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.. Origin.?There is no positive knowledge concerning the origin of these of American Natives; their own traditions widely vary, and conjecture is unsatisfying. Recent investigations favor a theory that, if they be not indigenous, they came from two great Asiatic families: the more northern tribes of our continent from the lighter Mongolians, who crossed at Bering Strait, and the more southerly ones, in California, Central and South America, from the darker Malays, who first peopled Polynesia, in the southern Pacific Ocean and finally made their way to our continent, gradually spreading over it from the Pacific to the Atlantic Language fails to connect any of them with the Asiatic families, but their traditions, implements, and modes of life point to such arelationship. It has been suggested that the Mandans and Chinooks, who are almost white, are descendants of a Welsh colony said to have been lost in the wilds of North America 700 years ago.
Who Are The Cherokee? The Tsalagi (Cherokee) are a nation of North American Indians that formerly inhabited the mountainous region of the western Carolinas, northern Georgia, and eastern Tennessee. An Iroquoian-speaking people, they originally lived near the Great Lakes they migrated to the Southeast, eventually becoming the largest and most powerful group in that region. Their traditional culture included maize agriculture, settled villages, and well-developed ceremonialism. In 1827 the Tsalagi (Cherokee) established a constitutional form of government. The first explorers of the Southeast discovered the most talented Indians north of Mexico. Builders, agriculturists, artisans, fishermen, and hunters epitomized especially the Tsalagi (Cherokees)' varied skills. Knowledgeable in herb culture, they developed useful medicines from them that are still used today. They also developed environmental concepts about ecological thought and survival. We are blessed by the legacies of Tsalagi (Cherokee) oral traditions, providing ethnologists with opportunities for cultural interpretations: legends about man, animals, supernatural deities, witches, and other evil influences. Their most famous leader, Sequoya, believing literacy provided power to the white man, alone developed the Tsalagi (Cherokee) alphabet (c.1820), and became immortalized when his name was given to Sequoia National Park in California. A series of fraudulent, land-acquiring treaties were imposed on the Tsalagi (Cherokee) in the 1830s. The Treaty of New Echota (1835), in which a small tribal faction sold 2.83 million ha (7 million acres) of Tsalagi (Cherokee) land, required their removal westward within 3 years.div The vast majority of the Tsalagi (Cherokee) Nation repudiated this document, but under Gen. Winfield SCOTT, most remaining Tsalagi (Cherokee) were driven from their land and forcibly marched to Arkansas and Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) in 1838-39. About 4,000 of the more than 15,000 Tsalagi (Cherokee) who made the journey died of disease and exposure. In Indian Territory, they joined the CHICKASAW, CHOCTAW, CREEK, and SEMINOLE to form the so-called FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES. Tribal lands were lost in the 1860s, after the Five Tribes sided with the South during the Civil War, and again in the early 1880s, when the federal government abolished tribal ownership of lands. When Indian Territory became the state of Oklahoma in 1907, all tribal lands were opened for white settlement. In the 1980s, 43,000 persons of Tsalagi (Cherokee) descent lived in eastern Oklahoma; about 15,000 of these are considered full-blooded. The Tsalagi (Cherokee) who avoided the forced removal of 1838 escaped into the Great Smoky Mountains and resettled in North Carolina, where they formed a tribal corporation in 1889. Tsalagi (Cherokee) on or near the reservation in North Carolina numbered 6,110 in 1987. Heroes Tribes of the Creek Confederacy in Georgia Apalachicola Oconee Chiaha Osochi Creek Okmulgee Guale Tacatacuru Hitchiti Tamathli Icafui Yemasee Kasihta Yui Prior to the early 18th Century, most of Georgia was home to American Indians belonging to a southeastern alliance known as the Creek Confederacy. Today's Creek Nation, also known as the Muskogee, were the major tribe in that alliance. According to Creek traditions, the Confederacy migrated to the southeastern United States from the Southwest. The confederacy was probably formed as a defense against other large groups to the north. The name "Creek" came from the shortening of "Ocheese Creek" Indians -- a name given by the English to the native people living along the Ocheese Creek (or Ocmulgee River). In time, the name was applied to all groups of the confederacy. ..obucket.com/albums/h166/Timetraveler33/Native%20Americans/ IndiansAtCacheCreek1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting" Tribes of the Creek Confederacy in Georgia Apalachicola Oconee Chiaha Osochi Creek Okmulgee Guale Tacatacuru Hitchiti Tamathli Icafui Yemasee Kasihta Yui Prior to the early 18th Century, most of Georgia was home to American Indians belonging to a southeastern alliance known as the Creek Confederacy. Today's Creek Nation, also known as the Muskogee, were the major tribe in that alliance. According to Creek traditions, the Confederacy migrated to the southeastern United States from the Southwest. The confederacy was probably formed as a defense against other large groups to the north. The name "Creek" came from the shortening of "Ocheese Creek" Indians -- a name given by the English to the native people living along the Ocheese Creek (or Ocmulgee River). In time, the name was applied to all groups of the confederacy. Apache Indian History Apache (probably from ápachu, 'enemy,' the Zuñi name for the Navaho, who were designated "Apaches de Nabaju" by the early Spaniards in New Mexico). A number of tribes forming the most southerly group of the Athapascan family. The name has been applied also to some unrelated Yuman tribes, as the Apache Mohave (Yavapai) and Apache Yuma. The Apache call themselves N'de, Dinë, Tinde, or Inde, ..people.' They were evidently not so numerous about the beginning of the 17th century as in recent times, their numbers apparently having been increased by captives from other tribes, particularly the Pueblos, Pima, Papago, and other peaceful Indians, as well as from the settlements of northern Mexico that were gradually established within the territory raided by them, although recent measurements by Hrdlicka seem to indicate unusual freedom from foreign admixture. They were first mentioned as Apaches by Oñate in 1598, although Coronado, in 1541, met the Querechos (the Vaqueros of Benavides, and probably the Jicarillas and Mescaleros of modern times) on the plains of east New Mexico and west Texas: but there is no evidence that the Apache reached so far west as Arizona until after the middle of the 16th century. From the time of the Spanish colonization of New Mexico until within twenty years they have been noted for their warlike disposition, raiding white and Indian settlements alike, extending their depredations as far southward as Jalisco, Mexico. No group of tribes has caused greater confusion to writers, from the fact that the popular navies of the tribes are derived from some local or temporary habitat, owing to their shifting propensities, or were given by the Spaniards on ac count of some tribal characteristic; hence some of the common names of apparently different Apache tribes or bands are synonymous, or practically so; again, as employed by some writers, a name may include much more or much less than when employed by others. Although most of the Apache have been hostile since they have been known to history, the most serious modern outbreaks have been attributed to mismanagement on the part of civil authorities. The most important recent hostilities were those of the Chiricahua under Cochise, and later Victorio, who, together with 500 Mimbrenos. Mogollones, and Mescaleros, were assigned, about 1870, to the Ojo Caliente reserve in west New Mexico. Cochise, who had repeatedly refused to be confined within reservation limits, fled with his band, but returned in 1871, at which time 1,200 to 1,900 Apache were on the reservation. Complaints from neighboring settlers caused their removal to Tularosa, 60 miles to the northwest, but 1,000 fled to the Mescalero reserve on Pecos River, while Cochise went out on another raid. Efforts of the military agent in 1873 to compel the restoration of some stolen cattle caused the rest, numbering 700, again to decamp, but they were soon captured. In compliance with the wishes. of the Indians, they were returned to Ojo Caliente its 1874. Soon afterward Cochise died, and the Indians began to show such interest in agriculture that by 1875 there were 1,700 Apache at Ojo Caliente, and no depredations were reported. In the following year the Chiricahua reservation in Arizona was abolished, and 325 of the Indians were reproved to the San Carlos agency; others joined their kindred at Ojo Caliente, while some either remained on the mountains of their old reservation or fled across the Mexican border. This removal of Indians from their ancestral homes was in pursuance of a policy of concentration, which was tested in the Chiricahua removal in Arizona. In April 1877, Geronimo and other chiefs, with the remnant of the band left on the old reservation, and evidently the Mexican refugees, began depredations in south Arizona and north Chihuahua, but in May 433 were captured and returned to San Carlos. At the same time the policy was applied to the Ojo Caliente Apache of New Mexico, who were making good progress in civilized pursuits; but when the plan was put is action only 450 of 2,000 Indians were found, the remainder forming, into predatory bands under Victorio. In September 300 Chiricahua, mainly of the Ojo Caliente band from San Carlos, but surrendered many engagements. These were returned to Ojo Caliente, but they soon ran off again. In February, 1878, Victorio rendered in the hope that he and his people night remain on their former reservation, but another attempt was made to force the Indians to go to was Carlos, with the same result. In June the fugitives again appeared at the Mescalero agency, and arrangements were at last made for them to settle there; but, as the local authorities found indictments against Victorio and others, charged them with murder and robbery, this chief, with his few immediate follower, and some Mescaleros, fled from the reservation and resumed marauding. A call was trade for an increased force of military, but in the skirmishes in which they were engaged the Chiricahua met with remarkable success, while 70 settlers were murdered daring a single raid. Victorio was joined before April, 1880, by 350 Mescaleros and Chiricahua refugees from Mexico, and the repeated raids which followed struck terror to the