Identity by Design: Tradition, Change, and Celebration in Native Women's Dresses - National Museum of the American Indian

According to the book, Identity by Design, the decoration and design involved in Native American women’s clothing wasn’t just about looking pretty, there was symbolism in every choice they made in the creation of their dresses, as well as the clothing they made for their families. According to Rebecca Lyon, an Athabaskan/Alutiiq artist “Nothing is as personal as the clothes we wear. Clothing can be seen as the vessel that holds the human spirit.”

 Unfortunately for my research the above-mentioned book doesn’t go into Cherokee women’s clothing, but some of the useful over all information on clothing construction and design for the tribes I was hoping were close enough to the techniques used by my people so it would still useful information for my needs. One challenge I have come across even this text is the lack of artwork for clothing pre-1600s. Most of the drawings/paintings are group shots showing minimal detail in which people had very little to no clothing on. Unfortunately I cannot go around topless to SCA events, and most of the pictures of my own tribe in that time period looks as though the explorers visited these places during the warmer months, so very little example of the winter clothing worn. That said, some of the later period images are of clothing made the same way that people made it for generations, so as long as I am careful to avoid obvious changes made by later period exposure to non-natives, it should still be viable for my research.

As far as not having any Cherokee input when writing this book, I don’t know if that’s due to not having access to Cherokee artists for the project, or simply than not searching out slowly and art specialists from my tribe. The other tribes I know my people had contact with were the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, and the Natchez, basically all tribes covering the southwest in precolonial America. Unfortunately, none of these tribes represented in this otherwise very interesting book. My goal was to look at the style of clothing and its construction, and see what similarities I could find, and that I could use.

There are several different types of dresses mentioned. The first is the side fold dress fit to be popular in the upper Missouri River Legion and the Western Great Lakes region of the northeastern plains. I know at one point my tribe stretched up that far so I wondered if they might have used this style of dress at all. After  studying the diagrams in the book and looking into my other clothing research images, I see no examples of the side fold dress among the Cherokee.

 The next style discussed was the two hide dress which seemed more popular among the tribes of the Plateau region from British Columbia into northwestern Montana. They mention Shoshone and Nez Pierce, as well as some Ute and Blackfoot use this style of dress. It wasn’t until after the Trail of Tears that the Cherokee and the Shoshone were close enough for regular contact. There is also a mention of the three hide dress which were used by both northern and southern tribes of the plains. This last one seems to have a bit of potential since it’s the most likely to have been viewed or the knowledge traded within the area my tribe is from. It involves two hides that create a skirt, and a third hide that makes a poncho or yoke top. The difference between the southern and northern versions is the North used more beadwork (I assume this made the dress warmer), in the South the top was more of a Cape the poncho. I assume by cape the mean it’s longer the back than the front because there still seems to be a front section.

 As much as I like this book I feel I need to try to find some comparisons to the techniques used within my own tribe for dressmaking to see how similar they are in style to the two hide or three hide dress variations. A lot of the mentioned Cherokee clothing I can find in other resources are the more modern cloth tear dress that is so popular among the Cherokee nowadays. That said I think I still found some useful information. I checked the white done skin dress made for me over 15 years ago that I thought I could possibly use for court wear and through what I learned in this book was able to identify it as a three hide dress. I’ll have to check the seams to see what shape they’re in, but it’s all handsewn using sinew, and I’ve already got some ideas on decoration that will not only be beautiful but will fit my personality and my inner spirit. Assuming it still fits me after this many years...

Update:  in the picture above is the dress with me in it. It seems as though fit though I imagine it will fit better with a better bra under it, and with some adjustment to the neck seems to ride a bit higher than I remember it riding. Most of the pictures in the book are not of somebody wearing the dresses, but the dresses on display, so hard to tell how the neck actually hangs on a person. All have to wait to get a better bra so everything is sitting properly before I make any adjustments to the neck if necessary.

DvD: Explorers of the World; French Explorers pt 3 - Samuel de Champlain

The next voyage by Samuel de Champlain didn’t happen until 1603, which is a tad off of the SCA time period range, but just in case I’m going to cover it anyway. One of the reasons it took so long for them to return was the war brewing between Spain and France. There was a new king on the throne, Henry IV, and he was the one who sent Champlain back to the New World, with far less resources than previous explorers had at their disposal. Because of lack of funds the king gave fur traitors a monopoly to encourage them to colonize the area. This was the core of the mission given to Champlain in 1603. I find myself wondering how strict the SCA 1600 cut off date is… whether there’s a bit of wiggle room to play with this time period. Anyway, back to Champlain.

