Cheyenne moccasins with thunderbird designs Part 3.

This edition of the MoccasinCorner presents the third article of a seven part series on the Cheyenne use of Thunderbird symbols in the beadwork embroidery of fully beaded men's moccasins.

All seven pair of the Cheyenne moccasins to be showcased in this series will be found today in the permanent Native American Footwear Collection of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, Canada, and with the help of Jack Heriard, the founder and editor of Whispering Wind magazine, we were able to convince Ms. Suzanne McLean, the Collection Manager of the Bata Shoe Museum, to help with this article and grant museum approval to publish Wilbur Cheek's photos in this series. While Mr. Cheeks' great photos, Ms. McLean's collection details, and museum approvals were essential to the publication of this series, the ethnographic story of Cheyenne Thunderbird symbology in moccasin beadwork design could not have been told without the earlier efforts of two other important individuals who I believe have made lasting contributions to the understanding of Cheyenne material culture; Tyrone Stewart and Mike Cowdrey.

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In addition to the great photo (Photo 1) taken by Wilbur Cheeks, we also have the museum collection documentation so kindly researched and provided by Ms. Suzanne Mclean to consider. This pair of moccasins was purchased by the Bata Shoe Museum from long time Santa Fe Dealer, Kenneth Canfield, and was acquired for the collection in August of 1983. The Museum collection record describes this pair as being,

   Moccasins, fully beaded upper with blue, green, yellow,
   and red motifs on a white background, blue thunderbird
   on vamp. Separate flat rawhide sole; worn. Skin laces tie
   over square tongue. Cuff split at heel.

The museum provenance on this pair was provided by Mr. Kenneth Canfield and recorded by the museum staff as follows:

   Data from former owner, His code #1798, Cheyenne
   child's ghost dance moccasins, ca 1890; sinew sewn on
   buckskin; geometric motifs & classic ghost dance symbol
   of an abstract outstretched eagle in blue, its head in profile
   with a single white bead eye; other designs executed in
   faceted beads in med. blue, cranberry, yellow & green on
   white background, although the eagle
   motif appeared on earlier Cheyenne
   moccasins it was only in the ghost dance
   period that it reached this sophistication.

The museum staff also added the following opinion and cross reference in the collection documentation:

   These moccasins show evidence of wear
   & use by a child over nearly a century
   ago. Length 9, a similar pair is pictured
   in the Bureau of American Ethnology Annual Report,
   Vol. 14 (2) Plate CXVIII.

In the same manner as was done for the first two articles in this series, I have faithfully reported the Bata Shoe collection records on this pair, and will continue to do so for the remaining four articles in this series. I believe it is important to do so, not because I think that the collection provenance, staff opinion, or attribution is necessarily correct, but rather because the Bata Shoe museum has kindly made this material available for study and any collection provenance might provide some useful clues which could help us to better understand this pair.

In this case, for the same reasons that Mike Cowdrey offered about the moccasin pair presented in Part I of the series, I do not believe that these moccasins were actually associated with the Cheyenne Ghost Dance in any way. The Ghost Dance Movement was over by 1892, and this pair was most likely constructed near the end of the 1890s or early 1900s. I knew Ken Canfield for more than 25 years, and studied Native American material in his Santa Fe Gallery, on Canyon Road on many occasions before he passed away a couple of years ago. While I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Canfield's understanding of Cheyenne material culture, I am going to have to side with Mike Cowdrey on this one. It is of course possible, and perhaps even likely, that moccasins of this type, with Thunderbird representations, while not associated with the Ghost Dance, were made for special individuals or for other special use occasions.

This pair of moccasins exhibits all of the construction and beadwork characteristics which I would associate with a proper Cheyenne attribution. One can clearly see the un-sewn heel seam creating a "V" appearance at the rear of the ankle flaps, and although I have never discovered why the Cheyenne prefer this particular construction technique, it is the correct manner in which Cheyenne moccasins are most often found. Importantly, the usual lane of beadwork across the instep is also clearly visible on this pair. Notice also that the layout of the design elements around the moccasin perimeter are also correct, with a design element centered on the toe, and a total of seven design elements spaced evenly around the moccasin perimeter. While most pair of fully beaded Cheyenne moccasins have four lanes of beadwork around the perimeter, with beadwork oriented perpendicular to the perimeter lanes covering the rest of the moccasin vamp, this pair actually has five lanes. The fifth lane has been solidly beaded using white core rose beads, and provides a visual red border around the blue Thunderbird figure centered on the vamp.

While this treatment is not the norm for most Cheyenne moccasins, its use on this pair is not inconsistent with Cheyenne contrast/color preferences. I have personally observed this technique used on several other Cheyenne examples.

Like the outstanding pair of Cheyenne Thunderbird moccasins presented earlier in Part I, the Thunderbirds on this pair are also from the Realistic variations to be found in Class I. Note that the wings are curvilinear shaped with indentations where one might expect to see individual feathers. A realistically shaped bird's head, eye and beak are clearly discernable, as are bird legs, and a realistically shaped tail. There can be no doubt that this symbol is meant to represent a bird of some type, and given our earlier discussion on Cheyenne history and cultural roots, it is likely that this represents an "Upper World" Thunderbird symbol. If one accepts Mike Cowdrey's thesis that there should always be balance between "Upper World" and "Lower World" powers, and the choice of perimeter design elements for this pair does seem to support that thesis.

