The History and Culture of the Spirit Lake Dakota
To the Eastern Dakota people the white tail deer was their most important source of protein.
This is evidenced by the Dakota word for a deer Taĥca (tah-h’cha), which etymology breaks down to mean real or honored split-toe (ruminant).
Long ago in Minnesota, organized deer hunts employing all the male adults began in October. Before the hunt, spiritual leaders sacrificed to the Canotina or Spirit of the Wood, the patron of the hunter. Each hunter raised his hands to heaven and prayed for a deer: Takuskanskan omakiya wo. Tahca wan wacin yedo Nunwe.
Leaving camp before dawn the hunters would ‘beat-the-bush’ to make a drive, sometimes build a pound or park, a large pen to impound the deer. A hundred or more deer could be harvested in a day. The men ate nothing all-day, as this was the custom. The hunt ceased at a predetermined boundary. That night the hunt leaders determined the boundary for the next day. As soon as the men departed, the women dismantled camp and followed, setting up the tipis in the woods at the designated spot. As soon as the first animals were brought into camp, the women began the processing. Cooking, drying meat, tanning the hides, all created organized confusion to the on looker. The average Dakota ate 2 to 3 deer a year. The hunter therefore had to harvest 20 to 30 deer a year to feed his family and relations.
“…The deer hunter was often unsuccessful after having run forty or fifty miles without road or having tasted food, while if successful in killing a deer it was generally after chasing it many miles…” (Williamson 1874: 415,417).
According to the Dakota rule of deer hunting, the man who killed the deer had no right to the whole animal – it must be shared with others, be they relatives or friends. This rule is still in use today. In the old days when a lone hunter killed a deer, he gave a certain shout
(This call is now lost to our knowledge). If no one came to him, then the deer was his to share with whom he pleased. However if up to two men came to him upon hearing his shout, they would share in the deer. This rule aided unsuccessful or less skilled hunters so that all felt a part in helping feed the people. The deer slayer always retained the deerskin. An 1852 St. Paul newspaper account, tells us three hunters shared the bounty. The ‘law of division’ according to the newspaper, states the one who killed the deer obtained the hide, rump and both hindquarters. The second had title to one side, one arm, neck, head and paunch. The third took the other side and the remainder of the deer. Rev. Thomas Riggs, an early Congregational minister informs us the buffalo was also divided similar to the deer; the hunter who shot the buffalo received the hide, one side and hind quarter. The fist assistant received the other side and hid quarter; the second assistant received the two front quarters and the brisket (Riggs 1997:146)
Besides the hunting method of using a drive in which old men and boys would make noise to frighten the deer into running towards the waiting hunters, impounds or parks were also employed. Park River, a western tributary of the Red River takes its name from this acankdas’kapi. A fence consisting of vertical poles was set into the earth close together in the form of a keyhole. The deer and buffalo would be driven into the flared ends and quickly impounded with the addition of a portable fence to seal off their escape.
The pipe and prayers were offered to the herd leader (bdokaitancan) asking forgiveness for taking their lives so the people might live. Then the slaying began and continued until all were dead, bucks (Tabdoka), does (Tawiyena), and fawns (Taĥcinca) were all harvested.
Other hunting methods included the use of torches (shining), and traps. The trap was a deep hole dug into the ground, which was covered with thin branches interwoven with long grass to disguise its location. The animal fleeing the hunter would fall into the trap (Taĥmunke) and be dispatched with a weapon.
When the hunters returned to the village the children would call oo-koo-hoo! Oo-koo-hoo! If a deer, and then would shout out the slayers name. Each animal had its own particular call or wahdiaŝapi. Someone busy within a lodge could hear the call and gain knowledge of who was successful and what animal was harvested.
Since hunting was part of daily life, hunting accidents were rare, but they did occur.
