Project 1, Week 5: Write a piece in which you explore: What does this story teach us about history? - Winnemucca

What is the Paiute tribes culture and traditions?

In the story From Life among the Piutes, the setting is described as children being raised with respect for their parents and each other, cultural gatherings for young girls and boys to meet each other, and the traditions practiced for when a girl becomes a woman. The story also describes how a husband is chosen, process of when a boy becomes a man, woman and men treated equally, how they hunt for food. Within these traditions the story describes clothing, types of housing, religion, and many other details about the tribe. All of these cultural traditions are described in great detail.

During my research on the Paiute tribes, I was able to locate most of these cultural traditions and confirm a majority of the smaller details are the same. The Paiute tribe is very close as a tribe and the family unit is very strong, including the elders in the family the ones that made family decisions. "The Great Basin Paiute tribe lived in temporary shelters of windbreaks in the summer or flimsy huts covered with rushes or bunches of grass called wikiups. The materials used were sagebrush, willow, branches, leaves, and grass (brush) that were available in their region." https://m.warpaths2peacepipes.com/indian-tribes/paiute-tribe.htm
"For their winter or more permanent houses, the Paiute placed willow poles in a circle and either leaned them together at the top, making a cone-shaped dwelling, or bent them in a dome shape.  The poles were covered with mats woven from tule reeds, when they were available, or with bundles of long grasses tied together.  There was a smoke hole at the top, and an entry door covered with an animal skin." https://factcards.califa.org/cai/paiute.html#top

In the following I am going to compare the text with information that I was able to verify is a part of the Paiutes culture and traditions:

"Our young woman are not allowed to talk to any young men that is not their cousin, except at the festive dances, when both are dressed in their best clothes, adorned with beads, feathers, or shells..." pg 255 The Paiutes also had many ceremony dances, such as the Bear Dance and the Sun Dance. The most popular dance was the Ghost Dance, which was created in 1870 to re-establish the peace and rid them of the "white men." "Paiute clothing for both the men and women was adorned with fringes and feathers and jewelry made from beads and shells." https://m.warpaths2peacepipes.com/indian-tribes/paiute-tribe.htm

"On the fifth day the antelopes were charmed... and looking sleepy and under a powerful spell." pg 261 In the story it is described in great detail, how the one tribe member has the charm to put a spell on a herd of antelopes and the process takes 5 days, once the herd is under the spell they are all killed and used for food and clothing. "Leaders of communal hunts usually had power—for antelope, always."  https://www.everyculture.com/North-America/Northern-Paiute-Religion-and-Expressive-Culture.html#ixzz5hB5IGXxy

My lastly before a girl became a woman in the story, she had a twenty-five day tradition that included the grandmothers, two friends, they lived in a separate teepee for the three young girls. A girl had to gather and stack five piles of wood as high as she could three times a day, could only bathe every five days, and was not allowed to eat meat, this was done before the young girl could enter into "Womanhood."  "...for young women at the time of their first menstrual period, and the other for young couples expecting their first child. In the menarche ritual, the young woman was isolated for four days. During this time, she observed taboos against touching her face or hair with her hands, eating animal-based foods, and drinking cold liquids. She also ran east at sunrise and west at sunset, and sat with older women of the tribe to learn about her responsibilities as a woman. After the four days of isolation, a series of rituals were performed to bring the menarche ceremony to a close." https://www.everyculture.com/multi/Le-Pa/Paiutes.html#ixzz5hB8OJNHS The story was similar to the actual tradition but in the story it lasted for twenty-five days, however it only lasted four days in the real tribal culture.

The context of the story describes the culture and traditions of the Paiutes tribe. I enjoyed reading this story because it describes and educates me on the Paiutes culture. I also had to research the Paiutes tribe and read the facts to confirm most of the details of the story are true and accurate. Culture is something I am interested in and trying to understand more about, for example, why do we loose our cultural traditions? In this story, it is clear that this tribe wants to stay together and keep their traditions but they wanted to diminish and shrink their tribe instead of multiplying it because they believed their daughters were not safe.

I believe the author is telling a story about her tribe and is using the information to keep they history alive for them, with this story we are able to read and understand what her life was like as a child and how the culture of his tribe influenced her as she became an adult. Winnemucca also compares and describes how her tribe was different from the "white men." Indians do not swear, - they have no words for swearing till they learned them of the white men." pg 254 This was a great story and kept my interest, but most of all I really enjoyed reading about the cultural traditions.

Thocetony (Sarah Winnmucca) "From Life among the Piutes" pg 254-261