Well, well, well, fellow bloggers, I'm still in the learning curve. Yesterday I thought I was writing on my blog, but today I discover that I wrote on the comment page. I hope my English professor will except that as one of my blog pages, as I need to have it for my weekly credit.
Oh well, today I want to tell you how the Wichita Indians built their lodges. It's pretty interesting, at least for people like me who find Indian and early American history fun.
Just a brief statement to bring us up to speed from where I left off yesterday. I told about it being the woman's job to build the lodge; the men were pretty much left out of the process. I also mentioned that if the wife got divorced, she put the husband and his stuff out of the house,but the home was her's.    
The construction of the Wichita Indian lodge began with finding just the right cedar trees to make the frame work out of. The Wichita Indians felt that there was something sacred in the building of their home's. There their children would be born and grow up to be adult members of the tribe. It was home, family and community that gave the tribes their strength. When the trees were gathered, they would be turned into piers or rods. These piers were set in a circle with a 20 foot diameter. The rods had notches cut into one end where other rods would transverse the upright rods. Once the frame work was in place, long cedar saplings were placed around the framework. They went from the ground to above the top of the of the beams and tied together; creating a cone shaped structure. Willow branches were then worked over the saplings in a lacing fashion. After this was complete it was covered in long grasses that was laid in tiers like shingles.
There were two doors in the lodge, one on the East to let the morning sun shine in and give His blessing, (The Great Spirit) on the family. The other door was on the West so He could look in at night to check and see if the family was okay. There was also a window for the noon sun to shine in.
Going back inside the lodge, I need to tell you about a device that was placed at the apex of the frame. It looked something like the five fingers of a hand; I think is was also made of cedar. One of the fingers, as we will call them, went straight up into the sky and it was called; Man-Never-Known-On-Earth. The other four fingers pointed toward the four winds of Heaven. This was believed to make a way for the Man-Never-Known-On-Earth and the four winds to send their blessings on the people. A short distance East of the apex was a smoke whole and down on the ground below was a fireplace.
When the Wichita Indians came back to Wichita, Ks. to build the wigwam like Chief Kiowa's on Mead Island, it was a woman named Sooka who was in charge of the project. Because the Indian tribe was very poor, they needed the Wichita city fathers to pay for the lumber and it's transportation along with the transportation and food and lodging of the Indian party who came to construct the wigwam.
It took about two weeks to complete the building. Once done, Sooka lit the first fire for the lodge's fireplace. As this ritual was done, the members of the tribe entered the lodge, but no white men were allowed. James Mead's widow was such a good friend of the Wichita Indians, that they said she was welcome anytime. Sooka, bowed her head and prayed to the four winds to bless this new lodge.
The Indians stayed in the new lodge two day's, and Sooka cooked two meals there. The Indian's stayed two nights in the lodge so that it could be truthfully said that "real" Indians had slept in that lodge.
So there you have it my fellow history sleuths. We have such a long way to go on this journey, so come
back and join me again as I dig up more interesting morsels.