Part 6

The transition of young Wampanoags into adult status was marked by special observances. Boys and girls both underwent initiation ceremonies; there is almost no information of the nature of these observances for females.[465] For boys it was a lengthy process to finally achieve recognition as an adult member of the tribe. De Rasieres describes some of the aspects of Wampanoag initiation.

When there is a youth who begins to approach manhood, he is taken by his father, uncle or nearest friend, and is conducted blindfolded into a wilderness, in order that he may not know the way, and is left there by night or otherwise, with a bow and arrows, and a hatchet and a knife. He must support himself there a whole winter with what the scanty earth furnishes at this season, and by hunting. Towards the spring they come again, and fetch him out of it, take him home and feed him up again until May. He must then go out again every morning with the person who is ordered to take him in hand; he must go into the forest to seek wild herbs and roots, which they know to be the most poisonous and bitter; these they bruise in water and press the juice out of them, which he must drink, and immediately have ready such herbs as will preserve him from death or vomiting; and if he cannot retain it, he must repeat the dose until he can support it and until his constitution becomes accustomed to it so that he can retain it.

Then he comes home, and is brought by the men and women all singing and dancing, before the Sackima; and if he has been able to stand it all well, and if he is fat and sleek, a wife is given to him.[466]

Both boys and girls received new, adult names at the time of their initiation.[467]

MILITARY TECHNOLOGY

=Military Organization=: Although it is not known for certain, it seems likely that the groups of men called _pnieses_ constituted an elite military society that provided leadership in battles as well as being a policy-making body. Boys with the proper characteristics—courage, strength, stature, endurance, honesty, discretion, and courtesy—were trained from childhood to endure hardships in preparation for becoming a pniese. When they were of the proper age they were initiated into the society in a ceremony which involved physical ordeal and supernatural experience.[468] Pnieses performed feats of great courage and boldness and were considered to be immune to wounds by enemy weapons. These were the leaders in battle—the men who carried long spears.[469]

=Defensive Fortifications=: Winter villages were often fortified against attack. Fortifications were pallisade and ditch constructions. A pallisade consisted of upright poles of some ten to twelve feet high, set into the ground as close as possible. On the inside a breast-high ditch was dug, and dirt thrown up against the base of the uprights provided further protection during combat. Spaces between the poles served as loopholes. The fort had one or two entrances, depending on its circumference. These were formed by overlapping the ends of the wall.[470]

Forts varied considerably in size, and probably there was also variation from the above structural specifications. Sizes ranged from enclosures of about fifty feet across to areas of several acres.[471] The smaller fortified areas were probably meant for the use of small groups when away from the main community, perhaps during the hunting season. Thick woods and swamps also served as refuge areas for women and children in wartime.[472]

=Ordnance=: Weapons consisted of bows and arrows, clubs, and tomahawks. Knives were used for taking trophies. War leaders carried long spears. When guns, swords and other European war machines had been introduced into North America, these also were used. Wampanoag fortifications were not so effective against the guns as they had been against bows and arrows.[473]

=Uniform and Accoutrement=: The uniform of the Wampanoag was his war paint, described in the following passage: “When they goe to their warres, it is their custome to paint their faces with diversitie of Colours, some being all black as jet, some red, some halfe red and halfe blacke, some blacke and white, others spotted with divers kinds of colours....”[474] In addition, wampum and other ornaments were worn into battle.[475]

WAR

Motivations which could lead to war were revenge, boundary disputes, and power struggles within groups.[476] The instigation for war might come from the sachem or from some group among the people; generally the agreement of the sachem and his council was required before war could be undertaken.

Dancing and oratory were part of the preparations for battle, serving to incite the warriors. The following passage describes the pre-battle ritual:

There was one that kneeled upon a deer skin, with the company around him in a ring, who kneeled, striking upon the ground with their hands and with sticks, and muttering or humming with their mouths. Besides him who kneeled in the ring there also stood one with a gun in his hand. Then he on the deerskin made a speech, and all manifested assent to it; and so they did many times together. Then they bid him with a gun go out of the ring, which he did; but when he was out, they called again; but he seemed to make a stand. Then they called the more earnestly, till he turned again. Then they all sang. Then they gave him two guns in each hand one. And so he on the deerskin began again; and at the end of every sentence in his speaking they all assented, and humming or muttering with their mouths and striking upon the ground with their hands. Then they bid him with the two guns go out of the ring again, but he made a stand. So they called him with greater earnestness; but he stood reeling and wavering as if he knew not whether he should stand or fall, or which way to go. Then they called him with exceeding great vehemency, all of them, one and another. After a little while he turned in, staggering as he went, with his arms stretched out, in each hand a gun. As soon as he came in, they all sang and rejoiced exceedingly a while, and then he upon the deerskin made another speech, unto which they all assented in a rejoicing manner....[477]

