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French and Indians in the heart of North America, 1630–1815
Michigan State University Press
Copyright © 2013 Michigan State University
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-61186-074-0
Chapter One
"Faire la chaudière" The Wendat Feast of Souls, 1636 KATHRYN MAGEE LABELLE
The seventeenth-century Wendat Confederacy was a coalition that included the Bear Nation (Attignawantan), the Nation of the Rock (Arendarhonon), the People of the Cord (Attigneenongnahac), the People of the Deer (Tahontaenrat), and perhaps a fifth group, the People of the Marsh (Ataronchronon). The confederacy inhabited the Great Lakes region along the shores of Georgian Bay (otherwise known as "Wendake"), in present-day Ontario.
Writing on the importance of feasts in Wendat society, seventeenth-century Jesuit Jerome Lalement observed they were "the oil of their ointments ... the honey of their medicines, the preparations for their hardships, a star for their guidance ... the spring of their activities ... in short, the general instrument or condition without which nothing is done." To be sure, feasts played a pivotal role in all aspects of Wendat affairs. They were a ritualized celebration that often worked within multifaceted levels of spiritual, cultural, political, and economic frameworks. The most significant of the Wendat Confederacy's feasts was the Feast of Souls. Modern scholars have affirmed the importance of this ceremony for over a century. Writing in 1899, the historian Francis Parkman acknowledged that the Feast of Souls was the "most solemn and important ceremony" of the confederacy. More recently, Bruce Trigger asserts that "[by] far the most important of all [Wendat] ceremonies was the Feast of the [Souls]." Wendat traditionalist and scholar Georges Sioui supports this trend by indicating that the feast "was certainly one of the most remarkable and most pivotal features of [the Wendat] civilization." For Sioui, the feast was central to the stability and security of the confederacy, as it became one of the main ways Wendat reinforced traditions and relationships.
Despite a consistent line of argument that the feast was an important aspect of Wendat society, literature on the subject is limited to a small number of common observations within more general works on Wendat religion, economy, and trade. In most cases, these accounts include a factual narrative of the chronological events involved in the Feast of Souls supplemented with a short analysis of the ceremony itself. The use of the feast as a means to connect allies is also highlighted within these accounts. Trigger, for instance, emphasizes this last aspect by concluding:
The most important element [of the Feast of Souls] remained the great affection that each [Wendat] had for the remains of his dead relatives. By joining in a common tribute to the dead, whose memory each family loved and honoured, the [Wendat] were exercising a powerful force for promoting goodwill among the disparate segments of each village, each tribe, and the confederacy as a whole.
In the same way, Sioui interprets the feast as a celebration of "the people's unity and their desire to live in peace and to extend the bonds of symbolic kinship to the greatest possible number." The extent of the unity discussed by Trigger and Sioui is far-reaching. Although located within one host village, the feast promoted a sense of unanimity that stretched beyond the local community. The function was, as Allan Greer contends, "a ceremony that united (in theory) [all] the [Wendat] people." In addition, the inclusion of "other [friendly] tribes" outside the confederacy has not gone unnoticed. The importance of this, Trigger claims, is that only "very close allies appear to have been asked to mingle the bones of their dead with those of the [Wendat]." Thus it would seem that the nature of the Wendat's most important ceremony was based on a desire to create unity and solidarity among their family, friends, and neighbors.
This chapter aims to contribute to our understanding of the Feast of Souls by highlighting an attempt by the Wendat to incorporate the French into their Feast of Souls in 1636. Through this approach, the feast of 1636 becomes a means to interpret Wendat foreign relations, domestic policies, as well as political and spiritual divisions in the 1630s. Notwithstanding the important religious and economic aspects of this ceremony, its diplomatic significance deserves more attention. Alliance building and maintaining had always been a major component of Wendat strategy and identity, and continued to influence their geopolitical networks during the first decades of European-native encounters. The fashion in which Wendat formed alliances helps to contextualize these encounters, delivering a concrete example of the ways in which the feast functioned, and strengthening the assertion made by Sioui that the feast was "pivotal," if not critical, to Wendat society during this period. Ultimately, I argue that through an examination of the rhetoric surrounding the Feast of Souls in 1636 and its manifestation, invitations to the French were not just friendly gestures, but official requests to solidify a Wendat-French alliance.
YANDATSA, EHEN (THE OLD FEAST)
The Feast of Souls, in its most basic sense, was an ossuary burial ritual practiced by the Wendat Confederacy. It took place every eight to ten years as a result of a village's decision to move location or in reaction to social insecurities within the region. Preparations for the feast were made well in advance. To begin, the master of the feast, who was usually a leader within the host village, would call a meeting of all the headmen of the villages within the confederacy. Plans were then made to hold a Feast of Souls within the next year, and invitations were sent throughout the confederacy, as well as to non-Wendat allies (such as the Algonquian). The number of participants for a feast varied but could include thousands of people.
