Native Americans, namely the Sioux and Objibwe, had been living on the land now known to us as Minnesota before any white settler ever entered the region. After many generations of inhabitance, the natives of the land had inevitably learned not only how to survive in the area, but how to efficiently sustain themselves as well. Their culture was uniquely formed as a result of the intimate relationship they possessed with the natural world, paying keen attention to natural phenomenon such as the different seasons, climatic changes, and variations in topographical landscapes, native vegetation, and soil composition. Functioning this close with nature resulted in accommodating lifestyles and spiritual views that closely identified with the natural cycles they observed, and ultimately determined their use of the land and helped minimize the extent of their environmental impact.
The Sioux, also known as the Dakotas, Nakotas, and Lakotas (resulting from different dialects), stretched their roaming grounds into the southern region of Minnesota (Hassrick 6). This land was mainly composed of prairie grasslands, but wooded areas also existed within their territory. While sheltered woodland regions were preferable plots to settle, the Sioux were force to be nomadic people. This was because the roaming buffalo was their main source of food and other material needs (Hassrick 151).
Since the Sioux settled and shifted from place to place, their lifestyle allowed them to closely identify with the constant change that characteristically united nature's seasonal patterns. Spiritual concepts easily resulted from this close relationship with the land, and hence were incorporated into their everyday living. They saw the natural and supernatural as one, just like how they viewed humankind and nature as one (DeMallie and Parks 28).
Portraying themselves as people who were closely united with the world, the Sioux lived mainly in response to the fluctuant ecological environment with which they existed. In a sense, they played a role of a predator species. Their survival essentially relied on feeding, so their main activities involved hunting bison and gathering seasonal vegetables. After years of repetition of this routine, a unique culture was established, which included seasonal, and in some cases, monthly rituals.
Certain natural phenomena and associated activities were recognized. Months were named after distinguishable traits. The summer months are of interest when investigating agricultural activity, since they were each named for a vegetable product harvested by the Sioux – May was the Moon of Strawberries, June was the Moon of the Ripe Juneberries, July was called the Cherry Ripening Moon, and the month of August was referred to as the Moon of the Ripe Plums (Hassrick 154). This is evidence that the rich soils of the midwestern flood plains fostered the growth of many plants whose fruits could be gathered annually (Hurt 11).
Family hunts were still carried out in the summer months, and tribal hunts were orchestrated whenever a herd of buffalo was sighted. One policy the Sioux practiced was killing only enough buffalo to be most efficient with them. They resorted to killing only a limited number, since the meat might spoil before it could be prepared and consumed and thus be wasteful (Hassrick 155).
Summer was the season of celebration for the Sioux people – it was then when they organized feasts, performances, elections, and cult rituals such as the Sun Dance – but fall was a different story (Hassrick 155). Autumn was a season that required much work in preparation for the immobilizing winter months. It was a time when the Sioux were most busy. It was also a time when they were forced to alter their surrounding environment more than usual, since they were forced to collect the resources they would need for both the fall and winter seasons.
Both the men and the women labored among the land with vigor during the autumn months. Men would do the most hunting then. They would break into several hunting bands in order to cover more area and have more efficient hunting results. They hunted seriously, and would occasionally resort to burning the range in order to force the buffalo to come closer to the hunting camps (Hassrick 156). Women also worked hard, gathering vegetables and nuts, and drying meats.
After the first heavy snows began to fall (usually in early December) the Sioux would decide upon a location to which they would move for the winter. Normally, they would migrate to sheltering wooded hollows that were near rivers, providing for firewood. The Sioux would remain stationary there until March or April, utilizing the dormant time by making bows and arrows and needed tools. Starvation often occurred during severe winters, and it was in these conditions when rose berries, acorns, horses, and hide scrappings were eaten (Hassrick 156).
Spring marked the sugar season, when men and women would tap the box elder trees to collect sap. Men would continue trying to hunt for deer, elk, antelope, and buffalo. Wigwams, which withstand rain better than tipis, were utilized in the springtime. Tipis, in the meantime, were repaired with the hides collected during the fall and winter. Leggings and moccasins were also made from the hide (Hassrick 155).
The Sioux people functioned out of necessity, and after surviving many yearly cycles, they became efficient with their sustainable practices. They sustained themselves wholly from the bounty of the plains (Chronicle Books 24). There was obviously environmental impact involved with their way of living, but it was inevitable for survival. The hunter-gatherer society, in their eyes, was a factual piece of nature, and they seemingly attempted to remain in as natural of a balance with their environment as possible.
The Sioux people had been in contact with the Spanish (they introduced
the horse to them), which was an event that helped simplify their frequent
traveling. Later, their contact with the white man embarked several years
of chaos, violence, and confusion. Eventually, the Minnesota land on which
the Upper Bands of the Sioux (the Sisseton and Wapeton) had been living
off of was forced to be ceded to the United States government as a result
of a treaty signed at Traverse des Sioux (Letterman 201). European ideology,
along with its Western agricultural practices, filtered its way into the
area. The land and resources, which were so integral to the native people's
identity and pure survival, began being exploited for commercial purposes,
and the balance between humans and the land was forever changed.
Works Cited
DeMallie, Raymond J., and Douglas R. Parks. Sioux Indian Religion. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987.
Hurt, R. Douglas. Indian Agriculture in America: Prehistory to the Present. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas; 1987.
Hassrick, Royal B. The Sioux: Life and Customs of a Warrior Society. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1964.
Lakota: Seeking the Great Spirit (Native American Wisdom). San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1994.
Letterman, Edward J. From Whole Log to No Log. Minneapolis: Dillon Press, 1969.