The Soul of the Indian

Through the years, stories have served to provide man with a way of passing on their heritage, their values, and can tell the story of entire cultures.  These oral tales and songs were particularly important before man had written language.  The history of the American Indian civilization has been passed down from generation to generation by such stories.  Much can be learned about these people from their folklore and legends.

The children in Infantil IV have had the opportunity to discover a few of the traditions from the Native American Indians through various crafts, activities and movies.  In the last few weeks, we focused on studying and learning about the legendary folklore character Hiawatha. 


During our concentration of Indian folklore, the children constructed replicas of the Native American homes called Tepees.  Below is a picture of tepees used by the plains Indians.  These tent-like houses were of a cone-shaped wooden frame with a covering of buffalo hide carefully designed to set up and break down quickly.    


Infantil IV I also made Dream Catchers.  Dream catchers are one of the most fascinating traditions of Native Americans.  The dream catcher has been a part of Native American culture for generations.  One element of the dream catcher relates to the tradition of the hoop.  Some Native Americans held the hoop in the highest esteem, because it symbolized strength and unity. 

The traditional dream catcher was intended to protect the sleeping individual from negative dreams, while letting positive dreams through.  The positive dreams would slip through the hole in the center of the dreamer catcher, and glide down the feathers to the sleeping person below.  The negative dreams would be caught up in the web, and expire when the first rays of the sun struck them.

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