Plains Indians

Homes

The homes of the Plains Indians were designed to be portable. This was because the Plains Indians were nomadic. The outside of the tipi was made of Buffalo hide (See Technology). The decoration of the tipi depended on whether it was for a male (decorated with hunting/war scenes) or for a woman (geometric designs).
The Plains Indians moved camp five or six times a year. The furniture inside the tepee had to be easily transported. The Pains Indians did not have a lot of furniture for this reason.
Most of the tepee floor would be covered with buffalo robes, hair side up. The beds, which were also made of buffalo robes, were placed around the edge of the tepee. Storage bags were kept between the beds or hung on the poles along with a water bag and weapons. These storage bags meant that the Plains Indians did not need drawers or wardrobes.
In the centre of the tepee a fire would be built. The smoke hole at the top could be moved according to the direction of the wind. In summer, the bottom of the tepee could be rolled up to allow any breeze to blow through. In winter, a tepee lining was added to keep the home warmer.

The liner (dew cloth) is tied to the inside of the pole structure. This provides a sandwich of air between the liner and the tipi cover that acts as a blanket of insulation. This air space also serves as a conduit for the flow of air into the tipi. With the bottom of the liner snug to the ground and with the bottom edge of the tipi cover raised a few inches above the ground, the flow of air can be controlled and cross drafts can be eliminated.
This is how it works: In the winter the air outside is cold. With a fire inside, the air in the tipi is warm. Warm air wants to rise and the hot air over the fire rises fastest, carrying the smoke up and out through the smoke flap opening. This flow of hot air creates a draw or suction which pulls the heavy cold air up between the liner and the tipi cover to spill over the top of the liner into the tipi where it mingles with the warm air inside and replenishes the oxygen supply. The layer of warm air in the tipi is as deep as the liner is high.
In the summer, the air outside is warm or hot. Since cool air sinks and hot air rises, the cool air in the tipi is captured below the level of the Liner. The hot air climbs up through the space between the tipi cover and the liner and continues to rise out through the smoke flap Opening. On extremely hot days, the tie cords on the shady side of the tipi can be untied and the bottom edges of the cover and the liner can be pulled up between the poles and the fabric to make an opening for breezes to waft into the tipi. This permits the tipi to function like a great umbrella.

Made of the same high quality fabric as the tipi, the door has three dowels (3/4 inch in diameter) sewn into horizontal pockets. Each dowel is sanded and linseed-oiled and the ends are rounded. The extra centre dowel keeps the centre of the door from collapsing into the entrance opening and gives much better wind and storm protection. The door is tapered and is extra long so it can be tied outside or inside - both top and bottom.
During storms, the door can be tied inside to lay between the tipi fabric and the door poles. When the door is in this position the dowels are supported by the door poles and the door can be pushed up to open and down to close (accordion fashion). Also, with the door stretched across the opening under the tipi fabric, water running down the front of the tipi cannot run into the door opening and form a puddle inside the tipi. The wind and water simply flow over the outside surface of the door. The door, used in this manner, is absolutely wind and weather proof.

	Door open	Door closed.

Black is the dominant colour of the Black War Bonnet Society. In traditional Lakota culture, black came from the West and meant danger and death. The Black War Bonnet warrior was the fiercest. He was feared by all; no one crossed his path. Putting the black design on a buffalo robe held back death. It meant invulnerability. The white represents life. Together, the two colours say, in effect, that this owner will not go into the next life until the proper time. Running through the middle is a painted strip with three black and white porcupine-quilled wheels and red porcupine quilled bars representing the road of life.

SOURCE 1.
The tipi is much better to live in; always clean, warm in winter, cool in summer; easy to move. Indians and animals know better how to live than white men; nobody can be in good health if he does not have all the time fresh air, sunshine and good water. If the Great Spirit wanted men to stay in one place he would make the world stand still; but He made it to always change.

The tipi was undoubtedly very well adapted for the nomadic life of the plains Indians. It was easy to take down and put up. Women could take down their homes in fifteen minutes. The long poles could be strapped tp dogs and horses and the cover could be packed away into quite a small bundle.
Flying Hawk, 1852 - 1931.

