Agriculture and Food
How did Native Americans get their food?
Depending on the tribe and the area they lived in, Native Americans got their food by
different methods including farming, hunting, fishing, and gathering. Most tribes used a
combination of these four ways to get their food, but many specialized in one area such
as farming or hunting.
Farming
Many American Indian tribes grew crops for food, but the experts in farming tended to
come from the southern states like the Southeast and the Southwest. Tribes like the
Navajo and the Cherokee grew large crops and employed advanced farming procedures
such as irrigation to bring water to dry areas and crop rotation to keep the ground fertile
over many years. They would grow enough extra food so they could store it and survive
the winter.
Maize or corn was a major source of food
The main crop that the Native Americans grew was corn,
which they called maize. Maize was eaten by many of the
American Indian tribes because it could be stored for the
winter and ground into flour. Maize was eaten nearly daily
by many tribes and was a major part of much of American
Indian culture. All of the maize plant was used including
the husks for crafts and the cob for fuel in fires. Although
maize was the primary crop, many other crops were
cultivated by the tribes including squash, beans,
pumpkins, cotton, and potatoes.
Hunting and Fishing
Many tribes got most of their food from hunting. Hunting
was a big part of Native American culture.
The Buffalo or Bison
Native Americans in the Great
Plains area of the country relied
heavily on the buffalo also
called the bison. Not only did
they eat the buffalo as food, but
they also used much of the
buffalo for other areas of their
lives. They used the bones for
tools. They used the hide for
blankets, clothes, and to make
the covers of their tepees. They
even made rope from bison hair and used the tendons as thread when sewing. Almost
every part of the buffalo was used.
The bison is a big and powerful animal that traveled in large herds. In order to hunt them
the American Indians had to be clever and work together. They would often get the
buffalo to stampede off a cliff or into a pit.
Other Animals
In other areas of the country the American Indians hunted using weapons such as the
bow and arrow or using snares and traps. They hunted deer, ducks, rabbits and other
animals.
Fishing
In the coastal areas or near large lakes, tribes would specialize in fishing. They often
used spears or nets to catch fish. Fish could be smoked or dried to be stored for the
winter. In the north, some Native Americans would ice fish. This is where they would cut
a hole in the ice and fish using spears.
Gathering
Gathering is when people get their food from the environment around them. Native
Americans would gather food such as berries, nuts, or other fruit from naturally growing
trees and berry bushes. Most Native Americans used gathering to get some portion of
their food.
Questions:
1. What were the four main ways that Natives got foo?
2. Using you book, on page 304, identify what was the importance of the buffalo is
by drawing or describing 5 uses of the buffalo.
3. How did the Native Americans get flour?
Native American Art
The Native Americans of the United States had all different kinds of art and ways they
used to express themselves. Each tribe and nation had it's own unique culture and art.
The art was depicted in a number of ways including the beading and decorating of
clothes, masks, totem polls, paintings, drawings, the weaving of blankets and rugs,
carvings, and basket weaving.
Below are some examples of Native American art.
A beautifully decorated shirt
Here is a buckskin shirt decorated
with beads, feathers, ermine fur,
and locks of hair. It was likely
worn by a powerful leader in an
American Indian tribe. It was
made by the Nez Perce tribe of
the Pacific Northwest.
This is a picture of Native American dancers drawn
by Black Hawk, a medicine man for the Lakota
Sioux tribe. He drew a number of pictures like this
for William Edward Caton in order to get credit at
Canton's store. Black Hawk got 50 cents per
drawing.
This large ornate basket is 30 inches in diameter. It
was made by the American Indian artist Carrie
Bethel. She became famous for her baskets and
won awards for her baskets at the Yosemite basket
competition. She was a Mono-Paiute Indian from
California. Originally basket weaving was important
to Native Americans as a way to make sturdy
receptacles for carrying and storing various items.
Over time, the baskets became works of art as the
weavers became more skillful using different dyes and patterns in their designs.
Some of the finest artwork by Native Americans was the rugs and blankets woven by the
Navajo tribes. This is a Navajo blanket woven in the late 1800s. Originally the Navajo
made practical items such as saddle blankets, dresses, and cloaks. Later, their fame as
weavers allowed them to make blankets and rugs to sell
throughout the country. Their designs tended to have
strong geometric patterns.
Sand painting was an art mostly used by the Navajo tribe.
It was primarily used by the medicine man as part of a
religious ceremony. Here is a Navajo sand painting which
was used in the rites of the Mountain Chant.
Here is a wooden
fish mask made
by the Yupi'k
people of Alaska.
Masks were often
used in rituals
and religion and
were a form of
art. Often masks would represent different animals. In some
religious ceremonies, it was thought that the person wearing
the mask would take on the spirit of the animal depicted on the
mask.
