The trendto urbanization has beenpronouncedforanumber ofdecades, andnow75 per-centof the Ukrainian population of Canada livesin cities.In this respect, the Ukrainian community now resemb
Trang 1Ukrainians ofCanada 357
Ukrainians of Canada
ETHNONYMS:Bukovynians, Galicians, Ruthenians,
Ukrain-ian-Canadians
Orientation Identification Ukrainian-Canadiansare oneof thelarger
andmore prominentethnicgroups inCanada Thesepeople,
or morelikelytheirancestors, originatedinUkrainian
terr-tory inEasternEurope.Ukrainianethnographicterritory
cor-responds roughly (not exactly)withtheareaof the Ukrainian
SovietSocialist Republicinthe SovietUnion.TheBlack Sea
liestothesouthofthisland, anditsnorthernneighborsin.
cludeRussiaandPoland Thepolitical boundariesofthis
ter-ritory have undergone many changes up to and during the
twentieth century. Only rarely throughout these
permuta-tions were the governing bodies controlled by Ukrainians
themselves Indeed,Ukrainianimmigrants toCanadacarried
Austrian,Polish, Russian,and otherpassports,andcould be
identified betteronthe basis of their language, culture, and
religionthan by their citizenship Ancestryand culture
con-tinue to be the primary criteria for the identification of
Ukrainian-Canadians.Languageandreligionhavetendedto
declineasperceivedprerequisites for inclusioninthegroup,
replacedsomewhat byparticipation intheorganized
Ukrain-ian community and by a personal sense ofUkrainianness
TheUkrainian-Canadian community doesnothavesharply
defined membership Large segments ofits population live
more orless closelyinrelationto it.
Location The firstsettlements of Ukrainians inCanada
wereconcentratedintheprairie provincesof Manitoba,
Sas-katchewan, and Alberta.Inthe earlieryears, most wererural
homesteaders Although theprairie provincesstill maintain
large communities, Ukrainians have been spreading
some-whatmorerandomlyacrossthecountry.Migrationwithinthe
countryreflectsthesearch foreconomicadvantagesand the
best personal quality of life The trendto urbanization has
beenpronouncedforanumber ofdecades, andnow75
per-centof the Ukrainian population of Canada livesin cities.In
this respect, the Ukrainian community now resembles the
general population of thecountry.
Demography Ukrainian people have historically been
quite sedentary, and only small numbers emigrated beyond
Ukrainianterritories prior tothe endof thenineteenth
cen-tury. In the last 120 years, however, they have dispersed
widely.Sometwomillion liveinNorthAmerica,twomillion
inSiberia,250,000inSouthAmerica,90,000inother
coun-tries inEurope,and35,000inAustralia Inthe1981 census,
529,615 Canadians declared Ukrainian ancestry, and
an-other225,000claimed partialUkrainianheritage.
Represent-ing some 2.7 percent of the population,
Ukrainian-Canadiansare thefifth largestethnicgroup inthecountry.
Only about 15 percent oftheseindividuals are immigrants
themselves; the remainder are Canadian-born The city of
Winnipeghashadalarge Ukrainian populationsinceearlyin
thiscentury. In 1981,the majorUkrainian-Canadianurban
centersincludedEdmonton(63,000, 10percentofthecity's
population), Winnipeg (59,000, 10 percent), and Toronto
(51,000,2percent) Over 20,000additionalpersons ineach
of these citiesreported partial Ukrainian ancestry
Particu-larlyin the prairies, numerous smalltowns andrural areas
continue torecordahighincidenceof Ukrainian settlement, sometimes exceeding 50 percent of the localpopulace Linguistic Affiliation Ukrainian is a Slavic language Though many Ukrainians usethe more formal literary lan-guage,othersspeakaGaliciandialect with varyingdegreesof English influence The community is increasingly English-speaking,with UkrainiansinFrench-speaking Canada often bilingual or trilingual The percentage of Ukrainian-Canadians whouseUkrainianinthe homehas decreasedin
recentdecades, dropping below 20 percent Those who do speakUkrainian regularly are often older
History and Cultural Relations
