Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Tues., Nov. 30, 2004

native american arts daily news, presented by
amerindianarts.us
Holiday sale-20% off

Novo Nordisk Announces Annual Diabetes Scholarship Fund for Native ...
Market Wire (press release) - USA
... According to the American Diabetes Association, the prevalence ... Over 107,000 Native Americans and Alaska Natives, or ... is the only private liberal arts college in ...

Home for the Holidays II - Holiday Happenings
The Columbian - Vancouver,WA,USA
... latest full-color publication that showcases the museum's Native American basket collection ... 5 pm Royal Durst Theatre in the Vancouver School of Arts & Academics ...

FEATURE FILM AND WORLD CINEMA COMPETITIONS
Movie City News - Los Angeles,CA,USA
... A chronicle of legendary Native American poet/activist ... taking and encourage diversity in the arts. ... Company; Leadership Sponsors--American Express, Andersen ...

NEWS BRIEFS Glenview school to host hol ...
Montclarion - Montclair,CA,USA
... Santa giveaway, handmade authentic Native American crafts and ... serving the Bay Area's American Indian community ... Oakland's Cultural Arts Department has announced ...

County schools win art award
Potomac News (subscription) - Woodbridge,VA,USA
... From Potomac View and Swans Creek elementary schools' Native American stamp-blankets ... Fred Milbert, supervisor of several fine arts programs within the school ...

 This once a day Google Alert is brought to you by Google.


Indian band seeks to regain its birthright
By David Whitney
Members of the Winnemem band of Wintu Indians from left, Arron Sisk and James Ward, both 17; Caleen Sisk-Franco, the tribe's spiritual leader; and her daughter Waimen, 12 are downcast after discovering that a memorial plaque for a local angler had been placed at the foot of Children's Rock, one of their sacred sites.
Photo

Wintu Indians
At War Against Dam, Tribe Turns to Old Ways
Peter DaSilva for The New York Times
Warriors of the Winnemem Wintu Indians performing a ceremonial dance in which the tribe had not engaged for more than a century.
Petition in Support of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe


Indigenous Peoples Literature: Book of the Month
Anti-Indianism in Modern America: A Voice from Tatekeya's Earth
by Elizabeth Cook-Lynn
Editorial Reviews

In this powerful and essential work, Elizabeth Cook-Lynn confronts the politics and policies of genocide that continue to destroy the land, livelihood, and culture of Native Americans. Anti-Indianism in Modern America tells the other side of stories of historical massacres and modern-day hate crimes, events that are dismissed or glossed over by historians, journalists, and courts alike. Cook-Lynn exposes the colonialism that works both overtly and covertly to silence and diminish Native Americans, supported by a rhetoric of reconciliation, assimilation, and multiculturalism. Comparing anti-Indianism to anti-Semitism, she sets the American history of broken treaties, stolen lands, mass murder, cultural dispossession, and Indian hating in an international context of ethnic cleansing, "ecocide" (environmental destruction), and colonial oppression.

Cook-Lynn also discusses the role Native American studies should take in reasserting tribal literatures, traditions, and politics and shows how the discipline has been sidelined by anthropology, sociology, postcolonial studies, and ethnic studies. Asserting the importance of a "native conscience"--a knowledge of the mythologies, mores, and experiences of tribal society--among American Indian writers, she calls for the __expression in American Indian art and literature of a tribal consciousness that acts to assure a tribal-nation people of its future.

Passionate, eloquent, and uncompromising, Anti-Indianism in Modern America concludes that there are no real solutions for Indians as long as they remain colonized peoples. Native Americans must be able to tell their own stories and, most important, regain their land, the source of religion, morality, rights, and nationhood. As long as public silence accompanies the outlaw maneuvers that undermine tribal autonomy, the racist strategies that affect all Americans will continue.

It is difficult, Cook-Lynn concedes, to work toward the development of legal mechanisms against hate crimes, in Indian Country and elsewhere in the world. But it is not too late.

Other Books of Interest..... Natives and Academics: Researching and Writing About American Indians by Devon A. Mihesuah
Genocide of the Mind: New Native American Writing by Marijo Moore
Decolonizing Methodologies : Research and Indigenous Peoples by Linda Tuhiwai Smith
Killing the White Man's Indian : Reinventing Native Americans at the End of the Twentieth Century by FERGUS M. BORDEWICH
Indigenous American Women: Decolonization, Empowerment, Activism (Contemporary Indigenous Issues) by Devon A. Mihesuah
Power and Place: Indian Education in America by Vine, Jr. Deloria
Blessings
Brenda



CASTING CALL for NATIVE AMERICANS
For background extras and featured extras
CASTING CALL FOR TNT/DREAMWORKS "INTO THE WEST" STARRING MICHAEL SPEARS, GRAHAM GREENE, RUSSELL MEANS, IRENE BEDARD, DAVE BALDEAGLE
a 3 movie series filming outside Santa Fe from Jan 10-Feb 20; and elsewhere in NM from March-May this series follows 2 multi- generational American and Native American families, IN THE LATE 1800's, with each telling the dramatic stories of the development of the West from their distinct points of view.
CASTING IN ALBUQUERQUE
SUN DEC 5 10:30 am - 4:00 pm
SHERATON OLD TOWN
800 Rio Grande Blvd. NW Potters Room
CASTING IN SANTA FE
SAT DEC 11 10:30 am- 4:00 pm
RADISSON 750 N. St. Francis Dr.
WE NEED THE FOLLOWING:
MALE BAREBACK RIDERS
- age 18-50
Female Horseback Riders - all ages
Male Horseback Riders - all ages
Men & Women - all ages
Families - ALL AGES infant to 80's
Men & Women Elders
(**LONG HAIR IS PREFERED for all)
NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY/ PHOTOS WELCOME
PLEASE LOOK FOR OUR ADS & RADIO FOR LATER CASTING
If anyone has questions, please call or email me directly at tasinabanks@mindspring.com / 505-280-3989.
Please spread the word to your friends and families who might be interested in being in a movie. We are seeking Anglos, Irish- Americans, African-Americans and Chinese people as well.
Thank you.
-- Tashina Banks Moore
505-280-3989
tasinabanks@mindspring.com


Navajo artist Teddy Draper Workshops
Chinle, Arizona (Canyon DeChelly)- Seminars and workshops have limited capacity and usually require enrollment months in advance.

Workshop information for 2005

March 15-19, instructor Elmer Yazzie, "cut yucca brush" watercolor technique.

May 16-20, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

June 7-11, Indian Jewelry Basics (class limited to 4 students).

June 7-11, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

Contact Teddy Draper at
dechelly2000@yahoo.com

Web Sites:
Indigenous Peoples Literature



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)

The duties of the Bow Society, and latter the Tribal Council, was enforcement as a secular institution despite religious evaluations.  It would not do to punish or fend witchcraft through religious rite and ceremony, for to do so the canonical rite would paradoxically expose itself to the dangerous simply by reference to it, and would be akin to ‘fighting fire with fire’, a very undesirable prospect to the Zuni.  Thus, attanni is negated by observance ( teshkwi) and violations are reflections upon the individual, and dealt with by secular enforcement, which collectively, may include gossip, criticism, and public ridicule [111].

The underlying dialectic of the beautiful and the dangerous is evident in distinct dialogues, even in the absence of aesthetic expression, for attanni is proper to secular dialogue and is pertinent to religious dialogue only in the sense of observance where ‘if you have been living rightly, then attanni is not an issue’ ( Ko’na to’ tewanan ateyaye ).  Non-verbal expression is not meaningless nor is a deviant utterance meaningless where the objective is the immersion of the subject into the social structure in order to eliminate causes of behavior conducive to the anti-structure of a social hierarchy where the collective consciousness of the people is to “pray to become one” [112].

[111] Op. cit. Dutton, 1983: 13.

[112] Eggan, Fred and T.N. Pandey.  “Zuni History, 1855-1970”.  Handbook of North American Indians, Southwest.  Vol.9.  Ed. By Alfonso Ortiz.  Pp. 474-481.  Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1979.


Notices:

"Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children"
Winter & Christmas 2004 - Request for Donations
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html

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.
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
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.)
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!
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.
Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it."
Respectfully,
Manuel Redwoman,
Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support !

Haidu Language Project
Did you know that before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world, the "Indians" in North America spoke over 300 indigenous languages? Today, roughly 20 of these languages have speakers of all ages. Unfortunately, the Haida language of Kasaan, Alaska is not among them.
Currently, only seven Kasaan Haidas speak the Kasaan Haida dialect with varying degrees of fluency--all elders over the age of 75. I know this because my dad grew up in Kasaan, 25 miles from my birthplace of Ketchikan, Alaska. We belong to the Haida tribe. This summer, I urged the Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation (KHHF) to allow me to utilize the foundation's nonprofit status to seek funding and conduct projects that preserve our elders' knowledge.
In September, we created the position of Media Specialist in which I intend to raise money and interview our elders, especially in regards to the Haida language. I will produce, direct, and coordinate a video documentary to raise awareness and archive the language. I plan to make the results available in digital formats on the KHHF website.
If given the chance, I believe people would rally to this cause. We need to get the word out. So, I call on friends like you to get the ball rolling and join "The Grassroots Founders Campaign" Grassroots because the idea is to reach out to many individuals on a personal level; Founders because you will underwrite the beginning of our preservation effort.
Donations received from now until December 31, 2004 will earn the donor a Grassroots Founder designation. I ask for a relatively small gift of 25 to 100 dollars. Donor's names will appear in the KHHF newsletter and donations will be eligible for a tax deduction for this year. Grassroots Founders get special on-screen mention in the documentary.
Please send checks (payable to "KHHF") to:
Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation
600 University Street, Suite 3010
Seattle, WA 98101-1129
Write in the memo area on your check or include a note designating funds for "Media Specialist/Projects".
Very importantly, SPREAD THE WORD. Please pass this on to 5 to 10 friends, or more. You will multiply your donation exponentially and play a vital role in preserving the Haida language for future generations. We appreciate anything you can do to help us preserve our language and heritage.
Sincerely,
Frederick Olsen, Jr.
For more information, email me or go to
http://kavilco.com/pages/
aboutkhhf.html
KHHF is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 92-0169568).





Brave Man Gambles - Winnebago
There was a village there and in it lived a rich man with his wife and little boy. And the man died. That woman's very fine boy grew older, but he could not work. Then the mother's brother worked there. They took care of chickens. And he gambled. Again chickens and pigs [he drove] towards the players, and he gambled. Again he arrived back at the lodge, and there at the lodge he slumped down. And Brave Man (or Warrior) [said], "Hure, we'll eat." Four times the others did not do it with Brave Man and he became angry and knocked them down. The fourth time then [he said], "Huré-e!" and sat down and played cards. Brave Man was being cheated. He had five coins left. He went to the other village. There again Brave Man stayed with the evil ones. Again he was whipped badly. Now Brave Man went home. He did not do the mission that he (Earthmaker) gave him. Before he became a ghost, the woman he crossed over to would touch him. And so Old Woman made a ghost. Having set out a large loaf of bread and two plovers there, she cracked (the skull of) Brave Man with her hands. He cried out. She sent him off as a ghost. He slumped down in the seat. And so then the woman took it. And they had an old man for Chief of Entering the Earth (Mâkewehûka). Then Brave Man was very quiet. If the bad spirits came again, he, Brave Man, the son of Earthmaker, would come again too. Therefore, he said that the coat of the Black Robes (Christians) should not be ended, they say. The Son of God was to have a religious movement. The son would preach, they say. Still at this time he was made the spirit that is over the United States. And thus what I tell ends.
Narrated by Frank Ewing, translated by Richard L. Dieterle from Paul Radin, Notebooks, Winnebago III, #19, Freeman Number 3899 [1254] (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1909?) Story 19c (1), 4-8.

From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories

Comments: Post a Comment
0 comments

Monday, November 29, 2004

Monday, Nov. 29, 2004

native american arts daily news, presented by
amerindianarts.us

Manning House Show features Jade and Native American artists
JCK - King of Prussia,PA,USA
... annual Manning House Show will represent a selection of gem and jewelry arts, sculpture, glass, painting, and photography as well as fine American Indian art ...

Praise the turkey, a noble bird
Redlands Daily Facts - Redlands,CA,USA
... geography (England, Plymouth Rock and the Colonies), Native American culture, agriculture (using a fish to fertilize corn), culinary arts (turkey and all the ...

CROSS-CULTURAL DANCE
Great Falls Tribune - Great Falls,MT,USA
... Daystar, pioneered merging traditional Native American dancing with ... dance company with all Native performers. ... Endowment for the Arts Choreographer's Fellowship ...

Trading post offers unique Ohio souvenirs
Toledo Blade - Toledo,OH,USA
... on Saturdays to sell unique souvenirs from early Ohio and Native American tribes that ... a limited basis for four years, but organizers from the Arts Council Lake ...

New galleries open in Escondido
North County Times - Escondido,CA,USA
... The Robert Wright Gallery includes plein-air, seascape and Native American artists. ... And it seems that Escondido's arts reputation has extended beyond the county ...

Lander professors turning eggs into art
Greenwood Index Journal - Greenwood,SC,USA
... art education majors, five candidates for masters of arts in teaching ... world, including Russian, Turkish, Asian, Indian, Mexican, Native American, African and ...

Maori artist blends cultures
Salt Lake Tribune - Salt Lake City,UT,USA
... artist at the Annual Holiday Indian Arts Market at ... One was American Indian studies, which he first explored in ... the history of the country's native people "it ...

 This once a day Google Alert is brought to you by Google.



CASTING CALL for NATIVE AMERICANS
For background extras and featured extras
CASTING CALL FOR TNT/DREAMWORKS "INTO THE WEST" STARRING MICHAEL SPEARS, GRAHAM GREENE, RUSSELL MEANS, IRENE BEDARD, DAVE BALDEAGLE
a 3 movie series filming outside Santa Fe from Jan 10-Feb 20; and elsewhere in NM from March-May this series follows 2 multi- generational American and Native American families, IN THE LATE 1800's, with each telling the dramatic stories of the development of the West from their distinct points of view.
CASTING IN ALBUQUERQUE
SUN DEC 5 10:30 am - 4:00 pm
SHERATON OLD TOWN
800 Rio Grande Blvd. NW Potters Room
CASTING IN SANTA FE
SAT DEC 11 10:30 am- 4:00 pm
RADISSON 750 N. St. Francis Dr.
WE NEED THE FOLLOWING:
MALE BAREBACK RIDERS
- age 18-50
Female Horseback Riders - all ages
Male Horseback Riders - all ages
Men & Women - all ages
Families - ALL AGES infant to 80's
Men & Women Elders
(**LONG HAIR IS PREFERED for all)
NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY/ PHOTOS WELCOME
PLEASE LOOK FOR OUR ADS & RADIO FOR LATER CASTING
If anyone has questions, please call or email me directly at tasinabanks@mindspring.com / 505-280-3989.
Please spread the word to your friends and families who might be interested in being in a movie. We are seeking Anglos, Irish- Americans, African-Americans and Chinese people as well.
Thank you.
-- Tashina Banks Moore
505-280-3989
tasinabanks@mindspring.com


Navajo artist Teddy Draper Workshops
Chinle, Arizona (Canyon DeChelly)- Seminars and workshops have limited capacity and usually require enrollment months in advance.

Workshop information for 2005

March 15-19, instructor Elmer Yazzie, "cut yucca brush" watercolor technique.

May 16-20, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

June 7-11, Indian Jewelry Basics (class limited to 4 students).

June 7-11, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

Contact Teddy Draper at
dechelly2000@yahoo.com

Web Sites:
Indigenous Peoples Literature



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)

The duties of the Bow Society, and latter the Tribal Council, was enforcement as a secular institution despite religious evaluations.  It would not do to punish or fend witchcraft through religious rite and ceremony, for to do so the canonical rite would paradoxically expose itself to the dangerous simply by reference to it, and would be akin to ‘fighting fire with fire’, a very undesirable prospect to the Zuni.  Thus, attanni is negated by observance ( teshkwi) and violations are reflections upon the individual, and dealt with by secular enforcement, which collectively, may include gossip, criticism, and public ridicule [111].

The underlying dialectic of the beautiful and the dangerous is evident in distinct dialogues, even in the absence of aesthetic expression, for attanni is proper to secular dialogue and is pertinent to religious dialogue only in the sense of observance where ‘if you have been living rightly, then attanni is not an issue’ ( Ko’na to’ tewanan ateyaye ).  Non-verbal expression is not meaningless nor is a deviant utterance meaningless where the objective is the immersion of the subject into the social structure in order to eliminate causes of behavior conducive to the anti-structure of a social hierarchy where the collective consciousness of the people is to “pray to become one” [112].

[111] Op. cit. Dutton, 1983: 13.

[112] Eggan, Fred and T.N. Pandey.  “Zuni History, 1855-1970”.  Handbook of North American Indians, Southwest.  Vol.9.  Ed. By Alfonso Ortiz.  Pp. 474-481.  Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1979.


Notices:

"Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children"
Winter & Christmas 2004 - Request for Donations
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html

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.
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
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.)
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!
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.
Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it."
Respectfully,
Manuel Redwoman,
Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support !

Haidu Language Project
Did you know that before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world, the "Indians" in North America spoke over 300 indigenous languages? Today, roughly 20 of these languages have speakers of all ages. Unfortunately, the Haida language of Kasaan, Alaska is not among them.
Currently, only seven Kasaan Haidas speak the Kasaan Haida dialect with varying degrees of fluency--all elders over the age of 75. I know this because my dad grew up in Kasaan, 25 miles from my birthplace of Ketchikan, Alaska. We belong to the Haida tribe. This summer, I urged the Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation (KHHF) to allow me to utilize the foundation's nonprofit status to seek funding and conduct projects that preserve our elders' knowledge.
In September, we created the position of Media Specialist in which I intend to raise money and interview our elders, especially in regards to the Haida language. I will produce, direct, and coordinate a video documentary to raise awareness and archive the language. I plan to make the results available in digital formats on the KHHF website.
If given the chance, I believe people would rally to this cause. We need to get the word out. So, I call on friends like you to get the ball rolling and join "The Grassroots Founders Campaign" Grassroots because the idea is to reach out to many individuals on a personal level; Founders because you will underwrite the beginning of our preservation effort.
Donations received from now until December 31, 2004 will earn the donor a Grassroots Founder designation. I ask for a relatively small gift of 25 to 100 dollars. Donor's names will appear in the KHHF newsletter and donations will be eligible for a tax deduction for this year. Grassroots Founders get special on-screen mention in the documentary.
Please send checks (payable to "KHHF") to:
Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation
600 University Street, Suite 3010
Seattle, WA 98101-1129
Write in the memo area on your check or include a note designating funds for "Media Specialist/Projects".
Very importantly, SPREAD THE WORD. Please pass this on to 5 to 10 friends, or more. You will multiply your donation exponentially and play a vital role in preserving the Haida language for future generations. We appreciate anything you can do to help us preserve our language and heritage.
Sincerely,
Frederick Olsen, Jr.
For more information, email me or go to
http://kavilco.com/pages/
aboutkhhf.html
KHHF is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 92-0169568).





Blood Clot - Ute
Unlike the tale of Rabbit Boy coming from a blood clot, here the baby is born from a clot of buffalo blood and derives his power from the mighty buffalo tribe. Long ago a very old man and his wife lived alone and hunted for game, but it was scarce and they were hungry. One day the man discovered some buffalo tracks and followed them to the place where the animal had stopped. There he found only a big clot of blood, which he wrapped in his shirt and carried home. The old man told his wife to boil the blood, and she put it into the kettle with water from the creek. But before it came to a boil over the fire, they heard cries inside the kettle. The man ran up to it and pulled out a baby, a little boy, who had somehow formed out of the blood clot. The old couple washed the baby and wrapped him up. By the next morning he had grown much larger, and that day he continued to grow until he could crawl about by himself. The second day he was able to walk a little; by the third day he was walking with ease. The couple called him Blood Clot and came to treat him as their son. The old man made little arrows so that the child could learn to shoot. Soon Blood Clot needed much larger arrows, and with them he began to hunt birds and other small game. He never brought the game home himself, but sent the old man for it. One day Blood Clot returned from hunting and said, "I have killed something with a striped back." The man went out and fetched an animal bigger than a mouse, which he cooked for the three of them. The next day the boy announced, "I have killed a white short-tailed animal." It was a cottontail, which the man also cooked. The day after that, Blood Clot went farther and killed a badger. "I have killed an animal in a hole in the ground," he said, and the man brought the creature home and cooked it. The following day when the boy returned, he said, "I have killed animal with black ears and a black tail." To the old man's joy, it was a female deer. The three of them ate and were happy. Next Blood Clot said, "I have killed a big fellow with big antlers." It was an elk, so again the family feasted on meat. The old man gave the boy a full-sized bow and arrows, and Blood Clot went into the mountains and shot a mountain goat. "I have killed an animal with big horns in the mountains," he said when he came down. "Every day," the old man said proudly, "he kills a different kind of animal." Now their troubles were over, and they had an easy time. Blood Clot killed a mountain lion. Then he tracked and shot an otter: "I have killed an animal with nice fur, living in the water." The old man tanned the skin to make strings for tying the boy's braids. The following day Blood Clot found a beaver: "I have killed a water animal with a tail of this size." At last there came a day when Blood Clot said, "I want to visit the village where many people live. Before that, I will go on my last hunt for you, all day and all night. First I want you to tie up the tent, put rocks on the edge, and fasten the door lest the night wind carry it away. Though the wind will be strong, don't go outdoors and don't be afraid. I will call when you can come out." The old couple obeyed, and he hunted all night while they were sleeping. About daybreak they heard a big noise, forerunner of a wind that threatened to tip over the tent. The man was frightened and wanted to go out, but the wife held him back, reminding him of what their son had said. When daylight came, they heard their son's voice: Come on out; I'll show you something." They unfastened the door and saw dead buffalo lying all around. "I have done this for you," Blood Clot said. "Dry the meat and hides; save the meat and it will last you for a long time." The young man asked his mother to fix him a lunch, and she gave him pemmican. "Now my parents have plenty of food," he said. As he left, they cried and asked him to return. Wearing buckskin leggings, carrying a quiver of mountain lion skin, Blood Clot began to travel. After a few days he reached the village. At the outskirts he asked for the chief's house, and a man told him, "It is in the center." There he found the chief with his wife and daughter. They invited him to sit down, and the chief asked him where he came from and what his tribe was. "I don't know what tribe I belong to. I have come to visit you," Blood Clot replied. The chief stepped outdoors and shouted to the people to come and meet their visitor. The villagers were starving for lack of game, but all gathered at the chief's house and sat down. The chief said, "Do any of you know the tribe of this young man?" People named the tribes - Deer, Elk, Otters, Beavers, and others. They asked him whether he belonged to any of these, but he thought not. At last one old man said, "I think I know from the power in him, although I may be mistaken. I think he is one of the Buffalo." Blood Clot thought about it, and finally agreed. The people of the village asked Blood Clot to stay and marry the chief's daughter. He agreed to this as well, and the wedding was held. That evening he asked his father-in-law to bring one arrow from the tipi. When the chief returned, Blood Clot told him to have all the tipi fastened and to warn the people that they should stay indoors, for there would be a great storm. The chief told the villagers, and at daybreak when they heard a big noise, they cried out in fear but did not leave their tipi. Then Blood Clot called to the chief, who came out to find dead buffalo before every lodge. At his son-in-law's bidding he summoned the whole village for a feast, and all were happy. Blood Clot stayed there until one day when a group of villagers went out to hunt buffalo. Long before this, he had told his wife, "You know the buffalo calf? I am part of that, it is part of me, so you must never say the word 'calf'." When the party killed some buffalo and were butchering, another herd came running past. His wife pointed and called, "Kill that calf!" Immediately Blood Clot jumped on his horse and galloped away, changing as he did so into a buffalo. His wife cried and attempted to catch him, but in vain. From that time on, Blood Clot ran with the buffalo.
Based on a story reported by Robert Lowie in the 1920s.

From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories

Comments: Post a Comment
0 comments

Sunday, November 28, 2004

Sunday, Nov. 28, 2004

native american arts daily news, presented by
amerindianarts.us

St. Lucie County school digest: November 28
Stuart News - Stuart,FL,USA
... Tech Prep programs such as culinary arts will provide demonstrations. ... The students in all of the kindergarten classes dressed in Native American outfits to ...
See all stories on this topic

Kids fall for rain sticks
Foster's Daily Democrat - Dover,NH,USA
... "Also, it'sa good way to remember the area's Native American heritage and pass on some of the traditions.". ... "The kids love to do arts and crafts," Tinker ...

Racial gap remains, 50 years after Brown v. Board
AL.com - Mobile,AL,USA
... were singled out for scrutiny because a good language arts background often is ... Another 3,331 students were Asian, Hispanic, Native American or did not list a ...

State should leverage weak dollar to lure tourists
Salem Statesman Journal - Salem,OR,USA
... for folks who like to hike, taste wine or explore the arts. ... Oregon has several excellent sites, including Native American cultural centers, that examine this. ...

Lecture on keeping kids healthy in flu season
Charlotte Observer (subscription) - Charlotte,NC,USA
... in the university's new Robinson Hall for the Performing Arts Building."The ... Commission; and Rosa Winfree, co-founder of Metrolina Native American Association. ...

Nov.28: Taking the Jesus Pill. King King, 6555 Hollywood Boulevard ...
LA Canyon News - Beverly Hills,CA,USA
... Kenny Loggins. Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd, Thousand Oaks. From 8pm. ... Contemporary Native American Art: Special Exhibition and Sale. ...

Literary Notes
Charlotte Observer (subscription) - Charlotte,NC,USA
... of NC Indian Affairs Commission, Rosa Winfree of Metrolina Native American Association. ... With 6 Charlotte men, 8 pm, Southend Performing Arts Center, 201 ...

 This once a day Google Alert is brought to you by Google.



CASTING CALL for NATIVE AMERICANS
For background extras and featured extras
CASTING CALL FOR TNT/DREAMWORKS "INTO THE WEST" STARRING MICHAEL SPEARS, GRAHAM GREENE, RUSSELL MEANS, IRENE BEDARD, DAVE BALDEAGLE
a 3 movie series filming outside Santa Fe from Jan 10-Feb 20; and elsewhere in NM from March-May this series follows 2 multi- generational American and Native American families, IN THE LATE 1800's, with each telling the dramatic stories of the development of the West from their distinct points of view.
CASTING IN ALBUQUERQUE
SUN DEC 5 10:30 am - 4:00 pm
SHERATON OLD TOWN
800 Rio Grande Blvd. NW Potters Room
CASTING IN SANTA FE
SAT DEC 11 10:30 am- 4:00 pm
RADISSON 750 N. St. Francis Dr.
WE NEED THE FOLLOWING:
MALE BAREBACK RIDERS
- age 18-50
Female Horseback Riders - all ages
Male Horseback Riders - all ages
Men & Women - all ages
Families - ALL AGES infant to 80's
Men & Women Elders
(**LONG HAIR IS PREFERED for all)
NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY/ PHOTOS WELCOME
PLEASE LOOK FOR OUR ADS & RADIO FOR LATER CASTING
If anyone has questions, please call or email me directly at tasinabanks@mindspring.com / 505-280-3989.
Please spread the word to your friends and families who might be interested in being in a movie. We are seeking Anglos, Irish- Americans, African-Americans and Chinese people as well.
Thank you.
-- Tashina Banks Moore
505-280-3989
tasinabanks@mindspring.com


Navajo artist Teddy Draper Workshops
Chinle, Arizona (Canyon DeChelly)- Seminars and workshops have limited capacity and usually require enrollment months in advance.

Workshop information for 2005

March 15-19, instructor Elmer Yazzie, "cut yucca brush" watercolor technique.

May 16-20, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

June 7-11, Indian Jewelry Basics (class limited to 4 students).

June 7-11, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

Contact Teddy Draper at
dechelly2000@yahoo.com

Web Sites:
Indigenous Peoples Literature



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)

The duties of the Bow Society, and latter the Tribal Council, was enforcement as a secular institution despite religious evaluations.  It would not do to punish or fend witchcraft through religious rite and ceremony, for to do so the canonical rite would paradoxically expose itself to the dangerous simply by reference to it, and would be akin to ‘fighting fire with fire’, a very undesirable prospect to the Zuni.  Thus, attanni is negated by observance ( teshkwi) and violations are reflections upon the individual, and dealt with by secular enforcement, which collectively, may include gossip, criticism, and public ridicule [111].

The underlying dialectic of the beautiful and the dangerous is evident in distinct dialogues, even in the absence of aesthetic expression, for attanni is proper to secular dialogue and is pertinent to religious dialogue only in the sense of observance where ‘if you have been living rightly, then attanni is not an issue’ ( Ko’na to’ tewanan ateyaye ).  Non-verbal expression is not meaningless nor is a deviant utterance meaningless where the objective is the immersion of the subject into the social structure in order to eliminate causes of behavior conducive to the anti-structure of a social hierarchy where the collective consciousness of the people is to “pray to become one” [112].

[111] Op. cit. Dutton, 1983: 13.

[112] Eggan, Fred and T.N. Pandey.  “Zuni History, 1855-1970”.  Handbook of North American Indians, Southwest.  Vol.9.  Ed. By Alfonso Ortiz.  Pp. 474-481.  Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1979.


Notices:

"Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children"
Winter & Christmas 2004 - Request for Donations
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html

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.
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
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.)
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!
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.
Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it."
Respectfully,
Manuel Redwoman,
Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support !

