Eagles have a special spiritual significance for many, but not all, American Indian cultures. In some of the cultures the spirit or soul of the eagle might visit a person during the vision quest; in some cultures eagle medicine was associated with war and the wearing of eagle feathers symbolized war honors. Described below are some of the ways in which the eagle, or more specifically, eagle medicine, was traditionally incorporated into these cultures.
On the Northern Plains, eagles were not seen as a food source, but a source of spiritual power. Hunting eagles – particularly golden eagles – was a dangerous feat performed by men who possessed the special power to hunt them. Among the Cheyenne the only men who hunted eagles were old men, men who had ceased going on the warpath. On the top of a hill, the hunter would dig a pit about four feet deep, cover it with poles, twigs, and grass. A dead rabbit or other small mammal would be placed on top as bait. The hunter would then enter the pit and hide until the eagle swooped down to take the meat. Then the hunter would grab the eagle by both feet, pull it into the pit, and wring its neck.
Many Plateau tribes hunted eagles for their spiritual practices in a similar manner. Among the Kootenai, only those individuals who had Eagle powers could take the adult bird in this manner.
Among the Omaha on the Central Plains, warriors who were recognized for their bravery were allowed to wear a Crow Belt bustle: two trailers of hide covered with feathers hung from the belt and eagle wing pointer feathers protruded upward from the base of the bustle. The main body of the bustle would be made of an eagle skin with head and tail still attached. For the Omaha, the eagle was associated with the destructive powers of the Thunder Being and the destructive nature of war. To be able to wear the Crow Belt, a warrior had to be the first to strike an unwounded enemy in battle; to be the first to touch a fallen, live enemy; to be the second to touch a fallen, live enemy; and then to repeat all three of these deeds of valor.
Among the Cahuilla in California, the eagle lived forever and by permitting itself to be killed by people it assured them of life after death. Eagles’ nests were closely watched and a feast was held when the eggs were laid. When the birds were well-feathered, one would be removed and raised in a cage. When the bird was grown, the Eagle-Killing Ceremony would be held. This included singing songs about the death of eagles and dancing with the eagle.
During the reservation era, the United States, as a Christian nation, felt that it had not only the right but also the obligation to eradicate all symbols of Indian religions. The wearing of eagle feathers was discouraged because of their association with Indian religions. On some reservations those who wore or displayed eagle feathers were imprisoned. In 1884 the United States formally outlawed Indian religions.
The war against Indian religions abated during the administration of Franklin Roosevelt, but in 1940 it took on a new dimension. The Bald and Golden Eagles Protection Act authorized the Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of Interior to issue regulations restricting the taking, possessing and transporting of bald and golden eagles and their parts. These regulations have had direct impact on traditional native peoples who consider the eagle to be sacred and who use eagle feathers for religious purposes. As with most federal legislation impacting Indians there was neither testimony from Indians nor any consideration of Indian religions. The Act made the use of eagle feathers a federal offense. Under the Act, individual spiritual leaders and traditional practitioners were persecuted.
In 1978, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act of 1940 was amended to allow the Secretary of the Interior to allow Indians to take eagles for the religious purposes of Indian tribes. In 1994, President Clinton signed an executive order allowing eagle feathers and other animal parts to be made available to Indian tribes for religious and ceremonial use.
The National Eagle Repository in Colorado receives the bodies of eagles which have been killed by cars or power lines and provides these bodies to Indians for ceremonial use. However, it takes an average of 3.5 years for an Indian to obtain an eagle carcass through the Repository. Some traditionals feel that the eagles which have been killed accidentally are not ritually clean and should not be used in ceremonies.
In 1974, 14 Indians were arrested in Oklahoma on charges relating to the possession of illegal feathers. From the government’s viewpoint, the arrests were made to stop trade in the feathers of protected birds, such as eagles and hawks, since the government viewed this trade as causing the near extinction of these birds. Indian people, on the other hand, felt that the government’s action was really an attempt to vindicate their feelings toward Indians and respond to actions such as the takeover of Wounded Knee by the American Indian Movement.
The government appeared to ignore the fact that the law has a provision providing Indian people with a legal exemption for the religious use of feathers. With regard to the government’s fear that Indian use of eagle feathers for spiritual reasons was causing the extinction of these birds, Indian observers pointed out that the small number required for ceremonial use each year would not lead to extinction.
In Andrus v. Allard (1979) the Supreme Court found that the prohibition of the sale of eagle feathers and bird parts taken before the date of federal protection is in accord with the Eagle Protection Act. In the suit, Indian art dealers, including Doug Allard from the Flathead Indian Reservation, argued that the sale of artifacts with feathers and bird parts obtained prior to federal protection should be allowed and that by prohibiting the sale of such feathers, the government was engaging in an unconstitutional taking of property. The Supreme Court, however, observed that there was no way to date a feather and to therefore determine if it was obtained prior to federal protection.
In United States versus Buerk (1979), a non-Indian was convicted of possessing federally protected bird feathers. On appeal, the Court ordered the charges dismissed in accordance with the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 because the defendant participated in Native American religious ceremonies.
