Mikanakawa Native American Village - Circle Ten Council

Iroquois men used different paints to becomethe characters in their dances:Great Sky Eagle Dance(red spot on each cheek)Bear Dance(paint right cheek black)War Dancers(4 stripes of red onEach cheek)Thunder God Dance(4 lightning streaksradiating fromeyes and runningdown cheeks, orlines in groups of4 upon the foreheadand cheeks andchin)Northwest peoples paint animals such as thethunderbird, otter, wolf or eagle on theirbodies. Sometimes the designs are tattooedinto the ski.Hopi peoples have special makeup (as well asmasks) to represent religious figures calledKachinas. They have as many as 250 differentpatterns representing good spirits, animals,birds, clowns and mudhead characters. NativeAmerican women use face paints too, but fordifferent reasons. In the Iroquois tribe, you areconsidered beautiful when you wear redcoloredpowder all over your face. This iswhere the term redskins came from. Womenenjoy painting each other’s faces becausemirrors are not available. Their designs areoften part of individual religious ceremonies,but favorite designs are round dots, lines andlarge red spots on the cheeks or forehead.They do not usually use animal designs.Sometimes they even paint the part in their hairred or yellow. The only time black is used iswhen a family member has died.Fact Paint PatternsUse colors and designs to create a special face paint pattern. Think about what colors andsymbols will mean, talk about it with your partner and write it below.