The totem pole is a form of art for many Native
American tribes in the north and northwest. Totem
poles were generally carved from cedar wood. The
meaning of their carvings varied from tribe to tribe.
Sometimes they were purely artistic, other times
they told stories of local legends or events. They
were often carved for spiritual or religious reasons.
The word totem comes from a Native American
word meaning "kinship group".
Questions:
1. Identify three tribes and tell what art medium or style was unique to them.
2. Draw a totem pole for yourself with 3 things that represent you or your family.
American Indian
Homes and Dwellings
Native Americans lived in a wide variety of homes. Different tribes and peoples built
different types of homes. What kinds of homes they lived in depended on the materials
that they had available where they lived. It also depended on the kind of lifestyle that
they lived as well as the environment.
The Teepee was easy to pack up and move lifestyle
Some tribes were nomads. This meant that the entire village
would travel from place to place. This was common for tribes
living in the Great Plains where they hunted buffalo for food.
The tribe would follow the large buffalo herds as they roamed
the plains. These tribes built homes that were easy to move
and build. They were called Teepees.
Other tribes lived in one place for a long time. This was
because they had water and food nearby. These tribes built
more permanent homes like the pueblo or longhouse.
Wigwam Home
Wigwams were homes built by the Algonquian
tribes of American Indians living in the Northeast.
They were built from trees and bark similar to the
longhouse, but were much smaller and easier to
construct.
Wigwams used poles from trees that would be
bent and tied together to make a dome shaped
home. In the winter the outside of the home would be covered with bark or other material
that was available where the natives lived. The frames were not portable, like the
teepee, but sometimes the coverings could be moved when the tribe moved.
Wigwams were relatively small homes that formed a circle around 15 feet wide.
However, these homes still sometimes housed more than just one Native American
family. It was a pretty tight squeeze, but probably helped keep them warm in the winter.
A home similar to the wigwam was the wikiup which
was built by some tribes in the west.
Native American Hogan
The hogan was the home built by the Navajo people
of the Southwest. They used wooden poles for the
frame and then covered it in adobe, clay mixed with grass. It was generally built in a
dome shape with the door facing the east toward the sunrise. There was also a hole in
the roof for the smoke of the fire to escape.
Native American Longhouse
The longhouse was a type of home built by the American Indians in the Northeast,
particularly those of the Iroquois nation. Another name for the Iroquois was
Haudenosaunee which meant "People of the Longhouses".
Longhouses were permanent homes built from
wood and bark. They get their name because
they were built in the shape of a long
rectangle. Usually they were around 80 feet
long and 18 feet wide. They had holes in the
roof to allow for the smoke from fires to escape
and a door at each end.
To build the longhouse home, tall poles from
trees were used to frame in the sides. At the
top the natives used curved poles to build the roof. The roof and sides were then
covered with overlapping pieces of bark, like shingles. This helped to keep the rain and
wind out of their homes.
A large village would have several longhouses built inside a wooden fence called a
palisade. Each longhouse was home to a number of people in a group called a clan.
Perhaps 20 people or more called a single longhouse home.
Native American Pueblo
The pueblo was a type of home built by American Indians in the Southwest, especially
the Hopi tribe. They were permanent shelters that were sometimes part of large villages
that housed hundreds to thousands of people. Often they were built inside caves or on
the sides of large cliffs.
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Pueblo homes were built of bricks made from adobe clay. The bricks were made
by mixing clay, sand, grass, and straw together and then setting them in the sun
to harden. Once the bricks were hard, they would be used to build walls which
were then covered with more clay to fill in the gaps. To keep the walls of their
homes strong, every year a new layer of clay would be placed on the walls.
A pueblo home was made up of a number of clay rooms built on top of each
other. Sometimes they were built as high as 4 or 5 stories tall. Each room got
smaller the higher the pueblo was built. Ladders were used to climb between the
floors. At night they would remove the ladders to keep others from coming into
their house.
Questions:
1. What type of living is the tepee suitable for?
2. What were two adaptations made to the Wigwams to keep warm in the winter?
3. The pueblo and Hogan are both made of what material? How is that material
made?
4. Which type of home would you like to live in?
Native American
Clothing
Native American clothing prior to the arrival of Europeans was different depending on
the tribe and the climate where the tribe lived. However, there were some general
similarities.
A boy in traditional clothing
What materials did they use?
The primary material used by Native Americans in their
clothing was made from animal hides. Generally they used
the hides of the animals they hunted for food. Many tribes
such as the Cherokee and Iroquois used deerskin. While
the Plains Indians, who were bison hunters, used buffalo
skin and the Inuit from Alaska used seal or caribou skin.
Some tribes learned how to make clothing from plants or
weaving thread. These included the Navajo and Apache,
who learned how to make woven blankets and tunics, and
the Seminole of Florida.
How did they make the clothes?
All of their clothes were made by hand. The women would generally make the clothes.