inhabitants of New Mexico, Arizona, and Chihuahua, On April 13 1,000 troops arrival, and their number was later greatly augmented. Victorio's hand was frequently encountered by superior forces, and although supported during most of the time by only 250 or 300 fighting men, this warrior usually inflicted severer punishment than he suffered. In these raids 200 citizens of New Mexico, and as many more of Mexico, were killed. At one time the band was virtually surrounded by a force of more than 2,000 cavalry and several hundred Indian scouts, but Victorio eluded capture and fled across the Mexican border, where he continued his bloody campaign. Pressed on both sides of the international boundary, and at times harassed by United States and Mexican troops combined, Victorio finally suffererd severe losses and his band became divided. In October, 1880, Mexican troops encountered Victorio's party, comprising 100 warriors, with 400 women and children, at Tres Castillos; the Indians were surrounded and attacked in the evening, the fight continuing throughout the night; in the morning the ammunition of the Indians became exhausted, but although rapidly losing strength, the remnant refused to surrender until Victorio, who had been wounded several times, finally fell dead. This disaster to the Indians did not quell their hostility. Victorio was succeeded by Nana, who collected the divided force, received reinforcements from the Mescaleros and the San Carlos Chiricahua, and between July, 1881, and April, 1882, continued the raids across the border until he was again driven back in Chihuahua. While these hostilities were in progress in New Mexico and Chihuahua the Chiricahua of San Carlos were striking terror to the settlements of Arizona. In 1880 Juh and Geronimo with 108 followers were captured and returned to San Carlos. In 1881 trouble arose among the White Mountain Coyoteros on Cibicu Creek, owing to a medicine-man named Nakaidoklini (q.v.), who pretended power to revive the dead. After pacing him liberally for his services, his adherents awaited the resurrection until August, when Nakaidoklini avowed that his incantations failed because of the presence of whites. Since affairs were assuming a serious aspect, the arrest of the prophet was ordered; he surrendered quietly, but as the troops were making camp the scouts and other Indians opened fire on them. After a sharp fight Nakaidoklini was killed and his adherents were repulsed. Skirmishes continued the next day, but the troops were reinforced, and the Indians soon surrendered in small bands. Two chiefs, known as George and Bonito, who had not been engaged in the White Mountain troubles, surrendered to Gen. Wilcox on Sept. 25 at Camp Thomas, but were paroled. On Sept. 30 Col. Riddle was sent to bring these chiefs and their bands back to Camp Thomas, but they became alarmed and fled to the Chiricahua, 74 of whom left the reserve, and, crossing the Mexican border, took refuge with the late Victorio's band in Chihuahua. In the same year Nana made one of his bloody raids across the line, and in September Juh and Nahche, with a party of Chiricahua, again fled from the reservation, and were forced by the troops into Mexico, where, in April, 1882, they were joined by Geronimo and the rest of the hostile Chiricahua of San Carlos, with Loco and his Ojo Caliente band. The depredations committed in river Chihuahua under Geronimo and other leaders were perhaps even more serious than those within the limits of the United States. In March, 1883, Chato with 26 followers made a clash into New Mexico, murdering a dozen persons. Meanwhile the white settlers on the upper Gila consumed so much of the water of. that stream as to threaten the Indian crops; then coal was discovered on the reservation, which brought an influx of miners, and an investigation by the Federal grand jury of Arizona on Oct. 24. 1882, charged the mismanagement of Indian affairs on San Carlos reservation to local civil authorities. Gen. G. H. Crook having been reassigned to the command, in 1882 induced about 1,500 of the hostiles to return to the reservation and subsist by their own exertions. The others, about three-fourths of the tribe, refused to settle down to reservation life and repeatedly went on the warpath; when promptly followed by Crook they would surrender and agree to peace, but would soon break their promises. To this officer had been assigned the task of bringing the raiding Apache to terms in cooperating with the Mexican troops of Sonora and Chihuahua. In May, 1883, Crook crossed the boundary to the headwaters of the Rio Yaqui with 50 troops and 163 Apache scouts; on the 13th the camp of Chato and Bonito was discovered and attacked with some loss to the Indians. Through two captives employed as emissaries, communication was soon had with the others, and by May 29 354 Chiricahua had surrendered. On July 7 the War Department assumed police control of the San Carlos reservation, and on Sept. 1 the Apache were placed under the sole charge of Crook, who began to train them in the ways of civilization, with such success that in 1884 over 4,000 tons of grain, vegetables, and fruits were harvested. In Feb. 1885, Crook's powers were curtailed, an act that led to conflict of authority between the civil and military officers, and before matters could be adjusted half the Chiricahua left the reservation in May and fled to their favorite haunts. Troops and Apache scouts ware again sent forward, and many skirmishes took place, but the Indians were wary, and again Arizona and New Mexico were thrown into a state of excitement and dread by raids across the American border, resulting in the murder of 73 white people and many friendly Apache. In Jan. 1886, the American camp under Capt. Crawford was attacked through misunderstanding by Mexican irregular Indian troops, resulting in Crawford's death. By the following March the Apache became tired of the war and asked for a parley, which Crook granted as formerly, but before the time for the actual surrender of the entire force arrived the wily Geronimo changed his mind and with his immediate band again fled beyond reach. His escape led to censure of Crook's policy; he was consequently relieved at his own request in April, and to Gen. Nelson A. Miles was assigned the completion of the task. Geronimo and his band finally surrendered Sept. 4, 1886, and with numerous friendly Apache were sent to Florida as prisoners. They were later taken to Mt. Vernon, Ala., thence to Ft Sill, Okla., where they have made progress toward civilization. Some of the hostiles were never captured, but remained in the mountains, and as late as Nov. 1900, manifested their hostile character by an attack on Mormon settlers in Chihuahua.. Apache hostility in Arizona and New Mexico, however, has entirely ceased. (See Hodge in Encyc. Brit., "Indians," 1902.) Being a nomadic people, the Apache practiced agriculture only to a limited extent before their permanent establishment on reservations. They subsisted chiefly on the products of the chase and on roots (especially that of the maguey) and berries. Although fish and bear were found in abundance in their country they were not eaten, being tabued as food. They had few arts, but the women attained high skill in making baskets. Their dwellings were shelters of brush, which were easily erected by the women and were well adapted to their arid environment and constant shifting. In physical appearance the Apache vary greatly, but are rather above the medium height. They are good talkers, are not readily deceived, and are honest in protecting property placed in their care, although they formerly obtained their chief support from plunder seized in their forays. The Apache are divided into a number of tribal groups which have been so differently named and defined that it is sometimes difficult to determine to which branch writers refer. The most commonly accepted divisions are the Querechos or Vaqueros, consisting of the Mescaleros, Jicarillas, Faraones, Llaneros, and probably the Lipan; the Chiricahua; the Pinaleños; the Coyoteros, co
Blackfoot NationThe Piegan Blackfeet, Pikuni in Blackfoot, are a tribe of Native Americans, many of whom currently live in the Blackfeet Nation, in northwestern Montana with population centered in Browning. Several closely related tribes, the Kainah (Blood), Northern Peigan and Siksiki (Northern Blackfoot), live in Alberta, Canada and are sometimes also collectively referred to as Blackfoot. Ethnographic literature most commonly uses Blackfoot people, and most Blackfoot people use the singular Blackfoot, though the US and tribal governments officially use Blackfeet as in Blackfeet Indian Reservation and Blackfeet Nation as seen on official tribe website. The term Siksika, derived from Siksikaikwan - "a Blackfoot person" - may be used, as may, in English, "I am Blackfoot" or "I am a member of the Blackfeet tribe." Blackfoot Confederacy is a name applied to four Native American tribes in the Northwestern Plains. From the relations of the Blackfoot language to others in the Algonquian language family indicate that they lived in an area west of the Great Lakes. Though they practiced some agriculture, they were partly nomadic. They moved westward partially because of the introduction of horses and guns and became a part of the Plains Indians culture in the early 1800's. In 1900, there were an estimated 20,000 Blackfoot, while today there are approximately 25,000, and the population was at times dramatically lower as the Blackfeet suffered disease, starvation, and war. They held large portions of Alberta and Montana, though today the Blackfeet Reservation is the size of Delaware and the three reservations in Alberta have a much smaller area. The Blackfoot language is also agglutinative. The Blackfoot do not have well documented male Two-Spirits, but they do have "manly-hearted women" (Lewis, 1941) who act in much of the social roles of men, including willingness to sing alone, usually considered "immodest", and using a men's singing style. (Nettl, 1989). The Blackfoot confederacy consists of the North Peigan (Aapatohsipiikanii), the South Peigan (Aamsskaapipiikanii), the Blood (Kainah), and the Siksika tribe ("Blackfoot") or more correctly Siksikawa ("Blackfoot people"). Three of the four are located in Alberta, Canada while one, the South Peigan, is located in Montana. All together they traditionally called themselves the Niitsitapii (the "Real People"). These groups shared a common language and culture, had treaties of mutual defense, and freely intermarried. The Blackfoot were fiercely independent and very successful warriors whose territory stretched from the North Saskatchewan River along what is now Edmonton Alberta, Canada, to the Missouri River of Montana, and from the Rocky Mountains and along the Saskatchewan river and down into the state of Montana to the Missouri river. The basic social unit of the Blackfoot, above the family, was