TIME MACHINE DESTINATION: NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURES

A Guide To Native American History

Mrs. Trautz’s Class Authors: N.W., J.U., L.K, T.V., J.P., R.G., T.H., W.H., M.B.

Publishers: Big Book Publications

St. Johns High School Publishing Class

St. Johns Public Schools Copyright 2006

TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreward ....................................................................................................................... ii Introduction Time Machine Destination: Native American Lands ..........................................1 Siksika Through The Eyes Of The Siksika A Native American Culture...........................2 Cheyenne The Cheyenne Tribe...........................................................................................6 Ojibwa ...........................................................................................................................7 Pueblo .........................................................................................................................10 Cherokee.....................................................................................................................12 Conclusion...................................................................................................................13

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Foreward

We dedicate this book to young learners, who we hope will have as much fun reading it as we did writing it through a collaborative effort with our peers. Let this book be the charcoal to spark your curiosity that burns on the truth of knowledge. With careful deliberation, the students of Mrs. Trautz’s Special Studies class have begun to discover the mysteries of the Native Americans.

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Time Machine Destination: Native American Lands

The history of the Native Americans is in your hands and before your eyes. You’ll get your answers but, you will also get more questions. How much do you know about the Native Americans? Read this book and find more amazing facts about how they survived 366 generations. We have covered culture, climate, artifacts and much more. Go ahead and turn the page into the world of the Native Americans.

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THROUGH THE EYES OF THE SIKSIKA A NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURE

We are the Siksika, a Native American tribe. We are commonly called the “Blackfoot” by the majority of people. We are called this because the early American settlers are able to distinguish us from other Native American tribes based on our black, soot-covered moccasins we wear on our feet. We, the Siksika, live in a culture area called the Great Plains. Specifically, we live in what are now upper Montana, lower Alberta, and lower Saskatchewan. The terrain of this land that we live in consists of plains, plateaus, mountains, valleys, hills, marshes, and very, very large forests. Our diet consists of both plants and animals. We hunt for buffalo, deer, elk, bear, moose, cougar, and wolf meat. We also gather nuts, berries, tubers, seeds, fruits, edible plants, and the petals of some flowers. Siksika clothing is made from the tanned hides of the animals we hunt. Many times, we decorate our clothing with paint, beads, and/or certain animal parts. Our homes are simple, buffalo-hide tipis, and they are collapsible, which means they are easy to transport. Often, we decorate our tipis with painted symbolical pictures and designs. Our transportation varies from area to area and from season to season. On land, we use horses for riding and horses with travois (a travois is a sled for carrying and transporting things used by several Native American tribes) attached in the Spring and Autumn, riding horses and dogs with travois attached in Summer, and riding horses, snow shoes, and dogs with travois attached in Winter. When it came to crossing a relatively large body of water, we use canoes and/or kayaks. We use many different tools throughout our life of traveling. Among them are knives, awls, clubs, and hatchets, all of which are made of stones and wood. Most of our tools are made of the bones of the animals we hunt. Among these tools are sewing needles, knive handles, blow darts, and multiple tools used for carving. We also hunt with such weapons as the traditional tomahawk (a tomahawk is a axe used by several Native American tribes), spears, knives, clubs, and my personal favorite, the bow & arrows.

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We believe that Napi, the old man, is the creator of the world and everything in it, on it, and around it. There are a lot of ceremonies in our religion. The Sun Dance, one of many ceremonies, is a series of feasts, fasts, dances, and practices of self-torture. Women play a big part in our religion.

There are many items used in our religion. Many of these are clothing items for ceremonies. Other items are peace pipes, tomahawks, and special healing herbs used by the medicine man. When we find time, we do have a little fun. Some of the things we do are: playing music, hunting practice, and storytelling. Storytelling is important to us because it tells us stories from our past. We are not the only people that tell the stories of our ancestors, almost everyone I know does.

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THE CHEYENNE TRIBE

The Tsetschestaahase “which means people who are alike.” They are more commonly know as the Cheyenne {shai-ena} “which means people of an alien speech..

The Cheyenne live in many different places. The Cheyenne lived in Minnasota,

North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, and Iowa. The geography in these places included the plains, grasslands, and river valleys. The climate in these parts was mild. The housing in the Cheyenne tribe were mostly tepees made out of buffalo hides and wooden poles. They could take down the tepees quickly so they could chase after the food. The clothing they wore during the winter was robes and blankets. They also wear regular clothing made of tanned hides. They made their things from many different animals.

