The Cree: Mysterious Winter Months

A beavers dam and crack the ice in 40-50 different places. The beavers would then have to come out of the broken holes in the ice. Moose were the Mi’kmaq’s most productive food and were hunted from February to mid March. Meat and fish would then be dried and smoked to preserve them. Berries, roots and edible plants were also a source of food for the Mi’kmaq, (Nova Scotia 3; Davis 27).

The Iroquois also used their surroundings to make to make and to provide food. In Document #2 it says that the Iroquois used bark from the local elm trees to make a bark tray. The bark

The article “the inuit paradox” starts off with an Inupiat woman describing the most common foods that she consumed growing up in an Inuit community in which foraging is necessary for survival. She describes that the traditional Inuit diet focused primarily on meat that was foraged from the environment.

Walruses and narwhals have ivory that were used as harpoons heads, and could have been used as knives. That assists them in cutting the food. Driftwood was used as wood, but it only is found in the ocean. Driftwood could be used for fuels and heat to cook the food. These natural resources have helped the Inuit tribe to provide food.

The Inuit Indians also catch lots of other animals. The Inuit people rely on fish, sea mammals, and land animals for food, heat, light, clothing, tools, and shelter( ? ). The Inuit Tribe is all about not wasting any part of animals they kill. They will use animals fat for lighting homes, animal bones are turned into tools and weapons, and animal bones are also used for arts (Sontella 20). Animals are a big part of the Inuit’s culture. They have many traditions and cultural beliefs based around the animals of the north.

When the Native Americans were forced onto reservations they stopped hunting and preparing their own food. Instead the United States government gave them food that their bodies were not used to digesting. Indians were not used to eating flour, lard, canned meats and poultry that are swimming in fat, and canned fruits and vegetables packed in sugary syrup.

Turner, J.T. Arnason, R.J. Hebda, T. Johns, 2012). Before the arrival of Europeans, Aboriginal peoples mastered the cultivation of food crops in a range of fertile areas. The “three sisters,” which was a phrase used to describe the three crops: corn, squash, and beans as they were planted together where each plant depended and supported the growth and nutrition of the others. The myriad of food supplies made it possible for the Iroquoian First Nations to find stable communities. As many Europeans started coming and settling into Canada, they brought many illnesses along with them from some being from the long journey and others due to lack of food. The Aboriginal people made an assortment of various ways to heal wounds, coughs, and rheumatism. Since many were nervous about taking the medicine from the Natives, they soon realized that these people had in them vast knowledge about the land and its many natural wonders they inhabited in. Barks of spruce and juniper trees were used to make tea which contained vitamin C and berries and plants were picked and used as remedies for many things. Many plants were also used for utility uses. Woods played as a prime importance for fuels and as major items for things such as buildings, totem poles, and weapons including spears, bows, and arrows. Dyes, abrasives, and recreation items were also made from plants. All these things

The economic and cultural influences of the 19th century Hudson Bay Company had a significant impact on the diet and food practices of the Northern First Nations Peoples, which impact created a dependency on the government. From this dependency Northern Canada emerged as a welfare state. Prior to European contact, the First Nations exercised regular hunting and gathering practices, relying on game animals as a key meat source. These Peoples, such as the Barren Ground caribou hunters and the Ojibwa fishing villagers, were considered affluent as they had stable food resources which supplied a surplus to their needs (Coates 1989). Resource management strategies, such as hunting multiple species, had been established and were practiced by the hunters to avoid food shortages or scarcities (Coates 1989). Most tribes which based their food supply on a primary large animal – such as the barren ground caribou – would also hunt secondary prey sources, like the beaver (Coates 1989). However, modifications were made to these management strategies as the First Nations responded to the demands created by the open market of the 19th century Hudson Bay Company. The Peoples developed as commercial

