Energy Cons IVation and Native American Architecture Peter Nabokov Glossary In off-the-freeway pockets of while fall and winter saw the rural America, pre-Columbian cus­ community move west in pursuit Band: Music Band: may be either toms for beating tqe heat and of buffalo. On the Northwest coast steel or brass; provides music for fighting the cold are still practiced. that pattern was reversed: there costumed individuals and for In the 1870s American Indian the cherished townsites were the other participants. Costume band: house life was investigated by coastal winter towns with their costumed group of individuals Lewis Henry Morgan, the "father of impressive communal houses ex­ coming together to play as a unit. American anthropology;" princi­ pertly carpentered al).d carved from The band theme determines the pally to discover what it revealed of cedar. In summertime the wall costume's design. social life. But new interest in na­ boards of these great houses were Calypso (also called "Kaiso"): tive American dwellings has begun taken down, lashed between Popular folk music, the lyrics to focus on its energy efficient canoes for a trip upriver to the of which are generally social features as well as the symbolism salmon fishing stretches, then commentaries expressed in We1jt of traditional Indian structures. used to roof the more lightly con­ Indian creole and that rhyme in a This fall, outside of McLoud, structed shelters. catchy tune and danceable To both the plains and coastal rhythm. Okla., Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Cup­ pawhe will be among the Kickapoo peoples, however, lodges were con­ Calypsonian: One who composes families moving large cattail roof­ sidered sacred earthly representa­ and sings calypsoes. ing mats from the peaked frames tions of the tribal universe. During Fete: Activity in which people of their summer houses to their sacred periods in the tribal calen­ gather to dance and enjoy haystack-shaped winter houses. dar they became temples of the themselves. Held in the open or in During summer, mats are laid on community. a dance hall, usually lasting the roof allowing cooling breezes to The confinement of reservation four-six hours. waft through the wide openings life, however, limited such cus­ Jump Up: Rhythmic movement left by loosely tied side boards and toms and seasonal movements. ranging from slow shuffle of tired beneath raised sleeping benches. Still, on the third weekend of Au­ feet to spirited, continuous jumps In winter, however, the "wikiup" is gust one can find Plains Indian 12-18" off the ground. This is done shrouded to the ground with tribes reliving the heyday of the to the beat of the calypso. layers of mats. The Kickapoo be­ horse riding and tipi-dwelling era at Crow Agency, Mont. More than Mas (Abbreviation for lieve they were taught this pattern 300 tipis lift their proud, green­ "masquerade"): Refers to the of dual residence by Wisaka, a tufted poles to the sky as the old collective festivities of carnival. An culture hero, who also showed sacred circle of lodges is restored. individual is called a "Mas" or "Mas them how to transfer the sacred During the Crow Fair the middays Player." central fire with each move. are often broiling, and an occa­ (To) Play Mas: The act of wearing a Many Indian peoples tradition­ sional hem of a canvas tipi cover is costume and parading either ally enjoyed more than one resi­ raised and propped on sticks to individually or in bands during dence; these dwellings were farther allow air flow. During cool nights Carnival celebrations. apart than the two minute walk they are pegged to the ground. Road March: The tune played by between the Cuppawhes' summer Inside, a liner, or "dew cloth," is the greatest number of music and winter homes. On the precon­ fastened from the base of the tipi bands at carnival. tact Great Plains, fortified villages poles to about six feet up, creating of immense, semi-subterranean Suggested Reading a draft to lift smoke through the earth lodges kept people cool dur­ top hole. During a sudden down­ Williams, Katherine. "Where else but ing the summer farming season, America?" Annapolis: Fishergate pour the women hastily cross over Publishing, 1977. Peter Nabokov has done extensivefield the smokeflaps at the top of the Justus, Joyce Bennett. "West Indians in research in Native American societies. He tipi with the aid of long poles. Los Angeles: Community and Identity," in has written several books and articles based on hisfindings, inclttding Native Tipis no longer protect Indians Caribbean Immigration to the United American Testimony: An Anthology of In­ from harsh high plains winters, States. Roy S. Bryce Laporte and Delores dian and White Relations. He is at present but in the past, tribes like the M. Mortimer. Washington, D.C.: Research working on a book on the history and Institute on