the Gros Ventre

 

The Arapaho are closely linked to the Gros Ventre, a Native American tribe that speaks Algonkian. They identify as A'ani, or "White Clay People," and are often referred to by the Blackfoot's disparaging Atsina term. The sign language gesture for these individuals, gros ventre in French, which denotes a large belly, is where the term "Gros Ventre" originates. The Gros Ventre were a nomadic tribe that lived all across the Great Plains in the past. They eventually relocated to and inhabited a sizable area of Montana in the nineteenth century. They were relocated to the Fort Belknap Reservation in northern Montana in 1888, which the US government had created for them and shared with the Assiniboin. Since then, they have stayed there. The Gros Ventre population on the reserve was estimated to be 1,100 in 1950, and the combined Gros Ventre-Assiniboin population was 1,870 in 1980. There were 2815 Gros Ventre (Atsina) descendants at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The Gros Ventre people speak an Algonquian language that belongs to the Arapaho branch of the Algonquian Plains language family and is closely linked to Arapaho. A lucrative commerce had grown between the Gros Ventre and the Cree by the middle of the eighteenth century, but as the Cree progressively encroached on the Gros Ventre's hunting grounds, relations between the two groups started to worsen. The Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company established trading stations in the region in 1778, bringing with them a plethora of new goods for the Gros Ventre to trade: supplies, wolf skins, and horses were traded for firearms, gunpowder, fabric, metal tools, and alcohol. A period of violent violence ensued from competition for the products given by the trading stations between Gros Ventre, Cree, and the Assiniboin of the area. Relationships between the Gros Ventre and the well-armed Plains Cree and Assiniboine, who were perceived as the traders' allies, steadily worsened by the 1790s. In 1794–1795, the Gros Ventre destroyed a number of trading stations on the Saskatchewan, believing that the merchants were to blame since they provided their adversaries with more advantageous trade advantages. This only made their situation worse, and in 1795 and later years, bands of Gros Ventre started to migrate south into the Upper Missouri River area, where they were seen residing among the Arapaho, in order to prevent further hostilities. However, they started to infringe on the Crow as they migrated south, which infuriated that tribe. In order to avoid rivalry from other tribes, the Gros Ventre then sought alliance with the Blackfoot, with whom they ruled the area in the next decades. The Cree, Assiniboin, and Crow were still engaged in conflict at this time, and by the middle of the 1800s, the Gros Ventre were also coming under Sioux attack. In an effort to somewhat neutralize the bigger and more powerful tribes that threatened them, the Gros Ventre tried to make new alliances with their erstwhile adversaries, the Crow and Assiniboin, when their alliance with the Blackfoot ended in 1860. The decrease of the buffalo herds, which the Gros Ventre relied heavily on, threatened their way of life as the end of the nineteenth century drew near, to the point that they sought assistance from the U.S. government. As stipulated in the 1888 Fort Belknap pact, the For the sake of living on a reserve in northern Montana, the Gros Ventre were prepared to give up their territorial claims. The Assiniboin quickly joined the Gros Ventre since the agreement's language permitted the placement of other tribes on this reserve as well. According to historians and ethnologists, the GrosVentre's ancestors most likely came from the Great Lakes area and were Arapaho people until the middle of the seventeenth century. They practiced gardening to a small extent while residing in the Red River region of Minnesota at the time. The Gros Ventre migrated to Saskatchewan about 1650 after splitting from the Arapaho. The Gros Ventre were nomadic hunters at this time, and agriculture was abandoned save from tobacco production. Their culture shifted toward equestrian buffalo hunting after horses were acquired in the middle of the eighteenth century. The Gros Ventre were split up into twelve independent bands by the Aboriginal people. In order to defend themselves from the severe weather, the bands often set up camp separately along streams in forested regions throughout the winter. They came together for the Sun Dance and other rites throughout the warmer months, as well as for the spring and autumn bison hunts. During these periods, they set up camp in a circle, with each band having a specific spot in the circle and an entrance facing east. Hunting buffalo (bison) was the main source of subsistence, with the collection of wild food plants serving as a supplement. The Gros Ventre hunted buffalo by pushing them over cliffs or imprisoning them in corrals prior to acquiring horses. These earlier hunting techniques were abandoned when they adopted horses, and hunters often galloped into herds and slaughtered as many as they could before the herd vanished. The buffalo's skins were utilized for clothing, tipi coverings, and commerce with the Euro-Americans, while the flesh was either roasted, boiled, or dried. For traversing wide rivers, the tipi coverings may alternatively be transformed into circular boats. They also hunted antelope, deer, and elk, while women harvested roots, berries, and fruits. Women performed the majority of the tasks around the camp, such as preparing and preserving food, while males participated in hunting and combat. Early in the eighteenth century, the Gros Ventre engaged in commerce with the Cree and Assiniboine, who acted as intermediaries in dealings with other Native American tribes. At other times, they engaged in combat with these intermediaries. The Hudson's Bay Company had a thriving commerce with the Gros Ventre and built a trading station on the North Saskatchewan River in 1778. Both the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company quickly erected further stations on the North and South Saskatchewan Rivers. Assiniboine, Cree, and Gros Ventre engaged in fierce conflict as a result of their trade rivalry. The Gros Ventre attacked three trading stations on the Saskatchewan because they thought the merchants were friends of their "on" and "off" opponents and granted