UkrainianimmigrationtoCanadatook placeinthree major waves.The first and largest influx(170,000 individuals) took place between 1891 and the beginningof World War 1 The vastmajorityof this group left fromthe provinces of Galicia and Bukovyna, a small segment of western Ukrainian terr-torycontrolled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire at that time They weremostly peasant farmers wanting to escape poverty, exploitation, and overpopulation Canada was then actively soliciting suchagriculturalimmigrants todevelop its vast and empty prairies Ukrainian immigrants settled in somewhat compactblocks on homesteads across the large belt of aspen parkland spanning the prairies The 67,000 Ukrainians who arrived in the interwar period composed the second wave of immigrants Manitobawasthe most populardestination for this group Work in agriculture and railway construction awaitedmany Thethird immigration consisted primarily of personsdisplaced after World War 11, which was particularly devastating in Ukrainian territories This group of up to 40,000people tended to be more urban, more educated, and more politically and nationally motivated than their earlier counterparts They settled primarily in Canada's urban areas, with Ontario receiving almost half of their number Since
1952, immigrationof Ukrainians to Canadahas been light The general attitude of the Canadianestablishment in the earlier years was to anglicize or"Canadianize"the Ukrain-ians once they arrived Ukrainian community development was more orless tolerated depending onhow the elite per-ceived that the organizations might help facilitate
assimila-tion.Attitudes also varied according to economic and politi-cal trends."Anti-alien"sentimentsrose sharply during World War 1 Bilingual education systems were dismantled and thousands of Ukrainians were kept under surveillance, in-terned, and sometimes deported with little justification In spite of a few such experiences, however, Ukrainians have been generally quitepro-Canadian They perceive Canada as
acountry thattreated them much better and offered them greater prospects thanAustro-Hungary, Poland, the Russian Empire, or later the Soviet Union Ukrainians were very in-strumental in establishing Canada's policy of multicultur-alisminthe1960s Intheory at least,this policy promotes the cultural identity of the myriad of peoplesthat populate the country, seeing strength in this diversity Support for multiculturalismseems to be somewhat on the wane in
"En-glish" Canada in the 1980s Cultural relations between Ukrainians in Canadaand thoseinthe Soviet Union, at least until recently, have been somewhat distant They have been
Trang 2358 Ukrainians of Canada
deterredby the wars, thedistance, and the coldwarattitudes
onboth sides
Economy Agriculture was by far the predominant occupation of
Ukrainians inthe first half of the twentieth century Other
occupationstendedtobeinthe primarysectorand included
logging, mining, construction, and building railroads This
situation gradually changed, however, and the structure of
the Ukrainian-Canadian work force now resembles that of
thegeneral populationinalmost all respects But Ukrainians
are still somewhatoverrepresentedinagriculture (7 percent
workonfarmsascomparedtothe 4 percent Canadian
aver-age) and underrepresented in most of the elite groups that
hold powerinthe country
Kinship, Marriage and Family
Ukrainian-Canadian marriage andkinship practices do not
differsubstantiallyfromgeneral Canadian norms.
Predomi-nant are monogamous marriage, nuclearfamilies, and
bilat-eral descent Ukrainian kinship terms in many dialects
ex-hibitadegreeofbifurcation;termsdiffer for maternalversus
paternaluncles and aunts. Such perceptions arebeing
sup-planted bya moreclassical Eskimo-typekinshipsystem,
espe-ciallysinceEnglishis nowoften used.Godparentshave
tradi-tionally been regarded as significant relatives In-group
marriage was encouraged by Ukrainian-Canadian society,
particularly byparent generations, though therate of
inter-marriage is high
Socialization The means and degree ofsocialization of
Ukrainian-Canadians varies a great deal depending on the
sizeof the localcommunity,thecommitmentoffamily
mem-bers, and personal choice The church has traditionally
played a majorrole inthisprocess, ashasupbringing More
involved familiesinlargercentersoften choosetotake
advan-tageofUkrainiankindergartens, Ukrainian schools(and,
re-cently, publicbilingual education), Ukrainianscouts,choirs,
dancegroups, sports organizations,andmanyotherpursuits.
The adultcommunityreaffirms itselfin manyperformances,
meetings, and othersocial events.
