A very un-nomadic class

This week we presented our information on our chosen regions, and also reviewed what questions we had last week. Our group: Jeannie, Clara and I (no surprise there, huh?) chose Pacific West Coast because it was quite familiar to us already. Luckily everything is already on the Wiki, so I don’t have to do so much note taking. We started learning about culture, and the first nations. Oh boy, oh boy.

I think it rather confusing what with all the different tribes and their [different?] practises and religions. I guess this is one of my questions. They all seem so alike, but they do they each have different religious beliefs? Do they all have the same belief of protecting Nature and using every part of things they take, like buffalo, and trees?
I thought the “Plains” was quite interesting in aspects of food and lifestyle. They were really clever- they got the advantage of their environment to their gain. For example, the buffalo jump. The First Nations would dress like wolves and cause a buffalo stampede and eventually herd them towards a cliff where the buffalo just tumble over unknowingly to their deaths. (Well, I guess they’re ignorant, or otherwise why would they go over if they knew it was there? I suppose they think it’s better dying off a cliff than dying caught by the wolves, then.) And the Natives won’t even get hurt trying to hunt buffalo (which are quite dangerous at times), unless you count climbing carefully down the cliff to retrieve their food. This led to another question: A stampede would include a lot of individuals, so how do the Natives eat them all? How would they use it all? I’m assuming that they don’t like to waste anything either. Plus, they’re nomads, so they have to move frequently as long as that’s where their food goes. I guess they carry it all around until it runs out, then they’ll have to just repeat the process.
On the topic of food, I understand how the tribes in other regions would cut things, but how about the Plains tribes? Maybe they’d use the bones of buffalo, but it won’t be any use as a blade unless it’s sharpened. Would they use rocks, then? And to preserve the meat: How do they make fires, if they don’t use wood? Here’s my guess- instead of wood, they use rub rocks together and probably use the grass around them for fuel. I don’t think I’d know if I don’t experience living in the wild.