| Families are very important to the Plains Indian culture, and each member has a particular part to play. If a boy is successful as a warrior and hunter, or a girl as a homemaker and craftswoman, this will help to ensure the continued wealth and success of each family, and therefore of the tribe as a whole.
Plains Indians made all of their own clothes. Most all of their clothes were made from animal skins. Antelope and deer were the most often used. The women were responsible for making clothes for their entire tribe. Men typically wore animal skin leggings, a loin cloth, and a belt. They rarely wore shirts, instead they wrapped buffalo furs over their shoulders. These were known as buffalo robes. A distinguish man, who was known for his bravery, often wore a grizzly bear claw necklace. A man who was considered to be a distinguished warrior often wore an eagle feather warbonnet. The number of feathers on the warbonnet related to the number of brave acts performed by each man. Women and girls of the tribes wore dresses made of deerskins. Women often wore jewelry, such as earrings and bracelets, made of sea shells, metal, or beads. Young boys in the tribe often wore leggings and loin cloths like the tribal men. All Plains Indians wore moccasins on their feet. Women were in charge of making the moccasins for their tribe. Moccasins were usually made with animal hides and buckskin. They were decorated with beads and quill work. Ceremonial clothing was usually everyday clothes that were painted and decorated for each particular celebration or ceremony. Most Indians were polygamists, which means that they had more than one wife. Most of the men in the village have two or three wives, and very rich men have as many as eight. It is common for a man to marry two or three sisters. One reason Plains Indians are polygamous is the war-like nature of their society Hunting accidents and deaths in battle mean that there are fewer men than women. Women usually marry at fourteen or fifteen, and men when they are in their twenties. Although wives contribute to the family's wealth by preparing buffalo hides for trade, they are not encouraged to have many children. It is hard to find food on the plains, and too many people would mean starvation for everyone. RESPONSIBILITIES The Plains Indians usually eat two meals a day the first at mid-morning and the second in the late afternoon. These are prepared and served by the women. As most Plains Indian tribes do not grow their own crops, fruit, or vegetables, their diet is quite limited. Most of the food comes from the men's hunting, but the women gather wild foodstuffs such as berries, and barter for food with farming tribes or white traders. The Plains Indians enjoy fresh meat and often eat it raw at the site of a kill. Inner organs are especially popular. Most warriors like raw liver with bile from the gall bladder best, but nose gristle, fresh brains, and kidneys are all favorites. However, the Plains Indians' nomadic lifestyle means that many of their foods have to be dried so that they can be kept and transported from place to place. Meat and other foodstuffs are hung up in the hot sun until they are completely dried out and hard. They are later soaked or boiled in water to make them edible. Although the Indians hunted other animals, such as elk or antelope, bison was the primary game food source. Before horses were introduced, hunting was a more complicated process. The Native Americans would surround the bison, and then try to herd them off cliffs or into places where they could be more easily killed. A commonly used technique was the Piskin method. The tribesmen would build a corral and have people herd the buffalo into it to confine them in a space where they could be killed. The Indians constructed a v-shaped funnel, about a mile long, made of fallen trees, rocks, etc. Sometimes buffalo could be lured into a trap by one of the tribe covering himself with a buffalo skin and imitating the call of the animals. Prior to their adoption of guns, the Plains Indians hunted with spears, bows and arrows, and various forms of clubs. When horses, brought by the Spanish to America, escaped and started breeding in the wild, the Indians quickly learned how to capture and train them. Their ability to ride horses made hunting (and warfare) much easier. With horses, the Indians had the means and speed to stampede or overtake the bison. The Indians reduced the length of their bows to three feet to accommodate their use on horseback. They continued to use bows and arrows after the introduction of firearms, because guns took too long to reload and were too heavy. In the summer, many tribes gathered for hunting in one place. The main hunting seasons were fall, summer, and spring. In winter harsh snow and mighty blizzards made it almost impossible to kill the bison. The Indians had few eating utensils. If someone is invited to a feast, he is expected to bring his own knife, a carved wooden bowl, and a buffalo shoulder blade or scrap of rawhide to serve as a plate. Cups and spoons are carved from buffalo horn. Forks are unknown, and meat is eaten by first putting a piece in the mouth and then cutting it away from the rest of the lump with a knife. Meals are usually accompanied by a drink of water or meat broth. Good wives are skilled in many different crafts. They make all of the