12/1/2002: Deer tax paid
 

http://cellar.org/2002/deertax.jpg

I had not heard about this but apparently it's an annual thing? On the right there in all the gear is Pamunkey Chief William Miles, and he's officially paying the taxes that the Indian tribes owe the Commonwealth (you know, the State) of Virginia. It's official, because they signed a treaty in 1646. Receiving the tax is Gov. Mark Warner.

More taxes should operate this way. I would be happy to sign a treaty with my Commonwealth to pay my tax in lines of code or web services or maybe a little hosting.

Wait a minute...maybe I could get some deal like this...I could pay the Commonwealth in poems or photos.

So much for the photo op. The guy on the right is in a Plains Indian costume, not worn by the Indian tribes native to Virginia but by the Indians who lived from Kansas and Missouri and north to central Canada.

This is a pretty typical misconception. The average non-Indian thinks that all Indians wore feathered headdresses, buckskin clothes, carried a tomahawk and lived in tee-pees.

So the kids are getting a history lesson in how the Indians paid their taxes. Perhaps after receiving the deer, the Governor should give Chief Miles some moth eaten blankets and a few bottles of cheep whiskey

Chris, you forgot that the blankets have to be covered with smallpox.

No, see...this is the "paybacks are a bitch" edition. The deer has wasting disease (the deer version of Mad Cow) along with the last Nile ticks of the season...:-)

Re: 12/1/2002: Deer tax paid
 

Unless you happen to have a doctorate in cultural anthropology specializing in Amerindian culture of the 17th century(or, to be honest, any more background in the field than 'Baby's First Pop-Up Book of Injuns), I'd be more inclined to go with Mr. Miles

Just because you don't have a degree doesn't mean you don't have any knowledge.

I'm pretty sure Chris is right. Tepees at least are not that common among Native American tribes. The headdress I can't comment on, but I'd place a pretty good chunk of cash on chris being right.

The chief probably has little in the way of clue over what he should be wearing. More than likely he spends his days in a three piece suit ...

I've been to more than a few pow-wows, and it's actually relatively rare to see dancers, even from local tribes, in anything other than buckskins ... although many of the cherokee lady dancers wear beautiful trade-cloth dresses.

Cloth made from tree bark isn't quite as durable as deerskin anyway.

You know, I really love the net ...
 

coupla clicks later and bing... exactly what you needed ...

Mid-Atlantic Region Native American Dress

That was an interesting link. The N. Carolina from 1581 has a tail on the back of his loincloth. I've never heard or seen that before.

That's actually fairly common ... what I've typically seen is some type of canid (wolf, fox or coyote), or horse, and sometimes skunk. It depends on what the individual's medicine animal is. Many dancers also will have full pelts, either as part of the loincloth or as shoulder decoration or bags (I have a deerskin bag which includes an entire fox-skin, as well as a coyote pelt.)

We once admitted a guy to the hospital that was wearing nothing but a pair of deer's ears on his genitals, but that's a slightly different situation. :D (A gas station attendant had thought his wardrobe was unusual, so he called the police. The remainder of the (roadkill) deer was hanging from a tree, where this fellow had dragged it with the stated intent of "living off it like a cheetah.") He told the cops that he was reclaiming the land in the name of the Native Americans.