straw


Entry Type: Plant Organ

Name:

Common Name: straw

Myaamia Name:

Description:

Harvest Seasons: Undetermined

Harvest Comments:

Habitats: Dry Prairie grasslands, Wet Prairie grasslands with flooding

Sources

Kellogg, L.P. 1923

Reference Type: Use - Material

Archival Data:

Game of straws played. "On this day the Poutewatamies came to play at the game of straws, against the Miamis, the game was played in the cabbin of the chief, and in a sort of square over against it. These straws are small rushes of the thickness of a stalk of wheat and two fingers in length. They take up a parcel of these in their hand, which generally consists of two hundred and one, and alwas of an unequal number. After they have well stirred them, and making a thousand contortions of body and invoking the genii, they divide them, with a kind of awl or sharp bone into parcels of ten, each takes one at a venture, and he to whom the parcel with eleven in it falls gains a certain number of points according to the agreement, sixty or four score make a party. There are other ways of playing this game, and they would have explained them to me, but I could understand nothing of the matter, except that the number nine gained the whole party. They also told me, that there was as much of art as chance in this game, and that the Indians are so great cheats at it, as well as at all others, that they are so eager at it; as to spend whole days and nights at it, and that sometimes they do not give over playing till they have stript themselves naked and have nothing more to lose".

Comments: N/A

Pease, T. C. and R. C. Werner 1934

Reference Type: Use - Material

Archival Data:

Game with bean-seeds and straws. "At night most of the men, seated like dogs on mats of round reeds, play with straws. For markers they use the little beans which I have mentioned, which grow on the thorny trees. The game is usually of 200 straws of the length of a foot. The one who can best deceive is the best player, so they are always on the lookout against being deceived. They mark with their beans one or two, according to the wish of the one whose turn it is to mark, then three, and so in regard to the other players up to six, which is the game. One of them takes the straws in both hands and forces his thumb into the middle. The other; if he so desires, does the same thing, and afterwards counts the straws by sixes, if he happens to have one left, and one bean is marked the first, he has the head, if the other gets two which are marked next, it is what they call the neck which comes after the head, so he loses, if he gets one like the other, they begin over again. They have perhaps five or six hundred of these beans, some of which they stake on each play, and when one player has them all before him, they gain what they have staked. They are addicted to this game in a degree that cannot be exceeded [more on their actions regarding the game].

Comments: N/A

Pease, T. C. and R. C. Werner 1934

Reference Type: Use - Customs

Archival Data:

Used in making torches when killing prisoners of war. "When he [prisoner of war] is condemned to die, it is always by fire. I have never seen any other kind of torment used by this nation. They plant a little tree in the earth, which they make him clasp, they tie his two wrists, and with torches of straw of firebrands they burn him, sometimes for six hours."

Comments: N/A

Kellogg, L.P. 1923

Reference Type: Use - Material

Archival Data:

Straw is spread on prisoner in order to facilitate burning. ". . .it is true; an old Illinois woman; whose son had been formerly killed by the Outagamies; did him all the mischief that fury inspired by revenge could invent, at last, however, taking pity on his cries, they covered him with straw, to which they set fire, and as he was still found to breath after this was consumed, he was pierced by arrows by the children . . . he is unworthy, they say, to die by the hands of men".

Comments: N/A

No sources entered.

Blair, E 1911

Reference Type: Related Info

Archival Data:

The Algonquian game of straws utilizes stems, or straws, from a special plant with stems of thickness smaller than the cordage for a salmon-net. "They take for this sport a certain number of straws, or of the stems of a special plant, which is not so thick as the cord for a salmon-net, and with these they make little sticks all alike in length and thickness, the length is about eleven inches, and the number is uneven".

Comments: N/A

Legends

  • L.: L. stands for Carl Linneaus, a Swedish botanist and zoologist living from 1707 - 1778, who formed the binomial nomenclature system for scientific naming of species (the two part name). His initial after a scientific name indicates he was the authority for that species name.
  • sp.: Indicates the actual species name cannot or need not be specified. Example: Lilium sp. indicates a single species in the genus Lilium that is not known or does not need to be specified.
  • spp.: (plural) indicates "several species", two or more species of the given genus. Example: Lilium spp. indicates 2 or more species in the genus that cannot or do not need to be distinguished.
  • Use - Unknown: A record for this plant exists but does not include explicit information about the plant's cultural use. It is probable the Myaamia used the plant.
  • Botanical Sources: Sources of any botanical data for this plant species that is not related to its cultural use or significance.
  • Related Sources: Data indirectly related to Myaamia ethnobotany, including non-Myaamia uses of the plant in contemporary and historic times.
  • Myaamia Archival Sources: All records of plant use obtained directly from a Myaamia tribal member in an interview, recorded by a second party or by self-recording.
  • Undetermined (Plant Use): There exists use or other information about a certain, unknown plant species, but the specific species has not yet been determined.
  • Medicinal: For the purposes of this database, medicinal uses of plants and medicinal knowledge are defined as: Commonly held communal knowledge regarding the use of plant-based substances that aid in maintaining a healthy mind, body or spirit, including tonics and teas.
  • Technology: For the purposes of this database, technological uses of plants are defined as: Plants used in the making of food processing, canoes, rafts, dyes, tools, utensils, weapons, hunting and fishing gear (i.e. net, weir, etc.), cordage, string, rope, fodder plant species, firewood, any plants used in trade, etc.
  • Material: For the purposes of this database, material uses of plants are defined as: Plants used in construction of dwellings (floor mats, roofing, side walls), furniture, baskets, storage items, musical instruments, games, crafts, jewelry, cordage used in crafts, etc.
  • Food: For the purposes of this database, food uses of plants are defined as: Plants used as consumed food, spices and seasonings, but not teas or tonics.
  • Customs: For the purposes of this database, customary uses of plants are defined as: Plants involved in a customary ceremony, ritual or traditional event, including ritual smoking, chewing tobacco, war rituals, special mats used to sit on during ceremonies. Customary uses of plants, in this database, does not including plants used for recreation (material), structures where ceremonies take place (material) or medicinal smoking (medicinal).
  • Eastern Myaamia Lands: Eastern Myaamia lands (eastern myaamionki) are centered around northern Indiana, and including western Ohio, eastern Illinois, southern Michigan, and the northernmost portions of Kentucky.
  • Western Myaamia Lands: Western Myaamia lands (western myaamionki) include western Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma.