Sacred Trees: According
to Iroquois legend, the Great Spirit had told them that the animals
and the things of the forest were their helpers. They knew they needed
trees and plants and animals to live. But they were still sorry when
they had to take a life.
They were very careful to take only what they
absolutely needed. To the Iroquois and other Woodland Indians, it
would have been an insult to kill something and then waste it.
A tree was living, and therefore sacred. If you
were going to chop down a tree, every part of it had to be helpful.
-
They used young trees to make poles for their longhouses.
-
They
carefully saved the leaves and twigs to start campfires.
-
They used the
bark to cover their homes to keep out the rain, and to line clay
storage pots to keep dried food safe from mice.
-
Twigs were also used
to make baskets, hunting tools, and weapons.
-
Twigs were used to make
designs on clay pots.
-
They used tree and plant fibers as weaving
materials.
They used everything over and over, even the smallest
scraps, to avoid killing needlessly.
Their beliefs forced them to be inventive. They
even invented games to use up left over pieces of wood. Some of these
games, like the Snow
Snake Games, became so popular that they turned into annual
events.