The wada plant, a “seed that was tiny but available in great quantity”; allowed for the mass congregation of the Wada-eaters, as they collected the seed “as well as the seeds of goosefoot, Indian Ricegrass, Great Basin Wild Rye, mule-ear, and other desert plants” (Aikens 17). October-November permitted “the time for deer hunts, antelope drives, and rabbit drives” (Aikens 17); while signaling the time for winter preparation. December-April gave away to the winter, where tribes spent time in their respective encampments enjoying the fruits of they labor achieved during the preceding months, with the occasional escapade “out for fishing, waterfowling, and hunting” (Aikens 17). Through these seasonal influences, we can see that the Northern Paiutes social behavior and migration patterns were greatly affected by the environment. Spring, summer, and fall months were spent hunting and gathering in anticipation of the winter to come. The environmental factors that provided for bountiful harvests of seeds, berries, and meat also provided for gathering places “where people could also come together and celebrate, exchange, trade, provide courtship rituals, marry, form alliances, and other important social

How did the Canadian Inuit Traditional Way of Hunting and Gathering Recourses Provide Food and Eating Practises in the 19th Century, and How did this Culturally Effect the Community?

The Plains Cree Tribe lived in Canada, north and west of Lake Superior in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories. Women wore dresses made out of deerskins, Men wore animal skin leggings,a loincloth which is a small piece of cloth or skin worn between the legs and a belt to hold the loin cloth. They did not speak english, their language is called Montagnais. They lived in teepees.

The Inuit are very spiritual people and they do not believe in a lot of the same things we do. They believe in something called Animism, all living and nonliving things have a spirit. When someone or something dies they believe that things spirit goes to the spiritual world. They only people powerful enough to talk or communicate with these spirits are religious leaders, Shamans or “Angakoks”. The way these religious leader speak with them is through dances or charms. They wear masks and clothes of an animal because they believe it helps them to communicate with them better. Not all spirits are good ones, when the weather was bad or there was an illness going around they believed it to be a displeased spirit, but the Inuit used guidelines to try to make the spirit happy. There was five rules that need to be followed in order to please the spirits, 1) women are not allowed to sew caribou skins on the inside of there igloo on sea ice in the winter. 2) Inuit can not eat sea mammal and land mammal at the same meal. 3) A knife used to kill whales had to wrapped in sealskin, not caribou skin. 4) After killing a seal melted snow had to dripped into its mouth to quench the spirit's thirst. 5) The Inuit saved the bladder of the hunted because they believed that’s where the spirit was found inside. One of the most important spirits was Sedna, The Goddess of the Sea. She provided them with food from the sea, which made the Inuit most happy.

The Inuit people had high metabolism rates. This is also related to body heat and how they adapted to their cold environment. By having a high metabolic rate they were able to produce body heat as well, thus keeping them warm. The last way in which the Inuit people adapted biologically to their environment is via adaptation to foods. The Inuit people’s diet consists of high protein and fat. They ate foods such as seal, whales, and freshwater fish.

Woodland Indians inhabited the large geographical area in eastern North America. The varying climates and four seasons affected how each individual group of Indians lived and ate. The Appalachian mountains and Great Lakes prohibited movement of people to some extent. Some people were able to harness the shoreline water as a means of transportation. Gardening and harvesting of crops became a way of life for these people but was sometimes complicated by the harsh winter conditions in northern Wisconsin. Utilization of natural resources controlled the economy. These Indians were very knowledgeable about the trees and plant life in their area. They used the abundant wildlife as part of their

The Sioux ate what they found in the homelands. Buffalo was an important food, it was mostly hunted in the fall. None of the buffalo was wasted. It was eaten and made into clothing, tipi coverings, shields, and weapons. The Sioux also made pemmican from dried meats, dried berries, dried fruits, nuts, and melted buffalo fat. The meat, berries, fruits, and nuts were crushed. Then they poured melted buffalo fat over the mixture. The pemmican was stored in animal intestines and bladders. The containers were lightweight, watertight, and safe from insects.