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BIRDS
Lesson 7 Other Traditional Uses of
Birds
Objective:
1) Students will list and describe the
traditional uses of birds other than as food.
Activities:
1) Brainstorm with the class the uses of
other bird products in the traditional way of life. Have students
interview elders on this topic. Make a list of traditional uses
other than as food and make a chart to indicate what part of the
bird was used for what purpose.
2) In addition to the use of birds and bird
products, what other importance did some birds have in the local
culture? (eg. foretelling the weather, the coming offish, good
or bad luck, kept as pets). This will be studied more in
Lesson 8.
3) Make a traditional artifact using some part
of a bird. Suggestions: dance fans or arrows using feathers; a
small blanket with the down from a goose; a "duster" from the wing
of a goose; a rattle from the crop of a grouse.
Resources:
Bird Traditions...has a lot of information
in the section on "Uses" (pg. 15) and also under individual
birds.
Such anthropological studies as Ingalik
Material Culture and Ethnography of the Tanaina, both by
Cornelius Osgood (Yale University publications) document some
traditional uses of bird parts such as in the manufacture of a loon
skin bag, swan bone drinking tube, feathers for making arrows or to
strengthen clay pots.
Make Prayers to the Raven by Richard Nelson
has a whole chapter on birds which includes many traditional
uses.
from BIRD TRADITIONS ...
Bird Clothing
The Lime Village Dena'ina have made two major
types of cold weather clothing from birds. One kind is constructed
from feathered-skin while the other style uses soft feathers as
filling in skin and cloth. Birds employed for the former type of
clothing include eagles, cranes, swans, geese, ducks, and cormorants.
Swans, cranes and eagles are said to have the strongest skins.
Waterfowl down has most frequently been the filling in skin and cloth
clothing.
Feathered-skin clothing including parkas,
pants, mittens, and hats have been made primarily from the wingless
bodies of the larger birds from which the tail and other large
feathers have been removed. The skin is then tanned to remove the oil
from the skin and to soften the skin.
Feathered-skin clothing has been lined with
animal skin for additional warmth and strength. An elder explains
that bird skin is fragile and tears easily without support. The
furred-skin of small animals has provided a warm lining for mittens
and hats while caribou skins and tile furred-skin of a variety of
animals have served as lining for larger bird garments. This
reversible clothing is warm when worn either way.
People have created specialized clothing such
as jackets particularly from the soft feathered necks and breasts of
ducks but also from swans, loons, cormorants, and other waterbirds.
This less hardy clothing especially admired for its attractiveness is
made entirely from one species of bird or from a variety of birds. If
the breasts are used, they are always lined because breast skin is
not as tough as neck skin, the most popular kind of skin used for
this type of clothing.
An elder who wore feathered-skin clothing as a
young person observes that when he came home from World War II, the
practice of sewing bird skin clothing had been discontinued, lie says
that animal skin clothing continued to be sewn after bird skin
clothing because the latter was harder to make. He reports that bird
feather clothing was worn primarily as work clothing and not
necessarily saved for special occasions. Although harder to produce
than animal skin clothing, bird skin clothing served as an attractive
change from animal skin clothes as well as providing warmth and other
utilitarian needs.
People indicate that due to the scarcity of
large game animals in earlier times, feathered-skin clothing allowed
the animal skins to be used for essential items that feathered-skins
could not provide.
Lime Village Dena'ina have continued into
modern times to create feather-filled cloth clothing arid bedding
items. Although neck and breast down has been especially prized for
it softness, medium-sized feathers have been used especially when
down has been lacking or in short supply. Feather-filled articles
have included snow pants, parkas, pillows, blankets, and other types
of bedding and clothing.
Children's toys and art objects that closely
resemble living birds have been fashioned from the feathered-skin
bodies of waterfowl, woodpeckers, and other birds. With some
exceptions, the bird including its head, feet, and wings remain
intact. The bones are removed from the feet and the inner pall of the
bird is removed through a cut on the side of one wing. The bird is
stuffed with moss or grass because the plants absorb oil well (see
Loons).
People have made sack-like water containers
from the dried feet and lower, featherless leg skin of swans,
cormorants, dippers, and sandhill cranes. Swan skin followed by crane
skin produce the biggest and thus the best containers. The sack-like
containers are sewn with a special waterproof stitch and are tied on
top with leather or other available string. The containers have
primarily been used when traveling.
Bone Technology
Bird bones have served the Lime Village people
in a variety of ways. Both men and women have made
beads from duck wing and leg bones and from geese
and swan foot bones. After they have been boiled and cleaned, the
warm bones are cut to bead size. If the bones are cut when cold, they
may chip. In early times, a hard, sharp, shiny brown rock was used to
cut the bones.
The beads have been colored with various plant
dyes: alder bark, red; rotten willow wood, blue; rotten spruce wood,
reddish brown; berries, a variety of colors. The beads, soaked or
simmered in the dye, have been used in necklaces and earrings and
have been sewed on headbands, coats, and other clothing. When a bead
is sewed on a fur parka, the fur is partially cut from the area where
the bead is to be placed so that the bead is
visible. See Swans for information on
windpipe beads.
Lime Village people have made whistles for
calling birds and animals from cooked, cleaned bird bones. An elder
reports that his father made many different kinds of whistles. The
sound of the whistle varies with the kind of bird and bone used, the
size of the bone, and the number of holes made along the length of
the bone. Depending on the desired sound, the caller blows into one
end of the bone while covering the other end of the bone and perhaps
some of the holes along the length of the bone.
Swan wing and leg bones have been used as "straws" and
have been left at locations regularly used for obtaining
drinking water.
Split wing bones of various birds have served
as toothpicks.
Medicinal Uses of Birds
Few Lime Village medicinal uses of birds have
been documented.
Fresh raw or rotten bird meat and other animal
meat has been secured on an infected or blood-poisoned area to draw
the sickness from the area into the meat. The meat is left on the
area until it is very rotten because rotten meat is said to heal the
area faster than fresh meat.
Any kind of soup including duck, grouse, and ptarmigan can be
given to a sick person to increase his appetite and provide
nourishment.
Arctic Tern
Handbook
for Culturally Responsive Science Curriculum by Sidney Stephens
Excerpt: "The information and insights contained in this document will be
of interest to anyone involved in bringing local knowledge to bear in school
curriculum. Drawing upon the efforts of many people over a period of several
years, Sidney Stephens has managed to distill and synthesize the critical ingredients
for making the teaching of science relevant and meaningful in culturally adaptable
ways." |