The basic dress for both men and women was the breech clout—a length
of deerskin that was looped over a belt in back, passed between the
legs, and looped over a belt again in front.[176] In post-contact
times this garment was sometimes made of cloth.[177] The breech clout
was worn at all times by adults.[178] Female children wore such a
garment or its equivalent from early infancy; male children went
naked until they were ten or twelve years old.[179]
The Wampanoags did not wear a great deal of additional clothing. For
additional protection from insects and cold, the Indians usually wore
a thick coating of animal or vegetable fat.[180] The Wampanoags might
put on leggings when traveling through scratchy undergrowth. Leggings
consisted of two tubes of deerskin, extending from ankle to groin,
fastened into the moccasin at the lower end and held up by attaching
them to the belt.[181] Leggings were worn by both sexes; those worn
by the women may have been somewhat shorter.[182] Leggings were
also worn as a protection against the cold, especially by the older
people.[183]
Skin capes were a common item of clothing for both sexes.[184]
Women’s capes, about twice as long as those worn by men, are
reported to have hung down behind like a train.[185] Capes for
summer wear were of deerskin—either worn hair side out or made of
de-haired skins. For winter wear the hair was left on and turned
to the inside.[186] The skins of Beaver, otter, racoon, bear,
and fox—the smaller ones being sewed together—were also used for
winter mantles.[187] Mantles made of turkey feathers were mentioned
previously.[188]
Champlain reported that Indians on Cape Cod (probably Nauset) wore
capes woven of grass and hemp fibers.[189] These extended to the
thighs and may have been worn in summer as a protection against
insects. Or, perhaps they were for special occasions. One fragment
of such a mantle, excavated along with a burial near Manchester,
Massachusetts, was made of twilled bast fiber.[190] The lower edge of
the garment was fringed.[191]
The skin mantle was usually worn passed under the right arm, brought
over the left shoulder, and the two ends fastened.[192] For traveling
or other activity the garment was bound tight against the body with
a belt.[193] In very cold weather the exposed arm was covered with a
detachable fur sleeve which was tied on.[194] In the absence of the
sleeve, the mantle might be allowed to hang loose, and the wearer
alternately cover whichever shoulder was exposed to the wind as he
walked.[195]
Both men and women wore moccasins. The preferred material for these
was moose hide, but in its absence, deerskin served.[196] Everyone
went barefoot in the summer, but they usually carried their moccasins
slung on their backs in case of having to travel over very rough
ground.[197]
Contact with Europeans brought changes in the style and the material
of some Indians’ clothing. Indians were encouraged to adopt English
styles of dress as part of the process of their conversion to
Christianity. Many, however, found the European style of clothing
a nuisance. Wood says: “... their chief reasons they render why
they will not conforme to our English apparell, are, because their
women cannot wash them when they bee soyled, and their means will
not reach to buy new when they have done with their old; and they
confidently beleeve, the English will not be so liberall as to
furnish them upon gifture: therefore they had rather goe naked than
be lousie....”[198] Often, articles of English clothing were worn
for special occasions.[199] Some Indians began selling all their
skins to European traders and using cloth to make their traditional
garments.[200] The cloth which they preferred was a blanket material
called “duffils” or “trucking cloth”.[201] Whatever the style and
material of their clothing, however, the Wampanoags preferred to wear
only the loincloth when they were in their own houses.[202]
=Ornament=: Copper or brass, breast-plates, necklaces, bandoliers,
etc. are often mentioned by explorers who visited the New England
coast prior to the establishment of permanent settlements.[203]
A change in fashion apparently took place among the Indians of
southeastern New England during the early historic period, however,
for colonial writers describe the same types of ornaments as being
made of shell.
