While the common stereotype of Northern Plains Indians brings up an image of nomadic horse-mounted buffalo hunters who lived in tipis, there were, in fact, several agricultural tribes living in permanent villages along the Missouri River in the Dakotas. One of these village farming groups is the Mandan.
The Mandans were a farming people who raised corn, beans, sunflowers, tobacco, pumpkins, and squash. They produced not only enough agricultural products for their own use, but also a substantial surplus which was traded to other tribes, and later to the Europeans and Americans. In addition to farming, the Mandans also had communal buffalo hunts.
The Mandans lived in permanent villages in which they constructed large earthlodges. With regard to the Mandan lodges, Valerie Mathes, in an article in North Dakota History, reports:
“The women owned the lodges, as well as domestic items such as bedding, and pots, and also dogs, mares, and colts.”
The earthlodges were circular structures built partially underground. They had a log framework which was covered with willow mats and then overlaid with a thin coating of earth and sod. At the top of the dome-shaped lodge there was an opening—often two or three feet across—which allowed smoke to escape. Next to this opening would be an old bull-boat or a covered wicker frame which could be placed over the hole during bad weather. The size of the earthlodges ranged from 20 to 50 feet in diameter. A typical earthlodge would have 15-25 people living in it.
Mandan villages usually had an open plaza near the center. The plaza was roughly 160 feet long and 90 feet across. In the center of the plaza was a shrine—Mni-mih-douxx (“Water Middle Mark”)—which commemorates Lone Man’s act of saving his people during the great flood. Also, on the plaza was the Medicine Lodge or Tixopinic. This was not only the largest building in the village, but it was also the only non-round building in the village. According to Tracy Potter, in her book Sheheke Mandan Indian Diplomat: The Story of White Coyote, Thomas Jefferson, and Lewis and Clark:
“The big lodge was the only public building in the village, and it was the center of the city’s religious, political, and social life.”
In Mandan society, each person belongs to the mother’s clan, a kinship system which anthropologists call matrilineal. After marriage, women did not move to their husband’s earthlodge, but stayed in their mother’s earthlodge. This is a custom known as matrilocal residence by anthropologists. With matrilocal residence, the women of the clan could continue to work their fields together.
The 13 matrilineal Mandan clans were grouped into two groups or moieties: six clans associated with the west and seven clans with the east. The west-side moiety had been established by the mythical figure of Lone Man and is symbolically associated with the buffalo. The east-side moiety was established by Clay on the Face and is symbolically associated with corn. The east-side moiety represents peace while the west-side moiety represents war.
As with other Northern Plains tribes, medicine bundles were important in Mandan religion. Each medicine bundle contains symbolic elements of spiritual power. There are personal bundles, clan bundles, and tribal bundles. Each bundle has its own sacred songs and rituals associated with its opening. In his University of Montana master’s thesis, The Mandan Amerindian Culture: A Study in Values Transmission, Philip Zemke reports:
“A Mandan ceremonial bundle is a collection of specific objects which serve as associate (mnemonic) prompts for remembering the sequence and content of the Origin Stories and their accompanying songs belonging to that bundle.”
Okipa
The Mandan Okipa was a four-day summer ceremony held by the Waxikena clan bundle owner. The Okipa has many parallels with the Sun Dance. In their chapter on the Mandan in the Handbook of North American Indians, Raymond Wood and Lee Irwin write:
“It was a ritual of renewal that evoked tribal unity through dramatization of the origin myth.”
Raymond Wood and Lee Irwin also report:
“It was given to ensure the reproductive success of the buffalo, the crops, and the people themselves; it also served as an initiation ceremony for young men.”
The Okipa reinforced the relationship between the supernatural and the people. The ceremony reenacted the creation of the earth and the history of the Mandan people. Philip Zemke writes:
“The annual Okipa Ceremony reaffirmed the mytho-historic Mandan recognition of their responsibilities to maintain the covenant of generosity at the sacred center of creation. Every Mandan person witnessed the Okipa, and all the villagers gathered as one in witness of themselves as a tribal unity.”
The Okipa ceremony was held in a special earth lodge whose interior had been painted black on the west and red on the east. Raymond Wood and Lee Irwin write:
“During each day of the ceremony the participants fasted and danced, both within the ceremonial lodge and outside in the main plaza around the cedar post, in order to receive good dreams.”
There were distinct ceremonial activities on each of the four days of the Okipa. Raymond Wood and Lee Irwin report:
“On the second day, fasters were pierced with skewers through the skin over the chest or back muscles and pulled aloft by rawhide ropes thrown over the main support beams of the lodge. They hung there until losing consciousness, when they would be lowered to the ground and left undisturbed since it was at this time that the most powerful visions would be received.”
On the third day of the ceremony, many of the dancers would be dressed to represent some of the sacred powers associated with the bundles. Among the Okipa dancers was The Foolish One, a male clown who was painted black with white spots and other designs. The Foolish One wore a carved wooden phallus which represented those who do not respect sacred things. According to Tracy Potter:
“He had a buffalo’s tail and enormous genitalia. Two pumpkins hung below a giant fake penis that was connected by a thin piece of sinew to an eight-foot-long rod he carried. He used the rod to raise the member.”
When The Foolish One approached the sacred cedar post, he was driven off by the pipe of Lone Man and he was then driven from the village by the women. His genitalia were wrapped like a doll and paraded around the plaza.
On the fourth day of the ceremony, four warriors performed the Bull Dance. When the four Bull dancers came out of the lodge, they called the buffalo.
Raymond Wood and Lee Irwin report:
“The Okipa was performed until 1889, although the aspects of bodily sacrifice were discontinued under Christian missionary pressures at Like-a-Fishhook Village.”
Indians 101
Twice each week Indians 101 explores various American Indian topics. More about American Indian ceremonies from this series:
Indians 101: The Northern Plains vision quest
Indians 101: The Plateau Indian vision quest
Indians 101: The Southern Plains Vision Quest
Indians 101: Some Pawnee Ceremonies
Indians 101: Ceremonies of the Great Basin Indian Nations
Indians 101: A very short overview of the Northern Plains Sun Dance
Indians 101: The Northern California Jumping Dance
Indians 101: Some Apache Ceremonies