212 BULLETIN, PUBLIC MUSEUM, MILWAUKEE [Vol. 19 



A pinch of tobacco was commonly dropped in the water before setting 

 out on a fishing expedition or trip as an offering to insure a safe journey, 

 but as far as I could determine, this is no longer done. 



Observance of Taboo 



Another means of preserving individual health was by the faithful ob- 

 servance of certain taboos. In some instances a breach of taboo affected the 

 transgressor, but more often it resulted in injury to another person. The 

 majority of taboos m Chippewa culture did not concern health, but in two 

 categories, menstrual and mourning, they were not only associated with 

 bodily injury, but could be lethal. 



Menstrual Taboos 



The Chippewa believed that contact with a menstruating woman or 

 anything she touched was harmful. "Those that touched her or anything 

 that she had handled such as food, water, or clothing would become very 

 sick. She even had to be careful about touching herself. Formerly such girls 

 used sticks to scratch their heads or other parts of their bodies because using 

 a comb might cause the hair to fall out. Scratching the body might cause the 

 finger nails to drop off or raise blisters on the skin." (Kinietz, 1947, p. 125.) 

 Girls received instructions in this taboo during their puberty fast at their 

 first menses. They were isolated in a special hut for a week or more during 

 which time they were brought food but had to cook it oa their own fire 

 and eat it in separate dishes. They were told not to bathe in the lake or it 

 would kill the rice crop. They were told that a menstruating woman must 

 never step over a young child or men's clothing for sickness or even death 

 would result to that child or man. A young married couple was told not to 

 have intercourse during the catamenial period of the woman or the man 

 would get sick and might even die. It is said that a menstruating woman 

 even crossing the path of a man could do him harm. One informant stated 

 that if a woman was mean enough she could put some menstrual blood in 

 the food or clothing of a man and cripple him, but he knew of no instance 

 of this ever having been done. We learned of the case of a woman who 

 stepped over the cap of her son. She steamed the cap, and the son wore it, 

 but he got a sore eye, then paralysis of one side of his face, and he finally 

 died (D. O., Field Notes 1942). 



