Native American Art News: R.C. GORMAN-Strong coffee, strong life

Michael Horse: Ledger Paintings & Jewelry Artist reception at 6:30 p.m. at Gathering Tribes Gallery, 1573 Solano Ave. 528-9038. www.gatheringtribes.com.

(SALT LAKE CITY)

The Indian Walk-In Center, a Salt Lake City-based non-profit organization, announces its 16th annual Native American Holiday Arts Market on December 3-4, 2005, at the Indian Walk-In Center located at 120 West 1300 South, in Salt Lake City, Utah. "This traditional arts market features traditional and contemporary silvery jewelry, beadwork, clothing, by Native Vendors throughout Utah and the four corners area," said Rad Cuch, Indian Walk-In Center Holiday Arts Market Director. "All year long, we receive calls from people throughout the country who want more information about this exciting two-day event showcasing Native American Art -- it has become a December tradition."

The show begins on Saturday, December 3 at 10:00 a.m. and goes through 6:00 p.m., then on Sunday, December 4 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. In addition to beautiful artwork, there is food, music, and activities for children.

The Indian Walk-In Center {IWIC} is a community nonprofit agency, with a mission to: support and provide wellness and social life way services, and to confirm family and community strengths with respect to culturally appropriate values and heritage of American Indians and Alaskan Natives.

For More Information Contact:
Rad Cuch
rcuch@xmission.com
801.486.4877 Ext. 29

NATIVE AMERICAN CHRISTMAS MARKET

Santa Cruz, CA, With arts and crafts, jewelry, moccasins, beadwork, dream catchers, pottery and more. Barbecue and other food available. Free admission. From 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. today; from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Spreckels Veterans' Memorial Building, Fifth and Llano, Spreckels.

Flood Myth - Algonquin

The god Michabo was hunting with his pack of trained wolves one day when he saw the strangest sight-the wolves entered a lake and disappeared. He followed them into the water to fetch them and as he did so, the entire world flooded.

Michabo then sent forth a raven to find some soil with which to make a new earth, but the bird returned unsuccessful in its quest.

Then Michabo sent an otter to do the same thing, but again to no avail.

Finally he sent the muskrat and she brought him back enough earth to begin the reconstruction of the world.

The trees had lost their branches in the flood, so Michabo shot magic arrows at them that immediately became new branches covered with leaves.

Then Michabo married the muskrat and they became the parents of the human race.

From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Native_Village
http://groups.msn.com/KeeperofStories

Flood - Ojibwa

In the beginning, when spirit beings still lived among people, Manabozho was the protector of the human race. He was the son of an earthly woman and the Great Spirit, Manitou. Manabozho taught the people how to hunt and catch fish, how to plant crops, and how to make sugar from the sap of the maple tree. He shared with them the secret of fire so they could prepare hot meals and warm themselves on cold nights.

Manabozho lived in a lodge with his young cousin, whom he treated as a son. One day Manabozho returned home from a long journey to find his beloved cousin missing. He called out the little boy's name but received no answer. So Manabozho went outside to look for the boy There he discovered the trail of his enemy, the Great Serpent, and realized that the giant snake had kidnapped the boy Manabozho grabbed his bow and arrow and followed the trail. It led him across several high mountains and steep valleys, over a fast- moving river, and through a dark forest. At last it brought him to the edge of a deep, gloomy lake.

At the bottom of the lake dwelled the Great Serpent with his many companions and servants. All were terrible monsters with evil sprits and snakelike forms. They obeyed the Great Serpent without hesitation. Manabozho peered into the water, and in the middle of all the vile creatures he spied the Great Serpent The serpent's immense head was blood-red in color with fierce eyes of blazing fire Hard, glistening scales of every shade covered his body To Manabozho's horror he saw that the serpent's massive form was coiled around the lifeless body of the precious young boy.

In sadness and anger, Manabozho vowed revenge. He decided to make the lake so hot that the Great Serpent and his ruthless companions could not remain. They would be forced to find shelter in the cool shade of the trees growing on the lake bank. There Manabozho would dispense his own justice.

Manabozho asked the clouds to vanish from the sky the winds to cease their cooling breeze and the sun to shine unremittingly on the lake. Manabozho then picked up his bow and arrow and found the coolest, shadiest patch of forest, knowing that this was where the Great Serpent would come. Manabozho then transformed himself into a broken stump so the evil spirits would not detect his presence.

