OCR Text |
Show Lifeways 11 portant socially. The Ute People knew that with winter coming, they would not see each other for another year. The families finally parted at the first snow-fall, all with meat and a winter supply of seeds and pinenuts. Some even parted as newly established families. When the snow came, the Ute People left their homes in the hills for the warmer flat-lands. Ever busy, the women assembled their supply of seeds, roots, pinenuts, and dried berries and put them into storage pits. They piled dried fish, rabbits, and buffalo on willow racks at the top of their tipis and hung jerky from the poles. They made small huts out of cattails to store willows for making baskets, fiber, and string. They also stored great bunches of rabbit skin cordage for making blankets. Throughout the winter the men hunted everything that moved, except the coyote, the magpie, and the crow because they were carrion eaters. They shot birds and rabbits with their bows and arrows. They broke holes in the ice with long, pointed rocks to catch small fish. They trapped small rodents and birds between two flat rocks which were held apart by a delicate string-and-twig mechanism baited with pinenuts. The long winter evenings were spent sitting around the fire listening to the old ones tell stories of the creation and why things were the way they were. Soon the cycle would begin again. The weather would eventually turn warmer. The Ute People would move from different gathering and hunting areas to others in search of food and in expectation of renewed friendship. The People, knowing of this continual cycle, lived a busy but happy life, sure that the bounty of nature would always exist for them. Shelter and Clothing The shelter and clothing of the Ute People fit into their lifestyle. Being often on the move, from season to season, everything had to be either portable or disposable. The Ute People lived in either brush shelters or tipis. The environment determined the kind of housing the People used. In the desert where materials were scarce, they had to make the best use of brush or grass to make their shelter. In the forested lands, there were abundant trees for lodge poles and big game animals for |