Time and Culture

Native American History is all about their traditions, rituals, food, and the history. Native Americans have been kind of secret from every one else. There is a long history about Native Americans. The Wampanoag’s were a region between the eastern shore of Narragansett Bay in Rhode Islands to the western end of Cape Cod and the coastal islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. In 1612-1620 the Wampanoag’s had some problems with their population and their villages which had been abandoned. The Wampanoag could be credited for creating an American traditional holiday called Thanksgiving.

The Native American tribes of the northeast spoke a number of dialects among the different tribes. The Wampanoag tribe’s language started to decline rabidly after the American Revolution, due to an imbalance of gender. Wampanoag women had to marry outside their tribes, making it extremely difficult to maintain the unique Wampanoag dialects.

The Mohegan tribal language was once spoken by several allied tribes, The Pequot, Montauks, and Niantic. Mohegan is one of many Algonquian languages another is Mahican. The Algonquian language group is one of the biggest groups of Native American languages. The Mohegan and Mahican are similar in name and in sound but are two different languages. Most of the Algonquian languages are like this. None of these languages are spoken natively today. Web Site Web link Web design, Mazaska. "Algonquian is a language group, not a tribe of Indians." AAANativeArts.com. 21 Oct. 2008.

The traditions of the northeastern Native Americans were different for every tribe some were quite similar but none were exactly the same. The tribes all believed that a woman had as much power as a man. In the Wampanoag tribe, land was always passed down through the woman. A man could never hold claim to a plot of land.

Tribes would also have female leaders like Askamaboo and Wunnatukqannumou of the Wampanoag tribe. Some tribes had a democracy where they would vote on the Medicine Man, and the Chief positions. Others would pass down the seats of power to their children like a monarchy. Others would govern multiple tribes by force, like a dictatorship.

Elders always had the most respect and were the most important people in the tribe.

Rituals always were and continue to have a large part in the culture of the Native Americans.Many traditions have been lost after the colonists killed Native Americans. But some have managed to survive; for instance the Wigwam or the Green Corn Festival. The Green Corn Festival is a celebration of the Mohegan tribe that is a festival of thanks and tribal survival. It is always celebrated at the end of the summer during the corn harvest. The Wampanoag actually hosted the First Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims. A festival that the tribe had been doing for many years before Columbus "discovered" America.

* HYPERLINK "http://www.nativewiki.org/Wampanoag#Culture" **http://www.nativewiki.org/Wampanoag#Culture* * HYPERLINK "http://www.mohegan.nsn.us/Heritage/ourTraditions.aspx" **http://www.mohegan.nsn.us/Heritage/ourTraditions.aspx* * HYPERLINK "http://www.mashpeewampanoagtribe.com/history3.html" **http://www.mashpeewampanoagtribe.com/history3.html*