What does 'shirt-wearer' mean?

Answer 1

The Lakota term Ogle Tanka Un literally means "Big-shirt wearer". In most Plains tribes men wore shirts of various kinds for warmth in winter, but a "shirt-wearer" was something far beyond the norm.

A standard shirt was plain and undecorated apart from some fringing around the edges - the Crows often wore a very short buckskin shirt with this kind of fringe.

But a man who earned the respect and admiration of the others, one who was considered a good man, a good hunter and was continually successful in war (and was therefore seen to possess supernatural protection from the spirit world) would be permitted to wear a heavily-decorated and symbolic shirt which marked him out as someone very special.

These were often called "war-shirts" by white Americans, but they were seldom worn into battle. They had four colourful quillwork or beaded bands - one along each arm and one over each shoulder, fringed with human hair, bundles of ermine or long buckskin fringe; they symbolised the achievement of at least four major coups in battle - such as touching an unwounded enemy, taking a bow or gun from an enemy, stealing enemy horses, touching enemy breastworks/defences during a fight.

The shirt would also be stained with broad bands of colour (such as lower half green, upper half yellow), and there might be drawings and symbols of the wearer's deeds: horseshoe shapes indicated enemy horses stolen, guns indicated guns taken from enemy warriors, red spots showed wound received and so on.

Horizontal stripes in black or dark brown indicated the total number of coups gained in battle; the warrior would take pride in reciting these to his friends and family, who would never tire of hearing these accounts of brave deeds. Young men were always encouraged to copy the deeds of these men, so they too could earn respect and admiration.

A "shirt-wearer" was often an extremely influential war leader but this did not automatically make him a chief; only if he gained sufficient followers and if he became known as a kind and generous man to his own people would he qualify for the tribal council and be considered a chief.

The related link listed below takes you to a web page with details of war shirts worn among various Plains tribes: