It was a momentous day at Tippesaukee Farm, near Port Andrew, in the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway on Sunday, May 18. Crosscurrents Heritage Center (CHC) welcomed the Ho-Chunk ‘Wisconsin Dells Singers & Dancers’ to the farm, marking the first time the Ho-Chunk people returned to the land in almost 200 years. Prior to settlement in 1838, the farm was home to inhabited Ho-Chunk and Meskwaki villages.

Bruce Moffat, seventh generation descendant of Richland County’s first European settler John Coumbe, welcomed the Singers & Dancers, and the almost 100 people gathered to witness their performance.

“Crosscurrents Heritage Center is, in many ways, a new gathering place here in southwest Wisconsin, but it is also a very old one. For one thing, our family has been gathering here for sev-en generations,” Moffat explained. “But this place, known as Tippesaukee Farm, was established on an inhabited Ho Chunk village. The Ho Chunk Nation and its ancestors have called this land home since the Ice Age, and their deep understanding of the landscape is the basis of their life ways, and in many ways, defines them as a people.”

Moffat told the story of the forced land cession and relocations of the Ho-Chunk people, and how they always made their way back to their homelands in Wisconsin.

“In 1837 the US government coerced the Ho-Chunk nation into ceding all its remaining lands north of the Wisconsin River. This was followed by the forced removal of the Ho-Chunk to lands west of the Mississippi River. The people were repeatedly moved to a sequence of five different reservations in what are now Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska. These journeys caused much suffering and death due to starvation, disease and abuse. However, despite these forced relocations, tribal members kept coming back to their home in Wisconsin, a testament to their courage, determination and their deep connection with their homeland through the care of succeeding generations. As a result, the Ho-Chunk’s songs, dances, stories, foodways, kinship and language remain intact.”

“We honor the resiliency of the Ho-Chunk people who have cared for this land with gratitude, reverence, deep ecological understanding and a concern for the seven generations to come,” Moffat said. “Here at Crosscurrents Heritage Center, we hope to offer more opportunities for Ho-Chunk people to tell their stories, stories which contain the truths of what happened here, between the Ho-Chunk and the European Americans. This event is one step in a longer journey, and in many ways, it's a journey of understanding.”

Moffat was audibly moved, with tears in his voice, as he welcomed the Singers & Dancers to the farm.

“You're going to experience music and dance from people who have lived in this land for 1,000’s and 1,000’s of years. For me, it's like hearing the voice of the Earth, the soil right here in Wisconsin, sing out loud,” Moffat said. “The drum has returned to Tippesaukee!”

Introduction

The performance began with an introduction of Elliott Funmaker, lead singer for the group. He and his grandson Gabbi Funmaker, played the drum.

“When we try to do a lot of these shows like this, we try to educate the public on the Ho-Chunk people, and a lot of times you don't even get to see us,” Funmaker explained. “It's always good to see each and every one of you here, and to actually take an interest in what's going on with your neighbors. The Ho-Chunk people are caretakers of this beautiful land over here; the Creator God put us here. We try to do our best to follow what the Creator has intended to us to do, and that's to care for this land. And so, part of our mission is to tell the other people that live with us that you've also got to do your part of taking care of this land.”

At this point, Funmaker asked members of the audience to stand as they sang a Ho-Chunk flag song, followed by a Ho-Chunk veterans song. Then, came the grand entry of all the different dancers depicting the different regalia of the northern woodlands, the great plains, and the grass dance, women’s traditional and modern regalia, the jingle dance, and women’s fancy dance.

“That's how everything goes in our circle – our word for it means “a hard way of life.” You have to live a certain way,” Funmaker explained. “These dancers know that, and they try to live that when they come to the circle. When we have this circle here, we redeem this area, and it is sacred to do our dance here.”

The regalia

Funmaker, his oldest grandson Bryson, and his wife Mary described the different regalia worn by the dancers. These included a northern plains traditional, traditional women’s applique, a woodland style, a jingle dress, a grass dancer, and a women’s fancy dance.

