Hunting and Fishing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Hunting and Fishing - Essay Example Although fundamental for man’s survival, Culture is equally fragile as it keeps changing hence across generations, certain cultural aspects have been lost in all societies. Perhaps there are no other groups of people that have rich and much told culture like the Native Indian-Americans. They possess a great history of struggle and success and many of today’s life practices of the Americans like; teepee, peace pipe and moccasins, are borrowed from the Indian-Americans2. As noted above, Food is a fundamental aspect of every culture, hence a comprehensive study into the Indian American food related practices gives sufficient information of their cultural background. The research paper will therefore focus on one aspect of culture, hunting and fishing as a source of food and the role the two practices played within the indigenous culture of the Indian-Americans. ... Boys had to learn the hunting and fishing skills early in life. A story is told of a boy 8 years of age who in his first hunt he killed a goose, took it to his father who showed it to the whole community and at 10 years of age he killed his first Buffalo and the whole community rejoiced with the family, to Indians, successes in hunting were happiness to the whole family and community at large4. The hunting tribes’ important wild animal for hunt was the Buffalo which they hunted in twice yearly; during winter and summer. During the hunting periods, particular communities the whole village could go for hunting for fear of attack from hostile tribes, carrying all they needed for the journey in ponies putting women in charge while the rest of the luggage was buried and dug up upon return. They made camps at night and in the morning again break the camp and continue with the journey. They moved in single way and young boys kept watching for the Buffalo herds which they approached w ith great care done under the leader when spotted at a distance.5 The disparities and unity brought by hunting and fishing There were a number of ways that Native Americans obtained food key among them of which included, farming and domesticating animals, hunting, fishing in lakes and rivers and gathering wild fruits6. Majority of Native American tribes took part in fishing and hunting, the Eskimos who live far North depended on fish and hunted animals to survive, the Blackfoot & Sioux were the big game hunters who were on frequent migration to follow bison and the Chippewa who also took part in hunting to obtain food. Tlingit and Salish obtained their food from fishing in rivers and lakes.7In these earlier times there were no conventional equipments or tools,