 He had already traveled to places like Mexico, Cuba, and Panama where he built a canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Champlain followed Cartier’s route up the St. Lawrence River to Québec before returning to France. He made 12 more trips after that to the New World to explore and to write about what he saw. As far as research goes this is a good sign because there might be a translated version of his journals like there is for Cartier. In his further journeys he traveled from Nova Scotia past Maine and to Cape Cod. Is believed if the French had not had a run-in with local natives in the area they might have built their colony there. If they had done that they would’ve beat the pilgrims by 15 years. They ended up building a colony near Nova Scotia called Port Royal. That became the first permanent French colony in the New World.

 Champlain did not establish his Québec settlement until 1608 which was an important location for the St. Lawrence River trade route. This was in the territory of the Huron and the Algonquin. Champlain was smart enough to know the only way the settlement was to survive was to make allies of his new neighbors. Further up the St. Lawrence was the Iroquois’s territory, and they were another matter. This tribe was the traditional enemy of the Huron and Algonquin. Champlain was wounded several times fighting the Iroquois because of his being allied with their enemies. He also traveled the Ottawa River into what is now Ontario and even as far is New York State. Explored, and colonized, and traded in these areas. I was pleased to learn that not only did Champlain draw excellent maps during his travels but he gave detailed accounts of his adventures and of the people he encountered which is another reason for me to try to get copies of his journals. Champlain explored northeast North America until his death in 1635.

DvD: Explorers of the World; French Explorers pt 2 - Jacques Cartier

The next part of the DVD is on the guy I’ve been reading the memoir of, Jacques Cartier. Like a lot of the other French explorers, Cartier was looking for silver and gold which was rumored the Spanish had found in the New World. Ships reached Newfoundland in 1534. The trader character mentions Cartier meeting the Huron and the 2 teenage boys (I thought they were men but apparently they were teenagers which I guess at that time teens counted as men to their own people and to the French) that Cartier took back to France, and who learned to speak French. The narrator states that the two boys were taken and that their father, the chief, only let a happen because there was nothing he could do about it. Cartier was sent back to the New World a second time by the King, who was still looking for a passage to the Spice Islands. The discovery of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the St. Lawrence River was not only a gateway to the content itself and into the Great Lakes through the other river systems, but it became an important travel method for trading later on. Through the St. Lawrence River they reached places like Québec and Montréal. With the intention to head back Cartier return to Québec where they built a fort to shelter them through the long winter. During that winter the crew was hit by horrible scurvy that made their teeth fall out, and might have died from it if the locals hadn’t shown them how to make a tea from the bark of a type of you tree, boiled to produce a medicine. It was foul tasting but in a week all the men that drank it were cured. The harsh winter killed off many of Cartier’s men, but if not for the medicine and the help of the natives it would have been a lot worse. The chief of the area told Cartier many stories about places rich with gold, so the Frenchman captured the chief and his two sons and took them back to France with him. The chief’s stories must’ve been convincing because the King of France sent Cartier back a third time in 1541. On the third voyage Cartier filled his crew complement with mostly criminals because it was so dangerous they were the only ones willing to volunteer to take the risk of trying to colonize the areas. The local fishermen and sailors other folks were perfectly happy up in the Newfoundland area coast so they weren’t interested on going further in. Cartier tried to take a smaller boat down the river to find this place of legend but he was not able to make it through the rapids before having to turn back. No long after he returned to the encampment a group of natives attacked them forcing Cartier and the survivors to flee, eventually boarding the ship and returning to France.

A Memoir of Jacques Cartier cont...The Huron

The next group of people the Frenchmen met are noted as being different than the ones they had previously encountered, but doesn’t explain very well how they were different except they have shaved heads save but a tuff of hair the top of their head. According to the footnotes this hairstyle is called a “scalp lock” and is worn by the Huron. Looking up the Huron I find them also referred to as the Wyandot people or Wendat. It also mentions that these people flip over their boats to use as shelter much as a group mentioned by Viking explorers called the Skraelings (which according to what I found simply means not like us, barbarians). Cartier traded knives, paternosters, glass, hair combs, and other things he considered very little worth but that’s the Huron seemed very happy with. The manuscript goes on to say that they traveled further in to where the Huron were and were greeted well by the men but most the women were frightened and ran into the woods. The few women that stayed were given hair combs and bells, and eventually the other woman returned our also gifted with little tin bells which the women were very pleased with. Some of his comments after this confused me, he mentions the Huron sharing all this food with them but then calls them thieves without any explanation of why. There was a bit of fuss a few days later when the Frenchman planted a cross on the land, but with a bit of diplomacy and some more iron trade goods, that was all smoothed over. Cartier even manages to convince one of the Huron leaders to leave his sons on the visitor’s boat with the promise they would return soon. There was no mention whether the explorer planned to keep his promise, but somehow I doubt it. Even after meeting more Huron on their journey no mention was made of the men they had taken captive. And all month after they sailed for home, marking the end of their first voyage.