the band, varying from about 10 to 30 lodges, about 80 to 240 people. This size group was large enough to defend against attack and to undertake small communal hunts, but small enough for flexibility. Each band consisted of a respected leader, possibly his brothers and parents, and others who need not be related. Since the band was defined by place of residence, rather than by kinship, a person was free to leave one band and join another, which tended to ameliorate leadership disputes. As well, should a band fall upon hard times, its members could split-up and join other bands. in practice, bands were constantly forming and breaking-up. The system maximized flexibility and was an ideal organization for a hunting people on the Northwestern Plains. During the summer the people assembled for tribal gatherings. In these large assemblies, warrior societies played an important role. Membership into these societies was based on brave acts and deeds. Blackfoot people were nomadic, following the buffalo herds. Survival required their being in the proper place at the proper time. For almost half the year in the long northern winter, the Blackfoot people lived in their winter camps along a wooded river valley perhaps a day's march apart, not moving camp unless food for the people and horses or firewood became depleted. Where there was adequate wood and game resources, some bands might camp together. During this part of the year, buffalo wintered in wooded areas where they were partially sheltered from storms and snow, which hampered their movements, making them easier prey. In spring the buffalo moved out onto the grasslands to forage on new spring growth. The Blackfoot did not follow immediately, for fear of late blizzards, but eventually resources such as dried food or game became depleted the bands would split up, and begin to hunt the buffalo .In mid-summer, when the Saskatoon berries ripened, the people regrouped for their major tribal ceremony, the Sun Dance. This was the only time of year when the entire tribe would assemble, and served the social purpose of reinforcing the bonds between the various groups, and reidentifying the individuals with the tribe. Communal buffalo hunts provided food and offerings of the bulls' tongues (a delicacy) for the ceremonies. After the Sun Dance, the people again separated to follow the buffalo. n the fall, the people would gradually shift to their wintering areas and prepare the buffalo jumps and pounds. Several groups of people might join together at particularly good sites, such as Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. As the buffalo were naturally driven into the area by the gradual late summer drying off of the open grasslands, the Blackfoot would carry out great communal buffalo kills, and prepare dry meat and pemmican to last them through winter, and other times when hunting was poor. At the end of the fall, the Blackfoot would move to their winter camps. The Blackfoot maintained this traditional way of life based on hunting bison, until the near extinction of the bison by 1881 forced them to change and finally adapt to the coming of Europeans. In 1877, the Canadian Blackfoot signed Treaty 7 and settled on reserves in southern Alberta, beginning a period of great struggle and economic hardship, trying to adapt to a completely new way of life as well as exposure to many diseases they had not previously encountered. Eventually, they established a viable economy based on farming, ranching, and light industry, and their population has increased to about 12,000. With their new economic stability, the Blackfoot have been free to adapt their culture and traditions to their new circumstances, renewing their connection to their ancient roots. Music Blackfoot music, the music of the Blackfoot tribes, (best translated in the Blackfoot language as nitsínixki - "I sing", from nínixksini - "song") is primarily a vocal kind of music, using few instruments (called ninixkiátsis, derived from the word for song and associated primarily with European-American instruments), only percussion and voice, and few words. By far the most important percussion instruments are drums (istokimatsis), with rattles (auaná) and bells often being associated with the objects, such as sticks or dancers legs, they are attached to rather than as instruments of their own. The basic musical unit is the song, and musicians, people who sing and drum, are called singers or drummers with both words being equivalent and referring to both activities (p.49). Women, though increasingly equal participants, are not called singers or drummers and it is considered somewhat inappropriate for women to sing loudly or alone. Páskani - "dance" or "ceremony" - often implicitly includes music and is often applied to ceremonies with little dancing and much singing. Blackfoot music is an "emblem of the heroic and the difficult in Blackfoot life." This is evidenced by: "the separation of music from the rest of life through aspects of performance practice, a sharp distinction between singing and speaking, the absence of words in many songs, and the use of song texts to impart major points in myth in a condensed and concentrated form all relate music to the heroic aspect of life. There is a close association of music to warfare and the fact that most singing was done by men and the musical role, even today, of community leaders and principal carriers of tradition. The acquisition of songs as associated with difficult feats--learned in visions brought about through self-denial and torture, required to be learned quickly, sung with the expenditure of great energy, sung in a difficult vocal style--all of this puts songs in the category of the heroic and the difficult." Dance The Buffalo Dance - One of the primary sources of food and other needs was the American Bison. The typical hunting method was drive a herd off a cliff and butcher them after they died at the bottom of the cliff. Similar methods were used in ancient Europe.The night before, the shaman ceremonially smokes tobacco and prays to the sun. His wives are not allowed to leave their home, nor even look outside, until he returns; they were to pray to the sun and continually burn sweet grass. Fasting and dressed in a bison headdress, the shaman led a group of people at the head of a V formation. He attracted the herd's attention and brought them near the cliff; they were then scared by other men hiding behind them, who waved their robes and shouted. The bison ran off the cliff and died at the rocks below. According to legend, at one point the bison refused to go over the cliff. A woman walking underneath the cliff saw a herd right on the edge and pledged to marry one which jumped down. One did so and survived, turning into many dead buffalo at the bottom of the cliff. The woman's people ate the meat and the young woman left with the buffalo. Her father went in search of her. When he stopped to rest, he told a magpie to search for his daughter and tell her where he was. The magpie found the woman and told her where her father was located. The woman met her father but refused to go home, frightened that the bison would kill her and her father; she said to wait until they were all asleep and would not miss her for some time. When she returned to the bison, her husband smelled another person and, gathering his herd, found the father and trampled him to death. The woman cried and her husband said that if she could bring her father back to life, they could both return to their tribe. The woman asked the magpie to find a piece of her father's body; he found a piece of his spine. The woman covered the bone with her robe and sang a song. She was successful and her father was reincarnated. Impressed, the woman's husband taught them a dance which would attract the bison and ensure success in the hunt and which would restore the dead bison to life, just as the woman had restored her father to life. The father and daughter returned to their tribe and taught a small group of men, eventually known as I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi ("all compatriots"), the dances. The Blackfoot also dance the Grass Dance, which they absorbed from the Assiniboin in the 1890s. Mythology Cosmology In Blackfoot mythology there is also a supernatural world, dominated above the natural world by the sun, and below by the beaver. The sun is sometimes personified by the part human Napi, or Old Man. The area in which the Blackfoot lived was created by Old Man exploring the area on his way north. The numbers four, the cardinal directs, and seven, the six principle points and center, are important in Blackfoot mythology. Communication occurs between the supernatural world and Blackfoot through visions of guardian spirits, during which useful songs and ceremonies may be imparted, such as that of medicine bundles. Ceremonies include the Sun Dance, called Medicine Lodge by the Blackfoot in English. Napi also gave the Blackfoot visions, and by implication Blackfoot music: "Now, if you are overcome, you may go and sleep, and get power. Something will come to you in your dream, that will help you. Whatever these animals tell you to do, you must obey them....Whatever animal answers your prayer, you must listen to him." (Nettl, 1989)
Great Chiefs & LeadersGeronimo Eskadi Shiwawatiwa Three Eagles Black Dog He Who Knows All Lies The Story Teller He Dog Ten Bears Two Moon Wolf's Robe Chief Joseph Chief Sitting Bull American Horse (Sioux)Black Elk (Lakota)Big Bear (Cree)Bigfoot (Lakota)Abel Bosum (Cree)Joseph Brant (Mohawk)Cochise (Apache)ChoncapeChou-man-i-caseCorn PlanterCrazy Horse/Tashunkewitko (Lakota)Dan GeorgeDull Knife (Cheyenne)Eagle og DelightFrank Fools CrowGall (Hunkpapa Sioux)Geronimo/Goyathlay (Apache)He-Dog (Oglala)Little Wolf (Lakota)Hole-in-the-Day (Ojibway)John Ross (Cherokee)Joseph (Nez Perce)KeokukLittle Crow (Kaposia Sioux)Little Turtle (Miami)Little Wolf (Cheyenne)Low-Dog (Lakota)Joseph (Nez Perce)MougoOhiyesa/Dr. Charles Alexander Eastman (Santee Sioux) OihduzeOsceola (Seminole)Pontiac (Ottawa)Pope (Tewa)PotalesharoQuanah Parker (Comanche)Rain-in-the-Face (Sioux)Red Cloud (Lakota)Red Jacket (Seneca)Roman Nose (Cheyenne)Santana (Kiowa)Sequoya (Cherokee)Sitting Bull (Hunkpapa Sioux)Spotted Tail (Brule Sioux)Standing Bear (Lakota)Tamahay (Sioux)Tecumseh (Shawnee)Two Strike/Tashunkekokipapi (Sioux)Washakie (Shoshoni)Wicked ChiefWolf Robe (Cheyenne)Wovoka (Paiute)
