Winter – an Important Time of Year for the Susquehannock People

Artist’s depiction of the large c.1650 Susquehannock town that was located along the Susquehanna River in present-day Lancaster County, PA. The man in the foreground is playing snow snake, an Iroquoian game still played today. The game was both sport and medicine, elevating spirits during winter.

Image Courtesy of North Museum/Blue Rock Heritage Center

How did Susquehannock people survive the winter in the Susquehanna River Valley? A sold-out crowd showed up last week at the Susquehanna National Heritage Area’s Zimmerman Center for Heritage to find out. The Zimmerman Center’s Paul Nevin discussed how Native people not only survived, but embraced the cold season. Nevin is an authority on the Susquehanna River’s American Indian petroglyphs and has extensively studied the Susquehannock’s history and culture.

The Susquehannock people, who were culturally related to the Iroquois of New York’s Finger Lakes Region, moved to Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna Valley around 1550 AD. Once a dominant power, disease brought about through contact with Europeans decimated their population by 1675. Today, there exists no descendant Susquehannock community.

Nevin theorized about Susquehannock life in the winter using evidence provided through archaeology, and by studying what other Iroquoian people did during these cold months.

Essential to anyone’s survival in winter, Nevin said, is the ability to stay warm and find enough food. The Susquehannock people lived in large agricultural communities. Corn provided nearly half of their diet, and along with beans and squash, had to be preserved for the winter. The Iroquois developed technology to be successful at this. They stored dried crops in underground pits lined with dried grasses and barks, and could use sumac leaves as wrappings and natural preservatives for dried pieces of squash.

Animals were hunted more easily during winter because vegetation died back, and drowsy or hibernating animals were easily found and taken. Cold weather made it easy to preserve their meat. Along with eating, people would not survive without the warmth of fire. The Susquehannock would have known the best fire-making materials and techniques necessary to survival. They would also have known the best ways to craft furs and plant material into warm clothes and bedding.

Winter was more than just a time of survival. It provided opportunities to be close and to socialize. The long nights afforded time to pass along wisdom and lift spirits with storytelling. Games were played both inside and outside their longhouses. The Susquehannock may have, like other Iroquoians, held a Mid-Winter Ceremony in which prayers, feasting, and healing rituals took place.

Nevin suggested that perhaps the Susquehannock’s view of winter was an appreciation of its necessity, and that we should consider that as we make our way through the season. “Winter gives plants, animals, and people a time to rest. The winter cold makes us appreciate the warmth of summer. It has its own beauty. Embrace it.”

To find out more about the Zimmerman Center for the heritage area’s upcoming events, please visit www.susquehannaheritage.org.

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