Sociopolitical Organization
SocialOrganization The Ukrainiancommunityhasmore
organizations than anyCanadian ethnicgroup its size.The
plethora oforganizationsreflects the division of the
commu-nity intoCatholicand Orthodoxsectors,eachwithreligious
and secularinstitutions,andmen's, women's,andyouth
divi-sions. Differences in immigration history, region oforigin,
politicalviews, generation, pastmembershipinmilitaryunits,
professions, and other factorsareallreflectedinthe
organiza-tionalscheme of the Ukrainian-Canadian community
Re-cently, a great number of somewhat independent
organiza-tionshave beenset up todeal with academicpursuits, various
art forms, local history, and other specific interests. The
Ukrainian Canadian Committeewasestablishedin1940 as
an umbrella organization for the noncommunistUkrainian
community.Ithas achievedvaryingdegreesofsuccess in
co-ordinating the diverse groups. There is no specific effective
mechanism forexertingsocial controlorresolvingconflictin
the Ukrainian-Canadian community.
Political Organization Ukrainians in Canada have no overarching political structure Most earlier Ukrainian set-tlerswere notpolitically sophisticated,partly because of their relative exclusion from political powerin their native
territor-ies Disenchantment over living and working conditions in Europe (and,later, ofteninCanada) promoted radical leftist
views inthe firstdecades of this century Later, immigrants tended to the right of the political spectrum At present, Ukrainians are a complex and varied electoral group, still demonstrating some tendency to marginality on the left and therightincomparisonwiththegeneral populace Politicians
sometimesperceive the Ukrainiancommunity tobea
signifi-cantvoting block and address itaccordingly The great major-ity of the Ukrainian communmajor-ity doesnotapprove of the pres-ent Soviet Ukrainian state under Russian domination
Religion and Expressive Culture
Religious Beliefs and Practitioners The Ukrainian Catholic and Ukrainian Greek Orthodox churches are the predominant traditional denominations in the Ukrainian-Canadian community, claiming some 190,000 and 99,000 adherents, respectively (the latter figureincludes a minority
of other Orthodox denominations aswell) In the 1981 cen-sus, Ukrainians also reportedadherence to Roman Catholi-cism(89,000), theUnited church (71,000), and many other forms of Christianity Some 42,000 indicated no religious preference In spiteofdecliningattendance in the two tradi-tional Ukrainian churches, especially among the younger generations, they continue to maintain substantial signifi-cance inUkrainian-Canadian society The Ukraine adopted the Byzantine form of Christianity one thousand years ago, andthus eastern Christian traditions of worship are followed Compared to most western Christian practices, the rites are quite ancient and ritualistic The olderJulian calendar is tra-ditionallyretained by these churches, and thus Christmas is celebrated on January 7 The Ukrainian Catholic (Uniate, Greek Catholic) churchacknowledges the leadership of the pope in Rome,although theoretically it retains its Orthodox rite TheUkrainian Greek Orthodox church of Canada, es-tablished in1918, is independent Both the Ukrainian Cath-olicand theOrthodox communities in Canada have under-gone somewesternization in terms of their spiritual culture Generalacceptance of latinized rituals, the English language, and the newer Gregorian calendar is more widespread among the Catholics
Ceremonies Ukrainian culturewasvery richintraditional lore into the beginning of the twentieth century, in part, be-cause it was relatively isolatedfromcosmopolitan influences and the leveling pressures of industrialization Most
emi-grants,then, identifiedwith a richtradition of rituals and cus-toms Social lifewas generally disrupted upon migration be-cause of the isolation and bebe-cause Canadian policies for settling the prairies precluded tight-knit village settlements Nonetheless, in many communities, various customs were maintained,adapted, and sometimes reconstructed to estab-lish a unique Ukrainian-Canadian ritual culture The most importantceremony dealing with the life cycle is the wedding, which is often large and features food, drink, socializing, dancing, and gift-giving
The cultural response to death has been partially
influ-enced by the community's Eastern Christian spirituality as
Trang 3Umatilla 359
wellas by connectionswith itspeasantorigins.These factors
are reflected intheservices conductedduringburial, a
less-enedtendencytoisolate theliving from the corpse, somewhat
particular gravemarkers, and traditional cemeteryvisitations
atprescribed intervals Ingeneral,however, funeral practices
and attitudesnowconformcloselytothose of the Canadian
mainstream
The most important calendar holidays are Christmas
