A NEWWOIllllT he Iro q uois weft'a gro u poftribes-a"uarion't-,
w ho lived farawayfromthePueblo and the Apac he
intheth ickwoodsofnorrhcasrc rn No rthAmer ica.
l iketh e Pueblo.th e Iro q uo iswereskilledfarmers. In
fieldsclearedfromth e fo resttheyworkedtogether
growingbeans.squashandtwelvedifferentvarieties
ofmaize.Theywerealso hunters andfishermen.
Theyused birchbarkcanoestoc3rryrhcmswiftly
alongthe riversand lak esofthei rfo restho m eland.
TheIro q uo islived inpermalH;ntv illages,IIIlo ng
woodenhutsw ithbarrel- shapedroofs.Thesehu ts
weremade froma fram ew orko f saplingscoveredby
sheersofdillbark.Each was hometoaslllanyas
twent y families.Eachfamily hadits0 \\'1\apartmen t
o n either side of a cent ral hall.TheIro q uoiswerefier ce warriors. T heyw ere as
fearedb y th eir neighbors as th e Apacheofthe
western deserts werefearedbyth eirs, Around the ir
h u ts th ey builtstrongw o o de nstockadestoprot ect
their villages fromenemies. Eagerto win g loryfor
their tribeand faille andhon o r for themselves,th ey
oftenfo ug htoneanother. Fro mboyhoodo n,male
Iroquo isweretaught to fearneitherpainnor death,
Br3\'e ryin banlcwasthesu restwayfor3 warrior to
winrespc:c[and ahigh positioninhis tribe,M an ymilestothewest.onthe vast plainsofgrass
th atstretchedfro mtheMississip pi River to rhc
Rock yM ountain s,thereW3Sanothe rwarrior nati on.
Thisgroupcalledthem selve sDakot a,which means
"a llies."Butth eywerebetterkno wn bytill' name
w hicho therAmeri ndians gJveto rhcm-cSioux.
w hi chm eans"enemies."T he Sio u x g rewno cro ps andbuiltno houses. fo r
food, forsh elte rand forclothi ng theydep ended
upo nth ebuffalo.Millionsofth esebrg e,
slow-movinganimal s w anderedac rossthe western
grasslandsin vast herd s.Whenth e buffalomo ved.
th e Sio uxm o ved. T hebu ffalo neverremained on one
pastur e fo rlo n g. so every thi ngtheSiouxownedwas
d esignedtobe carriedeasily.With in ho u rsthey
couldtake:dow n the te pees,theconical buffalo-skin
te ntsthat weretheir homes,pack theirbdongingsin
lightweightleath erbags-"parficchcs"-andmove
offafter thebuffalo.Theyeven ca rriedfirefrom one
camptothenext.Ahotemberwou ldbescaledin sid e
a buffalohornfilledwithrottedwood.T he reit
wouldsmo lde rfo r days,readyto bring:warmth
fromtheo ldvillageto thenew.
(,
TheSiouxCreation
In 1933 aSioux Chiefnam ed Luther Standing
Bearwrote do w nsomeo f theancientlegendso f
his people, T hisonetellsh o wtheSiouxpeople
began:
"Ourlegendste ll us thatit W;lShundredsand
perha psthousandsofyearsagothat th e first m an
sp rangfro m the soil inthegrcarp lains.Thestory
says tha t one morning long ago a lo ne m an
avvokc.f.1C(.'to the su n,,...mergin g fromrhc soil.
Only his head was visible, the rest o f hisbodynot
yetbeing sha ped .The m an lookedabout.b utsaw
no mountains no rivers, nofo rests. There WJ S
no thin g b utso ftand quaking mud. forth e earth
itself was still young. Upand up rhc m andrew
himse lf unt ilhe freedhis body fromth e cling in g
soi l.At last he sto odupo n the ea rt h,b utit wasno t
so lid, and h is firs tfew steps were slow and
uncertain. Bu r the sunshoneand rhc nu n kept his
facetu rnedtoward it .In time th e raysofthe sun
hard enedthefaceofthe earthandstrengthenedth e
man and he ran and leaped about, a free and
joyouscreature.From this man sprJllgtheDakota
nationand. so far aswe know,o urpeoplehave
beenbornand havedied uponthisplain;and no
peoplehan'shareditwithusuntilthecomingof
the European. So thisland ofthegreat plainsis
claime dbytheD akot as astheirveryown."T o IIlJIl Ypeoplerill'tepeeis asymbolofrhc
Ame rindian \vayoflife.Thislargecone-shaped tent
was invented bythebuffaloh untersofthe weste rn
g rasslands.Itw asb uilt ro u ndJ frameworkofabout
twelve slim,woode n poles app roximately twenty
feetlon g .Theth in endsofthe poles were tied
to geth er w ithstripsofbuffalo hide andthepo les
wereraised andsprea d until rhcirbonomcnd s
formed acircleaboutfifteen feet in d iameter.As
Illany asfo rt y buffalohidesweresewntogether then
spreadevertheframe.theirendsfastenedtothe
groundbypegs,Adoorwaycoveredw itha flapof
sk inwasleftIIIthe sideandanopeningatth etop
acted JSa chimney.Theoutsideofthetepeewas
d eco rated withpainteddesignsthathadreligiouso r
hisroricalmeanings.