The Mandan Tribe Religion

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The greatly populated Mandan Native American tribe is a group of Native Americans that live in North and South Dakota. The tribe is greatly populated with many children, elders, and parents throughout it. The tribe helped Lewis and Clark throughout their expedition with gathering food for them when winter came. The Mandan tribe religion has the belief of supernatural powers and that ceremonies will bring powers. Using the information provided by the four sources the Mandan tribe has unique food they grow and eat, clothing they wear to protect themselves, and innovative ideas with building homes to protect themselves. The Mandan tribes has many different types of food they grow that depending on the season of weather can benefit the tribe. …show more content…
According to source A, “Mandan men wore clothes such as, breechcloths with leather leggings and buckskin shirts. The Mandans wore moccasins on their feet, and in cold weather, they wore long buffalo-hide robes” (source A). These clothes the Mandan men wore kept them warm while they hunted and worked throughout the day. Mandan people also wore moccasins to protect their feet from snow and other things that could injure or cut their feet. Mandan ladies also wore clothing around them such as, “a lady's dress was often decorated with elk's teeth and cowrie shells” (source A). Mandan people wore special clothes for men and women. Mandan people gathered most of their materials for clothing from the animals the men killed. To conclude, the Mandan tribe had clothing that they acquired from animals for religious reasons and protection, but they also developed roles in the community for each …show more content…
According to source C, “In the 19th century the Mandan lived in dome-shaped earth lodges clustered in stockaded villages…” (source C). The Mandan tribe constructed these dwellings using materials that they found around the area and environment that they lived by in North and South Dakota. The Mandan tribe used these homes to supply as an area for safety from predators outside and for the ability to give warmth in cold winters. The Mandan tribe also settled in many places such as, “the Missouri River in North and South Dakota. Early historic documents suggest that before the smallpox epidemic of 1781 there were from six to nine Mandan villages along the Heart and Missouri rivers” (source D). The Mandan tribes used innovative ways to protect the tribe from predators and weather by making their homes from wood and dirt. The Mandan people used dirt to make it look like a hill and disguise it from predators. The Mandan tribe had villages that housed many people and with their adaptive ways of making homes out of given supplies they survived through the weather and seasons of North and South