Today the Dakota men empathize with the short time the licensed, non-Indian deer hunters are given to harvest a deer. Sometimes pressure is so great that unnecessary risks are taken. The experienced hunter waits, has patience. If there is a chance of injury to another hunter the deer is passed over. There will be another opportunity tomorrow or next month.
Each hunter had a shopping list from his wife or mother. “Get me a big buck with horns or maybe a fawn”, depending on her household requirements. Next to the meat (Tado), the deer provided the hide. Formerly the old people and children wore deerskin robes tanned with the hair on because the hollow hair trapped heat, and these were considered warmer than buffalo robes or cloth blankets.
The whole deer was used – horns (Tahe) for rakes, and knife handles, skin (taha) for clothing, brains (Tanasu) and liver for tanning, dewclaws (taŝake) for decorations, toes and hide scrapings for glue. The tail hair (tahin) is dyed for adornment, sinew for thread and cordage. The leg bones were made into whistles, or split to make awls (Tahinŝpa) for sewing. Foot bones were strung together to make a game called Tasiha Woŝkate. The intestines (Taŝupa) were used to make sausage; they were also dried for use as lashings and dyed to make decorative streamers (ribbons). Every part of the deer has a use.
The following retail prices were recently obtained from Steve Eagles ‘Native American Regalia’ supplier: hoofs .60 each; dewclaws .35 each; deer tail (Tasinta) $3.00 each; brain tanned deer hide $15 a sq. ft.; sinew (Takan) $8.00 a strip. Just the fresh raw hide itself brings $8 to $10. Even the de-haired, stretched out dried hide (Tahaŝaka) costs $70.
Today the modern hunter, Indian and non- Indian, has little interest in the hide. Their main interest is in the meat and or horns as a trophy. Even the guts are discarded. In former times the brain was used for tanning the hide. All the internal organs were eaten. The intestines (Taŝupa) were stuffed with these organs to make sausage, the stomach (Taniġa), and the marrow (Tacupa) from the bones used to make soup (Wahanpi).
The knowledge of how to properly skin a deer is being lost. The deer was laid on its back. A centered slit was made from the anus to the lips of the mouth. A cut was made around the elbows, traced along the lower edges of the arms to the center slit. The same was done to the legs, from anus to the knee. The final cuts were made from the edge of the mouth up over the head behind the ears to the other side of the mouth. This portion of the head skin forms a u-shape that is termed ‘bifurcated flap’. (It is just a fancy word meaning ‘two forked pendent’, and is used to make a simple description of the top of the deer hide. These flaps are found on hides from the 1700’s, now deposited in museums in France.)
The skin was separated from the jaw and head with the knife. Now the knife was put away and the fingers employed to separate the rest of the hide from the deer.
Most people are familiar with the trade in buffalo hides that occurred up to the 1880’s, but are unfamiliar with the deer hide trade, which is still in existence. Early French fur traders of the eastern forests obtained raw and tanned deerskins by the thousands. These were mostly processed into outdoor wear such as gentlemen’s riding britches. One fur trader, Oliver Faribault, reported obtaining fifteen hundred deerskins from two bands of Dakota. Presently deer hides are purchased by hide and fur buyers who in turn sell them to commercial tanneries. Next they then travel on to the garment manufacturing industry.
For further reading please consult the following:
www.braintan.com A website devoted to tanning animal skin using natural methods.
1995 Diedrich, Mark Old Betsey
Coyote Books, Rochester, MN. (Page 137, footnote 18.)
Eastman, Charles Indian Boyhood
Dover Publications, Inc. New York 1971
Pond, Samuel W. The Dakota or Sioux in Minnesota: As they were in 1834. Minnesota Historical Society Press, St. Paul 1986. (Originally published in 1908 in Minnesota Historical Collections Volume 12.)
Riggs, Lawrence Thomas Reverend. Sunset to Sunset: A Lifetime with my brothers, The
Dakotas. South Dakota State Historical Press,
Pierre, 1997. Originally published in Volume 29
(1958) South Dakota Historical Collections 87-306.
