Two-Spirits

A long time ago, in the Native American Winnebago tribe, a warrior band returned with several captive Sioux, including a chief. Normally, the Warrior clan of the Hawk took charge of prisoners, but in this case, only two members of that clan remained, a grandmother and a boy. Since the only male Hawk was a child, the grandmother dressed in a man’s leathers and made the ruling: the leader would not be harmed, but he would have to live in their village for the rest of his days, living, dressing, and working as a woman.

This is one of the many origin myths about the creation of Two-spirits, a minority group within many Native American tribes, now almost purged from modern society. Pedro de Magalhaes de Gandavo described them in 1576:

There are some Indian women who determine to remain chaste: they have no commerce with men in any manner, nor would they consent to it even if refusal meant death. They give up all the duties of women and imitate men, and follow men’s pursuits as if they were not women. They wear the hair cut in the same way as the men, and go to war with bows and arrows and purse game, always in company with men; each has a woman to serve her, to whom she says she is married, and they treat each other and speak with each other as man and wife.13

These women are following the hero’s quest, with male mentors and weapons, but they take it a step further, wedding women and permanently abandoning their feminine natures. These are tales of transitions, of people who embrace their sublimated side to such an extent that they invoke that other gender, permanently taking on its role. The grandmother of the tale is not a warrior by birth: she has married into the tribe. In the same way, she is not a man by birth, but she has assumed a man’s duties along with a warrior’s. The Sioux chief, too, was born a man, but will no longer fight.

In fact, Two-spirits were considered a third gender, properly able to marry men or women, but not other Two-spirits. For this reason, the term “gay marriage” does not properly apply. The term Two-spirit originated in 1990 in Winnipeg, Canada, during the third annual intertribal Native American/First Nations gay and lesbian conference. This literal translation of the Ojibwa phrase niizh manidoowag (two spirits) was chosen to distance Native/First Nations people from non-natives as well as from the inappropriately used “berdache” and “gay.”14

Some tribes believed gender (including this third one) was determined before birth, and raised their children as they felt their destinies suggested. Among the Kaska Tribe of western Canada, some parents would decide to raise their daughter as a son, and tie dried bear ovaries around her belt to prevent her from becoming fertile. They would then raise her as a hunter.15

A young man became a Two-spirit if and only if during his vision quest he received a dream telling him that this was his destiny. Among the Hocqk, a young man would become this tejR 'cow[ga, “blue ocean woman,” as they called it, if the Moon appeared and blessed him. If it told him to “take up the skirt,” and he did not, the Moon would take his life. This blessing offered him the powers to see the future and excel at women’s duties beyond anyone in the tribe. Thus, the Two-spirits had the reputation of being clever and lucky beyond others, much prized in the tribe or in matrimony.16 Some spouses even believed the Two-spirits could give them magical powers.

While the Two-spirit men often became second or third wives to warriors, and were permitted to adopt children (famed Lakota warrior Crazy Horse had two Two-spirit wives), Two-spirit women were more frequently monogamous, as the head of the household. Among the Lakota, it was important that the koskalaka (“young man” or “woman who does not want to marry”) be ritually bound to her wife with the blessing of the goddess Double Woman, binding them together with a rope baby, like tying off their fertility.17

The Navaho believe that nadle, as they call Two-spirits, existed in the third world of creation. As they consider our current world to be the fifth, nadle are treasured as an enduring legacy from that revered past. The twin heroes, White Shell Girl and Turquoise Boy, the first nadle, introduced pottery making and many tools. When their world was no longer livable, they ushered their followers into the fourth world.18 These nadle were relied on to bless the tribe. As one Navaho representative explained:

If there were no nadle, the country would change. They are responsible for all the wealth in the country. If there were no more left, the horses, sheep, and Navaho would all go. They are leaders just like President Roosevelt. A nadle around the hogan will bring good luck and riches. They have charge of all the riches. It does a great deal for the country if you have nadle around.19

Other tribes of the world carried on similar traditions of allowing children to

Switch gender. The South Asian hijra are a similar “third gender,” mostly born male, who take on more feminine roles, joining a hijra family as the first step of socialization. They perform religious ceremonies believed to bring about luck and fertility. In a Cretan myth, the woman Iphis was raised as a boy, since her father planned to kill any daughters he produced. Iphis grew into a beautiful youth, with whom the woman Ianthe fell in love. In time, Iphis returned her affections and prayed Isis to transform her into a man, which was done.

In one famous tale, repeated across many cultures, a girl was brought up as a boy. When she grew up, she rescued and married a princess, and the deception wasn’t discovered until after the wedding. The king decided to send his new “son” on a dangerous mission to find a magical horse. However, the “prince” poured wine into the fountain, dizzying the horse so it succumbed easily. Next the king demanded taxes from the demons, whom the prince tricked. Growing ever more frustrated, the king finally demanded his father’s rosary, stolen by the demon queen. The prince snatched it as the queen slept, but she awoke and rode after him in fury. “My curse upon you,” she shrieked. “If thou be woman, be thou man; if thou be man, be thou woman.” And thus the prince became a man, and spent his days with the princess he loved.20

Here we see early myths of gender-transformation, in which the princess loves and marries a woman. The court is distressed by this turn of events and gives her tasks they hope will kill her, until she receives her dearest wish and becomes the man she has always appeared. Thus she completes her transformation and finds acceptance at court.