The Wampanoags were skillful both in the use of their weapons and in avoiding enemy fire. In the woods, where most fighting seems to have been done, warriors used trees for cover. In the open, bark shields were used to ward off arrows, and the fighters were skillful at dodging out of the way.[478] As a rule, when a warrior had run out of arrows he left the battle.[479] As a result, mortality was not high, judged by the standards of European wars of the period. In a large battle, however, as many as twenty men might be lost.[480]

The tactic of surprise was used whenever possible. The occasion of a storm that would drive the enemy indoors was a good opportunity for attack; warriors could enter the village unnoticed and strike down the foe in their houses before they could organize for defense.[481]

Sometimes battles took place on the water. One reporter describes seeing thirty or forty canoes full of men engaged in a pitched battle.[482]

Warriors who were killed, or wounded so they could not escape, had their heads, hands, and feet hacked off and carried away as trophies.[483] Scalping was a practice that appeared late in the seventeenth century; it may have been a European introduction.[484] Most male captives faced a death by torture. Female captives were kept alive; it is likely that they were adopted into the tribe as wives or servants.[485]

IDEAS ABOUT NATURE AND MAN

From childhood the Wampanoags learned to make certain observations of the stars, planets, and of the seasons and weather.[486] The time of day was measured by the height of the sun in the day and by the moon and stars at night.[487] Longer spans of time were kept account of in terms of the moon and of “summers” and “winters”.[488] Reckoning according to the moon, they had thirteen months, each with its own name.[489] Many of the stars were named; the north star was called _Maske_, meaning “bear”.[490] Winds were named according to their direction; of these there were seven to nine.[491] By observing the winds and the sky the Wampanoags made fairly accurate weather predictions.[492]

SICKNESS

The Wampanoag practice of sweat bathing was thought to have both therapeutic and preventive benefits. First the sweat house was heated by putting a great number of hot stones inside. Then the naked bathers entered and the door was stopped up. The bathers sat inside, smoking their pipes for as long as they could bear the heat—perhaps an hour or so. The sweat bath was then terminated by a dash outside and a plunge into the cold water of a nearby lake or stream. Sweat bathing was said to cleanse and refresh the body and thus be good for general health. It was also used to cure diseases, sometimes in combination with other types of remedies.[493]

Herbal remedies were used for their therapeutic effect on both diseases and wounds.[494] The Wampanoags are said to have had great skill in the use of such remedies.[495] The Wampanoag theory of herbal remedies was that each symptom had a specific herbal cure.[496] For example, the cure for toothache was “... a certaine root dried, not much unlike our ginger”.[497] A different herb would be used to relieve stomach aches, and so on.

Wounds and diseases were also cured by magical means. Curing by magic seems to have been used in cases where the suspected cause of the illness was also magical. This malevolent magic was usually manifest in the form of an “evil spirit” put into the ailing person’s body to cause him pain. Healing by magic was the special province of the _powow_.[498]

When a person was quite ill, all his friends and relatives would crowd into his wigwam and gather around him. If someone could not be there in person, he sent a representative.[499] This audience joined in the powow’s chanting at certain points during the ritual.[500] Wood gives the following description of magical curing procedure:

... after violent expressions of many a hideous bellowing and growning, he makes a stop, and then all the auditors with one voice utter a short Canto; which done, the Pow-wow still proceeds in his invocations sometimes roaring like a Beare, other times groaning like a dying horse, foaming at the mouth like a chased boar, smiting on his naked brest and thighs with such violence, as if he were madde. Thus will hee continue sometimes halfe a day, spending his lungs, sweating out his fat, and tormenting his body in this diabolicall worship....[501]

Next the powow would suck on the afflicted part of the patient’s body and, being an expert at sleight of hand, pretend to remove an object—a small stone, or twig or the like—from the body and display it for all to see. This object, it was claimed, was the “evil spirit” that was the cause of the trouble. Sometimes it was thought that the powow from some other group had brought on the illness in the first place.[502]

Both men and women engaged in curing activities.[503] It may have been that there was a division between the use of herbal and magical cures, with magically caused illness and magical cures being the province of male powows, and functional illness being cured by specific herbal formulas which were non-magical in their effect and which were the province of women skilled in this art. This was true of some other Northeastern Algonquian groups. Where such a division occurred, there was little or no infringement of one group on the methods that were the property of the other. When symptoms did not respond to the normal herbal treatment, or when they were recognized to be supernatural in origin from the start, magical cures were resorted to.[504] Curers were paid well for their efforts, and those who were successful became wealthy and influential members of the community.[505]

If a patient recovered, his friends and relatives would send corn and other sorts of gifts to him, and at a certain time a feast (called _commoco_) would be held in honor of the recovery.[506] Sometimes in asking the supernatural to remove a sickness it was necessary to provide gifts as a sacrifice.[507] This seems to have been a practice resorted to in particularly grave situations. In one instance, when several people had died in an epidemic, the entire village gathered to perform a curing ritual to drive out the sickness. The wealthier people danced and gave away great quantities of wealth to the poor; ultimately a messenger was sent to intercede in person with the supernatural.[508] Epidemics were greatly feared, and in the case of a known contagious disease, the usual practice of friends and relatives coming to visit the sick was not carried out. In such instances often the entire village would be abandoned.[509]

DEATH

Death and the dead were greatly feared by the Wampanoags.[510] Theories as to the causes of death are little noted by the European chroniclers; there was, however, the idea that the death of a child could result from supernatural anger with the parent.[511] After death the “good” were thought to go to the southwest, where they would lead an idyllic existence. Less fortunate people were doomed to wandering about aimlessly.[512]

Burial prepared the deceased for his journey to the southwest. Hazards were expected along the way (a large dog is one that is mentioned.)[513] For this reason, and because the afterlife was expected to be like earthly existence, the equipment of life—weapons, wampum, ornaments, pots, and the like were buried along with the dead.[514] In the case of children, the parents might make gifts of special ornaments and treasures and put them into the grave.[515]

One specially appointed person, “commonly some wise, grave, and well-descented man” had the job of preparing the corpse for burial and committing it to the earth.[516] Woven mats were used to line the grave. Boards might be placed in as lining for the grave of an important person, likewise a greater wealth of possessions and richer covering of mats indicated a person of higher station.[517] The body was placed into the grave in a sitting position—arms were drawn across the chest and knees were bent up; it was covered with a mat.[518] To mark an important grave a skin mantle might be hung nearby and left there until it rotted.[519] It was also reported that monuments were raised over the graves of great men, but there is no indication of what these might have been.[520]

There was considerable mourning and display of grief for the dead. Both men and women painted their faces black to signify grief.[521] Women would paint their faces as soon as an illness appeared to be serious, but men did not do so until death had occurred.[522] At the moment of death the assembled spectators would begin wailing and lamenting, men and women alike.[523]

Adults were buried in or near the house, after which all the mats were taken down from the house, leaving only the frame remaining, and it was abandoned forever.[524] The company of friends and relatives would gather around the corpse as it lay at the grave’s edge and lament copiously.[525] They would continue to mourn thus for many days; the length of mourning increased with the importance of the deceased. In the case of a very important person, such as a sachem, the period of mourning might last for a year.[526] The black face paint was worn throughout the period of mourning, and it was often seen to be caked by tears.[527] Upon the death of a child, the father might cut off his proud long hair and inflict wounds upon his body.[528] The anniversary of the death was kept by a brief period of renewed mourning, the face again being blackened.[529] The name of a deceased person was not to be mentioned again. If anyone living had a similar name, he would change it.[530]

Concern was also shown for the family of the deceased. Friends would often visit offering words of consolation “... which they express by stroking the cheeke and head of the father or mother, husband or wife of the dead”.[531] Widows or widowers, left then without a house, would take up residence with a related family or perhaps move about among the homes of their relatives for a time, where they were comforted.[532]

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS[A]

The world of the Wampanoags was well-populated with supernatural beings and forces. Of these, one was a sort of generalized power, called _Manitou_.[533] Many early observers of the Indians of northeastern North America, where this concept is widespread, developed the mistaken idea that “Manitou” referred to an anthropomorphic supreme being. Actually, Manitou is a force rather than a person. It could perhaps best be likened to that force for good luck that many Europeans think can be found in horse shoes, four-leaf clovers, etc. thus, when a Wampanoag performed an exceptional feat he was said to have Manitou, or supernatural power. Likewise, certain objects, animals, and physical features on the landscape were thought to have Manitou in them, because someone had had good luck right after seeing or touching them. This could have happened so far in the past that it was remembered only in mythology. Or, perhaps the whole incident was a vision in a dream.[534]

A related concept is something that can be called animal spirits.[535] These were supernaturals in animal form, who could interfere in the lives and fates of human beings. Whether the power of these animals was identical to Manitou is not known, and it is quite possible that the relationship was not too clearly worked out in the minds of the Indians either.