clothing for their family, including moccasins, as saddles, packing gear, tipis, tipi furnishings, and various kinds of tools. Besides making everyday items they have also mastered the traditional women's crafts such as beadwork, painting on rawhide, and porcupine-quill embroidery. These are mainly used to decorate clothes, because, like most nomadic peoples, the Plains Indians find this the easiest way to display their artistic achievements. It is as important for a woman to be skilled in crafts as it is for a man to be a good hunter and a brave warrior. Some women belong to a special craftworkers' guild for women. Only the finest craftswomen are allowed to join. Membership of this guild gives them high status in the tribe and the right to make religious items that other women are not allowed to make. As the head of the family, the male’s chief responsibility is to provide meat and buffalo robes, since these are the things that allow them to have a comfortable life, with a large, well-furnished tipi and plenty of trade goods. The buffalo is the Plains Indians' most important quarry. In addition to the meat and hides, every other part of the animal, from the horns to the hoofs, is used by the Indians in their daily lives. Almost every hunter and warrior knows how to make his own bows and arrows. It is usually older men who specialize in making them because the younger men are not always willing to do such time-consuming work. Younger men prefer to save their energy for hunting buffalo, and they will gladly trade meat and hides for new weapons. Although Plains Indian tribes fight wars for the same reasons that cause many people to go into battle—to capture land and for revenge—war is also an important part of their culture and has both a ceremonial and a spiritual aspect. Men are considered to be the protectors of the tribe and are expected to help defend the village. When boys turn thirteen, they will begin to learn the art of warfare by-accompanying war parties. They will not fight, but they will fetch water, gather wood, and prepare meals for the adults. When they are "seventeen, they will be invited to join their first war party as a warrior. Young warriors go on horse-stealing expeditions and raids until they have enough wealth to marry. When young warriors have proven that they are good warriors, their fathers will be able to retire from fighting. However, they will still consider themselves to be a warrior, and they will always be prepared to fight to the death in order to defend the women and children. Pictures of animals, forces of nature, or the spirit world can be painted, beaded, quilled, carved, or formed from furs and hides in order to offer their owners spiritual protection both in battle and in their daily lives. They can be crafted onto clothes, weapons, and religious items, or painted directly onto a person’s body. With their traditional enemies, the Plains Indians usually fight in small skirmishes, not large battles. This is more suited to their ideas about fighting, which do not include group discipline or following particular battle plans. What is important is individual combat and gaining as many "coups" or battle honors as possible. One method of "counting coup" is to touch an enemy with the hand, or a stick or quirt held in the hand, as a demonstration of personal bravery. Although the ideal is to touch a live, armed enemy, coup can also be counted on a dead or wounded man. For a warrior to have coup counted on him means a loss of status. Taking an enemy's horse or gun is also a major coup, and in some tribes it ranks higher than actually killing him. When a baby is born, its umbilical cord is cut and dried, then sealed in an amulet bag. This represents the child's connection to his or her mother, and, through her, to the rest of the tribe and the Great Spirit (see page 34). A respected relative or holy person is asked to name the child, and both boys and girls are given the names of famous ancestors or tribal heroes. A girl usually has one name, which does not change when she marries, but a boy may have several different names over the course of his life, which will either be given to him by others because of his exploits in battle, or revealed to him in a dream or spiritual vision. Plains Indian children's games are often an imitation of the roles that they will play as adults. Boys play at war and hunting, and girls play dollhouse with miniature tipis and dolls made out of sticks and scraps of cloth. Both boys and girls play ball and stick games similar to hockey or lacrosse, which are also enjoyed by adults. Young warriors spend a lot of their time in camp painting and dressing up to show off in front of the girls. After getting a girl's attention, a young man lets his intentions be known by singing flattering songs about her or sitting outside her family's tipi for hours, playing his love flute, which is believed to be able to entrance any girl its player fancies. When a young warrior likes a young woman, they must obtain permission from her family to visit her in her tipi. They stand together in the doorway, and cover both of their heads with a large blanket so that they can talk in private. Unmarried girls are not allowed to talk to men on their own, so the woman's grandmother, mother, or aunt are always nearby. |
| Family Structure of the Plains Indian Peoples |