Native American Indian Pictures and History: wigwam

Showing posts with label wigwam. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Native American Houses and Lodges

Ojibwa Indian house made of mats and bark Details about Native American Houses Constructed of Bark or Mats Here

Ojibwa Indians matt house or lodge. Ojibwa Indian Houses Detailed Here

Ojibwa Indians Matt house sometimes called a wigwam

Kansa Sioux Indian bark lodge or house

Ioway Indian Matt Lodge or House

Iroquois Indian House and Village Described Here

Descriptions of the Powhatan Indian Houses and Village

Creek Indian Houses Described Here

Arapaho Indians Inside their Lodge or House

Omaha Indians Earth Lodge

Mandan Sioux Earthen Lodge Mandan Indian Villiage Described Here

Indian houses of the Northwest. Historical descriptions of the Indian houses of the Northwest here

Shoshoni Indian Tipi made of skins Native American Skin Lodges and Tents Are Detailed Here

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Native American Ojibwa Folklore of the Seasons

NATIVE AMERICAN FOLKLORE AND TALES

ALLEGORY OF THE SEASONS.

FROM THE OJIBWA INDIANS

An old man was sitting alone in his lodge, by the side of a frozen stream. It was the close of winter, and his fire was almost out. He appeared very old and very desolate. His locks were white with age, and he trembled in every joint. Day after day passed in solitude, and he heard nothing but the sounds of the tempest, sweeping before it the new-fallen snow.

One day, as his fire was just dying, a handsome young man approached and entered his dwelling. His cheeks were red with the blood of youth, his eyes sparkled with animation, and a smile played upon his lips. He walked with a light and quick step. His forehead was bound with a wreath of sweet grass, in place of a warrior's frontlet, and he carried a bunch of flowers in his hand.

"Ah, my son," said the old man, "I am happy to see you. Come in. Come, tell me of your adventures, and what strange lands you have been to see. Let us pass the night together. I will tell you of my prowess and exploits, and what I can perform. You shall do the same, and we will amuse ourselves."

He then drew from his sack a curiously-wrought antique pipe, and having filled it with tobacco, rendered mild by an admixture of certain leaves, handed it to his guest. When this ceremony was concluded they began to speak.

"I blow my breath," said the old man, "and the streams stand still. The water becomes stiff and hard as clear stone."

"I breathe," said the young man, "and flowers spring up all over the plains."

"I shake my locks," retorted the old man, "and snow covers the land. The leaves fall from the trees at my command, and my breath blows them away. The birds get up from the water, and fly to a distant land. The animals hide themselves from my breath, and the very ground becomes as hard as flint."

"I shake my ringlets," rejoined the young man, "and warm showers of soft rain fall upon the earth. The plants lift up their heads out of the earth, like the eyes of children glistening with delight. My voice recalls the birds. The warmth of my breath unlocks the streams. Music fills the groves wherever I walk, and all nature rejoices."

At length the sun began to rise. A gentle warmth came over the place. The tongue of the old man became silent. The robin and bluebird began to sing on the top of the lodge. The stream began to murmur by the door, and the fragrance of growing herbs and flowers came softly on the vernal breeze.

Daylight fully revealed to the young man the character of his entertainer. When he looked upon him, he had the icy visage of Peboan. Streams began to flow from his eyes. As the sun increased, he grew less and less in stature, and anon had melted completely away. Nothing remained on the place of his lodge fire but the miskodeed, a small white flower, with a pink border, which is one of the earliest species of Northern plants.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Video Tour of an Eastern Woodland Algonquin Wigwam or House

Algonquin Indian Wigwam

A short video tour of what a Wigwam interior and exterior looked like. This was a typical house of many of the Eastern Woodland Indian tribes.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

About Ojibwa Indian Houses

Ojibwa Indian Wigwam House

Among the Indian tribes in the Lower Status of barbarism some diversity existed in the plans of the lodge and house. Fig. 7, which is taken from Schoolcraft's work on the Indian tribes, shows the frame of an Ojibwa cabin or lodge of the best class, as it may still be seen on the south shore of Lake Superior. Its mechanism is sufficiently shown by the frame of elastic poles exhibited by the figure. It is covered with bark, usually canoe birch, taken off in large pieces and attached with splints. Its size on the ground varied from ten to sixteen feet, and its height from six to ten. Twigs of spruce or hemlock were strewn around the border of the lodge on the ground floor, upon which blankets and skins were spread for beds. The fire-pit was in the center of the floor, over which, in the center of the roof, was an opening for the exit of the smoke. Such a lodge would accommodate, in the aboriginal plan of living, two and sometimes three married pairs with their children. Several such lodges were usually found in a cluster, and the several households consisted of related families, the principal portion being of the same gens or clan. I am not able to state whether or not the households thus united by the bond of kin practiced communism in living in ancient times, but it seems probable. Carver, who visited an Ojibwa village in Wisconsin in 1767, makes it appear that each house was occupied by several families. "This town," he remarks, "contains about forty houses, and can send out upwards of a hundred warriors, many of whom are fine young men." This would give, by the usual rule of computation, five hundred persons, and an average of twelve persons to a house