Native American Woman

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The Native American Woman
- Myths Vs Reality-
By Anita Atsila Galisgisgia (atsila@aol.com), Bird Clan Mother, Southern Cherokee Tribe & Associated Bands in Texas

As I have walked this path over the years, I have had the privilege of listening to and learning from Native American women from many Nations and backgrounds. Although I grew up in a "Christian" family, my mother - in thought, heart and deed was a traditional Cherokee woman - having learned from her mother, Lilly Bell, who taught us both what is means to be a Cherokee Woman. They walk with me still.

As a Cherokee woman and to honor all those who came before me and all those Native American women from who I have learned so much, I have put to paper what I believe to be true about the traditional Native American woman of the past (and hopefully, to some degree, of the present). These are my thoughts, my beliefs and my understanding of what I have been taught.

Women's Rights among Native Americans have long been misunderstood. Native American women in all the tribes that hold to the ways of tradition and that I am familiar with, are among the most respected and cherished women I know. They are the mothers, grandmothers, sisters and aunts of the people. Their wisdom and authority on family (and in some cases as among the Eastern Woodlands and most Southeastern Peoples - tribal government) matters is acknowledged and respected. They are the bringers of life. They bear within them the future generations.

"..Men may slay one another but cannot ever overcome the woman. For in the quietude of her lap lies the child. You can slay him once and again, but he issues as often from that same gentle lap, a gift to the Great Good in which man is only an accomplice…The woman needs us only for one night. Here we stand in eagle feathers and war bonnets…And our women, so gentle, so sweet, so kind. Yet the race of man goes on because of our women."
Phil Lane Jr. / Yankton Sioux

Moon Time - the Mystery and Power of Creation

This ability to bring new life into the world is seen as a thing of great power. Science now knows that many biological changes happen in a woman's life to enable her to do this. Native Americans have known this for a very long time. Yet we also believe that there are unique energies within the woman, which are also a necessary component of this ability. These biological and spiritual/emotional energies are powerful - they have to be to produce life. It is out of respect for these things that women do not do certain things. It is not because women are viewed as inferior or weaker or that certain times of her cycle are considered "bad". That interpretation is based on the Europeans concept of womanhood - not ours.

For instance in a Powwow, women (usually) do not sit at the drum. They may sit behind the singers to lend their support and their voices. When men sit at the Drum, it is an opportunity for them to make a closer connection to Mother Earth - the Drum being her heartbeat. Women, in bearing children are already closely connected to her.

Last year, I was in an international gathering of traditional Elders. I have been in menopause for over 6 years, so the rules of a woman's Moon Time is not something I have had to apply to myself for quite some time. The last day of the gathering, I began to feel 'out of sorts' and mildly uncomfortable. I took the opportunity during the lunch break to go back to our room and lie down. When I got up I realized that I was indeed having a Moon Time. Now, this required some changes in what I had been doing. As a 'helper' for one of my Grandfather teachers, I now felt that I should not handle his staff and some other ceremonial objects.
NOT because I was now 'unlcean', but rather because the energy/power I was now generating, mixed with the power of those objects would be like grabbing a lightening rod in the middle of a storm. I did not see this turn of events - although puzzling as to why it was happening after all this time - as a negative thing. Rather it was giving me free time - time to explore my feelings, this experience and to discover what it was I was to learn from this. I left the group surrounding Grandfather and began walking around the other groups scattered around the grounds. There were various Elders/Teachers surrounded by people who wanted to listen and learn from them. My attention was drawn to a Grandmother with long white hair who was comfortably perched on a lawn chair talking to a group of young European women. They were discussing Moon Time (the menstrual cycle) and what they perceived as 'restrictions' of women during this time. What they were taught in Grandmother's unique and open way, was that what they perceived as restrictions were in fact, freedoms and signs of respect and acknowledgement for the mystery and power of creation.

Most tribes had a Moon Lodge where the women could retire during these times. They were encouraged to dream, to contemplate and to pray. In some tribes, the dreams and visions of the women during this time (the Cherokee, for instance) was instrumental in guiding the decisions of the community at large. The dominant society perceives emotional instability during these times, the Native American woman learned from an early age, that it was a time when her spiritual/emotional abilities were at their most powerful and she was taught how to use these powers for the benefit of the community. She was provided a time and a place to go and just 'be'. It also provided her a time to discuss with other women her thoughts and concerns and to sort out her feelings. Others saw to the feeding and care of her family. In a sense - in modern terminology - she was given a vacation once a month.

