SUBARCTIC

Cree- relatively large group, live in center of subarctic, both sides of hudson bay, 6 different dialects, population- 75,000, differ from time of contact, traditional culture - hunting+ gathering, traditional weapons, hunted animals of area, fishing, use of traps, hooks, harpoons, etc. food resources very good- lot of fish available, lots of animals to hunt (deer, moose, elk, caribou), plant gathering-roots and berries. very difficult to continue traditional ways post contact, live in wigwams, clothing- tailored tunics, leggings, moccasins, rabbit skin robes; technology: made bags (out of animal stomachs, bladders, skins, and caribou legs + fish skin bags), made wooden and bark bowls, some pottery, stone bowls; viewed as stoic, independent, amiable, etc; religious practitioners: shamans (curing people of illnesses, healing rights rituals, used charms to drive off evil, helped with hunting magic- locate game); VISION QUEST: usually comes about by going to secluded area alone, deprived of food and water- way to get guidance and ideas- sometimes directed individual to specific specialty/occupation, get visions in sleep (dreams)- young man usually went out around 13/14 to have vision, this would happen before hunt and he would receive a spiritual guide for the hunt; used divination- scalpulamanci> used to help locate animals> used scalpula of animal and dry out over fire> crack pattern interpreted by shaman; shamans cured individuals with steam baths ; sexual division of labor- women> cooked, worked hides, took care of children, collected food Men> hunted and made large woodwork.

CREE AND OBIGIWA belief: Windigo psychosis- when people are possessed by windigo monster, windigo: jagged teeth, claws like hands, heart of ice, vomits ice, comes from ghost of someone who ate human flesh, individual affected b windigo psychosis: depression, nausea, distaste for ordinary foods, semi-stupor, staring, could have obsessive thoughts about cannibalism or even would try to eat flesh, may be obsessed with bewitchment, suicide or murder; cure: have person eat grease (boiled down fat from animal); happens more often to men> often associated with going on hunt and coming back empty handed (have failed to be provider for their family) <not successful at what they are supposed to do, used as social control mechanism with children (ex. bogie man in our society)

Dogrib: Western subarctic, hunter gatherers, northwest territory, traded with hudson bay company in 1700s> major source of trading for indians in subarctic, hudson bay company kept very good records- archives are fantastic resource of information; 1st expedition to dogrib by major group was 1789 and visited by northwest company at time; dogrib and chipawayan involved in many wars- eventually things cooled down when dogrib defeated much of army, 18th century- limited contact with westerners other than hudson bay, live in area of lakes, streams, tundra, forrest, average temp in january -20f, july 55 f, average precip: 50 inches (mostly snow), closest city: yellowknife (control of legal system of dogrib), violating social norms handled by gossip etc, past: lived in caribou skin teepees, today live in log houses and canvas skin tent, birch bark canoes and have shifted to commercial canoes in recent times; CARIBOU (sept-march), moose (all year), snow shoe rabbits, beaver, mink, squirrel, otter, wolverine, fish, began switching to european items in 19th century- things became important in catching food animals, fur animals have depleted because of fur trade; berries; starvation food- likens and boiled water- made soup (added piece of moccasin for flavor); men made snow shoes, tobaggins, canoes, hunted women: worked with hides, did different jobs: today work in commercial jobs; no land ownership before europeans; bilateral kinship system, traditional marriage unmarked by ceremony- just started living with each other, started with matrilocal residence until 1st baby is born and then patrilocal residence, small amount of polygyny before catholic church, no divorce among dogrib after catholic church, nothing against pre or extra marital sex, could have common law marriage with someone else; adopted children treated as own children; kin ties and kin network very important, inheritance: things passed down family line- parents to children; men trained boys and women trained girls; no class system or higher status; only recognized skills (ex. best hunter or best tracker etc.); no central authority; canadian gov forced more control; forced to select chief in 1961 by canadian government, 1969 formed brotherhood; social control- gossip and shunning for small problems- biggest problem: drunkeness; crimes dealt with rather severely; shamanistic religious tradition: deal with various spirits, very strong until coming of catholic church; shamans helped with curing, hunting, social relationships; no major religious ceremonies until catholic church (since 19th century); ethos: hard work and be ready for anything that may happen; medicine: used plants, today use modern medicine; dance very important as well as decorating clothing; played dogrib hand game; how did they get here? dogrib origin myth: woman has dog husband- brothers very mad and kills him- already impregnated and goes to forrest to have puppies- shift back and forth between dogs and humans - has 6- kills 3- and 2 of 3 mate and give way to dogrib tribe

