How
many people lived in one house?
An average
size longhouse was too big for one family to live in. There were usually
two families that shared each fire in the longhouse. The longhouse in
the pictures has three fires, so six families could have lived here. All
the families that lived in the longhouse were related to each other, they
were all part of a clan. This means that everyone in the longhouse shared
ancestors. It would be like living with all your aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Haida people also lived in large houses that could hold many people. The
families that lived in the house were also part of a clan. There was usually
only one fire in the center of the house, but there were several families
that shared it.
Igloos were quite small compared to longhouses and Haida houses. There
was usually only one living in the igloo. Igloos were very quick to build
and were also used for hunting and fishing trips as well as living.
Activity:
The People in Your House
What kinds of things would have led to more people living in the
house? What about less people?
There were many reasons
for more people to move into the house. Maybe there were visitors from
another tribe who needed a place to stay. Maybe more people were moving
into the area because times were good and there was more food. Perhaps
many more children were born. Maybe there was a fire or another kind of
disaster and some of the other houses in the village were damaged. If
that happened maybe every longhouse would have had to take in a family
until the damaged houses were rebuilt.
If there were less people living in the house, maybe some of them had
to move because there was not enough food to go around. This is called
a famine. Another reason that there may have been less people living in
the house might be an epidemic. An epidemic is something that causes a
lot of people to get sick and even die.
What
kinds of things did they do inside their houses?
When they were in their
houses, the Huron and the Haida cooked their food over the fire. They
slept on platforms attached to the walls of the house. They also played
games and danced. People might make tools from stone, bone or wood. They
might sew clothing from hides and furs and make pottery and baskets. Some
of the houses were used as a place for all the people of the village to
meet, to talk and to feast . These houses were usually the biggest ones
in the whole village.
The Eastern Woodlands and the Northwest Coast had a milder climate, so
the people were able to spend more time outside. Haida houses and Huron
longhouses also had much more space inside for people to move around.
In the Arctic, the Inuit had to deal with a very harsh environment. They
needed to keep up their strength if they were stuck inside during winter
storms. It was also necessary to keep from becoming bored. Staring at
the same walls made of ice and snow all day could definitely be boring.
The games they played had to be ones that could be played in small spaces.
In the winter, even if they could tolerate the freezing temperatures,
they did not go outside for very long because there was not a lot of daylight.
North of the arctic circle there is no daylight at all during parts of
the winter.
Activity: Indoor Day
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