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Shaman Medicine Bundle

How did the Native American Shaman use herbs to heal people?

Grade Level: 4th Extension Lesson- Social Studies/History/Civics

Sunshine State Standards FL Frameworks for K-12 Gifted Learners

Week #5 Learning Goal: Why some people leave their

homelands.

Big Ideas & Benchmarks: SS.4.A.2.1 – Compare Native American Tribes (Apalachee, Calusa, Tequesta, Timacua, Tocobaga) in Florida SS.4.A.3.2 - Describe causes and effects of European colonization on the Native American tribes of Florida. SS.4.A.3.6 - Identify the effects of Spanish rule in Florida. Common Core: R.I.1.1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

Goal 1 : Thinking Creatively Objective 1: the student identified as gifted will be able to critically examine the complexity of knowledge: the location, definition, and organization of a variety of fields of knowledge. Goal 3: Use and manipulate information sources Objective 1: The student identified as gifted will be able to conduct thoughtful research/exploration in multiple fields.

Subject(s): (To be used during Week 5 on the 4th Grade CCPS Social Studies Curriculum Map)

Description: The contents of a medicine bundle are generally considered holy by the tribal community, and are meant to be kept secret by the owner. The contents of a medicine bundle are not meant to touch the ground. This is why they are to be securely wrapped. Prayers and rituals usually accompany the manufacture and opening of medicine bundles, and women rarely handle them. A medicine bundle can be passed down generationally as an inheritance. The students will make a medicine bundle and learn about the healing abilities of herbs.

Closure: As you wrap up this lesson, have discussions on what other cultures believe can be respected. Most importantly reflect how learning about what other people believe can help us to respect different cultures and recognize how we should learn from them.

Shaman Medicine Bundle

Teacher Activity Sheet

Goal: The contents of a medicine bundle are generally considered holy by the tribal

community, and are meant to be kept secret by the owner. The contents of a medicine bundle are not meant to touch the ground. This is why they are to be securely wrapped. Prayers and rituals usually accompany the manufacture and opening of medicine bundles, and women rarely handle them. A medicine bundle can be passed down generationally as an inheritance. The students will make a medicine bundle and learn about the healing abilities of herbs.

Materials: Student Activity sheets printed for each student, highlighters, pencils,

brown flannel 9” X 12” rectangle, yarn needles, brown crocheting thread, assorted color pony beads, colorful feathers, 24” leather string

Procedure:

1. Introduce the students to the importance of a Shaman to the Native Americans. Explain that during this time period there were no doctors, hospitals or medications. The Shaman brought healing natural herbs to the sick and gave hope to those needed spiritual guidance as well as physical ailments.

2. Assign student groups to a section of the Native American Shaman and healing herbs. Once in their small cooperative groups read the Student Activity text to take notes and further research their topic. As the students read the information they should use their In-Depth comprehension (see example shown in teacher resource section) to better understand and the selection of relevant information. (Common Core)

3. A medicine bundle is worn around the neck to protect and nurture the wearer. The students will make medicine bundle by making designs using the pony beads, string and flannel rectangle.

4. A medicine bag is quick and easy to assemble. First you can decorate it with beads if you choose, then fold in half width wise and sew the sides up making an opening at the top. Make small cuts and loop the leather in order to keep the contents inside and to wear around the neck. Each bundle is a unique piece of art, you may add colorful feathers to add adornment. (See pictures of the steps to make the Medicine Bundle attch.)

5. Have the students take their medicine bundle home and fill it with three things. It could be a feather, herbs, arrow head, stone or even a shell.

6. After open reflection of the text and completion of the medicine bundle have the students give their reflection of the project and what they have in their medicine bundle. Display them in the room for further research.

7. You may also use the Hot-Dok Higher Order questions (at the bottom of this document) to help with discussion starters and may want to watch Discovery Education videos on Angel if needed.

Shaman Medicine Bundle

Student Activity Sheet

Goal: The contents of a medicine bundle are generally considered holy by the tribal

community, and are meant to be kept secret by the owner. The contents of a medicine bundle are not meant to touch the ground. This is why they are to be securely wrapped. Prayers and rituals usually accompany the manufacture and opening of medicine bundles, and women rarely handle them. A medicine bundle can be passed down generationally as an inheritance. The students will make a medicine bundle and learn about the healing abilities of herbs.

Materials: Student Activity sheets printed for each student, highlighters, pencils,

brown flannel 9” X 12” rectangle, yarn needles, brown crocheting thread, assorted color pony beads, colorful feathers, 24” leather string

Procedure:

8. Introduce the students to the importance of a Shaman to the Native Americans. Explain that during this time period there were no doctors, hospitals or medications. The Shaman brought healing natural herbs to the sick and gave hope to those needed spiritual guidance as well as physical ailments.

