WANIYETU WÓWAPI Native American Records of Weather and Climate BY MATTHEW D. THERRELL AN D MAKAYLA J. TROTTER Pictographic calendars kept by the Lakotas and other Great Plains indigenous peoples provide important insight into the historical impact of weather and climate on society. ince perhaps as early as the seventeenth century, S many Plains Indian groups kept pictographic calendrical records called waniyetu wówapi or “winter counts” that record events that memorably affected individual bands of Plains Indians. In addition to im- portant events—such as battles with other groups, the deaths of leaders, and famines—the winter counts frequently depict impor- tant natural phenomena, such as extreme climate conditions. Several Plains Indian t r i b e s — s u c h a s t h e Blackfeet, Kiowa, and Mandan—are known to have maintained winter counts; however, the vari- ous bands of Lakotas (or Sioux) probably produced the greatest number of these records (Burke 2000). The term winter count is derived from the Lakota terms waniyetu, referring to the season of winter, and wówapi, referring to anything noted, counted, or read (Mallery 1886; Kills Two, a Sicangu Lakota painting a winter count on buffalo skin. Photograph Burke 2007). Each “year” in by John Anderson. Image reproduced with permission from the National the winter count calendar Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution (NAA Inv. 03494000). AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY MAY 2011 | 583 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/04/21 09:08 PM UTC THE WintER COUnt SYstEM. Winter counts are generally based on a fairly fluid chronological year that begins with the first snowfall in autumn and continues until the first snow of the following autumn (Mallery 1886, 1893; Burke 2007). Kiowa records are unusual, in that they record an image for both the winter and summer seasons each year (Mooney 1898; Greene 2009). At the end of each winter (year), the indi- vidual keeping the winter count would consult with FIG . 1. Page 18 from the Battiste Good winter count (Corbusier 1886; Mallery group elders to determine 1886; NAA Ms. 2372, Inv. 08,746,802) showing the years 1821–50 [Western which remarkable event dates added by Corbusier (1886)]. Note the image of the meteor event in would represent that year 1821/22, the mass drowning in 1825/26, and the Leonid meteor shower in and he would then illus- 1833/34 —all of which are frequently found in other counts. Image reproduced trate the event in a suc- with permission from the NAA, Smithsonian Institution. cession of annual images, with the important feature is individually named for the—usually one—notable being the preservation of the chronological order event that is conveyed by the illustration (Mallery of events (Mallery 1886; Burke 2000; Fig. 1). The 1886). For example, the contemporary Gregorian image itself acted as a mnemonic device to aid in the winter season of 1821/22 is referred to as the “Star recall of a much more extensive narrative. Because passed by with loud noise winter” in the Battiste of the temporally flexible methodology of defining Good count and refers to a meteoric fireball that was the year in the winter counts, correlation of specific reported in several winter counts (Chamberlain 1984; events with the Western calendar can be complex, Fig. 1). Waniyetu also refers to the year as a whole though a great number of winter counts have been and thus in the context of the calendar, events could thoroughly studied, and the content and general occur at any time of the year and still be referred to temporal arrangement of many of the major counts as occurring in a particular “winter” (Howard 1960b; are well understood through comparison of known Burke 2000). historical events recorded in multiple winter counts (Howard 1960b). The temporal relationship of the winter counts with the Western calendar can also AFFiliatiOns: THERRELL AN D TROTTER —Department of be calibrated through analysis of events recorded Geography and Environmental Resources, Southern Illinois by both Native American and Euro-American University, Carbondale, Illinois historians. For example, almost every winter count CORREspONDing AUTHOR: Matthew D. Therrell, Department of Geography and Environmental Resources, known records the tremendous Leonid meteor Southern Illinois University, 1000 Faner Drive, MC 4514, shower that took place 12–13 November 1833 (Fig. 2; Carbondale, IL 62901 Chamberlain 1984). E-mail: [email protected] Year names and the interpretation of the meaning The abstract for this article can be found in this issue, following the of winter count images were, in many cases (e.g., table of contents. American Horse, Battiste Good, Cloud Shield), pro- DOI:10.1175 / 2011BAMS3146.1 vided by the count keepers when the records were originally collected (Corbusier 1886; Mallery 1886). In final form 21 December 2010 ©2011 American Meteorological Society In other cases (e.g., Rosebud), the origin of the winter count is unknown and images must be interpreted by 584 | MAY 2011 