09 - Winona's Girlhood

None

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Chapter nine of Indian Child Life.This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
recordings are in the public domain.For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. Indian childLife by Charles Eastman. When known as
girlhood, braver than the bravest yousaw honors at death's doore? Could you
not remember one who weeps at home? Could you not remember me braver than

(00:23):
the bravest you saw honors more thanlove? Dear, I weep, yet
I am not a coward. Myheart weeps for thee. My heart weeps
when I remember thee Sioux love song. The sky is blue overhead, peeping
through window like openings in a roofof green leaves, right between a great
pine and a birch tree. Theirsoft doeskin shawls are spread, and there

(00:44):
sit two Sioux maidens amid their fineries, variously colored porcupine quills for embroidery,
laid upon sheets of thin birch barkand moccasin tops worked in colors like autumn
leaves. It is Winona and herfred Minnietta. They have arrived at the
period during which the young girl iscarefully secluded from her brothers and cousins and
future lovers, and retires, asit were, into the nunnery of the

(01:07):
woods, behind a veil of thickfoliage. Thus she is expected to develop
her womanly qualities in meditation and solitude, entirely alone or with a chosen companion
of her own sex and age.She gains a secret strength as she studies
the art of womanhood from nature herself. Come, let us practice our sacred
dance as one to the other.Each crowns her glossy head with a wreath

(01:30):
of wild flowers, and they dancewith slow steps around the white birch,
singing meanwhile the sacred songs. Nowupon a lake that stretches blue to the
eastward, there appears a distant canoe, a mere speck, no bigger than
a bird, far off against theshining sky. See the lifting of the
paddles, exclaims Whynona, like theleaping of a trout upon the water,

(01:51):
suggests Miniata. I hope they willnot discover us, yet, I would
like to know who they are,remarks the other, Innocently, The birch
canoe coacha swiftly with two young men, plying the light ceaar paddles. The
girls now settle down to their needlework, quite as if they had never laughed,
or danced, or woven garlands,bending over their embroidery in perfect silence.

(02:12):
Surely they would not wish to attractattention, for the two sturdy young
warriors have already landed. They pickup the canoe and lay it well upon
the bank, out of sight.Then one procures a strong pole. They
lift a buck deer from the canoe. Not a mark on it save for
the bullet wound. The deer looksas if it were sleeping. They tie
the hind legs together and the fourlegs also, and carry it between them

(02:34):
on the pole. Quickly and cleverlythey do all this, and now they
start forward and come unexpectedly upon themaiden's retreat. They pause for an instant
and mute apology, but the girlssmile their forgiveness, and the youth's hurry
on toward the village. Monona hasnow attended her first maiden's feast and is
considered eligible to marriage. She mayreceive young men, but not in public

(02:55):
or in a social way, forsuch is not the custom of the Sioux
speaks. She need not answer himunless she chooses. It was no disgrace
to the chief's daughter in the olddays to work with her hands. Indeed,
their standard of worth was the willingnessto work, but not for the
sake of accumulation, only in orderto give. Whenonah has learned to prepare

(03:15):
skins, to remove the hair andtan the skin of a deer so that
it may be made into moccasins withinthree days. She has a bone tool
for each stage of the conversion ofthe stiff raw hide into velvety leather.
She has been taught the art ofpainting tents and raw hide cases, and
the manufacture of garments of all kinds. Generosity is a trait that is highly

(03:37):
developed in the Sioux woman. Shemakes many moccasins and other articles of clothing
for her male relatives or for anywho are not well provided. She loves
to see her brother the best dressedamong the young men, and the moccasins,
especially of a young brave, arethe pride of his womenkind. Her
own person is neatly attired, butordinarily with great simplicity. Her doeskin gown

(03:59):
has wide flowing sleeves. The neckis low, but not so low,
as is the evening dress of society. Her moccasins are plain, her legands
close fitting and not as high asher brothers. She parts her smooth jet
black hair in the middle and plaitsit in two. In the old days
she used to do it in oneplate, wound around with wampum. Her
ornaments, sparingly worn, are beads, elks, teeth, and a touch

(04:24):
of red paint. No feathers areworn by the woman, unless in a
sacred dance. She is supposed tobe always occupied with some feminine pursuit or
engaged in some social affair, whichalso is strictly feminine. As a rule,
there is an etiquette of sitting andstanding which is strictly observed. The
woman must never raise her knees orcross her feet when seated. She seats

(04:46):
herself on the ground sideways with bothfeet under her. Notwithstanding her modesty and
undemonstrative ways, there is no lackof mirth and relaxation for Winona among her
girl companions. In summer, swimmingand play and the water is a favorite
amusement. She even imitates with thesoles of her feet the peculiar resonant sound
that the beaver makes with her largeflat tail upon the surface of the water.

(05:11):
She is a graceful swimmer, keepingthe feet together and waving them backward
and forward like the tail of afish. Nearly all her games are different
from those of the men. Shehas a sport of wand throwing, which
develops fine muscles of the shoulder andback. The wands are about eight feet
long and taper gradually from an inchand a half to half an inch in
diameter. Some of them are artisticallymade with heads of bone and horn,

(05:35):
so that it is remarkable to whata distance they may be made to slide
over the ground. In the femininegame of ball, which is something like
shinny, the ball is driven withcurved sticks between two goals. It is
played with from two or three toa hundred on a side, and a
game between two bands or villages isa picturesque event. A common indoor diversion

(05:56):
is the deer's foot game, playedwith six deer hoofs on a string ending
in a bone or steel. Allthe object is to throw it in such
a way as to catch one ormore hoofs on the point of the awl,
a feat which requires no little dexterity. Another is played with marked plum
stones in a bowl, which arethrown like dice and count according to the
side that is turned uppermost. Unona'swooing is a typical one. As with

(06:20):
any other people. Love making ismore or less in vogue at all times
of the year, but more especiallyat Midsummer during the characteristic reunions and festivities
of that season. The young mengo about, usually in pairs, and
the maidens do likewise. They maymeet by chance at any time of day
in the woods or at the spring, but oftenest seek to do so after

(06:42):
dark, just outside the teepee.The girl has her companion and he has
his. For the sake of proprietyor protection, the conversation is carried on
in a whisper, so that eventhese chaperones do not hear at the sound
of the drum. On summer eveningdances are begun within the circular rows of
teepeas, but without the circle.The young men promenade in pairs. Each
provides himself with a planative flute andplays the simple cadences of his people,

(07:08):
while his person is completely covered withhis fine robe, so that he cannot
be recognized by the passer by.At every pause and the melody, he
gives his yodel like love call,to which the girls respond with their musical
sing song laughter. Matosapa has improvedevery opportunity, and Tilwanona has at last
shyly admitted her willingness to listen.For a whole year, he has been

(07:29):
compelled at intervals to repeat the storyof his love through the autumn hunting of
the buffalo. In the long coldwinter, he often presents her kinsfolk with
his game. At the next Midsummer, the parents on both sides are made
acquainted with the betrothal, and theyat once begin preparations for the coming wedding.
Provisions and delicacies of all kinds arelaid aside for a feast. Matosapa

(07:49):
sisters and his girl cousins are toldof the approaching event, and they too
prepare for it, since it istheir duty to dress or adorn the bride
with garments made by their own hands. The bride is ceremoniously delivered to her
husband's people, together with presence ofrich clothing collected from all her clan,
which she afterward distributes among her newrelations. Winona is carried in a travoy

(08:11):
handsomely decorated, and is received withequal ceremony and of Winona's girlhood