Colonel Dodge found the tipi an unpleasant place to live.
SOURCE 2.
The fire is built in the centre, and the smoke escapes through a hole at the top. The draught is however very poor, and in cold weather the tipi is usually too full of smoke to be bearable to anyone but an indian. In this small space are often crowded eight or ten persons. Since the cooking, eating, living and sleeping are all done in one room, it soon becomes unbelievably dirty.
Colonel Richard Dodge, Hunting Grounds of the West, 1877.

The family was a very important part of the Plains Indianss' way of life. A young man had to prove he could provide food and transport for his family on several hunts and raiding enemy tribes for horses. Only then could he think about getting married. An I ndian man could have as many wives as he wanted, but many only had one. A few men had more than one wife, often these wives were sisters, as it was felt they were less likely to argue. Having children was very important to the Plains Indians. Mothers were always with their babies, but other members of the family played an important role in bringing up all the children, especially grandmothers.

The Birth of a Baby.
Although they married young - between the ages of about 12 and 15 - Plains women gave birth, on average, to only three or four children. The birth usually took place in the woman's own tipi, with her mother and perhaps another woman (possibly her sister) to help. The risk of childbirth must have been high but the hard working women were fit and coped well. Shortly after birth, the child was given a name by a respected older man or woman of the tribe. Usually they named the child after an animal or a brave deed or dream of their own. A boy might change his name when he was older, following a special dream or vision ( see Beliefs).
When a new baby was born, the grandparents usually made a cradle.

Family Life. The Plains Indians lived in large family groups that included all generations - young and old. A child would call its aunts and uncles 'mother' and 'father' as well as its parents.

Games and Learning.
The children of the Plains did not go to school; they learnt by copying adults in their games. Very small girls often played with deerskin dolls and toy tipis, while the boys often played with miniature bows and arrows - but if boys wanted to play with dolls and tipis or girls wanted to play with bows and arrows this was not discouraged. Children were allowed to grow up as they wanted to. When they were a little older, the boys might hunt birds to cook. At the age of six, a boy could ride and help with the horses and a girl could help dig for vegetable roots ( see Food and the Priarie Turnip) and collect firewood. Both boys and girls had their own physical games. The girls of the Plains played a kind of hockey. Between the ages of 12 and 14, a boy would go on his first buffalo hunt. In this way they learnt all that they needed to be an active member of the tribe. Even if they didn't fit a male/female role they would find a role that would allow them to be part of the tribe.

Getting Married.
Once boys and girls became part teenagers, they were not allowed to play together. Before marriage, a young man and woman ( age 12 to 15) were not allowed to be alone together. The most privacy they were allowed, when getting to know each other, was a blanket thrown around them outside the family tipi. That was with their families watching!
When a marriage took place the family of the bridegroom had to pay a bride-price to the bride's family. This might range from one horse to many horses. After all they were loosing a valued member of their family and the groom was gaining a lovely bride and a hard worker. The marriage brought the two families closer together. The bride's father would want her to be happy and treated well, he believed she was beautiful and a hard worker. The groom had gained a beautiful bride and a woman who would work hard to keep him and his children alive. On the other hand the groom and his male family members were expected to fight to keep their family safe, as the father of the bride would have done. So, although it was the grooms family who paid the bride-price, all the men would have felt that in a battle they were fighting for other families. These ties kept the warriors together as a group.

Source 3.
There was this young man who wished to marry a girl. He asked her many times to run away with him, but she refused. Finally he asked if he might marry her. She told him to go home and ask his family to make feast and that she would ask her parents.
So the young man went home and told his people, urging them that they must make a feast. His family agreed and took several fine horses over to her male relatives, and then they took clothes to they girl.
When the day of the feast came, the girl's relatives put her on a horse and led her over to the tipi of her bridegroom's parents. Many people came to the feast, but there was no speech.
Arnold Iron Shell, Brule Sioux Chief.

Sometimes a wealthy man might have more than one wife. Successful hunters brought home a lot of work and it was often desirable that this work should be shared amongst more than one wife. Many men were killed in war and hunting, leaving more women than men. Polygamy seemed to be a sensible solution.
If a marriage did not work well, divorce was easy for either partner. The man could do it by banging a drum and announcing it to the tribe and the woman could do it by simply moving all her belongings back to her parent's tipi.

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