QUIRIPI INDIANS IN CONNECTICUTT

QUIRIPI MEANS LONG WATER LAND. THEY HAD FOUR DIFFERENT GROUPS: ONE IN NEW HAVEN, NORTH HAVEN, GUILFORD, AND BRADFORD. PRIOR TO MEETING THE COLONISTS THEY HAD ABOUT 25,000 PEOPLE. THEIR VILLAGES WERE SETTLED BY PONDS, RIVERS, OR OCEANS. DURING WINTER THEY MOVED TO LARGE HILLS AS PROTECTION. IT TOOK ONLY A FEW HOURS TO BREAK UP THEIR VILLAGE AND MOVE. THERE WERE ABOUT 100 PEOPLE.

THE QUIRIPI WERE WELL KNOWN FOR ELM BARK CANOES AND 20 BY 40 FOOT DUGOUT CANOES. THEY SPOKE A DIALECT OF ALGONQUIAN. THESE FOLKS NO LONGER EXIST AS A TRIBE. THEY REMAIN ALMOST UNKNOWN TO MODERN NEW HAVENERS. THEY LIVED IN WIGWAMS AND TRAVELLED BY FOOT OR CANOES. THEY FISHED, FARMED, GATHERED ROOTS AND BERRIES, AND HUNTED. IN 1633 WHEN ANGLOS CAME THEY WERE REDUCED TO ABOUT 250 SURVIVORS. WITHIN 300 SQUARE MILES. THEY WERE REDUCED AGAIN BY BRITISH COLONIAL WARS IN THE 1700'S. THEY WERE PRESSURED TO SELL THEIR RESERVATION LAND. IN 1731 THEY MOVED TO A NEW RESERVATION IN WATERLY. IN 1760 THEY JOINED THE TUNXIS IN FARMINGTON. AS LATE AS 1840'S SOME FOLKS WENT TO THE SHORE TO FISH , CLAMS, SELL BASKETS AND DO AGRICULTURAL WORK. THE FOLKS WHO MOVED TO FARMINGTON MIGRATED TO GREEN BAT, WI. THE LEADERS OF THE BANDS WERE WISE MEN OR WISE WOMEN -CHIEFS. THEY MADE IMPORTANT DECISIONS AFTER CONSULTING WITH COUNSELORS. THIS POSITION WAS ORIGINALLY HEREDITARY.

THROUGH RITUALS AND CEREMONIES THEY RESPECTED THE SUPERNATURAL. THEY PRAYED TO THE RESPECTED SUPERNATURAL. THEY PRAYED TO THE SPIRITS OF SLAIN ANIMALS. THEY BELIED IN A VARIETY OF DEITIES - GODS OF THE SUN, MOON, SEA, FIRE, AND FOUR DIRECTIONS. KICHTAN WAS A BENEVOLENT SPIRIT WHO LIVED IN THE SOUTH WEST. SOULS AFTER DEATH - GOOD AND EVIL - DEPARTED TO KEIGHTANS REALM, WHERE THEY ENJOYED A LIFE SIMILAR TO THE EARTH. KICHTAN WAS THE CREATOR GOD.

SHAMANS WERE THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS OF THE NEW ENGLAND ALGONQUIANS. THEY WERE DOCTORS WHO USED HERBS AND SPIRITUAL CURES AND WERE SKILLED IN MAKING SPLINTS AND SETTING BONES. THEY CHANGED AND PREDICTED THE WEATHER AND PROVIDED SUPERNATURAL GUIDANCE THROUGH INTERPRETING DREAMS WHICH WERE A CENTRAL PART OF NATIVE SPIRITUAL LIFE. SOME POWWOWS HAD MAGICAL POWERS AS WELL. THEY REJECTED CHRISTIANITY THROUGHOUT THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURY. THEIR HOUSES WERE WIGWAMS. ALSO KNOWN AS THE ROUND HOUSES . THE WOMEN BUILT THEM BY A VARIETY OF WOOD, SOD, BARK, AND WOVEN GRASS. IT WAS 6 TO 8 FEET SOD, BARK AND WOVEN GRASS. IT HOUSED 1 TO 2 FAMILIES. THEY HAD A FIRE IN THE CENTER. EVEN UNTIL THE 19TH CENTURY THEY LIVED IN WIGWAMS IN SUMMERS. THEIR MOST IMPORTANT OCCUPATION WAS HUNTING FOR ANIMAL;S. THEY USED SNARES, TRAP[S, PITS AND SPEARS AND BOWS AND ARROWS. THEY SOLD SKINS TO THE ANIMALS. EVEN UNTIL THE 19TH CENTURY THEY LIVED IN WIGWAMS IN SUMMERS THEIR MOST IMPORTANT OCCUPATION WAS HUNTING ANIMALS. THEY USED SNARES TRAPS, PITS, SPEARS AND BOWS AND ARROWS. THEY SOLD SKINS TO ANGLOS. THE WOMEN GREW CORN THEIR MAIN CROP, THEN BEANS AND SQUASH. THEY HARVESTED SHELLFISH AND SCALE FISH CLAMS AND VARIOUS OCEAN FISH. THEIR WOMEN GATHERED WILD PLANTS AS WELL.

LITTLE IS KNOWN OF THEIR HISTORY BEFORE ANGLOS. THEY WERE A WARLIKE TRIBE. THAT MEANT THEY WERE DESTROYERS. IN 1774 ONLY 71 NATIVES REMAINED AND BY 1850 THE LAST OF THIS TRIBE PASSED.

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