Everyday Life for Native Peoples

Everyday Life for Native Peoples

Pages 46 to 51 in your Massachusetts Our Home text book

The Children Learn

Children learned skills that would help them survive (to continue to live, even when times are hard)

Young boys learned all about the woods, rivers and ocean. They learned how to look for animal tracks. They learned how to be very quiet in the forest, listening and watching. Sometimes they had to travel with the men to find animals for their families to eat. They might be away for may days at a time.

At home boys sharpened arrows and practiced their aim. They ran so they could get faster and faster. They watched the men make tools so they could make their own someday. They found wood for the fire.

Young girls did important jobs closer to home. They learned about working in the fields and gardens. They learned which wild plants were safe to eat. They also learned to cook over the fire. Taking care of younger children was another chore, Girls helped their mothers dig for clams and clay. When they were old enough, they learned how to sew clothes. It was hard work turning animal hides into leather

Time to Play

There was time to play, too! Children splashed in the river or pond. They roamed the field together. They danced and sang. They played Hubbub, a game like dice that is played with shells or painted stones. They also played a game like football. The ball was made of deerskin and stuffed with fur. Children had races and bow and arrow contests. It was fun when the whole village had a special feast.

One with the Earth

Like all people, Native Peoples had-- and still have-- beliefs about how life began. They had beliefs about what happens to us after we die. There were rules about how to treat one another--not just people, but plants and animals too.

People were to protect the land. This is why families lived in one place for no more than three years at a time. They knew the land needed to rest from all that was taking during that time.

Showing Respect and Giving Thanks

Native Peoples believed that life was given to all things. It should be treated with respect, or honor. The people had ways of saying thank you every day. When men cut down a tree, they offered thanks to the tree for giving its life. When they killed an animal, they thanked the animal. When it was time to pick strawberries, they danced and played games. 

Giving Thanks

They prayed by dancing and singing. In the spring, they thanked the Great Spirit for taking away the winter and bringing warmth back to the land. In the summer, some groups held the Green Corn Dance. They thanked the Great Spirit for their crops.

After the harvest, they had a great feast of thanksgiving. They ate as much food as they could. They asked the Great Spirit to protect them in the long winter months ahead

Leading the Tribe

Every tribe had a leader, or sachem. The sachem could be a man or a woman. It was the sachem’s job to keep the community together. The sachem was also in charge of the resources of the tribe’s land.

Only a sachem was allowed to wear a black wolf skin. Many people gave the sachem gifts or small beads made from clamshells. These beads are called wampum. People gave wampum when they thought the sachem was being a good leader.

Wampum

At times, people used wampum sort of like we use money today. However, wampum was also as important as artwork. People sewed the beads into designs and pictures on belts. The pictures often showed stories from the tribe’s history. 

Often, sachems gathered all the people in the village to hear the stories. They did not want the stories to be forgotten.

The Council

The sachem had helpers, called the council. The people on the council were elders, or older members of the community. They were wise from the many years they had walked the earth. Some tribes also had a war chief. He gave the sachem advice and helped make decisions about war.

The sachem also had help from the medicine man or woman. Medicine men or women knew what plants could be used to heal the sick. They knew songs or dances for healing. The decorated themselves with bones, beads, shells and feathers.

Trade

The people traded or bartered with people from other tribes. To barter means to exchange good or services without using money. For barter to work, each side needs to have something the other side wants. Maybe one tribe had a lot of wooden bowls and corn seed. But they did not have stone that was good for making pipes. One tribe could give another tribe bowls. In return, they would get stone pipes.

To get to other places, the people followed trails through the woods. Then they paddled canoes along the rivers or along the coast. It was often a long journey.

Change on the Way

It seemed that life would go on like this forever. In the spring, the people would return to the planting sights. In the summer, they would grow corn beans and squash (the three sisters). They would harvest their crops in the fall and return to their village for winter. The men, women and children would work together to make sure everyone had a good life. The Great Spirit would watch over them and protect them from harm. But a big change was coming. In the 1500s and 1600s sailors and fishermen started to come across the ocean from Europe. Soon after that, English people began to settle on Native lands. Native people and their leaders faced hard times.

As you have learned, the Native Peoples of Massachusetts are not just people of the past. The men, women and children are proud of their history on this land. They are proud of their heritage (all the things that have been passed down to them). They learn the stories of those who came before them. They try to keep their way of life.