A great deal of emphasis was placed upon dreams.[536] A Wampanoag who wanted supernatural help could seek a dream in which one of the animal spirits would appear to him and agree to help him, often by becoming his guardian spirit.[537] He would then call upon this supernatural helper throughout his life for whatever aid its power enabled it to give. Crows and rabbits in particular represented animal spirits, and they were not supposed to be killed.[538]

Powows also had animal spirits that they obtained through dreams. Either the animal itself or the kind of supernatural power that the animal had (it is not possible to tell which from existing data) came to dwell within the powow. He could then send this spirit out to do his bidding.[539] Usually there were several such animal spirits dwelling within one powow.[540]

Also part of the supernatural world were the ghosts of the dead. They lingered near the camps of the living and caused trouble, often in the form of illness.[541]

The Wampanoags also had anthropomorphic supernaturals. One of these was Kiehtan, a high god who was responsible for the creation of the world and all in it, and who could influence the prosperity of the Wampanoags. He was called upon for plenty, victory, and general favor in various undertakings. His home was in the southwest, the place where spirits of the good went upon death.[542] According to some accounts this was also the place where other kinds of spirits lived.[543]

Another supernatural was Hobomock (Abamacho). The Europeans immediately identified this being with the Devil, because he had an association with snakes, seemed to be able to cause harm to people, and was often feared. Actually, he seems to have been capable of both help and harm; his role in the supernatural pantheon is not at all clear. Hobomock would actually appear to the more important Wampanoags, taking the form of an animal or bird, and most frequently a snake. He was called upon in time of sickness to cure people. One never dared to call upon Kiehtan in time of illness for fear it might have been he in the first place who sent the sickness as punishment. If the illness was sent by Kiehtan, however, Hobomock could not cure it.[544]

Mythology had it that people were made by Kiehtan (Kautantowwit). He first made a man and a woman out of stone, but, as he did not like them, he broke them into many pieces and proceeded to make another man and woman out of a tree. These he liked, and their progeny populated the earth.[545] Corn and beans were brought by the crow, who carried in one ear a kernel of corn and in the other a bean, which he had gotten from the field belonging to Kiehtan.[546]

The Wampanoags attributed a great deal of what happened to them in their daily lives to supernatural activity.[547] Sometimes it was hard to determine at once whether a condition resulted from “natural” or supernatural causes. A supernaturally caused illness, for example, would often go unrecognized until conventional herbal techniques proved of no avail in bringing relief. Bad luck and accidents were usually blamed on the supernatural.[548] Winning at games was considered to be done as a result of supernatural aid, which was invoked throughout the period of play. Bargaining, pleading, and threatening were all methods used to bring supernatural favor upon one’s activities and to dispel any unfavorable supernatural influences.

RELIGIOUS PRACTICES

In the event of war, drought, famine, and for some cases of sickness, ceremonial activities which constituted requests for supernatural aid were carried out.[549] To beg for rain, people from all localities of the tribe would gather at some high place and perform supplications until the drought was broken.[550] Other ceremonials were occasioned by a spirit of thanksgiving for peace, health, plenty, and prosperity.[551]

As nearly as can be told, ceremonial activity encompassing all of the above circumstances involved dancing and sacrifice of personal wealth to please the supernatural. The sacrifice of wealth might take either the form of gifts to the poor or actual destruction of property by casting it upon the fire.[552] This latter custom was carried out by the Narragansetts, and the more a man brought to burn up, the more he was esteemed. The Wampanoags said they did not cast goods into the fire, but they acknowledged this to be a powerful practice and attributed to it the Narragansetts’ salvation from the plague.[553] The seeking of supernatural assistance was highly pragmatic; if one supernatural source did not send the desired aid, another was tried until the proper combination was discovered.[554]

The Wampanoags placed a great deal of importance upon dreams. A bad dream was considered to be a threat from the supernatural, and a man awakening from one would fall to offering prayers of supplication. If the vision were especially ominous, a man might call in his friends to keep watch with him. He would offer them food, but he himself kept a fasting and wakeful watch for several days and nights.[555]

Among the Wampanoags, names had supernatural significance. “Obscure and mean persons amongst them....” had no names.[556] Probably such persons were resident non-members of the tribe and youngsters who had not yet undergone initiation. Once received, a name was a closely guarded piece of personal property. It was considered discourteous to refer to or call a person by his true name. Instead, a circumlocution or a substitute pronoun was used.[557]

ECCLESIASTICAL ORGANIZATION