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My own ancestry includes Shawnee, Cherokee, Scots, Irish, Scots-Irish, English, Welsh, German, and Dutch (& that's only what I'm sure of). Shawnee (3/16ths) and
Cherokee (1/16th) make up 1/4 of my ancestry and the rest is evenly spread over the other origins, making me more Shawnee than anything else. Even with my abundance of Indian ancestors I still have trouble knowing what 'being Indian' is all about. I grew up in the white world; free from the prejudices and intolerance imposed on people whose ethnicity showed more clearly. In spite of that, I have learned first hand from Indian people all over the country. From Virginia to Arizona and Canada to Mexico, I have traveled, participated in the life and ceremony, and listened to the stories of the people. I have read accounts of both the people of the past and present and have come to know my ancestors through their words, their deeds, and how others perceived them. To portray an Indian of the 18th or early 19th century it is important to understand their way of thinking. The same is true to understand Indian dance and ceremony for Scouting or any other purpose. Within this website I will try to introduce a few concepts to bring about some understanding.
If there is any one thing I have learned in over half a century of living around the
world, it’s that people are people. All people, everywhere and (I can only surmise) in every time are motivated by the same things; food, shelter, clothing, health, pleasure, pain, the need to create, and the need to connect with a higher power. I cannot stress anything more than this last when speaking of the traditional American Indian. I have always been struck by the inherent spirituality of tribal life. Whether American Indian, Australian Aborigines or African Bushmen, tribal people seem to be drawn closer to their environment, families (& extended families), communities and God. In reading the words of Indian leaders through history, it is impossible to separate their view of the world and their place in it from the creator of it. If you wish to think and act like an Indian this is where you must start and end. Every action and reaction, every hunt and battle becomes a spiritual act. Playing ball games, cooking a meal, educating children, or any other act in life is an extension of your spiritual life. The Earth is your Mother. In some cultures, God is Grandfather or Grandmother. In those cultures all elders are referred to as Grandfather or Grandmother. Respect and reverence for both the physical world and the spiritual world are not just concepts but are absolutes.
"When dew is on the grass in the morning, it will not rain during the day; when it is not there after darkness has fallen, it will rain before morning. When birds fly low and silently, a bad storm is coming, and when the pigeon sits close to the trunk of the sapling during daytime, a great wind will soon blow. When the leaves of the maples turn over to show their underside, thunder and lightning will soon come. If the blackbirds flock together and start to fly south when summer is still with us, there will be much snow during the winter. When the swamp muskrat builds a low house of reeds and mud, the winter will be mild, but the larger and higher the house he builds, the worse the winter will be; and when he builds no house at all, but instead burrows beneath the ground, prepare for severe cold, for the waters of swamps and ponds and smaller streams will freeze to the bottom and even the great Spaylaywitheepi (Ohio River in Shawnee) will freeze so that a horse may walk upon it."
These are only a few of the truths you would have known at a very early age. You would grow up without a harsh word having ever been spoken to you. If you did something to disappoint a grown up you would mostlikely hear "How sad I am to know I have not taught my child better". If a woman needed wood for the fire she may say, "I wonder who has raised a son that would help a woman get fire wood?" and you would see children tripping over themselves to be the first ones back with an arm load of dried sticks.
Any kind of noise or a wrong movement could spoil a hunt or alert an enemy. Babies were fed before they began to cry for food. If they did begin to cry, they were picked up and cradled to make them stop. Infants were strapped to a cradle board from the age of one month until they could sit up by themselves, a custom that many tribes believed would make the child grow straight, strong and patient, and they were bathed daily in cold water to make them hardy.
Older children learned by doing, with fathers, uncles or grandfathers instructing the boys and mothers, aunts or grandmothers instructing the girls. Girls and boys were rarely allowed to play together, but both played games to develop strength, skill, and resourcefulness. Children wrestled, fished, hunted, ran races, and played games similar to marbles and lacrosse. When boys were about nine or ten they began a special program of training to increase endurance and self-control. In some tribes, the boys would take early morning dips in the cold water of a pond or lake, breaking through the ice if necessary. As a boy entered manhood he would go out into nature to fast and seek a spirit guide. The spirit guide would usually come to the seeker in the form of an animal or bird and would give the seeker some kind of instruction that would protect them and help them in life.
A tribal elder of the Tohono O'odham once told me "being Indian is not a condition of birth, but a state of mind." During the earliest periods of Indian-White contact it was not unusual for whites to be adopted into a tribe. Sometimes this would be the result of captivity. Sometimes it was the desire of the adoptee. Even among the captive adoptees, when given the opportunity to return to white society, many did not wish it. Both men and women stayed with their adopted families by choice because they had found a way of life that appealed to them.
For those of you that adopt Indian customs as ritual, like Powwow or Order of the Arrow dancing, please do so with understanding and reverence. If you are portraying an Indian of the past in an historic reenactment do so with the same understanding, reverence and ACCURACY.
(follow the links on all these websites - they all contain an abundance of information - I cannot speak to the continuity of some of these links; not all sites keep up with the ever changing world wide web)(There are many more Links on my LINKS page)
NATIVE LANGUAGES
OF THE AMERICAS
follow the links - lots of cultural information
OYATE
deals with modern issues-
has an excellent reading and what not to read list
A Beginners Guide to
EASTERN WOODLAND INDIAN REENACTING
If you are to portray someone you must look the part. If you have fair skin and light hair, do not try to pass yourself off as 100% Indian. Learn at least some of the language of the tribe you wish to represent. Again, it is a sign of respect as well as adding authenticity to your portrayal. This accuracy of look must extend to all aspects of your portrayal. Do the research. Find out how people dressed. Either purchase or produce everything you use in your portrayal with complete accuracy in materials and construction. Their are a number of "Sutlers"(period merchants) and craft suppliers(to Links page) that can help in this regard. Of the former, Smoke and Fire Trading Company is among the better companies. Wandering Bull and Crazy Crow are among the better of the latter.
