If you’re like me, you love to “feather your nest” as the
old saying goes. Most women and even many men love nesting, and playing around
with my home’s décor is one of my favorite pastimes. So when I began research
on the Seneca for The Return, I was
especially interested in discovering how Iroquois longhouses were constructed,
and not only how the interior spaces were used, but also how they were
decorated. After all, native peoples weren’t any different from European
settlers in wanting their homes to offer a pleasing appearance in addition to
utility and comfort.
Iroquois Longhouse Interior
Longhouse Framework |
The pole framework of the longhouse divided its interior into
a series of compartments from front to back, with a 10-foot-wide aisle running down
its center. The compartment inside the entry at each end of the structure
served as common storage for food supplies, firewood, and other items too large
to be kept in the individual families’ personal living space. The rest of the
compartments provided space for the families that lived there.
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Longhouse Interior |
Two families lived in each compartment, on opposite sides of
the central aisle. They shared a fire pit, which occupied the center of the
aisle, so there was a row of fire pits extending from the front to the back of
the longhouse, except in the storage areas. To vent the smoke, a hole was made in
the roof above each fire pit, with a sheet of bark that could be slid over it in
bad weather. When the smoke hole was closed, smoke collected at the high
ceiling above the living space for a while, but I’m sure the atmosphere became
pretty thick if the vents had to be kept closed for very long! Vents were also
sometimes built into the walls to let air and light in, and these also could be
closed as needed.
Each family’s living space measured about 6 by 10 feet. Wooden
screens and mats or hangings of animal skins separated the families’ personal
spaces along each wall and offered a certain amount of privacy. A platform
built about a foot above the floor along its exterior wall provided seating,
work space, and a bed. Woven rush mats and animal pelts covered the platform
and the exterior wall to serve as decoration, padding, and insulation, and
pelts and blankets were used as covers. Each family stored personal items like
tools and clothing beneath the platform as well as some food and a small store
of firewood.
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Ladder |
A raised platform of the same size was often hung about five
feet above the lower one, and a third might be added above that. These were
used to store clothing and other items and for extra sleeping space as needed.
Braided ears of corn and sacks of grain, nuts, and other foods were hung from
the rafters, and additional household goods were hung on the walls and
partitions.
It sounds like a pretty practical and efficient living space
to me for wilderness areas, though it’s probably not very comfortable in cold
or hot weather. When you consider the community that developed in each
longhouse as the clan expanded, you gain a new perspective on the phrase “It
takes a village to raise a child.” However, as one reader commented on last
month’s post, think of what it would sound like at night with all those men
snoring!