Published: September 10, 2008 09:45 am      

Edison students learn about Indian life

DANVILLE — Cooking in buffalo stomachs, hunting with bows and arrows and sleeping in 16-by-13-foot tepees were just a few of the things some second-graders learned Tuesday at Edison Elementary School.

Jon Jordan presented to Edison kids “Life on the Plains,” a talk that showcases the lifestyle and culture of the Lakota Sioux, who were Jordan’s ancestors. They lived in North and South Dakota.

The kids marveled at the animal skins and domestic tools Jordan showed them — most of which made from buffalo skins.

Jordan told the kids about how the tribe’s nomad survival depended on the buffalo. Each part of the animal was used to make something.

“The buffalo was our Wal-Mart. It was our McDonald’s,” he explained to the kids.

Tepees, such as the one Jordan set up on the Edison grounds, were made of buffalo skin, and could last for years.

Women set up the houses facing east, so that the opening in the top for the fire and the entrances were shielded from the west and bad weather, he said.

American Indians such as the Lakota found uses for all parts of the animals they hunted, he said, because the people could not afford waste. Even the hooves and horns of the buffalo were used to make pouches, cups or spoons, he explained, showing the kids examples of each.

The Lakota also hunted other animals, such as the porcupine, whose quills were used as hairbrushes.

Even the containers the Lakota used to move things when they moved from place to place were made of hardened leather, or rawhide.

Jordan demonstrated that some delicate items, like the wooden “courting” flute — which young men played for young girls — were carried in the hardest cases so they wouldn’t get damaged.

The center of each teepee contained a buffalo skull, which served as an altar that honored the creator.

To cook soup, the Lakota would fill a buffalo stomach with water, berries, meat and other ingredients, then drop red-hot stones into the mixture to cook it.

The meat was obtained, of course, by hunting.

Jordan asked the kids how old they thought boys were when they began learning to hut.

Some of the kids guessed 10 or 11.

Jordan asked them what would happen if they didn’t begin learning to read for another three years. Learning such a crucial skill begins at a very young age, he explained.

Many of the boys raised their eyebrows when he told them Lakota boys began carrying bows and arrows when they were about 5 years old — and hunting small animals by age 7. When the boys got older, they would join the adults in hunting buffalo. Often, the hunters would wear a wolf skin to disguise themselves on the plains when they were scouting a herd.

Jordan showed the students such a skin, which covered nearly his whole body.

The Lakota worked hard for their survival, but found time to have fun too, Jordan said. They didn’t have video games, com-puters or DVDs, but “we had a lot more fun,” he said.

He showed kids some simple toys like sleds made of buffalo ribs or stringed vertebra and beads that children would play with. An inflated buffalo bladder he showed them could be inflated like a ball.

Second-graders Kenyatta Williams, Wynter Haas and Kaleb Martin all had favorite parts of the presentation.

Williams and Haas commented on how hard they had to work, but also did fun things.

Williams said she liked the presentation because her family is part American Indian. She said she wouldn’t mind living in a tepee with her family.

Martin said he wouldn’t mind hunting for food for his family — especially using a spear.

The kids also said they loved the artifacts like the wolf skin, porcupine hairbrush and tepee decorations.

FYI

To learn more about Jordan’s “Life on the Plains” presentation or his company, go to http://www.spiritoftheeagle.net.