Traditional Choctaw Women's Wear

Picture Here in Choctaw Regalia LyndsI Riley, Princess 2003

CLOTHES

The Choctaw clothes in early days in Mississippi were whatever was available within their region. the early clothes consisted of a blouse and short skirt made of animal hide for the woman. Deer brains were used in tanning the hides. The men wore breechcloth and moccasin. When traveling, they wore pants and shirt. In the winter, they wore other garments of animal hide and furs with the lower ends of leggings tucked into the moccasin. They wore moccasins when traveling, but often went barefoot at home. Later, the women invariably wore a blouse and skirt made of cotton material. In the winter, the body was protected by a shawl. They wore moccasins similar to those worn by man and went barefoot at home. For ornament, they wore wooden beads. Both men and women wore their hair long and plaited or flowing loosely. The clothes worn after the arrival to their new homeland were similar to those worn by the white settlers. The dress style changed among the women of the white settlers, but the Choctaw women continue to war the loosely fitted dress with the hemline just above the ankle. She wore an apron and kerchief on her head and went barefoot at home. During the 1930's the women began to adopt the dress style of that era and ready-made dresses were available for purchase. Today the Choctaw women have accepted and keep abreast of current fashion and no longer are they "set apart by the clothes they wear".

CEREMONIAL DRESS

The clothes for ceremonial activities were colorful and carefully sewn by hand. the origin and date of adoption of this distinctive dress is not certain but is similar to the traditional peasant dress in France Brittany's Province of early 1800's. The handmade dress has a full sleeve and flowing skirt with ruffles requiring up to six yards of colorful cotton material. The Choctaw dress of today is usually of solid color of yellow, red, blue or green with contrasting color. The decoration symbolizes the mountain and valleys with a path or trail beside them. The circle and cross symbolizes the sun and the stars. A decorative white apron with contrasting trim and ruffles is an integral part of the Choctaw woman's dress. It is decorative as well as functional. The marital status of the woman determines the opening of the dress. The unmarried woman's dress is opened in the back, while the married women's dress is opened at the front for accessibility to nourishment for infant. Ornaments worn with the dress for special occasions include a beaded decorative comb on the crown of the head. Other beaded decorations include earrings, medallion, collar necklace in a diamond lace design, and shoulder necklace. Multi-color of ribbons are normally worn at the back as decorations while performing "Choctaw social dance". These ribbons are worn for the people and are either colored to coordinate with the color of your dress or in the 6 sacred colors. A white handkerchief is worn at the neckline and moccasins completes the ensemble look. 

WOMEN

The Women and Girls wear regalia composed of the following six items:

1. The comb (issep isht elpi) is usually made of silver with fancy cutout work, but in Densmore's days it was sometimes made of an old-fashioned man's celluloid collar (cf. Densmore 1943: 116). The comb is worn just back of the crown of the head.

2. A bead necklace (shikalla nondzhi) is similar to that of the men, done in "net" or openwork beadwork, like a small bib in its shape.

3. The traditional Choctaw woman's dress (Chahta hoyo ilifoka) is the Choctaw version of a common style worn by white women in the early nineteenth century. It has full sleeves, either full length or three-quarters length, a fitted top, and a long skirt with one (Oklahoma) or two (Mississippi) ruffles at the bottom. Like the man's shirt, the woman's dress is of a solid color such as red, blue, yellow, or pink, or light green, and it is ornamented with cutout appliqué' work in a contrasting color on the bosom, back, cuffs, and in two or three rows at and just above the hem.

4. Over the dress is worn a long white apron (na foka intikpa takali) with ruffles at the bottom and sides with long ties in the back. Sometimes the apron is decorated with a single row of appliqué' at the edge in a contrasting color. 

5. Some women and girls wear a bunch of long ribbons (sita lapushki) of various colors hanging from the back of the neck nearly to the hem of the skirt.

