Shelter+and+Homes

====In the Sioux Indian nation, tipi's were the main form of shelter used. Amazingly enough, the woman of the Sioux Nation were trained to put up or take down a tipi in less than a day ! ====

====To begin with you had to establish a strong and sturdy frame.Three long poles were used for this, they were made out of pine. Once the poles were made an equal length they were raised to form the basic structure of the tipi's frame. To fill out the rest of the tipi 8 to 10 poles were then added.====

====Now you have a frame but it wouldn't be very insolated with just poles surrounding you so, it was covered with buffalo hides. A NORMAL sized tipi would use up to 15 whole buffalo hides! Imagine that! And even more, all of them had to be sewn together before even placed on the sides of the tipi. Once the hides were sewn and ready they were laid on the pine poles and held together with wooden pins. To be kept steady from wind, rocks or stakes were laid at the bottom on top of the covering.====

====And there we have it, A TIPI! But before completed two flaps were made at the very top. This was to allow smoke from the fire to go through, their own ventilation system! On a religious note all tipi doors were faced to the east to honor and more importantly greet the rising sun each morning. In some Sioux viallages the tipis were set up in a circle. The very center of this circle was called a hocoka and it was a VERY important place. This was where the 4 directions came together.====