˜Native American Headdresses: Facts for Kids

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When most people think of an American Indian headdress, the first image that comes to mind is a full eagle-
feather warbonnet like the Lakota Sioux one to the left. But in fact, American Indians in most tribes never used
headdresses like these. Feathered warbonnets may be the best-known Indian headdresses, but they were not
the most commonly used-- and they were certainly not the only ones. Scroll down for pictures and descriptions
of the most important Native American headdress styles of North America and the differences between them.

Native American Headdresses

Feather Warbonnets
Warbonnets (or war bonnets) are the impressive feather headdresses commonly seen in Western movies and TV shows. Although warbonnets are the best-
known type of Indian headdress today, they were actually only worn by a dozen or so Indian tribes in the Great Plains region, such as the Sioux, Crow, Blackfeet,
Cheyenne, and Plains Cree. In the first photograph, you can see a Dakota Sioux warrior wearing a trailer warbonnet (headdresses with single or double rows of
eagle feathers descending in a long 'tail' all the way to the ground). In the second photo, modern Crow elders attend a formal event in halo warbonnets
(headdresses with eagle feathers fanned out around the face in an oval shape). The third photograph shows a Blackfoot man wearing a straight-up feather
headdress (taller, narrower headdresses where the eagle feathers stand up straight.) All three types of warbonnets were made from the tail feathers of the golden
eagle, and each feather had to be earned by an act of bravery. Sometimes a feather might be painted with red dye to commemorate a particular deed. Besides the
feathers, Plains Indian warbonnets were often decorated with ermine skins and fancy beadwork.

trailer war bonnet halo warbonnets straight-up warbonnet

Warbonnets were important ceremonial regalia worn only by chiefs and warriors. Also, only men wore warbonnets. (Women sometimes went to war in some Plains
Indian tribes, and there were even some female chiefs, but they never wore these masculine headdresses.) Plains Indian men occasionally wore warbonnet
headdresses while they were fighting, but more often they wore roach headdresses into battle (see below) and saved their war bonnets for formal occasions. In
particular, long feather trailers were never worn on the battlefield. It would be impossible to fight while wearing them!

In the 1800's, Native American men from other tribes sometimes began to wear Plains-style warbonnets. Partially this was because of the American tourist
industry, which expected Native Americans to look a certain way. Partially it was because many Native American tribes were forced to move to Oklahoma and
other Indian territories during this time in history, so tribes that used to live far apart began adopting customs from their new neighbors. In most cases, the feather
warbonnet did not have the same significance among the new tribes that adopted it. For them, it was a matter of fashion or a general symbol of authority. But for
the Plains Indian tribes, feather warbonnets were a sacred display of a man's honor and courage, and each feather told a story. Eagle feathers are still sometimes
awarded to Plains Indians who serve in the military or do other brave deeds today.
Roach Headdresses (Porcupine Roaches)
Feather warbonnets are better-known to popular culture, but roach headdresses (also called porcupine roaches or artificial roaches) were the most widely
used kind of Indian headdress in the United States. Most Native American tribes east of the Rocky Mountains were familiar with some form of roach headdress.
These headdresses are made of stiff animal hair, especially porcupine guard hair, moose hair, and deer's tail hair. This hair was attached to a bone hair ornament
or leather base so that it stood straight up from the head like a tuft or crest. Often the hair was dyed bright colors and feathers, shells, or other decorations were
attached. In some tribes, men wore their hair in a scalplock or crested roach style (frequently given the name Mohawk or Mohican after two tribes in which roached
hair was common), and the artificial roach was attached to the man's own hair. The Caddo man in the first picture is wearing his roach headdress this way. In other
tribes, porcupine roaches were attached to leather headbands or thongs and worn over long hair or braids. This is how they are most commonly worn today.
 Caddo warrior's roach powwow dancer's roach Indian roach for sale

Roach headdresses were usually worn by warriors and dancers. Like warbonnets, the porcupine hair roach is traditionally men's headwear, not worn even by
female warriors. Their use varied from tribe to tribe. In many tribes, roaches were worn into battle, while more formal tribal headdresses (like warbonnets, otter-fur
turbans, or gustowah caps) were worn to ceremonial events. In other tribes, roaches were worn primarily as dance regalia or sports costume. In some tribes,
individual men chose to wear porcupine roaches while other men did not. Like other clothing styles, roaches sometimes went into and out of fashion. They were
not generally as spiritually meaningful as warbonnet headdresses, though a boy earning the right to wear a roach for the first time was an important ceremony in
some tribes. Today, porcupine roaches can be commonly seen at powwows, where they are still worn as regalia by male dancers from many different tribes.

