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Daughters of Creation
By Manitonquat

"In the heart of our ancient teachings is the wisdom that woman is central to the creation and sustenance of I life… So it is that women are the best guides and teachers, in their inner instinctive wisdom, of the preservation and sustenance of the species."

I would like to consider now the relations of women and men. I want you to understand that I know as a man, I speak with the understanding of a man. But in the sweat I sit in the west, with the women on my right and the men on my left. As I sit there at the point of balance, feeling female energy on one side and male energy on the other, often I feel neither as man nor as woman myself. Often I feel like the rocks, receiving, absorbing the pain and bewilderment of men and women with the grace of the water. I summon that feeling to me now, to speak of women and men from that point of balance.

In the heart of our ancient teachings is the wisdom that woman is central to the creation and sustenance of life. Life arose deep in the womb of Grandmother Ocean. Our bodies come from Mother Earth, who nurtures us, shelters us, clothes us, heals us, and, at the last, embraces and receives us back to the source of life. Grandmother Moon provides cycles of fertility, of planting and reaping, of cleansing and changing. Second Mother Corn, with her sisters, Beans and Squash, has fed and sustained our people for thousands of summers.

All of these move, like Creation herself, in a wheel of birth, growth, maturity, decline, death, and rebirth. Human females flow in this same rhythm as an extension of the universal Spirit Mother. Within the womb of every woman move the cycles that have conceived and nurtured life and ensured the continuation of the race.

As the daughters of Creation, moving in the cycles of nature and

Manitonquat (Medicine Story) is a storyteller and Keeper of the Lore of the Wampanoag Nation. He is with the Mettanokit Community which is currently running "Another Place Conference Center," Route 123, Greenville, New Hampshire. This article is reprinted with permission from Many Smokes (Fall 1981), published by the Bear Tribe Medicine Society, Spokane, Washington. The editor, Wabun Bear, requested permission to reprint an item in THEOLOGY TODAY by John Dart ("Religious Freedom and Native Americans," July 1981). We were delighted to grant permission and requested a return favor from her to reprint Manitonquat's narrative essay. This article will appear, by the way, as a chapter in Manitonquat's book, Return to Creation, scheduled for publication in 1982. The Indian designs come from Many Smokes, the larger one is by Thunderbird Woman, a member of the editorial board

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bringing forth that precious mystery of life, it is no wonder that women are, when allowed by society and circumstance, deeply grounded in the spirit of earth, in the essential, the deeply religious and reverent, and are profoundly thankful for the abundant gifts of Creation.

So it is that women are the best guides and teachers, in their inner instinctive wisdom, of the preservation and sustenance of the species.

I

One might suppose that a rational and healthy society would enthusiastically honor and empower their female members. In the dominant cultures of today we find

women demeaned, degraded, condescended to, trivialized, and exploited. It is another proof, if one were needed, that this civilization is neither rational nor healthy.

Tribal societies, on the whole, were far wiser in this respect than societies are today. Whether the people were wanderers or settled, hunters or farmers, they lived close to the cycles of nature. As they honored the earth, so they honored the daughters of the earth.

Tribal ways differed greatly among the native nations of North America. Among all of them, however, the women had almost total power and control within the home. Usually they owned the lodge and, often, they built it. The amount of influence they had in the band or village varied among various nations from equal to men and direct, to less than equal and indirect.

The women of my people, the Wampanoag, were very powerful, and they continue to be so to this day. Squaw sachems, women leaders, were common among our bands. Wetamoo, sachem of the Pocasset tribe, reported to have been very feminine and very attractive, had five husbands at various times, but it was she alone who was the sachem. She was a fierce and loyal warrior who led her band to stand by her brother Metacomet against the English. She was drowned escaping from the final defeat, and the pious Pilgrims displayed her head on a pole in Plymouth town. Awashonks, another famous squaw sachem of the period, did not marry, but had many lovers, perhaps including Colonel Benjamin Church.

Traditionally, both women and children took part in the circles and

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councils of our people. It was felt that where elders are wise they will hear the wisdom of the young, and where men are sincere they will seek the counsel of women.

II

As among most Indian peoples, our men and women had clearly defined roles, and as among most other Indian nations, there was no shame or stigma if an individual were to choose other than a conventional role. There were, rarely but occasionally, women who became hunters or warriors. Generally they dressed and lived as men and were fully accepted by other men. They were termed "man-acting" or "manly-hearted" women. Some of these would even marry women and set up regular households. There were also men who dressed as women, and stayed home to cook and care for the lodge and the children of other women. All of these were regarded as more than just different-they were special, even wonderful, perhaps sacred, and an object of pride to the village.

Our women had more independence than European women. They were more self-reliant and more secure. If they were unmarried they could accept or reject any man as a bed companion. Such advances were as easily made by the women as by the men. Rape was not known to our people. Perhaps that is because women were powerful and free and sexual relations were natural and without shame. For an unmarried woman to become pregnant was not desirable, but it was not a disgrace, and women rarely availed themselves of the medicine woman's art of undoing pregnancy. The child that might come would be loved and raised by the older women of the mother's family and clan.

