Lifeways

Fortunately, much is known about the culture of the Timucua. The Spanish missionaries recorded their language. And a Frenchman by the name of Jacques Le Moyne who traveled among them in 1564 made many paintings with written commentaries depicting their life-ways. A Flemish artisan, Theodore de Bry, later converted Le Moyne’s paintings into engravings for publication in 1591.

The Timucua villages were surrounded by walls of thick, upright logs about twice the height of a man. The log walls overlapped at one point to form a narrow entranceway with a gatehouse at each end, one just outside the palisades and one just inside. The village consisted of many round houses with pole frames and roofs of palmetto branches. The chief lived in the only rectangular building, at the center of all the other houses.

Each village had its own chief. But the chief of one particular village was the principal ruler and had king-like authority over all the other chiefs in the Timucua confederacy of villages. Each village had certain men, the notables, who participated in councils. At councils participants drank huge amounts of strong herbal tea.

The principal chief chose the most beautiful young woman among all the notable families as his wife. She was carried to the wedding ceremony on a litter covered with the fur of an animal. She was shielded from the sun by a canopy of boughs, as well as by two round screens on staffs carried by men walking next to her. Women, wearing skirts of moss and necklaces and bracelets of pearls, followed behind the litter bearers. Then came the bodyguards. The procession’s arrival was signaled by trumpeters blowing on horns of bark. During the ceremony the principal chief and wife-to-be sat on a raised platform of logs with the notables seated nearby. The principal chief made a speech to the bride about why he had selected her. And she publicly expressed her thanks. Then the women performed. Holding hands, they formed a circle, chanted the praises of the couple, and, raising and lowering their hands in unison, danced.

The Timucua planted and harvested crops twice a year, including corn, beans, pumpkins, and squash. To prepare the soil, men used hoes made from fish bones attached to wooden handles. Then one woman made holes with a digging stick and another followed behind to place the seeds. Villagers also regularly harvested wild fruits. They made bread from a plant called arrowroot. Any excess food collected was placed in storage to be shared by all the villagers in hard times. This sharing impressed Le Moyne, who wrote: “Indeed, it would be good if among Christians there was as little greed to torment men’s minds and hearts.”

The Timucua hunted many kinds of animals, including alligators, deer, brown bears, wildcats, lizards, and turkeys. They also fished for trout, flounder, turbot, and mullet and collected clams, oysters, crayfish, and crabs. Methods of hunting and fishing included bows and arrows, clubs, spears, harpoons, and traps. The Timucua carved dugout canoes from single trees for travel on waterways—ocean, lakes, and rivers. They traveled along the Atlantic coastline of Florida to trade with other tribes, sometimes even crossing the open sea as far as

Cuba. To catch alligators, the Timucua rammed logs into the animals’ open jaws, flipped them on their backs, then killed them with arrows and clubs. Extra meat and fish were preserved for the winter months by smoking them on a log rack over an open fire.

The Timucua prepared for war with special rituals. In one ceremony, a chief used a wooden platter to spill water on his warriors, saying: “As I have done with this water, so I pray that you may do with the blood of your enemies.” Warriors carried tea in gourds with them for energy on military expeditions.

Timucua weapons included bows and arrows and heavy clubs. The warriors filed their fingernails to sharp points, which they used in close combat to gouge their enemies’ foreheads and blind them with their own blood. Men also tied their long hair into a knot to hold arrows. Archers shot arrows tipped with flaming moss to set fire to the houses of the enemy. If the warriors were successful on a raid, they brought back trophies—severed arms, legs, and scalps—which they hung on poles at the victory celebrations. Timucua made war for both personal glory and to protect their hunting territory from intruders.

Timucua mask, used as a disguise while hunting

The Timucua tattooed their bodies with elaborate designs in black, red, and blue. The tattoos were a statement of individuality, status, and personal power. To make the designs, which in some instances covered their whole bodies, the Indians pricked their skin with needles dipped in soot or vegetable dyes made from plants such as cinnebar.