Every culture in the world has their own customs and traditions. The customs are significantly different from those of their neighbors, enabling them to be uniquely identified. One feature of such culture is the dressing. Different people have varied styles and forms of dressing that sets them apart from the rest. The Piqua Shawnee People of the North America were no exception. They had clothing designs which, while not much different from the other Indian tribes in North America, were distinct enough to uniquely identify them. The following are some features of their clothing customs.
Clothing Material
The Shawnee People made their clothes from a wide range of materials available to them. The major ones were animal and plant products. Leather, fur, hides, teeth and even claws were used to form part of their clothing. They never wasted any animal products, since they always treated nature with utmost respect. Clothing and ornaments were made from virtually any animal part. The animals whose products were incorporated into clothing included deer, buffalo, elk, moose rabbits, among several others. Mountain goat hair and sheep wool were also widely used by the Northwest Coast tribes. Plant products also formed an essential part of the Shawnee clothing custom. Plants were abundant in supply, thereby being available for the making of diverse types of clothing. Tree bark was stripped, dried and shredded to form fibers. Bark clothing which was soft was then weaved from these fibers. Cotton was also grown from ancient times. A good number of the South-western Native Americans were skilled in weaving cotton into different styles of cloth.
Types of Clothing
The clothing included different types for men and women, different ages as well as social status. The various items of clothing included pouches and belts, headdresses with feathers and headbands, buckskin shirts, breech cloths and deerskin dresses. Make sure to check out this website at http://www.dictionary.com/browse/shawnee and learn more about Shawnee tribes.
Jewelry
Depending on the materials available to them, different Native American tribes created their own jewelry and adornments for use. It was, however, possible for some tribes to obtain jewelry material from neighboring tribes through trade. Copper is one of the materials that was used to make ornaments before the European came into contact with them. The native Indians located around Arizona and New Mexico made what is regarded as the world's finest turquoise jewelry. Necklaces, rings and bracelets were some of the ornaments made. Other material from which jewelry was produced included animal claws, teeth and bones as well as shells, quills, seeds and nuts from plants. The shells and glass beads that were obtained through trade with their neighbors were sown into their clothing's as ornaments.