Wampanoag-People of the Dawn

 

Wampanoag Clothing:
The Wampanoag clothing was made mostly of animal skins. The women and girls made the clothing from skins of animals such as deer, bear, squirrel, and rabbit. Making the clothing was hard work. The women had to soften the animal skins by scraping and scraping them until they were soft enough to sew with needles made of animal bones. It could take days to soften the skins, and then a few days to sew them into clothes. If the clothes were to be fancy, beads and feathers could be added to decorate them.

During the hot summer weather, they did not wear shoes or furs on their clothing. The men and boys wore breechcloths- which were like an apron held on with a belt. The girls wore skirts. Everyone had a deerskin pouch to carry things they may need. Sometimes jewelry was worn that was made out of purple and white shells, bones, antlers and feathers.

In the cold weather, the Wampanoag used the furs of the animals they hunted to keep warm. They would add warm leggings with fur inside to cover their legs, and shoes made from warm fur called moccasins. A robe or blanket was wrapped around the shoulders made from the skin of a wolf, bear, fox, or raccoon. A hat made from leather could be worn too. But only the bravest warriors were allowed to wear eagle feathers after they performed an unusual deed.

 

Shelter:

Every year the Wampanoag people moved from their summer house to their winter house. Just like people today who have a summer beach house and then a winter house away from the water, the Wampanoag people had two different homes too. Both of their homes were made from the things that grew around them in nature. The homes were used mostly for sleeping at night because the daytime was for outside chores such as hunting.

A summer home was called a wetu. The men made a wetu from bending young branches and putting both ends into the ground. Then they tied them together with vines or animal skins. Once the frame was all done, the outside was covered with grass mats or tree bark. Spring is the time to build the wetu because the trees are easy to bend. Every wetu must have a smoke hole. This is a hole at the top of the home that allows the smoke from the fire to escape. If it is raining, the hole can be covered up by a mat, but it still needs to have enough room to let out smoke.

The opening or door into the wetu is covered by an animal skin that you can lift up to go inside. Be sure you put the skin back down or the cool air outside will rush in and put out the cooking fire!

Winter is the time to move into a family home with all the aunts, uncles and cousins. The mats from the wetu were carried to the new home and used again. This winter house was large enough for each family to have a fire for cooking and furs to keep warm. They were called longhouses. Longhouses were made the same way wetus were from young branches and bark and grass mats. More mats are put on the walls and floors to keep out the cold winter. Furs help keep everyone warm too. Each fire needs a hole in the roof of the longhouse. The roof needs to be strong enough under all the winter snow. The round shape helps to keep everyone warm.

 

Food:

The Wampanoag people got all of their food from nature. They planted crops of corn, beans and squash. The wild berries and nuts from trees were delicious and grew all around in the summer. These nuts, strawberries, blueberries, and cranberries helped keep the people healthy. The nearby water was the place to catch fish, clams and lobsters. Meat was everywhere if you knew how to hunt animals. Men hunted for rabbit, turkey, deer, beaver, and many other animals. Hunting was done mostly in the fall and winter when the animals were fatter and full grown. There was enough food all summer from the fish and gardens.

Winter food had to be stored to last all through the months of cold, snowy weather. The Wampanoag people had many ways of making food last. They could dry out the berries and dig holes in the ground to bury the dried fruit and vegetables. The holes were dug very deep so hungry animals did not find them. Then they were lined with mats and food was put into tight skin bags and buried in the ground. When the family was hungry in the winter, they would dig up their bags of food to cook and eat. The Pilgrims found one of these storage pits and took all the food out of it for themselves. This left that Wampanoag family without food for the winter or seeds to plant the next spring.

Meat and fish could be smoked to make it last all winter. If meat from one deer was dried and smoked, it could feed a whole family for a long time. To smoke the meat, it was hung inside a small hut with a smoky fire and no smoke hole.

 

Daily Life:

Men and women worked very hard every day, but they had different jobs to do for the family. The men and boys did all of the hunting. They had to be fast to follow animals, also patient and very quiet to track them in the forest. The men needed to be strong to use the bow and arrow or to fish with a spear. The animals could be very heavy to carry all the way home. The men and boys carved all their tools from stone and bone. They made axes, arrows, bows, spears, and animal traps. They also cut the young trees to make the family homes. It took a lot of strength to bend the young trees and tie them together into the wetu and longhouse frames.

The men also made the boats out of large tree trunks. They called these boats mishoons. The mishoon was made by slowing burning and scraping the wood out of the center of the tree.

Once the men brought home the animal from the hunt, it was the women who prepared it for cooking and clothing.Women removed the meat for cooking, the skin and fur for clothes, and the bones for tools like needles.Women also made all the cooking pots and bowls out of clay. They shaped them out of clay and then heated them in the fire until they were hard and strong. Women did all the cooking and gathering of food from the garden. The women and girls wove baskets out of cattails and grasses to put in the houses for sleeping mats. The women made all the clothes and planted the seeds for the crops in the spring.

 

Beliefs:

The Wampanoag people, like many Native American people, had a great respect for nature and all Mother Earth gives them. They had a celebration each spring to thank the Creator for all life. They prayed by singing and dancing and giving thanks to The Creator. They believe everything and everyone should be treated with respect, even the foods people eat. The Wampnaoag felt they did not own the land but were allowed to use it and take care of it for the generations to come.

The Wampanoag had their own language and shared their beliefs and history of their people through telling stories. They believe that the story telling is a way to keep the history of the nation alive. These stories are important and are passed on from parents or grandparents to the children.

All photographs on this page were taken at Plimoth Plantation by SusanConley.