Page:
1
2
3
Following on the notions of
self-government stated above, human social self-government
derived from the fact of an order or "government" in
Nature’s Law—we could say self-government was a mimicking of
the process at work in the relationship between the four
forms of life, plant, insect, animal, and human. It was held
that human government worked best when it was patterned
after this living form of "government."
The place where the bands most
encountered the order that they held existed in Nature’s Law
was in the key ritual of the year—in the Sundance during the
summer celebration festivities. It was during that time that
the whole tribe adopted a much more centralized authority
system, with clear roles for ceremonialists, heads of bands,
police to patrol the camp and warriors.
The most meritorious among the members
achieved status in several ways—by receiving spirit helpers
through dreams whose presence in the life of the young man
was manifest to the holy people, who in turn recommended
them to the band—by obvious feats of courage or strength of
character that were then interpreted as revealing a
giftedness for leadership…and by rituals of the Sundance
that exposed the strength of character, piety and the
connectedness of the young man to an ancestor of remembered
ability---to name but a few.
When the tribe migrates after the
Sundance towards the great hunt of the bison, the same
structure remained in place, for the Plains hunt was the
most serious survival issue of the ritual/hunting year. The
police made sure that no one hunted or broke ranks and that
everyone did the task assigned. Those who broke the hunting
laws would have their lodgings destroyed, their weapons and
horses removed and they were kept among the women until the
hunt was completed, when they would be sent home with only
minimal weapons to guarantee their survival.
Those responsible for these punishments
were the police societies. These were constituted in the
spring and did not practice their rituals apart from the
fall assembly. This indicates that they had no continuing
existence or purpose beyond the tribal requirements of the
festive and bison-hunting months. Further to the south,
among the Blackfoot, warrior societies continued throughout
the year, but there is no evidence of their existence among
the Cree, and societies certainly did not appear among the
Woods Cree. The sources we have stress the fighting prowess
favoured by these societies, but there was another side to
this activity: peace-maintaining. Since tribal ethic left
the responsibility for righting wrongs in the hands of the
offended, the potential for fierce contestations was always
present. The police units were called upon to mediate. So a
young man in a policing unit would gain status, not by
inflicting some kind of judgment, but in maintaining peace.
Skills in tact, oral persuasion and humor were valuable
tactics indicating policing abilities.
When the people returned to their
traditional hunting grounds for the fall and winter, a
different, but related kind of ritual governmental structure
prevailed—a chief of obvious merit and solid ancestral
reputation headed the everyday activities of hunting and
camp maintenance, a loosely defined ‘cabinet’ of older
advisors from among leading families provided assistance as
needed. They also were responsible for teaching the
youngsters. In addition there were holy men and women,
medicine people, and young band scouts who could also
protect the band if attacked. This loosely shaped
self-government was the hallmark of the Woodlands Cree under
consideration here and largely constitute the system in
place at Sawridge before European contact.
The Basis of Band Divisions
The
bands of the Plains Cree were loose, shifting units usually
named for the territory they occupied. Each band had its own
range, but the limits were not clearly defined; sometimes a
band traveled a hundred miles or more from its usual
locality to join in a Sun dance or to hunt with some other
band. Individuals, and even whole families, might separate
from their group to follow another chief.
The
most important consideration in the demarcation of band
divisions was that all the members of a band lived in the
same general territory. The prestige and power of the
leading chief was also an important factor in the
cohesiveness of a band. An influential leader attracted more
families and held their allegiance better than a weaker man.
Black-bear, a noted warrior of the last half of the
nineteenth century, rose to chieftainship and welded a new
band because of his abilities as a leader. Not only did
families from several Plains Cree bands place themselves
under his aegis, but a considerable number of Assiniboine
and Plains Ojibwa joined his camp.
|