Haidu Language Project
Did you know that before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world, the "Indians" in North America spoke over 300 indigenous languages? Today, roughly 20 of these languages have speakers of all ages. Unfortunately, the Haida language of Kasaan, Alaska is not among them.
Currently, only seven Kasaan Haidas speak the Kasaan Haida dialect with varying degrees of fluency--all elders over the age of 75. I know this because my dad grew up in Kasaan, 25 miles from my birthplace of Ketchikan, Alaska. We belong to the Haida tribe. This summer, I urged the Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation (KHHF) to allow me to utilize the foundation's nonprofit status to seek funding and conduct projects that preserve our elders' knowledge.
In September, we created the position of Media Specialist in which I intend to raise money and interview our elders, especially in regards to the Haida language. I will produce, direct, and coordinate a video documentary to raise awareness and archive the language. I plan to make the results available in digital formats on the KHHF website.
If given the chance, I believe people would rally to this cause. We need to get the word out. So, I call on friends like you to get the ball rolling and join "The Grassroots Founders Campaign" Grassroots because the idea is to reach out to many individuals on a personal level; Founders because you will underwrite the beginning of our preservation effort.
Donations received from now until December 31, 2004 will earn the donor a Grassroots Founder designation. I ask for a relatively small gift of 25 to 100 dollars. Donor's names will appear in the KHHF newsletter and donations will be eligible for a tax deduction for this year. Grassroots Founders get special on-screen mention in the documentary.
Please send checks (payable to "KHHF") to:
Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation
600 University Street, Suite 3010
Seattle, WA 98101-1129
Write in the memo area on your check or include a note designating funds for "Media Specialist/Projects".
Very importantly, SPREAD THE WORD. Please pass this on to 5 to 10 friends, or more. You will multiply your donation exponentially and play a vital role in preserving the Haida language for future generations. We appreciate anything you can do to help us preserve our language and heritage.
Sincerely,
Frederick Olsen, Jr.
For more information, email me or go to
http://kavilco.com/pages/
aboutkhhf.html
KHHF is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 92-0169568).





A Lover's Quarrel - Yana
"S*uwa! May I dream of him! Would that you might come. You thought that you would not love any one." (Her lover has come and says to her,) "I love you very much, that is why I have come." "Perhaps you do not love me." "I have loved you for a long time, and I shall always do so. I shall always come to see you. Pray come to our house, and I shall do likewise. After a while we shall be married." "Pray let me grow. I am not yet grown up." "My mother already knows about it, and I shall stay with you, and you shall do likewise to me." (She said,) "I am afraid that you might abandon me. They say that you are a bad fellow, and I did not know about it. You shall go off to hunt." "You talk too much to me, and it is I that speak rightly. I do not know what I shall do. You are not, it seems, a sensible person. I shall be good to you, I shall give you good clothes. Do not be afraid of me! Why, pray, do you speak thus? You should have told it to me long ago. Perchance you think that you are the only one. There are many women, and I shall take any one. Do you think about me, 'He will cry'? Perchance you say, 'I am very pretty.' Indeed, I have abandoned a pretty one. What, pray, should I do if you do not love me? I shall try another woman. Perchance you think about me, 'He will not find any women.' You do not know what I have in mind. I have many brothers and sisters who would help me [With the payment for a bride.]if I go anywhere's to woo. Many are the nephews and nieces, my sister's children." Yana Texts by Edward Sapir University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 1-235 [1910] [Obtained in July and August, 1907, a few miles to the north of the hamlet of Round Mountain (or Buzzard's Roost), Shasta county. The informant was Betty Brown (Indian name Ts!i'daimiya), since dead. There are now not more than seven or eight Indians that are able to speak the dialect. In some respects Betty was an inferior source of text material to Sam Bat'wi, as evidenced by the very small number of myths it was found possible to procure from her. Her method of narrative was peculiar in that she had a very marked tendency to omit anything, even the names of the characters involved, that was not conversation; this has necessitated the liberal use in the English translation of parentheses in which the attempt is made to arrive at a somewhat smoother narrative.]


From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories

Comments: Post a Comment
0 comments

Saturday, November 27, 2004

Saturday, Nov. 27, 2004

native american arts daily news, presented by
amerindianarts.us

Today's Best Bets
Athens Banner-Herald (subscription) - Athens,GA,USA
... Turkey-Active" Workout - 11 am-12:30 pm, Classic Martial Arts Club, 165 ... glass, jewelry, sculpture and fiber works by 20-25 artists, Native American music and ...
See all stories on this topic

Lincoln Mall looks toward 2005 renovation to boost business
Woonsocketcall.com - Woonsocket,RI,USA
... Inside, there are just six stores besides Zales: a NASCAR collectibles vendor; a store that sells Native American arts and crafts; a young women's clothing ...

Route 66 artists gather at Isleta
El Defensor Chieftain - Socorro,NM,USA
The Route 66 Society for the Arts' second annual winter art stroll has ... for beauty, rhythm, accuracy and telling a story from the Native American point of view ...

 This once a day Google Alert is brought to you by Google.



CASTING CALL for NATIVE AMERICANS
For background extras and featured extras
CASTING CALL FOR TNT/DREAMWORKS "INTO THE WEST" STARRING MICHAEL SPEARS, GRAHAM GREENE, RUSSELL MEANS, IRENE BEDARD, DAVE BALDEAGLE
a 3 movie series filming outside Santa Fe from Jan 10-Feb 20; and elsewhere in NM from March-May this series follows 2 multi- generational American and Native American families, IN THE LATE 1800's, with each telling the dramatic stories of the development of the West from their distinct points of view.
CASTING IN ALBUQUERQUE
SUN DEC 5 10:30 am - 4:00 pm
SHERATON OLD TOWN
800 Rio Grande Blvd. NW Potters Room
CASTING IN SANTA FE
SAT DEC 11 10:30 am- 4:00 pm
RADISSON 750 N. St. Francis Dr.
WE NEED THE FOLLOWING:
MALE BAREBACK RIDERS
- age 18-50
Female Horseback Riders - all ages
Male Horseback Riders - all ages
Men & Women - all ages
Families - ALL AGES infant to 80's
Men & Women Elders
(**LONG HAIR IS PREFERED for all)
NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY/ PHOTOS WELCOME
PLEASE LOOK FOR OUR ADS & RADIO FOR LATER CASTING
If anyone has questions, please call or email me directly at tasinabanks@mindspring.com / 505-280-3989.
Please spread the word to your friends and families who might be interested in being in a movie. We are seeking Anglos, Irish- Americans, African-Americans and Chinese people as well.
Thank you.
-- Tashina Banks Moore
505-280-3989
tasinabanks@mindspring.com


Navajo artist Teddy Draper Workshops
Chinle, Arizona (Canyon DeChelly)- Seminars and workshops have limited capacity and usually require enrollment months in advance.

Workshop information for 2005

March 15-19, instructor Elmer Yazzie, "cut yucca brush" watercolor technique.

May 16-20, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

June 7-11, Indian Jewelry Basics (class limited to 4 students).

June 7-11, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

Contact Teddy Draper at
dechelly2000@yahoo.com

Web Sites:
Indigenous Peoples Literature


Essay on the Zuni World View
Excerpt (Complete article is available in PDF)

The duties of the Bow Society, and latter the Tribal Council, was enforcement as a secular institution despite religious evaluations.  It would not do to punish or fend witchcraft through religious rite and ceremony, for to do so the canonical rite would paradoxically expose itself to the dangerous simply by reference to it, and would be akin to ‘fighting fire with fire’, a very undesirable prospect to the Zuni.  Thus, attanni is negated by observance ( teshkwi) and violations are reflections upon the individual, and dealt with by secular enforcement, which collectively, may include gossip, criticism, and public ridicule [111].

The underlying dialectic of the beautiful and the dangerous is evident in distinct dialogues, even in the absence of aesthetic expression, for attanni is proper to secular dialogue and is pertinent to religious dialogue only in the sense of observance where ‘if you have been living rightly, then attanni is not an issue’ ( Ko’na to’ tewanan ateyaye ).  Non-verbal expression is not meaningless nor is a deviant utterance meaningless where the objective is the immersion of the subject into the social structure in order to eliminate causes of behavior conducive to the anti-structure of a social hierarchy where the collective consciousness of the people is to “pray to become one” [112].

[111] Op. cit. Dutton, 1983: 13.

[112] Eggan, Fred and T.N. Pandey.  “Zuni History, 1855-1970”.  Handbook of North American Indians, Southwest.  Vol.9.  Ed. By Alfonso Ortiz.  Pp. 474-481.  Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1979.


Notices:

"Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children"
Winter & Christmas 2004 - Request for Donations
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html

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.
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
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.)
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!
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.
Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it."
Respectfully,
Manuel Redwoman,
Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support !

Haidu Language Project
Did you know that before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world, the "Indians" in North America spoke over 300 indigenous languages? Today, roughly 20 of these languages have speakers of all ages. Unfortunately, the Haida language of Kasaan, Alaska is not among them.
Currently, only seven Kasaan Haidas speak the Kasaan Haida dialect with varying degrees of fluency--all elders over the age of 75. I know this because my dad grew up in Kasaan, 25 miles from my birthplace of Ketchikan, Alaska. We belong to the Haida tribe. This summer, I urged the Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation (KHHF) to allow me to utilize the foundation's nonprofit status to seek funding and conduct projects that preserve our elders' knowledge.
In September, we created the position of Media Specialist in which I intend to raise money and interview our elders, especially in regards to the Haida language. I will produce, direct, and coordinate a video documentary to raise awareness and archive the language. I plan to make the results available in digital formats on the KHHF website.
If given the chance, I believe people would rally to this cause. We need to get the word out. So, I call on friends like you to get the ball rolling and join "The Grassroots Founders Campaign" Grassroots because the idea is to reach out to many individuals on a personal level; Founders because you will underwrite the beginning of our preservation effort.
Donations received from now until December 31, 2004 will earn the donor a Grassroots Founder designation. I ask for a relatively small gift of 25 to 100 dollars. Donor's names will appear in the KHHF newsletter and donations will be eligible for a tax deduction for this year. Grassroots Founders get special on-screen mention in the documentary.
Please send checks (payable to "KHHF") to:
Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation
600 University Street, Suite 3010
Seattle, WA 98101-1129
Write in the memo area on your check or include a note designating funds for "Media Specialist/Projects".
Very importantly, SPREAD THE WORD. Please pass this on to 5 to 10 friends, or more. You will multiply your donation exponentially and play a vital role in preserving the Haida language for future generations. We appreciate anything you can do to help us preserve our language and heritage.
Sincerely,
Frederick Olsen, Jr.
For more information, email me or go to
http://kavilco.com/pages/
aboutkhhf.html
KHHF is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 92-0169568).





A Dead Man Speaks Through Fire - Seneca
Characters NYAGWAIHE - The Ancient of Bears DZOGÉOn - The Little People A WOMAN and her son lived in one house, a brother and sister in another. The old woman's son and the brother looked alike, were the same height and could scarcely be told apart; they were great friends. The old woman's son often visited the brother and sister, but when the brother found that his friend thought of marrying the sister when she was old enough (she was very young), he was displeased and the next time the young man came to the house he killed him, dug a hole under the fireplace, put the body into it, filled the hole with earth, and built a fire. The mother waited for her son and when he didn't come she went to the other house, and asked, "Where is my son?" "He just started for home, maybe he is in the woods; he was going to cut twigs for arrows," answered the young man. When the woman started for home he ran out, cut wood quickly, hurried to her house, sat down and began to whittle out arrows. When she came in he asked, "Where have you been, mother?" "I've been at your friend's house." "Well," said he, "I am going over there a little while." He put away the arrows, ran home, and said, "My sister, I am afraid that we are going to die. Hurry to the spring, leave your pail there; run in every direction, then come back to the house." The girl went to the spring, covered the ground with tracks and came back. Then the brother said, "I'll put you in the head of my arrow and send you off." He shook the girl till she became very small, then put her in the head of his arrow, and said, "I will shoot toward the East; when the arrow strikes the ground, jump out and run. I'll overtake you." He shot the arrow up through the smoke-hole. It came down on a stone far off in the East. The arrow burst and the girl came out and began to run as fast as she could. The young man ran around in circles; made many tracks, then stood on the top of the house. There was a long line across the sky, the trail the arrow had made. He ran off under this trail, came to the spot where the arrow struck the stone, then followed his sister's tracks. The woman got tired of waiting for her son and went over to see what he was doing. The house was empty. She sat down by the fire, then a voice spoke out of the fire, and said, "My friend killed me! My friend killed me!" The woman dug down and found her son's body. She went home, became a NYAGWAIHE and followed the girl's tracks to the spring; followed them till she was at the house again. Then she looked through the smoke-hole, saw on the sky the trail of the arrow, and hurrying out ran toward the East. The young man overtook his sister before she was far from the stone, then they ran on together. After a time they heard a bear roar. The girl trembled and grew weak, but her brother encouraged her. At night they lay down by a tree and slept a little. The young man dreamed that a woman came to him, and said, "Here is a stone to defend yourself with. Tomorrow about midday throw this stone behind you and say, 'Let there be a ridge of rocks across the world so high that nothing can climb over or pass it.'" In the morning the young man saw at his side the very stone he had seen in his dream. He took the stone with him. Before midday they heard a bear roar. The young man threw the stone behind him and that minute a ridge of rocks stretched across the world. The ridge was so high that no living creature could climb it. The bear came to the ridge and saw that the tracks she was following went farther. She clambered up and fell back. Howling terribly, she said, "I'll overtake and eat them both!" She ran toward the North; could find no end or opening, then she went back and ran toward the South, and finding no opening went back and lay down near the tracks. The next morning she found only a small stone in her way. She ground it to powder and went on. The brother and sister had gone far but at midday they heard the bear roar and knew she was coming. They reached a great forest; the trees were dried up and leafless. They saw a house and going in found an old man sitting by the fire. They told him their trouble and he said, "I will help you, but you have another uncle not far from here, he will help you more than I can." The old man was chipping flint, when he had a handful of chips he flung it at the trees and in this way he had killed all the trees in the forest; he had great witchcraft. The brother and sister went on. The old man had a heap of flint chips piled up near him. When he heard the bear coming he threw handful after handful of the chips at her, but she didn't turn away. She came to the door, and asked, "Have you seen a young man and a girl?" "I have not," said he, "I pay no heed to persons who pass." The bear seized the old man by the head, crushed him and killed him. Then she saw tracks and knowing that the brother and sister had gone ahead, she roared and rushed on. When they came to the second uncle, he said, "I will help you all I can, but hurry on till you come to the house of another uncle." He made a trap on the trail, near that a second trap, and then a third one. When the bear came, she rushed into the first trap; after a long struggle she broke through, then got into the second trap, and only got out of that to fall into the third one. When she got out of the third trap she went to the old man, and asked, "Have you seen a young man and a girl pass?" "I have not." The bear seized the old man and tore him to pieces with her teeth. When the brother and sister came to the third uncle, he was making a net. His eyes were closed and his eyelids hung on his cheeks. When they called to him he didn't hear them; they called again; he kept at work. When his nephew got a pounder and hit him on the head he raised his eyebrows and said, "I hear a voice." "A great bear is following us," said the young man, "I will help you all I can," said the uncle, "but your grandfather lives in the next house, run to him; he can help you more than I can." When the bear was near, the old man put a long net on the trail. She was caught in the net, but she struggled and bit till at last she freed herself. Then going to the old man she asked, "Have you seen a young man and a girl pass this way?" "I have not," said he. When the brother and sister came to their grandfather's house they found SHAGODYOWEQ (Wind people) there. These people wore heavy shells. When they saw the brother and sister they told them to go on till they came to the next house, that the people there were very strong, possessed great witchcraft and could help them. The bear came and after a hard fight killed the Wind people. When the brother and sister reached the next house an old DZOGÉOn 1 woman sat in front of it. She told them to go in, she would kill the bear. She had a great deal of bear fat. She told her three sons to make two fires on the tracks of the brother and sister, put a kettle over each fire and fill the kettles with fat. When the fat was boiling, the brothers gathered red willows and made arrows. The woman stood near the first kettle. The bear came rushing along and asked, "Are the two here whose tracks these are?" "They are here," said she, "They are in the house." The bear started to go around the kettles, but the woman said, "You mustn't go that way; those who came before you went through the fire, you must do as they did." The bear started; overturned the first kettle, got her paws burned and fell back growling. She made for the second kettle, overturned that and was burned still worse. Then the boys killed her with their red willow arrows, and burned her bones to powder so she couldn't come to life. The DZOGÉOn woman told the brother and sister to stay with her till they were rested, then her sons would go home with them. They started, and the DZOGÉOn boys traveled with them two days, then telling them how to get home they turned back. Peter White said the Bear woman's son had a tuft of yellow hair hanging down his back from the crown of his head, that when he was killed by his friend, the friend cut off that tuft of hair and fastened it to the top of his own head. When the Bear woman's son was hunting he could send his arrows home. They would go into the house and to the place where they belonged. After the friend had the tuft of hair his arrows would go home in the same way. The strength was in the tuft of hair.
Footnotes: 426:1 Very small people who usually live among rocks.
Seneca Indian Myths by Jeremiah Curtin 1922

From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories

Comments: Post a Comment
0 comments

Friday, November 26, 2004

Friday, Nov. 26, 2004

native american arts daily news, presented by
amerindianarts.us

Special events calendar
The State - Columbia,SC,USA
10, "From Our Earth and Sky: Folk Art by South Carolinians with Native American Ancestry," Goodall Gallery, Columbia College. Arts and crafts created by ...

Contemporary Inuit Art at Peabody Essex Museum
Art Daily - USA
... museum is also committed to forging partnerships with Native American artists through ... a vital body of sculpture, drawing, printmaking, textile arts, and work ...

Weekend events
Providence Journal (subscription) - Providence,RI,USA
... CRAFTS: The Dighton Intertribal Council will hold a Native American Craft demonstration ... England will participate in the 28th annual Christmas Arts and Crafts ...
See all stories on this topic

Out & About
Press-Enterprise (subscription) - Riverside,CA,USA
... FENDER MUSEUM OF MUSIC AND THE ARTS, 11 am-4 pm Wednesdays-Sundays ... RIVERSIDE MUNICIPAL MUSEUM, exhibits on natural, local and Native American history, 9 am-5 pm ...

Weekend events
Providence Journal (subscription) - Providence,RI,USA
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... Five students graduated with associate of arts degrees in that first class of 1975 from ... Little Ghost turned to the Native American way, and he put aside alcohol ...

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Navajo artist Teddy Draper Workshops
Chinle, Arizona (Canyon DeChelly)- Seminars and workshops have limited capacity and usually require enrollment months in advance.

Workshop information for 2005

March 15-19, instructor Elmer Yazzie, "cut yucca brush" watercolor technique.

May 16-20, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

June 7-11, Indian Jewelry Basics (class limited to 4 students).

June 7-11, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

Contact Teddy Draper at
dechelly2000@yahoo.com

Web Sites:
Indigenous Peoples Literature


Essay on the Zuni World View
Excerpt (Complete article is available in PDF)

The duties of the Bow Society, and latter the Tribal Council, was enforcement as a secular institution despite religious evaluations.  It would not do to punish or fend witchcraft through religious rite and ceremony, for to do so the canonical rite would paradoxically expose itself to the dangerous simply by reference to it, and would be akin to ‘fighting fire with fire’, a very undesirable prospect to the Zuni.  Thus, attanni is negated by observance ( teshkwi) and violations are reflections upon the individual, and dealt with by secular enforcement, which collectively, may include gossip, criticism, and public ridicule [111].

The underlying dialectic of the beautiful and the dangerous is evident in distinct dialogues, even in the absence of aesthetic expression, for attanni is proper to secular dialogue and is pertinent to religious dialogue only in the sense of observance where ‘if you have been living rightly, then attanni is not an issue’ ( Ko’na to’ tewanan ateyaye ).  Non-verbal expression is not meaningless nor is a deviant utterance meaningless where the objective is the immersion of the subject into the social structure in order to eliminate causes of behavior conducive to the anti-structure of a social hierarchy where the collective consciousness of the people is to “pray to become one” [112].

[111] Op. cit. Dutton, 1983: 13.

[112] Eggan, Fred and T.N. Pandey.  “Zuni History, 1855-1970”.  Handbook of North American Indians, Southwest.  Vol.9.  Ed. By Alfonso Ortiz.  Pp. 474-481.  Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1979.


Notices:

"Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children"
Winter & Christmas 2004 - Request for Donations
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html

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.
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
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.)
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!
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.
Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it."
Respectfully,
Manuel Redwoman,
Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support !

Haidu Language Project
Did you know that before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world, the "Indians" in North America spoke over 300 indigenous languages? Today, roughly 20 of these languages have speakers of all ages. Unfortunately, the Haida language of Kasaan, Alaska is not among them.
Currently, only seven Kasaan Haidas speak the Kasaan Haida dialect with varying degrees of fluency--all elders over the age of 75. I know this because my dad grew up in Kasaan, 25 miles from my birthplace of Ketchikan, Alaska. We belong to the Haida tribe. This summer, I urged the Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation (KHHF) to allow me to utilize the foundation's nonprofit status to seek funding and conduct projects that preserve our elders' knowledge.
In September, we created the position of Media Specialist in which I intend to raise money and interview our elders, especially in regards to the Haida language. I will produce, direct, and coordinate a video documentary to raise awareness and archive the language. I plan to make the results available in digital formats on the KHHF website.
If given the chance, I believe people would rally to this cause. We need to get the word out. So, I call on friends like you to get the ball rolling and join "The Grassroots Founders Campaign" Grassroots because the idea is to reach out to many individuals on a personal level; Founders because you will underwrite the beginning of our preservation effort.
Donations received from now until December 31, 2004 will earn the donor a Grassroots Founder designation. I ask for a relatively small gift of 25 to 100 dollars. Donor's names will appear in the KHHF newsletter and donations will be eligible for a tax deduction for this year. Grassroots Founders get special on-screen mention in the documentary.
Please send checks (payable to "KHHF") to:
Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation
600 University Street, Suite 3010
Seattle, WA 98101-1129
Write in the memo area on your check or include a note designating funds for "Media Specialist/Projects".
Very importantly, SPREAD THE WORD. Please pass this on to 5 to 10 friends, or more. You will multiply your donation exponentially and play a vital role in preserving the Haida language for future generations. We appreciate anything you can do to help us preserve our language and heritage.
Sincerely,
Frederick Olsen, Jr.
For more information, email me or go to
http://kavilco.com/pages/
aboutkhhf.html
KHHF is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 92-0169568).





A Man Chased by the Ancient Of Lizards - Seneca
Characters DAGWANOEnYENT - Big Head (Whirlwind) OGEnHWAN - Gnat SWEnGEDAIGEA - Hawk (Hen-hawk) GASYONDETHA - Meteor NYAGWAIHE - The Ancient of Bears OSHADA - Mist or Dusty Vapor DZAINOS GOWA - Blue Lizard, the Ancient of Lizards ONCE there was a large village where people lived happily and had plenty of meat. At the end of the village lived a man whom few persons noticed. One night that man had a dream. His dream said, "Something is going to happen to the people of this village. You must tell them to move away within ten days." The next morning the man went to the center of the village, gathered the people and told his dream. Some believed in the dream others did not. Five days later those who had believed joined those who had not, and paid no heed to the dream. The fifth night the man dreamed again and his dream said, "We know that the people do not heed your warning. But save yourself. Three days from now take all your arrows and climb the hill on the east side of the village till you come to a large rock. The rock is hollow. Go inside of it and you will find a hole in the ground. Look through the hole and you will see all that is going on in the village. "The people will be destroyed by Big Head. Five days from now, at midday, there will be a terrible outcry. When the cry dies away, you must begin to shoot through the hole, for as soon as the people are destroyed the monster will track you. You will save your life if you shoot all your arrows at it before it reaches the hole. "When the monster is dead, take from the back of its head a piece of skin together with the hair, which is very long. The skin will be of use to you, for it has great power. Wind the hair around your body next to your skin and declare that there is nothing that you cannot do. "At night, when it is dark enough not to be seen, go North a short distance and you will find a tree turned up by the roots. You must not be frightened. I shall give you something which will be of great use to you." After this dream the man was gloomy and unhappy. When the time came, he took his bundle of arrows and left the village. He didn't take his wife or children for they did not believe in the dream. Just at sunset he came to a large rock on the side of the hill. He found the opening and going into it crept along till he thought he was under the center of the rock. There he found a space high enough for him to stand in. He lay down and slept. The next morning a deer was standing near the opening. He killed it, roasted some of the meat and ate it. The fifth day, as the man sat on the rock, he heard a great noise coming from the South. As the sound approached the village he saw something that looked like smoke, saw that trees were falling, and falling toward the village. When the noise reached the village, the man took his position opposite the opening in the ground. It seemed to him that the village was right at hand. He heard the screaming of the people and saw the cabins torn to pieces and hurled into the air. Big Head missed one man, and when all the others were destroyed he laughed, and said, "This world is not large enough for him to hide in." When the man saw that trees were falling toward the East, he knew that Big Head had found his trail, and he strung his bow and began to shoot through the hole as rapidly as possible. When only two arrows were left, he saw a great black Head not far away. He shot his last arrow; the roar ceased, the Head fell and he heard it say, "You have killed me!" The man went to where the Head lay and found in it every arrow he had shot. "I must do as my dream said," thought he, so he took a part of the scalp, tied it around his body and said, "You must always help me. You must not let me be overpowered by anyone." He climbed to the top of the hill quickly, for now he could go very fast. He found a good place and built a brush hut. "I must have plenty of meat," thought he, and going out he saw deer, bears and all kinds of game. He killed what he wanted. To skin the deer and bears he had merely to take hold of the skin of the head and pull; with no effort the skin came from the whole carcass. He made a brush shed and hung the meat up to dry. When it began to grow dark, the man started toward the North, as his dream had told him to do. He had not gone far when he came to a fallen tree, the roots turned out of the ground. When half way around the tree, he saw Meteor with his great mouth open. When Meteor saw that the man wasn't frightened he laughed and said, "Take one of my teeth, it will be of great use to you. It will enable you to change yourself into any form you like." The man took a double tooth, the one farthest back in Meteor's jaw. Then Meteor said, "You will live always and you will have great power, but you and I must always counsel with each other. Now we will part." Meteor flew off through the air and the man went back to his hut. He made up his mind that the hut would be his home. He stayed there a long time then getting lonesome, he said to himself, "I will go and see if I can find people anywhere." He turned into a hawk and flew toward the southwest. As he rose high in the air he looked down on the ground. After a while he saw, in the West, something that made him think people were living there. Then he began to come down. He came lower and lower and when near the ground saw a village. He said to himself, "I will eat up the people who live in that village." He turned into a great bear and, beginning at the first house, ate up every person he could find. When he thought he had eaten everybody, he saw, off at the edge of the village, a little hut with smoke rising from it. In the hut he found a man and woman and several children. He ate them all. "I have finished," said he, and changed himself to a man. He stood around a while, then, seeing a trail he followed it, but had not gone far when he met a woman who was very handsome. "Where do you live?" asked he. "Over there in the cabin at the edge of the village." "You had better go home with me for there is no one living in that cabin. All the people are dead." "I must see first," said the woman. They went back to the village and to the hut where he had found the man, woman, and children. She was the eldest child of the family. Seeing blood on the ground she began to cry. The man put his hand on the top of her head. That minute she was senseless. He shook her and as he shook she became a gnat. He changed himself to a hawk and putting the gnat under his wing flew up and off in the direction of his hut. He got there quickly, then he changed to a man and shook the gnat back to her natural form and size. "This is your home," said he, "You must take care of the meat and the house." One night while the two were sitting in the hut, the man heard a noise outside as though someone were coming on a run. The door was pushed open and a man came in, and said, "I have come to warn you. You have made yourself into two. NYAGWAIHE (the Ancient of Bears)--is jealous of you and has said, 'There is a man over there who is very powerful, but I will overpower him and eat him.'" "To-morrow the Bear will come. You must go East till you reach a high stony hill. When the Bear tries to attack you, jump from one rock to another. It will spring after you. When it falls, you may feel safe. This is what I had to tell you. Now I will go." The next morning the woman saw that her husband was gloomy and sad. "What is the matter?" asked she. "I am thinking of what will happen to me at midday." The woman had neither seen nor heard the man who spoke to her husband though she was right there in the hut. He and the man who came to him were so powerful in spirit that they alone heard and saw each other. When it was nearly midday, the man started for the rocks, leaving his wife. He seated himself on the highest rock and waited. Just at midday he heard a great noise, then another nearer; the third was right at the rock. There was a whoop and a voice said, "I am the strongest of the strong. Nothing can overpower me." It was NYAGWAIHE (the Ancient of Bears). The Bear leaped on to the rock where the man stood. The man sprang to the next rock, the Bear close behind him. In this way they sprang from one rock to another till the man was tired. As he looked ahead, the next rock looked farther off than the others had been. He made a great effort and just reached it. The Bear was right behind him. It sprang, but falling short, hit its jaws on the edge of the rock and went down. The man jumped to the ground. As he struck the ground he looked back and saw the rock he had just left turn over on to the Bear. "That is what I said," thought the man. "There is nothing that can overpower me." He went back to his hut. He was very happy. One day when the man and woman were sitting by the fire, they heard somebody approaching the hut. The man opened the door and saw the friend who had twice warned him of danger. The woman saw him too. The man said, "Your life is in danger but I will try and save you. Rub your wife's head with your hands, she will turn to oshada (oshada is like the dusty vapor flying on a road in dry weather). Tell her to follow you wherever you go, but she must leave the hut before you do, you will stay here as long as you can, then run directly South. I am going now, but I will come to you again." In the morning the man rubbed the woman's head and said, "Let my wife become a dusty vapor." While he rubbed, she became a vapor on his hand. With his other hand he brushed the vapor off in the direction it was to go. Then he piled up his meat and said in a loud voice, "I give this meat to you flesh-eating animals that live in the woods." He went southward from the hut to an elm tree that was smooth up to where it branched off. He climbed the tree and sat in the crotch. Soon he began to feel weak, and he thought, "There must be something near." He looked everywhere but saw no one. Taking out the Meteor tooth he dampened it with saliva, rubbed his finger over it, then rubbed his eyes, and said, "Now I can see everything that is going on, even down in the ground." He looked into the earth and saw, deep down, a tree and on the tree was a monster Lizard. He watched it as it climbed slowly up the tree. When it was near the top, the man grew very faint. The Lizard was the largest of the ancient blue Lizards (DZAINOS GOWA). It came out of the ground in the heart of the tree that the man was sitting on. The man leaped to another tree. That instant the Lizard was where the man had been sitting and it called out, "You are smart but I shall overpower you." It sprang toward the man; the man leaped to another tree and then from tree to tree, the Lizard following. At the edge of a hill was a great rock. The man ran to the rock and from the rock leaped into the air and came down on a mountain far away. He ran directly south along the ridge of the mountain, then went down on the opposite side to a wide valley. He ran across the valley and had begun to climb a second mountain when he heard the Lizard coming down the mountain he had just descended on the other side of the valley. It was dark now but the man continued to run, ran all night. In the morning he saw an opening on the other side of which was a low hill, and smoke of some kind. He reached the foot of the hill and turning saw the Lizard had just come to the opening. It raised its paw and struck the man's footprint on the trail. That instant the man fell to the ground. As he fell his friend was there and said, "Get up! You will die if you fall in this way." He lifted him and pushed him into a run, urging him to hurry. The man felt stronger and again ran fast from valley to valley, the Lizard always about the same distance behind. All at once the man fell again. Right away his friend was there. He lifted him to his feet saying, "Keep up courage," and pushed him into a run. Again he felt stronger and ran faster. It was a very dark night; he ran against a great maple tree. As he hit the tree he went straight through. This happened many times in the night. Whenever the man hit a tree he went through it. For eight days and nights the Lizard chased the man. When it found out that he went through trees it threw its power ahead and made the trees so hard that the man could no longer go through them. The ninth night the Lizard commanded a terrible rain storm to come and the night to be so dark that the man couldn't see where he was going. The man ran till midnight without once hitting a tree. Just at midnight he hit one and was thrown far back. That moment his friend was there, and said, "Do all you can," and taking hold of his hand he led him and they went faster than the man had gone alone. The two ran together till daylight, then the friend left and the man went on alone. He began to be very weak. The Lizard was coming nearer and its strokes on the tracks were more frequent; the man fell oftener. Night came and the Lizard made it terribly dark. The man ran against a tree and bounded far back. The Lizard was so near that the man fell behind him. The Lizard struck the tree and was thrown back also. The man was up and running forward again. The Lizard was just upon him and was reaching out to seize him when the man fell, as it seemed to him, into a hole in the ground. He thought, "Well, I am near my end; when I strike I shall be dashed to pieces." He kept falling and as he fell he got sleepy. Looking up he saw the Lizard coming down on the side of the hole, winding around and around. The man fell asleep. After a time he woke up and was still falling and the Lizard was still pursuing him. At last the man landed on his feet. He seemed to have come out of the hole. He looked around and saw a beautiful country. "My friend told me to go toward the South," thought he, and he ran on in that direction. As the man ran he knew that the Lizard was behind him coming very fast. "Now I shall die," thought he. He closed his eyes and kept on, thinking, "I will not see when it reaches me." He ran a long time, then opened his eyes and looked around. He didn't see the Lizard but he kept running. Soon he came to a house and going in found an old man. The old man looked up and said, "My grandson, I am glad you have come. I have been waiting for you. You are bringing with you what I have wanted to eat. Stand back there, Lizard and I will fight alone. We will see if he is as powerful as he thinks he is." The Lizard came to the house and asked, "Where is the man I have been chasing?" "Here I am," answered the old man. "You are not the man." "I am, but if you think there is another man here, you will not hunt for him till you overpower me." "Come outside," said the Lizard, "there isn't room in here." "Very well," said the old man and getting up he went outside. They began to fight. The Lizard tore the old man's flesh. It came together again and healed. The old man tore off Lizard's forelegs, but Lizard didn't give up; the two fought till Lizard was torn to pieces. When the old man convinced himself that the pieces were not alive, he hung them up in the house and called to his grandson, "Come out! I have killed the Lizard that you were afraid of. I have been wishing for this kind of meat for a long time." The old man boiled some of the meat in a large kettle. In a small kettle he cooked bear meat for his grandson. While the meat was cooking, he put corn in a pounder and with a few strokes it was flour. Then he made bread and began eating. When he had eaten every bit of the great Lizard, he said, "I thank you, my grandson, this meat will last me for many years. You must stay here till you are rested and cured, for you have been poisoned by the power of the Lizard." The old man was the oldest of the Flying Meteors. One day he said to the man, "I want you to see what I have planted." They went a short distance from the cabin to a field where something was growing. "This is ones (corn)," said the old man. There were tall stalks with ears on them as long as the man was tall and the kernels were as large as a man's head. The old man said, "Let us go to the other side of the field." There the man saw a field where different kinds of corn were growing. They went to a third field where something was growing and the old man said, "These are squashes." They were very large. They passed the squash field and went back to the cabin. The next day the man said good-bye to his grandfather and started for home. He traveled till he came to a village. He went to the chief's house and a woman who was there looked at him, then asked, "Have you ever heard of a man who sent his wife away in the form of vapor?" He thought a little while, then remembered, and answered, "I have. I did that myself." "I am your wife," said the woman. The man had had so much trouble that he had forgotten about his wife, but he was glad to find her. They went home together and lived happily.
Seneca Indian Myths by Jeremiah Curtin 1922

