Native American Encyclopedia Cumulative Index & Projects
6 project Find Your Animal Totem Animals have always been an important Native Americans of the Northwest part of Native American cultures Native Pacific Coast give animal names to their Americans feature certain animals in their clans and represent these animals in their stories beliefs and traditions They also totem poles Also they believe that each attach special meanings to various animals person is connected to a certain animal based upon the animals qualities For and that the spirit of this animal will guide example Native Americans of the Great his or her life Plains honor the eagle for its wisdom and its ability to fly close to the Great Spirit What Is Your Special Animal Below is a short sample of the many animals honored by Native Americans Read the descriptions and choose an animal with which you feel a special connection Perhaps this animal reminds you of yourself or maybe it has qualities that you think could help you in your life Draw a picture and write a short explanation about the characteristics of the animal you chose and why you feel that special connection bear powerful hard working and protective Volume 1 page 36 eagle free creative and willing to take risks Volume 3 page 37 bison very strong generous and grateful Volume 1 page 46 moose determined and sometimes stubborn Volume 1 page 45 cougar loyal brave and willing to lead Volume 3 page 36 porcupine innocent trustworthy and friendly Volume 7 page 38 coyote smart mischievous and likes to clown around Volume 3 page 15 rabbit humble and shy Volume 7 page 39 deer peaceful gentle kind and caring Volume 3 page 28 wolf loyal cooperative and willing to share Volume 9 page 40
project 7 Learn How to Make Bannock Bannock is a type of flat bread commonly made by Native Americans Traditionally its simple ingredients are just flour salt a bit of fat such as bacon grease and water Bannock was first made long ago by Europeans In Scotland it was called bonnach Settlers brought the recipe for bonnach to North America hundreds of years ago Settlers also brought wheat flour one of the bread's major ingredients The Cree Nation of Northern Quebec learned to make bonnach from Scottish settlers The bread also became popular with the Métis buffalo hunters of western Canada In the United States this bread came to be called bannock for the Bannock tribe of the Great Plains region The Bannock and Shoshone tribes carried this flat bread with them as they followed buffalo herds Volume 1 page 31 What You Will Need 3 cups all purpose flour 1 1 4 teaspoons baking powder 3 inches vegetable oil for frying •1 1 3 cups warm water 1 2 teaspoon salt DIRECTIONS 1 In a large bowl combine all dry ingredients and mix together 2 Add the water to turn the mixture into dough 3 Knead the dough on a floured surface until soft adding enough flour to keep it from becoming sticky 4 Cover the dough with plastic wrap for one hour 5 Divide the dough into four equal pieces 6 Divide each of the four pieces in half Now you should have eight pieces of dough 7 Roll each piece of dough into a ball Using a rolling pin flatten the ball into a circle about 1 4 inch thick 8 With the help of an adult heat the vegetable oil in the frying pan 9 Ask an adult to lay one circle of dough in the hot oil and cook for two minutes then flip over the bread and cook for an additional two minutes or until it is golden brown 10 Repeat frying procedure until all the pieces are cooked Then drain the cooked bread on paper towels II Serve the bread plain or with honey jam or taco toppings
8 project Design a Mock Wampum Belt Wampum belts are not only works of shaped from the quahog and conch shells art they are also forms of writing The first The wampum beads were woven into wampum belts were made of purple and patterns that tell stories or honor white wampum beads These beads were special events What You Will Need graph paper ruler pencil scissors colored markers tape DIRECTIONS I Decide how long you want to make your belt You can make the belt as long as you like by taping together pieces of graph paper at the ends 2 Decide how tall you want your belt to be from the bottom to the top If you want to make it shorter mark a horizontal line on your paper showing where you want the top of the belt to be 3 Use your ruler to measure the distance of this marked line from the bottom of your paper 4 Make a small mark along this top line every five inches from left to right 5 Cut along this line to shorten the height of your belt 6 Think about the geometric pattern you wish to make such as diamonds triangles and squares 7 Use your pencil to lightly mark the squares you plan to color You can easily erase these marks if you choose to change your pattern before coloring 8 Now color in your chosen squares Use as many colors as you like Read more about other wampum belts in Volume 4 page 5 and Volume 9 pages 24 and 29
project 9 Make a Sacred Bowl Game Like all children early Native American cultural significance is the Sacred Bowl children enjoyed playing games They Game played by children of the Iroquois made toys and games using materials that Nation They played this game during the were available to them in their natural last day of a ceremony which honored the environment Some games were played end of the year They called this ceremony merely for fun while other games had the Ceremonial of Midwinter cultural significance One game with What You Will Need one paper plate a deep plate works best markers six nuts such as almonds or six beans such as navy beans one or more friends to play with s DIRECTIONS 1 Draw a line down the center of the plate making two halves 2 Draw another line across the center of the plate making four equal sections 3 Draw one animal in each of the four sections These animals should represent various clan symbols such as the bear wolf horse and deer 4 Color one side of each nut or bean with a marker HOW TO PLAY 1 The first player places the colored nuts or beans on the decorated plate 2 Then he or she lifts the plate and thumps it down upon the ground or table If five of the six nuts or beans land with the colored side up this player scores one point 3 Players continue the game by taking turns The first player to score 10 points wins Read more about other Native American toys and games in Volume 4 page 6 and Volume 9 page
