Native American Cultures: The GreatPlains

Bobby Morris, 4, of Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, joins hundreds of other dancers for the Grand Entry of the Prairie Island

Dakota Wacipi Celebration Pow Wow hosted by the Prairie Island Indian Community near Red Wing, Minnesota, on July 11,

2003. Nestled along the Mississippi River on 600 sandy acres - about half of it habitable - the Prairie Island Indian Community

is a Mdewakanton Sioux reservation in Goodhue County, Minnesota, along the Mississippi River. The pow wow is a way for

children of Prairie Island to meet other Native Americans as well as learn Native American history. Photo by: AP Photo/Ann

Heisenfelt

By Encyclopedia Britannica, adapted by Newsela staff on 06.15.17

Word Count 1,498

Level 990L

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The Plains

Native Americans traditionally lived on the Great Plains of the United States and Canada. The

Great Plains is a vast grassland at the center of North America. It stretches from the Rocky

Mountains to the Mississippi River, and from southern Canada to the Rio Grande river in

Texas.

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Tribes And Languages

The Plains Native Americans consist of many different tribes speaking many different

languages. The best known of these tribes include the Blackfoot, Arapaho, Cheyenne,

Comanche, Crow, Kiowa, Lakota and Plains Cree. Some of their languages are similar to

languages spoken as far north as Alaska. Others, such as the Comache, spoke languages

from the Uto-Aztecan language family. These are some of the oldest languages in the

Americas.

Plains peoples invented a type of sign language as well. It represented common objects and

ideas like "buffalo" or "exchange." This allowed people who spoke different languages to

communicate with each other.

Horses Changed Culture

The Plains cultural area is known for its mobile culture. However, this culture developed only

after contact with Europeans.

Before contact, most Plains peoples lived in villages, some of which had populations of

several thousand people. They got their food from farming, hunting and fishing. However, after

Spanish settlers brought horses to North America, many tribes on the Plains abandoned

farming and adopted a nomadic way of life. They spent most of the year following herds of

buffalo as they roamed in search of grass.

Hunting Buffalo

Plains villagers grew corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers. They also collected wild produce,

like turnips and berries.

Once horses were introduced, buffalo became the main food source for Plains tribes. At first

most hunters used bows and arrows while hunting on horseback. Later they used guns

acquired through trade with Europeans.

After the hunt, the women skinned the carcasses and cut up the meat. Most of the meat was

cut into thin strips and preserved.

Housing: From Lodges To Tepees

Before 1700 most Plains tribes lived in villages along the Missouri and other rivers. Some

villages had populations of up to a few thousand people. Typical village tribes planted crops in

the spring, spent the summer as nomadic hunters, and returned to their villages in the autumn

for the harvest. In the late autumn they hunted for a short time. Then they moved to hamlets of

a few homes each in the wooded bottomlands, which provided shelter from winter storms.

They returned to their villages in the spring to begin the cycle again.

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Dwellings in the villages were mostly dome-shaped earth lodges. These were roofed and

walled with earth and entered through a covered passage. Earth lodges averaged 40 to 60

feet in diameter and generally housed three-generation families. Earth lodge villages were

usually protected by a defensive ditch and palisade, or fence.Many Plains tribes gave up

permanent villages after they got horses. As they became more reliant on bison hunting on

horseback, they adjusted their way of life to match the habits of the animals.

The nomadic buffalo-hunting tribes lived in portable, cone-shaped tents called tepees. A tepee

was made by stretching a cover of sewn buffalo skins over a framework of wooden poles. The

cover was usually decorated with colorful paintings of animals and the hunt. A flap of the cover

served as a door, and a flap at the top was left open to allow smoke from the central fire to

escape. A tepee was usually 12 to 20 feet high and 15 to 30 feet in diameter. Tepees could be

taken apart quickly and easily. Usually, they were large enough to house an entire family.

The Osage and the Wichita built houses that were similar to the wickiup of the Northeast

culture area. The dwellings of the Osage were composed of upright poles arched over on top,

interlaced with flexible branches, and covered with mats or skins. Wichita houses were more

cone-shaped and thatched with grass.

