Iroquois Life

Games One of the most popular Iroquois games was lacrosse. There were six to eight players on each team. You scored a point by getting the ball into the other teams gate. They would play games against other villages or clans. Running was also one of their favorite sports. They would run races during festivals. Games of Chance The Iroquois also loved games of chance. They would put eight beans made out of polished elk horns into a bowl. The beans were dark on one side and light on the other. If less than six beans matched you got zero points. If six beans of the same color showed up you got two points. If seven beans matched you got four points. If all of the beans were the same color you got twenty points.

School The Iroquois children didn’t go to school. They learned by watching the grownups hunt and farm, and build things. They learned by listening to history stories. The children would sit around the fire and listen to the elders tell stories. The boys stayed with their mother until they were 8 or 9, then they went with their father’s. There uncles taught them how to hunt, make tools, and build long houses and canoes. Girls learned how to make clothing and how to farm.

Language The Iroquois did not have a written language. The children would learn the language by listening to people talk. They had storytellers that traveled around and told the stories. They would sit around the fire and listen to the stories. The elders were the storytellers. They had to have a good memory to remember all the stories. The children learned from the stories. Most of the stories taught a lesson. The elders would only tell the stories in the winter because in the summer the Iroquois couldn’t stop working to listen to the stories. If they did stop working they would not have enough food for the winter. Even though each tribe had a different language they could still understand each other.

Iroquois Nation This is a story of how the League of Iroquois was found. The 5 Nations were always at war. Then a man named Deganawidah came from the North to the Iroquois lands. He was adopted by the Mohawk. It wasn’t long before he made an effort to stop the fighting. Deganawidah is now known as the Peacemaker. He delivered the message known as “the Good news of Peace and Power”. He was saying that only by ending war among themselves would they be strong.The first person who followed his message was a woman named Jigonsasee. He called her the Mother of Nations. Then the Peacemaker met Hiawatha an Onondaga by birth. They all set out together to persuade the Nations to make peace. Onondaga tribe were the hardest to convince. Their fierce chief Todadaho was a very cruel and dangerous man. At first Todadaho said no. Hiawatha finally convinced him. The Iroquois dug up a huge pine tree. They threw their weapons into the big hole and replanted the tree. Now the Iroquois Nations chiefs would discuss their problems under the tree. They called themselves the Haudenosaunee, the People of the Longhouse because they all lived by the same rules.

Food The Iroquois ate vegetables, fruits, nuts and many kinds of meat and fish. Corn, beans and squash were the three main vegetables. They were called the Three Sisters. The Iroquois also ate meat. Hunters brought home deer, bear, beaver, rabbit, squirrels, wild turkeys and passenger pigeon. They would also catch fish to eat. Some meat was dried and stored in clay pots or in pits lined with animal skins. The Iroquois used all the parts of the animal, nothing was wasted.

Government The Iroquois government was just like our American government. Each nation sent a chief to the meetings. When they did that it was just like each state sending people to the Congress. Any problems that the Iroquois government was having was talked about during the meetings. The Iroquois met at least once a year and they meet around a fire. Everyone had to agree on decisions and when they all agreed they would say that they speak in one voice. When someone was talking no one disrupted because you can only speak when it was your turn.

Homes Did you know that Iroquois lived in a longhouse? A longhouse was made of logs and covered with elm bark. There were no windows but there were holes in the roof so when they cooked the smoke can go out. The home was 15 to 20 feet high and 20 feet wide. It was between 50 to 150 feet long. When they went to sleep they slept on corn husk mats. Corn husk is the skin of corn. What they used as a blanket was a deer or bear skin.

Snow Snake In the winter the Iroquois played a game called snow snake. To play Snow Snake you make an icy track and throw a stick as far down the track as you can. Whoever throws the branch the furthest down the track is the winner.

Iroquois Life By Mrs. Lipani’s Class

Clothes The Iroquois wore homemade buckskin clothing that the woman tanned, cut and sewed. Woman wore long skirts that came down to their ankles. The skirts were decorated with beads or porcupine quills dyed blue, red and yellow. Some woman wore leggings under their skirts. For a top the woman wore a deerskin vest or blouse. Men wore skirts which were like kilts that went almost to their knees. The men also wore leggings, blouses and vests made of decorated deerskins.

Everyone, both men and women, wore moccasins. Moccasins also were decorated. In the winter on hunting trips the men would wear fur lined moccasins with snow shoes attached to them. The snowshoes were made of pieces of hickory wood and deer leather. The woman would simply wear fur lined moccasins sense only the men went on hunting trips. All the clothes and moccasins were sewn together using a needle made of deer bone and thread made out of deer muscle.

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