feathers or hair plume everyday wear?

[Lakota Wiyan]

Words of wisdom have been posted But I think the most imporant one psoted was when they talked about going to the elders and also want to point out we as men are NOT TO TELL A WOMAN WHAT TO DO so on that note you need to speak to your elder of the tribe you belong too that is a woman if your a woman or if you are guy you should speak to a man.... Also don't keep going to other people until you get the awnser your looking for aceppt the frist anwser.

Very Well Put! I think that the second part of my post might have lessened what I orginally wanted to say, but I tend to find myself very humorous!

It is very important to do things in a right way, since we as Native people have protocol for just about EVERYTHING! If you are going to do anything at all, doing it right is the ONLY way to do it. Otherwise, you risk offending some, or making mockeries of very special and important things. IF that is what you intend to do, just to do something you think is cool, find another culture to raid, and let us continue teaching our children and each other the right way....if not, speak to an elder in your tribe, a woman if you are a woman, a man if you are a man, and let them guide you through the ENTIRE process. Dont just pick and choose the lessons you want to learn....learn it all, or not all.
Thank you for the chance to speak...

[Mato Winyan]

I do not see to many women up north wearing plumes, unless they are associated with a feather, perhaps a small tail feather, and worn upright in the hair. I hardly ever have seen a woman wearing a feather down, except maybe fancy shawl.

Derek

Again that depends on the tribe. Point in example are the Lakota women.

The whole thing about wearing feathers everyday to me is hollywood. Like was mentioned before....... if you need a feather to "prove" something to others or to yourself..... then that's the wrong reason and that can come back on ya.

[CandaePrincess]

I think that if you really want to do it right, wearing feathers regardless of where you wear them, you want to do it right, not just DO IT for a fashion statement. WHEN you earn them and receive them in the correct way, you will be educated on how to care for them and how to wear them in an honorable way. You don't want to just toss on any feather you find on the sidewalk, or go around and buy really fake looking dyed or painted feathers, because that just REEKS of fakey and disrespectful mockery......so you want to be careful, and while powwows.com is a good place to learn things, this really isn't the place to recieve knowledge that an elder should sit face to face with you and teach you....thats their role and we should all respect that.

Unless of course you really DO want to look fakey and ridiculous, in that case, throw on that broomstick skirt and Pleather vest with all the fringe, and the rows and rows of plastic Walmart beads strung up around the neck with EVERY SINGLE PIECE of real or fake turqoise jewelry you can find. Don't forget to dye your hair an eerie flat black color, and wear your lace up Tatanka brand moccasisn OR your black strap sandals with the fake native design on the straps..with or without socks!! THEN you have earned the right to stick pidgeon and turkey feathers randomly into your hair!

*L* I am so with you!!!!!!!! LMAO. I was thinking that as soon as I read the topic. Good grief.......


If they REALLY want to prove how indin you are.....wear your CDIB in a plastic cover around your neck...then everyone will know. You won't have to wear the feather.

[RedShield]

I'm with most people... not for every day wear.

Paselo~

[grayback]

Resurrecting this thread from the dead.


But, I wear either eagle plumes or a straight feather on my hat every day. Every day. Have done so for almost 15 years, now. My reasons are my own and highly personal, but not all that unusual (and do not include military service).

I also don't wear it to impress others. Its presence compels me to examine myself and the way I am acting or behaving. I am a better person, in thought and action, because that's how you should carry yourself in the presence of sacred feathers. It isn't there to remind others who I am; it's there to always remind me.

And, it's there because it's 'supposed' to be.



I can tell you that 99% of the White people out there don't notice it, don't blink an eye at it, and don't have any idea what the feathers are even if they do notice. Still, I've had White people ask if it's everything from a turkey to a goose to a pheasant feather. If someone asks, I just try to use the encounter as a chance to education them a little bit about my specific band.


Some Indian people, however, will judge you--quick and harsh--over something that's none of their business. My father taught me that it isn't anyone's place to judge why another does what they do; our path takes us in the direction it will, and it's rarely the same as someone else's. Just be sure that *you* know why you're doing what you do or wearing what you wear, and talk to an elder in your tribe first.

Hopefully others will have respect for what your reasons are, even if they don't happen to agree. Just be certain you're carrying feathers with respect and taking care of them... and be ready to explain yourself articulately and calmly if an veteran or elder confronts you (although it's usually neither). It's usually a middle-aged person who has never served; elders and veterans seem to be less threatened by the idea of feathers outside of powwow or 'ceremony', and more respectful of the many possible reasons someone might be wearing a feather.


Feathers that you wear daily WILL become bedraggled over time. There's no avoiding it. Our ancestors didn't avoid it, either. A lot of them fought hard for the "right" to wear Indian items and symbols, because those items said something important about the people who wore them. It was a part of who and what they were. Today most of us tuck all that away in suitcase and save it for powwow time.


Sometimes I feel like a lot of Indians today are ashamed to own a feather with ragged edges that show how it's lived life right alongside us. I don't think it's any less sacred just because it might have some scars or is less than 'perfect'. It earned those faults honestly.

Some people's feathers happen to wear down while trying to win somebody some dance money at a powwow, only to be discarded when it's no longer 'pretty' enough to do so.


That ain't a dig, as much as it may sound like one. It's just two different paths, one of which isn't mine, just as mine may not be yours.


-grayback

[bobo]

i saw a guy over the weekend wearing eagle feathers on his baseball cap. Im afraid it just looked goofy. Though it went well with his black knee high fringed mocassins haha.. but i mean, a ballcap?? A dirty ballcap. I could see putting one in the band of your cowboy hat or any kind of brimmed hat.. But not a ballcap.

[grayback]

True that.

But, "goofy" looking or not (can't say I wear a feather to look hip or cool, so I don't worry about it too much), I nevertheless avoid putting feathers of any kind on a ballcap. The fabric ballcaps are made of is abrasive, and it won't take long for it to wear all the barbs off the base of a feather. One windy day will do it.

-grayback

[Corvid]

I'd just feel strange wearing a feather outside of a powwow/ceremony/etc. Whether you intend it to or not its probably gonna draw attention, and that's the last thing I go looking for being painfully shy as it is LOL plus people are nosy and would wanna poke it and me and touch it and that's not only annoying but disrespectful, depending.

[legalstraight]

I have seen some singers and ADs put a feather on a cap- usually a little fluff.

Generally this accompanies male pattern baldness, or the after effects of passing out around a particularly angry girlfriend/wife.

Anyways eagle feather on the cap means you don't have to take it off during grand entry, prayer, or honoring.

[bobo]

...but it still looks goofy as HELL...

[Corvid]

Saw a guy in the city a few days ago with 3 huge turkey feathers stuck to his construction helmet somehow... funniest thing I ever saw. And he was whiter than me, which is hard to accomplish LOL

[WhoMe]

A vast majority of feathers fall under the migratory bird act. Does anyone know if pigeon feathers fall under this act?

[Zeke]

A vast majority of feathers fall under the migratory bird act. Does anyone know if pigeon feathers fall under this act?

I have no clue.

As to the gist of the thread, I've always believed that -- if the feather is rightfully theirs -- it is not my place to question how they wear, display or use it.

If a dirty ballcap is their thing? "Fine."

It doesn't have to be mine...