Tipi

Tipi is the name for a tent of the North American Indians.

Etymology

The word is composed of the following Lakota words:

• Thí = live, live, stay, reside
• -pi = plural markers with verbs

Thípi thus means literally means " they dwell ( there) ." In today's Lakota language is called " thípi " by the way " home " while " thiíkčeya " stands for traditional tipi.

Alternative spellings in English are teepee and tepee.

The Kiowa Indians called the rest of the volcanic cone, which accounts for the Devils Tower National Monument, Mateo Tepee to German: home of the grizzly bear.

Construction

A tepee is made of a frame of rods ( thin trunks of conifers ), and a semi-circular plane. The tarpaulin is laid over the frame is overlapped at the front and mated with small wooden rods. This results in the typical cone shape. The tarpaulin was formerly made bison leather. Since the near- extermination of the bison and the incarceration of Indians to reservations the Tipiplane is strong cloth (canvas).

Tipis have a nearly circular base 3-7 m in diameter. In the middle of the tent, is a fire pit and the rest of the floor is covered with tarpaulins and skins. Tipis were almost entirely with natural dyes, eg from berries, painted and decorated and showed as well as the rank in the tribe.

At the front of tipis over the entrance of a flue opening with two smoke flaps, which are held from behind with two rods. With these rods the smoke flaps are aligned according to the wind direction, so that the smoke can pull out of the fireplace inside. Because the tarp not quite reaching to the ground, but ends about 10 cm above uses a chimney effect and the smoke dissipates. The tarpaulin is anchored with stakes on the ground, making it taut and even gusty wind withstand.

Inside the tipi there is often a so-called Lining (lining, lining). This module is connected to the inside of the bars, ranging from the surface up to about 1.5 m in height. It serves primarily as a windbreak. Tipis by lining are warmer and drier, the fire burns evenly and it is whirled less ash. In addition, the shadow outlines of the people are not visible from the outside.

Before tipis were braced with stakes, handed the leather tarpaulin to the ground and was weighed down with stones. Stone circles that are so formed, can be demonstrated to tens of thousands in the Great Plains today. However, they must be distinguished from the more complex and larger Medicine Wheels of the northern Plains. In the Absarokee ( Crow Indians ) the word Biiakashissihipee denotes the mythical history of the people, literally it means " as we used stones to complain our tents ." They have a legend of a mythical creature called Unwatisse that has brought them the stakes and thus ushered in a new era.

Use

Tipis were mostly used by the nomadic ethnic groups of the Prairies and Plains, as the tents were very quick to assemble and disassemble. In a teepee lived a family, that is, up to six or seven people.

Today, Indians used teepees usually only as additional living space for guests or at celebrations such as powwows.