When it came time for the ceremony to take place, participants traveling to the host village gathered the bones of those people who had died since the last feast and wrapped them in beaver robes. The women carried these bundles on their backs as they proceeded in the direction of the feast. As they made their way, other invited participants joined them. Upon arrival at the host village, the women cleaned the bones of their deceased relations, while the robes that had carried the corpses from their temporary resting place to the feast were placed in the fire. The cleaned bones were then rewrapped in fine beaver skins. Subsequently, relatives and friends of the deceased distributed wampum beads in honor of the dead and decorated the sacs of bones with necklaces and ornaments. The sacs were then carried into the village ceremonially, and a feast took place as a memorial for each soul being buried. The packaged bones were then hung at the door of the person charged with providing a feast in honor of that deceased person.
The ossuary pit itself has been described as quite large, with a depth of about ten feet. This was big enough to hold all the bones, gifts, articles, and robes that were to be buried. Around the pit were high scaffolds. In some instances, the bags containing the souls were hung along the scaffolding the night before the burial, while other times the sacs were carried to the platform at the time of burial. The pit was lined with beaver skins and robes.
The burial itself required that all bones be placed within the ossuary pit at daybreak. There were five or six people in the pit in charge of mixing the bones. Gifts, furniture, ornaments, kettles, corn, as well as other goods were also placed in the pit. Once everything had been deposited, mats and bark were placed on top of the bones, along with sand, poles, and wooden stakes. The rest of the day was taken up by gift giving, songs, and feasts. Combined, these activities marked a symbolic confirmation or renewal of alliances within the confederacy, as well as with neighboring peoples. Just as the bones were physically united within the same ossuary pit, the living relatives of the deceased were united in a similar synchronic state of kinship. Overall, the entire ceremony could last up to ten days.
PUT THE KETTLE ON
In 1624, French Recollect Gabriel Sagard had the opportunity to attend a Feast of Souls as an observer. Sagard took notes on his experience, making particular reference to the "other savage tribes" or Algonquian nations that participated in the feast in addition to his Wendat hosts. Just over ten years later, in 1636, French missionaries were once again present at a Feast of Souls. This time, however, there was less of an emphasis on the incorporation of Algonquian allies, as the major source of discussion concerned the incorporation of French participants. Several factors led to the Wendat desire for French involvement in the Wendat Feast of Souls of 1636.
Almost immediately after the establishment of the trading post at Quebec in 1608, the Wendat and French began what would become a long history of close interaction. Beginning with early encounters between Wendat traders and French explorers, a number of agreements were made creating a loosely defined alliance based on economic reciprocity and military support. Soon after, French missionaries began to make the trip to Wendake. As early as 1626, Jesuits had established permanent residence within the borders of Wendat territory. According to one missionary, the Jesuit presence was strategic in that by "fixing the Centre of their Missions in a Country [Wendake] that was also the Centre of Canada, they would easily be able to bring the light of the Gospel to all parts of [North America]." Thus Jesuits such as Jean de Brebeuf and Anne de Noue and Recollect Joseph de la Roche Daillon made it their purpose to Christianize the Wendat and to live with them. This situation created a new and complex social dynamic within Wendake. At times the cultural differences resulted in frustration and conflict among the Wendat. Despite these obstacles, however, the Wendat continued to allow the Catholic missionaries to stay. Scholars have explained this decision as a case of circumstance and dependency. Trigger, for instance, asserts that
the [Wendat] headmen were convinced that these priests had the backing of the French traders and the officials and could only be expelled at the cost of giving up the French alliance. To make things worse, there was no alternative to trading with the French. European goods could no longer be done without and the Iroquois, who were the principal enemies of the [Wendat], lay between them and the Dutch.
Despite the missionaries' cultural differences and the complications resulting from their presence, the French were a familiar feature of the Wendat Confederacy by the 1630s.
The French possession of guns also enticed the Wendat to confirm an alliance. Unlike the Iroquois, the Wendat were not able to acquire guns in significant numbers. This was due to the fact that the French, who were the primary European trading partners of the Wendat, refused to trade guns for furs. This was not always the case in Euro-Amerindian relations. For instance, the Iroquois formed a trading partnership with the Dutch, who traded guns freely for pelts. Nonetheless, French missionaries gave guns to actual or potential converts, thus leaving some room for hope that the French would change their policy and begin to trade weapons. The degree to which the Wendat perceived the French firearms to be important was reflected in a headman's discussion with the missionaries on the matter. This headman is said to have stated: "On this account the whole Country [Wendake] turns its eyes upon you; we shall esteem ourselves quite beyond fear, if we have you [the French] with us; you have firearms, the mere report of which is capable of inspiring dread in the enemy, and putting him to flight."
