Making a Monkey of Oneself...

When I was a boy we would often gather for a “song service” with the Big Drum. It is a ceremony in and of itself. One might say it is a smaller version of the Big Drum ceremonies that are held seasonally by the Neshnabék. This type of ceremony would usually be held mid week and could last for several hours, 2-4 hours generally.

We would meet at someone’s home, usually the “keeper of one of drums” we had in our extended families at that time. They would usually serve a simple pot luck style of supper for the members, and then would start the song service around 6-7 PM in the early evening. During those days, we had quite an active group that would gather, around 9-10 families, that meant about 30-35 people, normally. With a crowd like that, that also meant the bathroom did some overtime, but many of the people in those days also had an “outhouse” that could serve as an overflow for the guests. 

On one such an evening, our family attended a song service and participated. There was the usual crowd of people who came for each session and there was a line for the bathroom, when I asked my mother if I could go “relieve myself.” She told me to go outdoors to the “outhouse” so I didn’t have to wait too long. I went outdoors to the “privy,” not stopping to ask if someone might be in there first. I opened the door to find one of my older female relatives sitting on the potty. I quickly excused myself and ran from the scene, greatly embarrassed.

I must point out that this relative’s name was Zaga. Now Zaga sounds a lot like the word Zago too, which means ape or monkey, to the Prairie Potawatomi people I was part of. During those days, we usually went by our Indian names, and Zaga was my cousin’s name.

I went running back into the song service and breathlessly told my mother I couldn’t use the outhouse as there had been someone already in it. She asked me who was there and I answered, “Zago gi bidget se zhe anwe bwamshe ébyayan.” Her husband overheard my remark and the whole room burst into laughter when he announced he had apparently married an ape/monkey. Both Zaga and I were the brunt of a lot of teasing for the rest of the evening and for some time to come at gatherings of our people.