From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories

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Thursday, November 25, 2004

Turkey Day, Nov. 25, 2004

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Gaming Tribes and Associations Across the Country Observe National ...
U.S. Newswire (press release) - Washington,DC,USA
... Holiday Arts and Crafts Festival. To celebrate National American Indian Heritage Month, the Pueblo of Acoma will also host an outdoor Native American music and ...

Students dig in to learn the ABC's of Thanksgiving
Montrose Daily Press - Montrose,CO,USA
... Hovde also uses the arts to help educate her students about the holiday, with lessons that focus on pottery, poetry, and Native American traditions. ...

11/25 entertainment list part 1
MLive.com - MI,USA
... portrait photography, at the Healing Arts Gallery, MidMichigan ... American Heritage ART, featuring work by Darlene Peltier, as part of Native American Month, at ...

The first Thanksgiving - An interview with the Martha Stewart of ...
Portsmouth Herald News - Portsmouth,NH,USA
... Speaking with arts writer Jeanné McCartin from another plane -- obviously -- she set ... Marta: We survivors, plus Squanto, a native American as you refer to ...

Grand Falls artist adds native touch to Flag fine craft exhibit
Navajo-Hopi Observer - Flagstaff,AZ,USA
... region, was held at the Coconino Center for the Arts. This year, Grand Falls artist Kim Lohnes distinguished herself as the only Native American displaying in ...

Weekly Exhibitions
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... Gallery, Pequot Museum, Mashantucket; 18 Native American artists fuse ... prints and photographs by American artists, runs ... Mystic Arts Center, 9 Water St., Mystic ...

Family Calendar
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... jewelry, sculpture and fiber works by 20-25 artists; Native American music and ... 4; UGA University Theatre, Fine Arts Building, Lumpkin and Baldwin streets; new ...

 This once a day Google Alert is brought to you by Google.


Navajo artist Teddy Draper Workshops
Chinle, Arizona (Canyon DeChelly)- Seminars and workshops have limited capacity and usually require enrollment months in advance.

Workshop information for 2005

March 15-19, instructor Elmer Yazzie, "cut yucca brush" watercolor technique.

May 16-20, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

June 7-11, Indian Jewelry Basics (class limited to 4 students).

June 7-11, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

Contact Teddy Draper at
dechelly2000@yahoo.com

Web Sites:
Indigenous Peoples Literature


Essay on the Zuni World View
Excerpt (Complete article is available in PDF)

The duties of the Bow Society, and latter the Tribal Council, was enforcement as a secular institution despite religious evaluations.  It would not do to punish or fend witchcraft through religious rite and ceremony, for to do so the canonical rite would paradoxically expose itself to the dangerous simply by reference to it, and would be akin to ‘fighting fire with fire’, a very undesirable prospect to the Zuni.  Thus, attanni is negated by observance ( teshkwi) and violations are reflections upon the individual, and dealt with by secular enforcement, which collectively, may include gossip, criticism, and public ridicule [111].

The underlying dialectic of the beautiful and the dangerous is evident in distinct dialogues, even in the absence of aesthetic expression, for attanni is proper to secular dialogue and is pertinent to religious dialogue only in the sense of observance where ‘if you have been living rightly, then attanni is not an issue’ ( Ko’na to’ tewanan ateyaye ).  Non-verbal expression is not meaningless nor is a deviant utterance meaningless where the objective is the immersion of the subject into the social structure in order to eliminate causes of behavior conducive to the anti-structure of a social hierarchy where the collective consciousness of the people is to “pray to become one” [112].

[111] Op. cit. Dutton, 1983: 13.

[112] Eggan, Fred and T.N. Pandey.  “Zuni History, 1855-1970”.  Handbook of North American Indians, Southwest.  Vol.9.  Ed. By Alfonso Ortiz.  Pp. 474-481.  Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1979.


Notices:

"Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children"
Winter & Christmas 2004 - Request for Donations
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html

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.
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
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.)
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!
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.
Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it."
Respectfully,
Manuel Redwoman,
Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support !

Haidu Language Project
Did you know that before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world, the "Indians" in North America spoke over 300 indigenous languages? Today, roughly 20 of these languages have speakers of all ages. Unfortunately, the Haida language of Kasaan, Alaska is not among them.
Currently, only seven Kasaan Haidas speak the Kasaan Haida dialect with varying degrees of fluency--all elders over the age of 75. I know this because my dad grew up in Kasaan, 25 miles from my birthplace of Ketchikan, Alaska. We belong to the Haida tribe. This summer, I urged the Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation (KHHF) to allow me to utilize the foundation's nonprofit status to seek funding and conduct projects that preserve our elders' knowledge.
In September, we created the position of Media Specialist in which I intend to raise money and interview our elders, especially in regards to the Haida language. I will produce, direct, and coordinate a video documentary to raise awareness and archive the language. I plan to make the results available in digital formats on the KHHF website.
If given the chance, I believe people would rally to this cause. We need to get the word out. So, I call on friends like you to get the ball rolling and join "The Grassroots Founders Campaign" Grassroots because the idea is to reach out to many individuals on a personal level; Founders because you will underwrite the beginning of our preservation effort.
Donations received from now until December 31, 2004 will earn the donor a Grassroots Founder designation. I ask for a relatively small gift of 25 to 100 dollars. Donor's names will appear in the KHHF newsletter and donations will be eligible for a tax deduction for this year. Grassroots Founders get special on-screen mention in the documentary.
Please send checks (payable to "KHHF") to:
Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation
600 University Street, Suite 3010
Seattle, WA 98101-1129
Write in the memo area on your check or include a note designating funds for "Media Specialist/Projects".
Very importantly, SPREAD THE WORD. Please pass this on to 5 to 10 friends, or more. You will multiply your donation exponentially and play a vital role in preserving the Haida language for future generations. We appreciate anything you can do to help us preserve our language and heritage.
Sincerely,
Frederick Olsen, Jr.
For more information, email me or go to
http://kavilco.com/pages/
aboutkhhf.html
KHHF is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 92-0169568).





Blue Jay and Sweat-House - Thompson
Blue Jay is related to Sweat-house. He was the greatest joker of the ancients, and was always poking fun at the people. If any one made fun of him, or imitated him, his mouth became twisted. He was the originator of the twisted-mouth disease, and introduced it into the world. Before that persons with twisted mouths were unknown. Blue Jay and Sweat-house lived among the people, and slept in a corner of the house. Sweat-house took the form of the bent stick of a sweat-house, and slept by day. At night he changed into an old man, and wandered about, while Blue Jay slept in his place. The people did not know that Sweat-house was a man. Finally the people became tired of Blue Jay's mockery, and fearful of his magic, and made up their minds to desert him. They kept away for four years, living in a different place each summer and each winter. At the end of that time Blue Jay was still alive, and continued to live in the same place. Then they agreed to leave for food, and settled in another country. At last a transformer came along and transformed Blue Jay, saying, "Henceforth you will be a bird, and a chatterer and mocker forever, able to talk incessantly, and to imitate the cries of the eagle and other birds and animals." This is the reason why the blue jay is able, at this present day, to imitate the cries of all kinds of birds and animals. Then he transformed Sweat-house, saying, "You, old man, will be the spirit of the sweat-house, and, until the world ends, people, by sweat-bathing, and praying to you, will lose their lice, and become healthy, clean, successful, and rich. You will be very powerful, and able to help the people, and grant their prayers." Footnotes 311:1 As far as one can see. The distance varies, of course, with the position of the spectator and the nature of the country.
Taken from: Myths and Tales from Nicola Valley and Fraser River collected by James Alexander Teit, 1911

From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories

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Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Weds., Nov. 24, 2004

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Pow-wow brings people, cultures together
Lincoln Journal - Concord,MA,USA
... As a member of the Board of Directors for the Indian Arts and Education ... "The American way of ... has got a long way to go compared to the Native American way of ...

Route 66 artists gather at Isleta
Valencia County News Bulletin - Belen,NM,USA
... leatherwork as well as Native American shawls. There will be something for every type of taste and style. Among the Route 66 Society for the Arts members whose ...

Is post office mural inappropriate?
MetroWest Daily News - Framingham,MA,USA
... time of history." Kaltofen likened the Native American experience to ... "Our American history is ... the Work Progress Administration Section of Fine Arts after being ...

Arts & Entertainment notes
iBerkshires.com - North Adams,MA,USA
... program is to encourage and nurture the active participation in the arts for all ... Jewelry of Denise and Dawn Wallace", a show of Native American jewelry, on ...

Laguna Pueblo artist to provide image for language festival
Tulsa Native American Times - Tulsa,OK,USA
... will create the image and poster for the Native Nations, Native Voices event next summer. Chaffins, 36, attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa ...

Art on the Rails
Art & Antiques - USA
... Artworks for "Native Views," which continues through December 2007, come from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, the Heard Museum in Phoenix ...
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Local schools get high scores
Camden Chronicle - Camden,TN,USA
... students, 21 Hispanic students, 12 Asian students, and 8 Native American students ... portion met the Federal Benchmark in Math, Reading, Language Arts, and Writing ...

Get involved: Events around the Midlands
The State - Columbia,SC,USA
10, "From Our Earth and Sky: Folk Art by South Carolinians With Native American Ancestry," Goodall Gallery, Columbia College. Arts and crafts created by ...
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2 museum cafes a new art form
Arizona Republic - Phoenix,AZ,USA
... While an underground arts scene percolates to the surface on Roosevelt Avenue ... Museum is internationally renowned for its collection of Native American art and ...

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Navajo artist Teddy Draper Workshops
Chinle, Arizona (Canyon DeChelly)- Seminars and workshops have limited capacity and usually require enrollment months in advance.

Workshop information for 2005

March 15-19, instructor Elmer Yazzie, "cut yucca brush" watercolor technique.

May 16-20, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

June 7-11, Indian Jewelry Basics (class limited to 4 students).

June 7-11, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

Contact Teddy Draper at
dechelly2000@yahoo.com

Web Sites:
Indigenous Peoples Literature


Essay on the Zuni World View
Excerpt (Complete article is available in PDF)

The duties of the Bow Society, and latter the Tribal Council, was enforcement as a secular institution despite religious evaluations.  It would not do to punish or fend witchcraft through religious rite and ceremony, for to do so the canonical rite would paradoxically expose itself to the dangerous simply by reference to it, and would be akin to ‘fighting fire with fire’, a very undesirable prospect to the Zuni.  Thus, attanni is negated by observance ( teshkwi) and violations are reflections upon the individual, and dealt with by secular enforcement, which collectively, may include gossip, criticism, and public ridicule [111].

The underlying dialectic of the beautiful and the dangerous is evident in distinct dialogues, even in the absence of aesthetic expression, for attanni is proper to secular dialogue and is pertinent to religious dialogue only in the sense of observance where ‘if you have been living rightly, then attanni is not an issue’ ( Ko’na to’ tewanan ateyaye ).  Non-verbal expression is not meaningless nor is a deviant utterance meaningless where the objective is the immersion of the subject into the social structure in order to eliminate causes of behavior conducive to the anti-structure of a social hierarchy where the collective consciousness of the people is to “pray to become one” [112].

[111] Op. cit. Dutton, 1983: 13.

[112] Eggan, Fred and T.N. Pandey.  “Zuni History, 1855-1970”.  Handbook of North American Indians, Southwest.  Vol.9.  Ed. By Alfonso Ortiz.  Pp. 474-481.  Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1979.


Notices:

"Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children"
Winter & Christmas 2004 - Request for Donations
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html

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.
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
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.)
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!
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.
Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it."
Respectfully,
Manuel Redwoman,
Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support !

Haidu Language Project
Did you know that before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world, the "Indians" in North America spoke over 300 indigenous languages? Today, roughly 20 of these languages have speakers of all ages. Unfortunately, the Haida language of Kasaan, Alaska is not among them.
Currently, only seven Kasaan Haidas speak the Kasaan Haida dialect with varying degrees of fluency--all elders over the age of 75. I know this because my dad grew up in Kasaan, 25 miles from my birthplace of Ketchikan, Alaska. We belong to the Haida tribe. This summer, I urged the Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation (KHHF) to allow me to utilize the foundation's nonprofit status to seek funding and conduct projects that preserve our elders' knowledge.
In September, we created the position of Media Specialist in which I intend to raise money and interview our elders, especially in regards to the Haida language. I will produce, direct, and coordinate a video documentary to raise awareness and archive the language. I plan to make the results available in digital formats on the KHHF website.
If given the chance, I believe people would rally to this cause. We need to get the word out. So, I call on friends like you to get the ball rolling and join "The Grassroots Founders Campaign" Grassroots because the idea is to reach out to many individuals on a personal level; Founders because you will underwrite the beginning of our preservation effort.
Donations received from now until December 31, 2004 will earn the donor a Grassroots Founder designation. I ask for a relatively small gift of 25 to 100 dollars. Donor's names will appear in the KHHF newsletter and donations will be eligible for a tax deduction for this year. Grassroots Founders get special on-screen mention in the documentary.
Please send checks (payable to "KHHF") to:
Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation
600 University Street, Suite 3010
Seattle, WA 98101-1129
Write in the memo area on your check or include a note designating funds for "Media Specialist/Projects".
Very importantly, SPREAD THE WORD. Please pass this on to 5 to 10 friends, or more. You will multiply your donation exponentially and play a vital role in preserving the Haida language for future generations. We appreciate anything you can do to help us preserve our language and heritage.
Sincerely,
Frederick Olsen, Jr.
For more information, email me or go to
http://kavilco.com/pages/
aboutkhhf.html
KHHF is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 92-0169568).




From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories


A Man Pursued By His Uncle and By His Wife - Seneca
AN old man and his nephew lived together in a forest. Their house had a partition through the middle and a door at each end. The uncle never entered the part occupied by his nephew, and all communication between the two was held by each hearing through the partition what the other said to himself. Each went in and out of his own part of the house when he liked, but neither ever crossed the threshold of the other part. After a time the nephew discovered his uncle's true nature--he was a man-eater. One day a woman came to the young man's part of the house. The next morning the uncle said, "My nephew has two ways of breathing." The young man, speaking to himself, said, "My uncle is mistaken, I am talking to myself." "My nephew can't deceive me," said the old man. There are two persons in his part of the house. I am glad that game has come to him--I am going hunting." When his uncle had gone, the young man said to his wife, "My uncle knows that you are here, now you must do as I tell you. If you don't he will kill and eat you. Three women have been here. He killed and ate each one of them, for they paid no heed to what I told them. Before I go away to hunt, I will bring wood and water and whatever you want, so you need not go out. If you go out, you are lost. My uncle will kill you. As soon as I leave the house he will come back." The young man started off, but turned back and a second time warned his wife not to disobey him. The minute the nephew was out of sight in the forest, the uncle came to the door. The old man had the power of commanding things to be done and the person had to obey though they didn't hear or see him. He said, "Let the woman come out!" But the woman had power also. When he saw that she didn't come out, he said, "Let the water she is cooking with boil away!" The water boiled away, but the woman had a plenty more. The old man was angry, and said, "I will get her out in one way or another." As the young man was coming home, he saw smoke rising from his part of the house. "All is well," thought he. "My uncle has not been able to kill my wife." When he went into the house he praised the woman for her obedience. That afternoon, about dusk, they heard the old man come into his part of the house and they knew that he hadn't brought any game. He hunted only for people. He called out, "What luck has my nephew had to-day." "I have had good luck," answered the young man. The old man began to mutter to himself, to blame his nephew for hiding his uncle's game. At last he said, "I will wait a while then I will have my own." He heard two persons breathe and he was angry. Determined to have something to eat he pounded bones into bits, put the bits into a kettle, filled the kettle with water and hanging it over the fire made soup. The young man and his wife were silent. The man had decided to leave his uncle and his plans were laid. He had walked in circles around the house making each circle larger than the preceding one till he had a ring three days' journey in circuit and now he told his wife what she must do. That night the uncle said, "I am going away for a while. I can find no game around here." "Well," answered the nephew, "hunters, go where they can find something to kill and they are often gone a long time. I am going farther myself. Game is getting scarce in our neighborhood." The young man had power. He caused a house to appear in a place six days' journey away, then he told his wife about the house, and said, "I have a brother there and I am going to send you to him. This brother is invisible. No stranger has ever seen him. Hitherto he has accompanied me, but now fie will aid you." The young man took an arrow from his quiver, shook his wife till she was only a couple of inches long, then, taking off the flint point of the arrow, he put her inside the arrow and replacing the point, said, "In three days I will follow you." Putting his arrow on the bow string he drew it and sent the arrow to the East. That instant the call of a woodpecker was heard. The feathers on the arrow were from that bird, and all the way the arrow sang with the voice of a woodpecker. The young man could see the trail that the arrow left as it went through the air. He went back to the cabin, and waited. In three days his uncle came, but without game. Talking to himself he asked, "What luck has my nephew had?" "Good luck," said the young man. "I have a plenty to eat." "I found nothing," said the old man. "This hunting ground is barren, my eyes see no more game. But if I have no fresh meat I have bones. I'll break them up and make soup." Then the nephew heard his uncle breaking bones--there was a terrible noise. At last the young man said, "My uncle makes too much noise." "My nephew wouldn't make less noise if he were in my place. I am trying to get something to eat." And paying no attention to what his nephew said, the old man kept at work. The next morning, at daybreak, he said, "I am going hunting. I shall be gone three days." "I am glad," thought the young man, and as soon as his uncle was out of, sight he took the trail that he had made and followed it three days. Then he went directly toward his new cabin. Glancing up he saw the arrow's trail, which looked like a rainbow in the sky. After a while he made a long leap and as he leaped he ran in the air, went up far above the forest and off on a level which was still in the air. The trail of the arrow was in the form of a rainbow and it seemed to roll up and dissolve in mist as the young man passed over it. It ended where the arrow had struck. In the cabin at the end of the trail he found his wife. The invisible brother saw the arrow when it struck the ground and burst. He saw the woman come out of the arrow and take her natural size. When she came into the house, he said to her, "I knew you were coming. By obedience to your husband you have been able to make this journey. No one has ever seen me before except my brother and he only two or three times. I know what will come from my uncle's wrath. He will pursue, and, if possible, kill you." The old man came home and began to talk to his nephew. When he received no answer he was very angry. He knew that his nephew was not at home, and going out he looked for his trail, struck it and found that the footprints were as old as his own, made three days before. Going back to the house he muttered, "I'll follow him to-morrow. The world is small. He cannot escape me. I'll follow him everywhere." The invisible brother, though a great distance away, heard his uncle talking to himself, heard his threats, heard him say, "My daughter-in-law will never get out of my reach. I can go to the edge of the world very quickly. My nephew is trying to save her. He'll not succeed. I'll eat her flesh." The next morning the old man set out. He followed his nephew's footprints till night, then, looking up, saw that his own house was near, that he had been going around and around. He was angry, and said, "To-morrow I will get on the right trail." As soon as daylight came, the old man started again. As he traveled he found that the trail was growing dim, but he kept on till midday, then he saw that he was near his own house. "Be it so!" said he. "Though my nephew is possessed with the witchcraft of all the animals, I will have his wife's flesh." He followed the trail three days longer, then he reached the end of it and cried out, exultantly, "My daughter-in-law's flesh is mine!" Looking up in the air he saw his nephew's trail. The trail of the arrow was gone, but the footprints of the nephew remained on the clouds. As the old man followed on the ground the trail that he saw in the air, he muttered to himself. The invisible brother heard his threats and the three started for a lake that was not far away. The woman took the lead; the husband stepped in her footprints. When they came to the lake, the young man took a clam shell and threw it toward the opposite bank. Immediately the banks came together and the three stepped over. When they had crossed and the lake had again resumed its natural size they looked back but could scarcely see, at one look, 1 the bank they had left. The young man, thinking that when his uncle came to the lake he would be long in crossing, left his wife and went to hunt for game. The old man came to the lake and ran back and forth looking for a place to cross. At last he called out, "Daughter-in-law, Daughter-in-law, how did you cross the lake?" And though the woman knew he wanted to kill her, she thought, "Why doesn't he throw a clam shell!" He heard distinctly what she said in her mind and picking up a clam shell he threw it. The banks came together and when the woman looked to see where the old man was she was terrified to find him right there at her side. He caught her by the hair, and said, "I knew that I should eat your flesh. My nephew has no right to keep game from me." With one blow he cut off the woman's head. She had been left alone. The invisible brother was not there to warn her. The woman had twin boys. The old man hid the children in a hollow tree, together with the woman's head, then putting the body on his back, he went to the lake, and picking up a clam shell threw it toward the opposite bank. The banks came together and he stepped over. As he looked back, he saw the lake spread out again. The young man thought that when near home he would see smoke rising from his cabin, but he did not. "My uncle's words have come true," thought he. "She forgot my warning." He was lonesome and discouraged and he determined never to go back to his uncle's house. While cooking supper, the young man had to go for water. As he stooped down to dip it up he heard a voice say, "Your uncle has killed me! Your uncle has killed me!" On looking around he saw that the willows were bespattered with blood, and he knew from the blood out of which the voice came that his wife had been killed. He had two proofs now, his uncle's tracks and the speaking blood. The young man continued to hunt and as he had good luck he didn't go again to the house across the lake. One day when he came from hunting he saw tracks around his fire, two little trails. Though he saw fresh tracks each evening he paid no attention to them. They looked like the tracks of a child but he thought that a little animal made them. At last he noticed that some of his meat was gone and that each day more and more disappeared. Then he resolved to catch the thief. Pieces of meat hung up to dry had been pulled down, dragged out of the house and then pulled along on the ground. The young man followed the trail till he came to a big log. The log, was hollow and the trail disappeared at the opening. He was sure that some animal lived in the tree. The next day he started off, as usual, but after going a short distance into the forest he stopped to watch his house. Soon he saw two little boys come out of the log and run toward the house. They went in and after a while came out dragging a piece of meat. When they reached the log they disappeared in the opening, pulling the meat in after them. The man thought, "To-morrow I will catch those children," He knew they could talk, for as they pulled the meat along he heard one of them say, "Hurry, father will come!" The next morning the young man went a short distance into the forest, hid and waited. The time seemed long, but at last the boys came from the log, ran to the house, went in and closed the door. The man hurried home, went into the house and fastened the door behind him. As soon as the children saw him, they began to cry. "Why do you cry?" asked he, "I am your father. Don't cry." When they stopped crying, he asked, "How do you know that I am your father?" One boy was a little larger than the other, and when the man questioned them he answered, "An old man killed our mother. He cut off her head and hid it in a hollow log and he put us in there too. Our mother's head is in the tree now." "What do you do with the meat you take from here?" "We feed it to our mother." "You must stay with me now," said the father. He was kind to them and the boys were glad to stay. He made them playthings, bow and arrows and a ball and club. Whenever he went hunting, they carried meat to their mother. One day the larger boy said to his father, "My mother is hungry." "Feed her," said he. "Feed her all she will eat. We have a plenty of meat. You can take as much as you want." Soon the man saw that the meat was disappearing very fast, faster than he could bring it in. He was frightened. One of the boys noticed this, and said, "My mother eats a great deal, we can't carry her enough." And he asked his father to go and see her. The man went to the log and looking in saw two great eyes in a skull. "What can we do?" asked one of the boys. "I am afraid," said the father, "that after she has eaten all the meat she will eat us." "We must go to some place far away," said the boys, "so that she will have to travel a long time to overtake us. We can't feed her. She never gets enough, and we are tired." The man knew that it would soon be impossible to satisfy the Head, so he said, "We will go away from here. You will start in the morning and travel till you come to a large village. My dogs will go with you as far as the village, then they will come back to help me." The boys started and after they had gone quite a distance and were tired, the larger dog said to the larger boy, "Sit on my back." Then the smaller dog said to the smaller boy, "Sit on my back." The boys did as told. The dogs ran on swiftly. After a long time they came to a place where trees had been felled, then they said to the boys, "We are near a village. You must walk now." The boys were unwilling to walk, but the dogs, shaking themselves as if they had just been in water, threw them off and told them to go to the village. The dogs turned then and went back to their master. The man knew that by going South he would find uncles who would help him, just such powerful men as his old uncle. When the dogs came back, they told their master that they would stay till the last meat was gone, but he must go, for as soon as the meat was eaten the Head would fly in the direction he took. They would delay it all they could, but he must travel fast for his life was in danger. The man started toward the South and went with great swiftness, for he was a fast runner. Two days after he left, one of the dogs overtook him, and said, "The meat is gone and the Head is trying to find the boys. It can follow as far as they walked but no farther. Be on your guard for it will find your trail." The dog could see a great distance, it looked back, and said, "The Head is coming! You have always said that no one could outrun you. The time has come when you must exert all your strength." When the Head started, the dogs left behind did what they could to delay it. They bit it and when it turned to pursue them, they dodged into the ground. It went on and again they sprang at it and when it turned they again escaped into the ground. The trail of the Head could be seen plainly for the bark was gnawed from the trees where the dogs kept it back, delayed it and made it angry. All at once, far off in the West, one of the little boys said to the other, "Our father is in trouble, our mother is following him." Soon a dog came up to the man, and said, "The Head is possessed of such power that we don't know how to keep it back. We are doing what we can, but you must run with all your strength." The man ran with all speed. Seeing a house he darted into it and called out to an old man sitting there, "Uncle, help me! A terrible Head is following me to take my life!" "I will help you all I can," said the old man, "but hurry to the next house, your aunts live there; they will help you. If I am killed, a dark cloud will go up to the sky." The man was about half way between the two houses when he heard a terrible noise and looking back saw that the Flying Head had reached his uncle's house and his uncle was fighting it with all his strength. When he turned a second time he saw a great black cloud rise into the sky and he knew that his uncle was dead. That minute one of the dogs came to the man, and said, "Your uncle is dead. He was never beaten before." When the Head had devoured the old man's flesh, it rushed after the husband. The man ran as fast as he could. When almost exhausted, he saw a house, ran into it and called to the women sitting there, "Help me! help me! Something is following me to take my life!" "Poor man," said one of his aunts. "Hurry on. We will do what we can to delay the Head. Go to the next house. Your mother lives there. Maybe she can help you." The man wasn't out of sight of the house when he heard a great noise and heard his aunts call to their children to have courage. The Head flew into the house, and bit at everything it came in contact with. The women beat it with clubs. The man heard the blows fall on the skull. When he was half way to his mother's house, all was still at his aunts' house. Suddenly his invisible brother called out, "Run! Run or we are lost!" The invisible brother urged the man forward, pushed him and he seemed to run faster. The brother urged and pushed till they reached the house. Then the man cried, "Mother, help me, help me!" "Poor Son, you are in great trouble," said the mother. "Go on, we will do what we can." The man hurried through the house. The Head came in as he went out. The dogs ran around the house and urged their master on. The mother called to her children, "Kill the Head if you can! Fight with all your strength!" They took their most poisonous weapons and began to strike the Head. One of the women stumbled and fell; the Head devoured her in an instant. The old mother cautioned her children, telling them to be careful and make no misstep. The youngest girl, remembering there was bears' oil in the house, thought she would boil it and see if she couldn't kill the Head with boiling oil. While the Head was chasing the women through the house, the oil began to boil, then the girl seized the kettle and threw the oil onto the Head. It burned and killed the Head. 'Your brother is free," said the mother. "We ought to have a game of ball. It is our duty to give thanks. The Head will be the ball." She picked up the Head, carried it out and called in a loud voice, "Here, warriors, is a ball for you to play with." Soon a great many people, with netted clubs in their hands, came and began to play ball. (These players were animals that lived in the forest.) The man saw them play with his wife's head. Each one struggled to get the ball and in that way they wore it out. One of the dogs said to him, "Your wife is dead and you are safe." When it said, "Your wife is dead," the man's strength left him, his arms dropped down, and he was very sad. "You are sorry," said the invisible brother, "but I am glad. Why should you be sad? She would have devoured you, if they had not killed her. Now there is no one to harm us. Our uncle will not trouble us again." "Your children are living off in that direction," said he, pointing to the West. "Go and find them." So saying he turned and when the brother looked after him, he had disappeared. The man and his dogs traveled toward the West. When the dogs left the children they were near a house at the edge of a village. In that house lived an old woman and her granddaughter. One day when the girl was in the woods stooping down to pick up broken boughs, she heard voices. She listened and, as the wind came toward her, she discovered that they were the voices of children. She went home with her wood, told her grandmother that she had heard children crying, and asked her to come to the forest and listen. "It is a pleasure to know that there are children alive. They must be for us," said the grandmother. "We will go and find them." When they came to the place where the girl had heard the voices, she said, "Now listen!" "True," said the grandmother, "there are children in the woods. We must look everywhere till we find them. Maybe they are sent to us because we are alone." The girl followed the sound, going in the direction from which the wind came, she could hear distinctly and she knew the sound came from near the ground. At last she came to where the boys were. They were apparently about a year old, one a little larger than the other and both were crying. The girl began to comfort the children, to tell them she would be their mother and be kind to them. While she was talking, her grandmother came. She pitied the children and 'said to them, "Stop crying. It is the will of the Great Spirit that you should be our children. I will be your grandmother and my granddaughter will be your mother." "All we have we will give to you," said the girl. "I will love you as your mother would." The boys stopped crying and went home with the girl. Each boy had the little bow and arrow and ball club that his father had made for him. "We will take good care of these children," said the grandmother. "There are many people in our village, but not a child. I have lived here a long time, but I have never seen a little child." When the boys were old enough to hunt for birds, their grandmother gave them bows and arrows and they brought in a good deal of game. One day the larger boy called, "Grandmother, come and see what I have killed. It is covered with spots. It is over here in the weeds." "Where is it? Where is it?" asked the grandmother. The boys led the way, but she could hardly keep in sight of them, the weeds were so high. On reaching the spot she found a fawn a few hours old. She carried the fawn home, and said to herself, "I am thankful that I have these children. They will be great hunters; their game is getting larger. First they killed birds, now they have killed a fawn." One day the larger boy said, "Our father is coming." "I am afraid our father is dead," answered the other boy. The grandmother overheard this and told the boys to go and hunt for birds, she was hungry for bird meat. The next day, while the children were out, a man came to the house. The invisible brother had told the man that when he came to the old woman's house he must say, "Grandmother, I am glad to see you," and to the girl, "Sister, I am glad to see you." As the man went in, he saluted the old woman as Grandmother, and to the girl he said, Sister. One of the boys said to the other, "Our father has come!" "I don't think so," said his brother, "Our father had dogs; there are no dogs with this man." To find out he raised the skin door a little and looking in he saw his father sitting there with his elbow on his knee and his face on his hand. "We must find the dogs," said the larger boy. They followed their father's tracks and they hadn't gone far when they found that the dogs had run off in another direction. They tracked the dogs and toward night found them standing by a fallen tree. The dogs heard the children's voices and ran to meet them. They were as glad to see the boys as the boys were to see them. "We must go home," said the brothers, but they didn't know the way. The dogs took the lead. It was late at night and very dark when they got home. When the boys didn't come, the grandmother and granddaughter were frightened. They were waiting for daylight -to come so they could hunt for them. When they came, the grandmother asked, "Why did you stay so long and frighten us?" The father was happy to be with his children again. The girl was the man's sister and the old woman was his grandmother. They all lived together now and were happy.
Footnotes
311:1 As far as one can see. The distance varies, of course, with the position of the spectator and the nature of the country.
Seneca Indian Myths by Jeremiah Curtin 1922 [Told by Johnny John who learned it from his grandmother, "who lived to be one hundred and thirty years old."]