Immigration and Ethnic symbolism of Native American Crow, Blackfoot, Sioux, and Cree Studies, Smithsonian Institution, 1976. Architecture. were inventive at adapting them to 13 below zero temperatures. The interior air envelope, between the dew cloth and the tipi wall, was packed with dry grass for insula­ tion, and the outer base was banked with snow. Inside, the cen­ tral fire kept the family, sleeping in the thick of long-haired buffalo 2 robes, very snug. Recent experiments comparing the energy efficiency of the tipi with a modern American home in­ dicate that on freezing winter nights the Indian lived at a similar comfort level. Their hardwood­ burning fires warmed the tipi at a comparable efficiency level to our oil heated furnaces, because the space required for each person was a tenth the area we are accus­ tomed to. The Miccosukee and Seminole who live on little islands, or "hammocks," in the Everglades swamps of southern Florida still favor year-round use of their tra­ ditional houses -called "chickees" -which are built of tough cypress poles and roofed with palmetto 1 Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Cuppawhe and their excavations where the Hupa once leaves. (They are also popular with winter wikiup. Photo by Robert Easton warmed themselves during the non-Indians; Roy Cypress, for in­ 2 This detail of a wikiup shows the cattail damp winter and cooled them­ stance, hires out teams to build mats that are overlappedjor insulation. selves throughout the baking chickee forms for barns and ga­ Photo by Robert Easton summer. rages.) Here the problem is ventila­ cultural survival, other Indian In the Southwest two famous tion rather than insulation. A few communities are experiencing a Indian house traditions still share years ago the Bureau of Indian revival of old house building. The the same ecological zone. The Affairs built new, single-family Wichita of central Oklahoma have striking contrast between the homes for the Miccosukee. They resumed building the distinctive single-family Navajo "hogan" and tried to imitate the chickee style, beehive-shaped houses of red the communal network of rooms but the walled houses with their cedar ribs that seemed to be lost a in a Pueblo village suggests the small windows were never popular. half-century ago. In Northwestern difficulty in finding a single expla­ Unlike the chickee, they competed California the Hupa have been nation for a Native American with nature instead of cooperating reconstructing their traditional house form. With its mud-and-log with it; furthermore, they were ex­ cedar plank houses on the sites of or mud-and-rock wall and roof, the pensive to air-condition. Quietly three old rancheria (or village) lo­ "hogan" is cool in summer and the Miccosukee families moved cations. Both the Hupa family cozily warm in winter. But Pueblo back into the old style homes with house and the slightly smaller society uses the same materials to their raised sleeping and working men's sweat house belong to the construct large adobe apartment porches, their mosquito netting, oldest architectural tradition in house complexes with an even and the familiar rustle of wind North America, the pit house. Here more efficient use of space per through the palmetto roof. earth serves as excellent insula­ person. While the chickee represents a tion, walling the four-foot deep In both cultures, the proper con- 14 The Medicine Show Brooks McNamara Oh! I love to travel far and near throughout my native land; I love to sell as I go 'long, and take the cash in hand. I love to cure all in distress that happen in my way. And you better believe Ifeel quite fine whenfolks rush up and say: Chorus: I'll take another bottle of Wizard oil, I'll take another bottle or two; I'll take another bottle of Wizard The Hupa of Northwestern California utilize earth as an insulating material by oil, building semi-subterranean plank houses. I'll take another bottle or two. Photo by Peter Nabokov Carl Sandburg, Visitors entering the Indian The American Songbag lodges built at our Festival will The traveling salesman is a fix­ notice the skillful use of available ture in our folklore, celebrated in materials. These home traditions stories, jokes, anecdotes, and car­ perpetuate practical adaptations to toons. Within the ranks of the climate; also, they indicate man's salesmen, a special sense of mys­ impulse to invest his immediate tery and glamour surrounds the environment with spiritual medicine showman-the itinerant meaning. patent medicine seller whose free Suggesting Reading performances were an important Laubin, Reginald and Gladys. The Indian part of small town life still within Tipi: Its History, Construction, and Use. the memory of many Americans. 2nd ed. Norman: University of Oklahoma The American patent medicine Press, 1977. seller derived from mountebanks Lavine, Sigmund A.