Sioux Indians

1. The Great Sioux Nation is made up of 18 separate tribes, in the US, and 12
in Canada. These are divided into three divisions: the Lakota Sioux, Dakota
Sioux, and the Nakota Sioux. Each division speaks a different, but similar,
Sioux language. There are also numerous subdivisions of the Sioux tribe,
some included in the three main Sioux division bands, and some
recognized now as tribes separate from the Sioux Nation.

2. Sioux Indians lived in tentlike homes called tepees. The = Sioux

tepee Nation
was the
perfect home for the Sioux Indians because they moved frequently to
follow the buffalo herds. The tepee was made from buffalo hides. Tepees
were portable, easily moved, and could be put up easily. The women
would put the tepees up while the men were out hunting. First they would
tie long poles together. Next, they would spread the bottoms of the poles
to make a circle. Finally, they covered the poles with buffalo hides. When
the tribe travelled, the long poles of the tepee were dragged behind the
horse and used to carry the Indian’s things.

3. Buffalo was the main food for the Sioux Indians. Keeping it fresh was
very hard. It was dried and could then be stored for a long time. Some
of the dried meat was pounded into powder and mixed with hot,
melted buffalo fat and berries to form pemmican. Women collected
berries in the summer.
Some berries were eaten fresh but many were dried and stored so they
could be used as dyes, food, and jewellery. The Sioux men also hunted
and ate deer, moose, elk, wolves, coyotes, lynx, rabbits, gophers,
prairie chickens, and many other birds and small animals were also
trapped. Vegetables were a very important part of the Sioux Indians'
diet. The Sioux Indians also made par fleches. A par fleche was a
buffalo-hide pouch used to store or carry food. They would store jerky
 and pemmican which was a dried mixture of fat and meat. The par
fleches were considered to be very valuable.

4. The horns of the buffalo were used as spoons, cups, and toys. The
bones were used as tools and weapons. The tail was used as a whip.
The stomach and intestines were cleaned and then used to carry water.

5. Sioux men and boys wore deerskin shirts and leggings. In warm
weather when they hunted, they wore only a strip of leather, called a
breechcloth, and a pair of moccasins. In the winter they would wear a
buffalo robe to keep them warm as well as snow shoes. The Sioux
women and girls wore dresses and moccasins. The buffalo hides were
tanned and painted. They also decorated their clothing with bead work.

6. One way for the Sioux Indians to hunt buffalo was to ride into the herd
on horseback and use bows and arrows to kill the buffalo. Second way
was for a large group of Indians on horseback to chase the buffalo off a
cliff. Another was to sneak up on the herd wearing wolf skins and then
killing them with bows and arrows.

7. Music was a very important part of life for the Sioux Indians. Drums,
flutes, and voices, were used to make music for many occasions. There
were lullabies, love songs, and songs for ceremonies, games,
powwows, and funerals. Music was also a way for them to
communicate. Certain tunes played on the flute could give a message
to someone listening.

8. Europeans moved in great numbers into Native American territory. In

the 1860s and '70s, the United States Army was engaged in war with
the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes. The Pawnee tribe had fought
these other tribes for years, and so the Army turned to the Pawnee for
help against a common rival. The Pawnees became scouts. They were
very successful in helping protect the railroad as it was being built
across Nebraska, and they escorted several U.S. Army voyages against
the martial Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho. But, by the late 1870s, the
Pawnee Scouts were split, and the U.S. Government had removed most
members of the Pawnee tribe from Nebraska to Indian Territory south of
Nebraska. The Lakota, on the other hand, had much more trouble with
early emigrants, and their experience sets the stage for the history of
homesteading. Trouble with whites began with the California gold rush.
In 1850 approximately 50,000 gold seekers travelled the Overland Trail
through the heart of Lakota country. The Lakota did not take kindly to
these newcomers crossing their land, competing for resources. The
government tried to intercede by peaceful means.

9. Diary Entry:
 Dear Diary,
Again we hiked further into the embracing winds of the West to make way
for the ever-multiplying white men. There visit has been welcomed by the
curiosity of our people, but I wonder if the expansion of their camps will
ever end.
Communication between our tribes is poor. Their gestures appear friendly,
but many of their actions prove difficult to accept. With every strike the
earth takes from their large spoons I flinch, yet the resulting yellow metal
the white men gain leaves me intrigued and puzzled, wanting to know
more. What is in that strange yellow metal that they cherish it?
Maybe this new way of life is the path we are to follow; however,
something about it does not make me feel well from within. As I look
around at my people I see a culture being lost, as the Great Spirit and its
ancestral traditions are forgotten. I assume all there is to do is to wait and
watch, until a clearer day arrives.
Omaha Jeanaia

Comparison between the Aborigines and the Sioux:

The Aborigines and the Native Americans have a lot in common. They are
both people groups that are indigenous to a certain area. The Europeans
came in and took over both of these peoples’ homelands. The Europeans
did not understand the peoples, and therefore did not treat them well.
They pushed the natives out of their lands and took over.
As compensation for the horrible things the natives went through at the
hands of the new settlers, the natives were given small plots of land.
Although these lands did not make up for all that happened, they were
and attempt by the government to appease the natives.
This did not work very well to placate the natives, as there are still many
conflicts between the natives and the government hundreds of years after
the natives were pushed from their homes. Since they experienced some
of the same things, both of these groups have some of the same feelings
about the countries that came in and conquered them.

Bibliography:

http://www.calverley.ca/Part01-FirstNations/01-044.html

http://www.aaanativearts.com/sioux/index.html

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Indian_Tipi/Sioux_Tipi
http://www.sioux-indians.com/sioux-history.htm

http://www.native-languages.org/

http://www.scribd.com/doc/18653783/Aborigines-and-Native-Americans.html