Iroquois

=__Iroquois Indians Tribes by: Michelle Mailhot__=

** //__Who were they and where did they lived?__// **
====The Iroquois Indian tribes was also known as the Five Nations which are the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca. These Iroquois Indians were once located in what is now known as New York State along the St. Lawrence River. They had lived in houses that were known as the longhouses which could be anywhere to 25 to 150 feet long and it can hold up to 30 to 60 people. The longhouses were made out of wooden poles and it was covered with animal skins. There were holes cut out on the top of the longhouses to let the smoke escape.====

__//**What did they used to make clothing and weapons?**//__
====Iroquois' clothing was mostly made out of deerskin. Most of the Iroquois' women would have their clothing decorated with necklaces made of shells. They also used feathers for accessories. They wore shoes, but they were called Moccasins that can be made from either leather or corn husks which they most often wear it during winter time to keep their feet warm. There are many different kind of weapons that the Iroquois Indians would used. Some examples of the types of weapons that they used is bows and arrows, lances, tomahawks, and knives. The tomahawks is the most popular weapons for the native Indians, which look like an axe that have a wooden handles and the head made of stone. Lances was popular for the Iroquois hunters and used to knock their opponents off their horses. Sometime they would design the lances with feathers to make them to seem more scary.====

__//**What were some of the food that they ate?**//__
==== They had eaten various kinds of food. The Iroquois Indians got their food from the wild by hunting, planting crops and picking some wild food. Some of the berries that they picked were strawberries, cherries, and huckleberries. Also they gathered nuts such as acorns, chestnuts, and black walnuts. The foods that the women Indians planted were corn, beans, and squash. They used the corn in many ways like cornmeal, corncake, and soups. Some of the Indians hunted deer, bears, rabbits, and raccoons for their meats. Fowl is also another things that they ate which is the large bird like turkeys and wild ducks. The men had hunted the food, but the women would cooked it and sometime they would smoked it to save the meat. Iroquois Indians would used every bit of the meats that they had caught. ====

**//__What were their religious practices?__//**
====One of their belief is that when someone get hurt or sick then the tribes would asked the False Face Society to get rid of the spirit of the illness or injury. They would wear the wooden masks that was made from the tree. Iroquois Indians also would celebrate six ceremonies every year which is the Maple, Planting, Strawberry, Green Maize, Harvest, and New Year's festivals. Each of these ceremonies can last up to several days and in these ceremonies they sings, dances, and play music. In the Harvest ceremonies they would harvested the vegetables and hang the ears corn on the wall of the longhouses. In this ceremonies it allowed them to get prepared for winter. During the New Year's festivals they would played with the Sacred Bowl. The Sacred Bowl have four animals symbols on it which represent the bear, wolf, turtle, and deer.====

//__**What were their legends/ myths?**__//
====One of the legends was called Battles With The Snakes which was about a man named Djisdaah who was not nice to the animals and decided to tortured a rattlesnake that he came across and burned it. He had enjoyed tormenting that snake so he decided that whenever he meet a snake he would tormented them. Then one day a man from the village heard a strange sound in the forest and found out it was the snakes discussing about getting revenge on the village. That man had warned his chief about the plans and they got prepared for the battle. When the snakes had arrived the chief had ordered to set the wood on fire, but the snakes just went through the fire and tried to attacked. At the end of the battle the chief of the village had surrendered and the chief of the snakes said that they will leave them in peace if they agree to two things which the chief agreeded to. The chief of the village had agreed to respect the snakes and never name a man Djisdaah. For the entire story of the Battles With The Snakes go to this website: [|Indians Legends]====

//__**Who were the significant person in the tribe?**__//
==== The chief of Mohawk, Joseph Brant or Thayendanegea ("two sticks of wood bond together") was significant because he was born in upper Ohio River in 1742, but at the age of 12 he had stayed with his half sister and her husband in New York and learned English. At 19 he was sent to the Indian Charity School where he became Christian. Later he had found out that the Indians were forced to make difficult decisions about who to side with, which he had encouraged them to side with British. After the American Revolution the British had lost and Joseph had tried to encouraged the Indians to work together to fight against the America, but they didn't listened. In 1794 the American army had attacked the Little Turtle which the Mohawks had heard, and again Joseph had tried to encourage them to go in peace and be united nation, but they had rejected his idea. For more information about Joseph Brant go to this site: [|Joseph Brant]====