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agb333
Lost in the Wilderness
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
July 24 2002
Status: offline
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 Posted - July 24 2002 : 08:56:15 AM
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Hello.
I am a freelance writer researching an article on the history of the
"Mohawk" hairstyle for publication in a national bi-monthly magazine covering art and culture.
Though this article does not discuss Mohicans at any great length, I would like to get my facts absolutely right. There are two issues that I am trying to clarify. If the assumptions put forward are mistaken or naive I apologize in advance.
1) It has long been my understanding that the "Mohican" tribe was a fictional creation, JF Cooper's conflation of two separate, distinct, though neighboring tribes, the Mahican and Mohegan. Is this true?
Did those tribes call themselves Mohican back in the day?
Who does the word "Mohican" on this site represent today?
2) I often hear people say the "Mohawk" haircut (shaved head, center strip of hair running from scalp to nape of neck) started with the Mohicans. I've found no documentary evidence to support this claim and would guess that it is the result of the title of Cooper's seminal work. While I don't doubt that native peoples around the Stockbridge area wore the "Mohawk" are there any records/data I could be directed to to prove they were the first?
Any other information on the origin of the "Mohawk" and/or leads on experts in this area would be helpful and hugely appreciated.
Thank You,
Andrew
agb333@hotmail.com
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Lainey
TGAT
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
May 18 2002
Status: offline
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Posted - July 24 2002 : 11:50:00 AM
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Andrew,
I read your email earlier but since you've posted the questions here, I'll try to answer here.
"Hello.
I am a freelance writer researching an article on the history of the
"Mohawk" hairstyle for publication in a national bi-monthly magazine covering art and culture."
Several years ago I helped answer these same question for a lifestyle writer at the New York Times. Interesting that it arises again.
"Though this article does not discuss Mohicans at any great length, I would like to get my facts absolutely right. There are two issues that I am trying to clarify. If the assumptions put forward are mistaken or naive I apologize in advance."
I'll do my best in regards to factual replies.
"1) It has long been my understanding that the "Mohican" tribe was a fictional creation, JF Cooper's conflation of two separate, distinct, though neighboring tribes, the Mahican and Mohegan. Is this true?"
No, this is not true. The Mohican people were, and are, an actual Algonquian people whose historic lands were found in New York's Hudson Valley. The "Muhheconnuk", or Stockbridge Indians, today live in Wisconsin & Canada, but the Housatonic River between the Hudson and Connecticut River valleys was the homeland. The name Muh-he-con-nuk , "great waters or sea, which are constantly in motion, either flowing or ebbing" speaks to a much earlier homeland to the west.
The ancient people had "emigrated from west by north of another country; they passed over the great waters, where this and the other country is nearly connected. " According to this 1734 account of a Bering Strait crossing, the islands of the west were close together and the nearby water [Pacific Ocean] was effected by the tides, giving rise to their name "Muhheconnuk".
{Elaine Federici/ The Mohicans: Children of the Delaware http://www.mohicanpress.com/mo08014.html}
Mahican is the same as Mohican, only reflecting an earlier Dutch spelling.
Mohegan is a different, though related, Algonquian tribe to the east in Connecticut. They are the same people as the Pequots, the name change being brought about by Uncas, a Pequot/Mohegan sachem following a split in the tribe (post Pequot/King Philip's War). Mohicans & Mohegans are both Algonquian descendants of the older Delaware (Lenape) people & both languages developed from a Lenape mother tongue.
The Delaware name for the Hudson River is "Mohicanittuck" - river of the Mohicans.
"Did those tribes call themselves Mohican back in the day?"
Mohican is a European/Dutch derivative of Muhheconnuk & the Mohican people themselves did use the term.
"Who does the word "Mohican" on this site represent today?"
It refers specifically to the historic New York Mohican people, also known as Stockbridge Mohicans or Stockbridge-Munsee.
"2) I often hear people say the "Mohawk" haircut (shaved head, center strip of hair running from scalp to nape of neck) started with the Mohicans. I've found no documentary evidence to support this claim and would guess that it is the result of the title of Cooper's seminal work. While I don't doubt that native peoples around the Stockbridge area wore the "Mohawk" are there any records/data I could be directed to to prove they were the first?"
There is no evidence to support this claim. The first known record of the now classic misnomer was in the early 17th century. Samuel de Champlain first noted the hairstyle among the Hurons of southwestern Ontario during his explorations for France. The French Jesuits also recorded such descriptions of Huron *style.* Reportedly, the name 'Huron' came from the old French word 'hure' for boar's head. There is a stiff ridge of bristle along a boar's head that looked, to the French, very much like the style worn by the Huron. The 'cut' itself was often not even human hair, but the classic deer roach, which was made from a piece of deer tail with skin & fur attached & worn atop the head.
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