Lenni Lanape (Delaware) Tribe and
Native American Dance
The children were very interested this week to learn all about the Lenni Lanape (or Deleware) Tribe, hailing from the region of North Ameria now known as Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Deleware!
We learned that the Lenni Lanape did NOT live in tepees, but actually lived in wigwams, and we saw some very neat picture examples of them. We also looked at traditional dress--often, beaded feather headbands (rather than head dresses) and cloth-bound braids for women. We also learned that the Lenni Lanape made moccasins of deerskin, and were farmers of many crops as well as some livestock.
One of the important things we learned around our "pretend campfire" (AKA, Miss Sally's electric candle) was how important storytelling is to Native American culture. I told the children the interesting Lenni Lanape myth of "The Warrior and the Eagle", wherein a strong warrior sets out to steal a powerful eagle feather by luring the eagle with wolf meat on a mountain top. When the warrior continuously passes up his chance to pluck a feather from the first few eagles who land (who aren't satisfactory to him), he gets a big surprise from a gigantic eagle who carries him away. The moral of the story is about greediness, or waiting to soon to act on opportunity ("Strike while the iron is hot!"). Make sure to ask your child about it (and feel free to take a cue from the questions below!).
We lightly touched on the important topic of hardship that Native Americans have endured (and still do) but most of our time was spent marveling over the awesome culture and musical heritage that many tribes have to offer. Check out the amazing Lakota eagle dance below, which was the inspiration for our very own eagle dance ceremony!
The kids got to slip on a pair of eagle wings that I made and they enjoyed flapping around and dancing to the beat of a drum.
SEE OUR EAGLE DANCE HERE!
We also took a look at a few of my Native American flutes, listened to Native American flute music, and practiced saying the word "wigwam".
I hope you enjoy the pictures and videos below! Thank you for reading!
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CHILD
1. Do you know what a "wigwam" is? What is it made of?
A wigwam is a small hut made of woven grasses, branches and reeds. The Lenni Lanape tribe lived in them!
We did the "Eagle Dance" with pretend feathers around our pretend "campfire"!
3. In the story about the brave warrior who wanted in eagle feather, what kind of meat did he use to attract the eagles to the mountain? Wolf meat!