From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories

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0 comments

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Tues., Nov. 23, 2004

native american arts daily news, presented by
amerindianarts.us

County Christmas events
Cibola County Beacon - Grants,NM,USA
... will present its third annual Sky City Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair at Sky City Casino from 9 am to 5 pm The works of various Native American artists and ...

The real Pocahontas lives, in the Parkway
West Roxbury & Roslindale Transcript - Needham,MA,USA
... She received her law degree and master's degree in fine arts, which is probably ... Although she can't quantify how much Native American blood she has, she's still ...

Vineyard Film Festival Features Range of Independent Talent In ...
Martha's Vineyard Gazette - Edgartown,MA,USA
... The piece, filmed on the Vineyard, offers Native American spirituality as a more profound way ... nice to take this idea and use it with other venues, other arts.". ...

Lessons in reeding, rafting and 'rithmetic
The Record - Hackensack,NJ,USA
... History classes will look at the Native American fishing weir just upstream and study the ... For Cohen and Peter Arts, a geography teacher closely involved in the ...

NEWS BRIEFS Friends of Faith event slat ...
Montclarion - Montclair,CA,USA
... Santa giveaway, handmade authentic Native American crafts and ... serving the Bay Area's American Indian community ... Oakland's Cultural Arts Department has announced ...

‘U' Musical Society hosts Canadian soprano
The Michigan Daily - Ann Arbor,MI,USA
... The University Unions Arts & Programs will hold Artbreaks in celebration ... Participants will make Native American felt pouches in celebration of Thanksgiving in ...

Berkeley This Week
Berkeley Daily Planet - Berkeley,CA,USA
... "Growing Native Seeds from ... Benefits the American Indian Child Resource Center ... Community Arts and Wellness Day with yoga, martial arts, dance classes and more ...

 This once a day Google Alert is brought to you by Google.


Navajo artist Teddy Draper Workshops
Chinle, Arizona (Canyon DeChelly)- Seminars and workshops have limited capacity and usually require enrollment months in advance.

Workshop information for 2005

March 15-19, instructor Elmer Yazzie, "cut yucca brush" watercolor technique.

May 16-20, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

June 7-11, Indian Jewelry Basics (class limited to 4 students).

June 7-11, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

Contact Teddy Draper at
dechelly2000@yahoo.com

Sign Petition to Stop Pesticide Study on Kids!
A non-Native isuue, however....

Web Sites:
Indigenous Peoples Literature


Essay on the Zuni World View
Excerpt (Complete article is available in PDF)

The duties of the Bow Society, and latter the Tribal Council, was enforcement as a secular institution despite religious evaluations.  It would not do to punish or fend witchcraft through religious rite and ceremony, for to do so the canonical rite would paradoxically expose itself to the dangerous simply by reference to it, and would be akin to ‘fighting fire with fire’, a very undesirable prospect to the Zuni.  Thus, attanni is negated by observance ( teshkwi) and violations are reflections upon the individual, and dealt with by secular enforcement, which collectively, may include gossip, criticism, and public ridicule [111].

The underlying dialectic of the beautiful and the dangerous is evident in distinct dialogues, even in the absence of aesthetic expression, for attanni is proper to secular dialogue and is pertinent to religious dialogue only in the sense of observance where ‘if you have been living rightly, then attanni is not an issue’ ( Ko’na to’ tewanan ateyaye ).  Non-verbal expression is not meaningless nor is a deviant utterance meaningless where the objective is the immersion of the subject into the social structure in order to eliminate causes of behavior conducive to the anti-structure of a social hierarchy where the collective consciousness of the people is to “pray to become one” [112].

[111] Op. cit. Dutton, 1983: 13.

[112] Eggan, Fred and T.N. Pandey.  “Zuni History, 1855-1970”.  Handbook of North American Indians, Southwest.  Vol.9.  Ed. By Alfonso Ortiz.  Pp. 474-481.  Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1979.


Notices:

Exhibit: Precious Cargo -- Cradle Baskets and Childbirth: California Indian Traditions, opens Nov. 26

In the last couple decades, it has become common to see modern parents carry babies in back packs or slings. It is thought to be good for babies to feel the body warmth and closeness of a parent. Interestingly, this was exactly the approach taken by California Indian groups for many generations. Carrying her infant in a basketry cradleboard allowed the mother to keep the baby close and respond to its needs, while at the same time continuing the cooking and collecting needed to provide the necessities of life for the family. As with many Native American artifacts, the objects of daily use became an art form, reflecting both the Indian aesthetic and the habits and belief systems of the various Indian groups. A new exhibit at the Maidu Interpretive Center in Roseville depicts and explains the many characteristics of Native practices relating to childbirth and childcare. The exhibit shows the varying cradle basket styles, some of which had pointed designs at the bottom, allowing the mother to stand the cradleboard in the ground while she tended to some brief task. Others were designed to be temporarily attached to a tree, letting the baby look around. Some cradleboards kept the infant swaddled tightly, others allowed the baby to be in a sitting position. Some were constructed with hoods to protect and give shade to the baby. Throughout California, mothers and grandmothers made model cradles for their children and grandchildren to play with. It was more than a toy, it was a model for the girl’s future role. The child might also make her own, representing her first attempt at weaving a cradle basket. The cradle design varied from group to group, so an infant was instantly placed in a device that gave it a sense of cultural identity as well as security. While the exhibit displays cradle boards from the Pomo, Chumash, Yurok, Miwok, Washoe, Mojave, and 22 other native groups, it also covers other aspects of birth and childrearing. It explains how the father also changed his lifestyle while awaiting the birth of the child, how he might entrust the child briefly to a fast runner, hoping to transfer that skill to the youngster. Child naming practices are also described in the exhibit, as are the use of ‘touchstones’ and rituals to help women achieve conception. Fertility was believed to be under the control of the supernatural, and spiritual considerations were embedded into childbirth and child raising practices. This unique exhibit, opening November 26, is called Precious Cargo: California Indian Cradle Baskets and Childbirth Traditions. It explores traditional beliefs and practices concerning childbirth and the use of cradle baskets, both historically and today, The traveling exhibit was assembled by the Marin Museum of the American Indian and will be on tour for three years. The Maidu Interpretive Center will have community activities and demonstrations related to the exhibit. The center is at 1960 Johnson Ranch Drive in Roseville. For further information, call the center at 916.774.5934 or 772-4242


"Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children"
Winter & Christmas 2004 - Request for Donations
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html

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.
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
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.)
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!
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.
Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it."
Respectfully,
Manuel Redwoman,
Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support !

Haidu Language Project
Did you know that before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world, the "Indians" in North America spoke over 300 indigenous languages? Today, roughly 20 of these languages have speakers of all ages. Unfortunately, the Haida language of Kasaan, Alaska is not among them.
Currently, only seven Kasaan Haidas speak the Kasaan Haida dialect with varying degrees of fluency--all elders over the age of 75. I know this because my dad grew up in Kasaan, 25 miles from my birthplace of Ketchikan, Alaska. We belong to the Haida tribe. This summer, I urged the Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation (KHHF) to allow me to utilize the foundation's nonprofit status to seek funding and conduct projects that preserve our elders' knowledge.
In September, we created the position of Media Specialist in which I intend to raise money and interview our elders, especially in regards to the Haida language. I will produce, direct, and coordinate a video documentary to raise awareness and archive the language. I plan to make the results available in digital formats on the KHHF website.
If given the chance, I believe people would rally to this cause. We need to get the word out. So, I call on friends like you to get the ball rolling and join "The Grassroots Founders Campaign" Grassroots because the idea is to reach out to many individuals on a personal level; Founders because you will underwrite the beginning of our preservation effort.
Donations received from now until December 31, 2004 will earn the donor a Grassroots Founder designation. I ask for a relatively small gift of 25 to 100 dollars. Donor's names will appear in the KHHF newsletter and donations will be eligible for a tax deduction for this year. Grassroots Founders get special on-screen mention in the documentary.
Please send checks (payable to "KHHF") to:
Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation
600 University Street, Suite 3010
Seattle, WA 98101-1129
Write in the memo area on your check or include a note designating funds for "Media Specialist/Projects".
Very importantly, SPREAD THE WORD. Please pass this on to 5 to 10 friends, or more. You will multiply your donation exponentially and play a vital role in preserving the Haida language for future generations. We appreciate anything you can do to help us preserve our language and heritage.
Sincerely,
Frederick Olsen, Jr.
For more information, email me or go to
http://kavilco.com/pages/
aboutkhhf.html
KHHF is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 92-0169568).


A Snake Song Origin Myth - Winnebago
This story is told during the Medicine Rite by the spirit-impersonator of the north. "Ancestors, we send forth our greetings to you. I possess a Snake Song, one that has come down to me and one that I could use, so they told me, whenever I wished to give a life-engendering greeting. This song was obtained from a large yellow snake by a person who had been blessed under the fork of a tree where there was a crow's nest. With a large portion of life was he blessed, with herbs and grasses, beneficent grasses, those that would restore health to a man. Yet, nevertheless, some of them, it is said could cause a person to become weak. All these plants were to bring prestige and honor to the possessor. Now, in the beginning, people associated with these plants just as if they possessed life like ourselves. They were worshipped and honored. Not today do we do so. Yet these herbs and grasses are still being used and are still efficacious. This Snake Song I shall now sing. Ancestors, we greet you, we greet you!" [The Snake Song was omitted in the source.] Paul Radin, The Road of Life and Death: A Ritual Drama of the American Indians. Bollingen Series V (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973 [1945]) 132
From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories


A Raccoon Tricks Four Blind Men - Winnebago
"Once there was a raccoon who went up a stream. As he went along suddenly he came to an Indian rope trap. He thought it was that kind, so he raised his left paw, but did not put it down. 'If I put it down, the trap will bite me.' Then all day he stood there, only at night did he go home. The sun rose as he went along the Indian path and soon he came to water. He kept going on the path, and then there was a long lodge. He peeped in and there four old men were on each side within this house. One of them said, 'Your cooking must be done by now.' 'Yes, it is cooked. Hand the dish here and I will give you some.' The raccoon went in. All four of these old men were blind. Then the old men on the other side said, 'Ho! here is the dish, pass it over.' But then the raccoon said, 'Ho!' and took the dish. The one being served said, 'What? ' as he had not gotten the dish. 'What happened? I handed it to you and you took the corn,' he said. 'I am saying that no one here handed it to me,' he said. Then he hit him right in his face. He said, 'Ho! We will do it. I said I handed it to you.' Then the other one right in the face he hit him. 'Ho! we will do it,' he said, and he stood up. Now the two fellows got a hold of one another and began to fight each other. It was the raccoon who stood up and did it, hitting them in the face too. 'Well! We will do it,' then all four of them began fighting and then the raccoon laughed as the old men were funny. The four then went into town and there they knew of him. 'Hoho! Old men, the raccoon is the cause of this,' they said. 'Stand at the door.' Then they did it, but the raccoon had gone out on top of the lodge."
John Harrison, "Story of a Raccoon, " in Paul Radin, Notebooks, Winnebago III, #11a, Freeman #3892 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society) Story 9, pp. 119-124. Translated by Oliver LaMere

From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories

Comments: Post a Comment
0 comments

Monday, November 22, 2004

Monday, Nov. 22, 2004

native american arts daily news, presented by
amerindianarts.us

Native American Music Awards Finalist Ballots Distributed to All ...
Emediawire (press release) - Ferndale,WA,USA
... of other major national Awards shows, the consistently sold-out Native American Music Awards has ... CNN, CBS This Morning, UPN 9 News, MSG Metro Arts channel, and ...

Mario Martinez Mid-Career Retrospective
Art Daily - USA
... in Tempe and his master's of fine arts degree from ... Indian, New York; "AlieNation" at the American Indian Community ... and in 2001 he received the Native Artist in ...
See all stories on this topic

Another American face of philanthropy is growing in affluence and ...
Houston Chronicle - Houston,TX,USA
... of dollars each year to arts groups, health ... Cuban-American John Fitzgerald directs his philanthropic ... Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans, Native Americans and ...

Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand: American Indian Art
Art Daily - USA
... illustrated catalogue, as is the incorporation of contemporary Native American views on ... by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes a ...

Calls for entry, November 22
Rocky Mountain News - Denver,CO,USA
... Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) is accepting applications, through 5 pm Jan. 14 (postmark/hand delivery) for the 2005 Native American Artist Fellowship ...

Restaurants plentiful in the 1930s
Sioux City Journal - Sioux City,IA,USA
... granite headstone with a bronze plaque memorializing the great Native American leader, states ... Performing arts, hands-on activities and food vendors add to the ...

Reservation continues on late chief's path
Trenton Times - Trenton,NJ,USA
... He worked to get scholarships for Native Americans who could not afford ... it a better place." Twice a year, the popular American Indian Arts Festival is ...

 This once a day Google Alert is brought to you by Google.


Navajo artist Teddy Draper Workshops
Chinle, Arizona (Canyon DeChelly)- Seminars and workshops have limited capacity and usually require enrollment months in advance.

Workshop information for 2005

March 15-19, instructor Elmer Yazzie, "cut yucca brush" watercolor technique.

May 16-20, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

June 7-11, Indian Jewelry Basics (class limited to 4 students).

June 7-11, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

Contact Teddy Draper at
dechelly2000@yahoo.com

Web Sites:
Indigenous Peoples Literature


Essay on the Zuni World View
Excerpt (Complete article is available in PDF)

While both Young and Bunzel agree on the religious importance of the images and the lack of a determinate naming process, they disagree on the role of the individual in interpretation[24] and whether the interpretive process is sensual or rational.  This disparity may be related to the different methodologies involved, for Bunzel worked through an interpreter and sought to evoke images in the use of names, often receiving diverse groupings within clusters while Young relied more so on ostensive definition, perceiving the images as having the power to evoke narrative, using the term “metonymic” to describe the power of images to evoke where ambiguity is present in both meaning and form[25].  The one most notable aspect of Young’s study in regard to the individuating function is the observance that Zuni interpreters “included the entire environmental setting of the rock art in discussions of meaning rather than focusing on the image alone…and not only placed individual images in the context of the whole corpus of rock art figures at the site, but also included other features of the landscaping, such as springs, plants, birds, and so on”[26].

[24] Bunzel,does note that new masks and dances are not uncommon and do allow for aesthetic expression; however, all new dances must be approved by the head priest of the kiva, and the masks must be defined and absorbed by society.  Any new creation is completely integrated. In this is evident that aesthetics can provide for epistemic fulfillment in diachronic development.

[25] Op. cit. Young, 1988: 159.

[26] (Ibid, xvii, italics mine)


Notices:

Exhibit: Precious Cargo -- Cradle Baskets and Childbirth: California Indian Traditions, opens Nov. 26

In the last couple decades, it has become common to see modern parents carry babies in back packs or slings. It is thought to be good for babies to feel the body warmth and closeness of a parent. Interestingly, this was exactly the approach taken by California Indian groups for many generations. Carrying her infant in a basketry cradleboard allowed the mother to keep the baby close and respond to its needs, while at the same time continuing the cooking and collecting needed to provide the necessities of life for the family. As with many Native American artifacts, the objects of daily use became an art form, reflecting both the Indian aesthetic and the habits and belief systems of the various Indian groups. A new exhibit at the Maidu Interpretive Center in Roseville depicts and explains the many characteristics of Native practices relating to childbirth and childcare. The exhibit shows the varying cradle basket styles, some of which had pointed designs at the bottom, allowing the mother to stand the cradleboard in the ground while she tended to some brief task. Others were designed to be temporarily attached to a tree, letting the baby look around. Some cradleboards kept the infant swaddled tightly, others allowed the baby to be in a sitting position. Some were constructed with hoods to protect and give shade to the baby. Throughout California, mothers and grandmothers made model cradles for their children and grandchildren to play with. It was more than a toy, it was a model for the girl’s future role. The child might also make her own, representing her first attempt at weaving a cradle basket. The cradle design varied from group to group, so an infant was instantly placed in a device that gave it a sense of cultural identity as well as security. While the exhibit displays cradle boards from the Pomo, Chumash, Yurok, Miwok, Washoe, Mojave, and 22 other native groups, it also covers other aspects of birth and childrearing. It explains how the father also changed his lifestyle while awaiting the birth of the child, how he might entrust the child briefly to a fast runner, hoping to transfer that skill to the youngster. Child naming practices are also described in the exhibit, as are the use of ‘touchstones’ and rituals to help women achieve conception. Fertility was believed to be under the control of the supernatural, and spiritual considerations were embedded into childbirth and child raising practices. This unique exhibit, opening November 26, is called Precious Cargo: California Indian Cradle Baskets and Childbirth Traditions. It explores traditional beliefs and practices concerning childbirth and the use of cradle baskets, both historically and today, The traveling exhibit was assembled by the Marin Museum of the American Indian and will be on tour for three years. The Maidu Interpretive Center will have community activities and demonstrations related to the exhibit. The center is at 1960 Johnson Ranch Drive in Roseville. For further information, call the center at 916.774.5934 or 772-4242


"Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children"
Winter & Christmas 2004 - Request for Donations
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html

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.
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
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.)
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!
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.
Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it."
Respectfully,
Manuel Redwoman,
Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support !

Haidu Language Project
Did you know that before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world, the "Indians" in North America spoke over 300 indigenous languages? Today, roughly 20 of these languages have speakers of all ages. Unfortunately, the Haida language of Kasaan, Alaska is not among them.
Currently, only seven Kasaan Haidas speak the Kasaan Haida dialect with varying degrees of fluency--all elders over the age of 75. I know this because my dad grew up in Kasaan, 25 miles from my birthplace of Ketchikan, Alaska. We belong to the Haida tribe. This summer, I urged the Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation (KHHF) to allow me to utilize the foundation's nonprofit status to seek funding and conduct projects that preserve our elders' knowledge.
In September, we created the position of Media Specialist in which I intend to raise money and interview our elders, especially in regards to the Haida language. I will produce, direct, and coordinate a video documentary to raise awareness and archive the language. I plan to make the results available in digital formats on the KHHF website.
If given the chance, I believe people would rally to this cause. We need to get the word out. So, I call on friends like you to get the ball rolling and join "The Grassroots Founders Campaign" Grassroots because the idea is to reach out to many individuals on a personal level; Founders because you will underwrite the beginning of our preservation effort.
Donations received from now until December 31, 2004 will earn the donor a Grassroots Founder designation. I ask for a relatively small gift of 25 to 100 dollars. Donor's names will appear in the KHHF newsletter and donations will be eligible for a tax deduction for this year. Grassroots Founders get special on-screen mention in the documentary.
Please send checks (payable to "KHHF") to:
Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation
600 University Street, Suite 3010
Seattle, WA 98101-1129
Write in the memo area on your check or include a note designating funds for "Media Specialist/Projects".
Very importantly, SPREAD THE WORD. Please pass this on to 5 to 10 friends, or more. You will multiply your donation exponentially and play a vital role in preserving the Haida language for future generations. We appreciate anything you can do to help us preserve our language and heritage.
Sincerely,
Frederick Olsen, Jr.
For more information, email me or go to
http://kavilco.com/pages/
aboutkhhf.html
KHHF is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 92-0169568).


Cayuse History
Cayuse, A Waiilatpuan tribe formerly occupying the territory about the heads of Walla Walla, Umatilla, and Grande Ronde Rivers and from the Blue mountains to Deschutes River in Washington and Oregon. The tribe has always been closely associated with the neighboring Nez Percé and Walla Walla, and was regarded by the early explorers and writers as belonging to the same stock. So far as the available evidence goes, however, they must be considered linguistically independent. The Cayuse have always been noted for their bravery, and owing largely to their constant struggles with the Snake and other tribes, have been numerically weak. According to Gibbs there were few pure-blood Cayuse left in 1851, intermarriage, particularly with the Nez Percé, having been so prevalent that even the language was falling into disuse. In 1855 the Cayuse joined in the treaty by which the Umatilla Reservation was formed, and since that time have resided within its limits. Their number is officially reported as 404 in 1904; but this figure is misleading, as careful inquiry in 1902 failed to discover a single one of pure blood on the reservation and the language is practically extinct. The tribe acquired wide notoriety in the early days of the white settlement of the territory. In 1838 a mission was established among the Cayuse by Marcus Whitman at the site of the present town of Whitman, Walla Walla County, Wash. in 1847 smallpox carried off a large part of the tribe. The Cayuse, believing the missionaries to be the cause, attacked them, murdered Whitman and a number of others. and destroyed the mission. Owing to the confusion in the early accounts it is difficult to differentiate the Cayuse from the Nez Percé and Walla Walla, but there is no reason to suppose that in habits and customs they differed markedly from those tribes. Handbook of American Indians (1906) ~ Frederick W. Hodge
From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories


Little Bear and the Skin stretched Tight
I will present a story.
Little Bear and his wife lived a long way from the village but even so they would travel to the gatherings and the ceremony's with their personal Skin stretched Tight. The couple were welcomed at the gatherings for at the time they had their own Skin stretched Tight. At ceremony's they played together and their spirits would soar with the spirit of the skin. All that heard it, also had their spirits soar. At the gatherings they would play together or each on their own skin. These things were good. At a time when a large gathering was planned and no Skin stretched Tight could be found, they offered and were accepted. They were glad to be of service many others came and joined them and for four days they had great joy. At the end, when traditionally honor was given to the players of a Skin stretched Tight nothing came they were ignored and the lead of the Skin stretched Tight honored the family of the Skin stretched Tight that he had played with for four days. In later years the speaker for the clan informed the couple that the presents of their Skin stretched Tight was not welcomed at the gathering nor at the fire later. So they went without it. Little Bear asked to play on their Skin stretched Tight but was told that there was no room. And so it sat. Now it is spring once again and before Little Bear or his wife asked to play at the fire after the gathering the speaker for the clan declared that their Skin stretched Tight was not to be seen, but without it they could come and be part of their clan. So they went as to see their friends. Again Little Bear asked to sit on the clans Skin stretched Tight and was told that there was no room for him, and throughout the day room was made for others. Now it is the fall and the request was made and the answer was the same. And it was then that the spirit of the Great Bear arose within Little Bear and it was time for him to make the warriors stand and so the next day Little Bear and his Wife and their Skin stretched Tight arrived at the gathering and set up and called the ancestors in. When again the speaker for the clan informed them that they were not welcome at the clans gathering if they insisted on playing their Skin stretched Tight. And so they left. Now the head of the clan blames the wife for all of the trouble caused when Little Bear answered the Call of the Great Bear and took a Warriors Stand.
Aho!