In United States versus Dion (1986) the Supreme Court found that Congress had abrogated treaty hunting rights with the Eagle Protection Act of 1940 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The cases involved a Yankton Sioux who was convicted of hunting eagles. While the 1858 treaty with the Yankton did not place any restrictions on Indian hunting rights, subsequent acts by Congress were found to have abrogated the treaty rights. Regarding the argument that the treaty allowed hunting of eagles, the court was unanimous in its disagreement. The Court felt that by passing laws protecting eagles and migratory birds, Congress intentionally relieved the Yankton Sioux of that hunting right.
In 1986 some Chippewa Indians in Nevada were required to forfeit eagle parts as possession of these parts was in violation of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. The Indians argued that such a forfeiture would violate their American Indian Religious Freedom Act rights, but the District Court found that the American Indian Religious Freedom Act provided only those rights guaranteed by the First Amendment and holds that greater protection or rights “could involve an excessive entanglement of the state and religion.”
Two members of the Crow nation were convicted in 1994 of killing eagles and possessing their feathers. The Crow men contended that they were exercising their right to practice their Indian religion. The court disagreed.
U.S. Customs agents seized a young boy's eagle feather in 1994. The feather was a part of the boy's medicine bundle and had been given to him by a tribal elder.
In 1999, federal officials withdrew their decision to bar members of the Hopi tribe from gathering live golden eaglets for ceremonial purposes at Wupatki National Monument in Arizona.
In 1999, the Zuni (New Mexico) Community Eagle Aviary was constructed to provide a home for non-releasable eagles – those with permanent injuries or those born in captivity who have imprinted on human beings. Feathers from these eagles are used in Zuni ceremonies.
In 2000, eagle feathers were returned to a Chiricahua Apache man. The feathers had been seized four years earlier by federal authorities who claimed that he was not legally entitled to have the feathers because he was not a member of a federally recognized tribe. The man was a member of the Red Paint Band of the Chiricahua Apache, a group which does not have federal recognition. The Court of Appeals found that the federal government’s insistence of a single and strictly legal definition of “Indian” for all purposes -- historic, jurisdictional, religious, political, ethnic, and social -- conflicted with the reality of human experience.
In 2002, the U.S. Border Patrol refused to allow the leader of the Canadian Blood Nation to bring his eagle feather headdress into the United States for ceremonial use. While the Bald and Golden Eagle Regulation Act allows members of federally recognized tribes to transport feathers into the United States, there is no mechanism to allow members of Canadian tribes to bring feathers into the country.
In 2005, Arapaho tribal member Winslow Friday killed an eagle on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming as a way of helping out with his family’s Sun Dance obligations. Among the Arapaho, Sun Dance sponsorship is both an honor and a responsibility. For the sponsors’ relatives, this is a communal obligation. Among the obligations in sponsoring a Sun Dance is the need to obtain an eagle for use in the ceremony. This eagle must be pure: it cannot have died through poison, disease, accident (often the case in roadkill), or electrocution.
Winslow Friday is shown above.
Friday was arrested for killing the bird. A federal judge later dismissed the case against him. While federal regulations say that permits can be given to Indians to kill eagles for ceremonial use, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuses to grant such permits.
In response to Friday’s arrest, the Northern Arapaho tribe filed suit. While federal law allows tribal members to kill bald eagles for spiritual purposes, there is no clear way of obtaining a federal permit. The tribe wanted the federal government to make it easier for tribal members to kill eagles for ceremonial purposes. Since the eagle was killed for religious purposes, the tribe argued that government’s requirement for a fatal-take permit runs counter to their First Amendment guarantee to the free exercise of religion. Judge William Downes ruled on behalf of the tribe stating:
“Although the Government professes respect and accommodation of the religious practices of Native Americans, its actions show callous indifference to such practices. It is clear to this Court that the Government has no intention of accommodating the religious beliefs of Native Americans except on its own terms and in its own good time.”
The federal government, however, appealed the decision.
In 2008, the Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling regarding the killing of a bald eagle by Arapaho tribal member Winslow Friday and ordered Friday to stand trial. Friday appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. In the appeal, his attorney pointed out that the government’s fatal-take permit for eagles is secret—that tribal members as well as the government’s own field agents are unaware of it. The attorney wrote:
“Yet still the government wants to punish criminally a tribal member who took a bird, no longer listed on the Endangered Species List, for a religious ceremony performed for centuries by his tribe, even though that bird faces a far, far greater threat from utility companies, whose power lines kill thousands of raptors, including eagles, every year.”
In 2009, his appeal to the Supreme Court was turned down and Friday dropped his fight. He pleaded guilty to killing an eagle.
In 2009, a Newport, Oregon school district ended the practice of awarding eagle feathers to Indian high school graduates. The district found out that the feathers could be awarded only to Indian students with adequate blood-quantum in federally recognized tribes and thus a number of Indian students would have to be denied the feathers. In addition, the ceremony in which the feathers were awarded was considered to be a religious ceremony by some people and thus prohibited in a public school system.
In 2012, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gave approval for the killing of two bald eagles for religious purposes by the Northern Arapaho.
Cross Posted at Native American Netroots
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