DIBAAJIMOWIN
  • HOME
  • Author
  • Dibaajimowin Blog
  • Michif
  • Ojibwemowin

Tawn Kaayaash

Pembina Ojibwe Horse Culture

1/9/2018

1 Comment

 

How the horse became part of the Plains Ojibwe Culture

Many of the Ojibwe who had horses during the early 1800s seem to have been those who spent more time with Cree and Métis friends and relatives. The Pembina band was one such group.
​
Intermarriage and other contacts exposed the Pembina Ojibwe to the values and skills of these peoples, and mixed-group (Ojibwe, Assiniboine, Cree, and Métis) camps fostered the borrowing and sharing of many cultural elements and values.  By 1800, when the Ojibwe were in close association with the Cree and Assiniboine and were acquiring horses from them, horses had assumed a position of importance among these peoples. This was the era of the flowering of plains equestrian cultures. For the Pembina people, horses were not only symbols of individual affluence and prestige, but, because of the burgeoning pemmican trade and the independence and power of mounted bison-hunting peoples, they were also both the means and the symbol of the affluence of these tribes. 
Picture
Given that the Pembina Ojibwe initially came west at least partly in search of economic gains and a higher standard of living, and that they used certain trade goods as badges of personal social status, it is not surprising that some of them were attracted to the means of wealth. Horses, and the finery and flamboyance associated with them by plains tribes, were such hallmarks.

Reinforcing this admiration of the success of plains peoples was the fact that Cree was frequently used as a trade language by peoples throughout the West, including the Pembina Ojibwe, thus creating the unique form of Ojibwe/Cree language that developed later at Turtle Mountain.

From Peers, Laura L. (Laura Lynn). 1994. “Ojibwa Of Western Canada, 1780 To 1870.” Manitoba Studies In Native History. St. Paul: MN Historical Society Press. 
1 Comment
sallianne denham patch
1/5/2021 10:30:09 am

Trying to find out as much as possible about Ojibwe horses.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    A collaborative effort of members of the Ojibwe and Metis communities

    Archives

    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

About Dibaajimowin

Dibaajimowin was created as a way to share interesting and unique stories and other information about the Metis and Ojibwe people (and others) so that these can be used by our guests to educate themselves and others about the history, culture, and language of the people.

We hope you enjoy everything you find here and are glad to have you return in the future. If you are interested in using our content for educational or personal purposes, please give proper attribution and credit to our page. It is important that we acknowledge the tellers of stories and the creators of intellectual property in all forms.

​Please enjoy! See you soon.

Contact Us

    Subscribe Today!

Submit
Photo used under Creative Commons from trendingtopics
  • HOME
  • Author
  • Dibaajimowin Blog
  • Michif
  • Ojibwemowin