Crow and Cheyenne women| Some differences in their roles as related to tribal history

Background and Wanderings of the Cheyenne Indians The name "Cheyenne 1 ", like many of the terms by which Indian tribes become known, is not the word by which members of the tribe refer to themselves."Cheyenne" really derives from "Sha-en-na," a. ^iouan terra meaning "those speaking al"red" or foreign tongue".The Cheyenne call themselves Tsistetas, which means "our people".By changing the accent, this same word could mean "gashed ones" (Hodge 1907:25l)o In the Plains sign language, the sign for this tribe is indicated by drawing the right index finger over the left wrist and arm, in a slashing motion (Clark 1885:98)o This could refer either to the Cheyenne practice of slashing the arms, or to their use of striped turkey feathers on their arrows;, they are known as "striped arrows" to the Hidatsa, Shoshone, Comanche, and Caddo.The Cheyenne speak a dialect of the Algonkian language family, which is widespread over the Eastern United States and Eastern and Central Canada;.According to Nelson (I9ii6s8) the first of the three great waves of Asiatic peoples into -America were the Algonkians.Whether or not they were actually the first emigrants, the wide distribution of the Al gonkian speakers certainly suggests an early arrival on this continent.They migrated first to the Eastern seaboard of Canada and the United Statesj then some groups, as the Cheyenne, moved or were forced -East ward.Many traits of the Eastern and Central Algonkian tribes remained part of Cheyenne culture when the tribe arrived on the Plains.Among all of the Plains tribes, the Cheyenne were most noted for the chastity of their women and their restraint about sexual matters.In the Eastern and Central Algonkin tribes around the 17th and l8th centuries, this same restraint was an important feature of the culture.Courtship was leisurely; the suitor would visit a girl at $ight until she consented to marry him.He would then inform his mother, who con sulted the girl's parents.If both sets of parents agreed to the match, presents were exchanged; no further ceremony was necessary.The couple moved in with the boy's family.After marriage, they might (ideally )erefrain from sexual intercourse for some months, to prove that they mar ried for affection, and not from lust (Blair 1911:67-9).Central Algonkin tribes such as the Fox and Sauk aid Menominee utilized the "marriage blanket" to prevent physical contact between newly married couples (Dusenberry 1956:72).Further, it was thought to be harmful for a woman to conceive while still nursing one child, so a husband and wife of these tribes ideally did not live together for at least one year after a child was born (lbid.;275)»Another practice retained by the Cheyenne was the ceremonial pier cing of a child's ears (and sometimes nose) at the age of six or seven (Blair 1911s76)« Women did the usual household chores, cured the animal hides, raised and harvested the grain.Even among these Algonkin tribes, hunting was the main means of subsistence; grain was not stored.While there were no formal soldier clubs as on the Plains, the rudiments of such organizations existed,.The rules of the hunt were agreed upon be fore hand, and observed by everyone.Those who disobeyed had their wea pons destroyed (Ibid.:120)" It is not known which group of Algonkins migrated westward to be come the Cneyenne, nor exactly where they had been located0 Traditions,