Lifeways

The tribe bearing this name, the Miami, occupied ancestral territory south of Lake Michigan in present-day Indiana, western Ohio, and eastern Illinois. They lived along timbered river valleys and shared many of the cultural traits of other ALGONQUIANS. Without birch trees growing that far south, the Miami used elm bark or mats of woven plant materials to cover their houses of various shapes. And they made dugout boats from single trees, usually butternuts.

The Miami, although classified as NORTHEAST INDI ANS, sometimes are called PRAIRIE INDIANS because in addition to farming, like their neighbors to the west, the ILLINOIS, they hunted buffalo on the open prairies. Unlike the later PLAINS INDIANS, who chased the herds on horseback, early hunters on the prairies typically trapped the animals in a ring of fire, then picked them off with arrows. Most villagers, except the old and weak and a handful of warriors as guards, would go on the buffalo hunts. The women and children would help prepare the meat and hides for travel back to the river valley.

Many of the cultural traits of the later Plains Indians evolved from those of the forest/prairie tribes. The calumet, or peace pipe, is one such example. The stone used to make the bowls—pipestone, or catlinite— comes from the Great Lakes country. Blood red in color, it was carved and fitted onto a long reed, then decorated with feathers, white in times of peace, red during war. So-called peace pipes might actually be used as war pipes.

Another custom that spread westward from the forests and prairies was the Scalp Dance. After a battle, the warriors who had fought recounted their exploits by chanting and dancing while the calumet was passed around. In the dance, a warrior might show how he tracked an enemy, struck him dead, and then scalped him. It was important that he tell the truth. If he fabricated an incident or even just exaggerated what had happened, others would shout out the real events and disgrace him before all the village.