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Were these dresses newer, made in present times? In the photos they don’t look too old to me. I am used to seeing Plains dresses in the museum here that look much older. My favorite is the 4th photo. I sure wish I had some elk teeth. I attended a presetation on brain tanning here. I got to scrap the buffalo hide some and the man giving it gave me a piece of buffalo hide about 2’x2′.
Thank you so much for this Erica.:)
Wachinika wrote: Were these dresses newer, made in present times? In the photos they don’t look too old to me. I am used to seeing Plains dresses in the museum here that look much older. My favorite is the 4th photo. I sure wish I had some elk teeth. I attended a presetation on brain tanning here. I got to scrap the buffalo hide some and the man giving it gave me a piece of buffalo hide about 2’x2′.
Thank you so much for this Erica.:)
Most of the dresses were dated in the mid to late 1800’s.
You all are very welcome!!!!!
Hey Ladies, many of these dress’s are dated to 1900 or later, the use of “stroud” a medium wieght wool material is very classic of the time.
Many of the attachments on these dress’s are of a very personal issue, the image of the red and black triangle is something that you Ladies should research yourselves and in time if time allows this forum should provide a “Ladies Only” forum on material culture and concepts, trust me it gets very personal.
If when viewing these dress’s you notice that the shape of the yoke on the dress is different from another, you are correct!
Time and culture play varying roles in and of ettiquette, one dress evokes the power of a deer and another will evoke or emulate the “breaste plaits” of a turtle. These “powers” etc from the animals are asked first and then manifested in form to give strength to the person and the family.
The use of elk teeth is a very northern plains tradition sometimes these “whistling” teeth are repalced by “money cowrie” shell that are a very specific type, one is correct another very simialr is not , so be careful when using attchments on your dress’s.
Each tribal style is not something that can be borrowed etc, these elements are intellectual property based on a population of people that have been recently deemed as nations.
Be very respectful when researching and designing your personal materials.
Tom, Thank you, this is very interesting. Are you able to discuss the difference in the cowrie shells here? I have some and am wondering about them.
This thread inspired my to stop in at the Nebraska Historical Society last week. I hadn’t done that for a long time. I realized I saw so much more than ever before. I’d always viewed the exhibits with wonder but at the same time always felt alot of anger for the injustices that had stolen my right to know where I fit into this. I’d also not visited since learning so much about local Indian cultures and their beliefs and symbols. I will return regularly and often.
I knew two people who worked at the Historical Society when the repatriation process was underway in about 1989. They told a story that Tribal members who had come for a visit brought sacred sage and performed a ceremony blessing the bones in a specific room. They said that evening as they were locking up, the security alarms kept going off in that room though no one appeared there on the security cameras nor when they would go to the area to check it out.
Hello Tom,
Thank you for the valuable information.
NowI have a question. With information being so sparce out there, how does one “Be very respectful when researching and desiging your personal materials.” This is one reason I quit doing anything NA with my beadwork years ago.
As you know, I have recently renewed my interest again in reviving and designing our own private family designs. I am fortunate because we do have a picture of a design worn by my grandmother and also one worn by my uncle, so I at least have a jumping off point. But others here may not even have that much.
I have searched the internet for months and come up with very little, if anything. So my question to you is: How do we know if we are committing a taboo when there is so very little info out there for us to go on? And also, where do we look for information?
Thanks and advance. 🙂
Hey Cousin well, you know when you are “misapropriating” something.
Think of the borrowing of designs, we have the old images from my Grandama’s photo album and recently moved the access of info. to them, so if someone came along and decided “hey that’s cool” lets use that, get my drift.?
When you are looking for material to use, look for the general overview, like for example the posts on “mens ribbon shirts”, that particular style exists from ontario to Oklahoma and south as far as Florida with slight variations to tribal styles,the same was for the womans traditional dress’s etc, there is a “cut” to the clothing styles,.
Being respectful is not taking something for granted and just “using it” with out the knowledge or respect of where it came from.
Try to develope something based on what we have that is ours and settle in on what is ours or can be borrowed from a “cultural ethos” that exists across Turtle Island”. IE eastern woodlands “style”, plains “style” etc. now there’s a “metaphor”!
Being respectful, ask yourself do you want other people using something that is not “thiers”, your’s mine or ours”! We can all share in what is culturally Native American, but it is how we choose to utilize that information, sometimes respecting it simply means understanding that it is “none of my buisness”!
Sometimes I can share in that process by having, holding or making what is a part of the larger “ethos”.
Many of you know that I can make river cane baskets, I was taught how to do that by 4 different master weavers, the last would not tell me anything until I could prove up., others would discuss it to a point and then back off. After years of study and practise I can now make something useful from nothing, but I hope that this summers research will yield something that I can “bring home” that will belong to the Eastern Siouan people.
It was a long slow process, and I fell many times, and was really corrected, but it was all worth it!
So ask yourselves what is the big picture and then “discover” what I can make mine? Fruition through reserch , begins with a premise, start from what you know that being added by basic research and then direct that process where you want it to go.
It is not always easy, but I’ll help when I can and people are free to ask me what they want, but when certain things are “off limits”, I’ll say don’t go there” or something to that effect, just use some inner feelings and ask if you feel comfortable doing that!
And lastly ,for a great example look at POW WOWS especially fancy dancing mens or womens, they are the generic of generics but they still follow a protocol that is culturally Native American.
Tom, If you have made an item, fairly valuable and a person of an Indian nation greatly admires it, is there an obligation to give it to them? I have heard something about that but don’t really know.
You’ve made me realize how many nice people there are where I am. I did always feel very hesitant to wear anything considered Indian but when I have; a Tlingit Motif T-shirt, a string of beads, a bag with beaded Tlingit motif I took from worn out moccasins; all of these things have been complimented by Indian people who were happy I had them. Three times Indian women told me I should learn to bead. I only started to search for my heritage after my Omaha teacher’s daughter strongly encouraged me to on serveral occasions. I had been too timid to do it. There are alot of kind people here.
Hello well to ansswer a couple questions:
1, http://www.seashellcity.com/seashells/cowrieshells.html
the cowrie shells are called “money cowrie” and have small bumps on the edge opening, I would take a good look at some on old dress’s etc, because they were usaed to replace elk teeth, I would do some research and familiarize yourself with the different types because what has been used here are the pacific variety, use what you are comfortable with but I’d stick with money shells.
2, the “Oh I really like those things”, well I have heard of people abusing that notion of “if I really like it they’ll give it to me”. I think that form of ettiquette has filtered over from some of the old societies, and was really not that common, I once heard of someone collecting new cowboy boots!
I had a person say that to me about something that I had made, “oh I really like those”! I said back” yah?! so do I” and that was the end of that conversation.
Don’t give something up just beacuse someone else likes it, if that was the case would you still have a house?
People that pull that don’t consider that the owner might also like it just as much!
Call it what you want but asking for a gift is different that being given one!
Tom,
Thank you once again for your wisdom.
I totally agree with you about the ethics of using someone else’s design. I come across that ethics issue often in my contemporary beadwork designs where people try to copy them and then teach classses using my designs. This is a major no no without my permission.
It would be awful for someone to take a family’s private design and use it on their work. A family design is private and meaningful to the family itself and some designs may even be considered ‘sacred’ by the family. So I totally understand that aspect of design.
Thank you again for your wisdom and guidelines on this subject. I think your’s is a post that we will refer people to often so they can stay on the right path in creating their own family designs.
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