Plains Earth Lodges are a Spiritual Journey
While Plains nations are most famously associated with tipi, it wasn’t the whole story. Earth lodges were popular with the non-migratory agricultural communities, particularly with Eastern Plains groups such as the Pawnee, Omaha, Poncas and Hidatsas. These nations built earth lodge communities along river bluffs, giving them a trade and defensive advantage. Earth lodges were circular, domed, and framed with wood. The frame was then covered with a thick layer of earth. Stepping inside an earth lodge is a spiritual journey. The roof represents the sky, and the walls a never-ending horizon. The lodge has east and western sections. The west side is female, symbolized by the Evening Star. The east side is male, represented by the Morning Star. The “male” half blends into the “female” half in the morning, if the entryway is positioned just right. This would, briefly, merge the Morning and Evening Star.