Hunting and Organization
Although the Iroquois people grew much of their food, they were also hunter and gatherers.
Sunflower Seeds
They collected sunflower were seeds to eat and to use its oil as a body lotion, a medicine for wounds and for protection in summers and winters.
Maple Syrup
The Iroquois learned to tap maple trees to harvest maple syrup. The Iroquois had a quite a love for maple syrup. They loved it's sugar in many foods.
Wild Game
The men usually left in the fall for the annual hunt. They used bow and arrows to kill black bear, elk, deer, rabbit, and wolves. They trapped wild turkey, ducks and other birds. They hunted turtles for their food and shells. No part of the animal was wasted.
They did not eat raw food. They cooked everything they captured. Whatever the men brought back from the hunt was shared by the whole village.
Fish
Spring was fishing season. The men used huge nets to catch fish. When the brought the catch back, everyone in the village pitched in the help dry the fish over fires. Much of the catch would be dried and then stored.
If the store of food was getting low, the men would go out at night with torches. The light attracted fish into their nets.
Farming
Farming provided most of the Iroquois diet.
The Iroquois made tools for farming. One tool was a wooden rake for leveling the soil. Another was a wooden spade used to dig the soil.
They used seeds to plant corn, squash, green beans, lima beans, kidney beans, pumpkin, melon, and tobacco. The three sisters were the most important crops.
The women owned the land and tended the fields. The women harvested the crops. The mother clan was the boss.
The Iroquois were very grateful for their harvests. They held six festivals each year to say prayers of thanks to their gods.
Sunflower Seeds
They collected sunflower were seeds to eat and to use its oil as a body lotion, a medicine for wounds and for protection in summers and winters.
Maple Syrup
The Iroquois learned to tap maple trees to harvest maple syrup. The Iroquois had a quite a love for maple syrup. They loved it's sugar in many foods.
Wild Game
The men usually left in the fall for the annual hunt. They used bow and arrows to kill black bear, elk, deer, rabbit, and wolves. They trapped wild turkey, ducks and other birds. They hunted turtles for their food and shells. No part of the animal was wasted.
They did not eat raw food. They cooked everything they captured. Whatever the men brought back from the hunt was shared by the whole village.
Fish
Spring was fishing season. The men used huge nets to catch fish. When the brought the catch back, everyone in the village pitched in the help dry the fish over fires. Much of the catch would be dried and then stored.
If the store of food was getting low, the men would go out at night with torches. The light attracted fish into their nets.
Farming
Farming provided most of the Iroquois diet.
The Iroquois made tools for farming. One tool was a wooden rake for leveling the soil. Another was a wooden spade used to dig the soil.
They used seeds to plant corn, squash, green beans, lima beans, kidney beans, pumpkin, melon, and tobacco. The three sisters were the most important crops.
The women owned the land and tended the fields. The women harvested the crops. The mother clan was the boss.
The Iroquois were very grateful for their harvests. They held six festivals each year to say prayers of thanks to their gods.
Made by Sarthak Garg
Block D
2013
Block D
2013