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.

Artificial Want

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Indian Woman Making Fry Bread

When settlers arrived on Native American shores, they met robust nations with well-developed cultures and survival systems. However, native peoples did not domesticate the animals they ate to any great extent, nor grow food crops as extensively as Europeans did. Unfortunately, settlers considered animal domestication and agriculture hallmarks of civilization; they immediately assumed that the indigenous peoples they met had not yet “risen” to their own level. Much of the interference in native culture practiced by the U.S. federal government and by religious groups targeted this perceived lack of civilization.

In doing so, these groups delivered some of the most devastating blows to Native Americans possible. Official insistence on European-style farming in particular brought ill-health and suffering to Native Americans. Tribes that were pushed to unfamiliar, marginal lands in the West could not live on what they raised by farming. Federal food allotments were necessary for survival, but the allotments also were inadequate. Poor-quality beef, flour, sugar, and coffee could not replace the superior nutrition that game, fish, and the varied plants gathered from large swaths of land, had previously provided. Health problems quickly surfaced, and soon the federal government and Native Americans became mired in a system that could only react to the worst of any number of crises.

Sioux Squaws Waiting for Rations at Pine Ridge Reservation, 1891, courtesy Library of Congress

Rations For All, circa 1905, courtesy Library of Congress

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Winter Living

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The change of seasons brought changes in lifestyle to most Native American groups. Before industrialization, most societies lived seasonally, with certain tasks being relegated for certain times of the year…spring and summer to plant, grow crops, hunt, and so on, and with autumn a time for harvesting and storing up. Winter was generally a quieter time, with less hunting and gathering. Hard-working people could take some time to rest, and to prepare for the next year.

Iroquois Longhouse

Native Americans dependent on agriculture usually had more stable villages, though they might move to a winter hunting area for a season. Some tribes, such as the Iroquois,  built large, permanent structures called longhouses. These homes could be 200 feet long, have a second story, and house more than 50 people. Native Americans on the Plains moved much more often to follow buffalo herds, and their housing reflected the mobility they needed. These tribes set up tepees (or tipis) that could be quickly raised and struck down.

During the winter, people could relax a bit, but they still stayed busy. Trapping would still be profitable in some areas, and people in winter camps could mend needed items for the next year, sew clothing, etc. Festivals were held in winter, which was also a time for storytelling and consultation concerning hunting or wartime strategies. Though winter could be a time of harshness and deprivation, it could also be a time of joy and play. Native peoples in the north and in Alaska enjoyed snowshoes and sledding, and a game with “snow snakes.” A snow stake was a carved piece of wood with a slight upward curve at one end and a notch at the other. Before play, teams would make a trough in the snow by dragging a log through it over and over. Players would throw their snakes along the trough as fast as possible so it would go far. Each player’s distance was measured and would be added to the team score; the team with the total longest distance won the game.

Cheyenne Winter Camp

Snow Snake Game

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Winter and Scarcity

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Buffalo Hunting for Money

Like many peoples dependent upon agriculture and hunting, Native Americans could face scarcity and deprivation if crops were poor or hunting was bad. If tribes had a regional primary food source, such as corn in parts of the Southwest or buffalo on the Plains, anything that tipped the balance against them had enormous ramifications. Losing good land hurt tribes dependent upon agriculture, and over-hunting hurt others more dependent on meat for winter survival. Many times, the intrusion of white settlers tipped the balance against Native American food security.

Native Americans on the Plains used almost every part of the buffalo, and its meat was critically important for survival. Originally, buffalo seemed to be limitless in number–some scientists estimate they may have numbered as high as 30 million before European settlers came to the continent–but several factors served to drive them to near extinction.:

–Native Americans were able to kill many more buffalo than they previously could, once they acquired horses and guns.

–Buffalo were forced to compete with horses and cattle, while ranchers killed many buffalo to clear land for cattle.

–Railroads required cleared land for trains, and workers killed many buffalo for food.

–Some buffalo were deliberately killed out of spite or as a policy to decimate the Plains’ best food source.

–Hunters and sport shooters slaughtered buffalo for the thrill of downing these enormous animals.

By the late 1990s, there were only two thousand or so buffalo left.

Last Buffalo Killed in N. Dakota (Jan 1907), courtesy Library of Congress Fred Hulstrand and F.A. Pazandak Photograph Collections

Pile of Buffalo Skulls To Be Ground Into Fertilizer, circa 1870s, courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library

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Winter on the Plains

Homesteaders in North Dakota

Though its topography varied from region to region, the area known as the western Plains could be counted on to have a harsh environment. Summer temperatures often reached 100 degrees, and winter temperatures well into the double-digits below zero. Without many trees to stop or break the wind, heavy snows could be blinding and treacherous. South Dakota, one of the Plains states and home to the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians, experienced difficult weather that brought out its inhabitants’ resourcefulness and courage.