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/04/21 09:08 PM UTC comparison with other counts and in the context of Mooney’s (1898) description of the Set-tan or Little native histories. Bear count (Kiowa), a Mandan count by Butterfly Winter counts were first brought to the attention (Howard 1960a), the Blackfoot count kept by Bad of the scientific community in the 1870s by Colonel Head (Dempsey 1965), and Greene’s (2009) descrip- Garrick Mallery (1877) while working for John Wesley tion of the Silver Horn (Kiowa) counts. Powell at the Bureau of American Ethnology. Mallery We used the winter counts and related secondary contributed additional important works in 1886 (with sources to derive a chronological record of references included works by Corbusier and others) and in 1893. to or descriptions of unusual weather and climate Examples of key works that followed Mallery’s include phenomena (Table 1). These records describe events those by Mooney (1898), Howard (1960b), DeMallie in various locations of the Great Plains, including (1982), McCoy (1983), Burke (2000), Greene and the modern states of Colorado, the Dakotas, Iowa, Thornton (2007), and Greene (2009). western Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Most winter count studies have principally Wyoming, and the southern regions of the Canadian focused on general overviews or the interpretation plains provinces. of individual calendars; however, several authors Many of the events listed in Table 1 were recorded have also examined multiple calendars for informa- in only one winter count, especially the events in the tion about a particular area of interest, for example, early portion of the record, and although we have Plains Indian history (Howard 1960b), disease out- breaks (Thornton 1987; Sundstrom 1997), and archeoastronomy (Chamberlain 1984). Levy (1961) examined Kiowa winter count records and tree-ring reconstructed climate to study the impact of drought on Kiowa population variability and seasonal dis- persal patterns. Sundstrom (1997) examined winter counts for evidence of famine and “hard winters” in relation to the study of epidemic disease, and Greene (2009) discussed several interesting weather-related images in Kiowa calendars. But we are unaware of any research that has examined multiple winter counts specifically for historical information about weather and climate events and their associated impacts on the native peoples of the Great Plains. WintER COUnt RECORDS. The original or facsimile calendars and their associated descriptions that we examined included major Lakota winter counts exhibited by the National Anthropological Archives (NAA; e.g., Burke 2000; Burke and Thornton 2007), such as the Lone Dog (Mallery 1877, 1893), American Horse, Battiste Good, Cloud Shield, Flame, Swan, White Cow Killer (Corbusier 1886; Mallery 1886, 1893), Long Soldier, No Ears, and Rosebud (DeMallie 1982; Thornton 2002; Greene and Thornton 2007). Other less well-known Lakota counts studied FIG . 2. The image for 1833/34 “The stars moved included the Ben Kindle count (Beckwith 1930); the around” winter from the American Horse winter count Hunkpapa count (Vestal 1934); the Big Missouri (Corbusier 1886, p. S33; NAA Ms. 2372, detail from Inv. and Swift Bear counts (Cohen 1939, 1942; Wildhage 08,746,928). Described by Chamberlain (1984) as “the 1991); the Wind-Roan Bear counts (Howard 1955; single most important event of known date for estab- lishing the chronology of the winter counts,” the image Higginbotham 1981); the Blue Thunder, High represents the Leonid meteor blizzard that was visible Dog–Swift Dog, and Jaw group (Howard 1960b); across North America in Nov 1833, and it is almost the Garnier count (Grange 1963); and the John K. universally recorded in known winter counts. Image Bear count (Howard 1976). We also studied several reproduced with permission of the NAA, Smithsonian winter count records from other groups, including Institution. AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY MAY 2011 | 585 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/04/21 09:08 PM UTC TABLE 1. A record of 42 events depicted in the winter counts that appear to indicate unusual weather or cli- mate; the year of occurrence, including the winter count description; and the source for each event. When multiple winter counts record an event, one example name is provided. In most cases, modern year dates refer to the first winter season of the given year range. Events in bold are discussed further in the text. Modern year Impact event occurred Winter count title or description Winter count Ice 1686 Ice all over the land John K. Bear Snow 1697 Made snowshoes John K. Bear Snow 1703 Deep snow John K. Bear Flood 1711/12 Four lodges drowned winter Batiste Good Snow 1719/20 Wore snowshoes winter Batiste Good Snow 1721/22 Wore snowshoes… Batiste Good Snow 1722/23 Deep snow… Batiste Good Snow 1748 Dry winter, snowy spring John K. Bear Ice 1750 Ice everywhere John K. Bear Snow 1773 Even the dogs got snow blindness Ben Kindle Snow 1774 No snow in winter John K.