it to the “uncivilized” status of Native Americans. Continue reading →

Fear of Dancing

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Hopi Clowns Next to a Line of Dancers in the Long Hair Dance, 1912, courtesy Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation

Hopi Clowns Next to a Line of Dancers in the Long Hair Dance, 1912, courtesy Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation

Though the federal government wanted to suppress anything that kept Native Americans from assimilating into white culture, dancing seemed to be of special concern. Dances were central to many traditional rituals and ceremonies, and therefore, suspect. Continue reading →

Make it Pretty

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Exhibition of Fancy Work, 1908, courtesy Willard

Exhibition of Fancy Work, 1908, courtesy inmatesofwillard.com

Occupational therapy was an important part of patient care in nearly all asylums. Patients were encouraged to do skilled work that got their minds off their problems/issues and produced a tangible object in which they could take pride. Genteel ladies might do fancy sewing while men engaged in woodwork, even in an elite asylum such as the McLean Asylum for the Insane in Massachusetts.

Indian patients at the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians were also encouraged to do crafts like beadwork and basket weaving if they so desired, to help pass time. (Peter Thompson Good Boy spent time “beading” at St. Elizabeths during his stay there beginning in 1913.) Occasionally, patients like Lizzie Vipont earned a little bit of money with their beadwork by selling items to visitors. Necklaces and handbags seemed to be most popular–or at least are mentioned most often. One report mentions that men whittled wooden objects, but went on to say that women were the primarily crafters. The asylum’s second superintendent, Dr. Harry Hummer, also allowed these kinds of occupations, but apparently stopped encouraging it so that the practice fell by the wayside.

This photo appeared in USA Today. Artifacts left over from the Hiawatha Insane Asylum for Indians in Canton, S.D. are displayed at the Canton Public Library on April 23, 2013. Photo: Elisha Page, Sioux Falls, S.D. Argus Leader

This photo appeared in USA Today. Artifacts left over from the Hiawatha Insane Asylum for Indians in Canton, S.D. are displayed at the Canton Public Library on April 23, 2013. Photo: Elisha Page, Sioux Falls, S.D. Argus Leader

 

Occupational Therapy, Toy Making in WWI-Era Psychiatric Hospital, courtesy Otis Historical Archives, National Museum of Health and Medicine

Occupational Therapy, Toy Making in WWI-Era Psychiatric Hospital, courtesy Otis Historical Archives, National Museum of Health and Medicine

Reservation Food

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Sioux Women Receiving Rations, courtesy Denver Public Library, Colorado Historical Society, and Denver Art Museum

Sioux Women Receiving Rations, courtesy Denver Public Library, Colorado Historical Society, and Denver Art Museum

Native Americans ate what was on hand in the regions where they lived. (See last post.) Once they were forced onto reservations, their freedom to secure food was severely reined in. The government began to issue rations, partly in recognition that much of  reservation land was too poor to support the people who lived on it. Food was also a powerful weapon to hold over Indian heads; if they wanted to eat, they needed to comply with the new rules and ways of life the government wanted to introduce.

Rations typically included flour, tea, coffee, salt, beans, and other staples, as well as dry goods like blankets. Beef replaced buffalo as a meat source, and Native Americans learned to cook new foods which were drastically different and of inferior nutritive value to their traditional foods. Poor nutrition inevitably led to poorer health and a worsened quality of life. These forced changes undoubtedly left many psychological scars on the adults who saw their entire way of life change.

Modoc Men Slaughtering Cattle (includes Indian Agent Col D.B. Dyre) around 1870-80, courtesy Library of Congress

Modoc Men Slaughtering Cattle (includes Indian Agent Col D.B. Dyre) around 1870-80, courtesy Library of Congress

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More Food Changes

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Issuing Flour to Ojibway Woman, White Earth Reservation, 1896, courtesy University of Minnesota, Duluth

Issuing Flour to Ojibway Woman, White Earth Reservation, 1896, courtesy University of Minnesota, Duluth

As Native Americans were forced onto reservations, they were also forced to abandon their healthy diets of fresh meat and produce in favor of canned goods and poor-quality staples. Their experience has ultimately been echoed throughout the country as people nearly everywhere have drifted away from home-grown food in proper quantities and introduced processed and/or GM (genetically modified) food into into their diets.

Corn has been hybridized so much that it is no longer the same product that Native Americans and European immigrants ate; modern genetic modifications have made this food a poor nutritional choice. A study from the Permaculture Research Institute on non-GM corn and Roundup-Ready corn, found that the GM corn contained glyphosate and formaldehyde at toxic levels. This corn was also seriously deficient in nutrients: non-GM corn had over 6,000 ppm (parts per million) of calcium, while the GM corn had 14; other nutrient levels were similarly affected.

Native Americans and other concerned consumers are trying to introduce non-GM corn back into the food system. Heirloom varieties like White Flint Hominy (also known as Seneca Hominy or Ha-Go-Wa) are hundreds of years old; Ha-Go-Wa was recently harvested by tribal seed savers associated with the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota. Many heirloom varieties produce colorful, intensely flavorful corn–just not as abundantly as the hybridized type which replaced it.

Hopi Indian Farming

Hopi Indian Farming

Indian Woman Working in Cornfield, 1906, Edward S. Curtis

Indian Woman Working in Cornfield, 1906, Edward S. Curtis

 

Recipe For Disaster

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Crow Woman Drying Fruit, Tongue River Agency, Montana (1890-1910?) courtesy Library of Congress

Crow Woman Drying Fruit, Tongue River Agency, Montana (1890-1910?) courtesy Library of Congress

Native Americans generally ate a healthy, varied diet when they were free to do so. Foods included wild berries, fishes of all kinds, pigeons and ducks, bread made from nutritious wild grasses like pigweed and dropseed, and sweeteners from agave and maple syrup. Native Americans drank sassafras tea and broth thickened with corn silks, along with many other soups and drinks. Many explorers were impressed by the physical development of Native Americans and saw much to admire in their athleticism and endurance. Continue reading →