Soon the winds stopped blowing, the clouds disappeared, and the sun beat down relentlessly on the lake. The water became warm, and then hot. When it began to steam and hiss the vile creatures poked their heads above the surface and scanned the shore. Sensing a trap, they searched for signs of Manabozho and listened for his footsteps. But they found no trace of him.

The heat became too much for the Great Serpent to tolerate. Slowly he emerged from the lake's depths. His blood-red head shimmered a deep crimson, and the fire in his eyes burned white-hot. Had he been capable of spitting fire, flames surely would have leapt from his mouth. As he slithered onto the banks of the lake, his cronies trailed after him, filling the shore with their foul-smelling hulks. When the creatures spied the broken trunk, they immediately suspected that it was Manabozho. So one of them wrapped its body around the stump and tried to uproot it. But Manabozho held on fast. After a few minutes the creatures gave up and slunk away to find shady places to rest.

The Great Serpent slipped into the forest and looped his gargantuan body around several majestic trees. Soon he and his companions fell fast asleep, leaving one particularly savage fiend on the lookout for Manabozho.

When the guard was looking the other way Manabozho silently picked up his bow and arrow and carefully took aim. Then he shot the Great Serpent in the heart. The serpent awoke with an ear-splitting shriek.

His face contorted in pain, the Great Serpent dragged his wounded body back into the lake, where his worried companions joined him.

When the serpent realized that he had been mortally wounded, he and his cohorts vented their rage on Manabozho. They forced the lake to expand and rise from its depth. In giant waves, the water cascaded over the banks and poured onto the forest floor.

Writhing in agony the Great Serpent rode the crest of the first mighty wave. The color had drained from his head and scales, but his eyes still burned like fiery coals. Alongside the serpent raced his loyal followers, hissing loudly vowing vengeance.

Retreating from the onslaught, Manabozho thought of the men, women, and children who lived in the countryside. He also thought of the spirit beings, like Beaver, Otter, and Muskrat, who lived among the humans. Quickly Manabozho raced to their villages and warned everyone to flee to the mountains. As the people and spirit beings fled, water filled the valleys and swallowed the highest hills. Now it clawed at the sides of the mountains, and Manabozho urged everyone to climb higher.

The water rose higher still. Soon it gobbled up every mountain except for the highest one, where Manabozho stood surrounded by desperate people and spirit beings. Manabozho hastily gathered up trees and lashed them together to form an enormous raft. Just as the floodwaters licked the mountaintop, Manabozho guided the last of the people and spirit beings onto the raft.

For a week, Manabozho and his charges floated alone on the water. The people begged him to disperse the water and renew the Earth. But to repair the world, Manabozho first needed a few grains of earth from beneath the floodwaters.

Beaver volunteered to dive to the bottom of the floodwaters and retrieve some earth. Although she was warned of the danger, she dove into the deluge. As the minutes and then hours passed with no sign of Beaver, the anxious people realized that she could not have survived her mission. Her body eventually floated to the surface, and the people opened her paws. There was no earth inside them.

Next Otter offered to try. He plunged into the murky waters and was gone longer than Beaver. At first when his body resurfaced, the people thought he had survived. But like Beaver, Otter had perished, and there was no earth in his paws.

The people were becoming desperate. Who could save them? Finally Muskrat stepped forward. He took a deep breath before diving into the water and disappeared for an even longer period than Otter. The people thought he would never return.

Suddenly someone spotted a speck in the water. Slowly it moved closer to the raft. It was Muskrat, so tired he could barely swim. The people pulled him aboard, where he gave one final gasp and died from exhaustion. Inside his paw Muskrat grasped a few clumps of earth.

Manabozho took the precious grains and laid them out in the sun. When they were dry, he pulverized them into tiny bits of dust and blew the dust over the water.

Instantly the floodwaters began to subside, and soon the mountains appeared and then the hills and the valleys. The newly emerged land showed no trace of the flood except for a thick layer of mud, which was the dust that Manabozho had blown over the water.

And the evil spirits? Although their master, the Great Serpent, had died from his wound, his followers returned to the bottom of the lake. They were so frightened of Manabozho they never dared to leave their home again.

