The Wendat

The Wendat Hurons

How Trading affected the Wendat

When the Europeans came to Canada and spent time with the Wendat they also brought over diseases such as small pox, the flu and measles that the Natives were not immune to and that the shamans could not cure with their herbs. Almost half of the population died.

The Europeans also introduced alcohol to the Natives which was also very bad for the tribes.

Before trading, the Wendat would only hunt for what they needed. When they started fur trading they killed more animals than they needed and ended up destroying the population of many of the animals, especially beavers. The time they spend hunting and trapping for trading meant they had less time to hunt for themselves and their own food.

The Fur Trade

Homes

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The fur trade in Canada lasted about 250 years and began in the 1500's. The different Native tribes first started trading fresh food to Europeans for many different tools and weapons. They would trade for kettles, pots & pans, metal, weapons (guns, knives and ammunition) and barbed fish hooks. During trading the Europeans found out that the Natives had fur skins. The Wendat became important fur traders to the French.

Beaver fur was the most popular. The French would bring back the beaver pelts to France and sell them for a lot of money . Beaver skins made the best hats that were popular over in Europe.

The Wendat lived in long houses and teepees.

The Wendat people lived in long houses that were usually built near a river or lake for water. Being near a forest was good for hunting and gathering. Having a lot of land and good soil nearby helped for farming. Building the long house near a hill would also help for defense. Many long houses were built together to make up a village. Some villages could have 1000's of people. The Wendat would protect their villages by putting 11 foot sharpened wooden poles around them which was like a giant fence.

The Wendat would travel down the St. Lawrence river to reach the trading posts with their furs. They also had otter, mink, moose, fox and martin furs.

The Wendat furs were especially valued by the French because they trapped the animals in the winter when they had a thick coat and then they would trade them in the spring. Their furs became very popular with the French.

Each long house could fit many families and be 25 to 35 meters long and up to 9 meters wide. Rows of fires would burn along the center of the long house and the smoke would go out through holes in the roof. Sleeping was along the sides.

To build the long houses saplings were bent into shape and tied together. The outside was covered in huge pieces of bark. They were made of maple, elm, birch and cedar.

TOOLS

Food

The end

The Wendat were hunters and trappers and ate many different types of meat. They ate fish, elk, bear, deer, rabbit, moose, buffalo/bison, duck and geese. Spears and bows and arrows were used at first but after the Europeans arrived they were able to use guns as well.

The Wendat also gathered berries like raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and cherries and collected other edible things they found around the forest. Maple syrup was made from the sap they collected from trees.

Preserving food

The Wendat used many tools for things like hunting, making clothes, preparing food, building their homes and growing food. They had different tools for each job. They made spears, bow and arrows, flint knives, stone axes and hammers, nets for fishing, harpoons, hide scrapers and even bird decoys to help with hunting. The Wendat would use sharp stones and bones and antlers for handles. Bows were strung with sinew from deer or elk. Even their everyday tools were made from things from the land. Water bottles and bags were made from animal skins and stomachs, dishes and utensils from wood and bones, hairbrushes were made from porcupine tails and even musical instruments were made from wood, animal skin and roots.

The Wendat preserved meats by salting and drying it in the sun. If it was winter time the meat would stay frozen and kept in special houses or buried under the ground covered in a thick animal hide.

They also stored dried crops for the winter like pumpkin, roots, onion and mushrooms.

Acorns were ground into a powder and made into a type of flour.

The Wendat also grew many different types of crops such as corn, beans, squash (the three sisters) and sunflowers. They also grew herbs which they used for food & medicine and grew tobacco as well.

Fish

There were many different types of fish that the Wendat caught. They caught pike, white fish, trout, sturgeon, salmon and cat fish. They caught these fish using nets, spears, hooks, wooden traps and even bows and arrows. Sometimes they would fish from their canoes.

By Mia !!!

The Wendat - Medicine.

The Wendat had 4 sacred medicines. They were cedar, sage, tobacco and sweet grass. There were also over 500 other herbs and plants that they used to treat colds, wounds, stomach aches, fevers and other illnesses. The Natives were even able to treat scurvy that the Europeans had when they came to Canada. They made a tea made out of cedar and white pine that gave them enough vitamin C to cure them. The Shaman and other medical healers were like Native doctors and would treat the Wendat people and their sicknesses and keep them healthy all year long.

The herbs, plants and trees would have been made into teas, salves (thick paste), vapors to breath in and other edible combinations. The medicine was often given during certain rituals and prayers and was sometimes thought to be magic. They followed the meaning of the medicine wheel that divided up a persons health into four sections. These should all be in balance together and if not a person could become sick.

There were four types of Shaman :

1. In control of the elements (earth, wind, fire and water)

2. Ability to predict the future

3. Ability to find lost possessions

4. The healing Shaman for the sick and ill.