Early Housing

Caddo houses were similar if not identical to those of their relatives the Wichitas. They varied considerably in size, depending upon the number of occupants and their position in the social hierarchy. Some, plastered the outside of their grass houses with mud, a common custom among other Southeast tribes.

Housebuilding was a communal affair. When a family decided it was time for a new house, the caddi was notified. This tribal official set a date for construction and delegated certain people to take part in the project. Some men were appointed to bring the poles, others were put in charge of the various phases of the work, women were sent to gather a special coarse grass with which to cover the house, and others were assigned various other tasks.

The tammas slept at the site of the new dwelling the night before it was to be erected, and at dawn they called the party together to raise the house. The caddi acted as an overseer, and the tammas carried supple switches with which they hastened the slow or the tardy.

The men who had been directed to bring poles came soon after the call went out at dawn, each placing his pole in one of the holes which had already been dug. In the center of this circle of poles they temporarily erected a tall knobby pole to which a crosspiece was fastened at the top. Two men climbed the pole and , working together, lassoed the tops of the poles in the outer circle, pulled them into the center, and tied them together. Other men quickly began to cover the framework with other timbers, and as soon as they had finished, another crew began to apply the thick grass covering, working from the ground upward. So quickly and expertly was the work done that shortly after noon, the grass house, was in place and the temporary center pole was ready to be cut off at the ground level.

While the house was being built, the family who were to live in it would be preparing a feast of corn and venison. As soon as the house was completed, the workers were fed, first the caddi, then the tammas, and on down to the lowliest worker. The spirit of such house-raising, was a festive one. The gorged workers departed happy in the satisfaction of a job will done.