WHY ARE WE STUDYING NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY AGAIN?

Because . . .1. All humans are interested in their origin –

think about the myths and legends we read – think about Elya Yelnats.

2. In the Fifth grade – we are studying the History of America. AND there was a land and a culture here before the Europeans came. Native American History = the study of

early North America. Our Pre-European History.

But how did the Native Americans get to North

America? About ____________ ago the first explorers of the New World came from

_____ They followed herds of large grazing animals across a ____________

formed during the ________. Eventually the large game animals began to die out.

The people were forced to hunt smaller animals and gather wild plants for food.

They formed _____ and spreads eastward and southward searching

for food and shelter. Over the centuries, they settled throughout North and South

America and became ____________ ______ of the New World. European

Explores who later discovered the people called them ________ but we now refer

to them as Native Americans.

Asia . land bridge

Ice Age

tribes

indigenous people

Indians

12,000 years

Looking at specific Native American tribes…

• The Sioux – Live in the North in an area known as The Plains –Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota.

• The Hopi – Live in South West – Northern Arizona

• The Navajo – Live in the South West – Utah, New Mexico, Arizona.

• The Apache – Live in South West – Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma.

• The Cherokees -- live in the South East – Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee.

• The Iroquois – live in the North East – New York and Canada --

The Souix 1. Built their lives around the buffalo.

2. Known Fighters --They often wore a crown of eagle feathers or a warbonnet on their head.

3. Every summer Lakota’s held a Sun Dance – a religious ceremonies that last for several days.

4. Sioux used Winter Counts as a tool to keep track of important events. One person in the community was chosen as the keeper and painted onto the buffalo hide a pictograph. This symbol was used to remember a historical event from that year.

5. Today, Six Souix Tribal leaders served on a new power initiative that will harness energy from South Dakota’s greatest natural recourse: Wind.

The Souix Creation Myth• Tate = Wind god. Had five sons: North,

South, East, West and Yumni ( Whirlwind)

• One Day – Tate meets a beautiful woman, name Whope ( Daughter of Son and Moon).

• The sons fight for her attention.

• Whope chooses the South Wind, Okaga.

• Gods make the world and all that is in it as their wedding present.

The Hopi’s1. Name means “peaceful people.”2. Their houses were made of clay and stone.

They lived on mesas (cliffs). 3. They held ceremonies in underground rooms

called “kivas.” Fire was the only source of light during these ceremonies.

4. There was a hole in the middle of the Kiva known as the Sipapu ( sip –poo) – believed first people emerge from this hole.

5. Katsinas are guardian spirits, or intermediaries between the creator and the people. Every year at the winter solstice, they travel to inhabit people’s bodies and remain until after the summer sólistce.

The Hopi Creation Myth• In the beginning there were only two: Tawa, the Sun God –

controlled the powers above Spider Woman (Kokyanwuhti), the Earth Goddess – controlled the powers below.

• Eventually, the Sun God and Spider Women decided that there should be something in between them, so they created the earth.

• The Sun God decided what should be on earth and Spider Woman made these creations - beasts, animals, and plants - out of clay.

• Then, they decided to make man and woman in their own image. Again, Spider Women made people out of clay.

• Once all was created, Spiderwoman led these creation to an opening, a Sipapu, which led to the earth above.

Navjao1. The Navajo lived in Hogans --made of wood and packed mud

and earth in varying amounts. A hogan is usually round and cone-shaped.

2. Navojo’s carried the children in cradleboards.

3. The Navajo culture used Sandpainting as a spiritual way to heal 

4. In the Navajo culture, color has many symbolic meanings. The four main colors used are black, white, yellow, and blue

5. The colors represent the time of day. Black could be referred to as night, White could be referred to as dawn, blue could be referred to as day, and yellow could be referred to as dusk.

Navajo Legend• The First World began with four clouds, each had its own

color: black, white, blue, and yellow. • The Black Cloud represented the Female Being or

Substance because a child sleeps when being nursed, so life slept in the darkness of the Female Being.

 • The White Cloud represented the Male. He was the

Dawn. • The Black Cloud and the White Cloud met and First Man

was formed. • In the west, the Blue Cloud and the Yellow Cloud met

and Woman was formed, and with her the yellow corn.

Cherokee1. The Cherokee called themselves Ani Yunwiya, meaning “real

people.”

2. The Cherokee held a “Green Corn” ceremony every year, the most important of several turning-of the-season festivals.

3. The Great New Moon Festival is held at the start of a new year. The leaders of the tribes would extinguish the sacred fire that burned in the center of their village and light a new one. All crimes would then be forgiven, except for murder.

4. Their art forms included war masks that were used to mock the enemy during battles.

5. Cherokee is the largest Native American nation today, with almost 730,000 people.

Cherokee Legend• Sun hated the people on Earth, because the people

screwed up their faces when they saw her. She thought they thought she was ugly, but in truth, she was so bright that they had to shield their eyes.

• The Moon, her brother, loved the people on the earth

because whenever they looked up at him they smiled in awe.

• The Sun grew jealous of her brother Moon, and created storms in the heaven.

• The people on earth danced and chanted, until eventually the clouds in heaven faded away.

• While the storm ended, Sun will still cry at times.

Apache Tribe1. “Apache” means “fighting men.”

2. Most Apache people lived in wickiups, which are simple wooden frames covered by a matting of brush and sometimes a buffalo-hide tarp.

3. Apache woman could build a new wickiup in two hours if there was enough brush available.

4. The apache men wore loincloths, skirts they went from their waist to their knees.

5. The girls wore buck skin skirts. Both men and women wore moccasins that curled upward.

Apache Legend Coyote was a common trickster in the land of Native

Americans.

There were many stories about him. One of them was When  Coyote  Brought  Fire to the Land.

Coyote can be in human form or animal form.

Iroquois1. Their main crops were corn, beans and squash. Iroquois

referred to these crops as the three sisters.

2. Lived in Longhouses -- a structure where many families lived together under one roof. The longhouses extended more than the length of a football field. A village was made up of 10 to 80 longhouses.

3. In Iroquois society, women held a special role. Women were also responsible for selecting the sachems ( leader) for the Confederacy.

4. Iroquois society was MATRILINEAL; when a marriage transpired, the family moved into the longhouse of the mother.

5. Iroquois invented lacrosse! The also invented a game called “snowsnake,” where players compete by throwing a long wooden stick, or “snowsnake” down a long track made in the snow.

Iroquois Legend• Turtle Island -- Even when there was nothing on

earth, up above the sky there was a place called the Skyworld.

• Skywoman lived in the Skyworld and one day she fell through a hole in the Skyworld and was brought down to rest on the back of a giant snapping turtle.

• Then, a muskrat brought up some earth from the bottom of the water and Skywoman made it to grow and grow.

• She grew an Island that we call North America, but the Iroquois call it “Turtle Island.”