Native Americans:
The Northwest
Native Americans:The Northwest |
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The Haida were one of the tribes who lived in the Pacific Northwest. Unlike many Native Americans, they had plenty of everything. Their culture was based on accumulating wealth. They had plenty of salmon, bear, seals, sea otters, elk, beaver, and deer. They had much small game.The Haida were nonagricultural. That means they were not farmers. They were hunters and gathers. The Haida had a organized society. That is interesting because that level of social and cultural organization is very rare in nonagricultural societies. The abundance of resources in their environment gave them the time for their arts and culture to develop. Other tribes in the Pacific Northwest were Chinook, Klikitat, Kwakiutl, Nootka,Tlingit, and Tsimshian.
Native Americans in the Northwest lived in well-made wooden houses. They built the houses out of ceder trees, and also had canoes called, a dugouts. One way to make a dugout was to carve out the inside of the tree. The other way was to burn the inside of the tree. They decorated the dugouts with special designs. They used the dugouts for slave hunting and exploring. The largest of these canoes could carry at least thirty people. The biggest canoe was sixty meters long and 2.5 meters wide.
Totem poles were only made by Native Americans in the Northwest. Some people believe that totem poles have a religious meaning. That is not true. Totem poles tell a story about the family. They believed that their ancestors were the animal people. Animals, or totems, were carved on the totem pole.The totem poles were status symbols. The favorite colors they used to decorate with were red, white, and black.
When it was warm the men wore very little clothing. When it rained they wore ponchos made from cedar bark that was oiled. When it was very cold, the men wore seal or deerskin. The women wore skirts ,tunics, and deerskin. They also made clothes from cedar bark. Women kept on wearing cedar bark robes. In super cold weather, both men and women wrapped themselves with fur.
Every once and a while a member of a Haida village would hold a potlatch. That person would invite everyone in the village. During the ceremony extra wealth was given away. Potlatches were held to celebrate important events in the life of the tribe. Births, marriages, raising a totem pole, or passing on inheritance were all times to hold a potlatch. Invitations were given out well in advance of event. It took months to collect all the food and gifts for a potlatch. Guests put on their best clothes. The host might give away so much wealth, he would end up poor. He would get back his wealth at other potlatches that he would be invited to. This is because the more wealth they give, the more they received at future potlatches. The word "Potlatch"is a Nootka word that means "party".
The Haida considered eyes magical. When they carved images or objects, they filled any empty spaces with eyes.