menominee indian tribe of wisconsin sturgeon feast history/Culture

Creation of Totems | Menominee Legends | Power of the Animals | “Legend of the Pierced Forehead” | NAMA’O

NAMA’O USKIWAMUT | Menominee Reservation | Revival of the Ancient Ones | PDF Version

Sturgeon Feast & Celebration

The Menominee Sturgeon (Nama’o) Feast and Celebration dates back centuries before the arrival of the Europeans. In the spring of the year, the Menominee would wait for the sturgeon to migrate into rivers and streams where they were harvested in great abundance. The method of harvest was with spears. The Menominee relied upon the sturgeon that supplemented their diet along with other fish, wild game, wild rice and maple sugar. The return of the sturgeon meant that the Menominee could replenish their food supply, which was close to depletion after the long winter months.

Creation of the Totems

In the origin stories of the Menominee people it is the Bear Clan that was the first totem. The first leader of the Bear Clan was named “Sekatcokemau” or Great Chief. A female followed and as soon as they saw each other they were pleased and recognized that they were to be mates. One of Sekatcokemau’s first acts was to build a wigwam for their home. Next he invented a bark canoe and a spear so that he might go out on the waters and catch sturgeon, which were very abundant at the foot of the nearby cataract, where they had been created for the use of man. This was so that his people after him will also take the great fish. Sekatcokemau was very successful in taking sturgeon. He brought home a large quantity which his wife prepared. First she split them from the head down and drew them; then she hung them over a frame to dry. When they were sufficiently cured she cut them into flakes and made the first sacrifice and ceremonial offering to all the powers. Another version of the creation story is this “When the first Menominee's came into the world they brought a kettle with them. They carried the kettle to the river which they found to be full of sturgeon, the Tribe’s leader “Sekatcokemau” used the kettle to feed sturgeon to his people.” It became a totem of one of the Tribe’s clans. It is interesting to note that the Sturgeon Clan is a sub-group under the principal clan of the Ancestral Bear. In all creation stories of the Menominee, it is explained that the place of origin is at the mouth of the Menominee River where Marinette, Wisconsin and Menominee, Michigan are now situated. The story is a good example of of an indigenous people of this land originating in their aboriginal territory. Many Native Americans were forced out of their home lands but the Menominee who are indigenous to this area, against all odds, managed to stay in our aboriginal territory and exist to this day. Not many tribes can claim this fact.

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Menominee Legends

The Menominee people have a rich cultural heritage that has been passed down orally from generation to generation by tribal elders.

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Power of the Animals

A canoe manned with warriors was once pursued by a number of others, all filled with their enemies. They struggled to escape, paddling with all their might, but the enemy still gained upon them; the old warriors began to call for help from those things they had dreamt of during their fast-days. One man’s manitou was a sturgeon, which being invoked, their speed was soon equal to that of this great fish, leaving the enemy far behind; but the sturgeon being short-winded, was soon tired, and the enemy again advanced rapidly upon them. The rest of the warriors, with the exception of one young man who from his mean and ragged appearance, was considered a fool, called the assistance of their gods, which for a time enabled them to keep in advance. Having exhausted the strength of all the manitou’s, they were beginning to give themselves up to the enemy, their canoes being so near, just at this critical moment, the foolish young man thought of his medicine bag. He called out, “Where is my medicine bag?” The warriors told him to be quiet! He still shouted, “Where is my medicine bag?”, one of the warriors seeing it by his side picked it up and threw it to him. Putting his hand into it pulled out an old pouch made of the skin of an Saw-bill duck. This he held it by the neck into the water. Immediately the canoe began To glide swiftly at the usual speed of the Saw-bill; after being propelled by this wonderful power, they looked back and found they were far beyond the enemies reach. The young man took up his pouch, wrung the water out of it, and replaced it in his bag; telling the old warriors that he had not worn his medicine bag for nothing, that in his fast he had dreamt of this fowl, and was told that in all dangers it would deliver him, and that he would possess the speed and nature of the Saw Bill Duck. The old warriors were astonished at the power of the young man who they had looked at as an idiot. They were taught a lesson that day, never to form a mean opinion of any person from their outward appearance. The story of the separation of the Tribe ascribes to a dispute over Sturgeon.

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“Legend of the Pierced Forehead”

A band of Menominee located at the mouth of the Menominee River created a dam to deprive another Menominee band up river of Sturgeon. The chief of the band located above river sent his son down to see what the problem was and to ask why no Sturgeon were migrating up river. Being deprived of Sturgeon would mean sure starvation. The chief of the band at the mouth became angry with the boy and his questions and thrust a knife made of Sturgeon bone into the boys forehead and told him this is my answer. The injured boy returned home and hid the injury from his father who soon found out of the brutal attack. Several lives were taken and the dam was broke up so the Sturgeon could continue up the Menominee River.

