There was no formal ceremony when boys attained manhood except that the youths were generally sent alone into the neighboring mountains for several days to seek special “powers” to give them skill and luck in certain pursuits such as deer hunting, archery, fighting, shamanism, and the like.

During menstruation all women had to observe many taboos too. These included eating alone and living in seclusion. They could eat no meat or fish, fat, or salt, and must not cook. They must avoid sick persons and hunters, and could not scratch themselves except with the scratching stick. At the end of the taboo periods of four or five days, they usually bathed in streams for purification.

Curiously, wives’ menstruations had to be observed by their husbands in a number of ways. Most common was prohibition of smoking, and they must eat lightly. Among mountain Maidu the husband could hunt and fish, but could not eat any flesh; among Atsugewi the reverse was true.

Chapter XXVII
MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE

Marriage itself was not formalized with any ceremony. It was common practice for parents to arrange marriages when children were young and these arrangements, which involved some exchange of gifts or payment, were usually honored later. Most other marriages were arranged by parents later when the children had reached maturity and generally these recognized the children’s wishes. Both of these types of marriages were the basis for extensive exchange of presents and visits, details of which differed among the several tribes. In addition there was almost universal payment for the girl—about ten strings of clamshell disks was standard. The boy and girl became husband and wife simply upon starting to live together, but the new status was usually marked by a feast participated in by the families concerned. Generally there followed a period of residence of the couple with one or both of the in-laws. On occasion marriages grew from intimacies with no parental negotiations, but such matches were not well regarded by the community.

Indian men frequently married women from other villages and occasionally even women from other tribes.

If a wife died her sister was generally obliged to marry the widower. Likewise, if the husband died it was customary that his brother would marry the widow. A wise institution was the relationship of the husband and wife with their in-laws. Neither could speak to nor hand things directly to the in-law of opposite sex, or in some cases even to the brothers and sisters of the in-laws; such things had to be done by a third party. In some instances the mother-in-law even avoided looking at her son-in-law even though she might like him. Such arrangements no doubt prevented many arguments and quarrels, but as far as their own evaluation of these customs were concerned, the basis lay in the belief that a bear might eat either or both of the violators of the in-law taboos.

The practice of having more than one wife at a time was common. One man might have three or four wives, but rarely had more than two at a time. Rich men or head-men and chiefs were most apt to have more than two wives.

Divorce was simple indeed. The man just sent the girl back home if she were barren, lazy, promiscuous, or the like. If he had good reasons for wanting to get rid of his wife, her purchase price might be refunded by her family, or else the ex-wife’s sister might be sent to him in exchange, or, sometimes, in addition with no additional payment. On the other hand, the wife might leave her husband if she had been badly mistreated, or if the husband did not provide enough meat and clothing for the family or if he were unfaithful. In divorce the children were divided. Usually, but not always, the girls remained with their mother and the boys with their father. However, divorce was not common among Indians of this region.

On the whole, morals were high and sexual deviations were infrequent, although the whole range of such practices were known to the aborigines. It appears beyond argument that divorces, moral laxity, and sexual aberrations increased with the coming of white man.