(Rizdvo) andEaster (Velykden'), both of whichretainmany
Ukrainian features Themainfocus at Christmas is on the
Christmas Eve supper, consisting traditionally of twelve
meatless dishes.Caroling, church service, and visiting follow
Christmasiscelebrated twice each year by many Ukrainian
familiesinCanada, once onDecember25 andagain,
some-what differently, on January 7 The highlight at Easter is
breakingthe Lenten fast with a blessed family meal on
Sun-day after churchservice Apre-Lentenparty (Pushchennia),
NewYear'sEve(Malanka) on January 13, and harvest festival
(Obzhynky) celebrationsarecommoninmany communities
Other holidays include Ukrainian Independence Day,
the anniversary of Taras Shevchenko (Ukraine's national
poet), and numerous smaller religious feasts
Ukrainian-Canadians alsoparticipate in Canadianholidays such as
Val-entine'sDay, Canada Day,Halloween, Thanksgiving, and so
on
Arts Thearts areveryimportant toUkrainian-Canadian
culture Indeed, they composethemostprominent aspect of
Ukrainian-Canadian life in the minds of many Ukrainians
and non-Ukrainians alike Many folkarts werebrought over
fromEuropebythe early immigrants, as they livedinaculture
where domestic objects were mostly handmade and activities
were directly organized In Ukraine, the style and form of
these arts were quite specific The arts came to be closely
identified with Ukrainianconsciousness itself.Withthe
tran-sition to the urban, technological, and consumer-oriented
world oftwentieth-century Canada, the old activities and
crafts lost much of their practical worth On the other hand,
many retained or even gained value as symbols of
Ukrainianness,markers of a special subculture within the
Ca-nadian milieu This function has remained relevant in the
contemporaryNorth American context In association with
this process, many ofthese "folk arts" changed radically in
form, materials, and context Theterms "pseudo-folk arts,"
"national arts" or"Ukrainian pop" have been proposed to
re-flect some of the contemporary features of this type of
activ-ity Popular contemporary manifestations of
Ukrainian-Canadian material culture include folk costumes, weaving,
embroidery,Eastereggpainting, churcharchitecture, various
styles of pottery, and miscellaneous novelty items The fine
arts of literature, painting, and sculpture have vibrant
Ukrainianvariants inCanada.Staged folk danceand choral
singing are extremely popular in many communities The
Ukrainian musicindustry includesrecording artistsinmany
different styles
Medicine Folkmedicine was strong in westernUkrainian
villages andinrural Canadainearlier years Localspecialists
developed muchknowledgeandexpertise dealing witha wide
variety of healthproblems Remnants of this loreexist
unoffi-cially, sometimesdealing with problems outside the realm of
traditional medicine.Ukrainian-Canadians participateinthe
Canadian health care system
Bibliography Borovsky,V., etal (1971) UkrainiansAbroad: InCanada."
InUkraine: AConcise Encyclopedia, Vol 2, edited by Volo-dymyr Kubijovyc, 1151-1193 Toronto: University of
TorontoPress
Klymasz, Robert B.(1980).Ukrainian Folklore in Canada:An Immigrant Complex in Transition NewYork:Arno Press
Luciuk, LubomyrY.,and BohdanS.Kordan (1989) Creating
aLandscape:AGeography ofUkrainiansinCanada.Toronto: UniversityofTorontoPress
Lupul, Manoly R., ed (1982) A Heritage in Transition: Es-says in the History of Ukrainians in Canada Toronto: McClelland & Stewart
Lupul,Manoly R., ed (1984) Visible Symbols: Cultural Ex-pression amongCanada's Ukrainians Edmonton: Canadian InstituteofUkrainianStudies
Petryshyn, W R., ed (1980) Changing Realities: Social Trends amongUkrainianCanadians Edmonton:Canadian In-stitute ofUkrainianStudies
ANDRIY NAHACHEWSKY
Umatilla
The Umatilla lived in the Umatilla River and adjacent parts
of the Columbia River drainages in northeastern Oregon They now live on the Umatilla Indian Reservation in the
same area with the Wallawalla Cayuse They spoke a
Sahaptin language of the Penutian phylum and numbered about onethousand in the 1980s
Bibliography
Kennedy, JamesBradford (1977) "The Umatilla Indian
Res-ervation, 1855-1975: FactorsContributing to a Diminished Land Resource Base." Dissertation Abstracts International 38(4):2344A
Stern, Theodore (1960) "AUmatilla Prophet Cult." Actsof the InternationalCongressofAnthropological and Ethnological
Sciences 5:346-350
Trang 4360 Ute
Ute
ETHNONYMS:Eutah, Utah,Utaw, Yuta
Orientation Identification The Uteare anAmericanIndiangroup
lo-catedinUtah,Colorado,and New Mexico "Ute"is a
short-enedversionof"Eutah," a termwithuncertain origins.The
name waslikelyborrowedbytheSpanishfromUteneighbors
who referredto theUte as"Yu Tta Ci" (Southern Paiute),
"Yota" (Hopi), and 'Yu Hta" (Comanche).Themeaningof
"Utah" islikewise unclear.TheUte namefor themselvesis
"Nu Ci,"meaning 'person" or"Indian."
