Hidden Warrior Tactics: Comanche Feathers, Matador “Man Buns,” Viking Helmets & Sugar Lumps by Mark Hatmaker

 

Let’s take a random walk among four Warrior cultures and have a look at seemingly trivial aspects of the Warrior Life, facets that one would assume are ornamental, or irrelevant and demonstrate how Warriors who lived close to the marrow-bone of reality could afford no needless step.

There is always more to Warriorhood than meets the eye.

Comanche Feather Language

When we see Indian headdresses in full panoply, or a more stripped-down version of one or two feathers in headbands, or feathers in hair, we likely think to ourselves, “That is their ornamental headgear, like trucker gimme caps are to most of us.”

But that assumption could not be further from the truth.

There is actually a tripartite reading of Native American feather language, here, we will deal with only one—the other two…another day.

To get a glimpse into Comanche feather language let us learn a wee bit about horses, specifically horses’ ears.

Horses are prey animals, and, as such, always remain remarkably aware of their environment. Tremendous eyesight and an astounding field of vision aid this vigilance. Horses are also social animals, that is, herding and socializing are comforting and welcome. Much of their instantaneous communication with one another is done via vocalization and via their ears.

And by ears, I mean not just as sound receivers but ear-positioning. Lacking horns/antlers that many other like herd animals possess—horses are easily able to read ear-cues from a distance with no horn-interference.

To further aid this ability, a horse can rotate its ears to a remarkable degree and independently at that.

A Primer of Horse Ear Language

·        Neutral Position—Both ears upright, facing forward and slightly to the side. Ears can be rotated individually to “test” new sounds. A neutral mood.

·        Pricked ears-If the sound is strange, worrying or interesting the ears will stiffen and rotate forward--the whole head may be turned in the direction of the sound—if more inspection is required the whole body will turn to face the sound.

·        We also commonly see pricked ears when one horse or human is meeting. This is an engaged horse.

·        Airplane Ears—Ears lateral with openings towards the ground. A lethargic horse, a tired horse, a bored horse, one that has lost interest in what is around. Psychologically at a low ebb. Horses penned alone should be watched for signs of airplane eared loneliness.

·        Drooped Ears-Here we have a droop even lower than the airplane. We need to read it in context. Could be dozing, it could be in pain.

·        Airplane and Drooped ears can also be read as submissive animals. It signals to other dominant horses “You’ll have no argument from me—no fighting please.” It is the tail down or between the legs version of dog behavior. BTW-If your horse airplanes or droops with you, it does not see you as a friend but as a taskmaster.

·        If when riding a horse, we see airplane and facing backwards ears—we have a horse that is fearful of us. Again, we have not earned trust.

·        Flicking Ears—Upright and flicking is a precursor to bolting/fleeing/escape behavior.

·        Pinned Ears-Ears slicked back to the head is a sign of aggression and/or dominance. A fight may be about to ensue.

·        Pinned ears protect the bite in horse-fights, but often serve to end confrontations non-violently if the other horse uses airplanes ears to signal off.

To Comanche Horse-Handling: It is surmised that horses read ears even in humans and may see our always pinned ears as a bit of a problem. An entity that can never be pleased. One with a silhouette always read as aggressive.

·        Comanche were known as the best horse-culture in the Americas—now, check this out. Sticking one or two feathers in hair or headband while moving amongst the herd was not just adornment. It was a chance to issue stand-down signals to another species.

·        Feathers up “I am one of you, alert and moving among you, no need to be alarmed, Brother.” Feathers to the side—airplaned “No need to fight Strong One, I am not here to hurt you.” And other like ear-feather signaling.

The Feather Language easily read by horses, could also be read by skulking Warriors even if no horses were present.

If an advance scout was making a reconnaissance of an enemy camp, he could alter feather position to silently indicate conditions as he made his way deeper into territory.

This silent signaling that calmed horses could also be used as “silent silhouette telegraph” to fellow Warriors.

