The homes of the Maidu were interesting. The Maidu lived underground during the
winter. The houses can go 3 or even 4 feet down. The villages had a ceremony every month. Their houses were usually round with a diameter of 20 to 40 feet.

The Maidu men wore next to nothing. If they wore anything, it was a simple strip of deer skin. The women wore only an apron. The Maidu wore nothing on their feet except for little boots in the winter. When it got really cold, they stuffed them with grass. Men usually wore net caps for ceremonies.

They squeezed berries and ate them. The Maidu would eat animals with skins like deer, squirrel, and rabbits. The Maidu would eat birds. They ate grasshoppers and crickets. The Maidu were good hunters. Men might hunt by themselves.

Do you know about the Maidu tools? The canoe is made
by burning out the center of the wood. This was used to
make the inside. They also made baskets. They were made
out of beer grass or yellow pine. How they were made was by twining. Their weapons were a net, bows, arrows, spears, and knifes. The points were made out of volcanic glass. Those are the tools of the Maidu.

The Maidu lived in mountain valleys and were usually named
after the valley they lived in. They usually lived in one of three communities. There would be 3 to 5 villages and 7 to 10 houses. The main village, which wasn't necessarily the largest village, had an earth lodge and this is were the headman lives and gives advice. In the lowest part of the valley, the melted snow could make a lake of their homes.

  Maidu (living in the mountains) depended more on
animals for food and were good hunters They had hunting
dogs and sometimes hunted alone, sometimes in a group.
They'd stalk an animal for days until it got tired, then kill it.
They ate all kinds of animals from fish caught in nets to
rabbits and squirrels shot or trapped to deer who were
shot to insects. Maidu baked or roasted their meat,
but they also ate plants. They ate plants such as
stems, roots, leaves, seeds, acorns (gathered from oaks),
and nuts (gathered from the sugar and yellow pine). They
crushed Manzanita berries and mixed with it with water
making dough. When they poured water over the
dough and flavored the water, making manzanita berry
cider. Another drink they drank is wild mint tea.   

The Maidu used clamshells for money. They made the
clamshells into disks or beads. They traded them with the
Achumawi, and got obsidian and green dye. From the
Konkow, they got bows, arrows, hides, and several different foods. The Maidu's beads and disks were one of their most favored possessions.

The Maidu ate a wide variety of food. They eat deer and
elk. Hunting dog helped them if they needed it. Squirrels and rabbits were shot with arrows or caught in nets. When the Maidu could not catch meat, they ate insects, such as the common grasshoppers. They also ate acorns,roots,and
nuts. The Maidu ate many different foods.

The Maidu Indians made tools and weapons from
natural resources. They made baskets from the roots of the
Yellow Pine and Bear Grass. They also used stems of the
Maiden Hair fern. They made designs using red buds or
pine roots dyed black with charcoal. They waterproofed
baskets by filling them with water and dried pitch. Then they heated rocks over the fire. After they were hot, they put them in the baskets and the hot stones melted the pitch. Then it seeped into the cracks. Maidu baskets are very interesting!

   The Maidu Indians made weapons for hunting and
fishing. For arrowheads they used obsidian which was
fastened to a wooden handle. They used nets, bows and
arrows, knives, and spears. Hunting and fishing was a main
source of food.