| DID YOU KNOW...... Eastern-Woodland Indians in Rhode Island by Sachem Linda Elderkin-Degnan |
| What were the Indian Nations in R.I.? They were Narragansett Nation, Pokanoket/Wampanoag Nation, Nipmuc Nation and the Niantic Nation. Point of contact: The first visit was an Italian navigator named Giovanni Verrazzano in 1524. He was in service of Francis I of France to find all water routes through North America to China. He dropped anchor at Point Judith where he met a group of Wampanoag people. In the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the French, Dutch, and English explorers and traders came to the northeast. In 1607 additional europeans came to Northern New England to make brief visits to the coastline. In 1620 the Puritans and other English people established a colony. What did the Native American People look like? Contrary to stereotypical notions of Indians as "Red Men", Native American skin tone was actually a light tawny or bronzed color. They were tall, lean, muscular and well porportioned. They had high cheekbones, black eyes, smooth skin and black hair. Hair Styles: Hairstyles vaired. Boys were not allowed to wear their hair long until they were of warrior age (about 16 years old). The older males wore their hair in a Mohawk or cockscomb style, a single strip of hair in the center of the head. It was kept short and stiff. Sometimes they dyed their hair red, or they wore it long to the shoulder in two braids decorated with shells or stones. They also wore their hair long on one side and completely shaved on the other side of the head. Women generally wore their hair in a long braid down the full length of their back, decorating their hair with gleaming porcupine quills. The hair of both men and women was often daily dressed with oil or fat to give sheen. This added to the black coloring of the hair. Headdresses: Both men and women wore embroided haedbands made from skins of Hawks or other birds. Warriors placed Eagle or Hawk feathers for each enemy's life they had taken in battle. Clothing: In warm weather they dressed light, especially for the children. Just a breechclothe often made of doe skin. Men and women wore sealskin. The woman wore deer skin skirts and an upper mantle. Men wore a mantle like a shoulder cape made from woven hemp or deer or moose skins. They wore a breechlothe and leather leggings to protect the legs from briars and brambles. The women also wore leggings to. In the winter the clothing became heaveir and often consisted of furs, (beaver, otter, squirrel, lynx, bear, deer or moose) to line their regalia. Regalia is the name for the clothing the Native Americans wear. Diet: They ate a diet of fish, shellfish, deer, moose, berries and nuts. In summer they grow crops of corn, squash, beans, green beans and cranberries. They also used maple syrup from the maple trees. Transportaion: They used wooden canoes called dugouts or birch bark canoes. They also walked on land using trails. Route 44 in Massachusetts was one of the trails running from Middleboro through Taunton and Rehoboth in Providence. Recreation and games: Popular native games were wrestling, weight lifting and marksmanship. A favored sporting tournament was a type of ball game like Lacrosse. They had two teams and they used a deerskin ball. All players had a wooden framed scoop meshed with leather lacing to toss about the ball. To score, they would have to get it in a net. Other popular tournaments included tug of wars and a contest with gaming stones. This contest uses a rounded, dishlike stone that was rolled into a large area. The object was for each player to hurl an eight foot pole as close as possible to the spot where the stone was rolled. Fishing, swimming and dice games were also quite popular. The prizes were furs, wampum and feathers. |