Turkey BuzzardApae:skasiwBuilding a LodgeWe:kewamaehkaew |
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On morning of March the sixth, 1997, the Menominee Clans Project accessioned its 22nd figure in the Menominee Clans Project, the symbol for the Turkey Buzzard Clan entitled "Building a Lodge." In traditional Menominee dress the Turkey Buzzard constructs a Menominee we:kewam or lodge. A partially covered frame of poles for a lodge stands before him. In one hand he holds a flint knife while at his feet are bundles of basswood bark strips to tie large pieces or sheets of elm bark to the frame.
Name in Menominee
The Menominee name for the turkey buzzard is "apae:skasiw". The root words within the name are three. The first root is "apae:s" that means dark blue colored as in the dark blue color of the bird's body feathers. The second component is "kas" that appears to be the key component of the word kaska:mahpenae:w, "he closes him" and means drawn or closed shut as in the incident in the story to be related. The last of the word elements is "iw" meaning "in the place of" that is in the third person. The Turkey Buzzard's name in Menominee means then, "he is the dark blue colored one enclosed in that place," all of which the story will explain.
Menominee stripped a tough fiber from the bark of the basswood tree that serves as a key element in traditional building. So central was this tree of the forest to Menominee life that the very name for house, "we:kewam" has as its root the name of the basswood tree, "we:kopemeh," meaning a home using basswood in its construction. This same sense carries over to the Menominee name for a builder of a lodge where the root again appears, "we:kewamaehkaew," "he builds a house". So, this figure depicts an "apae:skasiw" engaged as a "we:kewamaehkaew."
The "we:kewam" we see here is the typical Menominee lodge, used by The People of the Wild Rice or Menominee from time immemorial. The forest gives of herself to provide her fellow humans the raw materials for their dwellings. The young and thin ash trees freely give of their tough and pliable trunks to provide these fellow creatures of the great creation with supple poles for the frame of the wigwam. The elm tree too gives of his bark that mankind might have a covering for their lodge. In order to make their relatives the Menominee a lodge the basswood joins with his brothers ash and elm to give his bark to be stripped so that the Menominee might tie the poles in place and then batten the bark.
These readily available trees make it possible for the Menominee to have a very serviceable habitat. The home is a good one. It shelters and protects; it warms readily and sheds rain. Its oval shape perfectly deflects the blowing winds. While it is easily constructed from common materials it can last a long time. The finished lodge wall and roof form a continuous round with the whole taking a slightly oval shape. A small lodge would have a single door and a smoke vent in the top while a larger one might have additional doors and vents as size dictates.
Place of the Turkey Buzzard in the Menominee clan system
The Turkey Buzzard Clan belongs to the Crane phratry, one of the five phratries of traditional Menominee society. The Brothers that make up the Crane phratry include the Crane, Heron, Coot, Loon, Old Squaw Duck, and Turkey Buzzard clans. In the origin story the Grandfather invested the Crane phratry with the obligation to be builders to the world within the general structure of the clan system. It has responsibility for construction. In this respect the phratry serves more or less as a kind of science component in the whole of Menominee life, a necessary and well thought out role.
That is not to say the Crane, Heron, Coot, Loon, Old Squaw Duck, and Turkey Buzzard Clans built homes for individuals. Not at all. Such an inference would miss the great message of the origin story. These clans knew how to build, had acquired the ways of attaining raw material, and possessed the cultural matter to enable such items to be properly used. They shared this knowledge with those who were in the process of construction or who sought to build one of the scores of principal objects in the Menominee material culture.
One could ask in a proper way a Turkey Buzzard Clan member how to build a wigwam, what ceremonies to perform to ensure one's relationship with the great whole of life, such as the songs to sing to the basswood tree before taking the gift of his bark, or how to tackle a possible building problem. The proper way, the Menominee way, would be to offer a gift to the clan member who affirms it in a response of knowledge given, and makes vital once again the mutual interchange that lies at the heart of this great whole in which we and all life participate.
A Thunderer
In the Menominee worldview the turkey buzzard carries two identities. One identity is for the biological bird known to us all. It has a dark body and a featherless bright red neck and head. It can regularly be seen majestically soaring in the skies of central Wisconsin its great wings stretched out with wing tip feathers splayed. The other identity is the spirit, one of the invisible thunderers, possessed of great powers.
The carved figure presented here portrays a Turkey Buzzard thunderer. There are many thunderers in the Menominee worldview. Each spring as the deep snow of winter wanes and, with the melting of the ice, the days grow longer and the air becomes warmer, the thunderers like the life-giving sun returns from the south bringing with them the nourishing rains that bring new life to the world.
Throughout the Menominee world the emergence of new life is observed and celebrated. Special places within the Menominee lands are particularly associated with the northward movement of the thunderers and are accorded special reverence. For example, the traditional Menominee respected the high grounds just south of present day Kaukauna on the eastern side of Lake Winnebago as one of the cosmic resting stops of these remarkable and vital spirit-forces.
The traditional Menominee relate a wisdom story centered on the turkey buzzard.
