Nez Perce

Introduction Nez Perce is pronounced “nezz purse” in English It comes from the French name for the tribe, Nez Percé (pronounced nay per say.) Which means “pierced nose” Nobody knows why the French called them this because they have never had a tribal tradition of pierced noses. The Nez Perce name for themselves is Nimipu, meaning “the people.”

Introduction continued Nez Perce Indians are original people of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington state. Most Nez Perce people live in Idaho today.

Family Life Nez Perce women were in charge of the home. Besides cooking and cleaning, a Nez Perce woman made most of the clothing and tools her family needed. Nez Perce men were hunters and warriors, responsible for feeding and defending their families. Only men became chiefs, but both genders took part in storytelling, artwork, music and traditional medicine

Language The native Nez Perce language is a very difficult language for English speakers. It has long words and consonant sounds that don’t exist in English Most Nez Perce people speak English today. The Nez Perce language is an endangered language because most children aren’t learning it anymore. However some of the Nez Perce people are working to keep their language alive.

Food The Nez Perce were fishing and hunting people. The men caught salmon and other fish, and also hunted in the forests for deer, elk, and other game. Once they acquired horses, the Nez Perce tribe began to follow the buffalo herds like their Plains Indian neighbors. Nez Perce women also gathered roots, fruits, nuts, and seeds to add to their diet. Their cooking tended to be simple. They preferred to eat their food very fresh, without many spices. The most important Native American food crop was Indian corn, also known as maize.

Favorite Foods Other Foods Meat Crops Buffalo Corn Eggs Honey Elk Beans Squash Pumpkins Sunflowers Wild Rice Potatoes Sweet Potatoes Tomatoes Peppers Peanuts Avocados Meat Buffalo Elk Caribou Deer Rabbit Salmon Various Fish Ducks Geese Turkeys Clams Other Shellfish Other Foods Eggs Honey Maple Syrup Salt Peanuts Pine Nuts Cashews Hickory Nuts Acorns Strawberries Blueberries Raspberries

Clothing Nez Perce women wore long deerskin dresses. Nez Perce men wore breechcloths with leather leggings and buckskin shirts. Both men and women wore moccasins on their feet. A Nez Perce lady’s dress or warrior’s shirt was fringed and often decorated with beadwork,shells,and paint designs.

Headdresses and Face Painting Nez Perce Indian leaders sometimes wore feather headdresses,but they weren’t long and trailing like Sioux war bonnets. Nez Perce headdresses were made of a ring of feathers that stood up from a headband. Nez Perce women usually wore basket hats woven from bear, grass,and cornhusks. The Nez Perce painted their faces for special occasions. They used different patterns for war paint, religious ceremonies, and festive decoration.

Shelter Originally, the Nez Perce lived in settled villages of earth houses. They made these homes by digging an underground room, then building a wooden frame over it and covering the frame with earth, cedar bark, and tule mats. There were two styles of Nez Perce earth houses: oval-shaped longhouses, which could be as long as 150 feet, and smaller round houses. Dozens of families lived together in a longhouse, while only one family lived in a round house.

Shelter continued Once the Nez Perce began hunting buffalo, they began to use tipis like the Plains tribes. Tipis, or teepees, are tall, cone-shaped buffalo-hide houses. A tipi was designed to be set up and broke down quickly, since hunters moved frequently to follow the buffalo herds.

hunting tools Nez Perce fishermen used spears and nets to catch fish. Hunters used bows and arrows. In war, Nez Perce men fired their bows and arrows or fought with war spears and leather shields.

Chief Joseph Born in 1840, Chief Joseph was a famous Native American Indian who was the leader of a band of the Nez Perce tribe. In 1877, the US government began forcefully attempting to move the tribe to a reservation. Chief Joseph refused to relocate. He began a retreat that would go down in history. The retreat of Chief Joseph towards Canada and the clashes with the U.S. Army attempting to halt their retreat have been called the Nez Perce War. Just short of the Canadian border, four months after the start of his retreat, Chief Joseph officially surrendered

Chief Joseph Continued In 1879 , after pleading and fighting for his people’s land to be returned, he met with President Rutherford Hayes. He had some success. In 1885 the Nez Perce were granted access to the Pacific Northwest but it was not Wallowa Valley, their true homeland. Chief Joseph became a celebrity of his time. It is said that he died in 1904 of a broken heart as he never made it back to see his homeland.