A "winter count" was a Native American mnemonic
device passed from one generation to another marked with pictographs that
recorded noteworthy events in tribal life that took place each
"winter" or year. Once the tribe slowed from their busy, nomadic
summer lives and winter began to arrive, they’d look back on the preceding
year. Not every tribe did winter counts, but many did. Having students look at
examples of other winter counts would familiarize them with the practice and
give them a chance to learn more about specific events within different tribes,
as well as begin to see similar experiences among different tribal groups. You
could incorporate this in number of ways, depending on your curricular
objectives.
- You
could have students create a winter count for the Little Elk people to
both build and reinforce reading comprehension as well as begin to
evaluate which events were really instrumental in shaping the Indian people’s
lives. You can also discuss how the timing may affect what is included. If
the Little Elk people did their count year by year as was customary, would
it look different than if they approached it as the students are, going back
and deciding on the events to represent the previous winters already
knowing what would happen in subsequent years?
- Students
could create personal winter counts of their lives or of their families, reflecting
back on defining events and deciding how they would represent them. The
project could be used as a drafting or prewriting activity for many autobiographical
or personal essay assignments, or students could write lengthier written
annotations and the project could become a more polished final writing piece.
- Students
could also create a winter count of their community. In many tribes,
deciding what would be included each year was a communal activity. In Sioux
culture, once the tribe had settled into their winter camp, some of the
elders would gather and each would recount the event he felt most
significant for the last year. After going around the circle and having
each person share, they’d discuss and reflect on the year until they came
to a consensus on what should be included in that year’s count. While a
community-wide discussion might not be possible today, conducting the
process in your classroom community could be interesting. Also, if students
are doing research, they can be paying attention to the important events
that seem to symbolize the years they are investigating? What do their
interview subjects seem to think were important? What was emphasized in
the newspapers of the time? What symbols should represent these events?
Lakota Winter
Counts: an online exhibit. National Anthropological Archives of the
*Graphics heavy(so only access with a fast connection) but
a nice multimedia (text, sound, photos..) introduction to wintercounts of the
Sioux
The Carnegie Winter Count Thomas Red Owl Haukaas, M.D. 1995.
This is an example of the contemporary winter count Thomas
Red Owl Haukaas, (Lakota/Creole) created for the Sicangu Lakota people on the
Rosebud Reservation in