All women and all men expected to be married and to have children. There were very few spinsters or bachelors. Marriage was assumed to be permanent, but it could easily be dissolved by either the man or the woman simply by moving out-or in the case of a woman in her own house, putting her husband's things out of the house. In spite of that, divorce was rare. People did not marry for love or with romantic notions fostered by novels and movies, but, generally, with an appreciative affection deepened over the years. Among our people unmarried young women had a dowry. Young couples built their own summer lodges in warm weather, and in winter lived in a longhouse with the woman's family. Our people were generally monogamous, except for the sachems, who perhaps needed a larger household with the burden of increased hospitality and protocol. In such

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households the first wife was the head of the house and had to approve of any subsequent wives, often selecting them.

Women dressed skins, made clothing, wove mats for and built the summer lodges, planted, harvested and cooked the corn, beans and squash, gathered berries, medicines and shellfish, made baskets, pots, and wampum. Men built longhouses, dugout canoes, made snowshoes, bowls, spoons, knives, hatchets, traps, weapons, hunted, fished, and protected the family and village. Both men and women broke up fields and maple sugared together. Sometimes men helped plant and harvest, as did the children.

Marriage was, for our people, a true partnership of equality and respect. The more a man did for his wife, the more highly he was esteemed, particularly among the women.

Children were and are considered very precious, the greatest assets of parent and nation. Since women had such a high status in our tribes, girl babies were highly valued.

A woman might have many talents and occupations: botanist, herbalist, healer, potter, weaver, tanner, artist, craftsperson, diviner-but these were always in addition to her control of the food and the house and the raising of children. Neither men nor women earned a living by arts, crafts, teaching, politics, religion, or even healing. Those trades were all extra, after survival work was complete, done for the enjoyment of the doing alone.

III

The people generally had very good health, and we are told that childbirth was easier for native women than for European women. As midwives and medicine women knew herbal methods of increasing or decreasing fertility, people could choose the size of family they wanted. Midwives also understood prenatal care and were highly skilled in birthing techniques.

Babies were nursed until they weaned themselves, a matter of two or three years. They were carried close to the warmth of the body during waking hours, at first by the mother, later by grandparents, aunts, and older sisters. After a few months they went into a cradleboard and hung where they could watch the mother's activities. In the early years, girls and boys played together, but soon the boys would become interested in their fathers' occupations, and the girls would begin to imitate their mothers. Girls would build small play lodges, prepare food, and make clothes and baskets for their dolls.

Education was by what they saw, and since all the family slept in one room, and sex was not a secret or shameful thing, sex education came in the same way. When a young girl first came into her moon and became a woman, she secluded herself in a "little house," or moon lodge. During that time an elder woman would come and instruct her in the responsibilities of adulthood and womanhood. She would be told that this time of

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the month was natural, not an occasion for fear for either men or women, but that she was then the focus of such cosmic energies that she should not come near ceremonies or ceremonial objects that she might not disturb their use with her personal power. After four days there would be a ceremony and celebration by the whole village, with feasting, singing and dancing all night. It was a merry festival, full of joking and often an acting out of sexual desires and fantasies on the part of the older and more experienced, in a general atmosphere of tolerance and good humor. This was the most important time in a woman's life, next to the birth of her children, a powerful and magical time for all the women of the tribe.

Later, if she chose, a young woman might seek a vision and a spirit guardian by fasting for many days alone in an isolated place. The next ceremony in a woman's life was marriage. Since there was not any wealth among our people, and little sense of rank, arranged marriages were not so prevalent as elsewhere, and young people often as not made their own choices.

The day before a girl's first marriage was a busy one. She would first

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be buried in the ground to her neck for a time to draw health and fertility from Mother Earth. Then she would spend much time in making little cakes for the wedding party. If she had time, she might join the other young women in running races or playing doubleball or stickball. Finally she would get a massage from an experienced woman which would give physical and spiritual encouragement to her fertility. The wedding party of feasting, singing, and dancing would go on all night, and at dawn, the couple would stand on some promontory with hands joined and face the sunrise of a new life together.

A woman was born in the company of women, grew up in the company of girls, kept house and worked in the fields with other women. Her social and ceremonial life was comprised of women's societies and women's clan circles. Only a small portion of her total life was spent in the company of the opposite sex.

Since children in their earliest years were raised mainly by women, and since women were in control of the household, the moral and emotional environment of the village was very largely determined by women. The homes in which the children grew ran smoothly, without conflict or pressure. Children were treated with great affection and given good attention by grandparents and older sisters. The women worked together cheerfully, and the children were allowed to do pretty much as they pleased. The pace was slow, and there was a lot of joking and gossip. Without a clock or schedule the work was unhurried, relaxed, and completed with care and devotion.

Patience, cooperation, and good humor comprised the tone of a traditional tribal home. These, and endurance, are the qualities our women taught and continue to teach the children by their living example.