A wisdom story of Maeqnapos & the turkey buzzard (short version)
Long ago the turkey buzzard used to have feathers from the rear of his beak down his neck, unlike today when that part is bare. And, there is a reason for this.
One day, as they do, a turkey buzzard flew high in the air, his great black wings spread out to his left and right, straight and long and powerful, with each feather on the wing tips splayed and distinct. He had caught the air updrafts and was letting them help him. Slowly he glided this way and that above the earth in great sweeping circles, as buzzards do, searching the earth below. As he hovered people below saw him.
On the earth Maeqnapos (the Menominee cultural hero) going along a trail busily as he usually did, happened to look up to the sky. He spied the big turkey buzzard gliding high above him and soaring in beautiful sweeping circles. This sight impressed Maeqnapos and brought a great question into his mind. In a strong voice he called up to turkey buzzard.
"Buzzard! Look down here. It’s me, Maeqnapos. What is it like to see the world from way up there?"
The turkey buzzard heard the words hurtling up from below and looked down. There he saw Maeqnapos, his head bent back staring up at him. So turkey buzzard yelled back, "It's great up here Maeqnapos. " Then, he added, "Do you want to see?"
"Oh, yes," called back Maeqnapos.
Whereupon the great black bird set his wings and flew down to Maeqnapos. Down he came landing on the earth with a light hopping thump and his wings flapping. Then, settled, he turned his great head toward Maeqnapos as he came running up. He called to Maeqnapos, "Climb upon my back and I will fly you high up so you can see for yourself what things are like up there."
Now Maeqnapos was a little wary. After all he was about to fly away on the back of a turkey buzzard. He cautioned the turkey buzzard, "Be careful!" Then he climbed on the turkey buzzard's back and grasped some feathers to hold onto.
"Do not worry," the turkey buzzard told Maeqnapos. He took great lumbering steps and flapped his huge wings to ascend to the sky. But in truth the turkey buzzard secretly thought that once he had flown Maeqnapos high up in the air he would play a good trick on him.
After a while as they soared in the air gliding on the air currants the turkey buzzard's large wings outspread and the wing tip feathers splayed, the turkey buzzard decided the time had come to pull a trick on the unsuspecting Maeqnapos. Suddenly he turned so sharply sideways that Maeqnapos lost his handhold on the slick feathers and fell off. Down, down, tumbled Maeqnapos. He plummeted toward the earth. Then, thump, he hit the ground hard, bouncing and tumbling along until he came to a stop.
For a while Maeqnapos just lay there on the ground waiting for his head to clear while he nursed his many bruises. He tried to figure out what had happened.
Finally Maeqnapos recalled. He picked himself up, stood straight, and thought to himself, "I must punish that turkey buzzard for the trick he played on me."
The turkey buzzard was not dumb. For his part he knew that Maeqnapos would be trying to get revenge. So afterwards wherever he flew over the countryside he carefully looked down to see if Maeqnapos was there. If he spied him, he flew quickly on by.
Now Maeqnapos knew that the buzzard in a great council of all the creatures had agreed to eat only the dead and soft foods. This information gave him the idea on how to punish turkey buzzard. "But since he is wary of me I must catch him first," he thought. "So I will set a trap for him."
Whereupon Maeqnapos changed himself into a dead deer and lay down on the forest path. On the rear haunch of the deer he made his trap. He opened a small cut about the length of a hand and quite deep, prepared so that he could close the opening quickly.
Soon the turkey buzzard flew over the dead deer, saw him on the ground, and thought to himself, "This will make me a fine meal." But before he started to descend he first looked everything over carefully to be certain the deer was not actually Maeqnapos playing a trick on him. So clever was Maeqnapos that the turkey buzzard did not see anything that could warn him of the deer being a trap.
So down he came. He lighted with a thump and a stagger and quickly pushed his head into the opening on the dead deer carcass. He pecked and pulled and then pushed first his head and then his neck deep into the opening. Then Maeqnapos lying there said to himself, "Aha, I got him now."
Whereupon Maeqnapos quickly closed tight the opening on his haunch and caught that turkey buzzard fast by the head and neck. The buzzard struggled mightily, kicking, flapping its wings, and wiggling. As he threshed around Maeqnapos yelled to him, "I got you now. If you want out you have got to pull."
The buzzard pulled and pulled against that tight grasp and finally yanked out his head. But so tight was the trap that he stripped the feathers completely off of his neck and head. His neck and head were all bloody.
As soon as he could the buzzard spread his wings, flapping them as he hopped forward then he flew off into the sky. As he flew away Maeqnapos called after him, "Now for the rest of your life you will be that way because of the trick you played on me and you will stink from eating rotten food."
The story in Menominee life
The Menominee would utilize the story for teaching the several principles it contains. To them the turkey buzzard when seen flying and soaring in the bright blue sky and when met on the ground eating carrion served as a constant way to recall important doctrines in their culture. His bright red neck and head visually recalled the story of Maeqnapos' struggle with him while the very name apae:skasiw whenever spoken contained the heart of it.
Story source: Menominee elders, including M. Boyd, J. Awanahopay, J. Frechette.
To view the images of the Turkey Buzzard, click here.