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Winter Counts

Throughout Plains Native American's history, there have been traditions in which help preserve their ways of life. One of these methods of preserving Native culture as well as their history is the Winter Count. Historical records of the lives of individual band members or of multiple generations with the help of elder's recollections, Winter Counts were pictorial images made usually on buffalo or other animal hides that depicted special events that occurred within the Nation's previous year or years. These Winter Counts were especially popular in the Lakota, Sioux, Blackfeet, and Kiowa peoples. ^[1]

Creating and Reading Winter Counts

There was no standard of how to create these winter counts, or Sinakinax, in Blackfeet, each artist could start his count from wherever he deemed fit. the center of the hide, Lone Dog, a member of the Sioux band, starts his count in the center, then going counterclockwise in a circle. ^[2]Others of the Sioux Nation started at the upper left hand corner and spiraling down to the center. with every picture symbolizing an important event in the Nation's previous year. ^[3]In deciding which picture was to be drawn to represent each year; a year consisted of October though Summer, as the Plains tribes did not follow the Gregorian calendar used today, and usually differed by a year or two with the Gregorian calendar^[4], the artist of the count would meet annually with the tribal counsel to determine which event was most necessary to add to the count for that year.

A Picture Worth a Thousand Words

The major difference between the Plains Native counts, of which very few are left today, and American historians is that these counts often did not include major historical events such as the defeat of General Custer, but instead were focused on the major events in the lives of the natives; which preserved their culture and history long after homelands were lost. As reservation life became dominant in Plains Nation's lives, so did the need to record and preserve their unique history. With most histories transferred orally, the Winter Counts began to take shape in the mid 1800s and continued on until their decline in the 1900s. ^[5] Many of the pictures used, however, do describe their relationship with the white man, with many counts having stick figures covered in spots, representing the many deaths caused by small pox after having contracted the disease from white settlers. The pictures also represent wars with other bands, the collection of horses, as well as the deaths, such as the Four Lodges picture on the Battiste Good winter count, depicting how the occupants of four loges all drowned when a creek flooded. ^[5]The Winter Counts also depicted environmental changes, such as the falling of a very large meteor in 1821-1822, this was described in Winter Counts of Lone Dog, Cloud Shield, Long Soldier, The Swan, and The Flame all of which drew a star with long streaks of ink after it. ^[5] Multiple Counts also show, as all Natives agreed, The Year the Stars Fell, or the year of 1883-34 in which a very great meteor shower occurred. All Counts depict this shower with a large cluster of stars, some with the moon shown, and some with stars falling on teepees. ^[5]These many accounts show the many different bands of Plains Natives related not only with each other but with their environment and the white man.

Keeping History Alive

Through their oral histories and Winter Counts, Native Plains bands were able to keep their people's history and traditions alive even in the face of westward expansion and life on reservations. Some Counts display hundreds of years of a band's history, and are used to teach young generations the ways of their people, and the way their lives used to be. ^[1]Winter Counts, although few in existence left today, were used not only to educate young generations, but were used like a calendar by members of the bands. By being able to identify a year, band members could identify the year in which they were born, the year they were married, or the year in which a death occurred, as well as see which event took place within that year. Winter Counts were more than a historical record; they were a way to keep tradition and preserve ways of life, as well as a way to personalize tribal years with important events in one's personal life.See

References

^ ^a ^b Tovias, Blanca (2014). "The Right to Possess Memory; Winter Counts of the Blackfoot, 1830-1937". Ethnohistory.
^ Calloway, Colin (1996). Our Hearts Fell to the Ground. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's. pp. 31–35.
^ Praus, Alexis (1962). The Sioux 1798-1922. Bloomfield Hills, MI: Cranbook Institute of Science. pp. 1–5.
^ Tovias, Blanca (2014). "The Right to Possess Memory; Winter Counts of the Blackfoot 1830-1937". Ethnohistory. 61: 100–110.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Greene, Candace (2007). The Year the Stars Fell. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian National Museum.

External Links

[1]

[:1-1] Tovias, Blanca (2014). "The Right to Possess Memory; Winter Counts of the Blackfoot, 1830-1937". Ethnohistory.

[2] Calloway, Colin (1996). Our Hearts Fell to the Ground. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's. pp. 31–35.

[3] Praus, Alexis (1962). The Sioux 1798-1922. Bloomfield Hills, MI: Cranbook Institute of Science. pp. 1–5.

[4] Tovias, Blanca (2014). "The Right to Possess Memory; Winter Counts of the Blackfoot 1830-1937". Ethnohistory. 61: 100–110.

[:0-5] Greene, Candace (2007). The Year the Stars Fell. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian National Museum.

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