Lesson Seven: The Aboriginal Tipi

Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3 Lesson 4 Lesson 5 Lesson 6 Lesson 7 Lesson 8

Teacher Information:

The Native People first lived in conical skin tents. The Indians hunted the buffalo, and the hides were used to make the tipi. The tendons of the buffalo served as sewing kits for the yarn. The bones and horns were used for making tools, scrapers and needles. The brains, which contained tannic acid, were kept for tanning the dried hides.

The hide was usually kept white to keep the inside of the tipi light and comfortable, then fresh conifer branches were burned inside the tipi for twenty-four hours, the resin in the smoke making the tipi waterproof. The Indian tipi was in perfect harmony with nature.

http://collections.ic.gc.ca/tipicamp/tipihist.html

Though most North American natives had a tipi of some sort, the apex of tipi art design rests with the Plains Indians. A spectacularly beautiful shape that provided warmth in the winter, and protection from the sun and wind in the summer. As they aged, the buffalo hide shell took on an almost translucent appearance that glowed from the fire within on a cold winter's night. This shell consisted of twelve or more buffalo hides sewn together with sinew. The hides went through a gamut of curing processes that made them water resistant, flexible and soft, even after getting wet. After sewing the pieces together, the tipi was erected smoked with a smudge fire from the inside. After it was cured, the whole thing was turned inside out and smoked again.  This shell was supported by a skeleton of about eighteen or twenty cedar or pine poles, and the whole thing weighed in at a whopping 585 pounds (average), requiring up to three horses for transport.  Despite their weight and bulk, this remarkably versatile shelter could be erected in about an hour. Traditionally, the tribal women owned both the tipi and the transport horses, and were responsible for all transport and set up. 

Typically, the shape was a tilted cone, with the door  facing the rising sun – the back being steeper than the front to brace against the westerly winds. A tripod was erected, and the shell was attached to a "lifting pole" and put into place, where it was easily unfolded and wrapped around the framework. The vertical seam was then pinned together with wooden pegs and the door flap attached. Additional poles were used to then to adjust the smoke flaps for wind direction or bad weather. The bottom edges could also be controlled – rolled up in warm weather for ventilation, or sealed tight to the ground with sod, stones, wooden pegs or blocks of snow. As all but the stones were transported, it is still possible to find "tipi rings" on the prairie of the American west.

http://www.kifaru.net/tipihist.htm

Share the above information regarding tipis in whatever format you feel necessary for your classroom environment. Search the Student Zone Photo Gallery and download and print a variety of historical photos of tipis to give students a visual aid.

Main Lesson:

There are a variety of activities that can be derived from the above information regarding tipi design and construction. Listed is just a sampling of things you may experiment with in your classroom:

• Analyze, describe, and construct a skeleton of a traditional Aboriginal tipi and describe the various components and their functions. Students should focus on the significance of the circle and the strength of the triangles.
• Analyze the Plains tipi structure and relate its configuration to its net. Discuss and model how the concept of the net of a cone (half circle) was used in measuring and sewing together hides for the frame.
• Analyze the geometric structure of the tipi including angles, verticals, points, and lines.
• Each tipi required approximately twelve hides to cover it. Imagine a band of 250 Aboriginal People. Each tipi can hold approximately eight people. Calculate how many tipis would be needed to house the entire band, how many hides would need to be collected, and the number of tipi poles that would be required (based on approximations of both eighteen and twenty poles). Students must show all calculations.
• In one Aboriginal band there were nine families. Each of their tipis needed to be covered by twelve hides. How many tipi hides would be needed to cover all of the tipis for the band? If eighteen poles were needed would 125 poles be enough? Students must show all of their calculations.