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NAMA’O

The Sturgeon is an ancient fish. Namaew (Nama’o) is the Menominee Name for this great fish. In the Menominee Language it literally means “first fish” or “original fish.” Lake Sturgeon were a critical food source for the Menominee people. For thousands of years the cycle of spawning provided the ancient rite of harvesting Nama’o every season. Each spring between late April and early June when the water temperatures rise to about 55 degrees, the Great Sturgeon Migration begins. Males move upstream to spawning grounds in groups and are shortly followed by the larger females. For early Menominee hunters and gatherers, after a season of when natural foods must have been scarce, the clusters of tails, backs, and snout of the male fish protruding from streams and rivers would signal a period of welcome abundance. Imagine the joy of families -- dispersed across the landscape into small winter hunting Camps – who could now come together in large groups of family. Their most pressing problem shifted from how to find enough food to survive to how to process hundreds and hundreds of pounds of nutritious Sturgeon. The Sturgeon’s arrival at the fishing grounds would also mark the time when acquaintances were renewed, important social and political events would take place and feasting could begin. Historical accounts document that late runs of Sturgeon could spell starvation to those who relied on their arrival to nourish their families after the often hard and lean winter months. Undoubtedly fresh fish were consumed on site as part of spring feasts, but the bulk of the catch was preserved by smoking and transported to late spring and summer encampments. We do not know how long the ancient Menominee's remained in the in the spring Sturgeon camps, but it would likely take some time to process, pack and distribute the smoked fish among the families. In this manner lived the ancient Menominee's. For untold centuries they had gathered the wild rice, tracked deer and speared the wary Sturgeon. Could their dreamers have told them that soon from out of the East would come men unlike any they had ever seen, men who would change their age old pattern of living forever!

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NAMA’O USKIWAMUT

For countless generations spring settlements were founded along the shores of Lake Michigan, Green Bay and at tributary streams and rivers where conditions for Sturgeon runs were favorable. The most important among these sites was Keshena Falls which the Menominee's called, Nama’O Uskiwamut, “Sturgeon Spawing Place.” Tradition holds true that Nama’ O Uskiwamut has special spiritual significance. Even today it is still said, that when the spring melt waters rise in the Wolf River and cascade over the rock cataract, the Manitou who inhabits the falls plays his drum to call the Sturgeon to the spawning grounds. So important was the Sturgeon to the Menominee that during the treaty era our leaders chose this land, our present reservation, mainly because of the annual sturgeon migration up the Wolf River. This land was thought to be of no value to the white man yet in the eyes of the Menominee it would provide an abundance of natural resources. The Menominee had always hunted, fished and gathered in the area and the main attraction was Keshena Falls which is the traditional spawning grounds of the Sturgeon. The Falls are a place steeped in Menominee history and tradition, this was recalled by Washonaquit Mosehart who said, “After I grew up to man-hood, I came upon the present Reservation. My people were accustomed to roam all over the present Reservation every spring when the Sturgeon came up the Wolf River as far as Keshena Falls. It was the custom of the Indians from the various bands that were scattered far and near to gather together at the Keshena Falls to catch the fish and [we] would camp there for months for the purpose of catching the Sturgeon.”

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MENOMINEE RESERVATION

The Menominee Indian Reservation was established in 1854. The 1854 Treaty between the United States Government and the Menominee Indians was signed at the historic Keshena Falls. The lake sturgeon still migrated to their ancestral spawning grounds within the reservation boundary for 38 more years, after the signing of the 1854 treaty. In the mid-1800’s logging dams were constructed across the Wolf River below the town of Shawano hampering the sturgeon run to Keshena Falls. The Shawano Paper Mill Dam was constructed in 1892 and 3 miles south of the Reservation the Balsam Row Dam was built in1926. The Menominee's were not able to obtain one of their most important hereditary sources of food, the Sturgeon. The Menominee people were denied and stripped of an ancient tradition that meant survival. What were they left to face: Starvation, Disease, Poverty, Malnutrition and Horrendous Epidemics, what an atrocity for the Menominee. In 1892, the annual Sturgeon Ceremony had ceased and the Menominee were without Sturgeon for 101 years.

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REVIVAL OF THE ANCIENT ONES

(Excerpts from the Shawano Leader “Editorial” ) January 25, 1993 In January of 1993 an issue was declared that individual members of the Menominee Indian Tribe will take six Sturgeon from the Wolf River – in violation of State Law. The fish would be taken as they notably fight the crashing water from the Shawano Paper Mill Dam, attempting to make headway farther upstream to spawn at Keshena Falls. They will not make it to Keshena Falls, nor will they make it past the Paper Mill Dam. In Shawano this coming spring, Menominee's will face the prospect of arrest by D.N.R. wardens, should they make good on their declaration to take six Sturgeon. Unless an agreement could be reached between the state and the Menominee. State law and environmental ethic demand that the Sturgeon be protected. The Menominee planning the spring Sturgeon taking claim that the Sturgeon are part of the Menominee religious, ancestral heritage that was lost to the people when the Wolf River was dammed. They seek to restore their heritage. We cannot claim to have great knowledge of the Menominee religion or the heritage it embodies. But we are inclined to accept the taking of the Sturgeon, as we have a great respect for the freedom of religion. The Menominee are ancestral to Wisconsin. Without the building of the dam by the European newcomers, this issue would never have arisen. But the Europeans came, the dam was built, and now we all must work out the resulting conflicts. We do not believe a confrontation over the proposed Sturgeon Ceremony would be in the interest of either the Shawano, Menominee or Stockbridge Munsee communities. It has the potential of stirring up the passions of division and hatred that were so strong during and after the take-over of the Alexian Brothers Novitiate in January of 1975. We do not believe the Menominee have any intention of destroying the glory of the sturgeon resource; the Tribe has long demonstrated it’s strong resource and stewardship ethic. The D.N.R., unless talks resolve the issue, will have no choice but to arrest the Menominee who attempt to catch the Sturgeon at the Shawano Dam. In 1993 a group of Menominee Tribal members led by Tony Wilber, along with the Historic Preservation Department exercised our Sovereign Powers for the Return of the Sturgeon to the Menominee Indian Reservation for the benefit of the Tribe as a whole and Renewed the Sturgeon Feast and Celebration.