Tipi
A tipi (also called tepee or teepee) is a kind of tent. It is cone-shaped. They were made by Native Americans of the Great Plains who frequently moved from place to place, following buffalo or other animals Native Americans hunted.
Tipis are made from long poles, and are covered with material. Long ago the material was animal skin or tree bark. Today, they are made from cloth.
Tepees were put up in as a circle, which symbolized the life.
Tepees are no longer usually used for a full-time home, but they are still used for special occasions.
Tepees were used by the Lakota.
The Plains Indians would sometimes paint and mark their tepees, and put signs to mark off evil.
They usually made the cover from buffalo skin (tanned hide).
Teepees had a flap that could be open and closed as necessary during the summer and winter months
They generally had an 'ears' flap.
The doorway would face towards the rising sun.
Tipis would contain paintings.
Tipi Media
An Oglala Lakota tipi, 1891
Example of typical tipi camp circle on the Pine Ridge Reservation, circa 1890
Crow lodge interior, 1907, showing the poles and outer skin at the top, the inner lining and bedding. The lashing rope is tied off to a wooden stake at the bottom of the photograph. Clothing is suspended on a line tied between two of the tipi poles.
Four Kiowa tipis (1904) with designs. From top left to right: design featuring bison herd and pipe-smoking deer, porcupine design, design featuring arms and legs with pipes and lizard, and design featuring water monsters
Examples of Siksika (Blackfoot) painted tipis, circa 1910
Other websites
Media related to Tipis at Wikimedia Commons