First they would tan the animal skin. Tanning is a process that would turn the animal skin
into leather which would last a long time and not decompose. Then they would need to
cut and sew the leather into a piece of clothing.
Decorations
Often times clothing would be decorated. The Native Americans would use feathers,
animal fur such as ermine or rabbit, porcupine quills, and,
after the Europeans arrived, glass beads to decorate their
clothes.
What clothing did the men wear?
Most Native American men wore a breechcloth. This was
just a piece of material that they tucked into a belt that
would cover the front and back. In many areas, especially
areas with warm climates, this was all the men wore. In
cooler climates, and in the winter, the men would wear
leggings to cover up and keep their legs warm. Many men went shirtless throughout
much of the year, only wearing cloaks when it got very cold. The Plains Indian men were
known for their elaborate and decorated war shirts.
Men often wore no shirts and a breechcloth
What clothing did Native American women wear?
The Native American women generally wore skirts
and leggings. Often they wore shirts or tunics as well.
In some tribes, like the Cherokee and the Apache,
the women wore longer buckskin dresses.
The Moccasin
Most Native Americans wore some kind of footwear.
This was usually a shoe made of soft leather called a
moccasin. In the cold northern areas like Alaska, they
wore a thick boot called a mukluk.
Later Changes
When the Europeans arrived many of the American
Indian tribes were forced into contact with each other. They began to see how others
dressed and took the ideas that they liked. Soon many tribes began to dress more alike.
Woven blankets, fringed buckskin tunics and leggings, and feather headdresses became
popular among many tribes.
Questions:
1. Draw a typical outfit for a male and a female Native American and identify the
parts of the outfits.
Entertainment
Native Americans enjoyed a wide variety of entertainment in the form of sports, games,
music, dance, and festivals. Different tribes and regions had their own games and
traditions.
Lacrosse
One of the most popular Native
American sports was lacrosse.
This is still a popular sport today.
Different tribes had different
names for the sport including
stickball, bump hips, kabucha, and
little brother of war.
The game was played with a ball
that was passed around using
sticks with nets attached to the
end. Sometimes the game was a
huge event with hundreds of players on both sides and a field that was over a mile long.
Games would often last from sunrise to sunset.
The game was sometimes used to toughen up younger warriors and to settle disputes
between tribes. These were brutal games with few rules. Players were often seriously
injured.
Games
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The Hand Game - The Hand Game was played between two teams of people.
One side would pass around a small bone or ball quickly. Then the other side
would try to guess who had the item in their hand. If they guessed correctly they
gained a point. Then the other team would try to hide the item.
Ring-the-Stick Game - The Ring-the-Stick game was usually played by children.
They took a long stick and tied a string to one end. At the other end of the string a
ring was tied. Then they would toss the ring into the air and try to catch it with the
pointed end of the stick.
The Bowl Game - The Bowl Game was a favorite among the Iroquois and was
traditionally played during the Midwinter Festival. For this game a wooden bowl
was used along with six nuts that were black on one side and white on the other.
The nuts were placed inside the bowl. Then the player hit the bowl against the
ground. If at least five of the six nuts ended up the same color, that player gained
a point.
Music and Dance
Music and dance were important parts of the Native American culture. Songs were sung
at important religious rituals, but were also part of everyday life. They believed that
music was the language of the spirits.
Different tribes had different styles of music and instruments. The most important aspect
of Native American music was singing, chanting, and
percussion (i.e. drums). Traditional instruments included
drums, rattles, whistles, and flutes.
There were also a large variety of traditional dances. Each
dance had its own special name, steps, songs, history,
and meaning. Some dances included both men and
women while other dances were exclusively for one or the
other. Many of the dances involved the dancers moving in
a circle. Sometimes the dancers would dress up in
costumes and/or masks.
Some examples of dances include:
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Bow and Arrow Dance (Navaho)
Doll Dance (Navaho)
Snake Dance (Hopi)
Buffalo Dance (Sioux)
Grass Dance (Sioux)
Devil Dance (Apache)
Questions:
1. What were the reasons that song and dance were found to be so important?
2. Which one of these games is still played today?
3. What other games are similar to games that we have today?
Religion
The religion and spiritual beliefs of Native Americans played an important role in their
everyday life. Each tribe and peoples had their own unique beliefs, legends, and rituals,
but they all believed that the world was filled with
spirits.
Pueblo kachina dolls represented the spirits
Guardian Spirits
The Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest
believed that all living things were watched over by
guardian spirits. This included animals, trees,
people, and even some inanimate objects like the
wind, storms, and water.
Young boys would have to discover their own
personal guardian spirit before they could become
men. Each boy would venture off alone to commune
with nature looking for a sign from his guardian
spirit. Once found, this spirit would bestow a special characteristic or power on the boy
and he would return to the tribe a man.