Chippeway-Ojibwa Minnesota, Wesconsin, and the Province of Ontario Retold in the book Weather Legends - Native American Lore and the Science of Weather by Carole Garbuny Vogel

From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Native_Village
http://groups.msn.com/KeeperofStories

National Indian Gaming Association to Host Two Evenings of Native American Music and Dance

Contact: Suzette Brewer of the National Indian Gaming Association, 202-546-7711

National Indian Gaming Association to Host Two Evenings of Native American Music and Dance

Programs Celebrate 'National American Indian Heritage Month'

In celebration of National American Indian Heritage Month, the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) will host two evenings of Native American music and dance on Monday, Nov. 28, and Tuesday, Nov. 29, 7:30-10 p.m., at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The programs will take place in the Terrace Theater.

Former U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Northern Cheyenne) will host the programs, which will include Native performers from the Northeast, Northern Plains, Southwest and Northwest Coast regions. All proceeds will benefit the American Indian College Fund.

Tickets are $25 and are available at the Kennedy Center box office or by phone at 202-467-4600. Order online at http://www.kennedy-center.org.

The National Indian Gaming Association, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a non-profit trade association comprised of 184 American Indian Nations and other non-voting associate members. The mission of NIGA is to advance the lives of Indian people -- economically, socially and politically. NIGA operates as a clearinghouse and educational, legislative and public policy resource for tribes, policymakers and the public on Indian gaming issues and tribal community development.

Web: http://www.indiangaming.org

http://www.usnewswire.com/

AEQ Book Review of Making Dictionaries: Preserving Indigenous Languages of the Americas .
Frawley, William, Kenneth C. Hill, and Pamela Munro, eds. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. 450 pp. ISBN 0520229967, $34.95.
© 2004 American Anthropological Association Book Review of Making Dictionaries: Preserving Indigenous Languages of the Americas .
Reviewed for the Anthropology & Education Quarterly by Catherine S. Fowler
University of Nevada
csfowler@unr.nevada.edu
To Order this book

W. Tussinger has written his first novel which was released in December, 2004. The title of the book is THE FOURTH WORLD.
W. Tussinger is a member of the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma and has lived on several reservations including the Yuroks of Northern California and the Yakamas of Washington State where he attended college.
THE FOURTH WORLD

Click here, Stewart Quandelacy, Blue Peruvian Opal Medicine Bear

"Communing with Bears"

By Sara Wright

Communing with Bears is the story of a joyful encounter between one woman and a black bear.

Web Sites:
Native American Links Page
Indigenous Peoples Literature
Native Voice
Wisdom of the Old People
By David Whitney
Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand
Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand, The Book
Early tribal artifacts put in spotlight
"Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand" is scheduled to be shown at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History from early July to late September.
National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation
Inuit film to tell story of last great shaman
Petition in Support of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe
My Two Beads Worth: Indigenous News Online
Northern California Indian Development Council
Native Village
Smudge Ceremony

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Buffalo Field Campaign
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bfc-media@wildrockies.org

Literacy in Indigenous Communities by L. David van Broekhuizen, Ph.D. (2000)
HTML Format (70K)
PDF Format(117K)

Literacy in first languages in indigenous communities is a complex topic that generates lively discussion. This research synthesis explores the notions of national, mother-tongue, multiple, and biliteracies. It presents important information pertaining to threatened languages, language shift, and language loss. Examples of culturally relevant uses of literacy in indigenous communities and issues related to first-language literacy instruction are also provided.

Essay on the Zuni World View
Excerpt(Complete article is available in PDF)
Cushing also cited an incidence where he showed a pole that accompanies a theodolite to an old Zuni man and asked him what he thought the name of it was. In response the old man inquired as to the use of the item. After briefly describing the implementation of the device the old man provided a rather lengthy sentence-word that Cushing translated as "heights of the world progressively measuring stick". The next day Cushing took the pole to the extreme corner of the pueblo and began "to flourish it around" until a middle-aged man relented to curiosity and asked what it was. Cushing then provided the Zuni name he had learned the day before and the man promptly requested, "Can they actually tell how far up and down journeying the world is?" [105].

Native American Art News

Thursday, December 01, 2005

R.C. GORMAN-Strong coffee, strong life

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