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• 1 2021-04-19T17:19:58+00:00 Cultural Identity 1 image_header 2021-04-19T17:19:58+00:00

  Above: Clan Credentials, 1849. Henry R. Schoolcraft, Historical and Statistical Information, respecting the History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States, 1851 (Newberry Library, Ayer250.S3h 1851, vol. 1, Plate 60)

  In the Great Lakes area, the local groups have shared a regional culture and also developed variations on this culture. The principal theme of regional culture is reciprocity, the belief that it is necessary and morally right to give something to get something in return. This idea has been expressed in the value placed on sharing with one’s relatives and gift-giving with in-laws and allies. Reciprocity extends to relations between humans and spirit beings. Over time, Native peoples of the region experienced the fur trade, treaty era, federal assimilation policy, and a modern resurgence of the acknowledgment of tribal sovereignty. All these experiences shaped contemporary life, as basic indigenous beliefs and values became the basis of cultural identity today.

  Cultural identity is anchored in a deep emotional bond with the homeland (or locally-used territories). The Great Lakes region is woodlands with many lakes and rivers that enabled the indigenous people to survive. They have always obtained subsistence by hunting, fishing, and harvesting rice, maple sugar, and the other native plants. In the late 19th century, the concept of “trust land” (Indian land to which the federal government held title) became culturally associated with economic security and tribal sovereignty, and these ideas persist in the present. In the homeland are many sacred sites that have meaning and evoke powerful emotions for Native people.

  Subsistence by hunting, fishing, and harvesting native plants has never been merely a means to survive. These are religious acts and vehicles for social cohesion. Survival has always been difficult and individuals have not been able to count on being successful in the search for game or other resources. Sharing among family members and “gift-giving” (including feasting) between groups of non-kin worked as a form of social insurance. Relatives had to work cooperatively in many economic pursuits. The common view was that the natural resources belonged to all the people and individuals were only entitled to use rights. Today, tribal resources, including income from tribally owned businesses, are available to all. The game animals and plant resources also allowed the indigenous peoples to participate in regional commerce from the time of contact with Europeans to the present. Today, traditional subsistence activity is culturally associated with tribal sovereignty, and tribes own businesses, including fish processing plants.

  Listen to Dan Stone, Little River Ottawa, explain the importance of fishing rights to tribal sovereignty and cultural identity. Non-natives express their reservations.

  Identity Through Fishing. Video courtesy of tdndavid/YouTube, 2007. View transcript

  And, these activities are culturally iconic, so that tribes are working to revive the technologies associated with subsistence activity, for example as part of educational programs.

  Listen to Reggie Cadotte from Lac Courte Oreilles explain how he is helping to perpetuate traditional ricing technology among Indian youth

  Identity Through Ricing. Video courtesy of Indian Country TV, 2009. View transcript

  Fulfilling family obligations has always been central to identity, and “family” is defined in culturally distinct ways. With the exception of the Dakotas in Minnesota, clan membership is central to an individual’s identity in Indian communities. In Native belief, clans originated at the time of Creation, when the “Giver of Life” delegated power to various spirit beings, most of whom can appear in animal form. These spirit beings founded the original clans. Men and women belong to their father’s clan. Throughout the Great Lakes region, people from different groups could find allies among people who belonged to the same clan. Members of the same clan had a close bond, especially within a community.

  Listen to John Low, Pokagon Potawatomi, explain how clan identity worked in the past and present

  John Low on Potawatomi clan identity. Production by Mike Media Group, 2009. View transcript | View at Internet Archive

  In Ojibwa clans, for example, the close bond between one’s “brothers” extended to brothers and sons of one’s father’s brothers. Also, the several clans in a village owed each other certain duties, so the clan organization also worked as a political organization with particular clans providing particular kinds of leaders. Over time, clan duties have changed, and today in many communities clan identity is representative of cultural identity for individuals.

  Listen to Ernie St. Germaine, an Ojibwa from Lac du Flambeau, explaining the importance of clan identity

  Ojibwa Clan Identity. Video courtesy of WDSE-Duluth/Superior, MN, 2002. View transcript

  Dakotas extend the kinship relationship to a wide network of relatives on both the father’s and mother’s sides, so that people in a community have many brothers, sisters, grandparents, and so on. Kinship obligations motivate people to cooperate and share.