The second voyage is listed as occurring between 1535 and 1536, and starts off much as the first one did with a visit to the Isle of Birds. I don’t know if this is a sign that he’s taking the same path or and it’s just the easiest way into that area. Cartier does make a note of moving off to the West to explore the other islands where at a harbor they named St Nicholas they planted another cross. He make some mention about “ by the savages we had we were told this was the beginning of the Saguenay, and inhabited land, and from it came the red copper…” which to me sounds like he had some of the First Nations folks with them, the Huron men taken during the first voyage giving him information. Since his last voyage had they in that year been converted and were now serving Cartier as guides? He does make reference later on to his “two men of the country of Canada” and the Footnote at this point simply calls them Cartier’s Indians. He doesn’t calls them by name nor talks about them as if they were equals as part of the crew, but he certainly used them later on to lore other Huron on board the ship. There is no mention on what happened with that encounter, if it was trading, if the other Huron left the ship, but I’m assuming they did since it sound like it was more than just a couple of them. 

When Cartier encounters the next group of people they are afraid of the Frenchmen until the two Huron with Cartier talk to them. At this point their names are mentioned as Taigoagny and Dom Agaya and when they introduce themselves to the people everyone is happy and no longer afraid. As before items the Frenchmen consider worthless are traded to the people who seem very pleased with them. At this point a couple names crop up. There is someone Cartier refers to as the Lord of Canada named Donnacona this title seems to be Agohanna. According to the footnote these too are Huron. At this time Taigoagny and Dom Agaya share with Agohanna the things they seen during her time in France and according to Cartier told the Huron leader how well they have been treated. Reading on this appears to be where they leave the Huron territory since the next group according to the footnote is a new group of people, but the rest will have to wait for tomorrow. I did learn the public and campus library have a great deal on the Huron/Wendat so plenty of good research stuff there for further on this tribe.

A Memoir of Jacques Cartier cont...The Micmac

It was quite awhile before they mentioned meeting anyone else, but the next time he did it was a group of boats, about 40 or 50, who this time did not seem pleased the strangers were in their territory.  Seeing they were outnumbered at the time Cartier and his men tried to leave, but a couple of the boats followed them. The Frenchmen came to discover that the people in the boats actually wanted to be friends. Of course the Frenchman got nervous, started shooting a bunch of warning shots, and that was about it for that interaction.  It seems however these people showed up later at the big ship and some trading occurred now that Cartier felt less outnumbered. They traded for knives and other types of iron goods along with a red hat to give to their leader, in exchange for the skins the people had, including the skins they were wearing at the time. He mentioned that people plan to return the next day with more skins, but it doesn’t say they actually returned. It is noted fortunately in the footnotes that the people Cartier met on this occasion were the Micmacs. This is useful to know when start researching possible tribes for the French name persona. I’m not surprised to see them mentioned since the herald I talked to that had a native persona with a French name was playing a Micmac.

Reading a bit further on it seems several days later the Micmac people returned in their boats and even hunted up some seals to share and cook as a gift for the visitors. Cartier in exchange gave them hatchets, knives, paternosters (from what I can figure out they are historical versions of prayer beads/rosary), and other goods which made the Micmac very happy. There were women and children there, and Cartier mentions the woman touch them without fear. The Micmac were very friendly and Cartier seem to take this as a sign they would be easily converted. This seems to be the last of the contact with the Micmac people for this voyage. Doing some further research online I found the Micmac referred to as the Mi'kmaq Nation. Our local library didn't seem to have very much on the Mi'kmaq Which was frustrating, though there does seem to be a fair bit at the campus library once I have the time to dig through it all.

Research and Personas... An Introduction

Because I am doing non traditional personas outside the typical Eurocentric cultures most often used in the SCA, I have been advised to keep detailed records of my notes and resources to share with others that may be interested in following my lead. As I mention in the blog intro, I am mainly focused at the moment in building a Native persona either #1 from my own tribe who had contact with Hernando de Soto in 1540 or #2 a Canadian Metis persona, likely Cree, who are one of many of the First Nations people Jacques Cartier write about in the mid 1500s.

Now I know a decent bit about Metis as a culture and the Cree, even more about my own tribe, so a lot of the harder work and research involved has to do with how to find my notch with SCA which is mostly Western Europe centered. A lot of folks have been very supportive of my choice in persona, even excited about it, but others seem unsure... for this and many other reasons I have a large hill to climb n the way of detailed documentation and pictorial record keeping. The past few month the task has seem daunting, between the work needing to be done and the concept of the expensive supplies I will need to create my garb and tools, as well as the camping stuff I will need to do event with my kids.

For this reason and my sanity I am starting slow, playing around with other garb style and learning all I can over all which I work on my main persona and plans. I hope folks like the info I collect on this blog, and feel free to share idea, resources, feedback. Collaboration is half the fun.