ShoshoneThe Shoshone, Shoshoni or Snake are a Native American group consisting of several bands. They are closely related to the Paiutes, Commanches, and the Utes and shared very similar Shoshone languages. The historic Shoshone Indians, of the Uto-Aztecan linguistic stock, occupied territory in California, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming, although most of them seemed to be settled in the Snake river area in Idaho. Louis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark expedition (1804-1806) was the first United States overland expedition to the Pacific coast and back.The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 sparked interest in expansion to the west coast. A few weeks after the purchase, United States President Thomas Jefferson, an advocate of western expansion, had U.S. Congress appropriate $2500, "to send intelligent officers with ten or twelve men, to explore even to the western ocean". They were to study the Indian tribes, botany, geology, Western Terrain and wildlife in the region, as well as evaluate the potential interference of British and French-Canadian hunters and trappers who were already well established in the area. The expedition was not the first to cross North America, but was roughly a decade after the expedition of Alexander Mackenzie, the first European to cross North America by land north of Mexico, in 1793. Jefferson selected Captain Meriwether Lewis to lead the expedition, afterwards known as the Corps of Discovery; Lewis selected William Clark as his partner. Due to bureaucratic delays in the US Army, Clark officially only held the rank of Second Lieutenant at the time, but Lewis concealed this from the men and shared the leadership of the expedition, always referring to Clark as "Captain". The group, consisting of 33 members, departed from Camp Dubois and began their historic journey on May 14, 1804. They soon met-up with Lewis in Saint Charles, Missouri and the approximately forty men followed the Missouri River westward. Soon they passed Le Rochette, the last white settlement on the Missouri River. On August 20, 1804 The Corps of Discovery suffered its first and only death when Sergeant Charles Floyd died, apparently from acute appendicitis. In the winter of 1804-1805 they wintered at Fort Mandan. The Shoshone/Hidatsa native woman Sacagawea and her husband, French Canadian Toussaint Charbonneau, joined the group from there and guided them westward. Sacagawea and her Shoshone tribe came from futher west. Not only did Lewis and Clark feel that she could aid them in translation, but they thought that when they got to that part of the country, she could take them to her native home. The expedition followed the Missouri through what is now Kansas City, Missouri and Omaha, Nebraska, crossed the Rocky Mountains and descended by the Clearwater River, the Snake River, and the Columbia River, past Celilo Falls and through what is now Portland, Oregon until they reached the Pacific Ocean in the December of 1805. At this point in time, Lewis spotted Mt. Hood, a mountain known to be very close to the ocean. By that time the expedition faced its second bitter winter during the trip, so the group decided to vote on whether to camp on the north or south side of the Columbia River. That was a "Real American Moment", for York, who was a slave, and Sacagawea, who was an Indian and a woman, voted along with the rest of the men of the party. The party agreed to camp on the south side of the river (modern Astoria, OR) , building Fort Clatsop as their winter quarters. While wintering at the fort, the men prepared for the trip home by boiling salt from the ocean, hunting elk and other wildlife. Mostly they just endured the persistent rain. Lewis and Clark played a key role in the putting together of the United States. They had to act largely as diplomats for the President because when they met an Indian tribe, they had to tell them that the land now belonged to the United States. Without these calm meetings, the white settlers from the East would have stormed the Indian Country much too soon, and there would have been total chaos. Historical documents from the Lewis and Clark expedition often refer to the Shoshone as the "Snake Indians"; the actual name "Shoshone" means "The Valley People". The name means inland, or in the valley. Sacajawea Sacagawea (Sakakawea, Sacajawea, Sacajewea) (1787- 1812) was a Native American woman who accompanied the Corps of Discovery with Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Most of what is known of her life is from incomplete records and is therefore imbued with a great deal of legend and hearsay. She was born to a tribe of Shoshone near what is now Three Forks, Montana, and betrothed at an early age to a much older man. However, in 1800, she was kidnapped by a group of Hidatsa, and taken to their village near the present Washburn, North Dakota. She therefore grew up culturally affiliated with this tribe; her name is taken from the Hidatsa phrase for "Bird Woman." She was named so because when she was born a flock of white birds flew overhead. At the age of about sixteen she married a French trapper, Toussaint Charbonneau, who was also concurrently married to another Shoshone woman (he had purchased both from the Hidatsa as slaves). Sacagawea was pregnant with their first child when the Corps of Discovery arrived in the area to spend the winter of 1804/5. Needing someone to interpret the Hidatsa language, Lewis and Clark interviewed Charbonneau for the job. Although they were not overly impressed with him, the deal was sealed when they discovered that Sacagawea spoke Shoshone, an added bonus. She would become invaluable in her role as interpreter, as seen below. Sacagawea gave birth to a son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, on February 11, 1805 while staying with the party at Fort Mandan. She would carry the infant throughout the entire trip to the Pacific Ocean and back. This had a very salubrious effect for the party - native tribes spotting the expedition knew that war parties didn't generally travel with a mother and child, and would therefore approach in a friendly manner. Undoubtedly this dispelled quite a bit of friction with the people they met throughout the excursion. Contrary to a common romantic view, Sacagawea did not act as a "guide" per se on the main part of the trip; her knowledge of the land was limited to the areas in which she grew up. Once the party was past her former Shoshone settlement, her knowledge of the land was no greater than that of the rest of the group. She did however perform well as a "pilot" in the North Dakota/Montana area; for example, she was able to help the group get a bearing on the return trip by pointing out Bozeman Pass. Her main duties were as a translator, and this worked in a very circuitous way. For example, with the Shoshone, she would translate into Hidatsa to her husband Charbonneau, who would then translate into French (he knew little English, but several others in the party knew French). The value of having Sacagawea as a Shoshone translator was proved when they reached her old village, and she was reunited with her brother, Cameahwait, who had by that time become a tribal leader. This smoothed the way in the negotiation to obtain much-needed horses from the Shoshone. As recorded in the expedition's journals for May 14, 1805, Sacagawea proved crucial to the success of the project when her husband Charbonneau capsized a pirogue the group was using to make its way upriver. Unable to swim, Charbonneau flew into a panic and was unable to help right the situation; Sacagawea therefore calmly went about collecting items which had been lost into the river: instruments, trade items and - perhaps most important, at least to future generations - the water-sodden pages of the journals themselves. After their return to Fort Mandan, the members of the expedition parted ways with Sacagawea in August of 1805 They extended an offer to take the Charbonneau family to St. Louis, offering to provide land for the family to farm and an education for Jean Baptiste. This offer was declined at the time, but by 1809 the family had moved to St. Louis. Toussaint Charbonneau abandoned farming after a few months, going with Sacagawea to Fort Manuel (near today's North Dakota/South Dakota border) and leaving Jean Baptiste in the care of William Clark. Records of Fort Manuel show that Charbonneau then left Sacagawea there while he was off on further travels, and that she died in December 1812 of "putrid fever" (which was at the time a description for what is now called diphtheria). She would have been approximately 25 years old at the time. It is important to note that these records are disputed by many Native Americans, and there also is wide belief among the Shoshone people and historians that Sacagawea died from old age on April 9, 1884 at nearly 100 years old. For these reasons, she has 2 gravesites. Myths and Legends Reliable historical information about Sacagawea is extremely limited. For example, there was no contemporary portrait made of her. Regrettably, the lack of records has fostered a number of myths about Sacagawea. One of these is that she was romantically involved with Lewis or Clark; while the journals show that she was friendly with Clark and would often do favors for him, the idea of a liaison is almost certainly manufactured wholly by novelists who wrote about the expedition decades and centuries later. Another legend surrounding Sacagawea involves a Shoshone woman who claimed to be her, and who died at the Wind River Band reservation in Wyoming on April 9, 1884. The Wyoming DAR in 1963 went so far as to erect a Sacagawea monument near Lander on the basis of this claim. There is, however, no proof of it being true, and it is not accepted by most serious historians. The Shoshone were few in numbers, their total population being somewhere in the area of 8000. The Shoshone lived in a wide area around the Great Basin and Great Plains areas in a number of bands headed by chiefs with shifting membership. The Shoshone adopted a horse culture but had trouble competing with tribes to their east who had better access to European trade and weapons. The tribe was party to the Fort Bridger Treaty Council of 1868. Famous tribe members include Washakie, Sacagawea who guided the Lewis and Clark expedition, and Pocatello whose name was used by the city of Pocatello, Idaho. There are three large divisions of the Shoshone - the Northern, the Western and the Eastern. The Northern concentrated in eastern Idaho, western Wyoming, and north-eastern Utah. The Eastern lived in Wyoming, northern Colorado and Montana. Conflict with the Blackfoot, Crow, Sioux Cheyennes, and Arapahos pushed them south and westward after about 1750. The Western ranged from central Idaho, northwestern Utah, central Nevada, and in California about Death Valley and Panamint Valley. This group is sometimes called the Panamint. The Idaho groups of Western Shoshone were called Tukuaduka, or Sheep Eaters while the Nevada/Utah ones were called the Gosiute and the Toi Ticutta (cattail eaters). The estimated population of Northern and Western Shoshoni was 4,500 in 1845. 3,650 Northern Shoshoni and 1,201 Western Shoshoni were counted in 1937 by the United States Office of Indian Affairs.The Northern Shoshone fought conflicts with settlers in Idaho in the 1860s which included the Bear River Massacre and again in 1878 in the Bannock War. In 1875, resident Ulysses S. Grant established a 100 square mile executive order reservation for the Lemhi Valley Shoshone, establishing the Lemhi Valley Indian Reservation for use by the Shoshone, Bannock, and Sheepeater tribes. They fought with the U.S. Army in the 1876 Battle of the Rosebud against their traditional enemies, the Lakota and Cheyenne. 1883In 1905, nearly one hundred years after their first contact with the white man, the Lemhi Shoshone began their "Trail of Tears", being forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands to the Fort Hall Indian Reservation to their newly "appointed" home. Today, the Shoshone are still waiting to become a Federally recognized tribe, along with over 200 other Native American tribes such as the California Chumash and the North-Eastern Abenakis. There has been much controversy surrounding the U.S. Government's plans to commemorate the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition. References NATIVE AMERICANS ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS INDEX
