Tipi Teepee Tent

Tipi is the name for a tent of some Native American peoples of North America. The word is made up of the following Lakota words: thí = live, reside, lodge, dwell, -pi = plural marker for verbs. -pi = plural marker in verbs, so thípi literally means "they live (there)." Incidentally, in Lakota usage today, "thípi" means "house," while "thiíkčeya" stands for the traditional tepee. Alternative spellings in English are teepee and tepee.

The Absarokee Indians (also known as Crow) called the rest of the volcanic cone that makes up Devils Tower National Monument Mateo Tepee, in German: home of the grizzly bear. Among the Lakota, it is called Mato Tipila with the same meaning. A tepee consists of a frame made of poles (thin trunks of coniferous trees) and a semicircular tarp. The tarp is laid over the frame, overlapped at the front and pinned together with small wooden sticks. This gives the typical cone shape.

The tarpaulin used to be made of bison leather. Since the near extinction of bison and the confinement of Indians to reservations, the teepee tarp has been made of solid fabric (canvas). Tipis have an almost circular footprint, 3 to 7 meters in diameter. In the center of the tent is a fireplace and the rest of the floor is covered with tarps and skins. Tipis were almost completely painted and decorated with natural colors, for example, from berries, and thus also indicated the rank in the tribe.