The Life Of The Longhouse

The remarkable longhouses of Borneo remain mysterious. This book describes life within them, and puts them in their historical and ethnographic context.

The people who lived in the northeastern woodlands belonged to many nations and spoke many languages including Iroquoian and Algonkian. Life in a Longhouse Village was a way of life all of the nations shared. Children will learn about the fascinating lifestyle of these hunters and farmers and discover what life was like in a longhouse clan.

When Ohkwa'ri overhears a group of older boys planning a raid on a neighboring village, he immediately tells his Mohawk elders. He has done the right thing—but he has also made enemies. Grabber and his friends will do anything they can to hurt him, especially during the village-wide game of Tekwaarathon (lacrosse). Ohkwa'ri believes in the path of peace, but can peaceful ways work against Grabber's wrath? "An exciting story that also offers an in-depth look at Native American life centuries ago." —Kirkus Reviews

A brief introduction to longhouses, including the materials, construction, and people who lived in these traditional Native American dwellings.

* LongHouse Reserve was founded by Jack Lenor Larsen, internationally known textile designer, author, and collector * Its collections, gardens, sculptures, and programs reflect world cultures and inspire a creative approach to contemporary lifeLarsen's home, LongHouse, located on 16 acres in East Hampton, NY, was built as a case study to exemplify a creative approach to contemporary life. He believes visitors experiencing art in living spaces have a unique learning experience - more meaningful than the best media. Inspired by the famous Japanese shrine at Ise, LongHouse contains 13,000 square feet, 18 spaces on four levels. The gardens present the designed landscape as an art form and offer a diversity of sites for the sculpture installations.

The Great Law, a living tradition among the conservative Iroquois, is sustained by celebrating the condolence ceremony when they mourn a dead chief and install his successor for life on good behavior. This ritual act, reaching back to the dawn of history, maintains the League of the Iroquois, the legendary form of government that gave way over time to the Iroquois Confederacy. Fenton verifies historical accounts from his own long experience of Iroquois society, so that his political ethnography extends into the twentieth century as he considers in detail the relationship between customs and events. His main argument is the remarkable continuity of Iroquois political tradition in the face of military defeat, depopulation, territorial loss, and acculturation to European technology.

Describes the history, customs, religion, government, homes, and present-day status of the various native peoples that inhabited the eastern woodlands since before the coming of the Europeans.