  Reliance on spirit helpers was important to the indigenous peoples of the region. Individuals sought visions to contact a spirit helper, and individuals had encounters with them in dreams. A relationship with a spirit helper meant that in return for gifts of food and tobacco, the spirit helper granted power to be successful in hunting, curing, and warfare. Group ceremonies, including the Medicine Lodge and Dream Dance worked on this principle. In recent times, peyote ritual provided a means to attain visions and prayers for success. Sometimes the acceptance of Christianity came as a result of a visionary revelation.

  Beginning in the 1970s, there was a widespread social movement that promoted cultural “revival.” In every community, there were people (sometimes few, sometimes many) who still spoke the Native language, remembered important events in the past, and knew the subsistence technologies, songs, and ceremonies of their ancestors. They served as an important resource for individuals and communities seeking to re-energize cultural identity in the modern world.

  Listen to Mille Lacs Ojibwas Jody Allen Crowe and Edward Minnema discuss their language program

  Language and Identity. Video courtesy of WDSE-Duluth/Superior, MN, 2002. View transcript

  Do you want to read about an instance of Ojibwa cultural revival?

  The PARR [an anti-Indian fishing rights organization] rally witnessed one of the first public displays of modern cultural revitalization at Lac du Flambeau. For some time, a spiritual leader from Grand Portage in Minnesota, having dreamed that the unfolding conflict over fishing rights would become important, had been instructing the people of Flambeau in cultural practices that had been forgotten. A number of people were taught how to construct spirit poles, which are placed in front of one’s home. These are cedar poles about twenty feet long that are stripped of their bark and branches up to the last few feet; here medicines in the form of tobacco offerings, strips of colored cloth, and eagle feathers are often tied. A rock is often put at the base of the pole and tobacco offerings are placed upon it. Wayne Valliere remembered that this spiritual leader also taught the Flambeau singers four songs that they were to sing when they went to the PARR rally [in 1986].

  Tom Maulson and a group of nearly one hundred people from Lac du Flambeau attended the rally in Minocqua. They brought a drum and an innovative ritual they later referred to as a friendship ceremony. The presence of the drum was significant to the tribal members; its use is a mode of establishing a relationship with the non-human persons who empower human beings. The drum that was brought to the rally was a descendent of the Drum Dance drum given to the people of Lac du Flambeau by the Bad River band who, in turn, received it from groups further to the west, who ultimately got it from their old rivals, the Dakotas. The Dakotas received it when a woman who was hiding in a lake from the U. S. Army was taken up into the spirit world and given instructions about the making and decorating of the drum and the songs and offices that went with it. Once the drum was made and its offices of belt carrier and pipe carrier filled, the soldiers came to dance. The drum thus represents an imaginative encompassment of one’s enemies, largely on one’s own terms.

  What transpired that day was understood by the Flambeau people to have been influenced and guided by the spirits. As Wayne Valliere, a young man at the time, began to sing the first song, he noticed that all of the scowling protesters, adorned in blaze orange jackets (a symbol of anti-treaty sentiment), hats, and anti-Indian buttons, turned to look at him. Amid catcalls and hooting, he kept singing. Then the crowd stared up at the sky. “I saw them look up and I looked up and I saw an eagle making twenty-foot circles over the drum. He did that through the whole song, four times through. We sang three more songs and by the end those people were quiet. Then we walked through that whole town carrying that drum.”

  For the singer, the eagle represented a validation of what he calls the ways of the ‘gete Anishinaabe’—“the ancient Indians.” Larry Nesper, The Walleye War, 2002, pp. 81-82.

  Today, local communities or reservations devote resources to perpetuating oral traditions, their Native language, and activities they regard as traditional. They may introduce Native terms for their group to replace those terms used by Euro-Americans, for example Ho-Chunk rather than Winnebago, and Waswaaganing rather than Lac du Flambeau. Certain historical events may be reenacted as collective rituals of identity, as the Dakota do with a memorial ceremony for Dakota men executed after the 1863 Sioux Conflict.

