Fraternity-Testvériség, 1962 (40. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1962-08-01 / 8. szám
6 FRATERNITY WICKIUPS AND WARRIORS THE STORY OF INDIAN CITY, U. S. A. “The Apache brave, member of a roaming warrior tribe, built these small, brush-covered huts to protect his wife and children from the sun and rain. He, himself, slept out in the open near his horses.” Thus an Indian guide taking visitors through Indian City, U. S. A., near Anadarko, Oklahoma, explains the way of life of one of the six tribes represented by typical villages in this authentic outdoor museum. Anadarko, a town of some 8,000 people, is in the heart of the final homeland of many of the Indian tribes that once roamed throughout the midwest and southwest hunting buffalo and fighting the white invader. When the federal government finally subdued the warring bands, more than a dozen different tribes were settled on reservations within a 50-mile area of Anadarko. The reservations are no longer there. They were divided up into individual land allotments to members of the tribe when Oklahoma became a state in 1907. But the Indians — descendants of the chiefs and braves and their stoic and hard-working women — are still there. Indian City, U. S. A., was developed by the civic leaders of Anadarko, who wanted to restore and preserve as much as possible of the wealth of Indian culture which was in their midst. They contacted the University of Oklahoma — its Institute of Community Development and its Department of Anthropology. The result is one of the most unusual and interesting outdoor museums to be found anywhere. To assure that every detail of the project would be as authentic as possible, the university’s Department of Anthropology researched, planned and supervised the construction of Indian City in 1954. Site is a 160-acre tract on a high bluff overlooking Anadarko and the surrounding countryside. Except for paths and clearings for the villages, the thick, impenetrable brush and scrub-oak of the area has been left virgin. Indian guides escort visitors through the outdoor museum, which is open year-round. Stops on the tour include the pine timber, claycovered “hogans” of the Navajos; the willow branch and brush “wickiups” of the Chiricahua Apache; the large grass lodges of the Wichitas; the log and cane and mud houses of the Caddo, the earth lodges of the Pawnee, and, throughout, the cone-shaped “tepee”, traveling home of (he Kiowa and other plains tribes. In the houses of the various tribes are the beds, the cooking utensils, the tools, the cradles, the games and the toys typical of that tribe. For example, in the Wichita lodges you see the “corn birds” hanging from the ceiling. These were made by carefully peeling away the outside layer of a corn stalk leaving the very light and soft inside pith. This was dried carefully, painted, and wings of corn leaves were attached.
