Iroquoian People
By: Grace DeJong
Location
- Originally in New York And southern Quebec and Ontario
- Fertile land in Ontario
- Mid-Eastern Canada
- Occupied areas of Genesee river and down to the Hudson river
- Parts of Southern Ontario by Huron lake
Food
- The women were in charge of growing and preserving the crops
- Their diets mainly consisted of corn, beans, and squash, they were known as the 3 sisters. They were grown and eaten together
- Food was all grown in the same field to promote plants growth, helping each other grow
- In the winter, girls and women would roast and dry ears of corn to preserve the food
- In the summer, they would and dry meat and fish
- For storage in the summer, food would be kept in underground pits
Social Structure
- Organized under a clan system
- Each village/nation had a minimum 3 clans, named after an animal or bird
- Each nation had a wolf, turtle and bear clan
- They were very close, each clan had a longhouse
- Worked together and shared resources
- The eldest woman was the "clan mother," she named the children
- Men built long houses, made tools, hunted, fought wars, and defended their villages
- Women grew and preserved food, cooked, made clothes, and cared for young children
- Moth men and women made big decisions
Economy
- 5 North American aboriginal nations created one of the worlds first democracies, that was known as their confederacy
- Each nation in the Iroquois confederacy had its own culture, land, and traditions
- They had great fertile soil
- The Iroquois people mostly stayed in one spot and did not move their community
- Agriculture was one of their greatest resources
Religion
- Religion varied from nation to nation
- They believed that everything had a spirit
- Thought that the spirits controlled weather, crops, and animals
- Most Iroquois believed in a powerful creater named "the great spirit"
- Rituals were very important because they wanted to give thanks to the " great spirit "
- Music and dance was also performed to give thanks
- It was believed that the Great Spirit had an evil brother who caused mischeif and suffering
- Medicine tied in with religion because they thought that by performing rituals would heal the sick and bring well being to the nation
- They also wore masks that were believed to have spiritual power
Festivals
- To give thanks to the Great Spirit they would have a festival
- Their festivals honored different harvests and events throughout the year
- The Green corn festival celebrated the beginning of corn harvest in August, it lasted several days and offerings of tobacco were given to the great spirit
- At the end of corn harvest there was a festival called the Harvest festival, there was lots of dancing and song, and feasts
- There was also a mid-winter festival that lasted 6 days and it celebrated the new year to thank the Great Spirit. They would clean their long houses and visit each other. They would stir ashes that signified renewal
- Some more festivals were, the maple festival, planting ceremony, thunder ceremony, and the strawberry festival
Dwellings
- The Long house isles were 3 meters wide and went through the middle of the house
- They were divided into apartments, each one was 6.1 meters long and contained 2 families
- About 20 families lived in each longhouse, and they were all from the same clan
- Iroquois people used their space very wisely, they had storage closets, they also hung items such as their food to dry and snowshoes on the wall to take up less space
- There were platforms lining the inside of the walls that were used for sitting and sleeping
- Mats and furs lined the walls, providing installation, they would also use them to cover themselves to keep even warmer
Relationship with the environment
The Iroquoian people were very thankful for their land and crops. They were in a very good location to be successful with growing crop because of the fertile soil. The iroquoian people used all of their resources and never wasted anything. They used every part of their crops they harvested and every part of the animals they hunted. Since they were not wasteful their resources went a lot further and they didn't have to kill as many animals. Overall, they were able to adapt to their surroundings and handle the environment whether the conditions were good or bad. Also able to protect their environment and be conservative.
Vocab words
- Haudenosaunee- People who lived in longhouses
- Dwelling- Homes
- Iroqu- In Algonquin it means "rattlesnakes"
- Wampum- Beads made from polished shells that had spiritual significance with many First Nations groups
Sites
Book I used-
Iroquois- Canadian aboriginal art ad culture