Woven Mats: To define each family's living space in
the longhouse, and to give them a sense of privacy, woven mats were hung
from the ceiling. Mats were also used as cushions on which to sit. They were
used as tablecloths, bath towels, and bed sheets.
Mats were made of cedar bark strips or from the cattail plant. In the
summer, the women collected materials to make mats and dried them in the
sun. In the winter, they hung long pieces side by side, and wove them together
with a special mat needle carved for this purpose. They wove colored grass
into these mats, in carefully designed patterns, to make their mats colorful
and beautiful. These mats could not be washed. They were not sturdy enough
to survive a good scrubbing. When mats became dirty, they were simply thrown
away, and new ones were made.
Mats were an important part of daily life. They provided privacy, comfort,
color - they made a home, a home. They were so important that a woman's
housekeeping skills were judged, in part, by the number of mats she had stacked
and ready to use for whatever might come up. I have no idea what they did
to a woman who let her family's supply of mats run out, but I imagine it
was not pleasant.
