Tipis
A Mobile World
Wherever they roamed, the people of the praire carried their world with them in the form of a tipi. Its circular ground pattern resembled the larger camp circle as well as the disk of the earth.
An Indian camp was composed of a circle of tipis, with medicine tipis at the center of the grouping. When a tribe gathered for the annual Sun Dance, the camp circle could measure as much as a mile in diameter.
Within the tipi, the central fire-pit served as the secular and sacred hearth of the home. Family members not only prepared meals here but also praised the nourishing spirits. The smoke hole above was viewed symbolically as a passageway to the heavens.
Courtesy hmdb.org