them special trading privileges (1794-1795). The Gros Ventre finally moved south into the upper Missouri due to the ensuing warfare. Peaceful connections with the American Fur Company were established here in 1831, and the Gros Ventre became wealthy from trading items like horses. The Gros Ventre saw clear divisions of work, as did other plains peoples. Men were in charge of hunting, skinning, and slaughtering game, acquiring and tending to horses, and fighting wars. They also created their weapons, shields, and ceremonial items. Gathering plant foods, cooking and storing food items, relocating and erecting tipis, tending to children, gathering water and firewood, and creating clothing and other household items were all tasks performed by women. The Gros Ventre were traditionally nomadic hunter-gatherers who lived in groups of ten to twelve bands. Each band was made up of many connected families who inhabited a certain area for the members' hunting and gathering needs. The Gros Ventre consented to give up their territorial claims to formerly occupied areas in exchange for a reserve and financial support from the US government in 1888 as part of the terms of the Fort Belknap Accord. After that, they and the Assiniboin were relocated to the northern Montana Fort Belknap Reservation, where the Gros Ventre used the area for cattle rearing, hay and grain cultivation, and other purposes. The area of the reserve was further reduced when government authorities forced the Gros Ventre and Assiniboin to sell their property for $360,000 when gold was discovered in the southern portion of the reservation. Following a legal struggle with the U.S. government, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the rights to the Milk River region belonged to the reservation's residents rather than the Euro-American immigrants. The band, which was made up of closely linked families, served as the Gros Ventre's main social unit. These bands, also known as clans or sibs, were patrilineal; a son would be a member of his father's band. All blood and intergenerational affinal ties were prohibited for incest, and bands were exogamous. Relatives were defined as those who were required to be treated with "respect" and often "avoidance," including parents, siblings, their wives, parents-in-law, and siblings of the other sex. Ego's grandparents and grandchildren, siblings of the same sex, and in-laws of the same generation were among the relatives who were given greater latitude in how they behaved with one another. Relationships between parents and children were marked by restrained conduct that prohibited discussing marriage or sex. However, a parent and kid of the same gender might have serious discussions about such subjects. The youngster was expected to never use personal names and to always address and refer to their parents using relationship words. The reference "father" was used in Gros Ventre kinship terminology to refer to the spouse of the mother's sister, the father's brother, and the male cousin. Mother's sister, a female cousin, and the wife of the father's brother were all referred to as "mothers." Father's sister and female relatives are referred to as "aunts," whereas mother's brother and male cousins are referred to as "uncles." Cross-sex interactions were nonetheless marked by heightened reserve in nomenclature, as a guy would never speak directly to his "aunt" unless she was alone and he required particular information. He wouldn't linger to continue talking to her under any conditions. The same would hold true for a lady and her "uncle." Since sibling forms of address were used without making a distinction between parallel and cross-cousins, there was no special name for "cousin." No matter how distant the blood ties, marriage was forbidden to those who were related. With the exception of individuals who were categorized as in-laws of the same generation, this also extended to affinal relatives. Therefore, those who referred to each other as brother-in-law and sister-in-law may be regarded as potential partners, but relatives-by-marriage in any other category were not allowed to be married. Girls were often married before reaching puberty, typically around the age of twelve, at which point they were expected to have received training in women's labor. Boys waited to get married until they were about twenty, when it was thought they had mastered enough hunting techniques to support a family. It was customary to arrange marriages between the prospective groom and one of the bride's male relatives, such as her father, uncle, or brother. The bride was not consulted, but any party might take the lead. Due to the age difference between husband and wife, many of the women were either divorced, often at the husband's request, or widowed at a young age as a consequence of their spouse's death in combat. Most women were married three or four times in their lifetimes, and remarriage was arranged for them promptly. The act of marriage just included the husband and wife living together, which was confirmed by the groom's gifts to his bride's family. Polygyny, the levirate, and the sororate were all practiced. Although they did happen periodically, elopements were not common. The patrilocal extended family, which consisted of a man, his wife or wives, their offspring, and perhaps additional male relatives, was the fundamental domestic unit among the Gros Ventre. Due to the very stringent mother-in-law avoidance, which forbade the mother-in-law and son-in-law from speaking, looking, or being in the same tipi with one another, matrilocal residency was often not practiced. Older women lived in their own tipis close to the extended family's home, together with their grandchildren or nieces who were being taught in women's chores. Every family that made up a band depended on the others for assistance while hunting and gathering. According to Gros Ventre, oral teaching was the most crucial technique for child training. Parents would often give their children lectures on acceptable social behavior on a daily basis. However, certain subjects were off limits to both boys and girls in the same room and were only to be spoken privately by fathers to their sons and by mothers to their daughters. Grandparents also had a significant influence on their grandchildren's socializing; when the grandson was in difficulties, he could go to his grandparents about anything, and they would provide advice without