The Lakota and Dakota Sioux, native peoples who had lived on the Plains for centuries, were nomadic. During the winter they lived in buffalo-hide tents (tipis) and ate the food supplies they had gathered and preserved earlier. These supplies could be enormous. An account of General Alfred Sully’s 1863 retaliation against the Dakota for an uprising in 1862 says that his troops burned 500,000 pounds of “jerked buffalo meat, food gathered for the Indians’ long winter” over a two-day period. The melted fat “ran down the valley like a stream,” according to one observer.

This abundance contrasts sorrowfully with the rations most native peoples received once they were forced onto reservations. By the 1880s, game was scarce and the buffalo nearly gone. Iron Teeth, a 92-year-old Cheyenne woman, described her monthly rations: a quart of green coffee, a quart of sugar, a few pounds of flour, and some baking powder. In 1883, winter storms left some of the northern tribes in Montana near starvation. When a government wagon finally got through, it delivered only a load of bacon contaminated by maggots.

Annuity Payment at La Pointe, Wisconsin, 1870, courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society

Waiting for Rations, circa 1905, courtesy Wannamker Collection, Mathers Museum Indiana University

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Prepping for Winter

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Drying Saskatoon Berries

A good vegetable harvest was important for many tribes, but all Native Americans did not practice agriculture and reap harvests  at the end of a growing season. These tribes still had to provide for winter food, when game was more scarce. Drying food was still an important method of preservation, with dried meat and fish providing quality protein sources when hunting became difficult.

One nutrient-rich dish Native Americans created was pemmican. Rich in protein and fat, pemmican was both filling and calorie and nutrient dense. It was portable and long lasting–an ideal ration for scouts, hunters, and others who needed to be away from camp for any length of time. Various recipes existed, based on what was available, but a basic recipe used extremely lean meat, dried fruit without  pits, rendered fat, nuts, and perhaps a touch of honey. The meat was dried until it was nearly crispy, after which it was ground or pounded into a powder. The dried fruit (also ground) would be added, and then the liquid fat. The ingredients would be mixed by hand along with any nuts or seeds desired, and then allowed to cool. Pemmican could be rolled out into thin strips or made into small wafers or balls that were easy to eat as snacks. This mixture–prepared properly–could last for years, especially if a little salt was added.

Making Pemmican

Pounding Pemmican

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Horror Story

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Native American Storytelling

Native Americans did not celebrate Halloween rituals as Europeans did, but they passed on stories about spirits and ghosts. The following story is adapted from the Zuni tale, “Rolling Skull” on angelfire.com, Native American Legends, Myths, and Lore:

One day, a young man who was a great hunter found himself far away from home when it became dark and rainy. He saw smoke coming from a house and thought that he could find shelter there. An old woman let him in and offered him food. Later, she offered him her beautiful daughter for the night. The man agreed and went to sleep with the daughter. When he woke up, the house was only an old ruin and his blanket was just a rag. The woman he had slept with was a skeleton, and her bones rattled as he jumped up in fear and ran away. As he ran, he heard the old woman’s skull rolling behind him.

The man sought help from the Hawiku, who were dancing the yaya dance. But, as he joined the dance, the old woman’s skull rolled into the group of dancers and cried out, “Where is my daughter’s husband?” The hunter ran to the Navajo dancing a war dance, but the same thing happened. He ran to the Laguna dancing the harvest dance, and the same thing happened. The old woman’s skull rolled behind him everywhere he sought help or protection. The bluebird and the sunflower couldn’t help him, but finally the hunter reached Porcupine.

Porcupine gave the man pinon gum and told him to cover the door thickly with it. When the old woman’s skull cried out for her daughter’s husband, Porcupine told her to come and get him. The skull rolled in and stuck fast to the pinon gum. Porcupine set fire to the pinon gum and skull and burned it up. The man then stayed with Porcupine and married Porcupine Girl.

Though the story is simple, the hunter’s panic is palpable in the longer version, and the eeriness of the old woman’s skull more pronounced.

Zuni Pueblo-Pack Train, courtesy Smithsonian Institution and the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center

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European Fashions

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Fur-Hat Industry

Trade usually benefited both parties in an exchange, since value (of goods traded) is in the eye of the beholder. However, from a strictly economic standpoint, European traders came out well ahead of their Native American counterparts. Except for guns and powder, Europeans exchanged relatively inexpensive trade goods like pots and pans, beads, and cloth for Indians’ furs, which took an entire season for hunters to amass. Europeans were dependent on Native Americans for the furs which had been almost depleted in Europe. However, because they weren’t aware of the European situation, Native Americans couldn’t always leverage their goods to better advantage.

