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The Plains Indians lived in tipis. Another spelt way for tipis was teepees and tepees. Tipis were cone-shaped tents. The opening of the tipi was always faced east to greet the morning sun and the birth of a new day. Tipis were waterproof in order to survive in the rainy weather.
One of the tipi facts was that during the day, medicine bundles were hung outside tripods and moved around tipi to face sun and at night and dreadful weather; the medicine bundles were suspended from the tipi poles. In the scorching weather, the covering was rolled up from the bottom allowing air to circulate within the tipi. Transportable shelters were considered necessary due to the moving buffalo which the tipis provided. Flap covered the opening of the tipi and was open to permit smoke from the fire to escape. Only a small fire was required to warm up the tipi. The smoke of the fire kept mosquitoes away from the tipi. There was a nice-smelling brush inside the tipi keeping it fresh. These were basically all the tipi facts.
All the tipis belonged to woman. No help was permitted from the men. Woman set up the tipi in less than one hour. They could put up and put down tipis very hastily. The woman societies were responsible for making, putting up, and taking down the tipis. In conclusion, women were the owners of the tipis and the men didn’t help at all to make, put up, and take done the tipis.
All tipis were built out of the available resources in their land. The first step to making a tipi was utilizing four wooden poles therefore making a cone-shaped frame. The second step was to put more frames in between the already place poles. The third and final step was casing the frame with buffalo hides. The poles were all equivalent sizes for each tipi and were built out of wood. 15 hides were sewn together to make the tipi cover.
Decorations were often used to decorate the shelters by the Plains Indians. Tipis were decorated with bizarre gods and paranormal animals. Tipis were also decorated with stars and constellations. Covers of tipis were often painted with designs symbolic of supernatural power. Painted tipis were very special because they often belonged to chiefs and medicine men. A tribe could be distinguished by the decorations of the shelters. All the decorations for shelters were the paintings of the cover of the tipi.
The average tipi was 5m (16ft.) in width. There was a sufficient amount of space for 5 – 7 sleeping people. Fire pit for cooking was made inside the tipi. Bear, bison, or deer skin was lined up with the tipi in the winter. Very little furniture was inside the tipi. Beds were made from bison skins and were placed against the outside walls of the tipi. Backrests made of willows tied together with cords allowing it to be a comfortable sitting place. Fur-lined skins covered the ground. Food, clothing, and other belongings were kept in parfléches and leather bags. Rocks were placed around the tipi to prevent the winds from blowing the covering at the bottom of the tipi. As a wrapping up for this aspect of the subtopic of the topic, the Plains Indians had a small amount of furniture for their tipi but the tipi was very big.
