As the temperature slowly rises and the colours begrudgingly turn from white to brown to green, I find myself exploring outside spaces. For instance, this last weekend, I visited the Toronto Zoo. The Toronto Zoo differs wildly than my own zoo in my hometown, namely in size and the variety of animals on display. What I did not expect to see was a herd of buffalo (people are quick to point out that North American bison are not actually buffalo, but people have been referring to them as buffalo for nearly 200 years). I guess my surprise was buried in the fact that today buffalo are talked about like extinct creatures. After the near extinction of the buffalo in the 19th century, Prairie Peoples were forced to find different mediums for their material culture, but the buffalo still existed in stories, music and dance. I am more familiar with seeing buffalo in museums, either in a diorama or as a medium used in Prairie Peoples' material cultures.
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| Can you spot the buffalo? Photograph courtesy of Alexandra Forand. |
The fur of the buffalo was widely used amongst Prairie Peoples. The extra thick hide on top of the head could be fashioned into a bowl. The pelt was used as walls for tipis, winter clothing, floor covering, hard soles for moccasins, blankets, drums, saddles, masks. Hide was used as clothing, shields, containers, rattles, bedding, mittens, and as a textile to paint, draw, and write on. Tails were used as flyswatters, whips, and ornaments. Hair was woven into ropes, stuffing for pillows, paintbrushes, saddles, shields, halters, ornaments.
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| Ceremonial headers at the Royal Ontario Museum. Source. |
The heart was used as a sack to carry dried meat. The stomach was used as a cooking vessel. Bladders were formed into a waterproof pouch, bucket, water vessel. The brain of the buffalo was used in the tanning process of buffalo hide. The scrotum of the male buffalo was used as a rattle in religious ceremonies. Even the excrement of buffalo was used as fuel when firewood was scarce.
Objects made from buffalo are held in museum collections across Canada and abroad. You would be hard pressed to find a collection that has Prairie Peoples' objects, but does not include material culture made from buffalo. This reliance on the buffalo was not purely material, but also became integrated into Prairie Peoples' world views. In a version of the Blackfoot creation story the creator made human beings out of buffalo sinew, bones, and skin.
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| Buffalo Hide robe. Source. |
You can also see a western reverence to buffalo. Canada has incorporated buffalo into logos, money, and the buffalo features in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police crest. The symbolic nature of the buffalo almost feels separate from the animal itself. Today, the buffalo hardly exists in the wild, but there are efforts to stabilize their numbers.
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| Notice the Buffalo? Source. |
I’m curious, have you ever seen a buffalo in the wild or in the museum? Was there any object made of buffalo that ever stood out to you? Let me know! Please do not hesitate to contact me at allyforand@gmail.com or if Twitter and Instagram is more your speed my handle on both is @Ally_but_online.
Buffalo will return in the next installation of “Breaking the Glass Case."
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