North America Natives used body painting?

by MulatoMaranhense

I know that several peoples in South America, and at least some in Central America, used corporal paintings. But I never heard about North American Indigenous Peoples having something similar.

Gargatua13013

At least some, if not all did.

Consider for instance this description from 1632, by Jésuite father Paul Le Jeune, arriving at Tadoussac and seing natives (probably Innu) for the very first time:

«II y en avait qui avaient le nez peint en bleu, les yeux, les sourcils, les joues peintes en noir et le reste du visage en rouge, et ces couleurs sont vives et luisantes comme celles de nos masques. D’autres avaient des raies noires, rouges et bleues, tirées des oreilles à la bouche. D’autres étaient tous noirs hormis le haut du front et les parties voisines des oreilles et le bout du menton, si bien qu’on eut vraiment dit qu’ils étaient masqués. Il y en avait qui n’avaient qu’une raie noire, large d’un ruban, tirée d’une oreille à l’autre, au travers des yeux, et trois petites raies sur les joues."

Which roughly translates as:

"There were some whose nose was painted blue, their eyes, their eyebrows, their cheeks painted black and the rest of their faces red, and these colors are bright and shining like those of our masks. Others had black, red and blue stripes, drawn from ear to mouth. Others were all black except for the top of the forehead and the neighboring parts of the ears and the tip of the chin, so that it was really said that they were masked. There were some who had only one black stripe, wide of a ribbon, drawn from one ear to another, through the eyes, and three small rays on the cheeks."

Source: Relation of what Occurred in New France in the Year 1634

see also: Gagnon, F. M. (1976). «Ils se peignent le visage...»: Réaction européenne à un usage indien au XVIe et au début du XVIIe siècles. Revue d'histoire de l'Amérique française, 30(3), 363-381. for a discussion of other examples:

  • Roberval, of the natives he encountered in general: "... ils se peignent de diverses couleurs à cause de la chaleur et de l'ardeur du Soleil." (They paint themselves in various colors because of the heat and intensity of the sun).

  • Verrazano mentions about the Narragansett (probably) in "Relation du voyage de la Dauphine à François I^^er , roi de France (1524)" "Ils avaient le visage peint de diverses couleurs et témoignaient que c'était là une marque d'allégresse". (Their faces were painted in various colors and stated that this was a mark of joy).

  • About the Hurons, Champlain said "La pluspart se paindent le visage noir, & rouge, qu'ils desmeslent auec de Fhuyle, faite de la graine d'herbe au Soleil, ou bien auec de la graisse d'ours, ou autres animaux, comme aussi ils se taindent les cheueux". (most paint their faces in black & red which they mix with oil from sunflower seeds, or with bear grease, or from other critters, and they also thusly color their hair).