Lifeways

The Chipewyan lived along the northern edge of the subarctic where the northern forest, or taiga, gives way to the barren grounds, or tundra. Winters were long and bitterly cold; summers were all too short and plagued with blackflies and mosquitoes. The Chipewyan, frequently on the move in search of food, lived in portable skin tents similar to the tipis of the PLAINS INDIANS. They constructed a framework of poles by setting them in a circle and leaning them against one another and tying them at the top; they then covered the framework with caribou hides sewn together; they left a hole at the top for smoke to escape; and they placed spruce boughs and caribou skins at the base to form a floor.

Life for the Chipewyan bands revolved around the seasonal migrations of the caribou herds. In the spring, many bands gathered at the edge of the forested taiga to intercept the animals as they migrated northward onto the treeless tundra. In the fall, the Chipewyan returned to hunt the caribou on the animals’ southern migration. The hunters used a variety of tricks to catch the animals. They drove them into corrals made of brush, where they could kill them in great numbers. Or they snared animals with ropes strung between two trees. Or they attacked the caribou from canoes—made from either birchbark or spruce bark—as the animals swam across rivers or lakes. Another trick was to bang antlers together to make a caribou bull think two other bulls were fighting over a female. The chosen weapon was a birch bow with stone-tipped or bone-tipped arrows, but spears were also used for the kill.

The Chipewyan used every part of the caribou. Fresh meat was baked in birch-bark or caribou-skin containers, by adding heated stones. The head and the stomach with all contents were eaten. Some of the meat was made into pemmican—dried and pounded meat mixed with fat— which was packed into the animal’s intestines (like sausage) to be carried on the trail. The hide of the caribou was cured to make tents, clothing, and babiche for snowshoes, nets, and many other applications. The bones and antlers of the caribou were used to make tools.

The Chipewyan hunted other animals too, such as moose, musk-ox, buffalo, deer, bear, beaver, and waterfowl. In the winter, they stalked game on snowshoes and used toboggans to haul their catch. They also fished lakes and rivers, going after freshwater fish such as trout, bass, pike, and whitefish. They used many different techniques in fishing, including nets, hooks, barbed arrows, and spears. The Chipewyan also built weirs, wooden or stone pens, to trap fish. They fished from canoes too. Fish not eaten immediately were smoked or sun-dried for preservation.

The Chipewyan had few plants in their diet. But they did use some of the tundra plants for nourishment. They

Chipewyan toboggan

Chipewyan birch-bark canoe

Made moss into a soup and they ate lichens retrieved in a fermented state from the stomach of caribou.

In addition to their leatherwork, woodwork, stonework, and bonework, the Chipewyan also worked in metal. They found copper nuggets in the soil along the Coppermine River and used annealing techniques—alternate heating and hammering—to work the material into the desired shape. They made knives, axes, awls, drills, ice chisels, scrapers, arrowheads, spearheads, and other tools from copper. They also traded the raw material to neighboring tribes for food, shells, and other products.

The women did much of the hard work within the Chipewyan bands—making fires, preparing food, curing leather, and many other chores. They also did much of the hauling, carrying supplies on their backs as well as pulling toboggans. In fact, women ranked at least as low if not lower in Chipewyan society than among any other Native American peoples, and they were at the mercy of their husbands. When the food ran out, the women were the first to go hungry. Despite all their other hard work, Chipewyan women became known in postcontact times for their quillwork, beadwork, and silk embroidery.

The dog held a special place in Chipewyan mythology. In their creation myth, it was a dog that fathered the human race. Tribal members fed their dogs well whenever possible. But when faced with starvation in the worst of the winter months, they would eat their dogs to survive. When desperate enough, the Chipewyan also would eat their own dead to survive, although cannibalism was taboo and used as a last resort. Normally, the Chipewyan left their dead exposed, to be devoured by scavenging birds and animals.