MOHAWK NATION The Kanienkehaka, or Mohawk tribe of Native American people live around Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River in what is now Canada and the United States. Their traditional homeland is further South, in New York State, around present day Albany, New York. They belong to the Iroquois confederation. After the pre-historic formation of the Iroquois confederation (Hodenosaunee), the Mohawks became keepers of the Eastern Door, guarding the members against invasions from that direction. During the 17th century, the Mohawks became allied with the Dutch at Fort Orange, New Netherland (now Albany, New York). Their Dutch trade partners equipped the Mohawks to fight against other nations allied with the French, including the Ojibwes, Huron-Wendats, and Algonkins. After the fall of New Netherland to the English, the Mohawks became allies of the English Crown. Because of ongoing conflict with Anglo-American settlers infiltrating into the Mohawk Valley and outstanding treaty obligations to the Crown, the Mohawks generally fought against the United States during the American Revolutionary War, the War of the Wabash Confederacy, and the War of 1812. After the Americans' victory, one prominent Mohawk leader, Joseph Brant, led a large group of Iroquois out of New York to a new homeland at Six Nations of the Grand River, Ontario. On November 11, 1794, representatives of the Mohawks (along with the other Haudenosaunee nations) signed the Treaty of Canandaigua with the United States. One large group of Mohawks, who were expelled by the United States as traitors were given land by the British Governor Craig and imposed to French speaking Quebecois who were refused new land because of not being English. They stayed in the vicinity of Montreal, where they served as the mercenaries of the British army. One of the most famous Catholic Mohawks was Kateri, who was later beatified. From this group descend the Mohawks of Kahnawake, Akwesasne and Kanesatake. Members of the Mohawk tribe now live in settlements spread throughout New York State and Southeastern Canada. Among these are Ganienkeh and Kanatsiohareke in Northeast New York, Akwesasne/St.Regis along the Ontario-New York State border, Kanesatake/Oka and Kahnawake/Caughnawaga in southwest Quebec, and Tyendinaga and Wahta/Gibson in southern Ontario. Mohawks also form the majority on the mixed Iroquois reserve, Six Nations of the Grand River, in Ontario. Many Mohawk communities have two sets of chiefs that exist in parallel and are in some sense rivals. One group are the hereditary chiefs nominated by clan matriarchs in the traditional fashion; the other are elected chiefs with whom the Canadian and US governments usually deals exclusively. Since the 1980s, Mohawk politics have been driven by factional disputes over gambling. Both the elected chiefs and the controversial Warrior Society have encouraged gaming as a means of ensuring tribal self-sufficiency on the various reserves/reservations, while traditional chiefs have opposed gaming on moral grounds and out of fear of corruption and organized crime. Such disputes have also been associated with religious divisions: the traditional chiefs are often associated with the Longhouse tradition, while Warrior Society has attacked that religion in favour of the pre-Longhouse Old tradition. Meanwhile, the elected chiefs have tended to be associated (though in a much looser and general way) with democratic values. The Government of Canada who ruled the Indians imposed English school and separated families to place children in english boarding school. Mohawks like in other tribes have lost their native language and many left the reserve to mesh with the English Canadian culture. The Mohawks, like many indigenous tribes in the Great Lakes region, wore a type of hair style in which all their hair would be cut off except for a narrow strip down the middle of the scalp. Today such a hair style is still called a Mohawk. Food Women practiced corn (maize) agriculture while men hunted during the fall and winter and fished during the summer. Homes Related families lived together in longhouses, the symbols of Iroquois society. Political According to traditional accounts the Mohawk leader Hiawatha was the first to accept the principles of peace preached by the prophet of peace, Peacemaker, who founded the Iroquois League. The Mohawk had nine representatives in the league, three from each of their clans of the Turtle, Wolf, and Bear. Communities Each Mohawk community also had a local council that guided the village chief or chiefs. War The Mohawk frequently warred against neighboring Algonkian tribes; the Dutch introduction of firearms in trade for beaver skins increased the number of Mohawk victories. After contact with Europeans, however, their population decreased rapidly. Most Mohawk took the part of the British in the French and Indian War, but some Catholic converts (the "praying Indians of Quebec") at mission settlements on the St. Lawrence River, principally at Caughnawaga, espoused the French cause and guided expeditions against their former brothers of the league. Later, during the American Revolution, the Mohawk were pro-British, under their leader Joseph Brant and followed him to Canada, where they have descendants at the Bay of Quinte and Six Nations Indian Reserve at Brantford, Ont. Their total number in the late 20th century was about 5,000. Some are successful farmers, and others are workers in structural steel in the United States and Canada, traveling from city to city to find jobs. The danger of this work seems to constitute part of its attraction for the Mohawk. MOHAWK PROPHECIES
| View | LEGENDS A Lakota LegendMany moons ago when the world was still very young, the plant and animal life was enjoying the beautiful summer weather. But as the days went by, autumn set in, and the weather became colder with each passing day.The grass and flower folk were in a sad condition, for they had no protection from the sharp cold. Just when it seemed that there was no hope for living, He who looks after the things of His creation came to their aid. He said that the leaves of the trees should fall to the ground, spreading a soft, warm blanket over the tender roots of the grass and flowers. To repay the trees for the loss of their leaves, He allowed them one last bright array of beauty.That is why, each year, during Indian summer the trees take on their pretty farewell colors of red, gold, and brown. After this final display they turn to their appointed task-covering the Earth with a thick rug of warmth against the chill of winter.The Old Woman In The CaveA Sioux LegendThis story told by Chief Lost Feather is similar to a legend that is recorded among the Sioux. Although the Sioux are generally associated with peoples originating around the Ohio River basin and the Great Lakes, they were related to tribes that migrated extensively throughout the central plains area from Arkansas to Canada.Both the Quapaw and the Osage belonged to the Siouan language group, which presents the possibility that visitors from one of these tribes could have introduced the story in the Hot Springs area where it became associated with West Mountain.A secret, mystic cave hidden somewhere on West Mountain has been the home for many centuries of an old woman who lives there with her dog.The old woman spends her time diligently weaving a beautiful rug from pine needles that she has collected in the forest. Her dog spends his time napping in a corner of the cave and watching his mistress through narrow slits in his eyes.From time to time, the old woman lays down her rug and goes to stir the soup she keeps cooking in a clay pot over a fire at the mouth of the cave. When she does this, the dog creeps out of his corner and, taken the rug in his jaws, shakes it until he has unraveled a part of it.When the old woman returns to her work, she patiently tries to restore the damaged rug and resumes her weaving, but soon she must again attend to the soup that boils in her pot. Each time she leaves the rug, the sly old dog again ravels as much or more than she has been able to complete at the last sitting.Thus, down through the years, the two have continued their ritual of weaving, raveling, and reweaving, but the rug never grows any larger. This is a good thing, for if ever the rug is finished, the world as we know it will come to an end.Sacred OtterA Blackfoot LegendChill breezes had long forewarned the geese of the coming cold season, and the constant cry from about of "honk, honk," told the Indians that the birds' migration was in progress.The buffalo-hunters of the Blackfoot, an Algonquin tribe, were abroad with the object of procuring the thick robes and the rich meat which would keep them warm and provide good fare through the desolate winter moons. Sacred Otter had been lucky. Many buffaloes had fallen to him, and he was busily occupied in skinning them. But while the braves plied the knife quickly and deftly they heeded not the dun, lowering clouds heavy with tempest hanging like a black curtain over the northern horizon. Suddenly the clouds swooped down from their place in the heavens like a flight of black eagles, and with a roar the blizzard were upon them. Sacred Otter and his son crouched beneath the carcass of a dead buffalo for shelter, but he knew that they would quickly perish unless they could find some better protection from the bitter wind. So he made a small tipi, or tent, out of the buffalo's hide, and both crawled inside. Against this crazy shelter the snow quickly gathered and drifted, so that soon the inmates of the tiny lodge sank into a comfortable drowse induced by the gentle warmth. As Sacred Otter slept he dreamed. Away in the distance he saw a great tipi, crowned with a color like the gold of sunlight, and painted with a cluster of stars symbolic of the North. The ruddy disc of the sun was pictured on the