The acquisition of firearms, or at least an affiliation with those who possessed firearms, was paramount if the Wendat were to remain on equal footing with their competition, namely the Iroquois. Even if the French still refused to trade guns directly to the Wendat, an official alliance between the two would have linked the Wendat more strategically with the French and their weapons. According to the headman's view of the situation, the actual acquisition of firearms was not as necessary as the perception that the Wendat had access to guns through the French. The Wendat belief that there were significant military gains to be made through the French and their possession of guns cultivated a closer relationship with the French.
Another factor influencing the Wendat's decision to incorporate the French into their Feast of Souls was the highly tense and uncertain atmosphere in Wendake. Throughout the 1630s the Wendat and their allies were continuously faced with Iroquois ambushes and battles. These conflicts were particularly frequent throughout the year leading up to the Feast of Souls ceremony. Rumors circulated during the summer of 1635 that the Iroquois were planning an all-out attack on the whole of Wendake. The timing of these rumors created particularly high amounts of anxiety throughout the confederacy because it was during these summer months that Wendat men were absent from their villages in the pursuit of trade. It was customary that upon hearing the warning calls of the Wendat men charged with keeping watch for Iroquois attacks, women and children would begin to pack their belongings and prepare to flee. In the summer of 1635, warning cries rang throughout the villages both day and night. If an attack did take place and the village was well fortified, the women and children were to remain and await the assault. This, however, rarely happened. Due to the small number of men, a lack of firearms, and the overpowering number of their enemies, the villagers almost immediately tried to escape the confines of their home and go into hiding. In reality, only the older members of the village, too weak to flee, remained within their longhouses. These were the intense conditions surrounding the summer of 1635.
Notwithstanding a momentary truce with the Seneca, the Wendat remained subject to threats of an Iroquois attack in 1636. During the winter of 1636, threats were so prevalent that even the Jesuits, who had guns and a means for protecting themselves, began to pack their bags. This time around, escape was much more complicated than the previous summer. Jesuit Paul Le Jeune's recollection of a winter flight highlights the differences between the seasons and their effect on securing oneself during times of war. According to Le Jeune,
Flight is to some extent tolerable in Summer, for one can escape to an island or hide in the obscurity of some dense forest; but in Winter, when ice serves as a bridge to enable the enemy to search the Islands, and when the fall of the leaves has laid bare the forest recesses, you do not know where to hide; besides, the tracks on the snow are immediately discovered; and it is, moreover, extremely cold in Winter to sleep long at the sign of the Moon.
The fears rooted in the persistent intimidation by the Iroquois that winter affected all aspects of life within Wendake. Panic took over, and societal customs were put on hold. Indeed, the fact that a Wendat party set to leave for Quebec in the spring of 1636 delayed their plans due to heightened fears of a potential Iroquois assault illustrates the severity of the situation. This annual expedition was essential to Wendat trade by the 1630s, and the Wendat's decision to postpone the trip would not have been an easy one. If the party failed to meet the French that year, trade for the entire season would be undermined.
The Wendat addressed the issue of constant warfare in several ways. One immediate strategy was the bolstering of fortifications of their principal villages. At the village of Ossossane, for instance, the young men began to construct a new palisade. They made the fort square rather than round, and arranged stakes in straight lines in order to create four towers at each corner of the palisade. The four towers had been the suggestion of the Jesuit priests, who had agreed to employ four Frenchmen to keep guard at each tower with a musket. As a result, the war-ridden atmosphere within Wendake led to a working partnership between the French and Wendat, fostering a closer connection than before.
In addition to warfare, the 1630s were simultaneously characterized by devastating epidemics. In the autumn of 1633, smallpox made its first decisive attack on Wendake, reducing its population by approximately 50 percent within six years. The immediate effects of these diseases are made most obvious through firsthand accounts of the situation. The Wendat Confederacy was in a state of desolation. Its people were dying and solutions were limited. Following the introduction of smallpox in 1633, the Wendat experienced their first major epidemic in 1634, this just preceding the initial council meetings organized to discuss the Feast of Souls ceremony for 1636. The epidemic began in the summer and continued to debilitate the population throughout the winter months. The Jesuits observed this epidemic and made notes on the symptoms of the disease. It was described as a "sort of measles and an oppression of the stomach." According to Father Brebeuf, it usually began with a high fever and ended with a bout of diarrhea. This was followed by a rash that looked like "a sort of measles or smallpox, but different from that common in France." Some victims also suffered blindness or blurred vision for several days. The epidemic of 1634 was so severe that communities were unable to harvest food for subsistence during the winter. Although the exact number of people affected by this disease is uncertain, Brebeuf stated that "he personally did not know anyone who had escaped [the epidemic] and that a large number had died."
(Continues...)
Excerpted from French and Indians in the heart of North America, 1630–1815 Copyright © 2013 by Michigan State University. Excerpted by permission of Michigan State University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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