Traditional Clothing in Wampanoag Culture
In the past, before the Aquinnah Wampanoag integrated more into modern society, the tribespeople wore clothing and painted themselves in tradition with their gender. Neither men nor women were required to wear shirts. Moccasins were the common footwear of the Aquinnah Wampanoag, along with numerous other Algonquian tribes. Warriors of the Wampanoag were known to paint their faces and decorate themselves with tribal tattoos. For headwear, the Aquinnah Wampanoag wore headbands adorned with feathers that pointed straight up, as shown below.
Men of the Aquinnah Wampanoag wore a breechcloth with leggings. A breechcloth is a cut of tanned deerskin made to be worn between the legs and be tucked into a belt to hold the cloth in place. The leggings were made of soft leather and also fastened to a belt. These leggings could be decorated with beads or quillwork to add patterns and designs. Aquinnah Wampanoag men wore their hair in either a Mohawk or shaved except for one lock of hair on the top of the head, otherwise known as a scalplock.
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| Breechcloth and Belt |
Traditionally, women of the Aquinnah Wampanoag wore skirts that came down to the knees. Young girls could wear a breechcloth along with young boys until they came of age to wear skirts. Woman could also wear leggings, although theirs were much shorter than those of the men. Women of the Aquinnah Wampanoag traditionally wore their hair long.
Aquinnah Wampanoag Clothing Today
The traditional clothing described above is not common in the dress of modern Aquinnah Wampanoag peoples. Modernization of the Wampanoag people has brought along the change of traditional clothing to modern clothing. However, some Aquinnah Wampanoag have moccasins and traditional headbands that they wear on special occasions relating to their culture and heritage.
"Aquinnah & Mashpee Wampanoag Communities Engage Visitors." National Park Service. Accessed March 25, 2015.
"Aquinnah Wampanoag." Wampanoag Singers. Accessed March 24, 2015
"Wampanoag Indian Fact Sheet." American Indian Cultures. Accessed March 24, 2015.
Although the loss of traditional clothing in any society may be seen as a sign of culture loss, I have to imagine what spurred this change in the first place. As a Floridian, I'm most comfortable on days were I can wear shorts and a sleeveless top. Most of my wardrobe is made up of such clothing. To me, bundling up in the winter months is uncomfortable and heavy woolen clothes are more itchy than warm. Even though I prefer light clothing, when I visit my relatives up north my entire style of dress changes. I don't cling on to my summer clothes because it would be ridiculous to stay the winter in Wisconsin with nothing but shorts and sandals. I would be a laughing stock. I can imagine, then, that earlier generations of Aquinnah Wampanoag found it much easier to dress as surrounding society saw fit, rather than fight it. I certainly don't think modern American society would appreciate Aquinnah Wampanoag women walking around shirtless. It would have been for the Aquinnah Wampanoag much easier to fit into modern society when adapted to modern clothing. The same holds true today, as traditional clothing is rarely worn outside of celebrations.
ReplyDeleteAnother reason I see for this change in dress among the Aquinnah Wampanoag is convenience. It is certainly easier to go to the store and purchase clothing rather than kill an animal and go through the process of skinning and tanning its hide for clothes making. Even if the Wampanoag simply bought the material, sewing and decorating clothes is a long and tedious process. My grandmother used to try to teach me how to make clothes with her sewing machine. Even with a mechanical tool, making clothes can take anywhere from several hours up to days to finish and requires a certain amount of task mastery to fashion properly, something I failed at miserably. Because of my own experience with clothes making, it is not a far stretch for me to imagine how much more convenient modern clothing would be to the Aquinnah Wampanoag, who traditionally made their own clothes.
This is awesome!!! Thank you Grace. That is very reflexive. YOuar sources are kind of getting there. Look at the AAA Style Guide I posted on Canvas, page 14, under "W. Internet Document." Just use that formatting. If you do not have a date, write N.d. instead, if no author, just write the web site's name instead. This is really good. Thanks for the great work in class this semester, Grace!!!
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