Clothing
What did the Wampanoag look like and what type of clothes did they wear?
The Wampanoag were strong people with broad shoulders. Their eyes and hair were usually dark brown or black. Wampanoag women would wear knee-length skirts and men wore breech-cloth with leggings. Click to see.
Wampanoag also wore moccasins on their feet.
Their faces were painted every day to show how they felt. Specific colors were worn for ceremonies and war. Each color had a special meaning. Red for life or blood, Yellow for sun, black for death, white for the spirit world, brown for Mother Earth green for plants and purple for royalty.
Wampanoag women wore knee-length skirts. Wampanoag men wore breechcloths with leggings. Neither women nor men had to wear
shirts in the Wampanoag culture, but they would dress in deerskin mantles during cool weather. The Wampanoags also
wore moccasins on their feet. Here is a picture of Wampanoag clothing and some photographs and links about American Indian clothes in general.
The Wampanoags didn't wear long headdresses like the Sioux. Usually they wore a beaded headband with a feather or two in it. A
Wampanoag chief might wear a headdress made of feathers pointing straight up from a headband. Wampanoag women had long
hair but a man would often wore his hair in the Mohawk style or shave his head completely except for a scalplock (one long lock of
hair on top of his head.) Wampanoag warriors also painted their faces, and sometimes decorated their bodies with tribal tattoos.
Today, some Wampanoag people still have a traditional headband or moccasins, but they wear modern clothes like jeans instead of
breechcloths... and they only wear feathers in their hair on special occasions like a dance.
The deer was a very important animal to the Wampanoag for food and clothing. The skin was made into clothing and shoes. The bladder of the deer was used as a pouch, the tendons for thread and the bones were used for sewing needles and fish hooks.
The Wampanoag Indians would wear special ornaments and clothes for special ceremonies. Men and women would wear large necklaces made of stones, bones, shells, or beads around their necks and copper or shell earrings. The turtle was a good luck symbol and would often be found in the center of medallions.
The Indians made special beads called Wampum which they also wore. Porcupine quills were soaked to soften them and were then flattened and dyed. The were wrapped or sewn to make designs on clothing or pouches.