Basket Hats
Basket hats (also known as twined caps or basketry hats) were the most common type of Native American headdress west of the Rocky Mountains. Different
tribes made basket hats in different shapes and styles. California Indian tribes usually made small rounded or fez-shaped basket caps from tightly coiled sumac,
like the Hupa Indian hat below. Northwest Coast tribes like the Haida and Salish often made larger hats in more conical or brimmed shapes from fibers such as
cedar bark or spruce root.

Hupa basket cap Haida basket hat Nootka whaler's hat

In California and the Plateau tribes, basket hats were normally worn only by women and girls, and their designs were mostly decorative. On the Northwest Coast,
both men and women wore basketry headgear, for dance regalia and ceremonial purposes as well as everyday life. Northwest Coast basket hat designs often
conveyed information about a person's clan, achievements, or status within the tribe.

Feather Headbands
The Indian headband is also well-known from movies and other popular images of Native Americans. However, this style of headband was typically only used by
a few tribes of the northeast Woodlands. Usually the headband consisted of a finger-woven or beaded deerskin strip with tribal designs on it. This band was then
tied around the brow with a feather or two tucked through the back. Not only eagle feathers but turkey, hawk, egret, and crane feathers were also used for
Woodland Indian headbands.

Abenaki headbands Lenape Indian headbands

Unlike many of the Native American headdresses on this page, both men and women wore headbands, which were not associated with war. The number and type
of feather did not usually have special symbolic meaning, though in a few tribes that bordered the Plains eagle feathers were reserved for warriors. For the most
part, Woodland Indian head bands were worn for their beauty, and were often decorated with intricate patterns, wampum, beads, and quillwork.

Buffalo Headdresses (Horned Warbonnets)

Like feather warbonnets, buffalo horn headdresses were traditional regalia of certain Plains Indian warriors. These were helmets of buffalo hide with a pair of
buffalo horns attached, frequently adorned with shaggy buffalo fur and a buffalo tail trailing behind. In many cases ermineskins and war feathers were hung from
the headdress, as in the second picture. Sometimes a horned headdress was even combined with a feather trail, as in the third picture.
Sioux buffalo headdress Piegan horn headdress Buffalo warbonnet

The spiritual and ceremonial importance of horned headdresses to the Plains Indians was similar to that of feathered warbonnets. Only distinguished male warriors
wore this sacred kind of regalia. Horned headdresses were rarer than eagle-feather warbonnets, because they were used by fewer tribes (only the Sioux and a
few other tribes of the northern Plains wore this kind of headdress) and also because only warriors of certain clans or who had accomplished specific deeds wore
bison horns.
Otter Fur Turbans
Otter-fur turbans (also known as otter-skin caps) are ceremonial headdresses worn by men in certain Prairie and Southern Plains tribes, such as the
Potawatomi, Pawnee and Osage. These are round hats made of otter fur with the otter's tail either hanging behind or jutting out to one side in a beaded sheath.
The turbans and tail sheaths were often elaborately decorated with beaded and painted designs symbolizing the owner's war honors, and a chief and his
descendants usually attach eagle feathers to the back of their turbans.

Pawnee chief's turban Otter turban Otter cap with sheath

Otter-skin turbans were formal head dresses with great symbolic importance. They were worn at ceremonies or other solemn occasions, not by warriors entering
battle (who usually wore porcupine roaches.) Even today, otter-fur caps are sometimes worn at formal events by Southern Plains Indian men.
Mexican, Central and South American Headdresses
The Aztec and Highland Maya Indians of Mexico were also famous for their feather headdresses, but these headdresses looked very different from the Plains
Indian warbonnets. To make their headdresses, the Aztecs and Mayans sewed together a large fan of feathers and then attached it to the back of their head with
straps and a headband or metal circlet. Another difference is that parrot, macaw, and quetzal feathers were used instead of eagle feathers. This style of headdress
was not only popular in Mexico but also in Central America and in parts of South America as far south as Brazil.

Montezuma's Aztec headdress Mexican headdress Brazilian headdress

Both men and women wore headdresses like these. They didn't have any connection to war, but in the Aztec Empire, the fanciest ones (adorned with gold, jewels,
and jade stone) symbolized nobility. Today, feather-fan headdresses are worn as regalia by Nahua, Mayan, and other native dancers in Mexico and Guatemala,
and colorful headdresses modelled on traditional Brazilian Indian ones are worn as costumes for Mardi Gras Carnival in Rio de Janeiro every year.
American Indian Masks
Masks are another kind of headgear used by many Native American tribes from Alaska to Argentina. In most tribes, masks are used for religious rituals or festivals,
but there are nearly as many different American Indian mask-making traditions as there are American Indian tribes. We have a separate page of Native American
masks that you may like to visit to learn more about the diversity of tribal masks, but here are photographs of a few of the most common types. Plains Indians
typically crafted simple animal masks from the heads or skulls of important animals such as the buffalo bull, bear or wolf. Most tribes carved masks from wood
and decorated them with leather and fur, like the Hopi kachina dance mask below. In some of the northwestern tribes, mask makers carved particularly complex
hinged transformation masks that opened when a cord was pulled to reveal a second face within the first one. Metal masks were rare in North America but
some South American tribes, like the Inca tribe, created beautiful beaten gold and silver masks. And in some eastern tribes like the Seneca and Tuscarora
tribes, making false face masks is considered such a sacred ritual that no one is allowed to take photographs of them.
Mandan buffalo dance mask Hopi kachina mask Haida transformation mask Incan sun mask

