Tag Archives: Harvest Dance

Preserving Food

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William We-ah-lup Smoking Salmon, 1906, Tulalip Indian Reservation, courtesy University of Washington Libraries

William We-ah-lup Smoking Salmon, 1906, Tulalip Indian Reservation, courtesy University of Washington Libraries

Patients at the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians, though forced to eat a relatively poor diet of increasingly refined foods provided by the government, benefited from the fresh food and meat raised on the asylum grounds. However, there never seemed to be a sufficiency that allowed the kitchen staff to do much in the way of preserving this more nutritious food for winter use. 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 →

Thanksgiving

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The First Thanksgiving, by Jennie A. Brownscombe, courtesy Pilgrim Hall Museum

The Thanksgiving holiday does not have the same significance for Native Americans as it does generally for others in this country. The fact that European pilgrims survived their first harsh winter boded ill for native peoples who suffered death, disease, and cultural disintegration at their hands. However, many Native American tribes incorporated gratitude into everyday life, often thanking plants and other living things for giving themselves to human use. Many tribes also had specific times and occasions for which they specifically took time out to express gratitude, such as mid-winter and harvest time.

Among others, the Creek, Cherokee, Seminole, Yuchi, and Iroquois tribes celebrated the Green Corn Festival, which marked the beginning of the first corn harvest. It was a time to thank Mother Earth and all living things for providing food  and other usable items that made life good. Most Native Americans had various harvest ceremonies with the same purpose in mind. The Iroquois particularly formalized times of thanksgiving, which would include a special Thanksgiving Address. A speaker was chosen to give thanks on behalf of all the people. The thanksgiving prayer then offered gratitude to the Creator for the earth and the living things upon it. The prayer could be quite long, encompassing specific things the speaker wanted to call special attention to, like birds, rivers, medicinal grasses and herbs, wind, rain, sunshine, the moon and stars, and so on.

For many Native Americans, gratitude intersected with the spirituality they brought to daily life. Ceremonies simply formalized the gratitude they typically expressed on a smaller scale every day.

Harvest Dance, Santo Domingo Pueblo, 1910, courtesy Library of Congress

Sugar-Making Among the Indians in the North, 19th century illustration

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Fooling Around

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Harvest Dance with Koshare, courtesy Library of Congress

Harvest Dance with Koshare, Santo Domingo Pueblo, 1910, courtesy Library of Congress

Native Americans were like most cultures, and used clowns and fools to make serious points through their absurd behavior. Koshare (a general term for clowns) were sacred fools who helped maintain fertility, rain, good health, and crops. Their antics also taught proper behavior, typically through their bad example. For instance, the Lakota Nation’s heyoka was a sacred fool who did everything backward.

Hopi Pointed Clowns, 1912, courtesy Museum of American Indian, Heye Foundation

Hopi Pointed Clowns, 1912, courtesy Museum of American Indian, Heye Foundation

Chifonete Pole, Taos, NM, 1902, courtesy Library of Congress

Chifonete Pole, Taos, NM, 1902, courtesy Library of Congress

During feasts and celebrations in New Mexico, painted Koshare would frighten and amuse their audiences with wild antics, culminating in a climb up a chifonete pole which had prizes like a slaughtered sheep, fruits, and bread at the top.

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