South
*Some of the figures were hand carved by James F. Frechette, Jr.
- carved with Menominee white pine and decorated with acrylic.
Pine Squirrel
The Toolmaker
The Fox Clan
Preserving the Bounty
Fish Hawk
Craft of the Forger
Dog
The Hunter's Prize
White Tail Deer
Provisions for the Hunt
North
Sturgeon
The Gift of Mä'näbus
- The Wolf is the principal of the Wolf Clan.
- The Wolf prepares for the hunt.
- One of the two harvesting clans.
- Primary obligation within the Menominee culture is to harvest resources.
Crow
The Arrow Maker
Porcupine
Preparing the Cache
Sparrow
The Flint Knapper
Muskrat
Tapping of the Maples
The Wolf Clan
The Harvesters (hunters)
Origin Story
East
West
- The Bear is the pricipal of the Bear clan.
- The Bear is the Speaker/Peacekeeper.
- The Bear called the tribe to council meetings and opened the deliberations that followed in an orderly procedure.
- The Bear watched over civil affairs to make sure things ran smoothly.
- Granfather changed the bear in to a human.
- he became the first Menominee man.
- He traveled along the river and was lonesome.
- He looked above him and seen a Golden Eagle.
- he called the Golden Eagle down to be his brother.
- They continued along the river.
- They came upon a beaver.
- beaver asked to be apart of the Thunderers, but being a women, was adopted as younger brother of the bear.
- The three continued. They adopted the Wold, Crane, and Moose as brothers.
- they turned into men.
- went on seperate journeys.
- each one meet animals and birds and adopted some of them as younger brothers.
- Together they became the first Menominee people.
- Grandfather made the earth, sun and stars.
- He then created many spirit beings and gave them the form of animals and birds.
- the animals were the underground beings.
- The principal underground being is the Silvery White bear.
- The principal Thunder is the Invisible Thunderer: represented by the Golden Eagle symbol.
- birds, mostly eagles and hawks, are Thunderers.
- Grandmother (earth) gave birth to a daughter (moon)
- Daughter gave birth to twins.
- one of the twins grew to become a man.
- Grandfather gave him powers so that he could complete the building of the world.
- he built the hills and mountains.
- he made the forests, lakes and rivers.
- Before people were on the earth, a Great Light Colored Bear emerged from the underground.
- he traveled up the river and as he traveled he spoke to Grandfather
- The Golden Eagle is the principal of the eagle clan.
- They served as warriors and worked as laborers.
- To the Menominee peace was ideal and war disrupted it, so they tried to avoid battle, if possible.
- Clan members had the duty of performing ceremonies associated with war and planning military stratgies.
The Bear Clan
The Speakers
Beaver
Anticipation of Spring
Sunfish
The Craftsman
The Eagle Clan
Community Security
Leadership
Fire Carriers
The Warriors
Red Tail Hawk
The Bow Maker
The Swift-Flying Hawk
Spearmaker
Fork Tail Hawk
Warrior's Quiver
Winter Hawk
Preparation for Conflict
Raven
Making of the War Club
- The Moose is the principal of the moose clan.
- The other harvesting clan.
- The Moose supervised the harvest of the wild rice, and made sure the crop was equally distributed among the members.
- The Moose provided camp security.
- The Crane is the principal of the crane clan.
- The Crane had to master the knowledge of making things out of the materials presented to them by nature.
- The Crane had to be certain that the tribe maintained this arduously obtained information, along with many manufacturing techniques that the work required.
- In effect, the material basis of Menominee society fell to the lot of the Crane.
Builders
Builders of the World
Moose Clan
The People of the Wild Rice
Guardians of the Rice Beds
Preharvest Ceremony
Coot
Canoe Maker
Birch Bark
Mud Turtle
Rendering the Maple Sugar
Fisher
Winnowing the Rice
Otter
Collecting the Sap
Bald Eagle
Recounting the Conflict
Great Blue Heron
The Weir Builder
Old Squaw Duck
The Trap Builder
Marten
Parching the Wild Rice
Elk
The Water Carrier
Washing the Rice
Loon
Canoe Maker Dugout
Turkey Buzzard
The Lodge Builder
Raccoon
The Dancer
Hulling the Rice
MENOMINEE CLAN SYSTEM
& THEIR BROTHERS (SUBCLANS)