Beotuhk: totally gone, east, in area about 1000 years, originally called red indians or redskins by european fishermen; beotuhken- language- no other languages around similar, probably first contacted by vikings in 1000 AD, micmac- neighboring group who were hired by europeans to attack beotukh for stealing fishing gear, last beotuhk died in 1889, lived in multisided birch bark wigwams, also used moose and carbou skins, hunted marine animals and fished- driven inland by europeans, hunted birds and birds' eggs, made clothing out of caribou and other animal hides,

SUBARCTIC: bannock bread: bread made of flour, lard, sugar, and baking powder (post contact); pemmican: dried powder fish mixed with bear, caribou, or moose fat that has been melted, make into battered form, add berries or sugar to it.

NORTHEAST CULTURE AREA:

presence of farming- horticulture + hunting and gathering, use digging sticks and plant crops

henry dobyns: did extensive ecological studies of presence of human kind in north america and estimated populations based on ecology of region; estimated 9 million indians in north america pre contact at conference, Their Numbers Become Phiend: estimated 18 million in this book

Europeans brought in infectious diseases: 3 major killers: smallpox (1520-1898) spread from middle america to north and south- old world disease so indians had no immunities, 1531-1892 first evidences of measles; 1559-1918 influenza; other diseases: bubonic plagues, typhus, cholera, scarlet fever, diphtheria

major loss of americas between 1520-1524

*look at handout*> effects of population decline: very devastating psychologically

the new world crop trilogy: maize (corn), beans, squash

hunt: deer, elk, moose, woodland bison, and small game, collect plant foods: berries, nuts, roots; fish and shellfish > rich and varied diet; also collected maple syrup

IROQUOIS: across state of new york, most powerful league of indians in this area, formed league

had M:15 varieties, B: 16 varieties, S: 8 varieties

lived in villages, lived in long houses- generally between 50-100 ft long and 16 ft wide, wood frame work covered with bark, usually lived in fortified villages, under a lot of pressure of attack from neighboring groups, decided to form league to unite 5 indian nations- because of pressure of other peoples such as huron- could unite together in times of need and do what needed to be done in order to survive- came into being around 1000AD or 1450AD - united oneida, mohawk, onondaga, cayuga, seneca- other groups added post contact- two founders: Deganawidah and Hiawatha, League tenants: peace, brotherhood, unity, natural rights of all people, sharing of resources, sharing power, methods to remove (impeachment- for when sachem becomes senile> possibly influenced impeachment clause in us constitution), had to put main house in onondaga village in oder to convince Thododaho of the Onondaga to join league, created representational system, 50 sachems- political figures- came from major matrilineal clans- 9 sachems to mohawk, 9 to oneida, 10 to cayuga, 8 to seneca, 14 to onondag, represented different nations- came together to make decisions about league actions, sachems were also local political figures- would gather together at onondaga main village to carry out decision making process- how do you become sachem? chosen by women of lineage, must have unanimous sachem vote for league to act, later members (such as the tuscarora) had no voting rights, things went well for league until american revolution- had trouble deciding which side to support- dissolved to support different sides- neither side worked well for indians- league came back together after war but was not strong; matrilineal kinship system, matrilineal clans- kinship groups traced back 6-8 generations to a common ancestor, matrilocal residences; origin myth: woman who feel from sky myth- woman lives in sky vault above earth- becomes pregnant and her husband accuses her of committing adultery- husband jerks out tree of life and throws her down through hole of the sky vault and falls to the world that is flooded- ducks fly up and help aid her landing- animals decide they need to find earth again for everyone (and the woman) to survive- muskrat dives to get earth- 3 tries- final day (4th day) comes up with earth and puts it on beavers tail and flips it up onto the back of turtle and starts to expand> grows into continents- woman gives birth to daughter and daughter becomes pregnant (not sure how- different reasons- stranger or wind) gives birth to twin boys one boy born natural way (sapling) and the other through her armpit (flint) > this kills the daughter (her head is cut off and thrown into sky to make the sun) boys always in conflict with each other> sapling wanted good and flint wanted bad> huge fight where flint was driven to underworld and sapling went to the heavens- the earth becomes myth of good and evil

iroquios and european contact: dealt with dutch, swedish, and british

Handsome Lake:

born around 1735 to wolf clan of seneca but raised by people of turtle clan, saw lots of conflict and problems amongst people of iroquois nation- decline in land and moral, fighting among iroquois, witchcraft, abuse of alcohol, family issues, had a vision when he became sick- 4 visitors took him to afterworld and gave suggestions about how to help problems- went into 7 hour trance and received information on how to start new religion and messages from deceased loved ones that handsome lake could have never known- so he was believed- started new religion of iroquois: no alcohol, obedience of children, child care, care of aging parents, faithfulness of married couples, removal of gossiping and boasting, belief in heaven and hell, acceptance of white ways except for schools- only a few iroquois children should be educated in white school system- just to know what is going on, must kill witches.. handsome lake became obsessed with witches- so was eventually replaced

trend of building roads and bridges- mohawk greatly involved- railway built on their land and mohawk received money for this and jobs building bridges- mohawk workers became very interested in building of bridges- became very talented at high steel work- also worked empire state building

KICKAPOO:

"people that move around a lot," first in southeast michigan and northeast ohio and driven by iroquois into southern wisconsin, and then moved to indiana and illinois area and then forced to move again to missouri, oklahoma, texas, and Mexico, Algonkian speaking, kinship systle involving clans and moiety, mothers and fathers alternate naming children- need dream of vision to get name, child born, cleaned up and immediately taken outside to running water, raised by family, fasting as punishment or switching or head held underwater, puberty- 1st menstruation girl is isolated in menstrual hut> no contact with male- educated by women at this time, woman is taken from hut and ceremonially washes, switched and redressed; cannot eat with family with menstruating or close to menstruation, ceremony when men kill first large game animal, death: someone from other clan does burial- keeps away clan contamination, feast, ceremony, 4 men take body t grave, 3 speeches to corpse, buried with tobacco, food, and other items important to them, always buried with wooden spoon, surviving spouse leaves group for 4 days, widow(er) will have formal period of mourning, practice adoption, dual division> black or white (two groups)- first child born is always opposite color of father- rest of children alternate- sodality- nonkinship based kin group- group cuts across kin lines- brings people together, blacks and whites with compete in games and contests- increases solidarity, tribal chiefs and consuls (later on), religion: spirit beings and shamans, manitous- spirit being there to help individuals and keep things stable and secure, Great man was creator, rely heavily on spirits of 4 winds, sun, moon, earth; tobacco and thunder very important in religious system, used vision quest for young males in early days, public rituals oriented toward seasonality, kickapoo first neutral in american revolution- then sided with americans until americans took land then switched to british side,; Kenakuk: leader 1834- medicine man- great leader of resisting removal- basically thought of ways to keep people on land- euroamericans wanted farm land- would tell people he had a vision that they needed to abstain from liquor, criminal behavior, needed to meditate, etc.. was good at stalling- 1832- treaty of castor hill signed and moved them to northeast kansas- told people he was ill and going to die and not to worry because in 3 days he would return (did not) - many died because they got small pox from touching his body,

moved around a lot and finally found piece in mexico

FOX Indians (mesquakie):

people of the red earth, location first in michigan and west ohio the forced by iroquois west and further west, 2,500 people in 1650, 1600 in 19th century, 1967> 204, 1980> 1000,

Sauk (neighboring group)- moved with them and did not get along- fox moved back to iowa and bought their own land, past hunter gatherer famers, europeans bought lots of their trapped animal furs, seasonal round with different activities for different season, patrilineal kinship system, exogamy, vision seekers, marriage clan exogamy, monogamy (a little polygyny in past), arranged marriages with "go betweens" extended family was basic domestic unit, political system: tribal leaders, socialization of children done by adults, traditional days: peace and war chiefs, tribal police- have right to destroy property of those not following rules, believe in upper world, current world and under world, also have manitou, large farmacopia of plants used in medical treatment,