american Indians

            The American Indian lived life in love with nature. Their wisdom showed in their capacity for harmony with the environment, what they wore, what they created, what they ate and how it was prepared, in their home life and importance of family and in their philosophies and beliefs. It would be impossible to tell the whole story of the American Indian Because historical information is often incomplete, inaccurate or totally nonexistent. " They Have established their nation in such a way that no one possesses anything individually, neither a house nor field, which he can leave to his heirs in his will, for everything belongs to their masters whom, with improper nomenclature, they call kings, and by whose whims they live, more than by their own ready to do the bidding and desire of these rulers and possessing no liberty"(1). The Abenaki also called the dawn land people are native to the Northeast Canada, Vermont, Maine and southern Massachusetts. These Indians enjoyed life in the fields and wild grass along the rivers and coast. Nearby forests provided a endless supply of moose, deer, bear, caribou, small animals and plants, berries and nuts. The waters provided salmon, eel and alewives. Corn was grown to subsidize the diet and tobacco was farmed as well. "The forests also provided building materials such as birch bark, with which the Abenaki in the western portion of the area built longhouses, often in villages on high bluffs above the waters as protection from attack. Each longhouse, framed with saplings young enough to be cut by stone axes and covered with birch bark, could house several related family groups. The western bands would collect maple sugar sap each February, which they boiled down as is done today to make syrup and candy"(2). Basic clothing consisted of a hide breechcloth for men and knee-length skirts for the women. In winter animal hide or fur robes were added, often constructed as long, sleeveless coats.