“One of the things is that we always have a lot of eagle feathers, and we have a lot of stories to go with that,” Funmaker said. “The government has a way to get eagle feathers, so we fill out an application. It takes only four days to fill out, and you send it in, and you wait four-to-seven years till you actually get something done. I'm not kidding either, you know, and you can have two kids and a dog by then.”

Funmaker explained that when you see eagle feathers, they are claimed by veterans who have taken lives in combat. And all the headwind feathers seen with the red tips on them, represent lives, and so, he said, “these things mean a lot to us.”

Following a friendship dance, Funmaker explained the components of the northern plains regalia.

“We would see these guys out in Montana, South Dakota, and North Dakota,” Funmaker said. “The eagle feathers on the head come from the golden eagle, and the center feather is considered the most sacred feather of the eagle. And so these feathers go up on top of the head. The headpiece is called a “roach,” and the feathers are very sacred.”

Funmaker said that the head roach itself is made of a porcupine guard, with parts of it made from the white tail deer. He said it's all woven into one headpiece, with a beaded head gear up on top to hold their feathers down and to keep the head roach in there. And then, he said, they have a necklace, and the nice looking shirts.

“And then you got the war clubs for if you have to protect yourself, and a dance stick,” Funmaker explained. “In battle with the stick, they would actually touch the enemy, and then you either let them live or end it right there.”

Funmaker pointed to the array of eagle feathers worn on the lower back of the dancers, which he called a “bustle.” He said that there were two different styles of bustles being worn. Last, he pointed out that, around their ankles, they wore bells with some angora, and moccasins on their feet.

The dancers wearing northern plains regalia then performed a dance demonstrating the style typical in that region.

Mary Funmaker described the two different styles of regalia worn by female Ho-Chunk dancers – the traditional applique regalia and a more modern version.

“Ho-Chunk women dancers all have feathers they receive from veterans of the warrior clan, with the red tip representing a life,” Funmaker explained. “In addition, we wear beaded hair wraps, beadwork earrings, shirts covered in beads made from bones and seeds, fans, skirts with panels, and moccasins made from one piece of hide with a flap.”

Following Mary Funmaker’s remarks, the female dancers performed a women’s exhibition dance.

Bryson Funmaker, who explained his name in the Ho-Chunk language means ‘Yellow Grizzly,’ explained the woodland style of regalia. He said that instead of a head roach, an otter skin turban is worn, and these dancers don’t wear a bustle. He said they do wear arm bands, a yarn belt, leggings, angoras and moccasins, and they carry war sticks.

Following an exhibition of the woodland style of dance, Bryson Funmaker explained the significance of the Jingle Dress worn by a female dancer.

“The Jingle Dress is a regalia that comes to us from the Ojibwe people, and the Jingle Dance is a healing dance,” Funmaker said. “The story goes that an Ojibwe woman, who lived in a village where there was a great sickness, dreamed of the a song and the jingle dress (which had tobacco plugs instead of bells originally). She shared the song with the singers, made the dress, and when she danced the Jingle Dance, everyone in her village was healed.”

Following an exhibition of the Jingle Dance, Funmaker explained the grass dance regalia, which he said was common among the Omaha people of Nebraska.

“When they held their ceremonies, they would send four people to the four directions with tobacco,” Funmaker explained. “They would dance a dance intended to smash down the grass in the area where the ceremony would be held.”

Funmaker explained that the ribbons on the shirt of the Grass Dancers is intended to represent the grass.

Last up was Destiny, who demonstrated the women’s fancy dance regalia, and the lively women’s fancy dance.

“Some of our women wanted to dance a faster, more exciting dance, and so the fancy dance style started,” Funmaker explained. “This is a newer dance style that is also known as a butterfly dance – when she starts dancing, watch out, because she’ll be going like 100 miles-per-hour!”

The last dance performed was a two-step dance, also known as “the lovers dance.” Members of the audience were invited to partner the Ho-Chunk dancers in the dance.

The performance ended with a travelling song, and a prayer for safe travel home on a beautiful day.