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. We have no idea what they did to a woman who
let her family's supply of mats run out, but we imagine it was not
pleasant.