Climbing Bear

Comments: "
Little Bear and the Skin stretched Tight it is a good story. but i know this because i wrote it . i would like to enquire on who posted it here.

with Respect
Blue_Panther Keeper of Stories
AKA. Climbingbear
 
" "
I posted it here. I credited it to the author-Climbing Bear. As you can see, I post one of your contributions every day. If you have a problem with this, let me know and I will cease.
Chet Staley
Amerindian Arts
 
" "
Siyo Chet Staley

you honor me greatly i was a bit suprised to find your page. you may post what you wish of mine with my Full Premission.

with respect
Blue Panther Keeper of Stories
aka. ClimbingBear
 
" Post a Comment
3 comments

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Sunday, Nov. 21, 2004

native american arts daily news, presented by
amerindianarts.us

Indian Center, city huddle
Kansas.com - KS,USA
... Indian Center, a group of community members interested in Native American culture that ... John D'Angelo, Wichita's director of the division of arts and cultural ...

A vision realized
Skagit Valley Herald - Mount Vernon,WA,USA
... events and viewings of the new McIntyre Hall Performing Arts and Conference ... carver Kevin Paul raise his voice in a traditional Native American blessing song. ...

St. Lucie County school digest: November 21
Stuart News - Stuart,FL,USA
... The project included a report on one Native American tribe, a character map of ... congratulate the top academic leaders for the first nine weeks of language arts. ...

Kids' Events
DetNews.com - Detroit,MI,USA
Native American Heritage Day, watch demonstrations of basket making ... of the Great Lakes, plus hear live American Indian stories, traditional arts and hands ...

ART CALENDAR
Richmond Times Dispatch - Richmond,VA,USA
... THE CULTURAL ARTS CENTER AT GLEN ALLEN (2880 Mountain Road; 261-6200): "Continuum: A Look at Native American Life - Past and Present" (mixture of historical ...

Campbell heir ups stakes for
Honolulu Star-Bulletin - Honolulu,HI,USA
... organization" under the 1990 Native American Graves Protection ... under NAGPRA law as native Hawaiian organizations ... the Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts. ...

Slices of art life
Anchorage Daily News (subscription) - Anchorage,AK,USA
... For John Shirley, a Native American sculptor who came to ... familiar to artists here, especially Native artists ... cross over that bridge into fine arts," Shirley says ...

School Page: 'Tis the season for Thanksgiving
Naples Daily News - Naples,FL,USA
... Other participants working on arts and crafts included Lauren London, 9, and her mother, Annie ... "It's time to make you an official Native American," said second ...

 This once a day Google Alert is brought to you by Google.


Navajo artist Teddy Draper Workshops
Chinle, Arizona (Canyon DeChelly)- Seminars and workshops have limited capacity and usually require enrollment months in advance.

Workshop information for 2005

March 15-19, instructor Elmer Yazzie, "cut yucca brush" watercolor technique.

May 16-20, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

June 7-11, Indian Jewelry Basics (class limited to 4 students).

June 7-11, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

Contact Teddy Draper at
dechelly2000@yahoo.com

Sign Petition to Stop Pesticide Study on Kids!
A non-Native isuue, however....

Web Sites:
Indigenous Peoples Literature


Essay on the Zuni World View
Excerpt (Complete article is available in PDF)

While both Young and Bunzel agree on the religious importance of the images and the lack of a determinate naming process, they disagree on the role of the individual in interpretation[24] and whether the interpretive process is sensual or rational.  This disparity may be related to the different methodologies involved, for Bunzel worked through an interpreter and sought to evoke images in the use of names, often receiving diverse groupings within clusters while Young relied more so on ostensive definition, perceiving the images as having the power to evoke narrative, using the term “metonymic” to describe the power of images to evoke where ambiguity is present in both meaning and form[25].  The one most notable aspect of Young’s study in regard to the individuating function is the observance that Zuni interpreters “included the entire environmental setting of the rock art in discussions of meaning rather than focusing on the image alone…and not only placed individual images in the context of the whole corpus of rock art figures at the site, but also included other features of the landscaping, such as springs, plants, birds, and so on”[26].

[24] Bunzel,does note that new masks and dances are not uncommon and do allow for aesthetic expression; however, all new dances must be approved by the head priest of the kiva, and the masks must be defined and absorbed by society.  Any new creation is completely integrated. In this is evident that aesthetics can provide for epistemic fulfillment in diachronic development.

[25] Op. cit. Young, 1988: 159.

[26] (Ibid, xvii, italics mine)


Notices:

Exhibit: Precious Cargo -- Cradle Baskets and Childbirth: California Indian Traditions, opens Nov. 26

In the last couple decades, it has become common to see modern parents carry babies in back packs or slings. It is thought to be good for babies to feel the body warmth and closeness of a parent. Interestingly, this was exactly the approach taken by California Indian groups for many generations. Carrying her infant in a basketry cradleboard allowed the mother to keep the baby close and respond to its needs, while at the same time continuing the cooking and collecting needed to provide the necessities of life for the family. As with many Native American artifacts, the objects of daily use became an art form, reflecting both the Indian aesthetic and the habits and belief systems of the various Indian groups. A new exhibit at the Maidu Interpretive Center in Roseville depicts and explains the many characteristics of Native practices relating to childbirth and childcare. The exhibit shows the varying cradle basket styles, some of which had pointed designs at the bottom, allowing the mother to stand the cradleboard in the ground while she tended to some brief task. Others were designed to be temporarily attached to a tree, letting the baby look around. Some cradleboards kept the infant swaddled tightly, others allowed the baby to be in a sitting position. Some were constructed with hoods to protect and give shade to the baby. Throughout California, mothers and grandmothers made model cradles for their children and grandchildren to play with. It was more than a toy, it was a model for the girl’s future role. The child might also make her own, representing her first attempt at weaving a cradle basket. The cradle design varied from group to group, so an infant was instantly placed in a device that gave it a sense of cultural identity as well as security. While the exhibit displays cradle boards from the Pomo, Chumash, Yurok, Miwok, Washoe, Mojave, and 22 other native groups, it also covers other aspects of birth and childrearing. It explains how the father also changed his lifestyle while awaiting the birth of the child, how he might entrust the child briefly to a fast runner, hoping to transfer that skill to the youngster. Child naming practices are also described in the exhibit, as are the use of ‘touchstones’ and rituals to help women achieve conception. Fertility was believed to be under the control of the supernatural, and spiritual considerations were embedded into childbirth and child raising practices. This unique exhibit, opening November 26, is called Precious Cargo: California Indian Cradle Baskets and Childbirth Traditions. It explores traditional beliefs and practices concerning childbirth and the use of cradle baskets, both historically and today, The traveling exhibit was assembled by the Marin Museum of the American Indian and will be on tour for three years. The Maidu Interpretive Center will have community activities and demonstrations related to the exhibit. The center is at 1960 Johnson Ranch Drive in Roseville. For further information, call the center at 916.774.5934 or 772-4242


"Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children"
Winter & Christmas 2004 - Request for Donations
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html

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.
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
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.)
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!
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.
Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it."
Respectfully,
Manuel Redwoman,
Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support !

Haidu Language Project
Did you know that before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world, the "Indians" in North America spoke over 300 indigenous languages? Today, roughly 20 of these languages have speakers of all ages. Unfortunately, the Haida language of Kasaan, Alaska is not among them.
Currently, only seven Kasaan Haidas speak the Kasaan Haida dialect with varying degrees of fluency--all elders over the age of 75. I know this because my dad grew up in Kasaan, 25 miles from my birthplace of Ketchikan, Alaska. We belong to the Haida tribe. This summer, I urged the Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation (KHHF) to allow me to utilize the foundation's nonprofit status to seek funding and conduct projects that preserve our elders' knowledge.
In September, we created the position of Media Specialist in which I intend to raise money and interview our elders, especially in regards to the Haida language. I will produce, direct, and coordinate a video documentary to raise awareness and archive the language. I plan to make the results available in digital formats on the KHHF website.
If given the chance, I believe people would rally to this cause. We need to get the word out. So, I call on friends like you to get the ball rolling and join "The Grassroots Founders Campaign" Grassroots because the idea is to reach out to many individuals on a personal level; Founders because you will underwrite the beginning of our preservation effort.
Donations received from now until December 31, 2004 will earn the donor a Grassroots Founder designation. I ask for a relatively small gift of 25 to 100 dollars. Donor's names will appear in the KHHF newsletter and donations will be eligible for a tax deduction for this year. Grassroots Founders get special on-screen mention in the documentary.
Please send checks (payable to "KHHF") to:
Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation
600 University Street, Suite 3010
Seattle, WA 98101-1129
Write in the memo area on your check or include a note designating funds for "Media Specialist/Projects".
Very importantly, SPREAD THE WORD. Please pass this on to 5 to 10 friends, or more. You will multiply your donation exponentially and play a vital role in preserving the Haida language for future generations. We appreciate anything you can do to help us preserve our language and heritage.
Sincerely,
Frederick Olsen, Jr.
For more information, email me or go to
http://kavilco.com/pages/
aboutkhhf.html
KHHF is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 92-0169568).


Amamet - Wintu
Long ago, among the real Indians, there was some kind of being nobody knew what it was. They called it Anamet. It came from the mountains and made believe that it was a person. It carried women away on its back. It also took children who were playing outside and carried them away. Anamet would say "K-ete p'iw!" [one jump] as it jumped away with them. What could it have been? The Indians called it Anamet. It stole children and they would say, "Don't let children play late in the evening." They brought all the children inside at dusk. They also took their children along wherever they went, saying "Don't leave them home along," for fear of Anamet. Once some people left home for only a short time and whey they returned their children were gone. Anamet had already taken them. They did not know what it was. It was a terrible thing; not a person. In My Own Words. Stories, songs and memories of Grace Mckibbin, Wintu [1884-1987]. by Alice Shepherd, 1997
From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories


A Wife for Knowledge - Winnebago
Once there was a man who was very powerful and respected among the people. He was a member of the Medicine Rite. This man had only one son, and because the boy had no brothers, he knew very little. In the course of time, the father began to give his son presents. He put a kettle on the fire for him, and told him to be brave and to be a real warrior. The son wondered to himself why he was giving him gifts and advice. The father kept giving his son gifts, and eventually he gave him a fine horse and told him, "My dear son, in order to be a warrior, there are certain things you must know." Then his son understood what he meant. In the course of time the young man married a beautiful woman with red hair who came from another tribe. His father was smitten by her beauty and cast longing eyes upon her. His son did not fail to notice it. So the son gave his father this woman. The old man was very grateful and said, "How can I ever repay you, you have made my heart glad." So the father gave his son all the knowledge that he possessed. In time the red haired woman sicked and died. The old man made a bowl of her skull and then composed a song which is used to this day in the Medicine Rite.
Paul Radin, The Road of Life and Death: A Ritual Drama of the American Indians. Bollingen Series V (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973 [1945]) 179-180

From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories

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Saturday, November 20, 2004

Sat., Nov. 20, 2004

native american arts daily news, presented by
amerindianarts.us

A look at a different culture
Staten Island Advance - Staten Island,NY,USA
The stage at the College of Staten Island's Center for the Arts came alive yesterday with the dancing of seven Native American performers dressed in authentic ...

Northwest Arkansas today
Arkansas Democrat Gazette - AR,USA
... Children's Workshop: "Native American Games," 9:30 am, Fort Smith Historic Site, 301 ... God's Favorite, 7 pm, Sager Creek Arts Center, 301 E. Twin Springs Road ...

Stuart News events calendar: November 20
Sebastian Sun - Sebastian,FL,USA
... College, junior version of "Annie," 7 pm, McAlpin Fine Arts Center, 3209 ... DuPuis: Native American storyteller Javier Del Sol, 9 am-noon, conference room, DuPuis ...

one-of-a-kind gifts
AZ Central.com - AZ,USA
... Arts Center, Mill Avenue and 10th Street, Tempe. 10 am-5 pm Tuesdays-Saturdays. (480) 965-9076. 2 HEARD MUSEUM - The Heard is the place for Native American ...

Sales rack: Be prepared for holiday shopping
Rocky Mountain News - Denver,CO,USA
... 12 at the Mizel Center for Arts and Culture, 350 S. Dahlia St., 303-316-6360. ... The Native American Trading Company, 213 W. 13th Ave. ...



 This once a day Google Alert is brought to you by Google.


Navajo artist Teddy Draper Workshops
Chinle, Arizona (Canyon DeChelly)- Seminars and workshops have limited capacity and usually require enrollment months in advance.

Workshop information for 2005

March 15-19, instructor Elmer Yazzie, "cut yucca brush" watercolor technique.

May 16-20, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

June 7-11, Indian Jewelry Basics (class limited to 4 students).

June 7-11, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

Contact Teddy Draper at
dechelly2000@yahoo.com

Sign Petition to Stop Pesticide Study on Kids!
A non-Native isuue, however....

Web Sites:
Indigenous Peoples Literature


Essay on the Zuni World View
Excerpt (Complete article is available in PDF)

While both Young and Bunzel agree on the religious importance of the images and the lack of a determinate naming process, they disagree on the role of the individual in interpretation[24] and whether the interpretive process is sensual or rational.  This disparity may be related to the different methodologies involved, for Bunzel worked through an interpreter and sought to evoke images in the use of names, often receiving diverse groupings within clusters while Young relied more so on ostensive definition, perceiving the images as having the power to evoke narrative, using the term “metonymic” to describe the power of images to evoke where ambiguity is present in both meaning and form[25].  The one most notable aspect of Young’s study in regard to the individuating function is the observance that Zuni interpreters “included the entire environmental setting of the rock art in discussions of meaning rather than focusing on the image alone…and not only placed individual images in the context of the whole corpus of rock art figures at the site, but also included other features of the landscaping, such as springs, plants, birds, and so on”[26].

[24] Bunzel,does note that new masks and dances are not uncommon and do allow for aesthetic expression; however, all new dances must be approved by the head priest of the kiva, and the masks must be defined and absorbed by society.  Any new creation is completely integrated. In this is evident that aesthetics can provide for epistemic fulfillment in diachronic development.

[25] Op. cit. Young, 1988: 159.

[26] (Ibid, xvii, italics mine)


Notices:

Exhibit: Precious Cargo -- Cradle Baskets and Childbirth: California Indian Traditions, opens Nov. 26

In the last couple decades, it has become common to see modern parents carry babies in back packs or slings. It is thought to be good for babies to feel the body warmth and closeness of a parent. Interestingly, this was exactly the approach taken by California Indian groups for many generations. Carrying her infant in a basketry cradleboard allowed the mother to keep the baby close and respond to its needs, while at the same time continuing the cooking and collecting needed to provide the necessities of life for the family. As with many Native American artifacts, the objects of daily use became an art form, reflecting both the Indian aesthetic and the habits and belief systems of the various Indian groups. A new exhibit at the Maidu Interpretive Center in Roseville depicts and explains the many characteristics of Native practices relating to childbirth and childcare. The exhibit shows the varying cradle basket styles, some of which had pointed designs at the bottom, allowing the mother to stand the cradleboard in the ground while she tended to some brief task. Others were designed to be temporarily attached to a tree, letting the baby look around. Some cradleboards kept the infant swaddled tightly, others allowed the baby to be in a sitting position. Some were constructed with hoods to protect and give shade to the baby. Throughout California, mothers and grandmothers made model cradles for their children and grandchildren to play with. It was more than a toy, it was a model for the girl’s future role. The child might also make her own, representing her first attempt at weaving a cradle basket. The cradle design varied from group to group, so an infant was instantly placed in a device that gave it a sense of cultural identity as well as security. While the exhibit displays cradle boards from the Pomo, Chumash, Yurok, Miwok, Washoe, Mojave, and 22 other native groups, it also covers other aspects of birth and childrearing. It explains how the father also changed his lifestyle while awaiting the birth of the child, how he might entrust the child briefly to a fast runner, hoping to transfer that skill to the youngster. Child naming practices are also described in the exhibit, as are the use of ‘touchstones’ and rituals to help women achieve conception. Fertility was believed to be under the control of the supernatural, and spiritual considerations were embedded into childbirth and child raising practices. This unique exhibit, opening November 26, is called Precious Cargo: California Indian Cradle Baskets and Childbirth Traditions. It explores traditional beliefs and practices concerning childbirth and the use of cradle baskets, both historically and today, The traveling exhibit was assembled by the Marin Museum of the American Indian and will be on tour for three years. The Maidu Interpretive Center will have community activities and demonstrations related to the exhibit. The center is at 1960 Johnson Ranch Drive in Roseville. For further information, call the center at 916.774.5934 or 772-4242


"Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children"
Winter & Christmas 2004 - Request for Donations
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html

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.
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
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.)
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!
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.
Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it."
Respectfully,
Manuel Redwoman,
Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support !

Haidu Language Project
Did you know that before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world, the "Indians" in North America spoke over 300 indigenous languages? Today, roughly 20 of these languages have speakers of all ages. Unfortunately, the Haida language of Kasaan, Alaska is not among them.
Currently, only seven Kasaan Haidas speak the Kasaan Haida dialect with varying degrees of fluency--all elders over the age of 75. I know this because my dad grew up in Kasaan, 25 miles from my birthplace of Ketchikan, Alaska. We belong to the Haida tribe. This summer, I urged the Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation (KHHF) to allow me to utilize the foundation's nonprofit status to seek funding and conduct projects that preserve our elders' knowledge.
In September, we created the position of Media Specialist in which I intend to raise money and interview our elders, especially in regards to the Haida language. I will produce, direct, and coordinate a video documentary to raise awareness and archive the language. I plan to make the results available in digital formats on the KHHF website.
If given the chance, I believe people would rally to this cause. We need to get the word out. So, I call on friends like you to get the ball rolling and join "The Grassroots Founders Campaign" Grassroots because the idea is to reach out to many individuals on a personal level; Founders because you will underwrite the beginning of our preservation effort.
Donations received from now until December 31, 2004 will earn the donor a Grassroots Founder designation. I ask for a relatively small gift of 25 to 100 dollars. Donor's names will appear in the KHHF newsletter and donations will be eligible for a tax deduction for this year. Grassroots Founders get special on-screen mention in the documentary.
Please send checks (payable to "KHHF") to:
Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation
600 University Street, Suite 3010
Seattle, WA 98101-1129
Write in the memo area on your check or include a note designating funds for "Media Specialist/Projects".
Very importantly, SPREAD THE WORD. Please pass this on to 5 to 10 friends, or more. You will multiply your donation exponentially and play a vital role in preserving the Haida language for future generations. We appreciate anything you can do to help us preserve our language and heritage.
Sincerely,
Frederick Olsen, Jr.
For more information, email me or go to
http://kavilco.com/pages/
aboutkhhf.html
KHHF is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 92-0169568).


Apache History
Apache (probably from ápachu, 'enemy,' the Zuñi name for the Navaho, who were designated "Apaches de Nabaju" by the early Spaniards in New Mexico). A number of tribes forming the most southerly group of the Athapascan family. The name has been applied also to some unrelated Yuman tribes, as the Apache Mohave (Yavapai) and Apache Yuma. The Apache call themselves N'de, Dinë, Tinde, or Inde, `people.' They were evidently not so numerous about the beginning of the 17th century as in recent times, their numbers apparently having been increased by captives from other tribes, particularly the Pueblos, Pima, Papago, and other peaceful Indians, as well as from the settlements of northern Mexico that were gradually established within the territory raided by them, although recent measurements by Hrdlicka seem to indicate unusual freedom from foreign admixture. They were first mentioned as Apaches by Oñate in 1598, although Coronado, in 1541, met the Querechos (the Vaqueros of Benavides, and probably the Jicarillas and Mescaleros of modern times) on the plains of east New Mexico and west Texas: but there is no evidence that the Apache reached so far west as Arizona until after the middle of the 16th century. From the time of the Spanish colonization of New Mexico until within twenty years they have been noted for their warlike disposition, raiding white and Indian settlements alike, extending their depredations as far southward as Jalisco, Mexico. No group of tribes has caused greater confusion to writers, from the fact that the popular navies of the tribes are derived from some local or temporary habitat, owing to their shifting propensities, or were given by the Spaniards on ac count of some tribal characteristic; hence some of the common names of apparently different Apache tribes or bands are synonymous, or practically so; again, as employed by some writers, a name may include much more or much less than when employed by others. Although most of the Apache have been hostile since they have been known to history, the most serious modern outbreaks have been attributed to mismanagement on the part of civil authorities. The most important recent hostilities were those of the Chiricahua under Cochise, and later Victorio, who, together with 500 Mimbrenos. Mogollones, and Mescaleros, were assigned, about 1870, to the Ojo Caliente reserve in west New Mexico. Cochise, who had repeatedly refused to be confined within reservation limits, fled with his band, but returned in 1871, at which time 1,200 to 1,900 Apache were on the reservation. Complaints from neighboring settlers caused their removal to Tularosa, 60 miles to the northwest, but 1,000 fled to the Mescalero reserve on Pecos River, while Cochise went out on another raid. Efforts of the military agent in 1873 to compel the restoration of some stolen cattle caused the rest, numbering 700, again to decamp, but they were soon captured. In compliance with the wishes. of the Indians, they were returned to Ojo Caliente its 1874. Soon afterward Cochise died, and the Indians began to show such interest in agriculture that by 1875 there were 1,700 Apache at Ojo Caliente, and no depredations were reported. In the following year the Chiricahua reservation in Arizona was abolished, and 325 of the Indians were reproved to the San Carlos agency; others joined their kindred at Ojo Caliente, while some either remained on the mountains of their old reservation or fled across the Mexican border. This removal of Indians from their ancestral homes was in pursuance of a policy of concentration, which was tested in the Chiricahua removal in Arizona. In April 1877, Geronimo and other chiefs, with the remnant of the band left on the old reservation, and evidently the Mexican refugees, began depredations in south Arizona and north Chihuahua, but in May 433 were captured and returned to San Carlos. At the same time the policy was applied to the Ojo Caliente Apache of New Mexico, who were making good progress in civilized pursuits; but when the plan was put is action only 450 of 2,000 Indians were found, the remainder forming, into predatory bands under Victorio. In September 300 Chiricahua, mainly of the Ojo Caliente band from San Carlos, but surrendered many engagements. These were returned to Ojo Caliente, but they soon ran off again. In February, 1878, Victorio rendered in the hope that he and his people night remain on their former reservation, but another attempt was made to force the Indians to go to was Carlos, with the same result. In June the fugitives again appeared at the Mescalero agency, and arrangements were at last made for them to settle there; but, as the local authorities found indictments against Victorio and others, charged them with murder and robbery, this chief, with his few immediate follower, and some Mescaleros, fled from the reservation and resumed marauding. A call was trade for an increased force of military, but in the skirmishes in which they were engaged the Chiricahua met with remarkable success, while 70 settlers were murdered daring a single raid. Victorio was joined before April, 1880, by 350 Mescaleros and Chiricahua refugees from Mexico, and the repeated raids which followed struck terror to the inhabitants of New Mexico, Arizona, and Chihuahua, On April 13 1,000 troops arrival, and their number was later greatly augmented. Victorio's hand was frequently encountered by superior forces, and although supported during most of the time by only 250 or 300 fighting men, this warrior usually inflicted severer punishment than he suffered. In these raids 200 citizens of New Mexico, and as many more of Mexico, were killed. At one time the band was virtually surrounded by a force of more than 2,000 cavalry and several hundred Indian scouts, but Victorio eluded capture and fled across the Mexican border, where he continued his bloody campaign. Pressed on both sides of the international boundary, and at times harassed by United States and Mexican troops combined, Victorio finally suffererd severe losses and his band became divided. In October, 1880, Mexican troops encountered Victorio's party, comprising 100 warriors, with 400 women and children, at Tres Castillos; the Indians were surrounded and attacked in the evening, the fight continuing throughout the night; in the morning the ammunition of the Indians became exhausted, but although rapidly losing strength, the remnant refused to surrender until Victorio, who had been wounded several times, finally fell dead. This disaster to the Indians did not quell their hostility. Victorio was succeeded by Nana, who collected the divided force, received reinforcements from the Mescaleros and the San Carlos Chiricahua, and between July, 1881, and April, 1882, continued the raids across the border until he was again driven back in Chihuahua. While these hostilities were in progress in New Mexico and Chihuahua the Chiricahua of San Carlos were striking terror to the settlements of Arizona. In 1880 Juh and Geronimo with 108 followers were captured and returned to San Carlos. In 1881 trouble arose among the White Mountain Coyoteros on Cibicu Creek, owing to a medicine-man named Nakaidoklini (q.v.), who pretended power to revive the dead. After pacing him liberally for his services, his adherents awaited the resurrection until August, when Nakaidoklini avowed that his incantations failed because of the presence of whites. Since affairs were assuming a serious aspect, the arrest of the prophet was ordered; he surrendered quietly, but as the troops were making camp the scouts and other Indians opened fire on them. After a sharp fight Nakaidoklini was killed and his adherents were repulsed. Skirmishes continued the next day, but the troops were reinforced, and the Indians soon surrendered in small bands. Two chiefs, known as George and Bonito, who had not been engaged in the White Mountain troubles, surrendered to Gen. Wilcox on Sept. 25 at Camp Thomas, but were paroled. On Sept. 30 Col. Riddle was sent to bring these chiefs and their bands back to Camp Thomas, but they became alarmed and fled to the Chiricahua, 74 of whom left the reserve, and, crossing the Mexican border, took refuge with the late Victorio's band in Chihuahua. In the same year Nana made one of his bloody raids across the line, and in September Juh and Nahche, with a party of Chiricahua, again fled from the reservation, and were forced by the troops into Mexico, where, in April, 1882, they were joined by Geronimo and the rest of the hostile Chiricahua of San Carlos, with Loco and his Ojo Caliente band. The depredations committed in river Chihuahua under Geronimo and other leaders were perhaps even more serious than those within the limits of the United States. In March, 1883, Chato with 26 followers made a clash into New Mexico, murdering a dozen persons. Meanwhile the white settlers on the upper Gila consumed so much of the water of. that stream as to threaten the Indian crops; then coal was discovered on the reservation, which brought an influx of miners, and an investigation by the Federal grand jury of Arizona on Oct. 24. 1882, charged the mismanagement of Indian affairs on San Carlos reservation to local civil authorities. Gen. G. H. Crook having been reassigned to the command, in 1882 induced about 1,500 of the hostiles to return to the reservation and subsist by their own exertions. The others, about three-fourths of the tribe, refused to settle down to reservation life and repeatedly went on the warpath; when promptly followed by Crook they would surrender and agree to peace, but would soon break their promises. To this officer had been assigned the task of bringing the raiding Apache to terms in cooperating with the Mexican troops of Sonora and Chihuahua. In May, 1883, Crook crossed the boundary to the headwaters of the Rio Yaqui with 50 troops and 163 Apache scouts; on the 13th the camp of Chato and Bonito was discovered and attacked with some loss to the Indians. Through two captives employed as emissaries, communication was soon had with the others, and by May 29 354 Chiricahua had surrendered. On July 7 the War Department assumed police control of the San Carlos reservation, and on Sept. 1 the Apache were placed under the sole charge of Crook, who began to train them in the ways of civilization, with such success that in 1884 over 4,000 tons of grain, vegetables, and fruits were harvested. In Feb. 1885, Crook's powers were curtailed, an act that led to conflict of authority between the civil and military officers, and before matters could be adjusted half the Chiricahua left the reservation in May and fled to their favorite haunts. Troops and Apache scouts ware again sent forward, and many skirmishes took place, but the Indians were wary, and again Arizona and New Mexico were thrown into a state of excitement and dread by raids across the American border, resulting in the murder of 73 white people and many friendly Apache. In Jan. 1886, the American camp under Capt. Crawford was attacked through misunderstanding by Mexican irregular Indian troops, resulting in Crawford's death. By the following March the Apache became tired of the war and asked for a parley, which Crook granted as formerly, but before the time for the actual surrender of the entire force arrived the wily Geronimo changed his mind and with his immediate band again fled beyond reach. His escape led to censure of Crook's policy; he was consequently relieved at his own request in April, and to Gen. Nelson A. Miles was assigned the completion of the task. Geronimo and his band finally surrendered Sept. 4, 1886, and with numerous friendly Apache were sent to Florida as prisoners. They were later taken to Mt. Vernon, Ala., thence to Ft Sill, Okla., where they have made progress toward civilization. Some of the hostiles were never captured, but remained in the mountains, and as late as Nov. 1900, manifested their hostile character by an attack on Mormon settlers in Chihuahua.. Apache hostility in Arizona and New Mexico, however, has entirely ceased. (See Hodge in Encyc. Brit., "Indians," 1902.) Being a nomadic people, the Apache practiced agriculture only to a limited extent before their permanent establishment on reservations. They subsisted chiefly on the products of the chase and on roots (especially that of the maguey) and berries. Although fish and bear were found in abundance in their country they were not eaten, being tabued as food. They had few arts, but the women attained high skill in making baskets. Their dwellings were shelters of brush, which were easily erected by the women and were well adapted to their arid environment and constant shifting. In physical appearance the Apache vary greatly, but are rather above the medium height. They are good talkers, are not readily deceived, and are honest in protecting property placed in their care, although they formerly obtained their chief support from plunder seized in their forays. The Apache are divided into a number of tribal groups which have been so differently named and defined that it is sometimes difficult to determine to which branch writers refer. The most commonly accepted divisions are the Querechos or Vaqueros, consisting of the Mescaleros, Jicarillas, Faraones, Llaneros, and probably the Lipan; the Chiricahua; the Pinaleños; the Coyoteros, comprising the White Mountain and Pinal divisions; the Arivaipa; the Gila Apache, including the Gilenos, Mimbrenos, and Mogollones; and the Tontos.
Handbook of American Indians (1906) ~ Frederick W. Hodge
From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories






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Friday, November 19, 2004

Friday, Nov. 19, 2004

native american arts daily news, presented by
amerindianarts.us

Call to artists
Native Times - USA
The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) is pleased to announce that the applications for the 2005 Native American Artist Fellowship Program are ...
See all stories on this topic

Local Native Americans share traditions with students
The Keystone - USA
... Native American Heritage month, and in honor of this, KU hosted a festival at which a local Native American group, the Red Hawk Indian Arts Council, displayed ...

