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Headdress of Chief Zaagiwinebi (Sakiwinebi)
Headdress of Chief Zaagiwinebi (Sakiwinebi)
Headdress of Chief Zaagiwinebi (Sakiwinebi)
This relative, an exquisite headress belonging to the nineteenth-century Odawa Chief Zaagiwinebi (Sakiwinebi), is Anishinaabe from Manitoulin Island, South Bay. The striking headdress is made prior to 1880, of black woolen cloth, loon skin, beige string, birch bark, natural cotton fibre, hair and Pileated (red headed) woodpecker feathers. Chief Zaagiwinebi’s (Sakiwinebi) headdress was believed to have been part of the collection of the Manitowaning merchant John Reynolds before 1920. Currently housed in the Canadian Museum of History, the headress was acquired from the Canadian War Museum (Accession no. 81/290) on 9 November 1981.
Notes from the Canadian War Museum(dated 81/280 Rey 87 18 Jan. 81) say, "Reynold notes indicate cap was worn by Chief Sagininebi (translated East Little Children). [While the] [t]ime frame not clear - but 40 years previously Sagininebi had lived and worn the hat at South Bay. John Reynolds ceased collecting by 1920 would therefore date 1880 or prior."
According to the Canadian Museum of History records, the headdress is “made from a single rectangular piece of black woolen cloth. [The] [v]ertical edges [of which] overlap at centre at the back and are secured with vertical rows of beige string in running stitch using single and double strands. The base cloth is overlayed on the [outer side] with three rectangular pieces of loon skin [each overlaid in turn,] with black and white feathers. [The loon] [s]kin is turned to the interior and sewn with black and beige string. A band is secured around the exterior consisting of a centre of bark, wrapped with a printed red, black and white cotton fabric. The band is overlayed with red feathers (procured from the head region of the woodpecker), as well as black and white feathers of the bird in nine (originally 11) rectangular sections.
Additional notes from Kinietz (1940, figure 2), state, "[s]mall headdress of roach type is attached to centre back of lower edge with two stitches of beige string. Consists of red dyed hair shorter at the front and longer towards the centre. The end of each tuft is folded over a single strand of beige string and secured with a loop of same.."
The heritage item is currently resides at the Canadian Museum of History, Ottawa, Canada, Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: III-G-1444.
Its present condition is described as being in a state of extensive disrepair and damage over time. Specifically, the loon skin has gotten brittle, has holes, [and there has been feather loss). Two [rather conspicuous] sections of wood pecker feathers are missing, and ones that are remaining have holes or are faded. There is also some hair that is part of the fabric that has gotten loose.
Museum documentation
Museum documentation
Read More About This Relative
black woolen cloth, loon skin, red headed woodpecker feathers, beige string, birch bark, natural cotton fibre, hair
(Canadian Museum of History Record) Made from a single rectangular piece of black woolen cloth. Vertical edges overlap at cetnre back and are secured with vertical rows of beige string in running stitch using single and double strands. Cloth is overlayed on exterior with 3 rectangular pieces of loon skin with black and white feathers. Skin is turned to the interior and sewn with black and beige string. A band is secured around the exterior consisting of a centre of bark, wrapped with a printed red, black and white cotton fabric. The band is overlayed with red (from the head), black and white woodpecker feathers in nine (originally 11) rectangular sections. Small headdress of roach type is attached to centre back of lower edge with two stitches of beige string. Consists of red dyed hair shorter at the front and longer towards the centre. The end of each tuft is folded over a single strand of beige string and secured with a loop of same (Kinietz, 1940, figure 2).
(See article in the OCF newsletter from vol 4, issue 6, Sept 2009) From John Reynolds collection, label says it came from Owen Sound and Grey County Historical Society, John Reynolds Collection. "Old cap worn by an old chief Sagininebi of South Bay forty years.The band is loon skin, trimmed with the top knots of red headed woodpeckers" Alan Cobiere: wrote an article about this chief and the cap. His name was Zaagiwinebi, (sitting with horns emerging is the accurate translation, not "eats little children. the name probably references powers of the underwater being- that's why you'd see all these things painted red, the ochre was a colour of blood, which they would wash off after war was over.) (Name has been spelled Sakiwinebi and translated as "He Eats Little Children"). He moved form Cross Village Michigan to Manitoulin Island in 1838, to Wikwemikong. Then he moved out on his own to the Mindemoya River, Providence Bay on the south side of Manitoulin Island. The Jesuits came to Manitoulin a number of times to try to convert people but complained they were the hardest people to convert. An archaeologist who dug at Providence Bay found grave sites. He was the man who succeeded Assiginack as the war chief and tried to keep the land of Manitoulin from being ceded. He was present at the 1863 treaty proceedings. When Assiginack stands out and says 'I am the true Odawa, the only ones born here on Manitoulin' and then says "I yield all that I possess." Zaagiwinebi says, "I know this Assiginak who speaks so proudly....he's a slave, not a true Odawa.' Implication is that Assiginack cannot yield anything. A reporter at the 1862 treaty described him. He was buried around 1880 and with his 84th regimental badge from General Gage, American Revolution period. Stated that he was buried with his bearskin bushbey (hat) [busby]. One man greeting the Prince of Wales in 1860 at Sarnia wears a horned headdress, and may also be him. The hat is made of loon skin with a tuft of red dyed deer tail, to make the roach. Today the Anishinaabe wear a roach at the back of the head. When this hat was at the OCF we received it as mounted by the CMC with the roach at the front. When you examine it you can see the wear at what should be the bottom, and knew it was upside down, with the woodpecker feathers at the top. There are 11-12 woodpecker feathers and they should be on top. another elder said there should be two holes on the front where the wings of a red-winged black bird would have been fixed. In fact there are two holes in the place he indicated This was a war chief's headdress. In Scotland there is one with these elements. The three colours black - reference to ancestors and the past, red is for the present, and the white for the future and those yet to come. The piliated woodpecker has all those colours, and that is what he is for. The loon has the same three colours - black and white feathers and red eyes. So when you put this on, you are looking through the loon's red ideas. The elder says that this represents the need to think about war in terms of the consequences for us now and for future generations as well as with reference to the ancestors. That red-wing blackbird is one who can eat poisonous berries without being harmed. War can poison your mind and spirit, so the red-winged blackbird was a protection for the war chief from becoming a blood-lust monster, helps him to make a good decision. Al was told by an Odawa woman from Michigan, whose grandfather also had one of these headresses that the meaning of the headdress also lent the powers of the woodpecker to guide warriors through the woods, through the branches, navigating safely in the forest. "We Anishinaabe actually used these woodpeckers, as a way of making effective decisions, not just the top food chain predators such as eagles which are more often seen in representations of Indians in popular culture."
(Canadian War Museum notes 81/280 Rey 87 18 Jan. 81) "Reynold notes indicate cap was worn by Chief Sagininebi (translated East Little Children). Time frame not clear - but 40 years previously Sagininebi had lived and worn the hat at South Bay. John Reynolds ceased collecting by 1920 would therefore date 1880 or prior."
Provenance
John Reynolds, Manitowaning Merchant, before 1920, was in the Owen Sound and Grey County Historical Society (loan?) probably collected in late 19th century
Kinietz, Vernon, Notes on the Roached Headdress of Animal Hair Among the North American Indians", Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters, Vol. 26, 1940, 463-467.