The fur trade was fueled to a surprising extent by men’s fashion. Beaver-felt hats were particularly in vogue during the late 1600s and 1700s, and so many beaver were procured for their pelts that hunting areas were exhausted in certain areas in the New World even before 1700. European fur traders ranged further and further looking for fur suppliers, which led to exploration, cultural exchanges, and warfare. By the middle of the 1700s, European goods had been introduced–and readily accepted–into most native peoples’ lifestyle. In certain areas like the Great Lakes, nearly all Native American men owned muskets or rifles, and women relied on metal cookware and European cloth. The fur trade began to dwindle when animals became scarce or disappeared due to over-hunting, and when silk hats became fashionable in Europe.

Victorian-era Beaver Top Hat

1892 Silk Plush Hat

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Worlds Apart

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Sweat Lodge in Use, circa 1880 to 1910, courtesy Library of Congress

Though insanity was rare, Native Americans did sometimes have to deal with tribal members they deemed insane. Their methods were less harsh than European ones (see last post) and Native Americans often tried to cure insanity rather than settle for the long-term confinement of the affected person. Many Native Americans believed that illness came from evil spirits, so their rituals emphasized that aspect of healing. The Shoshones believed that a ghost entering a person’s body caused sickness, and used incantations, prayer, drums, medicine whistles, and sweat lodges to prepare a patient to have the ghost extracted. After preparation, their healer would form a tube with his hands and place them over the patient’s mouth. He then sucked until the patient vomited or belched out the evil spirit. The Creeks sometimes used four white pebbles in water to alleviate insanity. The tribe’s healer performed ceremonies and sang songs, then put some of the water in his mouth and spit violently upon the head of the insane person. The latter then drank from the cup of water four times. This ceremony gave the healer power over the sufferer and allowed him to eventually cure the individual.

Native American cure rates were probably similar to European ones. The important point is that their treatments were culturally acceptable, just as European ones were for New World settlers. European and Anglo-American patients would not have accepted or been comfortable with Native American ceremonies to cure insanity, and it is little wonder that Native Americans were not comfortable with European-derived treatments. One of the great failures of the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians was that it did not take culture into account when staff interacted with patients.

Hupa Female Shaman, 1923, courtesy Library of Congress

Native American Healer, Known as Shields, Served the Crow Creek Reservation, courtesy U.S. Geological Survey

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Another New World

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Pilgrims Entered a Difficult Life In the New World

Europeans coming to the American continents experienced a new world, but Native Americans also experienced new worlds as these strangers introduced their cultural practices and religious beliefs to them. Some, if not many, of these initial exchanges benefited both peoples, as Europeans learned how to survive in this new land and native peoples received European goods they enjoyed using. Over time, Europeans became convinced that their own notions were the right ones, and began to reject much of Native American culture. This rejection included the way insanity would be treated.

Because Native Americans relied on oral histories during colonial times, much of what has been written about them in this period comes from Europeans’ observations. Early accounts indicate that some Native American tribes treated the few insane members they had with great respect and care, while other tribes were indifferent and neglectful toward the insane. What must be remembered is that during this time, Europeans treated the insane quite cruelly. It was common in both Europe and the new colonies to let the insane wander the countryside. Worse, violent or difficult people were chained or locked in outbuildings for most of their lives. Though whites eventually believed that they had moved toward compassion once they took chains away, there is no evidence that Native Americans ever used them. At least during this era, Native Americans treated the insane less harshly–certainly not more so–than Europeans did.

Peaceful Meeting Between William Penn and Native Americans

Indian Village on the Plains, circa 1880 to 1895, courtesy Library of Congress

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New World Medicine

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Joe Pye Weed

Europeans who came to the New World welcomed Native American medical knowledge. Though Europeans had commonly used herbs and other plant preparations to cure illnesses, they were not familiar with many of the plants they found in their new home. Native Americans had used these plants for centuries and generously shared their knowledge. Joe Pye weed (which can be dangerous if used without caution) is a native plant with many medicinal uses. The Iroquois and Cherokee used its roots and flowers as a diuretic to help with urinary and kidney ailments, while the roots and leaves could be steeped in hot water and the liquid taken for fever and inflammation.

This weed’s unusual name has been attributed to a number of sources. One is that Joe Pye was a phonetic translation of jopi or jopai, supposedly an early native American word for typhus. Or, it derived from the name of a 19th century white “Indian theme promoter.” However, the 1822 third edition of the Manual of Botany, for the Northern and Middle States of America states that Joe Pye weed was named after a Native American in Massachusetts. Details of Pye’s life have not always been recounted accurately, but according to research by Richard Pearce, Pye was a Mohegan sachem (healer) who lived in an area where the weed (botanical name: Eutrochium purpureum) was used to cure an outbreak of typhus. Joe Pye weed is a sweat inducer, which is probably the mechanism of cure.

Apache Medicine Man, 1885, courtesy Library of Congress

Drawing of Massachusetts Bay Colony Citizens

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