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This information was researched by John and Aldrin in Room 6-09 Dance and Music The Sun
Dance is a popular dance for the Plains people. It is always held in midsummer.
All ages can dance. Back in 1885 kids couldn’t dance it but now everyone can
dance it.
Most ceremonies use 3 types of instruments. They are the whistle, rattle, and tambourine. To make a rattle the natives used rawhide bags. The bag was filled with stones, pebbles, and sand. You can use rawhide to make drum heads. To make whistles the natives used hollow bones. Food The Plains people grew maize and vegetables. Others hunted animals like elk and antelope for food. When they saw wolves and bears they respect them. They respect them because they are very dangerous. The women cooked with bags before metal pots were made. Women cooked meat by boiling it with hot water in a bag. The bags were made of buffalo stomach lining. The women also cooked meat on a stick by boiling them and burning them. The plains people had spoons and knives. The spoon was made of buffalo horn. They carved the horn into a spoon. They made their knives with buffalo legs. Tools The Plains people use tools for many uses. They made hammers with sticks, rocks, and sometimes string. They just put the rock on the stick and tie the string in an X shape around the rock and stick. The Plains people used wood to make bows. There are 6 steps to making a bow. It is very complicated. If you want to figure out if a bow is well made you must shoot an arrow. If the arrow goes 150 metres or more it is considered well made. Work When men search for food they hunt animals. When they hunt them they use knives, bows with arrows, and guns. They got the guns by trading for them. The women search and pick out fruits and vegetables. The women also made clothing out of skin and fur, but before they made the clothing they treated the skins. After they treated it they started to make clothing. If lots of women were making a teepee it would take five minutes to make it. That is very fast. It takes long for one to three women to make a teepee. Another name for a teepee is a lodge. A teepee is a house or tent shaped as a cone. It is made of white tanned buffalo and cow skin. The skin will turn dark after a while automatically. When you look at the top of a teepee you can see 2 flaps called wings or ears. An average teepee is five meters wide but some natives make teepees bigger or smaller. The biggest teepee ever made was 16 meters wide and was made in a a Blackfoot camp although it wasn’t a perfect cone. Clothing The Plains people made clothing in different designs. They made moccasins and other clothes too. A moccasin is a slipper. There are many different designs of moccasins. When the moccasin get wet, the natives switch it to dry moccasins and let the wet moccasins dry. The men wore less clothing than women. They tried to wear as little clothing as possible. They also never wore socks. They wore two tanned animal skins with no sleeves and sometimes with fur. The men and women also wore clothes made of buckskin. Women wore lots of clothing. The Plains people wore hats and feathers on top of their heads. Habitat
Raising the Children Most of the families were small because their children often died when they were born or when they were small. When their children behaved they got praised and when they misbehaved they were shamed. The games that the children played made them strong. Interesting Facts Most of the Assiniboin died by smallpox. They used their dogs to pull travois with tipi poles in them. The Assiniboin have shamans. The men shamans have men medicine and the woman shamans have women medicine. In their tribe they have elders. The chief is an elder. Most Assiniboin now are either ranchers or farmers. The Assiniboin used to be with the Sioux but then they joined with the Cree to destroy the Sioux. Bibliography
Historica Foundation of Canada World
Book Inc. (2002) MacDonald, Fiona, Plains Indians, U.S. Quarto
Publishing 1992 |
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