back, and to this was affixed the tail of the Sacred Buffalo. The skirts of the tipi were painted to represent ice, and on its side had been drawn four yellow legs with green claws, typical of the Thunder-bird. A buffalo in glaring red frowned above the door, and bunches of crow-feathers, with small bells attached, swung and tinkled in the breeze. Sacred Otter, surprised at the unusual nature of the paintings, stood before the tipi lost in admiration of its decorations, when he was startled to hear a voice say: "Who walks around my tipi? Come in---come in!" Sacred Otter entered, and beheld a tall, white-haired man, clothed all in white, sitting at the back of the lodge, of which he was the sole occupant. Sacred Otter took a seat, but the owner of the tipi never looked his way, smoking on in stolid silence. Before him was an earthen altar, on which was laid juniper, as in the Sun ceremony. His face was painted yellow, with a red line in the region of the mouth, and another across the eyes to the ears. Across his breast he wore a mink-skin, and round his waist small strips of otter-skin, to all of which bells were attached. For a long time, he kept silence, but at length he laid down his black stone pipe and addressed Sacred Otter as follows: "I am Es-tonea-pesta, the Lord of Cold Weather, and this, my dwelling, is the Snow-tipi, or Yellow Paint Lodge. I control and send the driving snow and biting winds from the Northland. You are here because I have taken pity on you, and on your son who was caught in the blizzard with you. Take this Snow-tipi with its symbols and medicines. Take also this mink-skin tobacco-pouch, this black stone pipe, and my supernatural power. You must make a tipi similar to this on your return to camp." The Lord of Cold Weather then minutely explained to Sacred Otter the symbols of which he must make use in painting the lodge, and gave him the songs and ceremonies connected with it. At this juncture Sacred Otter awoke. He observed that the storm had abated somewhat, and as soon as it grew fair enough he and his son crawled from their shelter and tramped home waist-high through the soft snow. Sacred Otter spent the long, cold nights in making a model of the Snow-tipi and painting it as he had been directed in his dream. He also collected the "medicines" necessary for the ceremony, and in the spring, when new lodges were made, he built and made the Snow-tipi. The power of Sacred Otter waxed great because of his possession of the Snow- lodge which the Lord of Cold had vouchsafed to him in dream. Soon was it proved. Once more while hunting buffalo he and several companions were caught in a blizzard when many a weary mile from camp. They appealed to Sacred Otter to utilize the "medicine" of the Lord of Cold. Directing that several women and children who were with the party should be placed on sledges, and that the men should go in advance and break a passage through the snow for the horses, he took the mink tobacco-pouch and the black stone pipe he had received from the Cold, maker and commenced to smoke. He blew the smoke in the direction whence the storm came and prayed to the Lord of Cold to have pity on the people.Gradually the storm-clouds broke and cleared and on every side the blue sky was seen. The people hastened on, as they knew the blizzard was only being held back for a space. But their camp was at hand, and they soon reached it in safety.Never again, however, would Sacred Otter use his mystic power. For he dreaded that he might offend the Lord of Cold. And who could afford to do that? The Eagle's RevengeA Cherokee LegendOnce a hunter in the mountains heard a noise at night like a rushing wind outside the cabin, and on going out he found that an eagle had just alighted on the drying pole and was tearing at the body of a deer hanging there. Without thinking of the danger, he shot the eagle. In the morning he took the deer and started back to the settlement, where he told what he had done, and the chief sent out some men to bring in the eagle and arrange for an Eagle dance. They brought back the dead eagle, everything was made ready, and that night they started the dance in the townhouse.About midnight there was a whoop outside and a strange warrior came into the circle and began to recite his exploits. No one knew him, but they thought he had come from one of the farther Cherokee towns.He told how he had killed a man, and at the end of the story he gave a hoarse yell, Hi! that startled the whole company, and one of the seven men with the rattles fell over dead. He sang of another deed, and at the end straightened up with another loud yell. A second rattler fell dead, and the people were so full of fear that they could not stir from their places.Still he kept on, and at every pause there came again that terrible scream, until the last of the seven rattlers fell dead, and then the stranger went out into the darkness. Long afterward they learned from the eagle killer that it was the brother of the eagle shot by the hunter. http://www.axel-jacob.de/legend1.html The Peace Pipe Ceremony Those who desire to benefit their spiritual path by learning Native American knowledge and wisdom, some of which will come through the ceremonies, are recommended to get a peace pipe. The peace pipe is not restricted to only Indians. It has been jealously guarded by Native Americans, however, because many are fearful that the pipe may be used disrespectfully by non-Indian people. Many believe that a powerful good for all things can emanate from the respectful and proper use of the pipe, but it must be regarded as a spiritual instrument by the pipe holder, whatever their lineage or color happens to be. The pipe can become a strong catalyst to import a powerful feeling for our Mother Earth and all living things. Black Elk predicted that we would go forth in numbers as flames to bring forth beneficial change to this generation. The pipe, and the respectful pipe holder, will be a needed force to disseminate a spiritual basis for the goal being sought throughout this nation. There are far too few Native American pipe holders to accomplish all of this alone. Even some Native Americans must be reminded of our four cardinal principles: respect for Wakan Tanka, respect for Mother Earth, respect for our fellow man and woman, and respect for individual freedom. There are many good and understanding non-Indian brothers and sisters who deeply respect the knowledge and wisdom that emanates from the Indian Way. In the past, we suffered greatly from those that came upon the red path only to convert, destroy and replace it. Those of this new era seek to help, not to destroy. They are open-minded, not narrow minded. Indian people should allow these people insight; together we will all join forces to make a better and a more peaceful world. The ceremonial use of the peace pipe is a simple ritual. The peace pipe serves as a portable altar. It is loaded with tobacco, and only tobacco, or a tobacco variation called kinnic kinnick , which is the bark of the red willow and non-hallucinatory. The bark of the red willow has a pleasant aroma, and served in the old days as a substitute, when tobacco was scarce on the great plains. No form of mind-altering substance is condoned by Native American religion traditionalists. Unfortunately, peyote, a mind altering cactus bud , is wrongfully associated with traditional Native American religion and ceremony. The True Native American Way finds the Great Spirit through "our own juices" (fasting, knowledge and observances of God's creation and the Sun Dance, Vision Quest, and Sweat Lodge ceremonies). We do not need or use hallucinating substances. The pipe ceremony begins with loading tobacco, a natural substance, into a pipe and then acknowledging the four directions, Mother Earth, and Father Sky; it culminates with the final offering to the Great Spirit. The pipe is held firmly by the bowl in the palm of the hand with the stem pointed outward. The last step of the pipe offering is the holding up of the pipe with its stem pointed straight upward, out into the center of the universe. Although the Indian admits that God is everywhere, in ceremony, Wakan Tanka is regarded as above. A Sioux pipe holder might begin with the east direction for the first acknowledgement, but there is no such requirement. I prefer the east because the sun rises in the east, and it is the beginning of a new day for each of us, so the following description begins with an east-facing celebrant. The pipe holder stands to face the east, holding the pipe with its stem pointed eastward in one hand, a pinch of tobacco in the other, and sprinkles some tobacco on the ground before inserting the tobacco in the bowl of the pipe. By sprinkling a portion on the ground, the pipe holder is acknowledging that we must always give back to Mother Earth part of what we have taken. The sprinkling also demonstrates to the onlooking spirit world that a portion of the tobacco is for the powers from the east. The pipe holder may say, Red is the east; It is where the daybreak star, the star of knowledge appears. Red is the rising sun Bringing us a new day New experiences. We thank you, Great Spirit, for each new day That we are allowed to live upon Our Mother Earth From knowledge springs wisdom and goodness And we are thankful, oh Wakan Tanka, For the morning sun that rises in the east. Knowledge shall become the beginning For ultimate peace throughout this world. This is an example of an Indian prayer beginning with the east. Onlooking participants will also face east while the pipe is loaded in such a manner. The pipe holder turns to the south and points the pipe stem in that direction. A new pinch of tobacco is held slightly above eye level in a southerly direction. Onlooking participants face south. The south is yellow. Our Mother Earth gives us growth, gives us all that sustains us, and herbs that heal us. She brings forth the bounty of springtime From the warm south wind and the yellow hoop. We think of strength, growth and physical healing And a time for planting our energies, My friends while we load this pipe. After such acknowledgement, the pinch of tobacco is put into the pipe bowl. The pipe holder then faces west. Black is the color of the west Where the sun goes down. Black is darkness, release, spirit protection. In the darkness, the spirit beings come to us. The spirit beings warn us, Protect us, foretell for us, release for us. They are the spirit helpers to Wakan Tanka. Black is the cup of water; The life-giving rains come from the west, Where the thunder beings live. Water is life. Black stands for the spirit world Which we shall all enter someday. What we do or do not do upon this earth, We shall carry with us over into that spirit world. We shall all join together and either be Ashamed or proud of how we treated one another, How we respected or disrespected our Mother Earth, How we respected or disrespected all living things That are