Hau Kola Tipi - Indian tents and accesories

For an unskillful tipi lover setting it up may turn out to be quite a problem. I remember the time when I was setting up a tipi for the first time. It took me a whole day, and the final effect was disastrous anyway. When I recall this event today it seems very funny to me. All in all, it appears to be easy - arranging the poles in the shape of a cone, pulling over the fabric and there you go. However, I assure you that it's not.

In his book "The Indian Tipi", Reginald Laubin tells a humorous story about a film director who asked o group of Indians to set up a few tipis for him. Since those Indians had never done it (!!!), they meditated for a few hours and finally placed all the poles on the ground, bound them with chains and then lifted them up using a crane. I hope that after having read this text you won't have such experiences (along with frayed nerves) while setting up a tipi. Let's get down to work then. The picture will help you understand the complexities of this text.

PREPARING FOR SETTING UP THE TIPI

For having the tipi put up, you need to prepare a few things. Firstly, the poles. They have to be rather straight (and at least 50 cm longer than the height of the tipi). Knots and sticking-out parts of each pole have to be removed with an axe. This should be very important to you if you want to enjoy your tipi for a long time. During strong wind the fabric rubs against the poles and if there are knots sticking out of them, holes will appear in the fabric. If you are to keep the poles for a longer period of time, it's also good to remove the bark. The number of poles varies from 11 to 17 (depending on how pretty you want your tipi to be). Apart of the poles you will also need: a strong rope, about 6 m long (to bind the poles togehter and to anchor the tipi), lacing pins to keep the poles together (from 12 to 15 pieces, depending on the number of holes in the cover; finger-thick and 15-20 cm long), stakes (or tent pegs) to nail the tipi to the ground and a pile which you will tie the strings of the smoke flaps to. The pile should be about 1.5 m high. Additionally, you will need sticks to put in the door (thinner at the top, thicker at the bottom). Now we're ready to start putting the tipi up. Please apply to the following instructions.

SETTING UP THE TIPI

First of all, spread the tipi on the ground (the outside part should touch the ground). Then take 2 poles (N - the northern one, S - the southern one) and put them against the cover in the middle of the fabric so that the lower end of the pole meets the edge of the fabric. The upper end may stick above the fabric (as in picture A). Now add 1 pole diagonally (this would be the door pole - D) and rather near the opening hole. Bind these 3 poles FIRMLY. These poles also need to criss-cross each other in the place where the string used to bind the cover and the pole (between 2 smoke flaps) is. That's a very important moment which may influence the fact whether the tipi will be set up well or not (to be safe, it's better to bind the poles a bit higher - then you can always make the already existing tripod shorter by cutting the end of the pole with the axe). After we have bound it, we set up the tripod. The ground the tipi will be standing on should be rather flat. That single pole is the door pole; it's a bit longer - it will be placed besides the door, which should be pointing to the east. The remaining 2 poles are (S) - the southern one and (N) - the northern one. The tripod should form an equilateral triangle, i.e. the length between every tripod pole should be the same, equal to the height of the tipi. If the tipi is 5 m high, the length between every pole of the tripod may be estimated at 5 steps.

When tripod is already set up, we can begin to add the remaining poles. Between every 3 fields of the tripod we can put 3 or 4 poles in a given order. The Sioux put the remaining poles in such a manner that first of all they put 3 (or 4) poles on the right side of the door pole (D), then the next 3 on the left side of the door, later 2 in the back and finally the last one - the pole with the cover, which should stand directly opposite the door.

When the tipi is lying on the ground, we put 1 pole directly in the middle of the cover (the thicker part of the pole should meet the edge of the fabric) and then bind it with the string that is sewn in the fabric. The pole, combined with the cover in such a way, is added to our construction as the last one. Then we unfold the cover around the construction and clip it with the lacing pins from the top to the bottom. While clipping, you may slip the poles a bit inside so that it is easier to clip the tipi. The opening hole should be on the right hand of the door pole. Now we can spread all the poles so that the tipi can tighten itself. In the first place the poles of the tripod, then the rest of the poles. Now be careful. If the cover (despite tightening) is not reaching the ground (by 10-20 cm), it means that you have bound the tripod too high. In that case you can make the pole of the tripod shorter by cutting off a part of it with the axe. However, if the cover is too clearly touching the ground, then you must have bound the tripod too low. In such a case, the solution is to dissasemble the whole construction and bind the tripod higher this time (if only it wouldn't be so!!!). When we have already corrected the length of the cover by the tripod, we are able to correct the length of the tipi in other places, as well. The way to do so is to manipulate the poles (which may be slip in and out). Please remember that the tipi should be more-less 10-15 cm above the ground. Now you can nail the tipi to the ground - in the same way you do it with a tent.

The only thing left to do is to set up the smoke flaps. You have to insert the pole into the pocket in the smoke flap and pull it up strongly. This may cause quite a problem (finding the pole's way into the pocket), yet you'll manage to do it sooner or later. We do the same with the other smoke flap. Now we only need to fasten the smoke flaps' strings. In order to do that, we hammer in a 1.5 m high pile a metre in front of the opening hole, slightly to the right. When it has been hammered in, we fasten both the smoke flaps' strings to the pile and THERE YOU GO! The tipi should look like that:

ARRANGING SAFE FIRE PLACE

Fire should be surrounded by non-flammable elements (stones, gravel, bricks etc.)
A place, we were plan to have s fireplace, should be deepened by additional 20-30 cm. You won't have to carry out ashes so often.
Fireplaces should not have a diameter bigger than 50 cm. Thanks to linen walls a small fire is enough to warm up interior. Dry wood from deciduous trees works best, especially beech or birch-tree. By using this wood we will decrease amount of smoke and sparks.

Safety rules
It is absolutely forbidden to stay close to fireplace with flammable materials (fuel, oil, dissolvent etc.). Any flammable elements like paper, foil, wood should be kept in special packages at least 1,5 m away from the fireplace.
When lighting the fire, neither liquid kindling nor too much paper should be used.
Fire should never be left unattended. If you do not intend to sleep in a tipi, fire should be extinguished (best with water). When making fire, an emergency path should be marked, where no unnecessary devices, that may cause someone to stumble upon, should lay.

PREPARING FOR TAKING UP RESIDENCE IN THE TIPI

Now we go inside the tipi where we need to dig up a pit for the bonfire. Depending on how long will the tipi stand in one place, we dig up a deeper or shallower one. When we put up the tipi only for the weekend, there is no need to dig up a pit. It's enough to surround the pit with stones. In case of longer camping, you should dig up a pit 10-20 cm deep so that you don't need to remove the ash too often. It's a good idea to line it with stones, as well. They will warm up and in the morning, when we wake up, it will be easier to light the fire (mind that in the beginning the stones may crack in the fire!!!). When the fire is prepared, we may prepare the beds. While doing that, remember that when asleep, you should have at least as much cloth beneath you as on yourself, preferably even much more. Just behind the bonfire (looking from the entrance) the Indians made a so-called altar. It usually was a piece of bare ground, where they spilled out the tobacco ash. This place was sacred for them (no one was allowed to walk over it!!!). All that's left is to invite the guests and feast!