Native Americans

C

Clothing and Adornment

In their traditional clothing Native Americans differed from Europeans in that they placed less importance on completely covering the body. The peoples of warm climates, for example, often did not wear much clothing except at festivals; then they adorned themselves with flowers and paint, and often with intricate feather headdresses. In Mesoamerica and Peru, men wore a breechcloth and a cloak knotted over one shoulder, and women wore a skirt and a loose blouse; these garments were woven of cotton or, in Peru, sometimes of fine vicuña wool. North American hunting peoples made garments of well-tanned deer, elk, or caribou skin; a common style was a tunic, longer for women than for men, with detachable sleeves and leggings. In the Arctic, the Inuit and Aleuts wore parkas, trousers, and boots of caribou or, when needed, of waterproof fish skin. Except in Canada and Alaska, where parkas and coats were worn, Native Americans in cold weather usually wrapped themselves in robes, cloaks, or ponchos.

D

Housing and Construction

Some Native American houses that appear simple, such as the Inuit igloo or the Florida Seminole chikee, are quite sophisticated: The igloo (Inuit for “house”), usually made of hide or sod over a wood or whalebone frame, is a dome with a sunken entrance that traps heat indoors but allows ventilation; the chikee, naturally air-conditioned, consists of a thatch roof over an open platform. The tepee of the Plains peoples constitutes efficient housing for people who must move camp to hunt; tepees are easily portable and quickly erected or taken down, and an inner liner hung from midway up the tepee allows ventilation without drafts, so that the enclosed space is comfortable even in winter.

Some peoples in cold climates that were well supplied with wood, such as the peoples of Tierra del Fuego and the Subarctic Athabascan-language peoples, relied on windbreaks with good fires in front, rather than on tents. Many other peoples spent cold weather in dome-shaped houses that were sunk well into the ground for insulation.

Mesoamerican and Andean peoples constructed buildings of stone and cement as well as of wood and adobe. Public buildings and the houses of the upper class were usually built on raised-earth platforms, with a large number of rooms arranged around atria and courtyards.

E

Trade and Transport

To all Native Americans, trade was an important economic activity. The early empire of Teotihuacán in Mexico was founded on the manufacture and export of blades of obsidian, a natural volcanic glass that made the best stone knives. Several centuries later, the Aztecs organized their conquests by sending merchants into other kingdoms to develop trade, act as spies, and help plan conquest if the foreign ruler failed to give favourable terms to Aztec trade. In the Inca Empire excellent roads were built over difficult mountain terrain in order to move quantities of local speciality products in pack trains of llamas. Trade was also conducted by sea along South America and around Mexico and the Caribbean. Much sea trade was carried in large sailing rafts or, in the Caribbean, in canoes made from huge logs. Trade goods in Mesoamerica and the Andes included foodstuffs, manufactured items such as cloth, knives, and pottery, and luxuries such as jewellery, brilliant tropical bird feathers, and chocolate. Both medicinal and hallucinogenic drugs were widely traded. Goods were bought and sold in large open markets in towns and cities.

Outside the kingdoms of Mesoamerica and the Andes, trade was often carried on by travelling parties who were received in each village by its chief, who supervised business as the people gathered around the trader. In many areas, small shells or shell beads—called wampum in the Eastern Woodlands—were used as money. Furs and brightly coloured feathers were valued in trade nearly everywhere. In western North America dried salmon, fish oil, and fine baskets were major trade products, and in eastern North America expertly tanned deer hides, copper, catlinite pipe-bowl stone, pearls, and conch shells were widely traded.

F

Recreation and Entertainment

The games and other recreational activities of Native Americans have had much in common with those of peoples elsewhere. Children traditionally played with dolls and with miniature figures and implements, imitating adult activities; in groups they played tag, the one who was “it” often pretending to be a jaguar or similar animal. Youths and adults played games with balls—rubber balls in Mesoamerica and northern South America, hide or fibre balls elsewhere. The Mesoamerican ball game called tlatchtli was somewhat similar to basketball in that it was played in a rectangular court and had the goal of knocking a hard ball through a stone hoop high on the court wall. In Mesoamerica these ball games were often seen as rituals of cosmic significance. Lacrosse was popular in the eastern region of North America and eventually was adopted by European settlers. Competitions—in foot racing, wrestling, archery, and, after the Spanish invasions, horse racing—were generally popular. Minor amusements that are still popular include cat's cradle and the use of tops and swings.

G

Religion and Folklore

Native American religious beliefs and practices display great diversity.

The Mexican and Andean nations, the peoples of the North American South-west and South-east, and some North-west Pacific Coast peoples had full-time religious leaders as well as shrines or temple buildings. Peoples of other areas had part-time priests and generally lacked permanent temples. Part-time priests and shamans learned to conduct ceremonies by apprenticing themselves to older practitioners; in the larger nations priests were trained in schools attached to the temples.

Most Native Americans believed in a spiritual force that is the source of all life. In many areas of the Americas, divine force was recognized in several aspects: as light and life-power, focused in the sun; as fertility and strength, centred in the earth; as wisdom and the power of earthly rulers, observed in creatures such as the jaguar, the bear, or snakes. In most places in the Americas, religious devotees enhanced their ability to perceive aspects of the Almighty, sometimes by using hallucinogenic plants as in Peyotism, or sometimes by fasting and singing prayers until they achieved a spiritual vision.

Native American traditions generally assumed that the souls of the dead go to another part of the universe, where they have a pleasant existence carrying on everyday activities. Souls of unhappy or evil people might stay around their former homes, causing misfortunes. Many Native American peoples have celebrated an annual memorial service for deceased relatives; in Latin America this observance later became fused with the Christian All Souls' Day. Northern public rituals included the Sun Dance and the Snake Dance.