Our ubiquitous ballcap cannot do that.

Matador and Indian “Man Buns.”

Those not familiar with bullfighting may be surmised to learn that most matadors have long hair.

The montera [the Iberian style hat worn by matadors] often gives them the appearance of being short-coiffed.

Actually, the hair is tied into a knot at the back of the head and dressed with ribbons.

This hair knot is called the mona.

The mona was only lowered when the matador retired due to age or inefficiency.

The mona also serves a pragmatic purpose—it is a shock absorber.

In a blood sport that permits no helmets and where the primary forces are coming in the form of a full throttle frontal charge, most falls will be rearward.

The mona serves as a concession to non-helmeted impact as one falls backward.

Many Indigenous tribes have a similar “hair-down” when livin’ life policy and hair up and knotted for warfare.

Some use the braid, which has its own language and practical use. [Another day.]

Those Pragmatic Vikings!

When many picture Vikings, they imagine a stalwart figure often adorned with a spectacular helmet—horned in many images.

But, these spectacular helmets, if worn at all, were likely only for ceremonial occasions. What was won in battle was a different animal altogether.

Now why would these fearsome warriors choose something that made them appear less fearsome?

• The Yarm helmet was discovered in the city of Yarm, located in Northeast England during a 1950s sewer excavation.

• It was assumed to be Norman in origin.

• More recent analysis dates the helmet to the 12th century and makes it Scandinavian in origin [Viking.]

• The lightweight helmet sported practical advantages for the warrior’s wear.

• Durham University archaeologist Chris Caple offers that the rivets were punched through hot metal in its design rather than pre-drilled. This allowed the rivets to be hammered flat during the malleable state of forging.

• Caple offers that “This means that the helmet doesn’t catch on sword or ax blades, which is obviously a very useful defensive function.”

• The thin metal sheets used during forging also make it light weight so that it was not fatiguing for the wearer during battles that could last for hours.

• Caple again, “When hit by a weapon, the helmet bends, absorbs the blow, and sometimes rivets pop out. But you survive, you can knock out the dent later, and you’ve got something that goes to fight another day.”

• For more Viking Combative Pragmatics, armed and unarmed' that stretch far beyond the Viking era see here.

And last but not least…let us look to…

 

D-Day & the Bad-Ass Medicine of Sugar Lumps

Like a highlight reel worthy KO kick to the head or “fade-to-black” rear naked choke, our images of D-Day are often colored by newsreel pyrotechnics of Spielberg-esque cinema-mastery.

But…these representations often obscure thousands upon thousands of unseen/unknown small efforts that pack large results.

I quote from Invasion: They’re Coming [1962] by Paul Carell a documented blow-by-blow account of the D-Day invasion from the German side of things. Mighty illuminating.

“A quarter ounce of sugar—just three lumps—dropped into the water of a concrete mixer, was enough to rob two-hundredweights of concrete of its strength, for if calcium combines with sugar, instead of with carbon dioxide, a readily soluble calcium saccharate is formed. Thus, if a member of the French Resistance succeeded in getting himself employed by the Germans near a concrete mixer he could cause extensive damage to the defenses by dropping quite small quantities of sugar into the mix or into the stored materials. The concrete shield of a gun-emplacement or the roof-slabs of a dugout might be sufficiently weakened to crumble like sandstone if hit by a shell.”

Again, small seemingly undramatic efforts, like reading an animal’s ears or a companion’s feathers, not allowing an adorned helmet to be your death, even reading hairstyles of yore as utility… or knowing a little fundamental construction chemistry can pay LARGE dividends.

The history and archeology of true warriorhood is far deeper than most of us imagine.

For historically accurate and viciously verified Old School Combat Tactics and Conditioning, none of it based on assumption see the following resources.

The Black Box Combat & Conditioning Training Warehouse

The Rough ‘n’ Tumble Raconteur Podcast