77 
Puberty. Puberty customs for girls among the Satudene were very 
rigorous. A little spruce brush shelter was made at some distance from 
the family tipi, to which the girl retired with an ax and a pail, to boil 
little pieces of meat. For the first four days the girl was not supposed 
to eat or drink but might chew some spruce bark (not birch). After 
this period the mother left a little boiled meat or broth near the shelter. 
The girl wore a caribou-skin hood which hung over the face and she was 
not permitted to speak to or look at anyone. It was said that she had 
the evil-eye and for that reason was put away. The story is told that 
two rocks near McPherson (lower Mackenzie river) are two brothers at 
whom a sister who was having her first menstrual period looked, at her 
mother’s behest, because the boys were killing too much game. 
The mother or father told a daughter when she might return to the 
family tipi, but even then the girl might not talk to or look at anyone 
for from two to four months. During the entire period, she used special 
eating utensils and drank water through a swan’s bone. The period of 
isolation in a separate tipi generally lasted from six weeks to two months. 
The time may have been originally longer. 
Women undergo numerous taboos at recurrent periods. They must 
not touch animals at such times, since the game would be offended and 
not permit itself to be caught; for the same reason, they were not allowed 
to walk on rivers or lakes where men were fishing or hunting beaver. 
Should an animal see any menstrual blood, that animal could no longer 
be killed by any hunter. The taboo most commented upon in the literature 
is probably that of forcing the women to break new trails with their snow- 
shoes rather than walk in the trails used by the family. This caused great 
hardship, as may be appreciated only by those familiar with the labour 
involved in making fresh trails. Women lived apart at these periods, 
or at least in a separated section of the tipi. Keith noticed (1890, II, 
page 91) among the Beaver (Slave) of lower Liard river that the women 
in breaking new trails dropped branches on the road as a warning to a 
stranger coming behind, that he might not follow in the trail under penalty 
of suffering sore legs (For accounts of menstrual customs, See also: Keith, 
1890, II, page 107; Back, 1836, page 214; Petitot, 1893, page 378; Russell, 
1898, page 163; Morice “Anthropos”, vol. V, page 976). 
The puberty customs have disappeared to a great degree in their 
obvious forms among the Satudene. If there were puberty ceremonies 
for boys they seem to be no longer remembered. It is significant that 
word of a girl’s coming of age is said to travel faster than any other news 
among the natives. 
Marriage. Children were given in marriage very young (before 
puberty) and the married couple stayed with the bride’s parents until 
the girl was old enough to do the household work of the family and the 
boy to provide food. Keith comments on the early marriage and adds 
that the ages were from ten to twelve years. He speaks also (Keith, 
1890, II, page 114) of the lack of regard paid to the welfare or happiness 
of the couple involved, thus accounting for the later liberties taken 
by the girl in choosing a new husband for herself. Petitot (1876, page 32) 
sums up years of experience among the people when he makes that amusing, 
if acidic, comment on married love: “Si vous voulez preter a rire, parlez 
