Menomini child life. - article ; n°1 ; vol.40, pg 163-171

M. Inezhilger

Description

Journal de la Société des Américanistes - Année 1951 - Volume 40 - Numéro 1 - Pages 163-171
9 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: JOURNAL_DE_LA_SOCIETE_DES_AMERICANISTES
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1951
• Nombre de lectures: 11
• Langue: English

Extrait

M. Inez Hilger
Menomini child life.
In: Journal de la Société des Américanistes. Tome 40, 1951. pp. 163-171.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Hilger M. Inez. Menomini child life. In: Journal de la Société des Américanistes. Tome 40, 1951. pp. 163-171.
doi : 10.3406/jsa.1951.2537
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/jsa_0037-9174_1951_num_40_1_2537MENOMINI CHILD LIFE
By M. Inez HILGER.
(Benedictine Sister) .
An expectant Menomini mother must not eat anything that has been fried
in a frying pan, such as fried meat ; or that has been scorched, like toast or
pancakes. « Such foods will cause the afterbirth to adhere, and may even cause
the mother's death. Many mothers have died because they did not observe this
custom. » If the pregnant woman eats bologna sausage, she can expect that
the umbilical cord will wind itself around the baby's neck. If she eats meat of
woodchuck, her child will have sores and running ears ; if eggs of chicken or
turtle, the amnion will not break easily at birth. If she eats racoon, she can
expect her child, when a little older, to dig around in ground and elsewhere. If
she eats squirrel, the child will bite persons. If she eats mud turtle, the child
will be a bed wetter. The meats of dog and badger are also taboo.
No foods are prescribed for an expectant mother ; but fish, wild rice, birds,
and any foods she may crave are recommended. There are no food taboos for
the husband.
The pregnant woman is cautioned against looking at anything that may
frighten her, such as snakes ; or that may be repellent to her, such as deformed
animals or persons ; or that is unusual, such as monkeys or other animals one
sees in shows or circuses. Never must she look at the objet momentarily
and then quickly turn away her head in fright or disgust ; if she does this it
will mar her baby with the characteristics of the object ; less harm is done if
she looks at the object calmly and for some time. If she looks at a corpse, the
eyes of her unborn child will bear the consequences ; the same will happen if
her husband looks at it. Her husband, too, should not look at snakes.
i . The information in the present article was collected by the writer on the Meno
mini Reservation in Wisconsin. Informants were Margaret Kaquetosh, Kamayroon
Okimosh and wife, Louisa Dutchman, John Matchagama, Mitchell and Jane Wau-
kau, Frank Gauthier, Mitchel Beaupré, Eliza Fredenburg, and John V. Satterlee,
all of them Menomini Indians. The writer owes these informants grateful ack
nowledgment. SOCIÉTÉ DES AMÉRICANISTES 164
Should the mother be frightened by anything, she must not touch herself
at that moment. « When I was carrying my eldest boy, I was frightened by a
cat — it was our own cat, in fact. I must have grabbed my leg at that moment for
on my boy's leg is a distinct outline of a cat, head and tail and all. That hap
pened to my eldest boy. My little girl there (pointing at her) was a tiny baby
when she was born. While I was carrying her, I went to a town with my hus
band to see a fair. What I enjoyed most there was looking at dwarfs. And here
is the result. »
The expectant mother is instructed, also, not to desire anything inordi
nately. « Do you recall the little girl you saw in school yesterday — the one that
had dark marks under her eyes and across her cheeks ? I asked her mother what
had happened to the girl, and she answered. ' While I was carrying her, like a
foolish woman, I rubbed my cheeeks and eyes, and said, « Oh, I wish I had some
raspberries ». And that marked my child. ' There are a number of such persons
on the reservation. »
An expectant mother who steps over a tree that was felled by lightning can
expect her child to have convulsions. « When in one of the fits, the child will
move around on the floor like the movements of lightning. » The cure is to bathe
the child in a decoction made of the bark of any tree that was felled by lightning.
The child should also be given some of the decoction to drink.
A mother can expect an easy delivery if she rises just before sunrise and
walks around until the sun is well over the horizon. This done, she may return
to bed for more sleep. The fetus is believed to do its growing just before sunrise,
and should the mother be lying down during the time, the head of the
fetus will grow long ; something which will cause difficult delivery. « But a
pregnant woman should, in truth, rise early, and busy herself with her work.
Exercising keeps the baby loosened. »
Instead of turning herself over in a lying-down position, the woman is
advised to sit erect, then turn, and then lie down again. Turning in a lying
position will cause the navel cord of the baby to wind around its neck. If the
mother crochets, the cord will be twisted about the fetus anywhere.
« Winding the thread around the fingers causes that. My mother used to say
to me, when she saw me crochet, ' Leave that thread alone. It gets the baby
all tangled up. ' »
One case of incest was known. « That is the only one that I have ever heard
people speak of, and I am fifty years old. It was a case in which a man was the
father of a child of his own daughter. A disgraceful thing ! The old people, even
today, tell it in subdued tones. » Occasionally in the early days children were
born out of wedlock. « But it was considered an awful thing to be an unmarried
mother in those days. Today, such girls walk around boldly while pregnant,
and do so after the baby is born. » Informants had not heard of abortions. To
have many children, however, or to have them close together was not consi
dered proper. « A couple was expected to have a child about every three years.
And that was about the way it was, in the old days. Husbands were away from MENOMINI CHILD LIFE 1 65
the some much of the time in those days. And then also, a child was nursed
until it stopped of its own accord, and that was often not until it was five or
six years old. »
The mother is delivered in a small wigwam near the home, in the one used
as menstral wigwam. She kneels on leaves of cattails (Typha latifolia, fam.
Typhaceae) that are placed on the floor for that purpose, and braces herself,
at the waistline, on a pole about two yards in length. The pole is suspended from
the ceiling by two ropes and is at such a distance from the floor that the woman's
knees barely touch the ground. Women attend her, but instances were spoken
of when a woman was alone when she delivered. To facilitate birth the woman
is given a decoction of bark of slippery elm (Ulmus fulva).
As soon as the child is breathing normally, and is crying vigorously, the navel
cord is cut. The implement used in doing so, a knife or scissors in recent years,
is given away in the belief that it will bring good luck to the child.
The secundines, including the afterbirth, and the cattails on which the woman
delivered are buried deep in the ground. « Nothing of the birth is ever burned ;
it is always buried. » A girl's navel cord, when it drops off, is wrapped into a
small piece of cloth or buckskin and is put into a pincushion. « It will make the
girl a good seamstress. » « When I was about four or five years old, my mother
showed me a little beaded bag and said it contained my navel cord. ' Now I'll
' she said. ' I could not burn it while you were a baby, because that burn it,
would have made you play with fire. ' » A boy's cord is dried, wrapped into a
piece of cloth and thrown into a field while the father is plowing it. « This will
make the boy a good farmer. »
A caul is dried and saved by the parents. A person born with one is destined
to be an influential person and one that will never be in want. « My face was
veiled, my mother said. »
The mother remains in isolation in the menstral wigwam for ten days fo
llowing her delivery. Food is prepared by other persons who bring it to her.
Following isolation she prepares her own food, but separately from that of
others.
The child is nursed by its mother from the day of its birth until it no longer
wishes to nurse ; it is not weaned. During four days following delivery the
mother is given thickened soups, especially those thickened with rice or corn-
meal, to increase the milkflow. Potatoes and dried beans are avoided ; they
interfere with milkflow. Two children are not nursed at the same time.
Formerly, the child was given a pouch of finely chopped dried wild meat to
suck, if the mother took sick or was unable to nurse it. Venison and rabbit were
favorite meats. A nursing mother gave a similar pouch to the child as soon as
it was able to sit up alone.
A three- or four-year-old boy or girl is given the raw heart of turtle to eat,
while the heart is still warm. The belief is that this will make the child strong
and courageous. « Here you eat this, » the mother will say ; « it will make you
brave. » SOCIÉTÉ DES AMÉRICANISTES l66
A child born with teeth, with a patch of grey hair, or with dents in the helix
of an ear is an old Indian reincarnated. If such a child is a gi