Indians 101: A very short overview of Mandan religion

While the most common stereotype of Plains Indians brings forth an image of horse-mounted buffalo-hunting nomads living in tipis, many of the Plains Indian nations were farmers who lived in permanent villages and raised crops of corn (maize), beans, and squash. The Mandans were among the earliest farming nations on the Northern Plains. Their villages were along the Missouri River in the Dakotas. Briefly described below are some of the features of Mandan religion.

Vision Quest

In many Native American cultures, it was, and often still is, important to have a tutelary or guardian spirit. In numerous tribal traditions, such as the Mandan, individuals would deliberately seek out a guardian spirit through a vision quest. The vision quest was often done as a solitary retreat in a place known to have special spiritual power and was usually accompanied by fasting. Religion professor Joseph Epes Brown, in his book The Spiritual Legacy of the American Indian, writes:

“Sacred powers appearing in such experiences are usually associated with animal beings or with other natural phenomena, and they may indicate the seeker’s sacred name, may constitute the origin and validation of sacred songs and forms of art, or may be the origin of a new tribal rite or ceremony.”

Mandan boys would begin fasting at about 8-9 years of age, as fasting would help them recall the instructions which they had received from the sacred powers prior to birth. In addition, fasting would help them obtain power for warfare as well as for healing.

Mandan women fasted for a vision at least once during their lives. Women often fasted in their gardens or on the corn-drying scaffolds.

Medicine Bundles

Medicine bundles are important to many of tribes. Medicine bundles contain spiritually significant objects. Among the Mandans there are two types of medicine bundles: (1) tribal bundles which are associated with culture heroes; and (2) personal bundles.

When the Mandans emerged from the earth near the mouth of the Mississippi River, it was Good Furred Robe, the son of the Corn Father, who led the people on their migration up the Missouri River to their present homeland. At the death of Good Furred Robe two sacred bundles were made: (1) the Sacred Robe bundle which contains a robe showing their migration up the Missouri River and a pipe in the shape of a goose which had belonged to Good Furred Robe, and (2) the Sacred Skull bundle which contains the skulls of Good Furred Robe and his two brothers (Corn Husk Earrings and Uses His Head for a Rattle). The Skull Bundle is owned by the Awikaxa band of the Mandans.

In addition to these two bundles, there are a number of bundles which are associated with Old Woman Who Never Dies which are used in corn ceremonies. Old Woman Who Never Dies is the spirit in all plant life.

There are also personal medicine bundles which are owned by both men and women. According to anthropologists Raymond Wood and Lee Irwin, in their chapter on the Mandans in the Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 13, Part 1: Plains:

“Personal bundles were assembled as tangible evidence of visionary contact with a specific spirit, though if its power was deemed inadequate a bundle might be disposed of and another vision sought.”

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.”

Bundles owned by women are often associated with healing.

The Mandan personal bundles are passed down from generation to generation in a matrilineal fashion. Thus, a man may inherit a bundle from his mother’s male relatives, but not from his father. Before inheriting a bundle, however, a man has to show that he is worthy of it. Traditionally, this was done by giving feasts to the bundle at various times.

Ceremonies

Religion manifests itself in many ways: belief, storytelling (mythology), mystical experiences, and ceremonies. In many religious traditions, such as that of the Mandans, the emphasis is not on belief, but rather it is on participation in ceremonies. Ceremonies are often about community, about bringing people together and reinforcing the heritage that binds them together. Briefly described below are some of the Mandan ceremonies.

The Okipa was a four-day summer ceremony held by the Waxikena clan bundle owner. The Okipa has many parallels with the Sun Dance. 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.”

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.”

The last Okipa was performed in 1889. The U.S. government outlawed this and other American Indian ceremonies.

The Goose Dance is a ceremony for the crops. In ancient times, Good Furred Robe told the people to dance in the spring to welcome the water birds who had spent the winter with the Woman Who Never Dies and to dance again in the fall to send the birds back to her with thanks for a good harvest. Singing and drumming for the dance is provided by the Corn Singer (Corn Priest).

The purpose of the Buffalo Calling Ceremony was to ensure a good buffalo hunt. As a part of the ceremony, the wives of the younger hunters would court and have sexual intercourse with the older men. According to historian James Ronda, in his chapter in Voyages of Discovery: Essays on the Lewis and Clark Expedition:

“These intimate relations were like a conduit that transferred spiritual power and hunting skill from an older man to a younger one.”

In her University of Montana M.A. thesis, Carole Anne Clark writes:

“…distinguished warriors invited the prettiest married women to join them in a special lodge covered with jerked meat. Each offered a fine horse to the woman, then enjoyed her favors in the presence of everyone.”

Anthropologist Virginia Bergman Peters, in her book Women of the Earth Lodges: Tribal Life on the Plains, reports: