Getting Dressed | Clothing for a 17th Century Powhatan Woman in Tsenacommacah

[@troydodson9641]

One of my favorite things on learning the past is the legnths people go to to add color to their person. Extracting color from shellfish, spending hours making dyes or hunting difficult, even dangerous animals. You guys do great work, my thanks!

[@JYFMuseums]

You are welcome, and thank you!

[@michelehumphrey852]

Fascinating! I enjoyed seeing the use of shells to accentuate the dress. I like that various parts of animals were used in clothing and jewelry. Nothing was wasted.

[@JYFMuseums]

What was your favorite piece of clothing that Maya showed us today? Leave a comment below!

[@oliverZ433]

just her presence is enough to stop you from breathing 😍

[@leoscheibelhut940]

Another top quality presentation from JYF! Both reenactors are excellent, thank you for preserving our past the good and the bad.

[@thomastammaro693]

This video is like stepping back in time. Very informative. Awesome job. Thank you so much!!

[@kennethmoles4643]

I love these two museums!!! A must see if you're in the area.

[@robertrobert7924]

I enjoyed this video very much. I worked at The National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian, Washington DC from 2000-2004, in Collections, Conservation, and Displays. I am part Eastern Cherokee, and Celto-Germanic. I have visited Cherokee, NC many times. The most life changing event in my life was visiting the National POW WOW in Tulsa, OK in 1995. I have also visited Iceland, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden to study the Viking Era cultures.

[@drummingwithscissors661]

Awesome information about clothing worn by Virginia Indians....keep up the great work!

[@jasemac5391]

What an absolutely gorgeous lady 👍🏻🇦🇺

[@penelope-oe2vr]

Proud to be raised in powhatan 🤟

[@ianatkins1213]

Thank you. Stumbled across this and find your pieces very interesting. Powhatan are a cleaver people. One question, how did they clean their buckskin items. I imagine washing in water would make them brittle?

[@JYFMuseums]

If you were to soak leather in water, once dry the leather would be stiff rather than brittle. All that would be necessary would be to handle, use, or wear the leather again and it would easily return to a supple state.

[@FreddyBarbarossa]

What about the belt she was wearing? What's it made of and what is it?

[@JYFMuseums]

This is a finger-woven belt Maya is wearing, and it is composed of twine the Eastern Algonquian people made from various plant fibers (native Virginia plants like dogbane, yucca, milkweed, etc) and dyed using plant-based or mineral dye. The red dye comes from the root of a plant called puccoon and the black can be charcoal or decaying alder leaves.

[@ТэяЯнта]

Very beautiful, lovely girls. Thank you very much for the video.

[@tessat338]

Just an FYI if anyone is thinking of trying to recreate this look, it is illegal in the US to posses the talons or feathers of protected species, which most raptors are, or to buy, sell or to trade them. This is to protect these species from commercial exploitation. Native American tribal members can get permits for exceptions to this rule since it is part of their cultural heritage . However, without a permit, even if you find the bird remains on the ground, if you are caught with them, they will be confiscated and you can face a fine and legal prosecution. The states and US Departments of Fish and Wildlife are really serious about this sort of thing and it is super easy for them to enforce it. If you are a foreigner visiting the US, ignorance to the law is no excuse. Please do not attempt to buy or acquire talons, feathers, hides or bones from our protected raptor species and assume that if it is a raptor, it is a protected species. Thank you for your consideration and cooperation.

[@EternalEmperorofZakuul]

What if i find feathers from the birds who molted them or died of natural causes tho

[@tessat338]

@@EternalEmperorofZakuul Still illegal. "Honestly Officer! It was already dead when I found it," is a pretty standard excuse. You can report the dead bird to your state's department of wildlife or to your local animal control. If you are not a US citizen and are just visiting, DO NOT attempt to cross state or international US borders possessing any parts of our native raptors. You can seriously get arrested, fined and/or deported.

[@tinadriskell4469]

Vultures are also protected under these rules.

[@tessat338]

@@tinadriskell4469 And Owls. They should also leave our bears and native wild cats alone as well.

[@tinadriskell4469]

@@EternalEmperorofZakuul Nope. Still super illegal. The general rule is if you can't shoot and eat it, don't pick it up.

[@artastic_23]

Does she have an instagram? I’m learning more about Powhatan culture.

[@_lady4560]

Hello, I have a question. Which was the most common fur a woman would have wear? I've read an article which explained that deerskin was more expansive and not used for the normal people but for chiefs. Is that true? Thank you for the video☺️

[@JYFMuseums]

Thank you for the question. Deerskins were probably the most common fur and/or leather for any Powhatan woman or man. Deer was simply a very common herd animal that was relatively easy to hunt and process. The expense of the deer would be tied to the particular family that had taken the deer and that they were using their labor to process it. Expensive furs, or furs of high social status are probably going to be those coming from less common animals or those animals that are more dangerous to hunt; probably animals such as bear, cougar, elk, or woodland bison. Other value or expense may come from a greater number of animals having to be hunted to provide enough materials to create an article of clothing, such as the blue wing feathers of a mallard duck to construct a mantel. English accounts of trade with the Powhatan relate that they were extremely hesitant to trade any bear parts to the English.

[@wewenang5167]

THERE WERE A LOT OF DEER IN VIRGINIA AND ALL OVER SOUTHEAST US DURING THAT TIMES. ITS CHEAPER FOR THEM TO USE DEER SKIN, THE EXPENSIVE SKIN USUALLY WERE BISON BECAUSE THEY NEED TO TRADE IT WITH THE INDIANS ON THE PLAINS.

