Scalping - Rhyme & Reason
Did you know that scalping was done for spiritual reasons? It was thought by most Tribes that if you disfigured a person in battle, then that person could not enter the Spirit World. They also believed, like many cultures do, that one's Spirit is contained in the hair. When they heard about scalping it seemed an obvious addition to their battlefield practices. Instead of cutting the body of an enemy they took some of the hair, and in doing so captured the person's Spirit. Therefore the Spirit could not move on.

Instead of taking the whole scalp as white people used to, a Warrior would take only a small lock. This piece of hair would often be ornately dressed with beads, feathers, and personal power items. It would be braided and was exclusively there for an enemy to take in battle. It was actually called a 'scalp lock'. The enemy warrior would hold the braid and cut around the base of the lock and then quickly pull up hard so that the area would come away. By doing it this way it didn't necessarily kill. The braver the warrior was, the more power would be with the taker of the scalp. Sometimes the scalps would be used in ornamentation, on clothing, shields or tipi's. Some were given to the women to use, some were kept by the warrior. Often the scalp was treated with the utmost respect, and eventually burned to release the Spirit so that it could continue its' journey.

(From Beads & Buckskins - Men's role: Warrior & Weapons talks.)

The Medicine Wheel

The Medicine Wheel is an archaic system of Earth Astrology. Each point on the wheel depicts a different stage of life, and is represented by a color, a creature, a direction and Spirit. Medicine Wheels have been found all over the world, they are not exclusive to North America. Stonehenge the monolithic temple in England which is said to date back to 2,000 BC, is in actual fact a form of Medicine Wheel.

Stonehenge, England.

A friend in South Africa has a beautiful Medicine Wheel in her back yard, which also happens to be the Bush. She goes there almost every day to pray, she often has four leggeds and winged ones joining her at her prayers. As the photo below shows.

Where ever you go be respectful, that is the rule that we live by.

(From Beads & Buckskins - Symbols, Crafts & Spirituality talks.)

The Talking Stick

The Talking Stick was used in tribal Council sessions. It was passed around the circle, and only the person in possession of the stick was allowed to speak. That way each person present could put their thoughts forward without being interrupted. After all the words had been spoken the decision maker would give their own determination, knowing that everyone present had had a chance to have their say and taking their words into consideration. It was a democratic way for laws and rulings to be made. We often say that we should send a couple of Talking Sticks to Washington for the Senate and Congress to use. Probably every Government in the world could use one!

Today the Sticks are used in more contemporary ways. In 12 step programs, especially in the abuse sessions they are an asset, because people can say what they feel and know that they will not be interrupted or put down. In families they are useful, the kids are allowed to speak, and the parents have to listen, and of course it works both ways!

(From Beads & Buckskins - Crafts & Social customs talks.)

Tipi? Wigwam? Longhouse?
After speaking with many people we find that there is confusion as to what the housing structures should be called. Here we will try to rectify that confusion.

This is a Wigwam. It is made of bark, poles and sticks.

This type of dwelling comes from the north east tribes, It is a single family dwelling.

As you can see it is nothing like a tipi. Most Woodlands tribes used this type of home. The wigwam can be either conical or domed. The Dakota used these as a temporary home while they were collecting the sap of the maple tree which we know today as Maple Syrup. The Dakota and Ojibwa people knew the job as 'Sugaring', and it was a way for them to get a sweetness that their body could absorb naturally. The sugar that we have causes them to become sick.

Good information about the Wigwam is given HERE

Plains Tipi

These are Tipis. Made out of Buffalo hides.

Used by Plains tribes. Easy to put up and take down. The tipi belonged to the women, and she would take care of erecting it, keeping it repaired and dismantling it. It could take all of three minutes to take one down!

The hides were all scraped by hand by the women, and boy that was hard work....we know because we did one. We used old traditional tools, basically sharpened stones. We admire the women of yester-year much more since doing that.

As you can see from this photo the tipis were set up in a circle, their doorways facing east, The poles were set up in such a way that they were very safe even in very high winds. In winter the tipi was warm and in summer cool. In each of these dwellings lived whole families sometimes 6 to 8 people, three generations all under the same roof! Can you imagine that happening today, with all the things we accumulate?

Longhouse

An Iroquois village was made up of one or more longhouses, surrounded by a woven palisade. The long houses ranged in length from about 60 feet to well over 220 feet, and were generally about 20 feet wide and 20 feet high. The framework of a longhouse resembled a large rigid basket made of wooden posts set into the ground, with other poles and saplings lashed to these to form the exterior walls and create the arched roof. A variety of trees were used to construct the framework: decay-resistant woods chosen for the posts and poles set into the ground; strong, and sometimes flexible woods chosen for the remainder of the framework. The bark was probably peeled from these posts, poles, and saplings, so that they would be less likely to harbor insect pests.

Bark from various kinds of trees was used to cover the framework, for interior partitions, and for the benches and shelves of the living space. Among the New York Iroquois, elm bark was preferred. Large sheets of bark were lashed to the exterior walls and roof of the longhouse. The Iroquois smoothed the rough outer bark surfaces, so that water would run off of them more easily.

©The Iroquois Longhouse, A Mohawk Iroquois Village, c.1600. New York State Museum, Albany, NY

you can see more pictures and information on the Longhouse HERE

(From Beads & Buckskins - Tipi, Marriage, Female role talks.)

The previous sections are excerpts from our 'Beads & Buckskins' program, which is detailed here