Location At thetime of European contact inthe 1600s
and 1700s, the Ute occupied much of central and eastern
Utah andall ofwesternColorado,aswellas minor portions
ofnorthwesternNew Mexico Foreaseof discussion,the
Col-oradoandNew Mexicogroups areoftenlumped togetheras
Easternand thosefromUtaharelabeledWestern Ute
Phys-iographically, thisUtehomelandisdiverseand includes the
easternfringe of theGreat Basin,thenorthernColorado
Pla-teau, theRockyMountainsofColorado, and theeastslopes
ofthe Rockies and high plains of Colorado Latitude and
longitudeof theregion'scenter is approximately 39°Nand
109° W
Demography In 1880, combined population figures for
bothColorado andUtah Utewas some3,975 By1983these
numbers hadincreased modestlyto4,905 Precontactlevels
werelikelyconsiderably higher than these historic figures
Linguistic Affiliation The Ute speak Southern Numic,
theeasternmostof theNumiclanguages spoken by the
major-ityof the Indiansof the Great Basin-Plateauregionsof the
intermountain west.Numicis abranch of the Uto-Aztekan
languagefamily.Othergroupsspeaking SouthernNumicare
the Southern Paiute and Kawaiisu Some dialectical
differ-ences were present within Southern Numic, but no clear
boundaries existed
History and Cultural Relations
Linguisticandarchaeological evidenceargueforanarrival of
Southern Numic-speakers in the eastern Great Basin and
Plateaucountryabout.-D. 1250-1350 Atthetimeof
Euro-peansettlementinNew Mexicointhe 1600sandUtahinthe
late 1700s,theUtewerewellestablished, but haddeveloped
alongsomewhat different trajectories.The EasternUte had
convertedtothehorse-riding Plainslife-style, and the
West-emrUteretainedmoretraditionalGreat Basinpatternsuntil
the early 1800s when certain central Utah groups also
adopted the horse and otherPlainscultural trappings. Ute
neighborstothenorth,west,andeastincluded other
Numic-speakers, such as the Northern Shoshone, Western
Sho-shone, and SouthernPaiute.Alsotothesouthwerethe
Pueb-los,Navajo,and Apache.Totheeast werethePlainsgroups,
such as theWind River Shoshone (Numic-speakers),
Ara-paho, Comanche (Numic-speakers), and Southern
Chey-enne. Relationswereamicable with theWestern Shoshone,
but raidswere common between the Ute and other
neigh-bors,especiallythePlainspeoples,with theexceptionof the
Comanche The unmounted Southern Paiute to the south wereroutinelysubjected to raids by allUtestoobtain slaves, especially womenandchildren, totrade tothe Spanish Mormon immigration to the Great Basin in 1847 marked thebeginning of the end for the traditionalWestern
Uteway of life.Seriousconflictsbeganin1849,when settlers movedinto UtahValley, animportant centerof Ute settle-ment Following the Walker War of 1850s and the Black HawkWar inthe 1860s, allWesternUte weredisplaced from the easternGreatBasinand relocatedintheUintaBasinof northern Utah Forthe Eastern Ute the process was slower Reduction of lands beganinthe 1850s owing to aseriesof treaty agreements and continued until the 1880s The Meeker Massacre of 1879 resulted in most of the northern Colorado Utes beingplacedonthe Uinta Basinreservation
Other Eastern Utes moved to thesmall Southern Ute and Elk Mountain reservations in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico
Settlements
The Uteare traditionallydescribed in terms of geographically designated bands Boththe Eastern and Western groups con-sisted of five such bands.Forthe Easterngroupthey were the Muache, Capote,Uncompahgre,White River, and
Weemin-uche The Western bands were the Uintah, Timpanogots, Sanpitch, Pahvant, and Moanunts Throughout Ute territory settlementstended to consist of a winterand a summer camp Forthe Westernand other nonequestrian Ute, winter camps werelocated in thevalley bottoms adjacent to lakes, marshes,
orstreams or,insome cases, inthepifion juniper woodlands
of the lower foothills where fuel and shelter were available and close to food caches Spring in the valleys along the
east-em Great Basin wasspawning season and a time for many Western Ute to hold festivities, dances, and games and to fish, especially in Utah Valley In the summer people dis-persedto gatherripeningplant seeds and pursue individual hunting Inlate summer and fall the Utes moved to the up-lands for hunting, berry picking, and pifion nut gathering The Eastern Ute spentsummers and early fall on the plains hunting bison, and these events were generally the time of greatest aggregationfor the year Winter camps consisted of smaller residential units located in sheltered areas in the foot-hills or valleys Modem reservation towns, such as Fort Duchesne and Roosevelt on theUintah-Ouray Reservation,