ever reprimanding him. It was expected of grandmothers, or perhaps other female relatives like a widowed aunt, to teach daughters gender-appropriate abilities and tactics as well as what to anticipate from the physical aspects of marriage. Boys were given unique responsibilities, such caring for horses, at a young age and had much more freedom in society than girls. Additionally, their early bow and arrow practice prepared them for later life, when they were supposed to hunt and fight with the men. The Gros Ventre society's authority was based on the proper relationship between individuals and the supernatural. This authority was legitimized through participation in age groups, where sacred knowledge was acquired through ceremonies or lodges. As individuals aged, men held different leadership responsibilities. The social system was oriented around this age-grade system, with the central symbol being the pipe offering. When a boy reached 15 or 16, they formed an age-set, which could join either the Wolf or Star moiety for peacekeeping or social functions. Membership in both age-sets and moieties was for life, and all were bound to aid each other in endeavors. Members could also make a religious vow to join age-graded sacred societies, such as the Fly Lodge, Crazy Lodge, Kit Fox and Dog Lodges, and the nannanehao’we lodge, which granted men the power to attract buffalo. The Gros Ventre were traditionally separated into ten to twelve independent bands, each headed by a chief who conferred with other male band members before making decisions. Other so-called chiefs in the band, in addition to this "head" chief, attained this position due to their military ability. These bands were mostly made up of family linked via marriage rather than sibs proper. Each band became an essentially full economic-political entity due to the bands' dispersion around tribal territory during the colder months of the year. Any band might temporarily or permanently break away from the tribe if it so desired. The Gros Ventre tribe, a nomadic group in the Great Plains, maintained social control through the unique relationship called "enemy friends." Both the Wolf and Star moiety were highly competitive in the acquisition of war honors and in the display of generosity. This relationship was initiated by giving a gift taken from an enemy to one's competitor, and anything said or done to an "enemy friend" had to be endured with equanimity. This relationship acted as an outlet to prevent competition between the two moieties on a much larger scale. The Gros Ventre have a long history of external conflict with neighboring tribes, such as the Cree and Assiniboine, as well as the Euro-American traders. Many of the conflict situations resulted from horse raids, competition for trade, and the infringement of one tribal group on the territory of another. Alliances were made and soon broken (e.g., Gros Ventre and Blackfoot). Internal conflicts within Gros Ventre society often occurred and were generally settled by the families involved, sometimes with the aid of the band chief. The religious beliefs of the Gros Ventre centered on a supernatural being called The One Above, who was the ultimate source of life and power possessed by other supernatural beings and humans themselves. Endowed with these powers, humans could cause good or bad things to happen through thought alone. This concept formed the basis of Gros Ventre religion. The powers delegated by The One Above varied in kind and degree as it was given to various natural and supernatural phenomena. This power could be tapped by humans by communicating with The One Above generally through the vision quest by means of fasting, prayer, or offerings. Prayers were conveyed to The One Above through words and thought, and sometimes by using a pipe, smoke, steam, or singing. Once acquired, this power could be used by humans for curing, assuring success in particular ventures, to foretell events, and to harm (by means of sorcery). Priests, called keepers, took care of the medicine bundles and were responsible for performing the bundle rituals. Traditionally, the keepership of the bundles was said to have been hereditary in one band. In earlier times, the bundle keepers had the exclusive right to use certain herbs, such as sage and peppermint, in treating patients. The Gros Ventre ceremonial organization was similar to that of the Arapaho, the fundamental features of which involved the grouping of men by ages and the observance of a series of age-set specific ceremonies. Two medicine bundles representing their special relationship with The One Above and the basis for their health and happiness were the Flat Pipe Bundle and the Feathered Bundle. With the killing of the last buffalo in 1884, the Gros Ventre ceremonial organization virtually disappeared. The Gros Ventre believed that illness was caused by physiological or supernatural causes, with both natural and supernatural remedies used. Remedies for curing supernatural causes were owned and used by individuals with special doctoring powers (i.e., shaman), who expected payment for their services. Other medical specialists involved individuals with skills in extracting arrowheads or bullets, for removing tumors, curing facial paralysis, treating snake bites, or in preventing or promoting conception. When death occurred, the body of the deceased was washed and dressed in its best clothes by friends (not relatives), and accompanied by personal belongings, placed in trees, on high rocks, or in caves away from predatory animals. Burial in the ground is of relatively recent origin. Close relatives might sometimes scream out loud while walking, sleep outside, or go out alone to the plains or hills to express their intense sadness. Close family members would often rip off their garments and slash their arms and legs in an attempt to convey their deepest sorrow after a warrior was slain in combat. Murderers' souls either remained where their corpses lay or roamed about and "bothered" the living, while everyone else's went to a desolate area in the north after death. Although ghosts were thought to be invisible, they might be identified by their speaking, calling, and whistling in the vicinity of human habitations. A medicine man or someone with spirit power might call upon a ghost assistant to provide guidance and advice in times of sickness or danger, as well as information of past, present, future, or distant events.