Special events calendar
The State - Columbia,SC,USA
Native American dance, drumming, arts and crafts, demonstrations. Special veterans' presentation to recognize contributions of the armed forces. ...

Shifting sands: Future of historic dune shacks in question
Cape Codder - Orleans,MA,USA
... Most are places significant to Native American tribes in the West, according to Chuck ... in residence programs also offers the shack to those not in the arts. ...

Get Out Guide
OregonLive.com - Portland,OR,USA
... indoor exhibit areas that include "By Hand Through Memory," a permanent exhibit of Native American artistry by Doris Swayze Bounds; visual-arts displays; and ...

Out & About
Press-Enterprise (subscription) - Riverside,CA,USA
... FENDER MUSEUM OF MUSIC AND THE ARTS, 11 am-4 pm Wednesdays-Sundays ... RIVERSIDE MUNICIPAL MUSEUM, exhibits on natural, local and Native American history, 9 am-5 pm ...

Special Events
Times Picayune - New Orleans,LA,USA
... Brulee Native American Village Events Cannes Brulee Native American Village, Louisiana ... Broadmoor Arts & Crafts Festival Broadmoor High School, 10100 Goodwood ...

Gulliford controversy leads some to reflect on classroom privacy
Durango Herald - Durango,CO,USA
... Conundrum: Lessons Learned from Teaching Native American Students," an ... As an American Indian, Yazzie said she feels ... part of a liberal-arts institution, classes ...

Night Life
News-Leader.com - Springfield,MO,USA
... Native American Heritage Powwow, noon to 11 pm Saturday ... annual Ozark Christmas Parade "An American Hero Christmas ... Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts, 525 John Q ...

Smithsonian exhibit charting history of food hits the Delta
Biloxi Sun Herald - Biloxi,MS,USA
... were given more detail about Native American cuisine in ... into the national scope of American food ... Mississippi University for Women's Culinary Arts Institute in ...

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Navajo artist Teddy Draper Workshops
Chinle, Arizona (Canyon DeChelly)- Seminars and workshops have limited capacity and usually require enrollment months in advance.

Workshop information for 2005

March 15-19, instructor Elmer Yazzie, "cut yucca brush" watercolor technique.

May 16-20, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

June 7-11, Indian Jewelry Basics (class limited to 4 students).

June 7-11, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

Contact Teddy Draper at
dechelly2000@yahoo.com

Sign Petition to Stop Pesticide Study on Kids!
A non-Native isuue, however....

Web Sites:
Indigenous Peoples Literature


Essay on the Zuni World View
Excerpt (Complete article is available in PDF)

While both Young and Bunzel agree on the religious importance of the images and the lack of a determinate naming process, they disagree on the role of the individual in interpretation[24] and whether the interpretive process is sensual or rational.  This disparity may be related to the different methodologies involved, for Bunzel worked through an interpreter and sought to evoke images in the use of names, often receiving diverse groupings within clusters while Young relied more so on ostensive definition, perceiving the images as having the power to evoke narrative, using the term “metonymic” to describe the power of images to evoke where ambiguity is present in both meaning and form[25].  The one most notable aspect of Young’s study in regard to the individuating function is the observance that Zuni interpreters “included the entire environmental setting of the rock art in discussions of meaning rather than focusing on the image alone…and not only placed individual images in the context of the whole corpus of rock art figures at the site, but also included other features of the landscaping, such as springs, plants, birds, and so on”[26].

[24] Bunzel,does note that new masks and dances are not uncommon and do allow for aesthetic expression; however, all new dances must be approved by the head priest of the kiva, and the masks must be defined and absorbed by society.  Any new creation is completely integrated. In this is evident that aesthetics can provide for epistemic fulfillment in diachronic development.

[25] Op. cit. Young, 1988: 159.

[26] (Ibid, xvii, italics mine)


Notices:

Exhibit: Precious Cargo -- Cradle Baskets and Childbirth: California Indian Traditions, opens Nov. 26

In the last couple decades, it has become common to see modern parents carry babies in back packs or slings. It is thought to be good for babies to feel the body warmth and closeness of a parent. Interestingly, this was exactly the approach taken by California Indian groups for many generations. Carrying her infant in a basketry cradleboard allowed the mother to keep the baby close and respond to its needs, while at the same time continuing the cooking and collecting needed to provide the necessities of life for the family. As with many Native American artifacts, the objects of daily use became an art form, reflecting both the Indian aesthetic and the habits and belief systems of the various Indian groups. A new exhibit at the Maidu Interpretive Center in Roseville depicts and explains the many characteristics of Native practices relating to childbirth and childcare. The exhibit shows the varying cradle basket styles, some of which had pointed designs at the bottom, allowing the mother to stand the cradleboard in the ground while she tended to some brief task. Others were designed to be temporarily attached to a tree, letting the baby look around. Some cradleboards kept the infant swaddled tightly, others allowed the baby to be in a sitting position. Some were constructed with hoods to protect and give shade to the baby. Throughout California, mothers and grandmothers made model cradles for their children and grandchildren to play with. It was more than a toy, it was a model for the girl’s future role. The child might also make her own, representing her first attempt at weaving a cradle basket. The cradle design varied from group to group, so an infant was instantly placed in a device that gave it a sense of cultural identity as well as security. While the exhibit displays cradle boards from the Pomo, Chumash, Yurok, Miwok, Washoe, Mojave, and 22 other native groups, it also covers other aspects of birth and childrearing. It explains how the father also changed his lifestyle while awaiting the birth of the child, how he might entrust the child briefly to a fast runner, hoping to transfer that skill to the youngster. Child naming practices are also described in the exhibit, as are the use of ‘touchstones’ and rituals to help women achieve conception. Fertility was believed to be under the control of the supernatural, and spiritual considerations were embedded into childbirth and child raising practices. This unique exhibit, opening November 26, is called Precious Cargo: California Indian Cradle Baskets and Childbirth Traditions. It explores traditional beliefs and practices concerning childbirth and the use of cradle baskets, both historically and today, The traveling exhibit was assembled by the Marin Museum of the American Indian and will be on tour for three years. The Maidu Interpretive Center will have community activities and demonstrations related to the exhibit. The center is at 1960 Johnson Ranch Drive in Roseville. For further information, call the center at 916.774.5934 or 772-4242


"Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children"
Winter & Christmas 2004 - Request for Donations
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html

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.
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
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.)
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!
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.
Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it."
Respectfully,
Manuel Redwoman,
Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support !

Haidu Language Project
Did you know that before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world, the "Indians" in North America spoke over 300 indigenous languages? Today, roughly 20 of these languages have speakers of all ages. Unfortunately, the Haida language of Kasaan, Alaska is not among them.
Currently, only seven Kasaan Haidas speak the Kasaan Haida dialect with varying degrees of fluency--all elders over the age of 75. I know this because my dad grew up in Kasaan, 25 miles from my birthplace of Ketchikan, Alaska. We belong to the Haida tribe. This summer, I urged the Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation (KHHF) to allow me to utilize the foundation's nonprofit status to seek funding and conduct projects that preserve our elders' knowledge.
In September, we created the position of Media Specialist in which I intend to raise money and interview our elders, especially in regards to the Haida language. I will produce, direct, and coordinate a video documentary to raise awareness and archive the language. I plan to make the results available in digital formats on the KHHF website.
If given the chance, I believe people would rally to this cause. We need to get the word out. So, I call on friends like you to get the ball rolling and join "The Grassroots Founders Campaign" Grassroots because the idea is to reach out to many individuals on a personal level; Founders because you will underwrite the beginning of our preservation effort.
Donations received from now until December 31, 2004 will earn the donor a Grassroots Founder designation. I ask for a relatively small gift of 25 to 100 dollars. Donor's names will appear in the KHHF newsletter and donations will be eligible for a tax deduction for this year. Grassroots Founders get special on-screen mention in the documentary.
Please send checks (payable to "KHHF") to:
Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation
600 University Street, Suite 3010
Seattle, WA 98101-1129
Write in the memo area on your check or include a note designating funds for "Media Specialist/Projects".
Very importantly, SPREAD THE WORD. Please pass this on to 5 to 10 friends, or more. You will multiply your donation exponentially and play a vital role in preserving the Haida language for future generations. We appreciate anything you can do to help us preserve our language and heritage.
Sincerely,
Frederick Olsen, Jr.
For more information, email me or go to
http://kavilco.com/pages/
aboutkhhf.html
KHHF is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 92-0169568).


Acolapissa History
An indefinite group, of Choctaw lineage, formerly living on Lake Ponchartrain, about the coast lagoons, and on the Mississippi, in Louisiana. Early French writers derived the name from the Choctaw káklo pisa, 'those who listen and see.' Allen Wright, governor of the Choctaw nation, suggests okla pima, 'those who look out for people'; that is, watchmen, guardians, spies, which probably refers to their position, where they could observe entrance into or departure from the lake and river. The name appears to have been made by early author; to include several tribes, the Bayogoula, Mugniasha, and others. According to Iberville the Acolapissa had 7 towns; but one of their villages was occupied by the Tangiboa, who appear to have been a different tribe. The Acolapissa are said to have suffered severely from an epidemic about 1700, and Iberville says they united with the Mugulasha; if so, they must have been included in those massacred by the Bayogoula, but this is rendered doubtful by the statement of Penicaut (French Hist. Coll. La., n.s.i, 144, 1869) that in 1718 the Colapissa, who inhabited the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain, removed to the Mississippi and settled 13 leagues above New Orleans.
Handbook of American Indians (1906) ~ Frederick W. Hodge
From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories


Aman Conquers Stone Coat [Ice and Cold] - Seneca
[Told by John Armstrong] Character GENÓnSKWAIce and Cold (Stone Coat) ONCE there was a village in a clearing in the forest. The people of that village had been told not to go North, for in the North the Stone Coats (Ice and Cold) lived, and they were man-eaters. One of the men said, "I am not afraid of those Stone Coats, maybe there is good hunting in their country. I'm going there. If they trouble me I'll kill them." Getting into their canoe, the man and his wife rowed up the river till they came to the country of the Stone Coats. Then the man pulled the canoe on to the bank, made a fire, and went hunting. While he was gone, a Stone Coat woman came to the camp. When the man's wife saw her she was so frightened that she lost her senses. The Stone Coat woman pushed her around, and said, "She must have been a long time dead." The woman came to her senses, ran to the river, pulled the canoe to the water, sprang into the canoe and rowed away. The Stone Coat followed her to the bank of the river, but couldn't go farther for she had no canoe. When the woman came to where her husband was, she said, "You boasted that you could kill the Stone Coats, now show what you can do." The man built a fire and sharpened his flint knife. Soon a Stone Coat man came to the opposite side of the river and called out, "You are the man who boasts that you can kill the Stone Coats. Come over and try your strength." "I'll not go to you," said the man, "You can come to me." After a good deal of talk, Stone Coat started to cross the river. When water covered his head, he walked under the water. The man ran up the river to where he had seen a tree in the water. He crossed on the tree, ran along the bank and, when Stone Coat came out of the water, shouted to him, "Where are you going? You must have turned around in the river." Stone Coat started back and while he was under the water, the man crossed again on the tree, and as Stone Coat came to the bank he shouted, "You foolish fellow! Don't you know enough to cross the river?" After the man had fooled Stone Coat a number of times, he thought, "I'll let him come. I won't fool him again." When Stone Coat came out of the river, he looked at the man, and asked, "What is that in your hand?" The man gave his hatchet to Stone Coat, who looking at it, rubbed the edge of it with his hand and without knowing it, gave the hatchet such power that it was harder than anything else in the world. "Show me what you can do with this thing," said Stone Coat. The man struck a rock. The rock split open. Stone Coat was terribly frightened. He thought that the power came from the man. "This man," said he in his mind, "is as strong as we are. Maybe he can kill us." He left the man, crossed the river and went off. When he reached home and told his people what he had seen they said, "We'll go away from here. We'll go toward the West and leave this man." The man and his wife lived, undisturbed, in the Stone Coat country till one day a Stone Coat woman came to the bark house they had built, and said, "My husband and I quarreled and I ran away. After he has looked everywhere else for me, he will come here. I will help you till he comes, then you must help me." The next day when the man started off to hunt, the Stone Coat woman went with him, and she brought him good luck. Each day she went with him and each day he killed a great deal of game. One morning she said, "My husband will come to-day. When we begin to fight, you must put a stick in the fire and heat it red hot, and as soon as he overpowers and throws me, you must run the firebrand into his body." When Stone Coat came he pulled up a tree. His wife pulled up another tree, and they began to fight, using the trees as clubs. At last the woman fell. That minute the man ran the firebrand into Stone Coat's body and killed him. When the man and his wife were ready to go back to their village, the Stone Coat woman said, "When the Stone Coats went away, one of our women left her little boy. You must take him home with you." The man went to the place the Stone Coat indicated and found, on a high cliff, two trees, a swing hung between the trees and in the swing sat a little Stone Coat boy, swinging back and forth and singing. The man felled the trees; the swing came down and the boy too, but the boy still kept singing and swaying his body as though he were swinging. The man took the child home and as he grew up and began to play with other boys he showed great strength. If he struck a boy, he killed him. Every child he hit, even in play, he killed. The people of the village told the man that he must send the boy back to his own people. The man sent for the Stone Coat woman and she took the boy to his mother.
"The Stone Coats are Frost, Ice and great Cold."
Seneca Indian Myths by Jeremiah Curtin 1922

From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories

Sign Petition to Stop Pesticide Study on Kids!

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Thursday, November 18, 2004

Thurs., Nov. 18, 2004

native american arts daily news, presented by
amerindianarts.us

An old mill, reborn: Open Studios weekend for over 70 artists at ...
Showcase Magazine - Dover,NH,USA
... chairs and a bench, Moeller continues his praise of the new arts center. ... Moeller wastes no time in introducing the Native American artist, whose work has been ...

Local Roundup
Kalamazoo Gazette - Kalamazoo,MI,USA
... will be used to illustrate the use of the circle in Native American culture ... She received an associate of applied science degree in LeCordon Bleu Culinary Arts. ...

Peer mediators
Melrose Free Press - Beverly,MA,USA
... Rooney has a bachelor arts from Suffolk University and a masters degree from ... East and West" features three traditional tales from Native American, English and ...
See all stories on this topic

11-18-04 ENTERTAINMENT LIST PART 1
MLive.com - MI,USA
... Travel and Adventure series, at the Bronner Performing Arts Center, Frankenmuth High ... "Brother Bear," featuring the film as part of Native American Month, at ...

Leisure Time Suggestions
Monterey County Herald - Monterey,CA,USA
... Impressive exhibits include Native American artifacts, the Monarch ... reptiles, geology and a native plant garden. ... Arts and crafts, puppet theater and special ...
See all stories on this topic

Dancers to showcase variety of talents
The Advertiser - Lafayette,LA,USA
... with the Performing Arts Society of Acadiana (PASA). Jenkins said the program will feature a variety of themes including Native American, classical ballet ...

'Tanka Tales' to teach children
The Free Lance-Star - Fredericksburg,VA,USA
... "We've taken these Native American stories and put ... As master artists with the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, Wall and Pipik travel to ...

12 Southeastern Trips: Step back in time and still stay close to ...
Atlanta Journal Constitution (subscription) - Atlanta,GA,USA
... Indian from Oklahoma, performs at the 22nd annual Indian Arts Festival at ... Re-enactors, speakers and members of local Native American tribes mark the occasion ...

 This once a day Google Alert is brought to you by Google.


Navajo artist Teddy Draper Workshops
Chinle, Arizona (Canyon DeChelly)- Seminars and workshops have limited capacity and usually require enrollment months in advance.

Workshop information for 2005

March 15-19, instructor Elmer Yazzie, "cut yucca brush" watercolor technique.

May 16-20, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

June 7-11, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., Indian Jewelry Basics (class limited to 4 students).

June 7-11, instructor Teddy Draper, Jr., pastel techniques, insights into art, culture, and connecting to nature.

Contact Teddy Draper at
dechelly2000@yahoo.com

Web Sites:
Indigenous Peoples Literature


Essay on the Zuni World View
Excerpt (Complete article is available in PDF)

While both Young and Bunzel agree on the religious importance of the images and the lack of a determinate naming process, they disagree on the role of the individual in interpretation[24] and whether the interpretive process is sensual or rational.  This disparity may be related to the different methodologies involved, for Bunzel worked through an interpreter and sought to evoke images in the use of names, often receiving diverse groupings within clusters while Young relied more so on ostensive definition, perceiving the images as having the power to evoke narrative, using the term “metonymic” to describe the power of images to evoke where ambiguity is present in both meaning and form[25].  The one most notable aspect of Young’s study in regard to the individuating function is the observance that Zuni interpreters “included the entire environmental setting of the rock art in discussions of meaning rather than focusing on the image alone…and not only placed individual images in the context of the whole corpus of rock art figures at the site, but also included other features of the landscaping, such as springs, plants, birds, and so on”[26].

[24] Bunzel,does note that new masks and dances are not uncommon and do allow for aesthetic expression; however, all new dances must be approved by the head priest of the kiva, and the masks must be defined and absorbed by society.  Any new creation is completely integrated. In this is evident that aesthetics can provide for epistemic fulfillment in diachronic development.

[25] Op. cit. Young, 1988: 159.

[26] (Ibid, xvii, italics mine)

Notices:

Exhibit: Precious Cargo -- Cradle Baskets and Childbirth: California Indian Traditions, opens Nov. 26

In the last couple decades, it has become common to see modern parents carry babies in back packs or slings. It is thought to be good for babies to feel the body warmth and closeness of a parent. Interestingly, this was exactly the approach taken by California Indian groups for many generations. Carrying her infant in a basketry cradleboard allowed the mother to keep the baby close and respond to its needs, while at the same time continuing the cooking and collecting needed to provide the necessities of life for the family. As with many Native American artifacts, the objects of daily use became an art form, reflecting both the Indian aesthetic and the habits and belief systems of the various Indian groups. A new exhibit at the Maidu Interpretive Center in Roseville depicts and explains the many characteristics of Native practices relating to childbirth and childcare. The exhibit shows the varying cradle basket styles, some of which had pointed designs at the bottom, allowing the mother to stand the cradleboard in the ground while she tended to some brief task. Others were designed to be temporarily attached to a tree, letting the baby look around. Some cradleboards kept the infant swaddled tightly, others allowed the baby to be in a sitting position. Some were constructed with hoods to protect and give shade to the baby. Throughout California, mothers and grandmothers made model cradles for their children and grandchildren to play with. It was more than a toy, it was a model for the girl’s future role. The child might also make her own, representing her first attempt at weaving a cradle basket. The cradle design varied from group to group, so an infant was instantly placed in a device that gave it a sense of cultural identity as well as security. While the exhibit displays cradle boards from the Pomo, Chumash, Yurok, Miwok, Washoe, Mojave, and 22 other native groups, it also covers other aspects of birth and childrearing. It explains how the father also changed his lifestyle while awaiting the birth of the child, how he might entrust the child briefly to a fast runner, hoping to transfer that skill to the youngster. Child naming practices are also described in the exhibit, as are the use of ‘touchstones’ and rituals to help women achieve conception. Fertility was believed to be under the control of the supernatural, and spiritual considerations were embedded into childbirth and child raising practices. This unique exhibit, opening November 26, is called Precious Cargo: California Indian Cradle Baskets and Childbirth Traditions. It explores traditional beliefs and practices concerning childbirth and the use of cradle baskets, both historically and today, The traveling exhibit was assembled by the Marin Museum of the American Indian and will be on tour for three years. The Maidu Interpretive Center will have community activities and demonstrations related to the exhibit. The center is at 1960 Johnson Ranch Drive in Roseville. For further information, call the center at 916.774.5934 or 772-4242


"Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children"
Winter & Christmas 2004 - Request for Donations
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html

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.
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
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.)
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!
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.
Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it."
Respectfully,
Manuel Redwoman,
Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support !

Haidu Language Project
Did you know that before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world, the "Indians" in North America spoke over 300 indigenous languages? Today, roughly 20 of these languages have speakers of all ages. Unfortunately, the Haida language of Kasaan, Alaska is not among them.
Currently, only seven Kasaan Haidas speak the Kasaan Haida dialect with varying degrees of fluency--all elders over the age of 75. I know this because my dad grew up in Kasaan, 25 miles from my birthplace of Ketchikan, Alaska. We belong to the Haida tribe. This summer, I urged the Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation (KHHF) to allow me to utilize the foundation's nonprofit status to seek funding and conduct projects that preserve our elders' knowledge.
In September, we created the position of Media Specialist in which I intend to raise money and interview our elders, especially in regards to the Haida language. I will produce, direct, and coordinate a video documentary to raise awareness and archive the language. I plan to make the results available in digital formats on the KHHF website.
If given the chance, I believe people would rally to this cause. We need to get the word out. So, I call on friends like you to get the ball rolling and join "The Grassroots Founders Campaign" Grassroots because the idea is to reach out to many individuals on a personal level; Founders because you will underwrite the beginning of our preservation effort.
Donations received from now until December 31, 2004 will earn the donor a Grassroots Founder designation. I ask for a relatively small gift of 25 to 100 dollars. Donor's names will appear in the KHHF newsletter and donations will be eligible for a tax deduction for this year. Grassroots Founders get special on-screen mention in the documentary.
Please send checks (payable to "KHHF") to:
Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation
600 University Street, Suite 3010
Seattle, WA 98101-1129
Write in the memo area on your check or include a note designating funds for "Media Specialist/Projects".
Very importantly, SPREAD THE WORD. Please pass this on to 5 to 10 friends, or more. You will multiply your donation exponentially and play a vital role in preserving the Haida language for future generations. We appreciate anything you can do to help us preserve our language and heritage.
Sincerely,
Frederick Olsen, Jr.
For more information, email me or go to
http://kavilco.com/pages/
aboutkhhf.html
KHHF is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 92-0169568).


Black and White Moons - Winnebago
In the time of beginnings, the good spirits and the evil spirits met in council to determine how the world should be divided between them. First they took up the question of how many moons there should be from one winter to the next. Wild Turkey (Zizikega) strutted before them and spread his tail feathers, declaring, "Let a year be as many moons a there are spots on my tail." But the council of spirits voted this down, as there were far too many spots on his tail. Partridge also suggested that there should be as many moons in a year as there were spots on his tail, but the spirits felt that it was also too long a time. Then Chipmunk (Hetcgenîka) scampered up throwing its tail over its head as chipmunks always do, and said, "Let a year be as many moons are there are black and white stripes down my back." The counselors thought well of this suggestion, and allowed that the six black stripes would be the summer moons, and the six white stripes would be the moons of winter. The evil spirits are greedy, however. They always wish for darkness, so when they saw the bright white disc of the moon and how it lit up the world, they began to eat the Night Luminary away until nothing was left of it. But Earthmaker was not content to see his creation consumed, leaving a dark world as a cover for evil, so he recreated the moon a little each night until at the end of fourteen nights it was full again. Then Earthmaker rested. While the Creator took leave, the evil spirits again gnawed away at the moon until it was completely consumed. And so it continues, with Earthmaker ever renewing the moon and his enemies forever eating it away.
Oliver LaMère and Harold B. Shinn, Winnebago Stories (New York, Chicago: Rand, McNally and Co., 1928) 91-99. Informant: Oliver LaMre of the Bear Clan
From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories


Big Eagle Cave Mystery - Winnebago

Three boys went out hunting, but never returned. A warparty was sent out to track them, and followed their tracks into a cave. As each member of the warparty descended into the cave, he disappeared. The last man heard a death song coming from the cave, a melody that he had never before encountered. Tcaxcepxedega, Big Eagle, chief of the tribe returned with many men, but every time his men descended, no matter what precautions were taken, the first man in line would always disappear at a certain point in the descent. The eerie song was once again heard. One day a boy appeared leading a blind man who was completely white. The boy appeared to be one of those who was lost, but he claimed to have come from another tribe to the northwest. The man became noted as a great healer. At the request of the chief, he looked into the matter of the cave. He and the boy descended. As they disappeared, the song of death became louder. Finally the man emerged alone, and embarked on a canoe that sailed away across the lake. Later some adventurers descended into the cave, despite its fearful reputation, and found there a chamber with a single giant empty throne, and laying about it face down, the bones of all the men who had descended into the cave.
Craun, Big Eagle Cave Mystery, 55-58.
From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories


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Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Weds., Nov. 17, 2004

native american arts daily news, presented by
amerindianarts.us

Minority students flocking to UNM
Native Times - USA
... part of the development of a new degree in Native American studies ... leadership, education and language, environmental and cultural studies and arts and literature ...
See all stories on this topic

In Bejeweled Splendor, the Tribes Have Spoken
New York Times - New York,NY,USA
... American ethnology at the American Museum of Natural History, and currently a co-curator of "Totems to Turquoise: Native North American Jewelry Arts of the ...

Mark DeCou: A creator for the Creator
Hillsboro Free Press - Hillsboro,KS,USA
... Native American flutes, Native American art called a ceremonial pipe, walking canes-both decorative and folk art-and custom furniture that has arts and crafts ...

NY stage beckons Trinity Rep's Eustis
Providence Journal (subscription) - Providence,RI,USA
... During troubled times for arts organizations, Trinity has ended the past eight ... and a play about a May-December romance by Native American playwright Drew ...

GPAC Gets Into Holiday Season Spirit
Up & Coming Magazine - Fayetteville,NC,USA
... will present 'Tis The Season at the Givens Performing Arts Center beginning Nov ... a Toby Keith inspired number, a lyrical dance (set to Native American music and ...

Local News
Ashland City Times - Ashland City,TN,USA
... English, science, math, foreign language, social studies and the arts -- must be ... percent last year -- while the numbers of Asian, Native American and Pacific ...

Community Calendar
Ipswich Chronicle - Ipswich,MA,USA
... Her designs are also on display at the Ipswich Arts Cooperative on South Main ... A small area will be set aside for Native American display called "We Were Here ...

Nationally renowned comedian to headline fundraiser for Berkeley ...
Onlypunjab.com (press release) - Punjab,India
Nationally renowned Native comedian, Charlie Hill performs Thursday ... Julia Morgan Center for the Arts in Berkeley ... Hill has won the American Indian Entertainer of ...

Holly Festival and craft fair
Wakefield Daily Item - Wakefield,MA,USA
... the proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the schools' arts programs ... made America so diverse, including African, Caribbean, Irish, Native American and African ...

 This once a day Google Alert is brought to you by Google.


Web Sites:
Indigenous Peoples Literature


Essay on the Zuni World View
Excerpt (Complete article is available in PDF)

While both Young and Bunzel agree on the religious importance of the images and the lack of a determinate naming process, they disagree on the role of the individual in interpretation[24] and whether the interpretive process is sensual or rational.  This disparity may be related to the different methodologies involved, for Bunzel worked through an interpreter and sought to evoke images in the use of names, often receiving diverse groupings within clusters while Young relied more so on ostensive definition, perceiving the images as having the power to evoke narrative, using the term “metonymic” to describe the power of images to evoke where ambiguity is present in both meaning and form[25].  The one most notable aspect of Young’s study in regard to the individuating function is the observance that Zuni interpreters “included the entire environmental setting of the rock art in discussions of meaning rather than focusing on the image alone…and not only placed individual images in the context of the whole corpus of rock art figures at the site, but also included other features of the landscaping, such as springs, plants, birds, and so on”[26].

[24] Bunzel,does note that new masks and dances are not uncommon and do allow for aesthetic expression; however, all new dances must be approved by the head priest of the kiva, and the masks must be defined and absorbed by society.  Any new creation is completely integrated. In this is evident that aesthetics can provide for epistemic fulfillment in diachronic development.

[25] Op. cit. Young, 1988: 159.

