YOUNG GIRLS TOYS

Young girls were allowed to play and have fun, one of the most popular toy, the world over, was the doll. These beautifully made toys were treasured possessions and it helped the young girls understand the role that they would be expected to fill when the time came. Below are a group of carefully crafted replica dolls from the 1800's.

Blackfeet doll

Lakota Doll

Blackfeet doll

These young girls, like the boys of the tribe, were expected to learn the traditions of their respective tribes, understand fully their own role within the tribe. From a very early age they were taught manners and to have respect for their elders.

WOMANHOOD

Native women centred their lives around food, clothing and shelter. They:

• pitched and dismantled the dwellings

• fetched water daily

• planted and cultivated

• prepared and cooked food

• made pots, tools and baskets

• processed animal hides

• herded and sheared sheep

• spun and wove wool

• raised children

• make clothing

A  young girl of the Dakota.

Young women, like the girl above, would be carefully taught skills by their mothers and older sisters, aunties and other women of their tribe. They would learn from a young age how to skin and prepare meat, how to cook and to keep clean the tipi. They would be expected to collect firewood and water. During the long winter months when much of their time was spent in the tipi they would be taught the skills of beading and quill work, during which they would listen to stories of what was expected of them when they became adult females.

A Lakota girl dressed in her finest clothing.

As they matured they would be told about the ceremonies that a young woman must under go, as first her body and then her standing changed. One of the most important ceremonies was called 'Ishna Ta Awi Cha Lowan' (Preparing a Girl for Womanhood) this was carried out after the first menstrual period of the young girl.

The young girl had to learn that the change within her was a sacred thing, and from then on she would be like Mother Earth, able to bear children. She would also know that when her periods arrived on a monthly basis this too held a strong medicine and that she would have to be careful during such times.

Women In Battle

Although Plains women were devoted to peace and fighting battles with the enemy was generally the duty of the men, the women could not help but be involved in such activities. When a war party was getting ready to go out on a raid, the camp was full of activity. For the most part, the women participated by providing supplies, outfitting their husbands for battle, singing in support of departing war parties, sending the warriors off with prayers for a safe return and by imploring the warriors to avenge the deaths of those they loved.

Sometimes young wives turned their children over to the grandmothers and accompanied their husbands on raids, helping out by preparing food, nursing the wounded and when necessary fighting beside the men. When the victorious war party returned from battle with their spoils, the women had the privilege of dancing during the victory celebration. In many early tribes, the fate of any captured enemy was decided by the women. 

Lakota Thunderbird War Shield

The image above is used with the kind permission of Native Arts Trading

In some communities, wives were allowed to carry their husband's war shield on special occasions. The shield was perceived as having magical powers to protect the warrior in battle. A personal symbol of protection was painted on the cherished shield by the warrior and it was strapped onto the arm with which he held his bow so that his hands were free to use weapons. 

It was custom of Plains people to install the virtues of bravery in both sexes from early childhood. In some cases, girls were encouraged to develop their riding and fighting skills. Ordinarily, the women left warring and raiding expeditions to men, but in some exceptional cases stronger willed women actually became outstanding warriors. Tribal legends give accounts of brave women who were cunning in strategy and skilled in archery and horsemanship. However, not all women who engaged in battle always had a choice. They joined the battle to save themselves and their children from death or from becoming spoils of war - taken from their homes and becoming captives of their enemies.

Women on Horse back

In some tribes, the women had societies whose members were mothers of warriors or women who had performed a heroic deed. The women in such societies generally joined the men of their tribe at war council. 

An appropriate way to express grief for women whose husbands had been killed in battle, was for the widow to organize a vengeful raid on the enemy tribe. Sometimes the widow would be allowed to accompany the war party. Plains people followed certain rituals to show respect for the dead.

Navajo Woman

An important custom for the women of many tribes was to mourn the death of their spouses for a year or longer. Widows in some Plains tribes cut their hair short, wailed and slashed their bodies as a means of ensuring that dead husbands or sons would have a safe journey to the afterlife. In some Plains tribes the family tipi was burned and its contents were given away. The widow was taken in and cared for by members of her tribe. After the period of mourning, the widow usually remarried right away, for her skills were vital to the welfare of the community.

In the late 1800's, Plains women joined the men of their tribes in dancing and chanting to bring the buffalo back and end the white men's domination over their people. The ghost dance movement arose from a vision by a Paiute medicine man named Wovoka. In his vision, Wovoka was carried to the spirit world where departed ancestors were living a happy life. The men and women who participated in the ghost dance were inspired to die fighting for their hopeless dream of being saved and reunited with their departed ancestors. The ritual marked the final desperate attempt of the tribes in the United States to regain their old way of life.