9. Assign student groups to a section of the Native American Shaman and healing herbs. Once in their small cooperative groups read the Student Activity text to take notes and further research their topic. As the students read the information they should use their In-Depth comprehension (see example shown in teacher resource section) to better understand and the selection of relevant information. (Common Core)

10. A medicine bundle is worn around the neck to protect and nurture the wearer. The students will make medicine bundle by making designs using the pony beads, string and flannel rectangle.

11. A medicine bag is quick and easy to assemble. First you can decorate it with beads if you choose, then fold in half width wise and sew the sides up making an opening at the top. Make small cuts and loop the leather in order to keep the contents inside and to wear around the neck. Each bundle is a unique piece of art, you may add colorful feathers to add adornment.

12. Have the students take their medicine bundle home and fill it with three things. It could be a feather, herbs, arrow head, stone or even a shell.

13. After open reflection of the text and completion of the medicine bundle have the students give their reflection of the project and what they have in their medicine bundle. Display them in the room for further research.

14. You may also use the Hot-Dok Higher Order questions (at the bottom of this document) to help with discussion starters and may want to watch Discovery Education videos on Angel if needed.

Shaman Medicine Bundle

Student Activity Sheet

A medicine bundle is a wrapped package used by Native Americans for religious purposes. A package of this type can also be referred to as a medicine bag. Medicine bundles are usually employed as a ritual aid in Shamanistic religions. The size of a medicine bundle generally varies from 2 to 14 inches in length, but could be larger.

Much of what we know today about herbal medicine is based on Native American healing. Herbs were a staple of Native American medicine, and for almost any kind of complaint, tinctures, salves or teas made of leaves, flowers, bark or berries were applied or consumed to treat the ailment. Native American healing has saved millions of lives, thanks to the invention of penicillin, which was derived from a Native American treatment for infection using mold. Before penicillin was discovered by doctors, Native Americans had been using it as a remedy for centuries to treat illnesses.

It is usually a collection of various items that might include seeds, pine conifer cones, grass, animal teeth or claws, horse hair, rocks, tobacco, beads, arrowheads, bones, even human remains or carved items or anything else of relatively small size that possesses spiritual value to the bundle's owner. A shaman’s bundle generally contains more items than a warrior's bundle, and can include such objects as one rattle, skins from animals, and the shaman's hair and nail

The contents of a medicine bundle are generally considered holy by the tribal community, and are meant to be kept secret by the owner. The contents of a medicine bundle are not meant to touch the ground. This is why they are to be securely wrapped. Prayers and rituals usually accompany the manufacture and opening of medicine bundles, and women rarely handle them. A medicine bundle can be passed down generationally as an inheritance.

A medicine bundle is considered a very precious possession which represents a person's spiritual life. It can possess powers for protection, good luck, good hunting, or healing. As the owner grows older, more items can be added to it. Medicine bundles are usually buried with the owner, or passed on to a friend upon the owner's death.

Medicine bundles can also be maintained for an entire tribe. A tribal medicine bundle is usually much larger and contains special objects which can only be handled by certain tribe members. It is only opened on special occasions.

All Indian men had a "medicine bag", much as a white woman has a purse. Like the purse, the medicine bag -- which might be three or four feet long -- contained objects and substances

which had a meaning for the owner. Mementos of events which occurred during his vision quest as a young lad would certainly be there. As years went by "souvenirs" were added. Suppose the young man found a swan’s feather (the swan being the bird that symbolized Yogasete, the creator) it could acquire an air of magic and go into the bag. Roots like calamus would be kept there. A braid of sweet grass, where it grew, or in the north a piece of a bracket fungus which gave off a sweetish smell when placed on red coals provided incense when the man wanted to pray in a special way. A stone, a root, or other object with a marked or fancied resemblance to an animal became a fetish--supposedly endowed with magical powers.

The shaman’s "bundle" on the other hand generally held many more articles--as many as fifty. Often it was contained in the skin of an animal, sometimes that of a buffalo calf.

The shaman’s medicine bag might contain almost anything! A typical bundle might contain an elaborate headdress made from the skull or head-skin of a "sacred" animal or from fur or swan’s down. There might be a headband and certainly a rattle made from the skulls or bones of any small animal. A well-stocked bundle would also contain braids of scented grass, a long pipe, tobacco and a tamper for loading the bowl. The pipe might be three feet long, the stem decorated with the fur of small animals. There might be beads and bits of cloth or any stone with a hole in it, or a stone shaped even remotely like a buffalo or a beaver and various herbal medicines wrapped up in little bundles. There might even be a drum in a bundle. Anything to which the shaman could attach any magical meaning could go in. It was an elaborate collection of "charms" and an essential part of his working equipment.

In many ways the sacred bundle was a nuisance to the shaman and his family. It must be hung on a tripod in the sun in fine weather and be carried in when a storm threatened. Nobody might pass behind it and women seldom if ever touched it. Every time it was moved the right prayers must be said or it would lose its magic. Whenever it was opened a special prayer must be said for every article in it.

