Selection from James Brooks, Captives and Cousins

This excerpt from Captives and Cousins is about the history of the rituals that go on between the different peoples in the New World. The groups of people mix in their native ideas with the Western ones, as shown in the ritual during Christmas time with the Christ child. The exchanging rituals are very important to the people; they are a major part of the shame/honor that occurs in native society.  Shame and honor play major roles in the lives of native men, and it is important that they act in ways that will increase their honor, which they can do by giving. The type of jobs men have also affects their level of honor; self-sufficient jobs give more honor than jobs where the man is reliant on someone else for income. Women were seen somewhat like objects. They were kidnapped by other tribes and bargained for, like they were a resource rather than people. Women could affect the honor of a man, such as the case where the Comanche's bride was given away. To protect his honor, he sacked the village and took the woman that was promised to him.