Review For The Woodlands Indians In The Western Great Lakes

The Woodlands Indians in the Western Great Lakes. Robert E. Ritzenthaler and Pat Ritzenthaler. Prosper Heights, IL: Waveland Press, Inc. 1993. 154 pp.

In each of the ten chapters that comprise this book, the authors address important features of the Woodlands Indians’ way of life that ensure their survival. They address such important issues as how they are able to find enough food to subsist and what exactly they do eat to subsist; as well as going into topics such as their religious beliefs, traditional ceremonies, their beliefs regarding shamanism and curative techniques, their material culture, games, music, and folklore that is important to them and influences who they are as a people. Throughout the book, each of these themes are explored at length as distinguishing aspects attributed to the Woodlands Region, and are defined in clear detail as they pertain to different periods in their history of humankind in North America.

Throughout this book detailing the history and life of the Woodland Indians specifically in the Western Great Lakes region, the authors provide important facts that identify this North American tribe’s important attributes. First of all, these people live in an area that sees a great environmental subdivision, comprised of both forest and prairie land. In order to survive, they must live a semi-nomadic lifestyle involving hunting, fishing, and gathering of wild foods. They also eventually begin to rely on some basic agriculture, and their primary food source is maize, beans, and squash. There are specific traditions and beliefs that they practice in terms of their life style. In terms of their social organization, kinship is very important in this classless egalitarian society, which is divided into of a number of clans. Although their material culture may not seem to be very impressive compared to other Native American groups found in North America, the simplicity of their work in such areas as clothing, housing, quill- and bead-work, weaving, basketry, and silverwork, is actually quite remarkable considering the time and effort required to carry out the basic tasks to ensure their survival. Despite this fact, religious and ceremonial life was a very important and unique aspect of the Woodlands Indians, and was a major part of life for these people. They held dances such as the medicine, brave, and drum dance, each of which held special spiritual connotations that they believed to have a significant impact on their lives. They also practiced the use of peyote and performed tobacco rituals for religious purposes.