Breast-plates were solid sheets of copper or brass hammered thin and
flat.[204] They were about a foot in length and half that wide.[205]
Sheet copper was also made into tubular beads. These were about four
inches long and a quarter of an inch in diameter. They were made by
bending the sheet of metal around a stick from which the pith had
been removed to form a hole for stringing.[206] Tubular beads were
strung together (long axes parallel) to make bandoliers. Bandoliers
were worn diagonally across the chest or sometimes as belts around
the waist.[207] Similar fillets made of shorter copper beads were
probably worn as headbands.[208] Tubular copper beads strung end to
end were worn as necklaces.[209] Gorgets and pendant earrings were
also made out of copper and brass.[210]
By the time the Pilgrims arrived, shell ornaments apparently had
replaced the metal ornaments which earlier chroniclers said were
worn by everyone, for none of the colonial writers mentions Indians
wearing copper or brass ornaments.[211] Most shell ornament was based
on beadwork, although shell, along with bone and stone was used for
ear pendants—cut-outs of birds, fish, and other animals.[212] By at
least 1647 wampum was the most popular style of shell beads.[213]
Wampum served as “money” and as ornament. It was introduced into
Plymouth colony as an item of exchange in 1627 by the Dutch, for
although it was common among Indians to the south, it was virtually
unknown as an item of trading value to Indians around Plymouth and
farther north.[214] Important people in the tribe had a few ornaments
of wampum prior to 1627. Altham describes Massasoit in 1623 as
wearing a belt of shell beads that were probably wampum.[215] After a
slow start in Plymouth, wampum increased in popularity until it was
common to see Indians wearing bracelets, necklaces, headbands, and
belts, woven in various designs of small purple and white beads.[216]
Collars, caps, and ear pendents were also made of wampum.[217] The
beads were strung end to end as well as being woven in bands.[218]
The wampum made in southern New England was fashioned from the shells
of the quahog, or hard-shelled clam (_Venus mercenaria_).[219] Bead
blanks were first roughed out from the whole shell then drilled with
a stone (later metal—introduced by Europeans) drill. Beads were then
strung together and ground into their final shape with an abrasive
stone.[220]
There were other, less popular, styles of shell beads and
beadwork.[221] Sometimes small discoidal beads (probably quahog and
periwinkle) were used instead of the tubular wampum for beadwork, as
necklaces, bracelets, and hair ornaments. Like wampum, these beads
were white and purple in color.[222] There were also large tubular
shell beads that were strung for necklaces.[223]
Bone and seeds were also used for beads,[224] and early explorers
report necklaces of variously colored stones.[225]
Besides jewelry, the Wampanoags used painting and tattooing as means
of personal adornment. Tattooing was done by two techniques. A sharp
instrument was used to pierce and lift a small area of skin, and
black pigment was inserted into the wound. By repeating these small
incisions close together, decorative lines were formed. This form
of tattooing was done on the cheeks; the patterns were zoomorphic
“... as Beares, Deares, Mooses, Wolves, &c., some of fowls, as of
Eagles, Hawkes, &c....”[226] The other technique of tattooing was
accomplished by “branding” with a hot iron. Geometrical shapes were
applied to the arms and chest by this method.[227]
Body painting was done in red, yellow, white, and black. Red powder
was sometimes put onto the hair.[228] The body and hair were prepared
for painting by a thorough greasing; the grease provided a bond for
the pigment.[229] Different colors might be used on various sections
of the face, or a single color might be used for the whole face.[230]
Both men and women wore paint. Paint was worn for mourning, for war
ceremonial or festive occasions, and for games.[231] Warriors used
lurid coloring to make them appear more terrible to the enemy.[232]
Painting the face black, with soot and ashes, was a symbol of
mourning.[233] There were undoubtedly many other associations between
styles of painting and specific events or social groups, but they
were not recorded by seventeenth century observers.
=Hairdressing=: Of hairdressing, Lechford reported: “They cut their
haire of divers formes, according to their Nation or people so
that you may know a people by their cut....”[234] There was also
variation in hairstyle within the social group. An unmarried girl
could be distinguished from a married women by her hair style.[235]
At marriage, the women’s hair was cut off, and until her hair grew
back she wore a covering on her head.[236] A young man who was not
yet a warrior could be identified by his short haircut.[237] Further
variation noted among the adults of the same tribe may mean that
various kin groups used distinctive styles of hairdressing.[238]
Long hair was highly prized, and wearing the hair in a tight “pony
tail” was said to make it grow faster.[239] Hairdressing was a
daily activity which involved oiling and, according to one writer,
dyeing.[240]
Probable Wampanoag hairstyles include the following: hair cut short
into bangs in the front, the remainder falling free to the shoulders;
hair braided into four braids with part of this knotted behind, and
with feathers and other sorts of ornaments stuck into the knot; hair
shaved from the front and sides of the head, the remainder left long
and made into a knot with feathers in it.[241]
Various forms of ornament, frequently feathers, were an integral
part of certain hairstyles. Turkey and eagle feathers are mentioned
specifically for this purpose.[242] Single feathers might be stuck
into a knotted portion or otherwise intertwined with the hair.[243]
Feathers were sometimes joined fan-shape and put into the hair.
Fox tails and other fur were also used for hair ornament. Strips
of deer hides, dyed red, were tied on, in the manner of a cock’s
comb.[244] Other ornaments included ribbons of European manufacture
and ornamental combs carved from antler.[245]
Specific information on female styles of hairdress is slight.
Champlain describes one style which was a combination of free-falling
hair in back and various braids for the rest.[246] Beyond this, there
are no descriptions that relate to the Wampanoags.
Sources are contradictory in the subject of facial hair. Some writers
report that Indians in this region generally despised and plucked out
what little facial hair they had.[247] Another writer of the same
period relates that these Indians were at pains to preserve their own
thin beards and to add to them by fastening on animal hair.[248]