"It is well to be good to women in the strength of our manhood because we must sit under their hands at both ends of our lives." He Dog /Oglala Sioux

Respect the Sacredness

It was at another gathering of Elders early this past year that the subject of respecting the women especially during the Moon Time came up. The wife of a Spiritual Leader of the Taino People (and yes, contrary to modern history. they were NOT all wiped out!) a woman who was a leader among her people, got up and asked the men how they behave during times of ceremony and how they treat things that are sacred. Of course the answer came back…"with due respect". "Then why," asked this Taino woman, "would you not treat your women with equal respect, especially during this sacred time?"

For me, something that brings into startling clarity the differences between the dominant societies perception of the menstrual cycle and our understanding of the sacredness of Moon Time, was a talk by an elderly Huichol Grandmother. She addressed the women, but made it clear that even as she did so, she also addressed the men - for we all have male and female aspects and even as we cannot be in balance if we neglect one for the other, neither can we be in balance if we fail to acknowledge and respect our counterparts. Just as it takes Father Sky and Mother Earth for us to live - so we need each other. Although I cannot recall her exact words (it was spoken in Spanish through an interpreter), nor can I recreate her marvelous sense of humor, I will try to give you a sense of what she said.

"We women….we must learn the sacredness of who we are. What do we do with the "Sangre de Madre" (menstrual blood)? We throw it away in a garbage can. I am not garbage! This sacred gift and responsibility I have been given, I do not disrespect it so that I would treat it as trash; a thing to be discarded with little thought. How can this be bad or dirty? Is this not the Creator's way? Is this not a part of the miracle of creation? Think of it! It is the Creation of LIFE. It is Sacred! Among my people, when a young woman comes to her first Moon Time she is given a pad, which catches the flow. When she changes this pad, she puts it into a container of water - the blood of Mother Earth - blood to blood - from which we all come. At the end of her time she takes that water and plants a tree, using that water to feed the tree. As she does this she prays for her family, and she prays for a mate that is whatever she desires (and she gets very specific..'I want him to be 6' tall and handsome and a good provider and not to be thus and so'). When she is married she again uses this Moon Time water to give the tree praying for children or for the children that she has been given, her husband and any others she chooses. In this way she nourishes not only the tree, but also her family and her community. Yet she also nourishes herself in acknowledging the sacredness of who she is and the gift and responsibility she has been given.
You women. Why do we wear skirts and dresses? Watch me as I walk (she says as she moves around in her white native dress). You see the shadow surrounding me? It is always a circle and it always surrounds me. Therefore I am always within a sacred circle. I am always protected. These things are our women taught. As women, we have two mouths. Yes, two. In the mouth with which we eat, we take in nourishment, we take in life. Yet in the mouth below we not only take in life…we also give forth life. We teach our young women that just as we must be careful what foods we eat so that we may be healthy and strong, so must we be careful what we put into our mouths below, so that our people may become strong and healthy. These things we teach."
"The honor of the people lies in the moccasin tracks of the women."
Village wise man / Sioux 1961

PMS = Power Made Sacred

At this same gathering, which was at the Cherokee Peace Village in Vermont, I noticed that there was another smaller arbor set aside from, but within view of the main arbor. This was called the Moon Arbor and all the women on their Moon Time who wished to, observed the ceremonies from there. Someone noticing this asked about it. We were told that because of the special connection of women to Spirit during this time, they were relied upon to observe the ceremonies to ensure that things were being done in a good way and that in the old days when our (Cherokee) women were taught how to do this, they could even change negative elements or energies (which they could perceive due to their heightened sense of spirituality during this time) into positive energies - thus protecting not only the ceremonies, but also the people.

Although in many tribes, there were women who were warriors, healers, seers, chieftainesses and accomplished crafts persons, they never forgot the importance of their roles as the bringers of life; the teachers of the children and, the keepers of the home. They never forgot that the welfare of the people began in the harmony, the safety and the comfort of the home. For the most part there was no conflict between the importance of one sex over the other. Both were needed. Both were important. Both were necessary for the survival and happiness of the people. The differences between the sexes were acknowledged, valued, supported and accepted as the natural and necessary flow of life. Each had a different kind of 'Power', and each was sacred.

It is my hope and prayer that we as a people will teach these things to our children so that they will value who and what they are. It is my prayer that they (and we ourselves) will come to know the complimentary nature of male and female and find the beauty and harmony that it can bring.

Osda! It is good.