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| Shelters
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 The Lenape made dome-shaped houses
called wigwams where a small family or individual could
live. They pushed a circle of poles into the ground and then
bent them over one another to make a domed frame, which they
covered with sheets of bark, skins or woven rush mats.
Several families sometimes lived together in a larger
"longhouse", still rounded on top, but longer.
Inside the longhouse were platforms of poles on either side that
could be used as seats or beds. Down the center was a
row of fires to share. Openings in the roof let the smoke
out. Corn and herbs were hung high in the roof, and there
was room to store other goods beside the doorway.
The Lenape lived in settled
villages and did not stay in one place for the whole of their
lives. Every ten or twelve years they had to move their
entire village to a new site because they had used up many of the
natural resources of their area.
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| Clothes |
The Lenape dressed for snow and icy
winds or for sticky heat, depending on the season. For men,
light clothes would be a breechclout and leggings tied to a belt,
and for women, a short, wrap-around skirt. Clothing worn
next to the body was usually made of deerskin or beaver
skin. In colder weather people added a hide shirt, a robe
and perhaps mittens and fur caps. Everyone wore soft-soled
deerskin moccasins.
 
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| Preparing
the Food |
 The Lenape had a great variety of food
and believed that food was there to be shared. People were
entitled to what they had trapped or gathered, but no one should
be allowed to go hungry. Whenever visitors arrived, they
were offered food. In turn, the guests always ate what was
given to them. Food was cooked in clay pots over the fire or
wrapped in leaves and set in the hot ashes. In time, the
Indians began to use metal cooking pots brought by the Europeans.
People liked to have their corn,
beans and squash prepared in different ways. Corn on the cob
was boiled or baked or fried in bear grease. Sometimes the
women scraped the corn kernels off the cobs, ground them into a
paste, and shaped the paste into patties, which were then wrapped
in leaves and baked or boiled. Corn was also used to make
soup, bread, and puddings.
Beans were boiled or fried, made
into soups, or added to meat dishes. Squash was boiled or
baked whole. Greens were added to meat dishes, wild herbs to
soups, and berries to puddings or breads. Utensils consisted
of bark plates or wooden bowls and spoons.
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| Travel
and Transportation |
The Indians of Lenapehoking used
different kinds of transport according to the season and the area
in which they lived. Often they simply went on foot, making
their own trail or following animal tracks or a dry
streambed. Heavy loads were often carried by the
women. A woman would rest the bundle on her back and support
some of its weight with a strap called a tumpline. This was
attached at each end to the bundle and passed in a loop around the
wearer's forehead.
In summer when streams and lakes
were not frozen, it was sometimes easier to travel by water than
by land. The Lenape used dugout canoes for this
purpose. The canoes were made from a hollowed-out tree,
which could carry several people.
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| Pastimes
and Storytelling |
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Indians admired strength and liked to
compete with one another in contests and games. To be able
to run fast was an important skill, and so races were often
run. Boys tried their skill with the bow and arrow, or with
a pole that had to be thrown through a rolling hoop. Both
men and women enjoyed team games, like lacrosse. In winter,
people told stories to pass the time.
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(For additional information see
The
Lenape or Delaware Indians, or The Indians of Lenapehoking.)
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Revised: February 15, 2007
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