According to Mike Cowdrey, "Bug Heads, hexagons and diamonds always accompany or constitute parts of figures from the lower realm. Hourglasses, "X's" and triangles always cluster with figures with the Upper realm." If we look at the Cheyenne moccasins in photo 2, a pair I studied and photographed in the Gilcrease Museum, you can see how Cowdrey's thesis might be applied to the decoration of this pair. You may recall that this pair was another one of the moccasin types Ty Stewart wrote about in his 1971 articles, clearly showing a variation of the "bug head" design used as the central vamp design motif. Mike Cowdrey's thesis associates this symbology with "Lower World" powers. Looking at the design elements used around the perimeter, we are able to see the expected balance between upper and lower powers with the use of the triangular design elements that Cowdrey associates with "Upper World" powers.

With the Gilcrease example in mind, we can apply Cowdrey's thesis to the current pair as well. The perimeter design elements on this pair of moccasins, composed of combinations of small triangles and squares, does not clearly seem to fit perfectly in either the upper or lower world category. For moccasins design layouts in this class, Cowdrey believes that, "In design terms, this means that the symbols representing the two realms usually alternate. When there are two repetitive designs in the perimeter band of a Cheyenne or Arapaho moccasin, one represents Upper Power, while the other represents Lower Power." Applying Cowdrey's thesis to this pair, the "balance" between upper and lower power has been achieved by slight variations in the perimeter design elements and alternating colors schemes. You have to look close to see the very small difference in the design elements, but the color alternations are pretty clear. One design element includes a navy blue over greasy yellow square center with white core rose and navy blue triangular attachments, and the alternating element has a white core rose over mint green square with navy blue and white core rose triangular attachments.

The penchant for alternating design elements around the perimeter of Cheyenne moccasins in either shape or color is a key attribute of tribal preference that has been well established in the literature, and is well beyond debate at this point in time. Why the Cheyenne have such a strong preference for this attribute is perhaps subject to speculation, but Mike Cowdrey's research and thoughts in this area certainly provides Whispering Wind's readers one thought provoking explanation to consider!

Acknowledgments

This series has been made possible by several individuals and organizations I would like to thank. Jim Beuoy, of North Canton, Ohio, who first brought the photos of the moccasins I plan to present in this series to my attention several years ago. Without Jim's thoughtfulness this series would not be possible. Later I was to learn that the artist who created these photos was actually Wilbur Cheeks, a friend of both Jim's and mine, who personally selected these moccasins to study and chose to photograph them, during one of his research visits to Toronto's famous Bata Shoe Museum. Wilbur's knowledge of Native American material culture, sharp eye, and photographic skill has presented Whispering Wind's readers with a unique opportunity to better understand the Cheyenne use of Thunderbird symbols in moccasin beadwork embroidery.

Thanks also to Suzanne McLean of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, Tyrone Stewart, Mike Cowdrey, Jack Heriard, and Whispering Wind magazine for making this opportunity to learn more about Cheyenne culture possible

References

Conn, Richard. (n.d.). Cheyenne Style Beadwork. American Indian Hobbyist, #43, 7:2.

Cooley, Jim. (1986). Southern Plains Women's Moccasins and the Mohonk Lodge. Moccasin Tracks. 11:6.

Cowdrey, Mike. (1999). Arrow Elk Society Ledger, A Southern Cheyenne Record of the 1870s. Santa Fe: Morning Star Gallery.

Cowdrey, Mike. (2006). American Indian Horse Masks. Nicasio, CA: Hawk Hill Press.

Cowdrey, Mike. (2003). The Turtle Hangs Before: Celestial Templates in Cheyenne Cosmology. European Review of Native American Studies, 17(2): 1-10.

Cowdrey, Mike, personal correspondence, 1992-2009.

Kincaide, Reese. (1930). Genuine Indian Bead Work and Art Goods. Colonly, OK.: Catalogue of the Mohonk Lodge.

Kroeber, Alfred L. (1983). The Arapaho. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Marriott, Alice. (1956). The Trade Guild of the Southern Cheyenne Women. Bulletin of the Oklahoma Anthropological Society, Volume II.

Phillips, Ruth Bliss. (1986). Dreams and Designs: Iconographic Problems in Great Lakes Twined Bags. Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts. 62:1.

Seger, John H. (1905). Tradition of the Cheyenne Indians: Oral history of the Cheyenne People As Told By One Who Was Appointed To Keep The Tradition. Darlington, Ok.: Arapaho Bee Print.

Stewart, Tyrone. (1971). Cheyenne Moccasins, Part 1 & 2. American Indian Crafts and Culture. 5:8,9.

Webber, Alika. (n.d.). Ms. Webber was curator at the Bata Shoe Museum in the 1980s. She developed the Museum's first typology on North American footwear, published in 1989 by the Museum Foundation.