Another important example set by the Indian women was that of hospitality and generosity. Whenever anyone came to visit, all work would stop for greetings, and the visitor would immediately be fed. As long as the person stayed, nothing would be withheld. The last morsel of food would be shared, and the family would go out for more. If no more was to be had, they would apologize and feel ashamed. A visitor had to be careful about admiring something belonging to the host family, for he might be given it on the spot. This atmosphere of generosity and solicitude for the guest's comfort prevails today in the homes of traditional Indian families.

Europeans writing of their early contact with Indian women report, again and again, that they had less hardship in their daily life and yet appeared hardier and of a gentler and happier disposition than the European women they knew. Often they also noted feeling power and independence in the native women.

The history of the world shows most societies to have developed an oppressive imbalance of power in the favor of men. Nowhere have there ever been societies with an oppressive imbalance of power in the favor of women. It may be that women, creating homes, bearing and raising

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children, find no need for excessive displays of power. Only men (and women conditioned by the dominance of man) seem to feel so insecure. But where a balance of power between the sexes is achieved, with a spiritual sense of rightness and harmony, there is security and power for all. At their best, many American Indian societies achieved that balance.

The simplest family unit is a mother and child, but, given the long years it takes to raise a human child to maturity, this unit is precarious. So human males have had to learn to nurture, to care for human females and their offspring. The nurturing male is an essential part of every family. A society is strong and healthy just to the extent it teaches and reinforces nurturing and cooperation in its men, as well as in its women.

IV

How does our society fare today in America? One out of every two new marriages breaks up. Men are disappearing from the family.

Children are running away from home or just disappearing into their own worlds. Older people hide from the young in retirement communities, or their children put them in nursing homes. The generation gaps widen. Never before in human history has the continuity between generations been so broken and displaced. Never before has there been such prevalence of child abuse and neglect as continues to grow in this country today.

But if society is blighted, there are also signs of health and hope. All liberation movements are allied to one another in a common effort to make humanity more human, but I believe the most important single force to emerge is the women's movement. I say this because men, locked into roles of dominance and competition, have needed the women's force and example to break those locks and re-learn how to nurture and how to cooperate.

I am proud to say that our traditional Indian people know this strength and model it for all of us. The family is still central in Indian society. The elders are honored, the women have power and respect, and the children are treated by all with affection, tolerance, and good humor.

We must attend to our children. We must recognize that the family, in some form, is essential to society as the place where children learn what it is to be human. It is where they learn not only how to survive, but also the reasons for survival.

If we are to strengthen the family, we need to assure ourselves that it provides for the needs of its members, the needs of women, the needs of

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men, and the needs of children. Perhaps none of the forms of family yet devised has been perfect. We can look at the best ones of the past and see why they were good, and if we want to make them better, at least we have some solid starting places.

A strong tribe will reward a woman by making her feel powerful and secure, by recognizing her creativity and her wisdom, and by cooperatively assuming much of the burden of survival and the care of her children. A strong tribe will reward a man for being nurturing, for being sensitive to others, for cooperating. Since men do not have babies, they have a need to create, to achieve and be appreciated for their achievements. We need to re-value our society so that gaining wealth and power and winning victories no longer confer status, so that men are honored for their kindness and gentleness, their good humor and their generosity.

We are concerned with strengthening existing tribal communities and creating new ones. What practical steps can be taken to help our families?

We have to look inside ourselves to see who we are, what we feel, and what we want. We have to trust ourselves. We have to believe that Creation knows what it is doing, and we can know what is best for us. Then we have to open ourselves to others and

communicate our needs, our fears, our desires, and our dreams. Men need to talk with each other in men's clans and societies, and women with other women in their clans and societies. Children need their own councils. And all should share their feelings with each other in councils of women, men, and children together.

One issue, for instance, is the community's attitude toward marriage and sexual relations. Sexual tension arises from the biological fact that women's sexuality is attuned to her cycles of fertility and cleansing, whereas men have no similar influences or cycles. For instance, when a woman is pregnant or nursing, she may lose her desire for sexual expression. The society needs to consider if a man must be bound by a particular woman's cycle, or whether it will allow him a different expression. Over the world, societies have had many kinds of responses to this question. Whatever answers our community develops, it needs to consider foremost what will make the most stable family, with the greatest fulfillment for all of its members.

In the distortions of mate domination and aggression, many women of today have become lost and confused. Many turn away from motherhood and familyhood under a system that oppresses mothers and

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families. Many have abortions or abandon or abuse their children. And yet the voice of Creation still whispers in the soul of woman, stirring ancient memories deep within her. When women, however hurt or angry, find each other, they begin to heal and grow strong. Nurturing each other they learn again to nurture the little ones. Feeling the power of that strength and love, men grow ashamed of their aggression and dominance and seek to learn to nurture and cooperate.

The Song of Creation is there in the heart of our Sacred Mother, the Earth, who sings in the blood of every woman. The family, the tribe, the continuance of the species, all depend on the renewing cycles of the Mother Spirit, the pulse of the living earth that stirs the ancient wisdom of our women-the Daughters of Creation.