made by the Great Creator, Wakan Tanka. We will see each other And yet know each other in the spirit world. Those we have harmed, They will remind us for eternity. Therefor we must walk the path of truth With one another. The west is where our spiritual wisdom comes from If we care to seek it. The pipe holder sprinkles some tobacco upon Mother Earth and puts some tobacco into the pipe bowl. Every time the pipe holder faces a direction, all onlookers face that direction and listen to the speakers words intently . The last of the four directions is the north. White is for the North. Waziya ouye - the north power Waziya ahtah - the white giant from the north. Strength, endurance, purity, truth Stand for the north. The north covers our Mother Earth With the white blanket of cleansing snow. The snow prevents many sicknesses Found in places without snow. After the winter snows Our Mother Earth wakes refreshed To bring forth the bounty of springtime. For us two-leggeds It is the time of long contemplation. We must think of when we will have The face of the old. We will want to look back upon our lifetime And hope that we stood for the straight road In our relationship to all things. It is also a time to do small things, Crafts and creative works, In order that we may pass through And enjoy our long winters wait. Courage and endurance, These strengths we seek And wish to be blessed with As we stand here facing north. The tobacco is sprinkled to the north and then inserted into the bowl. A note regarding prayer or acknowledgement; Indian people memorize few prayers or acknowledgements. R ote prayers are not recommended. The Our Father, common to Christians, would be considered too lengthy a recital to be memorized by traditional laypeople. Sioux holy men, holy women, and medicine people do chant lengthy songs and prayers in a prescribed manner for certain ceremonies. But, by and large, Indian prayers flow from the heart. A prescribed symbology is followed, especially in regard to the four directions. Knowledge in relationship to the east, growth from the south, and so forth are included, but rote prayers are not generally followed. A note on the colors of the four directions: the red, yellow, black, and white, beginning with red for the east and following clockwise to the south, is in accordance with Black Elk. Some medicine people interpret the four directions as depicted. Many Sioux people, especially those who have not read Black Elk Speaks, however, use other color arrangements; blue is often substituted for black. Traditional Indians do not squabble over the colors. Rarely, if ever, do arguments spawn over such trivialities. Indian people consider it disrespectful to argue over the Great Mystery's mystery. Acknowledge, respect, and do not harm one another or interfere with another's spiritual visions are cardinal traditional Indian principles. After acknowledging the four directions, the pipe holder touches the pipe bowl to the ground./P Green is the color for Mother Earth. Every particle of us comes from her Through the food we take from her daily. We all start out as tiny seeds. ..We have grown to our present state and status Through what she provides. She is truly our Mother And must be acknowledged and respected. Tobacco is sprinkled upon Mother Earth and the pipe is loaded. The pipe is then pointed at an angle to the sky. We usually point our pipe towards the sun; if it is evening, we point it towards the moon, to acknowledge Father Sky. Father Sky gives us energy from the sun. Father Sky provides the fire that Fuels our homes and our lodges And the energy that moves our bodies. Father Sky has daily communion with our Mother. Together, they are our true parents. Some tobacco is sprinkled on the ground, and the major portion is loaded into the pipe. The pipe receives a portion.. of tobacco one last time, and then the pipe is held almost straight up into the sky. Wakan Tanka, Great Spirit, Creator of us all Creator of the four directions, Creator of our Mother Earth and Father Sky And all related things, We offer this pipe. If the pipe ceremony is preceding a Sweat Lodge Ceremony, the address might be as follows: Oh, Great Spirit, We now offer this pipe to begin Our Inipi Ceremony tonight. The pipe tobacco in the bowl is then capped, or temporarily covered, with a piece of sage (flat leaves of cedar or other natural material may be used in place of sage for capping the pipe), which will be removed when the pipe is ready to be smoked. After the sage is inserted, the pipe is placed on a pipe rack to await the completion of the ceremony that will follow. (Many pipe bowls, especially on ceremonial pipes, have a pointed tip. The pointed end is inserted into the ground with the stem usually pointed towards the sun or moon. In the Sun Dance Ceremony and during an evening Sweat Lodge, pipe stems generally face the west.) If a pipe is to be smoked immediately after loading, it need not be capped. In a Sweat Lodge Ceremony, the pipe is smoked following the ceremony, after the participants emerge from the lodge. The ceremony ends in the smoking of the peace pipe. Usually the participants will change into dry clothing, before they gather in a circle to smoke the peace pipe. After this last ritual, the participants can then partake of a meal, which is a general custom following an evening sweat that is not a preparatory ceremony for a Vision Quest or the Sun Dance. The smoke from the pipe represents the participants' visible breath and stands for truth: truthful words, truthful actions, and a truthful spirit. In regard to the actual smoking, most participants do not inhale the tobacco. Nonsmokers simply hold the pipe for a moment and then pass it on to the next person. If there is still some unburned tobacco remaining within the bowl after the pipe has made its journey around the circle, one who smokes will general be asked to smoke out all the tobacco loaded in the pipe; the ashes will be cleaned from the pipe and sprinkled upon Mother Earth. The pipe ceremony is then finished. The pipe is then disassembled. It's bowl, generally, resides within a red cloth sack within a pipe carrier's buckskin or animal hide pipe bag. A cloth pipe bag may be used in place of a hide . When a peace pipe is loaded indoors, a woman will usually serve as acceptor for the tobacco that is normally sprinkled unto Mother Earth. The woman represents the White Buffalo Calf Woman and will take the accumulation of tobacco offered to the four directions, Mother Earth, Father Sky, and the Great Spirit outside at some later time and sprinkle the tobacco upon the earth. History of the Maya History of the Maya The Maya nation is an homogeneous group of people who have occupied roughly the same territory for thousands of years. They speak some thirty languages that are so similar that linguists believe that they all have the same origin, a proto Mayan language that could be as much as 7000 years old! They will will explain how geographical isolation made the original language evolve towards an eastern branch subdivided into proto-K'iche and Mam and a western branch subdivided into proto-Q'anjob and proto-Tzeltal and how the further division of these sub branches gave rise to the 30 languages spoken today. The in situ evolution of their language implies that they were the original permanent inhabitants of the Maya area and suggests that that today's two million Mayas probably share a very ancient common genetic origin.That is quite different from the warlike Aztec and Inca nations who invaded their neighbours and absorbed their populations by imposing their language, customs and religion. The Aztecs were a small ambitious "Chichimec" (savage) tribe from the north west who migrated into new lands, absorbed new ideas, evolved further and grew powerful enough to impose their language and gods (Huitzilopochtli), on the indigenous people they conquered. It is the story of outsiders becoming the governing elite of pre-existing populations for a relatively short time. The Incas of Cuzco were also a short lived foreign elite governing a wide variety of pre-existing nations.The Maya had no centralised political leadership. They developed a common culture by absorbing and developing elements borrowed from their neighbours. The long count calendar, writing with glyphs and the basic tenets of their religion can be traced directly to the Olmecs through Izapa. The Olmec civilisation disappeared before the advent of the Christ but its heritage formed the basis for all other mezoamerican civilisations such as the Monte Alban Zapotec, the great Teotihuacan hegemony, the Tula Toltecs and finally the Aztecs.The Maya were also influenced by Teotihuacan that controlled the Mexican highlands from the first to the seventh centuries. The Mayan golden age lasted five centuries from 300 to 800 AD. Then, they stopped building temples, declined and became fragmented in competing states that were easy prey for invading forces from the north such as the Toltec which had been expelled from Tula around the end of the 10th century. The Toltecs became the ruling elite of the Maya in the post classic period. Toltec gods were added to the Maya pantheon but the Toltecs were absorbed as they leaned to speak Yucatec Maya.The Maya were organised in city states, sometimes co-operating, sometimes fighting each other but they shared the same beliefs and deferred to priests who derived power from their knowledge of astronomy, mathematics and numerology. The Maya were very much aware of the passage of time. They recorded some dates on stelae and probably much more in books that are lost now because fanatical Spanish Catholic priests destroyed them to eradicate "pagan beliefs". Retracing the history of the Maya is like finding the solution of a detective novel for we have to rely on whatever clues we can find in what is left of archaeological sites that the Spanish did not plunder or destroy.There are many unanswered questions about the Maya but the cause of their decline remains the greatest mystery. Their civilisation was not destroyed by an overwhelming outside force. The Olmec suffered the destruction of San Lorenzo around 900 BC and that of La Venta around 600 BC but no such catastrophe befell the Maya. Similarly, Teotihuacan was destroyed by warfare around 700 and so was Tula around 1000 AD but Maya power disintegrated from within. Many hypotheses have been proposed, overpopulation, famine, epidemics, civil disorder... Some of these factors might have played a role in some places but I tend to think that the common people just stopped believing in the dogma the elites were using to establish their power and justify their excesses. The Real Truth about scapingColonists Scalp Native Americans (February 20, 1725) A group of American colonists attacked a Native American encampment in New Hampshire, taking 10 scalps, for which the British government paid a bounty of £ 100 each. The colonists, led by Captain