Native American tobacco societies
Native American tobacco societies, particularly exemplified by the Plains Crow, hold a significant cultural and spiritual role within various tribes. The tobacco plant, specifically Nicotiana multivalvis, is revered as a sacred gift from the Creator, intertwined with elaborate ceremonies and taboos. According to their beliefs, after the earth was formed, the Creator transformed a star into tobacco, establishing a profound connection between the plant and the Crow people’s identity and practices. The Tobacco Society consists of numerous groups led by a Mixer, each possessing unique songs and symbols, focused on integrating the natural and supernatural realms through rituals associated with the planting, care, and harvest of tobacco.
Membership into the society is marked by dreams and visions, guiding individuals to their roles within the community. Initiations typically occur in the spring, following a period of instruction, and involve a ceremonial Tobacco Dance held in a specially constructed lodge. This multi-day event features singing, drumming, and purification rituals, emphasizing the communal and spiritual dimensions of tobacco use. Overall, the Tobacco Society not only fosters individual connection to the spiritual world but also promotes the collective well-being and cultural continuity of the community.
Subject Terms
Native American tobacco societies
Tribes affected: Widespread; highly developed among the Crow
Significance: Tobacco societies controlled the complex rituals surrounding planting, caring for, and harvesting tobacco among American Indians
Of all North American tribes, the Plains Crow developed the most elaborate Tobacco Society. The tobacco species Nicotiana multivalvis was considered holy, a supernatural gift having its own ceremony and mystically associated taboos. After the earth was formed, the Creator saw a human, transformed a star into a tobacco plant, and decreed that the Crow should honor tobacco with ceremony. Consequently, tobacco was their mainstay of living.
From this founder or ceremonial “father” came adopted novices, newcomers who had independent visions that revealed unique revelations for adopting further novices. Approximately thirty groups, under the leadership of a Mixer, possessed their own distinctive songs and emblems. These groups formed independent military societies, each with its own bird and animal symbols.
The main function of the Tobacco Society was to perpetuate the welfare of society and integrate society with the supernatural and natural worlds by controlling the complex ritual required to plant, care for, and harvest this sacred plant. Tobacco was believed to be capable of conferring special benefits to its votaries. A main element of the tobacco complex was dreaming and visions, ones prophetic of future deeds. Tobacco visions helped decide who should become a member. A man or woman was adopted by a “father,” and usually a husband and wife were initiated together. The candidate was instructed in songs and rituals during the winter, and in the spring was formally initiated, after the tobacco planting. Installed members encouraged nonmembers with gift-giving.
The four-day spring Tobacco Dance was staged in a specially built conical lodge of ten large pine trunks, with an altar strewn with juniper to represent the Tobacco Garden. Drummers participated, but the distinctive instrument was the rattle to imitate thunder. The specially painted participants laid their bundles of sacred tobacco seed in a row. Participants sang individual songs, danced,and then sweated in a willow sweatlodge and were washed with wild carrot root infusion or scrubbed with sagebrush to purify them and help them resist disease for one year.