The Great Spirit
The Great Spirit was a supreme being that watched over everything including the other
spirits of the world. There were different versions of the Great Spirit. Both the Sioux and
the Algonquian Nations had the concept of a Great Spirit. The Blackfoot people believed
in the "Old Man" who created all things and taught the Blackfoot how to gain spiritual
wisdom.
Medicine Men and Women
The spiritual leaders of the Native American Indians were the medicine men and women
of the village or tribe. These men and women often used herbs to help heal sick people.
They also called on the spirits to help the tribe asking for assistance in areas such as
healing, good weather, and help in battle. Sometimes the medicine man or woman was
a respected elder who was known for being wise and who others went to for advice.
Three Worlds
Some of the Indian tribes in the Southeastern United States believed in the "three
worlds" including the Upper World, the Lower World, and This World. The Upper World
was considered perfect and pure. The Lower World was scary and chaotic. In between
the two was This World where man lived. The spirits were able to travel between the
different worlds and man was responsible for maintaining a balance between the three
worlds.
Rites of Passage
One of the most important times in any Native American's life was their coming of age.
This was when they went from being considered a child to being an adult. Different tribes
had different ways of celebrating this moment. In some tribes the boy or girl had to
undergo an ordeal to prove they were worthy. Young men who passed the ritual would
often be given a new name to indicate their status.
Vision Quests
In order to get closer to the spirits, some men went on vision quests. They would go off
into the wilderness alone. Usually they would fast (not eat) and sometimes they would
take drugs or inflict wounds on their bodies. In the end, they hoped to gain a vision from
the spirits that would guide them or help them make an important life decision.
Questions:
1. What is the importance of the medicine person in a tribe?
2. What are the three worlds the Natives believe in?
3. Draw your own spirit guardian and give a brief story behind it and what
represents.
Mythology and
Legends
Most Native American tribes have a long tradition of telling stories about their history and
beliefs. These stories and legends weren't written down, but were passed down orally
from generation to generation. A lot of their stories had to do with nature and how certain
things came to be. Most tribes had a story about how the earth and people were created
called creation myths.
Below are some of the stories, legends, and mythology of the Native Americans. The
specific tribe where the story originated is in parentheses.
Creation Myth (Powhatan)
There were five main gods in the world. The leader of the gods was the Great Hare. The
other four gods were the winds from each corner of the earth.
One day the Great Hare created people. He made a number of people and animals. He
wasn't sure what to do with them so he put them into a large bag. He wanted to make a
place for them to live, so he made the forests, rivers, and lakes. He created deer to live
in the forests.
The other four gods, however, weren't happy with what the Great Hare had made. They
went into the forests and killed the deer. When the Great Hare found the dead deer, he
was saddened. He tossed the skins of the deer throughout the forest and many more
deer sprang to life. He then let the people out of the bag and spread them around the
forest to live together with the deer.
Why Fire Belongs to Man (Alabama)
When the earth was young, Fire was owned by Bear. Bear carried fire with him wherever
he went. When it was cold, Fire kept Bear and his family warm. When it was dark, Fire lit
the way.
One day, Bear and his family arrived at a forest. Bear put Fire down at the edge of the
forest while he and his family went to explore. Soon Bear found that this forest had the
best acorns he had ever tasted. Bear and his family moved deeper into the forest to find
more acorns. They ate and ate and didn't stop.
At the same time, Fire was running out of wood. Fire cried out to Bear "Come back and
feed me!", but Bear was too far into the woods.
Just then Man came along. He asked Fire if he could help. Fire told him to bring him
wood and sticks. Man placed sticks on Fire and soon Fire was blazing again, happy to
have plenty of wood to burn.
Man enjoyed Fire's light and warmth. They were happy together. When Bear finally
returned, Fire drove him away and now Fire belongs only to Man.
The Thunder Beings (Cherokee)
Far in the sky to the west lived the god of thunder, Great Thunder, and his sons, the
Thunder Boys. They caused lighting and thunder to rain down on the earth, but they also
brought rain for the crops and the rainbow. The medicine men of the tribes prayed that
the Thunders would bring soft rains for their crops and not harm the people of the tribe
with their lightning.
How People Got Different Languages (Blackfoot)
One day a great flood moved through the land of the Blackfoot covering everything. All
the people gathered at the top of the tallest mountain. The Great Spirit, or "Old Man",
appeared on the mountain and turned the water into different colors. He had each group
of people drink a different color of water. They all began to speak different languages.
The Blackfoot drank the black water and spoke the Blackfoot language.
Questions:
1. Either write in your own words or create a story board of one of the myths
above.
2. How does the myth or legend relate to your belief?
Geography
Using your books or technology look for the geographical information
of the following groups (what kind of terrain and resources are
nearby):
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Californian
Great Plains
Northeast Woodland
Northwest Coastal / Plateau
Southeast Woodland
Southwest