Sioux

=__**Sioux Tribes by Danielle Mailhot**__= ====**The name of Sioux had been given to them by the Chippewa Indians and the name mean "little snake." Sioux is made up of seven tribes that lived in the Great Plains, they are referred to Seven Council Fires. Today there are three main groups of Sioux tribes, Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota.**====

**__Location of Sioux Tribes[[image:nativeamericansush1a/lakotamaprough.jpg.gif width="145" height="134" align="right"]]__**
====Sioux used to lived in area that is now known as North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. In some area there was some presence of the Sioux Indians, like Iowa, Nebraska, and Northern Illnois. The Sioux tribes traveled around the Great Plains, following the buffalo. In modern days, many Sioux people is living in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Saskatchewan.====

**__Sioux Clothing, Weapons and Housing__ **
====Sioux used everything from the animals they killed, nothing got wasted. The animals help to provide clothing, food, medicine and other goods. Some of the leftover pieces from deer or elk is used to make moccasins, shoes. The Indians will make used for the smallest scraps which can be a decoration for the fringes on clothing and moccasins. Jewerlys were made from shells, metal, and beads. For the act of braverly the men can wear the grizzly bear claw necklace.==== ====Sioux have bows and arrows for weapons. Each of the bows was design according to the length of each archers' left arm. The bows was made out of Green Ash. The arrows length came from the archers' right arm. It is measured from tip of middle finger to the elbow and combined with the length of where middle finger join the hand to the wrist. The arrows is made out of wood and the arrowheads is made from stone, bone, or steel.==== ====Their teepees, tipis, is made out of buffalo hide and long sticks. It was made to be easily assemble and disassemble, since they travel around the Great Plains. The village can be pack and be ready within an hour. The teepees was used to be 12 feet high, but when they use horses they made the teepees twice of the orginal size. In modern days, the Indians would put up their teepee to connect their heritage or for fun.====

__Sioux Food__
====Since the Sioux travel around they don't grow a lot of crops. Their main meal is the buffalo, which they follow when traveling. For those who grow crops, the most important crops are the maize, squash, and beans or known as Three Sisters. Often they traded food between tribes.==== ====The woman would make jerky. They would dry the buffalo meat and then pounded them into powder. After that they mixed the powder with animal fat and let it dry. The Sioux can stored the jerky since the jerky would be good to eat for two years if it was made correct. The jerky were good for the hunters, because it is portable so the hunters can take food with them while hunting.====

__Famous Members of the Sioux __
====Chief Red Cloud, a great leader, is known for his wisdom and bravery. His famous quote, "What has been done in my country I did not want. Did not ask the white people going through my country. When the white comes in my country, he leaves a trail of blood behind him." The most famous member of the Sioux is the medicine man, Sitting Bull. He was involved in Wounded Knee incident where many Indians were killed by the white man.====

__**Sioux Legends**__
====Sioux have many legends. One of the legend is The Legends of Standing Rock which is about a woman who refused to move with the tribe to a new camp ground because she was jealous that her husband took another wife. She stayed at her former camp while her tribe move on. Her husband had send his two brothers to get her, worrying that she might kill herself. The two brothers went back to the former camp and found the woman as stone. The tribe came back and took the stoned woman to their new camp, they thought it was holy. They took the stoned woman with them and place it in the center of the camp. For more legends go to this link: [|Sioux Legends]====

__Sioux Religions__
====Sioux indians believe that everything have spirits. The underwater spirits are believed to control all plants and animals. They believe there were a spirit called the Thunderbirds and it the most powerful spirits except for the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit are the Sioux God and it the most powerful spirit of all. The White Buffalo Woman is another spirit who gave each tribe a sacred pipe, Medicine Pipes. The ones who smoke this pipe might get a visions. Sioux believes the ways to talk to the spirits are by dreams and visions. The medicine man in each tribes performed the ceremony to honored the spirit. The religious ceremony were held all year long, each honoring one spirit at a time.====