Can you read this report and tell me if it sounds right?
Discussion Corner — By NikhilBhide on July 26, 2007 at 11:37Rochelle asked:
Yes, I’m going to cite it. Thanks SO MUCH if you read the whole thing!
ESSAY: NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURE
Here is your goal for this assignment:
Write an essay on the culture of a present-day Native American tribe of your choice
Choose one of the present-day tribes of Native Americans and write a report on their culture. Write about their ancestors; their ways of meeting the basic needs of food, shelter, and clothing; and their economic system. Write about their values and beliefs and about the roles of the men and women in their society. Include a section about their enemies and their friends. Describe some of the tools, utensils, or other artifacts the people made and used in the past. Use an encyclopedia to help you tell how they were alike and how they were different.
The Crow are a tribe of Native Americans who belong to Siouan language family and live in the Great Plains culture area. Their name for themselves, Apsaalooke (pronounced opp-sah-loh-kay), was misinterpreted by early explorers as “people of the crows,” or simply “crow.” It actually meant “children of the large beaked bird,” a nickname given to them by their neighboring tribe, the Hidatsa. The bird that they are named after, which was described as a fork-tailed bird resembling a blue jay or a magpie, may now be extinct.
The Crow first encountered Europeans in 1743 near the town of Hardin, Montana. The men they encountered were two Frenchman brothers, the La Verendryes. The brothers called the Indians beaux hommes, which meant “handsome men.” The Indians called the Canadians baaschaiile, which meant “person with yellow eyes.”
The Crow were originally an agricultural tribe. They lived in permanent villages along the upper Missouri River, living peacefully alongside their neighboring tribe, the Hidatsa. The Crow moved westward toward the Yellowstone River area (east of the Rocky mountains) sometime before the early seventeen hundreds. On the Plains, they became nomads, following the great herds of buffalo on horse back. They lived in portable tipis and practiced the Sun Dance, a religion also practiced by other Indian tribes. They grew a single crop, tobacco, which played a religious role in the secret Crow Tobacco Society. One other religion they practiced is the Crow Way.
Crow woman were in charge of the home. They cooked and cleaned, and when the tribe moved, they took their family’s tipi apart and put it back together again. The men were warriors, responsible for finding food and keeping their family safe. The men used powerful bow and arrows, war clubs, spears, and hide shields as weapons. Sometimes a Crow woman, especially a widow, would ride into battle or even become a chief, but this was rare. Both men and woman took part in storytelling, artwork, music, and traditional medicine. Crow children mostly helped around their camp. They had more work to do then they do now, just like colonial children. They did have dolls, toys, and games to play, also like colonial children.
Crow women wore long deerskin dresses. Crow men wore breechcloths with leather leggings and buckskin shirts. Both men and women wore moccasins on their feet. A Crow lady’s dress or warrior’s shirt was fringed and often decorated with porcupine quills, beadwork, and elk teeth. Later, Crow people adapted European costume such as cloth dresses and vests, which they also decorated with beading and traditional ornaments. Today, Crow only wear traditional attire on special occasions like dances and weddings.
Crow Indian leaders sometimes wore the long warbonnets that Plains Indians are famous for. Traditionally, Crow people only cut their hair when they were in mourning. Crow men sometimes made their hair even longer by weaving horsehair into it. Some Crow chiefs had hair so long it trailed on the ground. Crow men and women both wore their hair either loose or in two braids, but Crow men often styled the front of their hair into pompadours or other styles, and sometimes wrapped their braids in fur. Crow women didn’t consider their hair as important as some Plains Indian women did. In the 1800′s, many Crow women started to cut their hair to shoulder length, but Crow men continued to grow theirs as long as possible. The Crows also painted their faces for special occasions. They used different patterns for war paint, religious ceremonies, and festive decoration.
The Crows traded regularly with other tribes of the Great Plains and the Western Plateau. Some of their favorite trading partners included the Mandan and Flathead Salish tribes. These tribes usually communicated using the Plains Sign Language.
The Crow also fought wars with other tribes. Plains Indian tribes treated war differently than European countries did. They didn’t fight over territory but instead to prove their courage, and so Plains Indian war parties rarely fought to the death or destroyed each other’s villages. Instead, their war customs included counting
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1 Comment
i can’t tell you if your facts are totally correct since i am not from the crow nation. however, why don’t you put something at the end about how they live today, their population, issues they are facing?
too often schools only speak about us as if we were extinct..only in the past. we are alive today. we are growing in numbers. we have survived the worlds longest holocaust. make sure your teacher knows! get extra credit!