lowa-Comm-Onity Style Meskwaki Culture Don Wanatee

ithin the vast Great Lakes region and in another area east of the St. Lawrence Seaway lived a tribe the U.S . govern­ ment called the Sac&. Fox. Many of the Algonquin­ speaking tribes in this region succumbed to the rapid ad­ vance of Europeans who were seeking riches and land, often making treaties or creating wars by setting one tribe against another, and finally colonizing the tribes into their present -day enclaves - reser­ vations and cities. Some tribes have all but lost their iden­ tities and most of their lands; and the socio­ state of Iowa was created, were removed to Acolor guard opens the linguistic and ethnoreligious patterns, once the Kansas, with some taken to the Oklahoma ceremonies at the 80th Annual hallmark of all American Indians, have all but Territory. Only the Red Earths remained, per­ Meskwaki Indian Pow Wow in vanished as many people migrated out of their haps by divine intervention and with the per­ Tama in 1995. communities to the major population centers. mission of the newly formed state called Iowa It could be asked, how can any nation survive ("this-is-the-place"). Photo by Catherine Hiebert Kerst with half of its people gone? It has been told by the elders that an under­ In the central part of Iowa, among the major standing was reached with the United States industrial and agricultural communities, reside and Iowa that this small tribe would stay in the Meskwaki or, literally, the Red Earth Iowa. Under the terms of the agreement, 1) People. They were once closely associated with the Meskwaki would live in peace and not the Sauk, Mascoutan, Shawnee, and Kickapoo, trouble anyone; 2) the Meskwaki would only who controlled most of the southern region of use friendly means to find a way to remain in the Great Lakes. Iowa by purchasing land; 3) the Meskwaki By the early 1600s, the Meskwaki were would not seek help from either the State of identified in the Detroit area. Moving to the Iowa or the U.S . government, financially or in Green Bay region, they set up their villages, any other way, to buy land; and 4) they must planted their com, beans, and squash, raised obey all laws of the state and pay taxes on any their children, made war against the French, land(s) purchased. Most of the Meskwaki lived and moved on to the Mississippi River. There hidden along the tributaries of the Mississippi they established villages along its tributaries as until july 13, 1857, when the first eighty acres far north as Ft. Snelling and south to St. Louis. were sold to them by a Mr. Isaac Butler along By 1848, all nations west of the Mississippi the Iowa River, where the present Pow Wow River, in the territorial region out of which the grounds are located. In the early 1850s, the people of eastern Iowa circulated a petition requesting that the Meskwaki be allowed to remain in Iowa. The Festival of American Folklife 1996 23 mmunity Style

legislature introduced a bill in 1856 and baby's family then is responsible for passed it unanimously. Within the year, the the baby-child's well-being by wor­ Meskwaki began to conduct their religious shiping and praying to the Creator ceremonies in earnest in order to acquire by using the sacred tobacco. funds to effectively "own" land in Iowa (at the The newborn infant is treated time gold was the only legal tender in Iowa). with respect and spoken to as a little Each clan took part in the ceremonies, and grown-up person not yet fully devel­ within a short period of time the Meskwaki oped. We speak [to] and treat them had received a blessing from the Creator. By gently and firmly and never lie or that very act, they are still living in Iowa today. mistreat them; we don't make any The Meskwaki continue to maintain their negative remarks about their person ties to the past, to their language, and to their or spirit, or anything they may cher­ spirituality and religion. Communication ish. We consider them as sacred, between the generations is key to holding on and at that early stage in life, their to customs and traditional ways. According to spirit is vulnerable and may leave Priscilla Wanatee, because the infant is being mis­ Growing up on the Meskwaki treated. Sometimes the baby will "Communica­ Settlement allowed me to visit and ... cry a lot or become ill [without talk and learn from my grandpar­ anyone knowing] and eventually tion between ents. Every day was interesting and I die. I suppose it could be considered learned something new, and now I as a sudden-death syndrome. I did the genera­ wish I had asked the elders more things like whenever one of my tions is key to questions about the culture, but it babies sneezed, I would make a was the practice, a code, of not ask­ sound and act like I was sucking or holding on to ing questions but only to listen to catching their sneeze, thereby pre­ the vast wealth of knowledge. venting further discomfort. One of customs and Sometimes when the children would the teachings from the elders [that] be attentive to their elders, they may seem overly strict but [is] nec­ traditional would often go way into the night essary in our culture is when a girl telling teaching stories, and when reaches womanhood, special care ways." the children were getting tired or and activities need to be done pri­ fidgety, the elders would start telling vately. During their monthlies, they jokes or funny stories. Most of the are restricted from eating with the things my mom and grandmother family during mealtimes or cooking told me were things concerning the on the stove, touching any sacred raising of children and other duties objects or attending any religious and responsibilities of caring for a activities being conducted by the child. Today, we still carry on the clans. Only by protecting and culti­ practice of a naming ceremony for a vating the time-honored traditions newborn child; the baby's name is can an Indian nation survive [and] determined by the father's clan affili­ hold their religious beliefs as being ation, or in the case of a member of pure and sacred. Our parents, another tribe, the mother's clan grandparents, and all our relatives names can be used. The child's have taught us all they can, and I am name is picked and used so that the only telling some of the things I Creator will know and identify the learned. "new human being" as part of the earth, and the name is intended to Don Wanatee is a Meskwaki administrator who protect the baby's spirit while very works for the Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in young and living on this earth. The Tama, Iowa. 24 Festival of American Folklife 1996