6. Commercially made shoes or moccasins (shulush) complete the woman's regalia.

A variety of hairstyles are seen. In Mississippi mature women generally wear their hair brushed back from the forehead and tied or fastened with a comb at the back of the neck, while younger women and girls wear theirs parted in the middle and falling loose over the shoulders. In Oklahoma one is more likely to see shorter hair and permanent waves. Younger women and girls in both states sometimes wear two braids, probably a reflection of Pan-Indian sentiments. In both Mississippi and Oklahoma younger girls sometimes wear Pan-Indian-Style beaded headbands and beaded "Powwow Princess" Coronets.

Silver earrings, bracelets, and finger rings are seen in both Mississippi and Oklahoma. 

Obsolete items of feminine costume are face paint (nashuka humachi) and a second silver comb worn at the front of the head to "frame the face."

THE MEANING OF DIFFERENT SYMBOLS

Perhaps the most characteristic feature of present-day Choctaw costuming, both male and female, is the cutout appliqué' work noted above in connection with the men's shirts and the women's dresses and aprons. There seems to be a limited number of designs employed in this type of ornamentation. Buster Ned supplied the following interpretation of some of these appliqué' designs.

1. The diamond design, is derived from the markings of a diamondback rattlesnake. (note added) "Because of the medicine derived from them".

2. The Saint Andrew's cross design, X, according to Buster Ned, derives from the Choctaw stickball game (kebutsha): "In years past [the player] when the game was over... Would hang the sticks on the walls of the house, and put [them] in the shape of an X. the design means "May our paths cross again and again." The Saint Andrew's cross design is also commonly seen in beadwork.

3. The half-diamond design, according to Buster Ned, "is derived from, [the] life of the people. The Choctaw people believed in the Great Spirit (God) in that their life followed an imaginary road. [The design symbolizes] that when they give aid to someone sick, they come off this imaginary road, and when the sick was well, he returned to this road and continued,. [Likewise] when he did something bad, he again left the road, only he was on the opposite side, thus the half diamond design."

Or

4. The road design, according to Buster Ned, represents the "road of life" which one travels in his or her span on earth, as mentioned in connection with the half diamond design above.

5. The circle design, O, represents the Choctaw tribe. Buster Ned comments: "The Choctaws believed, and still do, that we live in a circle (imaginary) and that, in this circle, a man or woman cannot talk about (gossip) or tell bad tales on another Choctaw. If this happens then this is...Passed on until [within] a short period of time the person who did the talking finds himself or herself being shunned by his fellow tribesman and he then "out of the circle" and he'll be wondering why."

6. The ball design, filled in circle, represents the ball used in the Choctaw stickball game. According to Buster this design was worn only on the garments of the male stickball players. This design is apparently obsolete, as I have never seen it in use in either Mississippi or Oklahoma. It is nevertheless clearly identifiable as a representation of the Choctaws in neatly covered with interwoven rawhide or a leather strip, which explains the interior line work in this design.

7. The reversal spiral or "coiled snake" design. This design represents the giant horned serpent of southeastern mythology coiling and uncoiling. It is definitely prehistoric in origin, as it appears as a pottery design on vessels from the Mississippian archaeological culture. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was in wide spared use as a beadwork design on baldrics. I have observed it on baldrics collected form the Cherokees, Creeks, Alabamans, and Coushatta's as well as from the Choctaws. at present it continues in use only among the Choctaws. In 1965 I collected a baldric from Wilson Morris, of the Bogue Chitto Community in Mississippi, which employs the reversed spiral motif together with design 2, the Saint Andrew's cross. The reversed spiral design is sometimes split into two parts or otherwise modified.

8. Another common beadwork design is the "friendship" design, identified by Wilson Morris.

9. The sunburst and sunburst enclosing a star are also common beadwork designs, but I did not secure any interpretations of their symbolism. 

Lace Collar Necklace

Oklahoma Choctaw Ceremonial Dress