The Cheyenne got their food by hunting buffalo and fishing. What the Cheyenne

for did their recreation in their tribe was make pipes pray for rain they had a Sun Dance Ceremony. What the Cheyenne did for religion is perform many ceremonies and rituals. The Cheyenne people did a dance called the Sun Dance Ceremony. What the Sun Dance Ceremony Represented, is time when the Cheyenne renewed their promise to work for the benefit of the tribe and the Earth. The tribes that used the Algonquian language are the Cheyenne, Ojibwa, Blackfoot, and Shawnee.

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THE OJIBWA PEOPLE

Did you know that the Ojibwa people had a whole handful of different locations, economy, origin myth, clothing and housing? Yes, in fact, they live in Canada and the United States around the Great Lakes. They also got food by traveling to find wild rice. They also bow hunted for deer at night. The cool thing was that they crushed dry plants to make a refreshing drink. They hunted deer, moose, fox and wolves. The men hunted with bow and arrows. They ate rice, fish, corn, bears and squash. Their origin-myth tells of a hero with special powers name Nanabozho who created the earth. The Ojibwa say that he saw animals swimming and Nanabozho told them to go to the bottom and get some mud. They did, but the only one that got mud was the meerkat. But, while trying he died. When Nanabazho blew on the meerkat it came back to life. After that he blew on the mud and made a small island. Nanabozho told birds to fly around the island which made the island big enough for all humans. The Ojibwa say that they live on this land. The Ojibwa made their clothes from animal skins. The men of the Ojibwa tribe wore shirts, leggings and moccasins. The women wore deerskin dresses and moccasins. They sometimes sewed beads and quills onto their clothing. Did you know that two or three families might live in a 12 foot by 10 foot wigwam. The wigwams are made from pole frames covered with bulrush. A blanket usually covered the door. Did you know that the meaning of Ojibwa means Anishabe, also knows as “original people?” Also there is a sport that is still used today called lacrosse. Their religion was fascinating thing to learn about. They believed dreams went through a web called a dream catcher. Another interesting thing to look at was their weapons. The had daggers, axes, bows and arrows, spear, and they even had tomahawks.

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Cherokee

We did a report on one of the Native Americans tribes the Cherokees. The Cherokee name means cave people but the Cherokees say that it means real people or original people. Today you can find some Cherokee tribes in Tennesse, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia,West Virginia,Kentucky,Georgia and Alabama.Today most of the Cherokees live in North Carolina and you can find about 60,000 Cherokees in the USA.

Their houses are made out of wood and then they are plasterd over mud and

grass and the roofs were made out of tree bark.On the inside they put colorfull blankets on the ground and for beds they would use animals skin like deer and bear skin.

The woman would wear colorfull shoulder bags.the tribe would wear garments

to dances and some people in the tribe would wear masks to ceremoneys.The Cherokees would get their food by hunting fishing and farming

The Cherokees honored things in nature and the shamans were very importent

in their religion.the Cherokees would pray to the spirits for strength and help another thing that the Cherokees would do was that they would wear animal skins to bed and they thought that they would get the strength of that animal.

The Cherokees belleived that at one time the whole world was coverd in water

and the humans lived in the woorld above with the animals and the land was formed when water beetles came up and spit mud up and that formed islands.

The Cherokees played many different games but one of them was called stick

ball and we still play it today but we call it lacross The trail of tears was were alot of the Cherokees died when they were forced to

move west alot of them died from getting to cold some starved and others got diseases.The Cherokees used quart crystals for healing in everyday use.

The whites wanted the Cherokee’s land even more when they went through one

day and found gold nuggets on the ground.the Cherokees made many different kind of instruments like flutes drums and rattlers.the Cherokees also hunted with blow guns and would shoot them in their spair time.

This is a little about one of the Native American tribes the Cherokees.

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CONCLUSION Now you have completed learning about what we have given you to spark your curiosity to learn; let it turn into a flame that spreads. We didn’t give you all the answers so that you know every thing. We gave you enough to make you wonder about things. Remember, the history of the Native Americans is in your hands. Do with it what you choose; teach, learn, or forget.

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