John Lovewell, had been authorized to conduct revenge attacks for raids by the Indians against British settlements. They had had some success, killing and scalping an Indian man and taking a boy prisoner in December, 1724. On February 20, 1725, they came across an encampment, and hid in the woods until 2 AM. Once they were sure that the enemy was asleep, they fired volleys into the camp, killing 9 Indians and wounding one more. He tried to flee, but was chased down by a dog and killed. The dead were scalped, and in early March, Lovewell marched into Boston, wearing a wig constructed from several scalps, and carrying the plunder from the raidblankets, moccasins, snowshoes and rifles. Lovewells raids were the first recorded instances of Europeans scalping Native Americans. The practice is traditionally associated with North American Indian tribes. Episodes such as this one, however, have led some people to believe that the Europeans actually introduced scalping to America. In 1820, an Allegheny Seneca chieftain named Cornplanter claimed that the Indians were peaceful until Europeans came. There is also some evidence that if they did not invent scalping, European settlers did help to spread the practice westward as they emigrated across the continent. The archeological evidence, however, suggests that scalping did in fact originate in the Americas, and that it was widespread long before European contact. Skulls bearing evidence of scalping have been found throughout the Americas, many of them dating to hundreds of years before European contact. What the Europeans did introduce was the practice of paying bounties for scalps. These bounties led to an increase in scalpings by white settlers, male and female; a woman named Hanna Duston was actually known as "The Hatchet Lady" for her scalping activities. It seems likely that as scalping by whites became more common, Native Americans may also have begun taking more scalps, and that tribes which had not previously practiced scalping may have begun to do so in revenge for the scalpings carried out against their people. If this is the case, then Native Americans and European settlers may actually have taught each other to scalp. Native American Medicine in the American Colonies Theory of MedicineMany Native American tribes believed that illness occurred from the possession of spirits, sorcery, and demonic interference (1). There was no such thing as death by natural causes. Because of these forces, there was a tendency for the body to become unbalanced, an idea that is not too uncommon from the beliefs of European Americans. Most treatments for ailments were based on the belief in magic (2). Europeans saw these Native physicians only as ?jugglers? and ?conjurors?(3). The many diseases that the Europeans brought were devastating to the Natives. Many of them believed that spirits were angered with them, therefore favored the white man in health (4). Some Europeans who did not like the techniques employed in their society, (purging, bleeding) therefore some went to Native Americans for less invasive procedures. Europeans felt that Natives had ?skill and success? and were impressed that they could find any remedy within one thousand feet of their homes (5).ShamanThe Native Americans lives like the lives of many other people revolved around there religion and spirituality. Therefore, one of the most respected man in the village was the Shaman or Medeoulin (name changing accordingly). They were second in social standing only to the chief, who also worshiped the shaman. A shaman could be a man or a woman in Native American Society, as this was not a profession that crossed any gender borders, it was a professional gray area. It was not a physically taxing job like that of a man?s role, but was not doing laundry or tending to children either. A shaman was closer to the spirit world than any other. They could recruit non-human messengers and helpers. They could also predict the future and the weather (6). Essentially the role of this person within medicine was to ?diagnose? problems and come up with a suitable treatment for the ailment. Sometimes the course of action led to the death to a patient, and also the shaman if the community did not believe they acted to their fullest ability to save the person in question (7).Characteristics of a "worthy" shaman were often identified when the person was just a child. They were then forced into the profession, often under protest. A shaman is ?elected? into the position and is not usually envied. Shaman were also often moody, preoccupied and very antisocial. They were denied regular rights such as marriage, having children and being normal members of the culture. Because of the much exclusion, Shamans were isolated, feared and often not trusted with any issue other than their trade (8).EquipmentAn Indian housewife cured simple problems, which ranged from cuts to bug bites. In her cabinet she often had: quinine (fever), sassafras (cuts/bruises), datura, ipecac (stomach aches), cascara, which hazel and balsams (congestion) (9). A shaman had many objects at his or her disposal: spells and enchantments (often in a sacred chant), and personal possessions handed down from previous generations: charms, ointments, prayer sticks, magical stones, gourds, rattles, drums, pills, potions, medicine spears, masks, feather fans, pipes and tubes (for blowing smoke, and extracting sickness), and a medicine bundle (10). A medicine bundle contained many different objects that were carried everywhere by a shaman, they usually weighed a couple of pounds and were very compact. Many of the medicinal objects within the bundle were not used in actual treatments but rather were religious props. One Winnebago medicine bundle contained: three paws of a black bear, a bone tube stuffed with small feather wrapped in the skin of an eagles head, enclosed in a pouch of otters skin containing a bunch of feathers, fastened at the mouth with a peace of eagles skin, two cane whistles, a paint bag, a moccasin with herbs inside, four snake skins, a white weasel skin, herbs, a cane whistle, a brown weasel skin, two snake vertebrae, a bone whistle, a cormorant head, a woodpecker head, a black squirrel skin, two small wooden dolls tied together, a dried eagle claw, animals eyes, a horse chestnut, teeth, a wooden bowl and spoon and eight woven pouches with dried herbs (11).TreatmentNatives used a variety of natural herbs and plants to treat and cure many ailments. However in most cases, medication was not the most important product that a shaman would produce. They also had rituals that were preformed. These rituals were often singing, chanting, howling, dancing and sometimes they would watch their patient for hours or days. A shaman would sometimes sit over a patients and experience convulsions, frenzies, seizures or trances (12). Shaman would occasionally enlist the help of animals in the spirit world to help a patient who was suffering terribly. Tobacco was a very common treatment. A shaman would blow smoke into ears, nose and the mouth of sick person the drive the spirit out of them. There are also a variety of other herbs used commonly, mentioned earlier. Treatment of patients was often considered dangerous. Shaman could be attacked by spirits who were extracted from the possessed, and therefore would become either possessed or injured (13). This theology is not unlike that of the European physicians who could also contract disease from giving treatment. Therefore, like the Europeans, the Natives required payment in return of their services. Often payment came in the form of gifts, especially if a treatment was successful. There were many privately practicing shamans, but also there were tribal health services, that were much less expensive (14). Comanche- The only US Army Survivor at the Battle of Little Big Horn.Editorial Note: There are endless descriptions referring to this horse "Comanche" as the "only survivor of the Battle of Little Big Horn". Please remember that there were thousands of brave and victorious survivors among the Indian Nations. They won the battle and they survived the battle. They were fighting for their lands, their family, and maybe most of all, for their way of life. In the end, their cause was lost, and their battle in vain, but we must remember, and honor their skill, bravery, and honor at this great event in our history
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.. "Big Foot, leader of the Sioux, captured at the battle of Wounded Knee, S.D." Here he lies frozen on the snow-covered battlefield where he died, 1890. This statement has me confused capture wouldnt that mean alive. Not dead? White officials became alarmed at the religious fervor and activism and in December 1890 banned the Ghost Dance on Lakota reservations. When the rites continued, officials called in troops to Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations in South Dakota. The military, led by veteran General Nelson Miles, geared itself for another campaign. The presence of the troops exacerbated the situation. Short Bull and Kicking Bear led their followers to the northwest corner of the Pine Ridge reservation, to a sheltered escarpment known as the Stronghold. The dancers sent word to Sitting Bull of the Hunkpapas to join them. Before he could set out from the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota, however, he was arrested by Indian police. A scuffle ensued in which Sitting Bull and seven of his warriors were slain. Six of the policemen were killed. General Miles had also ordered the arrest of Big Foot, who had been known to live along the Cheyenne River in South Dakota. But, Big Foot and his followers had already departed south to Pine Ridge, asked there by Red Cloud and other supporters of the whites, in an effort to bring tranquility. Miles sent out the infamous Seventh Calvary led by Major Whitside to locate the renegades. They scoured the Badlands and finally found the Miniconjou dancers on Porcupine Creek, 30 miles east of Pine Ridge. The Indians offered no resistance. Big Foot, ill with pneumonia, rode in a wagon. The soldiers ordered the Indians to set up camp five miles westward, at Wounded Knee Creek. Colonel James Forsyth arrived to take command and ordered his guards to place four Hotchkiss cannons in position around the camp. The soldiers now numbered around 500; the Indians 350, all but 120 of these women and children. The following morning, December 29, 1890, the soldiers entered the camp demanding the all Indian firearms be relinquished. A medicine man named Yellow Bird advocated resistance, claiming the Ghost Shirts would protect them. One of the soldiers tried to disarm a deaf Indian named Black Coyote. A scuffle ensued and the firearm discharged. The silence of the morning was broken and soon other guns echoed in the river bed. At first, the struggle was fought at close quarters,
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