[26] (Ibid, xvii, italics mine)

Notices:

Exhibit: Precious Cargo -- Cradle Baskets and Childbirth: California Indian Traditions, opens Nov. 26

In the last couple decades, it has become common to see modern parents carry babies in back packs or slings. It is thought to be good for babies to feel the body warmth and closeness of a parent. Interestingly, this was exactly the approach taken by California Indian groups for many generations. Carrying her infant in a basketry cradleboard allowed the mother to keep the baby close and respond to its needs, while at the same time continuing the cooking and collecting needed to provide the necessities of life for the family. As with many Native American artifacts, the objects of daily use became an art form, reflecting both the Indian aesthetic and the habits and belief systems of the various Indian groups. A new exhibit at the Maidu Interpretive Center in Roseville depicts and explains the many characteristics of Native practices relating to childbirth and childcare. The exhibit shows the varying cradle basket styles, some of which had pointed designs at the bottom, allowing the mother to stand the cradleboard in the ground while she tended to some brief task. Others were designed to be temporarily attached to a tree, letting the baby look around. Some cradleboards kept the infant swaddled tightly, others allowed the baby to be in a sitting position. Some were constructed with hoods to protect and give shade to the baby. Throughout California, mothers and grandmothers made model cradles for their children and grandchildren to play with. It was more than a toy, it was a model for the girl’s future role. The child might also make her own, representing her first attempt at weaving a cradle basket. The cradle design varied from group to group, so an infant was instantly placed in a device that gave it a sense of cultural identity as well as security. While the exhibit displays cradle boards from the Pomo, Chumash, Yurok, Miwok, Washoe, Mojave, and 22 other native groups, it also covers other aspects of birth and childrearing. It explains how the father also changed his lifestyle while awaiting the birth of the child, how he might entrust the child briefly to a fast runner, hoping to transfer that skill to the youngster. Child naming practices are also described in the exhibit, as are the use of ‘touchstones’ and rituals to help women achieve conception. Fertility was believed to be under the control of the supernatural, and spiritual considerations were embedded into childbirth and child raising practices. This unique exhibit, opening November 26, is called Precious Cargo: California Indian Cradle Baskets and Childbirth Traditions. It explores traditional beliefs and practices concerning childbirth and the use of cradle baskets, both historically and today, The traveling exhibit was assembled by the Marin Museum of the American Indian and will be on tour for three years. The Maidu Interpretive Center will have community activities and demonstrations related to the exhibit. The center is at 1960 Johnson Ranch Drive in Roseville. For further information, call the center at 916.774.5934 or 772-4242


"Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children"
Winter & Christmas 2004 - Request for Donations
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html

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.
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
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.)
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!
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.
Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it."
Respectfully,
Manuel Redwoman,
Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support !

Haidu Language Project
Did you know that before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world, the "Indians" in North America spoke over 300 indigenous languages? Today, roughly 20 of these languages have speakers of all ages. Unfortunately, the Haida language of Kasaan, Alaska is not among them.
Currently, only seven Kasaan Haidas speak the Kasaan Haida dialect with varying degrees of fluency--all elders over the age of 75. I know this because my dad grew up in Kasaan, 25 miles from my birthplace of Ketchikan, Alaska. We belong to the Haida tribe. This summer, I urged the Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation (KHHF) to allow me to utilize the foundation's nonprofit status to seek funding and conduct projects that preserve our elders' knowledge.
In September, we created the position of Media Specialist in which I intend to raise money and interview our elders, especially in regards to the Haida language. I will produce, direct, and coordinate a video documentary to raise awareness and archive the language. I plan to make the results available in digital formats on the KHHF website.
If given the chance, I believe people would rally to this cause. We need to get the word out. So, I call on friends like you to get the ball rolling and join "The Grassroots Founders Campaign" Grassroots because the idea is to reach out to many individuals on a personal level; Founders because you will underwrite the beginning of our preservation effort.
Donations received from now until December 31, 2004 will earn the donor a Grassroots Founder designation. I ask for a relatively small gift of 25 to 100 dollars. Donor's names will appear in the KHHF newsletter and donations will be eligible for a tax deduction for this year. Grassroots Founders get special on-screen mention in the documentary.
Please send checks (payable to "KHHF") to:
Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation
600 University Street, Suite 3010
Seattle, WA 98101-1129
Write in the memo area on your check or include a note designating funds for "Media Specialist/Projects".
Very importantly, SPREAD THE WORD. Please pass this on to 5 to 10 friends, or more. You will multiply your donation exponentially and play a vital role in preserving the Haida language for future generations. We appreciate anything you can do to help us preserve our language and heritage.
Sincerely,
Frederick Olsen, Jr.
For more information, email me or go to
http://kavilco.com/pages/
aboutkhhf.html
KHHF is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 92-0169568).


Betty Brown's Dream - Yana
[Obtained in July and August, 1907, a few miles to the north of the hamlet of Round Mountain (or Buzzard's Roost), Shasta county. The informant was Betty Brown (Indian name Ts!i'daimiya), since dead. There are now not more than seven or eight Indians that are able to speak the dialect. In some respects Betty was an inferior source of text material to Sam Bat'wi, as evidenced by the very small number of myths it was found possible to procure from her. Her method of narrative was peculiar in that she had a very marked tendency to omit anything, even the names of the characters involved, that was not conversation; this has necessitated the liberal use in the English translation of parentheses in which the attempt is made to arrive at a somewhat smoother narrative.] I dreamt. I went off towards the east across a dried-up creek; the creek bed was all covered with moss, it was green with moss. Now I went to the north along the trail. Now I stood on the outside (of a house). "Enter!" said to me a man whose hair was all white. There was also a woman who was blind in one eye. She offered me as a seat a chair of ice. I looked from one thing to another. Everything was made of ice, and it hung down in icicles. "It is near dinner-time," she said. "He will pull the bell," she said. "Now you will be seated, and he will pull you up." "I seated myself, Now he had pulled me up. There was a medicine-man sitting there, talking. The medicine-man was made of rock, he had on a net-cap of white down; he was all white-haired, even his eye-lashes were white. I was afraid. I sat down to eat. (She said to me,) "Go and see your mother! She is sitting inside there yonder." So I went into the next room to the south. "So it is you, my daughter!" she said, and hugged me. "Go and eat!" she said, and I sat down. Everything was of ice. "So it is you who have come here, cousin!" (said another woman that I recognized as Mary). "We are living in a good place. The place we lived in before was bad. This place here is very good, it is all covered with flowers and it is green. It is very good." And then someone overtook me. "Let us go back!" I slipped down on the left side to the north. Then I started to go back, but I did not go back home by the way I came.
Yana Texts by Edward Sapir University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 1-235 [1910]
From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories


Bird Origin Myth - Winnebago

The first birds created by Earthmaker were the Thunders, who can make themselves invisible. As the Thunderbirds traversed the heavens, they would occasionally lose a feather. From such feathers, the visible birds sprang into existence. From the largest quill feathers of the Thunders there came into being the race of eagles; from other large feathers came the race of hawks and their kind; from the small feathers came such birds as partridges; from the down feathers came the small birds like robins and pigeons; and from the mere fuzz of down feathers emerged the very smallest of birds, such as sparrows and hummingbirds. All birds, therefore, are descended from the Thunders.
Thomas Foster, Foster's Indian Record and Historical Data (Washington, D. C.: 1876-1877) vol. 1; #1, p. 4, coll. 1, 4.
From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories

I N T R O D U C I N G REDNATION, Inc.

http://www.rednation.net/
My name is Principal Chief Giti Equa Yonv Smith (translation) Principal Chief Keith Big Bear Smith, and as the Principal Chief, I am very honored to introduce to everyone, our Tribal Nation known as RedNation, Inc.. A Nation comprised of both mixed-blood and full-blood Native American Indian Descendants that was initially formed by People of Cherokee Ancestry, it now includes Indigenous People from all Nations of Native American Ancestry and Descent. RedNation, Inc. is a Teaching and Learning organization, whose goals are to educate youth and adult alike, in Traditional Native American Cultures and Values. With Spiritual ideals focused on Spiritual Self Growth. Living the "First Peoples" way of life and following the "Red Road" in our daily practices allow us the means to pass these traditions along to future generations. We do not practice nor do we recognize the "New Age" concepts. RedNation, Inc. has expanded daily throughout this Country since its formation on August 28, 2002. As has been discussed among the leadership, there is a needed goal for the preservation of our various Native American Languages, Religious Beliefs and Practices, Cultures and Heritages. RedNation, Inc. is a young organization, and we realize that we have much to accomplish. But with the dedicated support of our ever growing membership, we feel our goals can easily be accomplished. We welcome all with open arms to join us in the journey to teach and learn the ways that make the First People, a proud and honorable nation. We are a 501(c)(3), tax-exempt, non-profit Tribal Nation of mixed-blood and full-blood people that will continually need donations. All donations to us are Tax Deductible. We don't believe in dividing our blood into fractions to determine whether we are an "Indian" or not, and we do not depend on the "BIA" to make any kind of determination concerning us. Federal Rolls, a Federal Enrollment Card, or a Membership Card from our "Nation", does not make a person "Indian." Only you and the Creator know what is in your heart. This is what determines being a true "Native American." Anyone that casts any negativity towards us…. May the Creator be with you, for we don't have the time to waste on you. For the ones that are like-minded with us, you are welcomed with open arms. Come join us and be a part of the inevitable "Nation". Sgi (Thank you),
Principal Chief Giti Equa Yonv Smith
For further information, e-mail me at:
moreinfo@rednation.net

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0 comments

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Tues., Nov. 16, 2004

native american arts daily news, presented by
amerindianarts.us

Public elementary schools
AZ Central.com - AZ,USA
... They are researching several Native American tribes and reporting their findings about the food they ate, their arts and crafts, where they lived and how their ...

Raising her Native Voice
Lawrence.com - Kansas,USA
... will stage "Weaving the Rain" Friday and Saturday at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 NH ... and it's not every day that I get a Native American playwright in ...

Berkeley This Week
Berkeley Daily Planet - Berkeley,CA,USA
... Native" a documentary on Native American women at 7 ... Walid Deeb, founding President, Arab- American University, Jenin ... in exercise and creative arts, and always ...

WSU redefines student population as it reaches 10-year
The South End - Detroit,MI,USA
... percent are Hispanic, 0.4 percent are Native American, and 15.6 ... a 15 percent increase in African-American enrollment ... in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences ...

Local author tells tale of 'Coyote Warrior' in book
OSU Daily Barometer - Corvallis,OR,USA
... of highly-intelligent and skilled Native Americans who ... the Pulitzer Prize and the American Bar Association ... His answer: "a real liberal arts education," because ...

Mandel to crack jokes at St. George Theatre
Staten Island Advance - Staten Island,NY,USA
... stories, song and dance as part of the college's Native American Heritage Month celebration. The program is co-sponsored by Enrichment through the Arts. ...

Bazaar aids area elderly
Arizona Republic - Phoenix,AZ,USA
Proceeds from sale of arts, crafts and handmade baked goods go to ... ethnic foods will be for sale, including Chinese, Mexican and Native American foods, prepared ...

MMS students learn from visitors
Laconia Citizen - Laconia,NH,USA
... According to Larry Frates, the school's integrated arts teacher, this ... On Thursday students will learn about Native American culture with presentations and an ...

To Protect That Which is Sacred
Onlypunjab.com (press release) - Punjab,India
... Ingram's US & UK Distribution deliver the Native American novel "Chétan!" worldwide ... ISBN: 1-59426-076-1. The author Pamela Faye is the Arts Editor and Marketer ...

 This once a day Google Alert is brought to you by Google.


Web Sites:
Indigenous Peoples Literature


Essay on the Zuni World View
ExcerptComplete article is available in PDF

The underlying dialectic of the beautiful and the dangerous is evident in distinct dialogues, even in the absence of aesthetic expression, for attanni is proper to secular dialogue and is pertinent to religious dialogue only in the sense of observance where ‘if you have been living rightly, then attanni is not an issue’ ( Ko’na to’ tewanan ateyaye ).  Non-verbal expression is not meaningless nor is a deviant utterance meaningless where the objective is the immersion of the subject into the social structure in order to eliminate causes of behavior conducive to the anti-structure of a social hierarchy where the collective consciousness of the people is to “pray to become one” [112].

[112] Eggan, Fred and T.N. Pandey.  “Zuni History, 1855-1970”.  Handbook of North American Indians, Southwest.  Vol.9.  Ed. By Alfonso Ortiz.  Pp. 474-481.  Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1979.

Notices:

Precious Cargo -- Cradle Baskets and Childbirth: California Indian Traditions

In the last couple decades, it has become common to see modern parents carry babies in back packs or slings. It is thought to be good for babies to feel the body warmth and closeness of a parent. Interestingly, this was exactly the approach taken by California Indian groups for many generations. Carrying her infant in a basketry cradleboard allowed the mother to keep the baby close and respond to its needs, while at the same time continuing the cooking and collecting needed to provide the necessities of life for the family. As with many Native American artifacts, the objects of daily use became an art form, reflecting both the Indian aesthetic and the habits and belief systems of the various Indian groups. A new exhibit at the Maidu Interpretive Center in Roseville depicts and explains the many characteristics of Native practices relating to childbirth and childcare. The exhibit shows the varying cradle basket styles, some of which had pointed designs at the bottom, allowing the mother to stand the cradleboard in the ground while she tended to some brief task. Others were designed to be temporarily attached to a tree, letting the baby look around. Some cradleboards kept the infant swaddled tightly, others allowed the baby to be in a sitting position. Some were constructed with hoods to protect and give shade to the baby. Throughout California, mothers and grandmothers made model cradles for their children and grandchildren to play with. It was more than a toy, it was a model for the girl’s future role. The child might also make her own, representing her first attempt at weaving a cradle basket. The cradle design varied from group to group, so an infant was instantly placed in a device that gave it a sense of cultural identity as well as security. While the exhibit displays cradle boards from the Pomo, Chumash, Yurok, Miwok, Washoe, Mojave, and 22 other native groups, it also covers other aspects of birth and childrearing. It explains how the father also changed his lifestyle while awaiting the birth of the child, how he might entrust the child briefly to a fast runner, hoping to transfer that skill to the youngster. Child naming practices are also described in the exhibit, as are the use of ‘touchstones’ and rituals to help women achieve conception. Fertility was believed to be under the control of the supernatural, and spiritual considerations were embedded into childbirth and child raising practices. This unique exhibit, opening November 26, is called Precious Cargo: California Indian Cradle Baskets and Childbirth Traditions. It explores traditional beliefs and practices concerning childbirth and the use of cradle baskets, both historically and today, The traveling exhibit was assembled by the Marin Museum of the American Indian and will be on tour for three years. The Maidu Interpretive Center will have community activities and demonstrations related to the exhibit. The center is at 1960 Johnson Ranch Drive in Roseville. For further information, call the center at 916.774.5934 or 772-4242


"Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children"
Winter & Christmas 2004 - Request for Donations
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html

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.
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
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.)
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!
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.
Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it."
Respectfully,
Manuel Redwoman,
Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support !

Haidu Language Project
Did you know that before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world, the "Indians" in North America spoke over 300 indigenous languages? Today, roughly 20 of these languages have speakers of all ages. Unfortunately, the Haida language of Kasaan, Alaska is not among them.
Currently, only seven Kasaan Haidas speak the Kasaan Haida dialect with varying degrees of fluency--all elders over the age of 75. I know this because my dad grew up in Kasaan, 25 miles from my birthplace of Ketchikan, Alaska. We belong to the Haida tribe. This summer, I urged the Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation (KHHF) to allow me to utilize the foundation's nonprofit status to seek funding and conduct projects that preserve our elders' knowledge.
In September, we created the position of Media Specialist in which I intend to raise money and interview our elders, especially in regards to the Haida language. I will produce, direct, and coordinate a video documentary to raise awareness and archive the language. I plan to make the results available in digital formats on the KHHF website.
If given the chance, I believe people would rally to this cause. We need to get the word out. So, I call on friends like you to get the ball rolling and join "The Grassroots Founders Campaign" Grassroots because the idea is to reach out to many individuals on a personal level; Founders because you will underwrite the beginning of our preservation effort.
Donations received from now until December 31, 2004 will earn the donor a Grassroots Founder designation. I ask for a relatively small gift of 25 to 100 dollars. Donor's names will appear in the KHHF newsletter and donations will be eligible for a tax deduction for this year. Grassroots Founders get special on-screen mention in the documentary.
Please send checks (payable to "KHHF") to:
Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation
600 University Street, Suite 3010
Seattle, WA 98101-1129
Write in the memo area on your check or include a note designating funds for "Media Specialist/Projects".
Very importantly, SPREAD THE WORD. Please pass this on to 5 to 10 friends, or more. You will multiply your donation exponentially and play a vital role in preserving the Haida language for future generations. We appreciate anything you can do to help us preserve our language and heritage.
Sincerely,
Frederick Olsen, Jr.
For more information, email me or go to
http://kavilco.com/pages/
aboutkhhf.html
KHHF is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 92-0169568).


A man Conquers Stone Coat [Ice and Cold] - Seneca
[Told by John Armstrong] Character GENÓnSKWA Ice and Cold (Stone Coat) ONCE there was a village in a clearing in the forest. The people of that village had been told not to go North, for in the North the Stone Coats (Ice and Cold) lived, and they were man-eaters. One of the men said, "I am not afraid of those Stone Coats, maybe there is good hunting in their country. I'm going there. If they trouble me I'll kill them." Getting into their canoe, the man and his wife rowed up the river till they came to the country of the Stone Coats. Then the man pulled the canoe on to the bank, made a fire, and went hunting. While he was gone, a Stone Coat woman came to the camp. When the man's wife saw her she was so frightened that she lost her senses. The Stone Coat woman pushed her around, and said, "She must have been a long time dead." The woman came to her senses, ran to the river, pulled the canoe to the water, sprang into the canoe and rowed away. The Stone Coat followed her to the bank of the river, but couldn't go farther for she had no canoe. When the woman came to where her husband was, she said, "You boasted that you could kill the Stone Coats, now show what you can do." The man built a fire and sharpened his flint knife. Soon a Stone Coat man came to the opposite side of the river and called out, "You are the man who boasts that you can kill the Stone Coats. Come over and try your strength." "I'll not go to you," said the man, "You can come to me." After a good deal of talk, Stone Coat started to cross the river. When water covered his head, he walked under the water. The man ran up the river to where he had seen a tree in the water. He crossed on the tree, ran along the bank and, when Stone Coat came out of the water, shouted to him, "Where are you going? You must have turned around in the river." Stone Coat started back and while he was under the water, the man crossed again on the tree, and as Stone Coat came to the bank he shouted, "You foolish fellow! Don't you know enough to cross the river?" After the man had fooled Stone Coat a number of times, he thought, "I'll let him come. I won't fool him again." When Stone Coat came out of the river, he looked at the man, and asked, "What is that in your hand?" The man gave his hatchet to Stone Coat, who looking at it, rubbed the edge of it with his hand and without knowing it, gave the hatchet such power that it was harder than anything else in the world. "Show me what you can do with this thing," said Stone Coat. The man struck a rock. The rock split open. Stone Coat was terribly frightened. He thought that the power came from the man. "This man," said he in his mind, "is as strong as we are. Maybe he can kill us." He left the man, crossed the river and went off. When he reached home and told his people what he had seen they said, "We'll go away from here. We'll go toward the West and leave this man." The man and his wife lived, undisturbed, in the Stone Coat country till one day a Stone Coat woman came to the bark house they had built, and said, "My husband and I quarreled and I ran away. After he has looked everywhere else for me, he will come here. I will help you till he comes, then you must help me." The next day when the man started off to hunt, the Stone Coat woman went with him, and she brought him good luck. Each day she went with him and each day he killed a great deal of game. One morning she said, "My husband will come to-day. When we begin to fight, you must put a stick in the fire and heat it red hot, and as soon as he overpowers and throws me, you must run the firebrand into his body." When Stone Coat came he pulled up a tree. His wife pulled up another tree, and they began to fight, using the trees as clubs. At last the woman fell. That minute the man ran the firebrand into Stone Coat's body and killed him. When the man and his wife were ready to go back to their village, the Stone Coat woman said, "When the Stone Coats went away, one of our women left her little boy. You must take him home with you." The man went to the place the Stone Coat indicated and found, on a high cliff, two trees, a swing hung between the trees and in the swing sat a little Stone Coat boy, swinging back and forth and singing. The man felled the trees; the swing came down and the boy too, but the boy still kept singing and swaying his body as though he were swinging. The man took the child home and as he grew up and began to play with other boys he showed great strength. If he struck a boy, he killed him. Every child he hit, even in play, he killed. The people of the village told the man that he must send the boy back to his own people. The man sent for the Stone Coat woman and she took the boy to his mother. Seneca Indian Myths by Jeremiah Curtin 1922
From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories


Winnebago Berdache

A berdache is a man who, in conformity with social convention, assumes a woman's role in every respect. The Hotcâk word for "berdache" was dedj‡ngtcowinga, "blue lake woman." A young man became a berdache if and only if during his fasting vision quest, he was blessed by Moon and ordered by this spirit to "take up the skirt." If he failed to do this, it was thought that the moon would take his life. Part of his blessing was the power to foresee the future, and the virtue of being able to excel anyone in the performance of women's duties. [1] Berdaches have the reputation of being the cleverest people, the sort who would be good at gambling. [2] Berdaches were once held in high esteem, and although said to be shameless, they wanted for nothing and were often taken to wife by men. [3] In contradistinction, men who showed cowardice in battle could be forced to assume the role of women upon pain of death. These men were not considered berdaches nor were they held in any other status than contempt. [4] The berdache, albeit in mirror image form: he is physically a man, but he does not carry on the essential function of men (to fight). It is this mirroring that recalls a blue lake: it is the color of the sky, but it lies opposite the welkin: it is low rather than high, facing up rather than down. Furthermore, on its clear, unmuddied surface, it reflects everything around it, only as a mirror does: all is reversed: left is right, right is left; top is bottom, bottom is top. In cultures that assign left to females and right to males, up to males and down to females, such inversion is a rich model of the condition of the berdache. Such a living coincidentia oppositorum is naturally very wákâtcâk ("holy"). As such, not having powers of war, nor of life in its essence (reproduction), his wakâ expresses itself in terms of prophesy. Just as right has become left, and top has become bottom, so the future has become as history, to be seen in the mind's eye as if a remembrance of things past. Contrary to what the raconteur thought, this is actually a good story. The raconteur probably felt the current, white inspired shame about berdaches and thought the subject matter was what made the story "bad." Contemporary men who would have been berdaches in classical times, are called by the word cîange, which nowadays translates as "fag." Notes: [1] Nancy Oestreich Lurie, "Winnebago Berdache," American Anthropologist 55, #1 (1953): 708-712.
[2] Paul Radin, "The Chief of the Heroka," [unpublished] Winnebago Notebooks (American Philosophical Society Library) #33, p. 52.
[3] Lurie, "Winnebago Berdache"; Radin, "The Chief of the Heroka," 50-53.
[4] Lurie, "Winnebago Berdache."

From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories

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Monday, November 15, 2004

Monday, Nov.15, 2004

native american arts daily news, presented by
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'Really good turnout,' great weather greet Powwow goers
Tullahoma News - Tullahoma,TN,USA
... have helped with the event, which is supported by Tennessee Arts Commission. ... Lakota Indian JJ Kent of Goodlettsville who played a Native American courting flute ...

Celebrating the Universal Language: MHz NETWORKS Launches World ...
mysan.de - Germany
... Afrobeat, Irish folk and Japanese Pop to Native American and New ... noncommercial television broadcaster delivering international, educational and arts programming ...

Event brings Asian culture to QC
Quad City Times - Davenport,IA,USA
... by Shihan David Birdsell and his students from Moline Kendo Dojo and Andrew Sparks of Shorinji Kempo Martial Arts. ... "We already had a Native American Pow-Wow ...

Barrick Gaming buys Laughlin's Golden Nugget
Mohave Valley News - Laughlin,NV,USA
... rise project that may include a world-class performing arts center and a ... Barrick family of businesses, including one of the first Native American gaming venues ...

Martha Berry to lead beadwork workshop at Council House Museum
Okmulgee Daily Times - Okmulgee,OK,USA
... She has won some of the most prestigious Native American Art Awards. ... program is brought to the community in part by funding from the Oklahoma Arts Council and ...

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Indigenous Peoples Literature


Essay on the Zuni World View
ExcerptComplete article is available in PDF

The underlying dialectic of the beautiful and the dangerous is evident in distinct dialogues, even in the absence of aesthetic expression, for attanni is proper to secular dialogue and is pertinent to religious dialogue only in the sense of observance where ‘if you have been living rightly, then attanni is not an issue’ ( Ko’na to’ tewanan ateyaye ).  Non-verbal expression is not meaningless nor is a deviant utterance meaningless where the objective is the immersion of the subject into the social structure in order to eliminate causes of behavior conducive to the anti-structure of a social hierarchy where the collective consciousness of the people is to “pray to become one” [112].

[112] Eggan, Fred and T.N. Pandey.  “Zuni History, 1855-1970”.  Handbook of North American Indians, Southwest.  Vol.9.  Ed. By Alfonso Ortiz.  Pp. 474-481.  Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1979.

Notices:

Precious Cargo -- Cradle Baskets and Childbirth: California Indian Traditions

In the last couple decades, it has become common to see modern parents carry babies in back packs or slings. It is thought to be good for babies to feel the body warmth and closeness of a parent. Interestingly, this was exactly the approach taken by California Indian groups for many generations. Carrying her infant in a basketry cradleboard allowed the mother to keep the baby close and respond to its needs, while at the same time continuing the cooking and collecting needed to provide the necessities of life for the family. As with many Native American artifacts, the objects of daily use became an art form, reflecting both the Indian aesthetic and the habits and belief systems of the various Indian groups. A new exhibit at the Maidu Interpretive Center in Roseville depicts and explains the many characteristics of Native practices relating to childbirth and childcare. The exhibit shows the varying cradle basket styles, some of which had pointed designs at the bottom, allowing the mother to stand the cradleboard in the ground while she tended to some brief task. Others were designed to be temporarily attached to a tree, letting the baby look around. Some cradleboards kept the infant swaddled tightly, others allowed the baby to be in a sitting position. Some were constructed with hoods to protect and give shade to the baby. Throughout California, mothers and grandmothers made model cradles for their children and grandchildren to play with. It was more than a toy, it was a model for the girl’s future role. The child might also make her own, representing her first attempt at weaving a cradle basket. The cradle design varied from group to group, so an infant was instantly placed in a device that gave it a sense of cultural identity as well as security. While the exhibit displays cradle boards from the Pomo, Chumash, Yurok, Miwok, Washoe, Mojave, and 22 other native groups, it also covers other aspects of birth and childrearing. It explains how the father also changed his lifestyle while awaiting the birth of the child, how he might entrust the child briefly to a fast runner, hoping to transfer that skill to the youngster. Child naming practices are also described in the exhibit, as are the use of ‘touchstones’ and rituals to help women achieve conception. Fertility was believed to be under the control of the supernatural, and spiritual considerations were embedded into childbirth and child raising practices. This unique exhibit, opening November 26, is called Precious Cargo: California Indian Cradle Baskets and Childbirth Traditions. It explores traditional beliefs and practices concerning childbirth and the use of cradle baskets, both historically and today, The traveling exhibit was assembled by the Marin Museum of the American Indian and will be on tour for three years. The Maidu Interpretive Center will have community activities and demonstrations related to the exhibit. The center is at 1960 Johnson Ranch Drive in Roseville. For further information, call the center at 916.774.5934 or 772-4242


"Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children"
Winter & Christmas 2004 - Request for Donations
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html

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.
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
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.)
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!
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.
Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it."
Respectfully,
Manuel Redwoman,
Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support !

Haidu Language Project
Did you know that before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world, the "Indians" in North America spoke over 300 indigenous languages? Today, roughly 20 of these languages have speakers of all ages. Unfortunately, the Haida language of Kasaan, Alaska is not among them.
Currently, only seven Kasaan Haidas speak the Kasaan Haida dialect with varying degrees of fluency--all elders over the age of 75. I know this because my dad grew up in Kasaan, 25 miles from my birthplace of Ketchikan, Alaska. We belong to the Haida tribe. This summer, I urged the Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation (KHHF) to allow me to utilize the foundation's nonprofit status to seek funding and conduct projects that preserve our elders' knowledge.
In September, we created the position of Media Specialist in which I intend to raise money and interview our elders, especially in regards to the Haida language. I will produce, direct, and coordinate a video documentary to raise awareness and archive the language. I plan to make the results available in digital formats on the KHHF website.
If given the chance, I believe people would rally to this cause. We need to get the word out. So, I call on friends like you to get the ball rolling and join "The Grassroots Founders Campaign" Grassroots because the idea is to reach out to many individuals on a personal level; Founders because you will underwrite the beginning of our preservation effort.
Donations received from now until December 31, 2004 will earn the donor a Grassroots Founder designation. I ask for a relatively small gift of 25 to 100 dollars. Donor's names will appear in the KHHF newsletter and donations will be eligible for a tax deduction for this year. Grassroots Founders get special on-screen mention in the documentary.
Please send checks (payable to "KHHF") to:
Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation
600 University Street, Suite 3010
Seattle, WA 98101-1129
Write in the memo area on your check or include a note designating funds for "Media Specialist/Projects".
Very importantly, SPREAD THE WORD. Please pass this on to 5 to 10 friends, or more. You will multiply your donation exponentially and play a vital role in preserving the Haida language for future generations. We appreciate anything you can do to help us preserve our language and heritage.
Sincerely,
Frederick Olsen, Jr.
For more information, email me or go to
http://kavilco.com/pages/
aboutkhhf.html
KHHF is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 92-0169568).