There are many ways to do research and many of them can be a lot of fun.
Go to reenactments. For the uninitiated, a reenactment is an event where participants portray people of the past. For a list of specific events involving Indian reenactors go to The Eastern Woodlands Confederacy website or subscribe to the Smoke and Fire News. At the reenactments ask lots of questions. “What is that?” “How did you make it?” “What’s it made of?” “What is it used for and why?” Pay careful attention to the answers. Be respectful of the person giving you their time, but never trust only one source. Check their answers with other people, books, the web and any other source you can think of. No one source or person should ever be used as your only source (including me).
Go to a Powwow. Go to many Powwows. Remember that a powwow is a modern event and has little to do with the 18th century. It does, however, have much to do with being Indian. A tremendous amount of knowledge can be gained if you obey some basic Powwow ETIQUETTE and ask lots of questions. The admonitions in the previous paragraph apply doubly at Powwows. Pay extremely close attention to people and what they say to you. Be very respectful of everyone, especially the elders. Remeber that inspite of what you may have been taught, there is such things as DUMB QUESTIONS. If you ask a question the wrong way, you could make someone very angry or at the very least, leave them with hurt feelings. POWOW POWER website also has a listing of many powwows by state.
Both Powwows and reenactments can be an excellent source of materials for your clothing. Many vendors come to the larger ones. Remember to be sure of what you are getting. For the serious reenactor, Plastic beads are unacceptable!
Before continuing with new information, just one more note on Powwows and etiquette. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police produced an excellent pdf book on the subject of "Native Spirituality" and how to deal with the special procedures envolved in police work with the traditional community. Go to the link above and read thoroughly. It is an excellent resource.
Interesting Fact- Until very recently in history it was common to refer to the Original People of the Americas as Savages. Let's examine this word.
From "Word Origins - An Exploration and History of Words and Language" Walter Funk, Random House (c) 1950.
"We move from the Latin silva, "forest," and silvaticus, also salvaticus, "(man) of the forest," through the Old French sauvage to our word savage. The dwellers in towns looked upon the "men of the Woods" as wild men and so the word savage gradually took on its present-day meanings of brutality and cruelty."
Personally, if people want to call me a "man of the woods," I would take that as a great compliment.
I mentioned earlier that you should not try to pass yourself off as something you are not. For reenactors this means that if you don't look the part when "in character" don't claim to be 100% Indian. Even if you look the part, when "out of character" don't claim to be what you are not. You will almost always be found out and that will discredit your whole portrayal.
As to looking the part, one of the most important visible signs of ethnicity is skin tone. Not all Indians were real dark skinned. While the Indians were often called "Red Men" they were also described by European as yellow or well tanned. Some of the Southeastern tribes are even shown in some period paintings of the 17th century and earlier as very pale. The point is, do your research and know what you should look like. If you can't make your skin look right, don't claim a pure ancestry. Almost from 1492 on, Whites and later Africans intermarried with the natives and produced multi-racial offspring.
One other very visible sign of a tribal affiliation is hair. I have never found a reference to any colors of hair other than medium brown (and very little of that), to very dark brown or black. Of course the one big exception is "old" people with gray or white hair. Remember, in the 18th century old could mean anybody over forty. If 
you've passed that age and still want to run around in the woods playing warrior, you should be able to pass yourself off as being much younger. There were older warriors, but they were rare. Again do the research and be willing to dye your hair to an appropriate color. The other part of the hair equation is style. Hairstyles did vary from tribe to tribe and from individual to individual, but not substantially. The most common among the Eastern Woodland Tribes was a shaved head except for a knot of hair on the top of the head or to the back of the crown which was cut just long enough to secure a roach or a few feathers. Again, older individuals may have deviated from the norm, not shaving and wearing their hair longer. Again, do the research and adapt or come up with a likely story for you being the exception.
By the early 19th century many styles of hair and clothing were changing radically and rapidly. When doing your research be very sure of the time you are portraying versus the time you are researching. From the 16th to the 19th centuries hairstyles go from heavily shaved heads to no shaving at all. Clothing goes from near naked in the south and all feathers, hide, and fur as you move north to totally manufactured clothing, especially in the east near white society.
Your accouterments would have changed over time as well. In the 16th century bow and arrows, stone and wood clubs, flint knives, and the like would be abundant. By the mid 17th century metal blades and even a few firearms could be found in any tribe close to white society. By the time of the American Revolution, virtually every tribe east of the Mississippi and more than a few to the west had just about anything that could be found in the rural communities of the White Man.
This next information is for those of you wishing to portray a specific person from history. This type of portrayal is known as "First Person Interpretation." This is, without a doubt, the most difficult portrayal to undertake. Like any portray you must look the part, but this now includes the right height, weight, age, possibly even facial structure (if we know what the person actually looked like). You must definitely know at least some of their language. You must know that person as you would know yourself. Who were your parents, grand parents, siblings, spouse, children, friends and enemies? Where do you live? Where have you lived in the past? What's you favorite color? These and a million other questions must be able to be answered without hesitation if you wish to be believable when interacting with the general public. When portraying an Indian of the 18th or early 19th centuries much of this information cannot be known as absolutes, but you must be able to give highly possible and most definitely plausible answers if questioned.
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