This article is about Native American women and how they did such things as making clothes, beading, set up their households (tipis) and cared for their families without reading books and following instructions. How they learned these skills was passed down from generation to generation, each Grandmother teaching her daughters and granddaughters how to make everything they needed. Nothing was written down, it was a hands-on learning technique and the girls practiced by making clothes and beading them for their little dolls which their mothers made for them. They even went so far as creating little horses, carts and tiny tipis, decorated with their sacred "passed down" designs.

In some tribes, girls as young as seven years of age were promised in marriage to a man from another tribe. After the agreement of an acceptable trade was made between the father of the girl and the husband-to-be, the girl and all the belongings she would need were packed up and she was taken to her new home, sometimes never to see her parents again. She had to have the skills needed to begin life in her own home. The girls' new mother-in-law or another tribal woman, would take over the teaching of the girl in everday matters and over the years taught the girl all she needed to know. In turn the Grandmother she bacame taught her own granddaughters.

Life was not easy for the Native American woman. We may look back on it and think, as I often did before I learned a lot more, that it would be so wonderful to live a simple life like that,to live in and with nature, to be part of the great Mother Earth and to eat healthy, natural foods. To not worry about what the current fashion is and to make my own clothes from animal hides just like all the other women wore would be so nice, I used to think and ponder about that. I believe that if I or anyone of this day and age was thrust back in time to the days of the Grandmothers who walked strong and free on this land, we would have serious second thoughts about "living the simple life." It was not what we would term simple, nor was it an easy life.

Just to make a new dress took many days of hard work and toil. She could not simply cut out her pattern and begin sewing. The men of the tribes were responsible for the hunting of animals. It was then the woman's responsibility to skin the animal, carve it up and wrap it for transporting back to the
village, cooking, preserving and drying the meat and then she had to deal with the hide.

The hide is what she would make clothing, moccasins, bags and pouches out of. The hide had to be scrubbed, cleaned, scraped, dried, scraped again, and stretched. After stretching, it might have to be soaked in water, scraped again to make sure all hairs were off and stretched and dried again. This process took days to complete. Then the hide had to be beat or rubbed around poles to soften it up before handling. Finally, when the hide was free of hair, soft and easier to handle, then it could be cut for clothing.

The patterns the women used were in their memories. The person she was making moccasins or a garment for was measured by holding up the hide to the person, marking where it needed to be cut and proceeding from there, using her skills to create the needed item. When the pieces were cut, she then had to use an awl to punch holes in the hide and sinew to sew the garment together. If you have ever tried making holes in leather or hides with a piece of sharp bone, you know this is not an easy task. There is also the ardorous task of preparing sinew for sewing. This is another job in itself and a woman had to have this to hold the garments together. And as for the awl, well that had to be made out of bone or hard wood and kept, along with other precious tools in her pouch, which she also made by hand.

Everyday of her life a Native American woman worked hard to provide a home, food and clothing for her family. Every item she had to use to make things with was also hand made by her or passed down from Grandmothers before her. While at her tasks, which were so natural to her, she took the time to tell her daughters stories of her Grandmothers before her and to pass on very needed lessons and life instructions. Not a minute of her time was wasted. She lived by the legend and traditions of those who walked before her and gifted these valuable lessons to the next generation.

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