Indian Woman and the Tipi essays

Indian Woman and the Tipi essays Tipis were a way of living for the Plains Indians; they provided shelter, warmth and protection. Most think that construction of a shelter is a mans job, but not for the Indians. The woman got the materials and constructed the tipi. Without the women to do all of this the Indians would not have shelter. There were any complicated tasks to do besides constructing the tipi, such as decorating the inside of the tipi. The Indian women were treated with a great deal of respect for building the tipi; this is unlike the European settlers who treated the women in their culture with little respect. The Indian women chose many of the men to be their wise men and chose many other men for respected jobs. Without women doing all of these jobs it would have been hard for the Indians to live. There Plains Indians were the group of Indians that used the tipis as shelter. This group included the Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Crow, Dakota and many other. The name tipi means "used to dwell in". Though no one knows how or where these tipis were created, they were so much help for the Indians. We do know that tipis weren't in use until the 1600's, when horses became available to the Indians. Before Tipis were available to the Plains Indians would sleep under the stars on nice nights and resort to sleeping in rock caves when the weather got bad. Once horses became available, the Indians placed their household articles, the tipi hides and poles on a travois and dragged it behind a horse. The tipi had spiritual meaning to the Indians, such as the circle being the symbol of the earth. The four sides of the tipi stood for the sun, moon, earth and sky. The tipi helped the Plains Indians improve their way of living and make it easier for them to hunt. The Plains Indians were nomadic hunters of buffalo. If they wanted to follow the herd of buffalo and still live they had to find a way to have a shelter and have it be portable, durable and water-r...