are centersofmodemUte community and commercial life and are very muchinthe pattern of western towns Dispersed Utecommunities, however,such as that seen at WhiteMesa
insoutheasternUtah, are also fairly typical
Economy
Subsistence and Comnercial Activity All Utes at the time of European contact were hunters and gatherers,
al-though thesubsistence focus varied considerably from east to west Ingeneral, Eastern Ute were more committed to a hunt-ing economy, especially bison, whereas Western Ute diets were broader with more emphasis on smaller animals and fish Important plant foods included pifion nuts, various smallseeds, suchasgrass and bulrush, androots.With the withdrawal of traditional foraging areas, the Ute turned to subsistence farming following the European pattern
Com-mercial farming has not been successful, andmost modem
Trang 5Ute 361
employmentis now intheenergy-relatedfieldsor servicejobs,
especiallywith the federal government Althoughnumerous
businessventureshave beenattempted,few have succeeded
Industrial Arts Traditional crafts suchasbasketry,
weav-ing, and hide working persistedinto the twentieth century
Beadworkontanned leatherorother materialscontinues to
beproduced, especially for thetourist market, butbasketry
andweaving have largely diedout.Potterywasmade
prehis-torically, but was not awell-developedcraft
Trade Prehistoric trade is not well documented for the
Ute.Obsidian and probablymarineshellswerelikelytraded,
but the mechanismsare unknown Following the arrival of
Europeanmarkets, such astheSpanishin NewMexico, the
Utes were active inthe fur trade andexchangedskins, furs,
and slaves forhorses, metaltools, beads, and other European
goods Thiscommerce was activeinto the mid-1800s
Division of Labor Traditionally, economic tasks were
seg-regatedby sex.As ageneralrule, men huntedlarger game and
fished, and made weaponsand tools related to hunting (bows
andarrows, variousportable traps, drive lines, and catch
cor-rals) Womengathered plantfoods and made the items
nec-essaryfor those activities, especially baskets Numerous
food-related efforts involvedboth sexes, however, especially with
the Western Ute For example, women made cordage of plant
fibers with which the menwove the nets that were used in
rabbit orwaterfowl drives Both men and women participated
in these drives Fishing was generally a male activity, but
women made some fishing gear such as basketry traps
Womenpreparedand cookedfood, builthouses, made
cloth-ing,preparedskins,andmade pottery Someblurring of these
divisionswas common, also Both men and women
partici-pated inshamanistic rituals Historic employment trends are
generally parallel with national patterns with both sexes
working, but withmore menemployedthan women Women
usually remain at home, andsomepursue craft production for
the tourist trade
Land Tenure Aboriginal land ownership was limited to
usufruct rights to hunting and gathering for a family
Individ-ual landownership was apparently unknown A degree of
ter-ritoriality was present to the extent that non-Utes (for
exam-ple, Shoshone) had no access to important resource areas
such as the Utah Lake fishery Anglo settlement and
agricul-turalpursuits removed the more productive lands from Ute
use The Ute wereeventuallyforciblyremoved to reservation
lands in Colorado and Utah The Dawes Severalty Act of
1887 further reduced Indian-owned lands and eventually
opened Ute landstoAnglohomesteaders The impact of this
bill was reversed by the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934,
which allowed forconsolidation of Indian properties and
ac-quisition of other landsaswell In 1988 alegal suitbrought
by the Ute Tribe against counties and cities of the Uinta
Basin returned significant portions of Ute lands in Utah,
bringing the total held by that group to 4 million acres
Kinship
KinGroups andDescent Noclansorother formal social
units are known for the Ute.Residential units tended toward
unranked matridemes These units, which consisted of
sev-eralrelated families, were exogamous Status within
residen-tialunits was based on age, sex, and generation
Kinship Terminology Ute kinterms followed a skewed bifurcate collateral pattern
Marriage and Family
Marriage Marriages wereoften arranged by parents and relatives Marriage toblood relatives (extended tofirst and secondcousins) was forbidden.Weddingceremonies were in-formal, andpremaritalintercourse atthegirl'sresidencewas
