Monday, Oct. 25, 2004

Native American Gathering Educational Program Is Nov. 5
The Chattanoogan - Chattanooga,TN,USA
... CIRCL) will host the Native American Gathering at the ... musical instrument making, contemporary American Indian visual arts, storytelling, traditional ...

Annual Cal State Pow Wow cancelled
North County Times - Escondido,CA,USA
... minor the university currently offers in native studies ... Seat at the Table: Struggling for American Indian Religious ... by the Cal State San Marcos Arts and Lecture ...

Late James Welch honored by writers
Seattle Post Intelligencer - Seattle,WA,USA
... In the late 1980s, I was a Master of Fine Arts student in the ... and novels have become a touchstone for both his contemporaries among Native American writers and ...

EA Sports game irks officials, tribe
Central Michigan LIFE - USA
... Electronic Arts Sports NCAA Football 2005 is widely ... depicts CMU fans in stereotypical American Indian regalia ... a student wearing a Native American headdress and ...

Greensboro Community Television to move offices
Triad Business Journal - Greensboro,NC,USA
... Center include City Arts, African American Atelier, Green Hill Center for NC Art, Guilford Native American Gallery, Center for Creative Arts, United Arts ...

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Indigenous People

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Winds of Change concert, with Casper, Tucson on Wed. Hopi reggae joins other Native musicians on tour
From: Andy Bessler, Sierra Club
For those of you who have yet to experience the Winds of Change Tour, Wednesday, October 27th is your last chance! The Winds of Change will blow into Tucson, AZ at the Leo Rich Theatre in the Tucson Convention Center, 7 p.m.. Hope you can make it and if you want to volunteer, please contact us! So far, the three stops of the Winds of Change Tour have been great. Thanks to all the volunteers who have helped table, gather postcards, do venue security, take tickets and pamper the rock stars! Without your help, this tour would not happen! In Albuquerque, we were joined by John Densmore, the drummer for the Doors, who played with Aaron White. Around 200 people showed up and many signed postcards to stop Peabody Coal from pumping groundwater below Black Mesa. We also watched the Presidential debate in the venue….Many of the band members held the concert so they could watch it as well.

"Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children"
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html

Winter & Christmas 2004 - Request for Donations

If you wish to make a difference and help children and elders through the harsh winter months in Montana, please take the time to read our request. On behalf of reliable Northern Cheyenne contacts from Lame Deer, we are once again collecting donations for those in need on the Northern Cheyenne reservation.
There is a large need especially for new and good quality used warm items, as well as toys.
The toys will be distributed during the Christmas give away but the warm clothes and blankets will be distributed right away. During Montana winters, the temperature can drop to 30 or 40 degrees below zero so warm winter clothing and blankets can be lifesaving.
Our goal is to help the children, the elders, the single parent families, or families unable to make ends meet due to the high unemployment rate, the difficult conditions and the extreme poverty on the reservation.The children need all the help and encouragement they can get!
List of useful donations :
- warm clothing such as knitted items for children of all ages from babies to teenagers, and for elders - jeans and T-shirts, all sizes - socks, gloves, boots, hats and scarves - blankets - toys for Christmas
Other items that would also be appreciated: grooming supplies like toothpaste, tooth brushes,soaps and shampoos, combs, hair brushes, hair barrettes, rubber bands or other types of hair or pony tail holders. Last but not least : pampers diapers or pull-ups.
Our collecting point is in Great Falls, where we can keep track of everything that is sent and thank everyone who participates in the drive. The boxes are then forwarded to our contacts on the reservation.
If you can, please help us with the shipment expenses which have been very hard to meet last year, due to the large amount of boxes. HYS is a group of volunteers and we have no other help than yours.
Even small amount of money are greatly appreciated, as well as books of stamps.
Please contact us if you are interested in arranging for a store gift certificate instead of mailing a package.
Donations should be sent to the following address:
Honor Your Spirit - Protect the Children % Sue Buck PO Box 901 Great Falls, MT 59403-0901 (USA)
Please contact suemontana@mcn.net for mailing information other than regular US Mail service. (Also please include your name and address if you would like for us to acknowledge/confirm receipt of your donations.)
If you cannot send items due to the shipping cost, you can still help by sending a money donation. Please be assured that it will be used only for the children and elders this winter and/or for their Christmas; even small amounts can help them. The address for money donations is the same as above. A receipt will be sent upon request.
Please contact us before you send money (email addresses listed below).
The last boxes should be received in Great Falls by 12/12/04 so please contact us as soon as possible.
The priority of our group, "Honor your Spirit - Protect the Children" is to make sure all donations get to where they are supposed to and recognized. It is very important to us to make sure that everything is distributed fairly and to those in the greatest need.
Contact Info:
Sue Buck suemontana@mcn.net
& Brigitte Thimiakis thimiakischool@the.forthnet.gr
"Your help makes a huge difference for those who have never received help. Your donations provide hope and encouragement to those who have never known these qualities.
Your concern and solidarity can improve the lives of many children, elders, families, on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. There is still a lot to do but all together you can help us make these dreams come true.
Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it."
Respectfully, Manuel Redwoman, Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
To learn more about the HYS projects, please read our Shipment and Group Project Status: http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/shipment1.html Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support !

Cherokee Taboos
1. There are some plants and animals that should not ordinarily be killed. It is forbidden to kill an eagle, wolf, or rattlesnake. There were and are a few people who are trained specialists that deal with killing a wolf, eagle, or rattlesnake. Specialists for taking Eagles come from the Bird Clan and specialists for killing wolves come from the Wolf Clan. It is rarely done but sometimes they are hired to do this. The reasons for it being done vary but one of the main reasons is to acquire certain parts of these animals for ritual and ceremonial use. Certain rituals, ceremonies, and dances require this. The Eagle Dance, for example, requires the use of eagle feathers. As to plants, the killing of evergreens is generally avoided but sometimes these are harvested and used usually for ceremonial purposes. When this is done it is done by people who know what they are doing, by people who are aware of the proper forms of ritual associated with the taking of an evergreen. It is more common for a part of an evergreen to be properly taken and used for medical or ceremonial use than the entire plant. For example, in some ceremonies pine boughs are thrown onto the fire. In my family sometimes sprigs of cedar or pine needles are put into a pot of hot coals, this produces a smoldering effect giving of a great quantity of pungent smoke which is then used for purification. Evergreen wood is never used for common tools or firewood etc. Like the evergreens, ginseng, is a sacred plant and is respected. When seeking ginseng the first three or four plants are passed by, when the desired plant is found and uprooted with proper prayer some beads are placed in the hole. Any offering would really suffice but traditionally red beads are used for this. 2. Men who are preparing for war must avoid sexual intercourse for four days prior to leaving and four days after returning. During these periods they will undergo purification. This same rule is heeded for going on a large hunt. 3. After killing a deer the hunter should cut out the hamstrings and leave them behind. He should not leave them in the meat. He should also not leave without offering a prayer for pardon to the deer. He should use the tip of the deer's tongue as an offering of thanks by putting it in the fire. It is also common for people to throw some of the meat from every meal to the fire as an offering of thanks. 4. Women who are pregnant should avoid eating squirrel, speckled trout, rabbit, and they should be sparing with salt. They should not loiter in doorways or wear anything tied around their neck such as a neckerchief. For three months after birth the mother should not prepare meals for her husband and should avoid sexual intercourse with him, she should also avoid touching him in general. 5. Young children should not touch moles. 6. Women in their moon time (going through the menstrual cycle) should be separated from the community by going to stay in a house built by the community for this purpose, they should remain there for the duration of their menstruation. Women in their moon time should avoid men, they should not be upstream or upwind from them and should never touch them or prepare food for them, they should never take part in any community ceremonies. At the end of their bleeding they should be purified by sweating and going to water before re-entering the community. This is not disrespective to women in any way, quite to the contrary. This is done because of our great respect for women and the creative powers they possess. A menstruating woman's presence anywhere in the vicinity of a ritual or ceremony could render it ineffective or could cause some other problem. A woman's menstrual cycle is evidence of her creative powers. It is a time when they should be careful because of the strong energies they exude. 7. Foods from the opposing realms of this world should not be mixed. For example foods from the upper world of sky such as birds should not be mixed with foods from the lower world of water and underground such as fish. 8. Members of the same clan may not have sexual relationships with each other. 9. The mourning period lasts for one year during which the name of the deceased should not be spoken.
Submitted by Wolf Heart
From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories.