Chippewa Customs

FOOD

DENSMORE] CHIPPEWA CUSTOMS 39 Combs were obtained from English traders at an early date. A woman considered her comb as one of her most cherished possessions and kept it in a birch-bark case which she tucked between the frame of the wigwam and its outer covering. Little girls wore their hair in two braids. Young women arranged their hair in three different ways: (1) The most common and convenient mode of hairdressing was in a queue, the hair being wound with cloth in a stiff mass. Beadwork was wound over the cloth if ornamentation was desired. This method kept the hair from tangling and obviated the necessity of arranging it often. (2) The hair was sometimes braided in two braids and a long roll of otter fur was attached to each braid, almost concealing the hair. This was worn only on festive occasions. (3) Before playing a game in which opponents might try to catch a woman by her hair it 'was customary to weave the hair tightly across the neck with a cord, which was brought around the head and tied. This weaving kept the hair firmly in place at the neck, though it hung loose down the back below the" weaving." (See pI. 27, b, showing doll with this style of hairdres3ing.) The manner of wearing the hair by women in mourning is described in the section on mourning customs. (See p. 77.) FOOD (a) Vegetable foodstuf!8.-The country of the Chippewa abounded in vegetable products, which the women prepared in a variety of ways and stored for winter use by drying.23 The principal vegetable foods 'were wild rice, corn, and maple sugar. Rice was the staple article of food and was boiled in water or in broth, as well as parched. Corn was roasted in the husks or parched in a hot kettle, or dried and boiled. Pumpkins and squash were cultivated in gardens and either eaten fresh or dried for winter use. Maple sugar was prepared in the form of granulated sugar, "hard sugar," and" gum sugar." The grained sugar was used as a seasoning, and all forms of the sugar were extensively eaten as a delicacy. Wild ginger, bearberry, and mountain mint were used as seasonings, and corn silk and dried pumpkin blossoms were used to thicken broth as well as to give it an agreeable flavor. The Chippewa did not habitually drink the water that they encountered when traveling but boiled it and added leaves or twigs. This decoction was drunk either hot or cold. Among the materials used in this manner were the leaves of the wintergreen, raspberry, spruce, and snowberry, and the twigs of the wild cherry. Wild potatoes were used, and the Chippewa obtained white potatoes at an early date. Acorns were gathered and cooked in several '" Cf. section on the industrial year, pp. 123-128; also Uses of Plants by the Chippewa Indians, Fort~'-fourth 41;m. Rept. Bur. Amer, lUthn, 40 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 86 ways. The flowers of the milkweed, the root of bulrushes, the sap of the basswood and aspen, a sweetish substance beneath the outer bark of the woodbine, and the moss from white pine were among the somewhat unusual vegetable foods of the Chippewa. Berries and fruits were extensively used. Dried berries were boiled when used and either seasoned with maple sugar or combined with other foods. A Canadian Chippewa said that his people combined dried berries with moose fat or deer tallow. Salt was unknown in the old days. The Chippewa claim to have had both pumpkin and squash before the coming of the white man. (b) Storing of (ood.-It was the custom to store food obtained during the summer in caches or pits dug near the village. The food kept perfectly, the pits were never disturbed, and this method of storage was safe and practical. The women of two or three families usually combined in the work of storing food, and often put rice, sugar, and vegetables in separate pits. Seed potatoes and seed corn were stored in a similar manner. A food cache was usually about 6 feet deep and was lined with birch bark. The rice and sugar were in makuks, and after they were in place the spaces between them were filled with hay. When the pit was nearly filled a covering of birch bark or hay was added. Beams of wood were laid across and the whole was covered with a mound of...