I Am Native American (mohawk)

Mohawks Don't Live in Teepees!


I'm part Mohawk. Watered-down, I have to admit, including the fact that I'm a redhead with freckles. But still the Mohawk blood runs through my veins. Mohawks belong to the six tribes of the Iroquois Nation, whose warriors are said to have conquered more land than the Romans. But one thing they did not do, and that was to live in teepees.
Mohawks belong to the Eastern Woodland tribes who, although they never saw a buffalo, saw plenty of deer, moose and caribou. They used the hides to make clothing. But there was another resource the Mohawks used for several purposes, and that was plenty of trees.
Mohawks lived in longhouses, which were--well, long houses. Sort of like a condo for Native Americans. Several families shared a single longhouse, which was sectioned off for privacy.
Unlike the teepees of the Western Plains, which were erected and supervised by women, the Eastern Woodland longhouses were constructed by men. They started out by building an outer framework, complete with a roof of bent saplings supported by several tall poles. If they found suitable trees in alignment for this purpose, all the better. As they lacked nails, the wooden framework was secured with rawhide and deer sinew.
The outer framework was then covered with large pieces of bark peeled from trees. Along the length of the roof were several openings for smoke to escape from a series of fires that were lit for cooking and warmth. It gets mighty cold up in the Eastern Woodlands during winter, and I should know because I live here!
Once erected, the longhouse was then finished off with a series of hooks and shelving for each family's possessions, which of course were few. For beds they used the earthen floor, covered with animal skins for comfort. They also used the shelves as bunk beds if they did not wish to lie on the floor. Of course they made their beds near the fire to ward off the chill of the night.
Doors were made of skins, and built low so that you had to bend over in order to enter. Father Isaac Jogues, a Jesuit missionary who is now a saint in the Catholic Church, was killed in this manner when the elders concluded he was using black magic to put the whammy on the tribe. They invited him to dinner at another longhouse, and when he bent to enter he was tomahawked. This happened in the native village of Ossernenon, at what is now Auriesville, NY.
Of course the low opening was not designed for killing people, nor because Indians were short. Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, who was born at Ossernenon, was considerably tall for a Mohawk girl of the mid-1600's. The true purpose was to show respect and humility for another's dwelling, and bowing to enter was a sign of respect toward the host.
To further protect the group of longhouses, a wooden palisade was built around them to keep out both hostile tribes and any type of ferocious animal that might sneak in during the night.
The Mohawks were good engineers who made the best use of what they had.
By the way, they didn't have horses either. They went everywhere by canoe or on foot.