PLAINS NATIVES Culture and life

The Great Plains  This culture group of Indians is well-known for the importance of the buffalo, their religious ceremonies, and the use of the tipi.  Four important tribes in this culture include the Dakota, Cheyenne, Sioux, and Comanche.  The buffalo was the most important natural resource of the Plains Natives.  The Plains Natives were hunters. They hunted many kinds of animals, but it was the buffalo which provided them with all of their basic needs: food, clothing, and shelter.

 The horse, first introduced by the Spanish of the Southwest, appeared in the Plains about the beginning of the 18th cent. and revolutionized the life of the Plains Natives.  Many Native Americans left their villages and joined the nomads.  Mounted and armed with bow and arrow, they ranged the grasslands hunting buffalo.

PLAINS NATIVES  Many were NOMADIC groups; moving from place to place.

LIFE OF THE PLAINS NATIVES WOMEN  Took care of the tipi (setting up and taking down)  raised the children  packed when it was time to move  helped butcher the animals  gathered berries and other plants  collected firewood  prepared the food  prepared the skins (cleaning, curing, scraping and tanning)  made clothing and other articles  quilling and beadwork  taught the girls the same duties MEN  hunting  protection  fought in battles  taught the boys to hunt and fight  made tools, weapons and shields

FOOD  Bison (buffalo)  Antelope, deer, elk and moose were hunted.  Gophers, rabbits, prairie chickens and other small animals and birds were caught in snare traps. 

PREPARING THE MEAT – roasted on a spit on the campfire. – boiled in a skin bag – cut into thin slices and hung to dry. – made into pemmicanpemmican Dried meat was pounded with a rock until it became powder. Then it was mixed with melted fat and berries. – liver, kidneys, marrow and nose were eaten fresh

FRUITS AND VEGETABLES  Many kinds of berries were picked including chokecherries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and saskatoons. – The berries were eaten fresh or dried. Berries were also used for dyes, jewelry and medicines. Food was stored in birchbark containers.birchbark containers  Plants that grew wild such as wild rice, bitter root, onions and prairie turnips were also picked. – Turnips were eaten raw, boiled or roasted. Dried turnips and pounded into flour.  Dried sage was used for flavouring food and moss was used for tea.

CLOTHING  In the early days animal skins (of deer, antelope, moose) were used instead of cloth. The women prepared the hides, made and mended the clothes.  The men wore long shirts, breechcloths, long leggings, a belt and moccasins.long shirts  The women wore long dresses, short leggings (knee- high) and moccasins.long dresses

JEWELRY & DECORATION  Jewelry was made from shells, claws, teeth or feathers.  Bags, belts and special clothing for ceremonies were decorated with shells, claws, feathers, quillwork, hair or strips of fur.  Later colorful beads were used.  Tails of animals (weasel and fox) were also used for decoration.  Clothing that was worn daily was not decorated, except for a row of beadwork or fringes.

SHELTER  Villagers resided for most of the year in earth lodges.  Teepees (tipis), were used when the villagers were moving from place to place. – The tepee is a conical tent, its foundation being either three or four poles; other poles placed around these formed a roughly circular base. – Before the horse, tepees averaged about 10 feet in diameter, encompassing approximately 80 square feet (7.5 square metres); – later they averaged about 15 feet in diameter (4.5 metres), for an interior of some 175 square feet (16.25 square metres). – A teepee would usually house a two- or three-generation family. The cover was made from dressed buffalo skins

Because there were few trees, the people of the Great Plains made homes out of sod, or thickly matted grass. Apparently deserted sod house, but in relatively good shape, showing door, two windows and stove pipe. It is built in two sections with two different roof lines. To left in background is a windmill. Kansas, early 1900’s

They also used buffalo hides to make cone- shaped tents called tepees. Tepees of the Shoshone tribe

WINTER CAMP  The Plains tribes lived in small groups or bands during the long winter months. For five months of the year (November to March) they lived in one place - known as the winter camp. The winter camp was set up in a protected area where there was water, wood, game and grass for the horses.

GATHERINGS  Then in late spring or early summer, the bands would get together again for religious ceremonies, important meetings and the yearly bison hunt which took place in late summer and fall.

Horses, introduced to the people of the Great Plains in the 1700’s, made hunting easier and decreased their reliance on agriculture. "Assiniboine hunting buffalo", painting by Paul Kane ( ). Oil on canvas, Painted between 1851 and 1856.

PLAINS NATIVES Story Book or POSTER Follow the directions on the handout