  Listen to John Low, Pokagon Potawatomi, discuss key symbols of Pokagon identity: the leadership of Pokagon, the Catholic mission, and subsistence technology

  John Low on symbols of Pokagon identity. Production by Mike Media Group, 2009. View transcript | View at Internet Archive

  One of the most important ceremonies where symbols of local identity are expressed and generate a sense of group distinctiveness is the community powwow. Here, there are gift-exchanges, the honoring of relatives, demonstrations of subsistence technologies, use of Native language, particular songs that have local meaning, and speeches that reinforce collective memory and cultural values.

  Learn about the Pokagon Potawatomi community’s powwow

  Potawatomi Powwow. Video courtesy of WNIT Public Television. View transcript

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  Woods and Stream, Keweenaw Bay L’Anse Reservation

  Photo courtesy of Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission

  Witch Tree, Grand Portage Reservation, Minnesota

  This tree grows out of bare rock on the shoreline of Lake Superior. On tribal land, it is a sacred site for the Ojibwa. For generations they have left tobacco offerings there to the water spirits in the lake in order to gain protection when fishing and traveling on the water. In the Ojibwa language, the name for the tree means “spirit-little-cedar.” There are many other sacred sites in the region. And, of course, many of the mounds in the Midwest are sacred sites for Native people (Missaukee Earthworks, in Missaukee County, Michigan, for example). The photo was taken in July 2008 by Aaron C. Jors

  Sugar Camp, ca. 1850

  This watercolor painting by Seth Eastman shows a family camp in a grove of maple trees (the sugarbush). The house frames are covered by bark and the women have marked the family’s trees with an axe. They have made cuts in the trees and inserted wooden spiles. Containers catch the sap and then are emptied into barrels. The sap is boiled to make sugar. Mary Eastman, American Aboriginal Portfolio (Newberry Library, Ayer250.45.E2, 1853)

  Canoe Maker, 1940

  This Ojibwa couple is traveling to the Mille Lacs Trading Post, where they will sell the canoe. Much of the woodwork, sewing with hides and cloth, beading, and basketry was sold to tourists and resorts during the 20th century. This work was adapted for the market in many respects, but commercial handcraft also served to perpetuate the traditional technological skills that contemporary artists and crafts people need to sell art and to make outfits for powwows and other ceremonies. Photo courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society, Location no. E97.35r46, neg. 35791

  Ho-Chunk Laborers Picking Cranberries, 1900

  Winnebago (Ho-Chunk) families and groups of families worked as agricultural laborers throughout the year, moving from farm to farm with the seasons. Ethnographer Nancy Lurie has explained that these seasonal migrations paralleled the traditional seasonal subsistence migrations. They picked strawberries and cherries in the summer, moved to farms where they harvested corn and beans, then traveled to the cranberry fields in the fall. Photo courtesy of National Anthropological Archives, BAEGN4423

  Ricing, Lac Vieux Desert Community

  Katherine and Mark Sherman winnowing to separate the chaff from the grain. Today ricing can be a community-wide, rather than a family, affair, and whereas women used to be primarily involved, today men participate as well. Photo courtesy of Lac Vieux Desert Band

  Sugar Bush Education

  Sharon Nelis, Bad River tribal member, shows members of her family (Austin Nelis and granddaughter Rena LaGrew) how to tap sap from the maple tree. Families go to the sugarbush (a stand of maple trees) to collect sap to boil for syrup or, with more cooking, to make sugar candy. Photo by Sue Erickson, courtesy of Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission

  Clan Credentials, 1849

  This pictograph on bark was submitted to the President of the United States in January 1849 by the Ojibwa delegates who came to petition for the return of some land ceded in 1842 at the treaty of La Pointe. The delegation had not been authorized but these Ojibwas made such an impression with their native dress and their dancing that Congress agreed to pay their expenses. Each delegate identified himself by clan, as he represented his clan in the political negotiations. They sought to present their “credentials” as representatives for their people, and birch bark scrolls traditionally were used to record personal qualities. They brought with them an interpreter. In this drawing of the scroll by Seth Eastman we see: 1) the Crane Clan, represented by Oshcabawis, the leader of this village on the headwaters of the Wisconsin River. The eyes of the other clan animals are directed toward him (by lines) to show that they were of the same mind and the lines connecting their hearts indicate that they have a unity of feeling and purpose; 2) the Marten Clan, represented by the warrior Wai-mit-tig-oazh; 3) the Marten Clan, represented by the warrior O-ge-ma-gee-zhig; 4) the Marten Clan, represented by the warrior Muk-o-mis-ud-ains; 5) the Bear Clan, represented by O-mush-kose; 6) the Man-Fish Clan, represented by Penai-see; 7) the Catfish Clan, represented by the warrior Na-wa-ge-wun. The line from the forehead of #1 represents his progress or course, and the line going back to # 8 represents the purpose of the trip (to obtain the rice lakes, indicated by the # 8). The number 9 represents the path from the shore of Lake Superior to the village of the delegates and #10 represents Lake Superior. Henry R. Schoolcraft, Historical and Statistical Information, respecting the History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States, 1851 (Newberry Library, Ayer250.S3h 1851, vol. 1, Plate 60)

  Offering Tobacco, ca. 2008

  Larry Baker offers tobacco to spirit beings before the rice harvest as part of the reciprocity expected in subsistence activities. He sprinkles the tobacco in the water. Photo by Shanna Clark, alumna of Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College

  Honoring Veterans

  These veterans are the Honor Guard at Lac Vieux Desert Powwow, Watersweet, Michigan, in 2008. They carry staffs signifying military experience and lead the dancers into the arena at the start of the powwow. Their service as an honor guard honors both them and veterans in general. Military service also has worked to revitalize traditional cultural practices throughout the 20th century. For example, men who served in World War I often were the focus of prayer ceremonies in the peyote church or other ceremonies, such as clan war bundle rituals. When they returned they were honored in victory dances, as were their ancestors in earlier times. These warrior traditions were reinforced and revived as a result of military service in World War I and II, and subsequently. Also, veterans often formed organizations that assumed political and ceremonial roles in their communities. Photo courtesy of Lac Vieux Desert Band

  Ho-Chunk Peyote Leaders, ca. 1913

  The “peyote church” attracted about half of the Ho-Chunk people, according to ethnographer Paul Radin. Most people joined after they were cured of an illness by peyote ritual. Many of the ritual components were comparable with traditional religion, but several Christian elements had been added by younger members through vision experiences. The church rituals or “meetings” took place weekly and more often in the winter and summer seasons when the Ho-Chunk Medicine Lodge ceremonies were also held. John Rave introduced the peyote church to the Ho-Chunk in 1893. He had been in Oklahoma during an emotional crisis, where he regained his health after participating in the ritual. Over time, several other leaders emerged in Wisconsin. Participants used a rattle and small drum, taking turns singing throughout the night, while they ate from the peyote plant. They also carried beaded staffs and eagle fans. The elements that were consistent with the Winnebago or Ho-Chunk religion were the offering of tobacco to the peyote spirit, the use of peyote as a medicinal plant, vision experiences, and singing as an act of prayer. Christian elements included readings from the Bible, baptism of new members in peyote water, and Christian symbolism at the “altar.” This altar included a mound (“Mt. Sinai”) at the end of the fire on which there was a Bible and the peyote plant. A cross was drawn on the ground in front of the mound. Members considered the peyote church to be helpful in their adjustment to the non-Indian world. The peyote church co-existed with the Medicine Lodge and Christianity, according to Radin. Paul Radin, The Winnebago Tribe, 1915-16 (Newberry Library, Ayer 301A2 1915-16)

  American Indian Center, at its Present Location, Chicago North, 2009

  The center opened at the instigation of the Chicago Indian community with assistance from philanthropic organizations. It was the first urban center in the country. At this time, Chicago was one of five original relocation cities that drew Indians from several states. Winnebagos (Ho-Chunks) and the Three Fires (Ojibwa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi) organized tribal clubs to reinforce a sense of community and culture. Urban Indians could identify themselves by their urban community as well as by tribe (or in lieu of tribe). These “urban Indians” were very influential in the treaty movement and cultural revitalization generally, and they maintained ties with their home communities. Today the center serves people from 50 tribes as a major gathering place where many activities take place—powwows, bingo, potlucks, family and community celebrations, and wakes. Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons/Zol87

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