Indian Summer

PHOTO: Robert Hanaford Smith, Sr., reminisces on the time of the year when fall turns back to summer. Known as Indian Summer, its history can be traced back to the 1800s. Postcard from the publisher’s collection.

by Robert Hanaford Smith, Sr.
Weirs Times Contributing Writer

Indian Summer comes in the fall of the year. Sometime in the early years of my life I heard someone say, when a warm, sunny spell favored us after the cooler weather of fall seemed to with us to stay, that it was the Indian Summer.
Back then I didn’t fret about the weather; I just accepted whatever came, but certainly was glad when Indian Summer arrived, whenever that might be.
The experts tell us it is either the last part of the month of October or the first part of November, but it can be anytime in the season we call fall or autumn. The fall “summer” is supposed to be after there is a frost, but before the first snowfall.
The term Indian Summer has been used for many years. The editor of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine wrote about it in November of 1853. He speculated about the origin of the phrase by asking “Is ‘Indian,’ here, synonymous with treachery, as in the case of gifts among children, where a present made, and then revoked is called an ‘Indian gift?’”
I well remember using the term “Indian giver” to describe someone who gave a gift and took it back, so that is compared to a short period of warm weather, which, after days or weeks of colder air, is welcomed, only to have it end after a few days. I used the phrase without any thought of its origin.
The magazine editor went on to say that Mr. Webster had a different explanation for the naming of Indian Summer.
“According to his story, the settlers believed the haze and heat that mark these days to proceed from the prairies which the Indians were accustomed to burn at this season. The westerly winds prevailed at the same time; and thus the great mass of smoke, and the fervor of endless reaches of fire, drifted over the plains and forests, and inoculated with June, despairing October.”
So today we might think that heat and haze from the western forest fires bring us our Indian summers that also make us hope that maybe we will escape the usual wintry snow and cold this year, though we know, even with climate change, it is not going to happen.
Or, maybe you are wondering if Indian Summer is going to happen this year; I assume it will, and when it does you had better take advantage of those outdoor tasks that need to be done before the warm air again makes its exit.

Another theory about the origin of the name suggests that it had to do with the seasonal activities of the Indians during the times of conflict with white settlers. Apparently attacks on white settlements tapered off in the Fall of the year when the Indians would be out hunting; however, when a warm spell overtook the land, the Indians were apt to launch a surprise attack upon the unsuspecting settlers, supposedly giving rise to the term ‘Indian Summer.’
Another popular harvest season item is Indian corn, and there is no mystery as to the origin of that name. Corn is native to the Americas and was grown by the Indians who introduced it to the settlers who came from across the Atlantic Ocean. Christopher Columbus took Indian corn with him back to Europe. Indian corn is different from most of the corn that we eat today or feed to our animals and is seemingly used primarily for decorating because it comes with multi-colored ears. My English ancestors benefited from the corn that the Indians introduced to them and taught them how to grow and which has been developed into the different varieties we enjoy today. And in these days in which we live, my research tells me that corn represents the largest of the crops grown in the United States and is used as an ingredient in many different products.

I remember my boyhood days of planting sweet corn (the kind we eat), after dipping it into a tar-like substance to keep the crows from eating it, of hoeing the rows of corn to kill the weeds, picking the ears of the grown corn, and husking the ears, followed by cutting off the kernels for canning. And, eventually, eating the corn. Not by myself, of course, it was all a family affair.
Some of my family members participated in husking bees, which were night time social events that had been held since colonial times in New England. A group of people were invited by a farmer to the husking bee to take the husks off ears of his corn crop, thus enabling the drying process to be completed. Mixed among the ears of corn were some red colored ones. When a person found an ear of corn with red kernels they were permitted to choose someone of the opposite sex to kiss.
Maybe there were other consequences at times, but, whatever the rules, it was considered a fun time to get some corn husked.
Then there is the New England dessert called Indian Pudding which makes a delightful item to serve in the fall and winter months, but traditionally is the desired dessert for Thanksgiving Day, though that tradition may be unknown to many of today’s New Hampshire residents.
However, I just read that Indian Pudding has its own day with November 13th being National Indian Pudding Day.

Indian pudding is said to be a variation on the dessert served in England called Hasty Pudding, though the preparation time for the new world’s Indian pudding is anything but hasty. One frugal person suggested that it can only be prepared on Thanksgiving Day as its cooking time matches that of the Thanksgiving turkey. Hasty Pudding was prepared with wheat and milk, but New England settlers substituted Indian corn meal for the wheat and made a somewhat similar dish named Indian Pudding which they sweetened with molasses which is a by-product of making rum from sugar cane. Spices like cinnamon and ginger were also added as ingredients of Indian Pudding. One recipe lists the ingredients as corn meal, scalded milk, molasses, brown sugar, butter, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, eggs, and cold milk.
Remember that the cows were not native to America, but were brought here by the colonists. If you haven’t had Indian Pudding, maybe you would like to make some to highlight this year’s Thanksgiving dinner, or National Indian Pudding Day.
It is estimated that there were about 3,000 Native Americans living in New Hampshire at the time the first settlers arrived from England. This year of 2020 marks 400 years since the landing of the ship Mayflower with the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Massachusetts.
This event is being celebrated on November 11, the same day that is set aside to honor the veterans of our armed forces.
Though many of the passengers that came on the Mayflower didn’t survive through the winter, even more would probably have perished had they not been helped by the Native Americans.

NH History