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April 2006: Two Nations, Same Land
While going through one of my many collections of junk (it must be good junk, otherwise I’d throw it away), I found a small, paper-back book. I must have seen it before but I didn’t remember it, or where I’d obtained it. It was published by the Citizens to Preserve Black Hawk Park Foundation in 1981 (not that long ago, my memory must be worse than I thought). It was entitled “Two Nations, Same Land” by Will Leinicke, Marion Lardner, and Ferrel Anderson. I’m even acquainted with Ferrel Anderson which makes it even more odd that I had neglected it. Actually, it is a packet of information written for teachers to enable them to better teach about the Indians that preceded us in occupying the Quad City area. It works, in reading it I taught myself a good many things I hadn’t known.
I’ve often mentioned in this column, the village of Mesquakie Indians that lived in the southern end of our town (before there was a town). We’ve also written about Black Hawk, war chief of the Sauk tribe, and how he came to Henry McNeal’s cabin, where the Village Hall now stands and gave him a spoon, carved from an elk horn by Black Hawk himself, as a token of appreciation for McNeal’s treatment of his people. The spoon was in Hampton for many years, back when Charlie Sikes had a museum, in old Black’s Store. The spoon still exists and is in the museum at Black Hawk Park. Unfortunately, the people in charge there don’t know the story behind it, and don’t want to hear it. But that leads us in a direction I prefer not to go. In any case the little book has a whole lot in it about our predecessors on the bend of the big river.
For example, did you ever hear what the word Sauk means? It comes from the Algonquin language and means People of the Yellow-earth. Mesquakie meant People of the Red-earth. The story is told that while hunting one day, a party of Mesquakie encountered a group of Frenchmen. The French asked who they were and the Indians gave the name of their clan, Wakohag, which meant fox. The French assumed this was the name of the tribe and called them “les reynards” (the foxes), so the English called the tribe the Fox Indians, the error passed on to this day, with the Mesquakie tribe trying to correct it. It’s about time!
Though two separate tribes they had similar beliefs and traditions and so became closely allied. Political and religious beliefs allowed intermarriage and joint ventures. The languages of the two tribes were also similar, both being dialects of the Algonquin tongue.
Socially, the family organization was very strong. Extended family was the rule: aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc had specific functions within the family unit. For example: if a man’s brother died or was killed, the man was obligated to “marry” the widow so she could remain within the family structure. This could (though not necessarily) involve true polygamous marriage but also it could involve no more than sharing the lodge with the man acting as the father/provider. This custom still survives among the Mesquakie.
Children had very high standing in the family. It was commonly believed that spirits chose a family into which to be born. Therefore the child had honored the family by its selection. He was not property, as in many cultures. Teaching the children adult skills, religion, history, and a way of living was important.
Families lived in kinship groups—clans, usually about 12 clans to a tribe. Clans each had their own totem—thunder, bear, fox, turkey, trout, sturgeon, etc. Membership in a clan came through the father, and marriage with another clan member was forbidden. The wife must come from another clan. Each clan had its own traditions and ceremonies. A few of these were secret and private to the clan.
Clans would cooperate with each other. For example, if clan “A” was having a ceremonial feast, clan “B” might provide musicians, cooks, waiters, etc. At clan “B”s feast, clan “A” fulfilled those functions. The functions were highly ritualized and formal, even down to the position of the musician.
When a person died an adoptive ceremony was held to replace that persons place in the clan. There was a belief that if adoption was not held, the dead person’s spirit would occupy the body of an owl and forced to remain in that form. Adoption set the spirit free and kept the clan structure intact. Could tlhlis be why owls would sound so creepy when hooting outside my window when I was a kid?
We’ll very likely have some more columns about the native American way of life. It wasn’t a bad way of life.