considered marriage Bandexogamywasgenerally preferred Polygyny existed andboth the levirate and sororatewere prac-ticed; however, monogamy wasthe norm with less than 10
percentpracticingpolygamy Divorceforreasons ofsterility, infidelity, and incompatibility was and is common Children usuallyremainwith the mother.Residence was almost always matrilocal.Bride-serviceis notreported for the Ute, although
it was common inotherGreat Basin groups
Domestic Unit Traditional households often included relatives such as grandparents and occasionallya spouse of one ofthe children This pattern continues today Single-parent families are very common because of high divorce rates Households are often swelled by nearkin as resources
arecombined in times ofeconomic stress
Inheritance Inheritance patterns were poorly developed,
formostpersonal material goods were burned at the death of the individual Rights to eagle aeries, springs, and garden plots were passed down to surviving family members Socialization Children were desirable and much attention was paid to the pregnant mother, birth, and child rearing Often young childrenwere tended by older siblings and by grandparents Children were spoiled and indulged in a per-missive environment Ridicule wasthe primary means of dis-cipline Puberty riteswere observed for both girls and boys Firstmenses was celebrated by the family by offering instruc-tions tothegirl and imposing food taboos and behavioral
re-strictions until the end of menstruation Malepuberty rites were notso well defined, but they usually revolved around the firstkilling ofalarge game animal The boy was forbidden to eatofthiskill, whichwasoftengiven to an older relative To celebrate the event further, the boy was bathed by a special hunterand paintedred Traditional education in crafts, sub-sistenceskills, and oral histories were provided to children by the appropriate grandparent Education levels among Ute youths are low, withonly half completing high school
Sociopolitical Organization SocialOrganization Utesocial life was rooted in the fam-ily Within thefamily and among family groups elders, male and female, were respected and given special consideration Prior to European contact, household leadership tended to
be male-oriented, but with the growing numbers of single-parent families,females are more often in familyleadership roles
PoliticalOrganization Bandorganization was likely pres-ent inthepre-horse era Bands consisted of several residential units (demes) that united under a leader, usually an elder male whohad demonstrated prowess as a hunter as wellas
wisdom indecisionmaking Leaders often hadone or more
assistantswhoserved as speakers or in other capacities The Western Ute hadspecial chiefs selected to lead dances and
Trang 6362 Ute
rabbit, antelope, waterfowl, and bison drives Utah Valley
Utehad aspecial fishingchief Councils consisted of deme
leaders andusuallymet atthe chief's house Women were
al-lowed to attendcouncils, as were menother than chiefs
Po-litical patternswere strengthened after contact as access to
the horse andraidingforthe slave marketsincreased, thereby
reinforcingthe status of the leaders This trend continued as
Anglo culture often demanded a band or tribalspokesperson
Reservation-era tribal affairs have been directedby the tribal
committeesof the Ute Indian Tribe.Especiallyinfluential on
the Uintah-Ouray Reservation is the Ute Tribal Business
Committee formedin 1937 after the Indian Reorganization
Act
Social Control Traditionally, group leaders played an
im-portant role ininterpersonal altercations, but no formal
proc-essexisted in the event of a crime orbreach of trust
Individ-ual retaliation was common and control difficult, as there
were no meansother than social for enforcement Murders,
forexample, wereusually avenged by relatives who killed the
offender, an actioncondoned and expected by the society
Social controls were alsosought throughthe use of myths and
legends that depicted appropriate behavior and introduced
the threat ofridicule or expulsion forunacceptable actions
Asonotherreservations, the federal government now has
ju-risdiction over serious crimes
Conflict Internal Ute conflictseruptedinthe 1880s
fol-lowing the MeekerMassacre when White River and
Uncom-paghreUtesfrom Colorado were forced onto the Uintah
Res-ervation Uintahs resented having to share their reservation
and further resented inequities in federal distributions of
funds Bad feelings also existed betweenthe White River and
Uncompaghrepeople based on events during and after the
Meeker Massacre In 1905 Ute-Anglorelations were strained
by the opening of the Uintah-Ouray Reservation to Anglo
use In reprisal, alarge contingent of Utes left the reservation
andsought asylum with the Sioux in South Dakota Failing
thistheywerereturned to the Uintah Basin in1908 Further
internal strife stemmed from a riftbetweenmixed- and
full-bloodpeople The former, because ofAnglo contacts and
bettereducation,developedmorepoliticalpower in tribal
af-fairs The riftultimatelyresulted in the termination
(expul-sion) ofmixed-bloods (less than 50 percentUte) from the
tribal rolls in 1954 Badfeelings extended to the tribal
gov-ernment, and agroup known as the True Utes unsuccessfully
attempted to disband thispolity during the late 1950s
Religion and Expressive Culture
Religious Beliefs Religion was not formalized, but was
nonetheless important andpervadeddailyUtelife An
inte-gral element of Utemetaphysicswastheconcept of power
ob-tained from knowledge received through dreams, visions, or
from mythicalbeings Religionwasexpressed atthe level of
the individual rather thanthroughgroup activity Senawahv
is named as the Ute creator of the land,animals, food, plants,
and the Utes themselves Animals, especially wolf and
coy-ote, werecommonly depicted in myths in which they were
de-scribed ashaving humanlike traits combined with some
mys-tical powers Belief in waterbabies, supernaturalbeingsthat
lived insprings, waswidespreadamong Great Basin Indians
Ghosts and souls were real and feared Charms for various
purposes were also common SeveralChristian religions cur-rently havefollowings among the Utes as does the Native Americanchurch
Religious Practitioners Shamans held thepower of heal-ing obtainedthrough dreams or from other shamans Healing methods involvedsongs, dances, and various pieces of para-phernalia, the forms for all of which were learned through the dreams Specialshaman designations included weather, bear, evil, sexual, andchildbirth Both men and women practiced shamanism A payment was expected if the cure was suc-cessful
Ceremonies Two ceremonieshave dominated Ute social and religious life: the Bear Dance and the Sun Dance The former isindigenous to the Ute andaboriginallywas held in thespring tocoincide with the emergence ofthe bear from hi-bernation The dance was held in alarge brush enclosure or danceplaza andlasted about ten days The dancing, which was mostly done by couples, propitiated bears to increase hunting andsexual prowess A theme of rebirth and fertility is pervasive throughout This theme wasreinforcedby the an-nouncementof thecompletion of a girl'spuberty rites during the ceremony TheSunDance wasborrowed from the Plains tribes between 1880 and 1890 This ceremony was held in July, and the dancing lasted for four days and nights The em-phasis of the Sun Dance was on individual or community es-teem and welfare, and its adoption was symptomatic of the feelings of despair heldbythe Indians at that time Partici-pantsoftenhoped fora vision orcuresfor the sick Consis-tent with the emphasis of this ceremony was the fact that dancing wasby individuals rather than couples as was the casewith the BearDance Bothceremonies continue to be heldby the Ute,although the timing of the Bear Dance tends
tobe later in the year TheGhost Dance was briefly popular during the late 1880s and 1890s ontheUintah-Ouray Reser-vation
Arts The Uteenjoy singingand many songs are specific to the Bear Dance and curing The style of singing is reminis-centof Plains groups Singinganddancing for entertainment continue tobe important Rockart wasanother form of ex-pression, and both pictographs (painted) and petrogylphs (pecked) of obvious Ute manufacture have been docu-mented
Medicine Curing ceremonies attempted to drive evil forces from thebody through songs, sucking tubes, and so on, rather than through the use of medicines Herbal remedies were also applied, however, and medicinal powers were as-signed to a number ofplants These, usually the leaves or
roots, were pounded and boiled and the resulting potion drunk
Death and Afterlife Death wasatime of community and individual loss and was formallyobserved by abstentions from certainbehaviors andbyactssuchashair cutting Mourning lasted up to a year Care was taken to ensure that theghost of the deceased did not return, although itwasgenerally held that the soul lingered near thebody for severaldays All souls went to an afterlife similar to this world Burial and funeral customsincludedburning the house wherein death occurred and the destruction of most personal property, which
some-times includedhorses, dogs, and slaves.Bodies were washed,