[@JYFMuseums]

There is at least one English account though that alludes to eastern bison written in June of 1613 by Captain Samuel Argall in a letter he wrote back to a Master Hawes - ==>In this voyage I got 1100 bushels of corn, which I delivered into the several storehouses, according unto the direction of Sir Thomas Gates, besides the quantity of 300 bushels reserved for mine company. As soon I had unladen this corn, I sent my men to felling of timber for the building of a frigate, which I left half finished in the hands of the carpenters at Point Comfort, the 19 of March, and returned myself with the ship into Pembrook River [this is either the Potomac or Rappahannock River], and so discovered to the head of it, which is about 65 leagues into the land, and navigable for any ship. And then marched into the country, I found great store of cattle as big as kine, of which the Indians that were my guides killed a couple which we found to be very good and wholesome meat, and very easy to be killed in regard they are heavy, slow, and not so wild as other beasts of the wilderness

[@aaronrhoades509]

I have a couple of questions I guess. ? Did the deer hides and animal hides have a progression did they start out in a place like clothing or the bed first and then graduate to going into the floor as carpet. ? And when person needed a new item of clothing/shoes did they just get something off the bed or did they go hunt an animal to get a new hard? Maybe some type of natural progression start out on the bed ends up in the floor or clothing or moccasins afterwards

[@JYFMuseums]

Regarding such progression, we do not know. One very important consideration would be hair or or hair off. Hides for clothing or moccasins would have the hair removed early in the processing of the hides into leather. Hides for bedding or for the floor would be processed with the hair left on. The exception may be clothing for winter use with hair left on.

[@tinadriskell4469]

Hi, I want to make a leather dress like the one in the video, but I am having NO luck finding a pattern. Can you help me out?

[@JYFMuseums]

For our Powhatan clothing we are not using patterns, but cutting each garment out according the each individual historic interpreter.

[@mallarielove]

thank you for this! i’ve been looking for videos about this :)) it may seem primitive but we didn’t have access to the rest of the world like europeans, who had access to textiles made in other parts of the world.

[@alexyatsyuk70]

Is she a native american or from asia?

[@quavonhall7050]

Whew Mya is beautiful 😍

[@halimawilkes3475]

I love my family 😍

[@glennarnold4108]

Beautiful lady 🌹🌹🌹

[@rs061290]

I like this Powhatan Girl she looks cute!!!!😀❤️❤️

[@ryanswinney5026]

Cute? Cute don't even come close she's beautiful

[@EternalEmperorofZakuul]

I'd sell my soul to earn her love

[@farmingowl1]

What was the name of the plant that was used for the red paint? It was hard to hear

[@JYFMuseums]

That was puccoon. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puccoon

[@farmingowl1]

thank you@@JYFMuseums

[@nananellypumpkinkeaf]

Sorry~ I missed it, also! 😛

[@josephbevacqua9217]

Nice video

[@gecko2738]

They are both very pretty women 😍

[@marg716]

Thank youu!

[@JYFMuseums]

You're welcome!

[@NickJamesNORSE91NATIVE]

Im almost 32 and just found out im Powhatan

[@JohnnyBlaze5100]

are you two Indian? what tribe?

[@КарлДарлоуВратарь]

the woman on the left is a Townswoman, (american settler), the woman on the right is Powhatan

[@Tsonontowan]

Thanks bye. 👋 Hehehe 😉

[@mendozagriffith2720]

is maya a powhatan women for real?

[@midnightgamer2788]

So Disney wasn't too far off with Pocahontas' dress and tatoos but made her tattoos more aestheticly pleasing to modern beauty standards.

[@wewenang5167]

WELL POCAHONTAS WAS 12 WHEN THE ENGLISH WAS AT JAMES TOWN AND SHE MOSTLY JUST GO NAKED IN THE TOWN, MOST POWHATAN GIRL THAT WERE NOT MENSTRUATE YET DIDN'T WEAR ANY CLOTHING.

[@lrritt6309]

I wish she had stood up and turned around so I could see the clothing better.

[@КарлДарлоуВратарь]

lol

[@bryanpalpatine8746]

The Host. 😲

[@davidwarren5628]

Um ah um? How authentic. 🙄

[@democracyisajewshill3341]

What in the farb?!?

[@Jordanm218]

Why don't they just wear casual clothes we have today.

[@JYFMuseums]

The Powhatan peoples do wear casual clothes, but our museums are living history museums that use historic clothing of the 17th and 18th centuries as tools to teach our visitors of the past.

[@rty1955]

Your audio js about 4db too low. Please re-edit/publish

[@RW77000]

I love the purpose of the video but as an Algonquin women I'm wondering why you both are dressed in Algonquin regalia instead of simply hiring Algonquin people as models to recreate our Indigenous history.

[@JamesWatkins-fm5pd]

Both? One is wearing English clothing. And they're not models, they're historians. Historians that work for a state agency. Pretty sure that if a state agency started hiring (or not hiring) people based on their ethnicity it would be a pretty big problem. Also they've pointed out numerous times on their channel and in comments that some of their staff are indeed of indigenous heritage. Whether every single one is or not is not something an educational institution can control without discriminatory practices. I for one am just glad to see the indigenous story being told, and by some clearly passionate people who actually care.

[@snowwhite5842]

It’s a portrayal. They also are not from the 1600’s so not everything is spot on.