Other Tribal Headdresses for Men

Iroquois gustoweh cap Hupa flicker headdress Seminole cloth turban Pueblo headband

The gustoweh cap is a formal feathered skullcap used only by men from the Iroquois tribes. The big eagle feathers on top of the cap were symbols that showed
which specific tribe an Iroquois man belonged to. (The three straight feathers on the cap in this picture mean that the owner is Mohawk.) In some northern
California tribes, men wore flicker headdresses as dance regalia. These headdresses are made of wide leather strips decorated with the red scalps of
woodpeckers. During the 1800's when cloth became more readily available, cloth turbans decorated with feathers became stylish among Cherokee, Seminoles
and other southeastern Indian men, and cloth headbands became everyday wear for men from the Navajo, Apache, and Pueblo tribes.

Other Tribal Headdresses for Women

Cayuga beaded tiara Peaked hood Wishram bridal headdress Eskimo dance headdress

Iroquois ladies often wore a distinctive tiara style of beaded headband. This high crown-like headdress is still used at formal events today. Wabanaki women in
Maine and New Brunswick sometimes wore peaked caps with a floral bead design. In many Plateau tribes, brides wore elaborate beaded head coverings like
the Wishram woman above, crafted from dentalium shells, abalone, and other precious materials. The Eskimo people (Inuit, Aleut, and Yupik) did not normally
wear headdresses, but women did use headbands with long fringes, sometimes ringed with caribou fur like the one in this picture, as dance regalia.
Answers to Common Questions about Native American Headdresses
Did Native American children wear the headdresses on this page?
Traditionally, no. Most of these headdresses were never worn by children. Native American boys usually began wearing porcupine
roaches as teenagers, when they were ready to become warriors. Feathered war bonnets, buffalo headdresses, and otter-tail hats were
worn by men who were already good warriors and had earned honors. Most other Indian masks and headdresses were worn only by
adults for special ceremonies or dances. Some California Indian girls did wear basket hats, and on the east coast, some children wore
headbands (though usually without any feathers in them.)

Today, Native American children often wear ethnic dance headdresses at powwows and other cultural festivals. The most common are
beaded headbands like the one this Ho-Chunk child is wearing. But in some tribes, even young children wear Indian roaches as dance
regalia today.

Hochunk child's
headband

Was there a special kind of Indian headdress used by princesses?

 Not in the tribes of the U.S. or Canada. Almost none of these tribes had royalty the way Europeans did-- a chief's daughter was more
like a general's daughter or a governor's daughter than a princess, and she did not wear a crown or other special clothing.

Many Mexican Indian tribes had royal families, however. The wives, sisters, and daughters of Mexican Indian kings and emperors wore
feather headdresses adorned with gold, jade, and jewels just like the male members of their families did. This is a stone carving of a
Mayan queen wearing a royal feather headdress.

Mayan queens headdre

Is it true that Aztec and Mayan headdresses resemble the headdresses of Egyptian pharaohs?
No, this is false. Probably this rumor got started because the Aztecs and Mayas, like the ancient Egyptians, built pyramids.
But their headdresses have nothing in common at all. As you can see here, Aztec and Maya Indians wore large fan-shaped
feather headdresses. Egyptian headdresses were made of draped cloth or of a reed frame with cloth stretched over it into a
high crown shape. Here is an extensive website where you can see the different kinds of Egyptian crowns and headdresses.
They didn't look anything like the Aztec and Maya ones.

Aztec headdress Egyptian

headdress

Where can I buy a Native American headdress or find instructions to make my own?

Porky roach for sale

On our Native American regalia page, you can find links to tribal members who make dance roaches and other ceremonial Indian clothing. A good place to buy kits
for making your own porky roaches or other dance accessories is the well-known pow-wow vendor Crazy Crow.

If you are not Native American but are just trying to make a headdress for an art project, we recommend making a beaded headband, since headbands do not
have the same sacred meaning of many other Indian headdresses and do not require you to understand complex cultural traditions to create one properly. The

book North American Indian Beadwork Patterns includes a nice pattern for beading a Native American headband .