If a man wished to rid himself of the responsibility of caring for it he must find somebody else able and willing to pay a great price for it. Besides, the new owner must learn all of the prayers and songs by heart, without a single mistake or all the magic was "washed out, like so much blood from a wound." In other words, the shaman chose his successor, choosing some young man who had had a vision, and who was intelligent enough to master all of the ritual of chants, incantations, songs, dances and motions that accompanied the article’s use. Nevertheless, it was such a great honor to the man’s family that we might compare it to a modern boy’s preparation to go into the priesthood.

In recent years some of the tribes of Alberta found no young men who would undertake the care of the hereditary bundles. The Provincial Museum acquired some of them, on the promise that they would take care of them in the old way. A great ceremony of exchange of ownership took place with tape recordings of all of the vocal ceremonies. Some of the anthropologists learned the ancient rituals and tried to carry out the trust. Just recently, with the growing self-awareness of their culture, some of the Indians have reportedly asked for the bundles to be

given back. Presumably, some of the young men are willing to qualify before the old shamans all die. It will be interesting to see what happens.

For thousands of years Native Americans have used herbs to, not only heal the body, but, also to purify the spirit and bring balance into their lives and their surroundings. Oral traditions indicate that they learned about the healing powers of herbs and other plants by watching sick animals. There are no written records of herbal use by the indigenous people of America prior to the first contact between Europeans and the tribes. However, this changed as Native Americans shared their knowledge of how to use nature's medicines with the new settlers. A very important herb to the Native Americans was Sage, which was said to not only heal multiple problems of the stomach, colon, kidneys, liver, lungs, skin, and more, it was also believed to protect against bad spirits and to draw them out of the body or the soul. Though the list of medicinal herbs that might be carried in a Healer's medicine bundle are many and varied, those that were most often used were frequently carried such as remedies for common colds which might include American Ginseng or Boneset; herbs for aches and pains including Wild Black Cherry, Pennyroyal, and Hops; remedies for fever, including Dogwood, Feverwort, and Willow Bark.

My medicine bundles are hanging in the background

Shaman Medicine Bundle Ritual

Teacher Resources

Hot DOK Questions 1

• Can you recall______?

• When did ____ happen?

• Who was ____?

• How can you recognize____?

• What is____?

• How can you find the meaning of____?

• Can you recall____?

• Can you select____?

• How would you write___?

• What might you include on a list about___?

• Who discovered___?

• What is the formula for___?

• Can you identify___?

• How would you describe___?

Hot DOK Questions 2

• Can you explain how ____ affected ____?

• How would you apply what you learned to develop ____?

• How would you compare ____? Contrast_____?

• How would you classify____?

• How are____ alike? Different?

• How would you classify the type of____?

• What can you say about____?

• How would you summarize____?

• How would you summarize___?

• What steps are needed to edit___?

• When would you use an outline to ___?

• How would you estimate___?

• How could you organize___?

• What would you use to classify___?

• What do you notice about___?

Hot DOK Questions 3

• How is ____ related to ____?

• What conclusions can you draw _____?

• How would you adapt____ to create a different____?

• How would you test____?

• Can you predict the outcome if____?

• What is the best answer? Why?

• What conclusion can be drawn from these three texts?

• What is your interpretation of this text? Support your rationale.

• How would you describe the sequence of____?

• What facts would you select to support____?

• Can you elaborate on the reason____?

• What would happen if___?

• Can you formulate a theory for___?

• How would you test___?

• Can you elaborate on the reason___?

Hot DOK Questions 4

• Write a thesis, drawing conclusions from multiple sources.

• Design and conduct an experiment.

Gather information to develop alternative explanations for the results of an experiment.

• Write a research paper on a topic.

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• What information can you gather to support your idea about___?

• DOK 4 would most likely be the writing of a research paper or applying information from one text to

another text to develop a persuasive argument.

• DOK 4 requires time for extended thinking.

Available Rubrics

Classroom Formative Assessment

Generic Rubric Design

Scale Student

Language

4 In addition to exhibiting level 3

performance, the student

responses demonstrate in-depth

inferences and applications that

go beyond what was taught in

class.

“I know it better than my teacher taught it.”

3 The student’s responses indicate

no major errors or omissions

regarding any of the information

and/or processes taught in class.

“I know it just the way my teacher taught it.”

2 The student’s indicate errors or

incomplete knowledge of the

information and/or processes;

however they do not indicate

major errors or omissions

relative to simpler details and

processes.

“I know some of the simpler stuff, but can’t do the harder parts.”

1 The student provides responses

that indicate a distinct lack of

understanding of the knowledge.

However with help, the student

demonstrates partial

understanding of some of the

knowledge.

“With some help, I can do it.”

0 The student provides little or no

response. Even with help the

student does not exhibit a

partial understanding of the

knowledge.

“Even with help, I can’t do it.”

Source: Robert Marzano, Classroom Formative Assessment and Grading