Williamson, Dr. Thomas S. Diseases and Surgical Journal 16 (1874): 415, 417.
As quoted in The Dakota Indian Internment at Ft.
Snelling 1862-1864. By Corinne L. Monjeau-Marz
Prairie Smoke press, St. Paul, MN 2005.
Steve Eagles Native American Regalia, Elbert, Colorado. A supplier of Native American
Craft supplies, books, video and audio tapes, and finished items of regalia.
www.steveeagles.com
Glossary:
Acankaŝkapi = Enclosure (A = to; Can = wood; kaŝka = to bind, tie; pi = plural) To bind trees together to form a fence, or fort.
Bdokaitancan = Herd Leader (Bdoka = Non-human male; Itancan = leader, boss, chief).
Canotina = Spirit of the hunt (Can = wood, forest, tree; O = in, at, on; Ti = to dwell;
Na = diminutive). The Little Forest Dweller.
Ikcecanaizanzanyapi = Torch (Ikce = common, ordinary; Can = wood; A= to;
Izanzan = light, luminary; Ya = causation; Pi = Plural).
Ordinary wood that will give light.
Nunwe = Amen, a prayer ending.
Omakiya = help me! (Okiya = help, assist; Ma = me).
Tabdoka = Male Ruminant (Ta = split toe animal, a ruminant; Bdoka = male animal).
Tacupa = Deer foreleg (Ta = Ruminant; Cupa = foreleg, the tibia ). Forelegs were broken
and boiled in water to extract the marrow.
Taĥcinca = Fawn (Tah’ = contraction of taĥca; Cinca = child, both human and animal).
Taĥca = Deer (Ta= Ruminant (tatanka = bison bull [big ‘ta’], tatoka = antelope [different
‘Ta’]; Ĥca = real, most, very).
Tado = meat ( Ta = ruminant; Do = meat, flesh).
Taha = animal skin (Ta = ruminant; Ha = skin, hide, bark).
Tahasaka = Rawhide (Ta = Ruminant; Ha = skin; Saka = hard).
Tahe = A rake (Ta = ruminant; he = horn) The rake tines are made of horn.
Taĥmunke = Deer Trap (Taĥ = contraction of Taĥca; Munke = contraction of
Ĥumun’ka, a trap).
Tahin = Deer hair (Ta = Ruminant; hin = hair, fur).
Tahinŝpa = An Awl (Ta = Ruminant; Hinŝpa = Awl).
Takan = Animal sinew (Ta = Ruminant; kan = sinew).
Takuŝkanŝan = God in the sacred language. (Taku = what or whatever;
Ŝkan = movement; Ŝkanŝkan = much movement [the atom].
Something in constant movement.
Tanasu = Animal brains (Ta = ruminant; Nasu = brain).
Taniġa = Animal stomach (Ta = Ruminant; Niġa = stomach).
Taŝake = Dew Claws (Ta= Ruminant; Ŝake = dew claws, hoofs, finger or toe nail).
Tasiha Woŝkate = Deer foot game (Ta = ruminant, Siha = foot; Woŝkate = to play a
Game.
Tasinta = Deer Tail (Ta = ruminant, Sinta = Tail).
Taŝupa = Intestines Ta = ruminant; Ŝupa = intestines, guts).
Tawiyena = Doe, a female ruminant (Ta = grass eater, ruminant; Wiye = female;
Na = Familiarity).
Wacin = I want, desire (wa = I myself; Cin = want, desire).
Wahanpi = Soup (Wa = noun marker; Hanpi = soup, broth, juice, sap).
Wahdiaŝapi = what they shout upon returning. (Wa = noun marker; Hdi = to return;
A= to; Ŝa= sound or shout; Pi = Plural).
Wan = one (contraction of wanca).
Wo = command to one person.
Wotihnipi = They Hunt for Food (Wota = Food; Ihni = hunt; Pi = plural).
Yedo = statement of fact as spoken by a male. Females use ‘ye’.
