User:Guguwich/Eagle staffs

An eagle staff is a symbol of honor that highly prized in First Nations/Native American communities. Traditions vary from nation to nation, but the basics appear to be similar throughout North America.

Most staff carriers are elders (50 and over), and have been extended the honour of carrying the staff. In some cases, a staff is carried to various powwows as a gesture of friendship between the host nation and the visitor; while in others, it is a symbol of personal achievement. In the latter case, each feather adorning the staff has been earned by the carrier for some deed or accomplishment. One who carries a friendship staff is a custodian only, as the staff belongs to the nation it represents.

Staffs are presented intact to the bearer in the nations of the Great Plains of the US and Canada. The Eastern nations traditions is the bearer to be is give a certain number of earned feathers (usually 4 or 7), and given instructions to create the staff. Occasionally, a bare staff will be included.

At the proper time, a staff will be handed off to the next bearer. Some traditions keep the staffs path gender specific, and others hand it back and forth between genders.

NB--as First Nations traditions are mostly oral, one will not find specific "standard" references to verify this information. All contained herein has been passed to me by elders of various nations (Black Wolf/Mohawk; Night Eagle/Algonquin; Wise Owl/Cree; Soaring Hawk/Ojibway; among others).