The Tribes of The Northeast
Introduction
You have decided to read about Native Americans of the northeast. Some of the tribes there were Algonquin, Lenape, Huron, Ojibwa, and the biggest Iroquois. They had a hot temperature in the summer, cool and warm in spring and fall, and cold in winter. You will learn about roles of men, women, and children.
Men’s roles
A male Native American’s main role was to hunt and fish so the family could make clothing with the hide, make food with the meat, make tools with the bones and sometimes use the fish to help crops. They also cut down trees to get wood and sticks for tools and houses. Before a hunt a man would sometimes make arrows. They would put feathers on the back. Once the man caught something they would pull the arrow out of their catch and carry their catch home. If it were too heavy they would leave some for their wife to carry. To cut down a tree, a man would put clay around the bottom and make a fire. The clay would stop the fire from catching the whole tree. Once the bark was loose they would use an axe made of wood and stone and cut the tree down. When building a longhouse Men collected young elm, cedar or birch trees. They dried the bark, cut into sheets. They made long poles from thin trees. The men traced the longhouse and dug holes to put the poles in. To make framework, men set the poles in the holes. The tops of the poles were bent to the center and tied to each other and put the bark pieces Men usually worked well and did his duty to possibly becoming chief.
Women’s roles
Female Native Americans had lots of roles like gathering, cooking, making clothing, caring for babies, collecting firewood, and making flour were just some of their roles. Gathering, cooking, baking, roasting and planting are main roles. Crushing corn and seeds into flour was a daily task. One girl or woman would use a pestle to pound corn in a wooden mortar. Another women would sift flour. A woman went into a garden to gather roots, nuts, berries, and herbs and went into the woods to gather wild plants, mushrooms, bird eggs, clams and other edible stuff. At night a man would help a woman to bind corn into bundles to store on the roof. Pumpkins and Squash were kept in deep bark lined holes in the longhouse then covered with dirt. They also gathered wild plumbs, grapes, cherries, berries and wolf crab apples. Women rose early to shell corn and mixed it with cooked black beans with maple sugar. This was breakfast. Beans were kept in wood containers with caps, Dinner was started early and cooked all day so people could eat whenever. Dinner was often a stew with meat or corn and beans. Of course Native Americans can’t survive without women with all the help they gave in the community.
Children’s roles
Children were not doing full roles. Boys and girls had different roles and learned separately. Boys learned from men by watching and copying at an early age each boy went into the woods alone to track his first game animal. Then he would carry it home Girls stayed home and did art, made clothing and gardened. Girls sometimes prepared Meals and made gifts such as baskets for their brothers and friends. Boys and girls did not work together however they did sleep together. Boys and girls were taught well so they could become good members of the tribe and help the native ways. They needed to do different things in order to keep things running straight.
Conclusion
If men, woman, and children did not have different roles the whole community would collapse. The world would certainly run better if we followed the Native American way.