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Clothes: Buffalo, Deer And Antelope Hides

Plains women made clothes out of the hides of buffalo, deer and antelope. They decorated

them with porcupine quills and, in later times, glass and ceramic beads.

On the northern Plains, in cold weather, men wore buffalo-skin robes painted with scenes of

battles they had fought. Warriors sometimes wore warbonnets, or headdresses made with

eagle feathers on special occasions. Women’s clothing typically consisted of a long dress,

leggings and moccasins.

Making Tools And Weapons By Hand

Plains Native Americans used different parts of the buffalo and other animals to make all kinds

of items. Bedding, utensils and bags were made from buffalo hides. The horns were carved

into spoons, and the hooves were cooked to make glue.

Plains villagers cultivated their crops using antler rakes, wooden digging sticks, and hoes

made from the shoulder blades of elk or bison. Some cooking pots also came from the bison.

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One of the chief skills of the men was making weapons. They whittled wooden bows and

shaped them in a double curve. Arrows were made with a sharp stone head until European

traders provided metal points. Feathers were tied to the end of the arrow to make it fly straight.

Society: Tribes, Bands, Fighting And Trade

Most Plains tribes were divided into bands, made up of a few dozen to a few hundred people

who lived, worked and traveled together. The leaders of bands were chosen based on their

courage and wisdom.

Each band had its own territory. Some bands were fairly independent of each other, while

others were tightly connected. The bands within a tribe did not fight one another.

Fighting between tribes rarely involved large forces. Usually it was carried out by raiding

parties of a few warriors. These raids were carried out to avenge a death, to steal horses and

especially to gain glory. Tribes rewarded courageous war deeds by giving warriors the right to

wear eagle feathers.

Trade between Plains tribes was common. It often involved trade between nomads and

villagers, as in the trade of buffalo robes for corn.

Family: Dividing The Work

Plains peoples organized themselves into large family-based groups called clans. The

members of a clan shared a common ancestor. Depending on the tribe, a child became a

member of either the father’s or mother’s clan. Because clan members came from different

bands within a tribe, this system was a way to unify the tribe as a whole.

Plains tribes typically had a clear division of labor. Women were responsible for farming,

gathering plant foods, building and maintaining the home, cooking and making clothing. Men

hunted for the household and provided defense for the community.

Religion: Spirits, Shamans, Sun Dance

Plains peoples believed that spirit-beings lived in animals, plants, the Sun, the Moon, the stars

and all other natural things. Success in life was thought to depend on the help of these spirit-

beings. To gain the help of a spirit, a person would go to an isolated spot to fast and beg for

aid.

All Plains tribes had people who communicated with the spirit world. Such people are known

as shamans. They were called on to treat serious illnesses, locate enemies and game animals

and find lost objects. Some Plains peoples, including the Cheyenne, the Atsina, and the

Pawnee, believed in a supreme spirit. The Cheyenne, for example, held that “the Wise One

above” knew better than all other creatures; further, he had long ago left Earth and retired to

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the sky. In smoking ceremonies the first offering of the pipe was always made to him. Some

other tribes, such as the Crow, believed instead in many gods, each of whom possessed

about equal power.

The most important religious ceremony on the Plains was the Sun Dance. It was held once a

year in summer, when the whole tribe could gather. Participants fasted and danced for several

days, praying for power.

Modern Day: Sovereignty, Growth, Development

Assimilationist policies were challenges to tribal sovereignty, or the right to self-government.

Regaining sovereignty became the defining goal of the Plains tribes in the 20th and 21st

centuries. As with other rural communities, many Plains tribes had instituted formal plans for

economic growth by the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Many of these plans were

designed to resolve common rural development issues, such as underemployment and lack of

services. The plans also included programs for cultural revitalization.

Over time, the Plains people lost much of their traditional way of life. Today in the 21st century,

many Native Americans are trying to reconnect with their past. For example, tribal schools

now offer instruction in native languages, many of which were almost lost.

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