Lifeways

The Choctaw, a Muskogean-speaking people, are closely related in language and culture to other possible descendants of the Mound Builders—the CHICKASAW, living to their north, and the CREEK, living to their northeast. Yet the Choctaw had a more democratic system of government than other SOUTHEAST INDIANS. In this regard, they were more like NORTHEAST INDIANS, who did not have autocratic rulers.

The Choctaw, like most Southeast peoples, were primarily villagers. They used a variety of materials to build their dwellings—wood for the pole frames; grass or cane reeds for thatched roofs; clay and crushed shells for walls (or in some cases bark, hide, or woven mats). Tribal members had both winter and summer houses. To keep the winter houses warm families built fires, and to keep them moist they poured water over heated rocks. For additional warmth, they twisted turkey feathers into thread to weave blankets.

The Choctaw were highly skilled farmers, having large fields in the fertile bottomlands of the lower Mississippi River. Their main crops were corn, beans, squash, sunflowers, and melons. For the Choctaw, hunting, fishing, and the gathering of edible wild plants were secondary in importance to their frequent plantings and harvestings.

The Choctaw carved dugout canoes for hunting, fishing, and trading trips. Choctaw traders developed a simple trade language that they could use in combination with sign language to communicate with other tribes. It has been referred to as the Mobilian Trade Language or Chickasaw Trade Language because the MOBILE and Chichasaw made regular use of it.

Choctaw men let their hair grow long, unlike the males of most other Southeast tribes, who shaved their heads. The Chickasaw called them Pansh Falaia, meaning “long hairs.” The Choctaw and Chickasaw both practiced head deformation for aesthetic purposes, using a hinged piece of wood to apply pressure over a period of time to the foreheads of male infants. It is theorized that the name Choctaw, pronounced CHAHK-taw, is derived from the Spanish chato for “flat” (although it may come from the Native name for the Pearl River, Haccha).

The Choctaw, like many eastern Indian peoples, played lacrosse, sometimes called Indian stickball. The

Go and grind some corn, we will go camping.

Go and sew, we will go camping.

I passed on and you were sitting there crying.

You were lazy and your hoe is rusty.

The following is a verse from a song written by a Choctaw girl whose father and brothers were killed in a raid:

All men must surely die,

Choctaw lacrosse stick with deerskin ball

Though no one knows how soon.

Yet when the time shall come

The event may be joyful.

After a death, the Choctaw placed the deceased on a scaffold. There was a “cry-time” for family members, during which they went into retreat, fasted, covered their heads, and mourned. When the corpse had dried out in the open air, tribesmen, officially appointed as bone-pickers, scraped the flesh away with their extra-long fingernails. Then the bones would be buried.

Purpose of the game was to toss a leather ball between posts with sticks having curved and webbed ends. Touching the ball with the hands and using the sticks to fight were forbidden, but just about everything else was fair play—tripping, bumping, stomping, and piling on top of other players. There were many injuries, even deaths, during lacrosse games, a kind of mock war. Sometimes great matches were held between villages with hundreds of participants. There would be pregame ceremonies with dancing and singing during the days preceding the big event. Villagers would place bets on their team, gambling many of their possessions. Medicine men would act as “coaches,” but they would use incantations rather than strategy to get their team to score the 100 points that they needed to win. After the men played their marathon games, the women played their own rough version.

The Choctaw also held song competitions. Individuals from different villages would write songs for festivals, keeping their new melodies and words secret until performance time. Someone from another village or tribe who spied on a musical practice was called a “song thief.” The following is a hunting song, sung by a hunter to his wife: