The Culture of the Makah

The Makah were very creative and smart. They were successful in making clothing, and shelter. They were able to hunt and gather food for themselves. The Makah were able to make good medicine and very good wood work. There real name is Qwidicca-Atx which means people who live among seagulls. The Makah live on the northwest coast. This is on the Pacific Ocean. Let us see what the Makah did.

Food was something everybody needed. The Makah ate a lot of fish and still do today. Fish was the main thing they ate. The Makah also ate deer, seal, whale, and more. The Makah ate everything with fish oil even dessert. They loved fish oil so much they had to eat it with everything. The Makah were hunters. They would go out in canoes and catch as much as they could. The Makah ate very little vegetables. They mostly ate meat. The only vegetables they ate were in the spring when the woman would find some plants. They would dry the fish for the winter and other times when it was needed. How they cooked the food was with a cedar wood box. They would make a fire and put coals on the fire. The Makah would put water in the box and add the hot coals. Then they would add the food. They would take out cold coals and put in hot ones. The Makah ate with their hands and ate on cedar mats. The Makah didn’t have any kind of utensils so they just used their hands for everything.

The Makah lived in long houses. The houses were made out of cedar wood strips. The homes were usually permanent. The houses were group homes so more than one family lived in a home. The outside would normally have a totem pole outside the front of the house. These were poles with faces of animals on them and they told the history of the family. On the insi...

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...h nation is educated and has their own school. They also have their own museum and hospital. Most kids go off to collages and then come home to help build their nation. It will be hard to tell if they are a Makah Native American because they blend in with ever one in the community. The only way you will find out is by them telling you. They are doing very well and are going strong.

I really enjoyed learning about the Makah Indians. I personally thought they were very interesting. The Makah are a lot different than a lot of other tribes. I never learned about any northwest coast until now. I have studied many different cultures and this is one of my personally favorites and I am not just saying that but I mean that. They had a better life than some other Indian tribe’s hade after the settlers came to the U.S. I hope that you liked my paper on the Makah Indians.