HOMES
Longhouses were the traditional homes of the Iroquois. They were a rather peculiar sight. The posts, which were as thick as a person's leg, were set in two rows to form an outer frame. Then the horizontal beams were laid out, stretching from one wall to another. They were lashed together to make the structure more stable. The roof frame was made of lighter poles, which would equal to the thickness of a man’s arm. When all of this have been completed, the whole structure was covered with bark of, usually, cedar, ash or elm. Birch was not used since it wasn’t common in southern areas. Bark was put on like shingles, from bottom up to let the water run off successfully. Then another set of poles was placed over the bark to keep it from blowing away. Some longhouses were longer than a football field and could accommodate up to twenty families. It was common for the longhouses to be as high as they were wide.
The Iroquois homes didn’t have windows and were only provided with two entrances at both ends. Each related family was provided with its own space along the wall of the longhouse. The cooking fire was situated in the middle of the longhouse and had to be shared with the family that lived across the house. A number of smoke holes were made in the center of the roof for the fire smoke to escape the shelter. Large longhouses had three platforms, that served as spaces for sleeping and storing food, firewood, tools, and clothes, which ran along both walls.
Summer was the season when the longhouses were less crowded than usual. It was the time when men left the house to hunt and fish. While the men were searching for provision, the women set up small shelters in the fields to be able to take care of the crops.
In my opinion, longhouses were not the greatest shelters since they leaked due to their fragile structure. Also, during rainy weather the smoke holes had to be partly covered in order to avoid rain getting inside the longhouse. People who lived in the house were forced to lie down to avoid the smoke.
The arrival of the Europeans made quite an impact on the Iroquois. Longhouses gradually disappeared due to their extreme fragility and flammability. They were replaced by the replicas of the Europeans’ settlements.
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