Bear's Race with Turtle - Seneca
Formerly the muskrat had a broad tail like that of the beaver at the present day, while the beaver had a narrow tail, like that of the muskrat now. One day Beaver asked the loan of Muskrat's tail to try it, and gave his own to Muskrat to try. Beaver found that Muskrat's tail was much better than his own for swimming with, and thereafter kept it. He always avoided Muskrat, who was now unable to catch him. When they were transformed, it was ordained that each should keep the tail he had. The Transformer said that Beaver had more need of the large tail than Muskrat. Taken from: Myths and Tales from Nicola Valley and Fraser River collected by James Alexander Teit, 1911
From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories


Battle of the Birds - Thompson [Nkamtci'nEmux tribe]

One fine snowy day. Bear was walking through the snow in the forest. When he walked up on a little hill and stood up on his hind legs, he was so much taller than anything else he could see that he was very proud. Bear loved to brag about how splendid he was, so he thumped himself on the chest and roared, "I'M THE BIGGEST ANIMAL IN THE FOREST!" And nobody made a sound, because Bear really was awfully big. Bear got an itchy spot on his back, so he walked through the snow to a little tree, leaned against it and wriggled around. While he was scratching, the whole tree broke with a snap! Bear was so impressed with how strong he was, once more he roared out, "I'M THE STRONGEST ANIMAL IN THE FOREST!" And nobody said anything, because Bear really was very strong. Bear began to run down off that little hill. Now, every human child learns very early that you can run like the wind downhill. But Bear was so impressed with how fast he could run, he skidded to a halt by a little frozen lake and roared, "I'M THE FASTEST ANIMAL IN THE FOREST!" Then Bear heard a little voice pipe up from the edge of the lake, "No, you're not. Bear! I'm a lot faster than you!" "WHAT?!" Bear couldn't believe his ears. Then he couldn't believe his eyes! Because that voice came from a little green water turtle, who was sticking his head up through a hole in the ice. Turtle said it again. "Really, Bear, I'm a lot faster than you are." Bear and Turtle began to disagree, then to argue, and then they began to make so much noise that the other animals came to see what was going on. A great argument was in the making when it was decided that the only way to settle the question was to have a race between Bear and Turtle. The animals reached a general agreement: the race would be around the lake. But then Turtle said, "I'm a water animal, so I'll have to race in the lake." Bear objected, "You must think I'm pretty stupid! You can just dive under the ice, then come back up and say you won!" Though the animals did think he was pretty stupid, he had a point. So a solution was agreed upon. Bear, who was a land animal, would race around the lake, while Turtle would swim from one hole in the ice to another, put his head up and say something, then swim on. Fox, who had no reason to cheat in this case, was chosen to be the starter and judge, and the race was scheduled for the next day. The next morning. Elk, who had the biggest feet, was chosen to punch holes in the ice every few feet. All the animals had heard about the race and had come to see it. Almost all the spectators were making bets, and because most of them were so tired of listening to Bear brag, the bets were heavily in favor of Turtle. Fox called the racers to his side. "Are you ready, Bear?" Now Bear had been warming up, doing exercises, and getting in some last minute bragging, so he yawned and said, "Yeah, I'm ready." Fox asked, "Are you ready, Turtle?" And Turtle, at his first hole in the ice said, "I'm ready!" "Alright," said Fox, "Once around the lake and back to me. Now ... RUN!" Turtle dived under the water, and Bear began to just walk, waving casually to his friends, just to prove how easy this was going to be. But Bear had only taken a couple of steps when Turtle's head came up in the second hole in the ice. Turtle said, "Come on Bear, catch up with me!" And Turtle dived under and went on. Bear was flabbergasted! This turtle was faster than he thought, so Bear began to jog a little faster. But only three steps farther. Turtle's head popped up at the next hole. He said, "Come on, Bear, catch up with me!" then dived under and went on. Now, Bear knew he had to run! He dropped to all fours and began to run as fast as he could. But before Bear passed the third hole, Turtle came up at the fourth hole and said, "Come on. Bear, I'm way ahead of you!" Bear ran and ran as fast as he could, his tongue drooping further and further out of his mouth, so out of breath he thought he would drop. But, that turtle just kept getting farther and farther ahead, each time popping out of a hole to say, "Come on, Bear, catch up with me!" Until finally, when Bear was only half way around the lake, Turtle finished the race! A great cheer went up from the other animals, "TURTLE IS THE FASTEST ANIMAL IN THE FOREST!" Even those that hadn't bet on Turtle came down to congratulate him and shake his clawed foot and pat his shell. And Bear? Well, Bear was exhausted, and so humiliated that he didn't even finish the race. He turned and went to his house, which was a cave, and slept the rest of the winter. And to this day, bears sleep all winter so they don't have to remember losing that race to a turtle! There was a big party and feast in Turtle's honor, and then, finally, everybody went home. Now, Turtle looked around carefully, making sure everyone was gone. Then he crawled down to the edge of the ice, stuck out his clawed foot and rapped three times on the ice. Suddenly, up through the holes in the ice came Turtle's brothers and sisters, his mom and dad, his aunts, uncles, cousins near and distant, even his grandma and grandpa turtles were there, and everyone of them looked exactly like Turtle! They nodded their heads at each other and said, "Yes, we are the fastest animals in the forest!" Turtle said, "Thank you, my kinfolks. Today we have proved that though we turtles may be slow of foot, we are not slow of wit!"
A story of the Seneca, other Northeastern tribes, and the Seneca of Sandusky of the Midwest
[told at a powwow in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the 1970s.]

From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories

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0 comments

Sunday, November 14, 2004

Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004

native american arts daily news, presented by
amerindianarts.us

RSU to offer Native American Heritage Festival
Claremore Daily Progress - Claremore,OK,USA
... Free Native American arts and crafts classes will be offered for adults and children from 9 am to noon. Participants can learn how ...

Entertainment Calendar
Charlotte Observer (subscription) - Charlotte,NC,USA
... DANCE & DRUM WORKSHOP SATURDAY: Bound for Broadway Performing Arts Center will ... NATIVE AMERICAN ART EXHIBIT: An exhibit of mixed-media art reflecting Native ...

Event showcases Tiguas' arts
El Paso Times - El Paso,TX,USA
... Though the cold weather Saturday may have affected turnout for the Native American Arts and Crafts Show, those who attended the event left content. ...

AMERICAN INDIAN HERITAGE MONTH CALENDAR
Fort Worth Star Telegram (subscription) - Fort Worth,TX,USA
Saturday 11 am-6:30 pm -- Native American Powwow, with dancing, arts, crafts and food. Verizon Place at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, 2200 W. Airfield Drive. ...
See all stories on this topic

Workshop focuses on art in education
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - Pittsburgh,PA,USA
... of the International Native American Flute Association and the National Storytelling Workshop, will share her knowledge of Native American arts and music in ...

Annual Art Show at museum today
Charlotte Observer (subscription) - Charlotte,NC,USA
STATESVILLE - The Iredell Museum of Arts & Heritage will host its annual ... STATESVILLE -- An exhibit of mixed-media art reflecting Native American heritage will ...

Juneau scholar, poet wins award from First Peoples fund
Juneau Empire - Juneau,AK,USA
... a scholar and poet in Juneau, has won a 2005 Community Spirit Award from the First Peoples Fund, a Native American organization that supports the arts. ...

Forced Move: Photos depict Indians' treatment in Oklahoma
Winston-Salem Journal - Winston-Salem,NC,USA
... the auspices of the Oklahoma Arts Council and has ... the curators wrote that "most American Indian nations ... Into this dark journey, these Native Americans brought ...

Coming up in Florida
Orlando Sentinel (subscription) - Orlando,FL,USA
With Native American dances, storytelling and exhibits of handcrafted tools, jewelry and ... Saturday-next Sunday: Downtown Boca Festival of the Arts, Boca Raton. ...

SUNDAY CALENDAR
Charleston Post Courier (subscription) - Charleston,SC,USA
... 8 pm Charleston Recital Hall of the Simons Center for the Arts, 54 St. ... NATIVE AMERICAN DAY: Children may participate in a scavenger hunt, play American Indian ...

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... American-Arab Heritage Council and the Greater Flint Arts Council, 1 ... Reg Pettibone's Authentic Native American Dance and Cultural Program, demonstrating Native ...

To Protect That Which is Sacred
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... Ingram's US & UK Distribution deliver the Native American novel "Chétan!" worldwide ... ISBN: 1-59426-076-1. The author Pamela Faye is the Arts Editor and Marketer ...

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DeSoto Times - Southaven,MS,USA
... Today’s program features Native American Tales & Dances with noted musicologist ... • The Olive Branch Arts Council will hold its annual Silent Auction ...
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Web Sites:
Indigenous Peoples Literature


Essay on the Zuni World View
Excerpt

In this it appears that an effective rendering of a prayer in ritual would be dependent upon a specificity between words and images where a name must adequately show the identity of that which it is naming, that is, the same name usage is imperative as a reliable identifier and if the name is to refer to something else at the same time then that image must, a propos, display the same relation with a reliable identifier (name).  Thus, it would seem that the individuating function is objectively well defined.  As Bunzel also notes elaboration is allowed in individual prayer, but in regard to the common good the “ceremonious collectivism that characterizes social activities is the essence of religious participation” and the “supernatural conceived always as a collectivity” is “approved by the collective force of the people”[10].

[10] Ibid, a480.

Notices:

Precious Cargo -- Cradle Baskets and Childbirth: California Indian Traditions

In the last couple decades, it has become common to see modern parents carry babies in back packs or slings. It is thought to be good for babies to feel the body warmth and closeness of a parent. Interestingly, this was exactly the approach taken by California Indian groups for many generations. Carrying her infant in a basketry cradleboard allowed the mother to keep the baby close and respond to its needs, while at the same time continuing the cooking and collecting needed to provide the necessities of life for the family. As with many Native American artifacts, the objects of daily use became an art form, reflecting both the Indian aesthetic and the habits and belief systems of the various Indian groups. A new exhibit at the Maidu Interpretive Center in Roseville depicts and explains the many characteristics of Native practices relating to childbirth and childcare. The exhibit shows the varying cradle basket styles, some of which had pointed designs at the bottom, allowing the mother to stand the cradleboard in the ground while she tended to some brief task. Others were designed to be temporarily attached to a tree, letting the baby look around. Some cradleboards kept the infant swaddled tightly, others allowed the baby to be in a sitting position. Some were constructed with hoods to protect and give shade to the baby. Throughout California, mothers and grandmothers made model cradles for their children and grandchildren to play with. It was more than a toy, it was a model for the girl’s future role. The child might also make her own, representing her first attempt at weaving a cradle basket. The cradle design varied from group to group, so an infant was instantly placed in a device that gave it a sense of cultural identity as well as security. While the exhibit displays cradle boards from the Pomo, Chumash, Yurok, Miwok, Washoe, Mojave, and 22 other native groups, it also covers other aspects of birth and childrearing. It explains how the father also changed his lifestyle while awaiting the birth of the child, how he might entrust the child briefly to a fast runner, hoping to transfer that skill to the youngster. Child naming practices are also described in the exhibit, as are the use of ‘touchstones’ and rituals to help women achieve conception. Fertility was believed to be under the control of the supernatural, and spiritual considerations were embedded into childbirth and child raising practices. This unique exhibit, opening November 26, is called Precious Cargo: California Indian Cradle Baskets and Childbirth Traditions. It explores traditional beliefs and practices concerning childbirth and the use of cradle baskets, both historically and today, The traveling exhibit was assembled by the Marin Museum of the American Indian and will be on tour for three years. The Maidu Interpretive Center will have community activities and demonstrations related to the exhibit. The center is at 1960 Johnson Ranch Drive in Roseville. For further information, call the center at 916.774.5934 or 772-4242


"Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children"
Winter & Christmas 2004 - Request for Donations
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html

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.
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
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.)
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!
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.
Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it."
Respectfully,
Manuel Redwoman,
Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support !

Haidu Language Project
Did you know that before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world, the "Indians" in North America spoke over 300 indigenous languages? Today, roughly 20 of these languages have speakers of all ages. Unfortunately, the Haida language of Kasaan, Alaska is not among them.
Currently, only seven Kasaan Haidas speak the Kasaan Haida dialect with varying degrees of fluency--all elders over the age of 75. I know this because my dad grew up in Kasaan, 25 miles from my birthplace of Ketchikan, Alaska. We belong to the Haida tribe. This summer, I urged the Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation (KHHF) to allow me to utilize the foundation's nonprofit status to seek funding and conduct projects that preserve our elders' knowledge.
In September, we created the position of Media Specialist in which I intend to raise money and interview our elders, especially in regards to the Haida language. I will produce, direct, and coordinate a video documentary to raise awareness and archive the language. I plan to make the results available in digital formats on the KHHF website.
If given the chance, I believe people would rally to this cause. We need to get the word out. So, I call on friends like you to get the ball rolling and join "The Grassroots Founders Campaign" Grassroots because the idea is to reach out to many individuals on a personal level; Founders because you will underwrite the beginning of our preservation effort.
Donations received from now until December 31, 2004 will earn the donor a Grassroots Founder designation. I ask for a relatively small gift of 25 to 100 dollars. Donor's names will appear in the KHHF newsletter and donations will be eligible for a tax deduction for this year. Grassroots Founders get special on-screen mention in the documentary.
Please send checks (payable to "KHHF") to:
Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation
600 University Street, Suite 3010
Seattle, WA 98101-1129
Write in the memo area on your check or include a note designating funds for "Media Specialist/Projects".
Very importantly, SPREAD THE WORD. Please pass this on to 5 to 10 friends, or more. You will multiply your donation exponentially and play a vital role in preserving the Haida language for future generations. We appreciate anything you can do to help us preserve our language and heritage.
Sincerely,
Frederick Olsen, Jr.
For more information, email me or go to
http://kavilco.com/pages/
aboutkhhf.html
KHHF is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 92-0169568).


Bat and His Wives - Wintu
Bat was married. He was married to two mallard duck women. He went hunting all the time. He hunted in all the mountains. In the mountains he went west and north. He went down along the creek. He took a fir limb and lay down facing up. He turned his belly inside out, pulled out his liver, and cut it out. Then he got up. He sewed up his belly and took the liver home. He was going to feed it to his wives. He did this all the time, bringing it home. Then one of the women, the younger one, said, "This is bad! I don't want to eat this food any more. It tastes bad." The Older one said, "Oh, what's the matter with you? You always talk too much!" "Well, let's go see how many of them are hunting, and what they are killing," the younger one said. They left. They went to watch him and he went downstream alone. They followed him. He went downhill to the north and lay on be back. He turned his belly inside out and took out his liver. They saw that and ran home. They ran, took their clothes, got dressed, and went floating downstream. The man cam home and noticed that the two were missing. He missed them. He searched everywhere, went upstream and downstream. He went far. But he did not meet anyone anywhere. Then he saw Gray Squirrel who was climbing, cutting fray pine cones. Bat asked, "Have you seen my wives? Gray Squirrel gave no answer. He just kept on cutting pine cones. Bat spoke again: "Have you seen my wives? Have you seen anyone here? Gray Squirrel became angry. "Get over here under the tree, get close, look up, close your eyes and look up, and I'll tell you where your wives are!" he said. "Okay," said Bate. He went over and looked up. Gray Squirrel dropped pitch in his eyes. "I'm blind," called Bat. "Something fell into my eyes. Get me something to take out the pitch!" He felt around, took a pine needle and poked at his eyes. "I can see. I can see a little," he said. And he left. In My Own Words. Stories, songs and memories of Grace Mckibbin, Wintu [1884-1987]. by Alice Shepherd, 1997.
From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories


Battle of the Birds - Thompson [Nkamtci'nEmux tribe]

This story is about the Crow. All the birds agreed to help the Hala'u to steal the wife of the Baldheaded Eagle, who was a very good woman, but got treated bad by her husband. The Hala'u said, " We will all go to the underground lodge of our grandfather, the Baldheaded Eagle. I will stay outside whilst all of you go inside, and engage him in a game of lahal, and you will at the same time complain of the cold, and keep putting wood on the fire, until the house gets very hot, then his wife will be sure to come outside to cool herself." Accordingly all the birds entered, and engaged the Baldheaded Eagle in a game. They did as directed by the Hala'u, and soon the place was very hot. Before long the wife arose and said, " I am going out to cool myself. I cannot stand the heat." As soon as she got outside, the Hala'u took possession of her, and conducted her to his house. Shortly afterwards the birds ceased playing with the Baldheaded Eagle, and all went home in a body. As the woman did not return, the Baldheaded Eagle knew what had happened, and began to train himself. After training for some time, he donned a collar of several thickness of birch-bark, and repaired to the house of the Hala'u, where all the birds were assembled. Here he took up his position on the top of the ladder, and challenged them to battle. Each one of the smaller birds went in succession to the woman to get his hair combed, and straightway to fight the Baldheaded Eagle; but they all fell an easy prey to their warlike and powerful enemy. Then the larger and more powerful birds had their hair combed and went out ; but they also were slain. The Raven had his hair combed by the woman and then went out ; but he, too, soon fell a victim. Next came the Chicken Hawk ; but he soon shared the same fate. Then the Fish Hawk sailed forth, and there was a stubborn fight ; but eventually the Baldheaded Eagle killed him and cut off his head. After that the Hala'u himself went forth with a bitch-hack collar around his neck, and forthwith ensued a fierce battle. The combatants rose to the clouds, and dropped to the earth, fighting ; but at last the Hala'u was slain and decapitated. The woman then commenced to wail inside the house, for there was only one bird left, viz., the Ha'tabat, who also had his hair combed, and went to give battle to the Baldheaded Eagle. The contest was a very furious one. The combatants flew up to the clouds several times, and back again. At last the Baldheaded Eagle was slain, and the Ha'tahat took possession of the woman. Afterwards he went around and healed the wounds of the dead birds, put their heads on their bodies, and they all came to life again, except the Baldheaded Eagle.
Thompson [Nkamtci'nEmux tribe]
Traditions of the Thompson River Indians, Recorded by James Teit

From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories

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Saturday, November 13, 2004

Saturday, Nov. 13, 2004

native american arts daily news, presented by
amerindianarts.us

First Americans celebrate 19th century customs in a 21st century ...
pride source.com - Farmington,MI,USA
... Lifestyle exhibits (including a full-size tee pee and wigwam), demonstrations, kids' crafts, storytelling, and traders selling Native American arts and crafts ...
See all stories on this topic

UNO reaches out to Native American community with a variety of ...
The Gateway - Omaha,NE,USA
... UNO has also hired ten Native American professors in the Arts and Sciences department in various subject areas, which according to Fiscus, has done a lot to ...

Community calendar
Sharon Advocate - Needham,MA,USA
... Also at the event will be vitamins, Native American, therapists, crafts, crystals, jewelry, food & ... A great feature of the fair will the Arts and Crafts, such as ...
See all stories on this topic

Out & About
Press-Enterprise (subscription) - Riverside,CA,USA
... FENDER MUSEUM OF MUSIC AND THE ARTS, 11 am-4 pm Wednesdays-Sundays ... SOUTHWEST MUSEUM, "Contemporary Native American Art" ; 10 am-5 pm Tuesdays-Sundays, 234 ...

Get Out Guide
OregonLive.com - Portland,OR,USA
... indoor exhibit areas that include "By Hand Through Memory," a permanent exhibit of Native American artistry by Doris Swayze Bounds; visual-arts displays; and ...

Museum calendar
Cape Codder - Orleans,MA,USA
... 3. Cotuit Center for the Arts 4404 Falmouth Road, Cotuit, 508-428-0669. ... 10. Annual Christmas and Native American Craft Show, Dec. 1-4, reception 4-9 pm Dec. ...

Special Events
Times Picayune - New Orleans,LA,USA
... projects using recycled materials with Recycle for the Arts, 11 am ... Cannes Brulee Native American Village Events Cannes Brulee Native American Village, Louisiana ...

 This once a day Google Alert is brought to you by Google.



Web Sites:
Indigenous Peoples Literature


Essay on the Zuni World View
Excerpt

In this it appears that an effective rendering of a prayer in ritual would be dependent upon a specificity between words and images where a name must adequately show the identity of that which it is naming, that is, the same name usage is imperative as a reliable identifier and if the name is to refer to something else at the same time then that image must, a propos, display the same relation with a reliable identifier (name).  Thus, it would seem that the individuating function is objectively well defined.  As Bunzel also notes elaboration is allowed in individual prayer, but in regard to the common good the “ceremonious collectivism that characterizes social activities is the essence of religious participation” and the “supernatural conceived always as a collectivity” is “approved by the collective force of the people”[10].

[10] Ibid, a480.

Notices:

Precious Cargo -- Cradle Baskets and Childbirth: California Indian Traditions

In the last couple decades, it has become common to see modern parents carry babies in back packs or slings. It is thought to be good for babies to feel the body warmth and closeness of a parent. Interestingly, this was exactly the approach taken by California Indian groups for many generations. Carrying her infant in a basketry cradleboard allowed the mother to keep the baby close and respond to its needs, while at the same time continuing the cooking and collecting needed to provide the necessities of life for the family. As with many Native American artifacts, the objects of daily use became an art form, reflecting both the Indian aesthetic and the habits and belief systems of the various Indian groups. A new exhibit at the Maidu Interpretive Center in Roseville depicts and explains the many characteristics of Native practices relating to childbirth and childcare. The exhibit shows the varying cradle basket styles, some of which had pointed designs at the bottom, allowing the mother to stand the cradleboard in the ground while she tended to some brief task. Others were designed to be temporarily attached to a tree, letting the baby look around. Some cradleboards kept the infant swaddled tightly, others allowed the baby to be in a sitting position. Some were constructed with hoods to protect and give shade to the baby. Throughout California, mothers and grandmothers made model cradles for their children and grandchildren to play with. It was more than a toy, it was a model for the girl’s future role. The child might also make her own, representing her first attempt at weaving a cradle basket. The cradle design varied from group to group, so an infant was instantly placed in a device that gave it a sense of cultural identity as well as security. While the exhibit displays cradle boards from the Pomo, Chumash, Yurok, Miwok, Washoe, Mojave, and 22 other native groups, it also covers other aspects of birth and childrearing. It explains how the father also changed his lifestyle while awaiting the birth of the child, how he might entrust the child briefly to a fast runner, hoping to transfer that skill to the youngster. Child naming practices are also described in the exhibit, as are the use of ‘touchstones’ and rituals to help women achieve conception. Fertility was believed to be under the control of the supernatural, and spiritual considerations were embedded into childbirth and child raising practices. This unique exhibit, opening November 26, is called Precious Cargo: California Indian Cradle Baskets and Childbirth Traditions. It explores traditional beliefs and practices concerning childbirth and the use of cradle baskets, both historically and today, The traveling exhibit was assembled by the Marin Museum of the American Indian and will be on tour for three years. The Maidu Interpretive Center will have community activities and demonstrations related to the exhibit. The center is at 1960 Johnson Ranch Drive in Roseville. For further information, call the center at 916.774.5934 or 772-4242


"Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children"
Winter & Christmas 2004 - Request for Donations
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html

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.
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
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.)
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!
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.
Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it."
Respectfully,
Manuel Redwoman,
Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support !

Haidu Language Project
Did you know that before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world, the "Indians" in North America spoke over 300 indigenous languages? Today, roughly 20 of these languages have speakers of all ages. Unfortunately, the Haida language of Kasaan, Alaska is not among them.
Currently, only seven Kasaan Haidas speak the Kasaan Haida dialect with varying degrees of fluency--all elders over the age of 75. I know this because my dad grew up in Kasaan, 25 miles from my birthplace of Ketchikan, Alaska. We belong to the Haida tribe. This summer, I urged the Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation (KHHF) to allow me to utilize the foundation's nonprofit status to seek funding and conduct projects that preserve our elders' knowledge.
In September, we created the position of Media Specialist in which I intend to raise money and interview our elders, especially in regards to the Haida language. I will produce, direct, and coordinate a video documentary to raise awareness and archive the language. I plan to make the results available in digital formats on the KHHF website.
If given the chance, I believe people would rally to this cause. We need to get the word out. So, I call on friends like you to get the ball rolling and join "The Grassroots Founders Campaign" Grassroots because the idea is to reach out to many individuals on a personal level; Founders because you will underwrite the beginning of our preservation effort.
Donations received from now until December 31, 2004 will earn the donor a Grassroots Founder designation. I ask for a relatively small gift of 25 to 100 dollars. Donor's names will appear in the KHHF newsletter and donations will be eligible for a tax deduction for this year. Grassroots Founders get special on-screen mention in the documentary.
Please send checks (payable to "KHHF") to:
Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation
600 University Street, Suite 3010
Seattle, WA 98101-1129
Write in the memo area on your check or include a note designating funds for "Media Specialist/Projects".
Very importantly, SPREAD THE WORD. Please pass this on to 5 to 10 friends, or more. You will multiply your donation exponentially and play a vital role in preserving the Haida language for future generations. We appreciate anything you can do to help us preserve our language and heritage.
Sincerely,
Frederick Olsen, Jr.
For more information, email me or go to
http://kavilco.com/pages/
aboutkhhf.html
KHHF is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 92-0169568).


Bald Eagle Sends Mud-Turtle To The Edge Of The World - Seneca
DO´NYONDA - Eagle
GANYÂQDEn HANÓWA - Mud-turtle
ONCE upon a time, a bald-headed old man lived on the top of a mountain, and his wife and three children lived near a lake about half way to the summit of the same mountain. Each day the old man went down to fish in the lake. On his way home he stopped and gave some of the fish to his wife, and thus they lived well and happily. After they had passed many years in this manner, the old man became curious to know how large the world is. Being chief of his people he called a council, and said, "I want to know how large the world is. I wish some man would volunteer to find out." One young man said, "I will go and find out." "Very well," said the chief, "How long will you be gone?" "I can't tell, for I don't know how far I shall have to travel." "Go," said the chief, "And when you return you will tell us about your journey." The young man started and after traveling two moons he came to a country where everything was white--the forests, the water, the grass. It hurt his feet to walk on the white ground, so he hurried back. When he reached home he notified the chief. The chief said, "I don't believe that he has been to the end of the world, but I will call a council and we will hear what he has to say." When the people were assembled, the young man said: "I did not go very far, but I went as far as I was able." And he told all he knew of the White Country. The chief said, "We must send another man." They sent a second man. He was gone four moons and returned. The chief called a council, and then asked: "Did you go to the end of the world?" "No," said the man, "but I went as far as I was able to go. Everything was as it is here till I came to the White Country. I traveled two moons in the White Country and could go no farther. I could not have lived had I continued my journey." The chief sent a third man. He traveled farther than the second man, then came back and related that there were people who lived in white houses and dressed in fur. The chief was encouraged and he sent a fourth man. As the man traveled he noticed everything. He crossed white rivers and white lakes and was gone eight moons. On his return, he said, "I came back quicker than I went, for I came a shorter way and reached the green land sooner than I would if I had come on the trail by which I went." The chief sent a fifth man. He crossed the White Country and beyond that he found a place where there was nothing but rocks. He climbed very high then went down, and so he went up and down till he wore his moccasins off. He was gone ten moons and came back. At the council called by the chief the man said, "I passed over the White Country, crossed rocky places, and then came straight home. It cannot be very far across the world." "How did you know the way home?" asked the old man. ''As I went I noticed the trees. The tops of the hemlocks leaned toward the East and our home is in that direction, so I followed the bend of the hemlocks." The bald-headed chief was learning something all the time. Many men were sent, one after another, and each turned with a story a little different from that told by others, but still no one satisfied the chief. At last a man said, "I will start and I will go to the end of the world before I come back." The chief looked at the man and saw that he was very homely, but very strong, and he said, "I think you will do as you promise. You may go." The chief called a council of the whole nation and each man agreed to make a journey by himself, and then come home and describe all he had seen. The chief and his men went and were gone forty moons. When they came home a council was held and each told what he had seen. When the man came who had promised to go to the end of the world, he said, "I have been to the end of the world, I have seen all kinds of people, all kinds of game, all kinds of forests and rivers. I have seen things which no one else has ever seen." The chief was satisfied, he said, "I am chief of all the people, you will be next to me. You'll be second chief." This was the pay the man got for his journey. He took his position as second chief. The old chief was Bald Eagle. The first man sent out was Deer. His feet were tender, he could not endure the ice and snow of the White Country. The homely man who went to the end of the world was Mud-turtle. Seneca Indian Myths by Jeremiah Curtin [1922]
From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories


Andek - Ojibwa

This story is about the Crow. Andek when the great spirit was creating the flyers of creation. All the flyers had great purpose. The Eagle was to be the peoples messenger of prayers and thanks The Hawk too was a messenger of the peoples needs and good medicine. The Loon was the teacher of love and relationships. Andek (the crow) however was without purpose. He had no special color, nor had he the powerful wings of the Eagle, So he flew around looking for purpose , like many people today are doing. So Andek Visited Mkwa (the Bear) and requested the bear to teach him of his ways Mkwa did and Eventually Andek got bored and unsatisfied with Mkwa, For some reason the ways of the bear didn't fit with him So Andek went off and sought a new way and hopefully would find purpose. The beaver, the loon, the wolf , the coyote, the fish, all of creation he learned from. And still no purpose nor satisfaction with life Then came the day where Andek heard idiom (squirrel) crying in a hole of the oak. So he flew to idiom and asked 'Hi idiom , what troubles your heart today?" idiom says to Andek, "I am sad and feeling drained about my life" so Andek advised jitimo to visit Mkwa for some medicine for his health, and then they went to visit turtle here turtle was a great helper in finding ones heart of the problem. Turtle travels slow and is paced in all matters never missing a thing. And sure enough Jitimo felt balanced and returned to its purpose with vigor and refreshed spirit. Andek flew around the bush feeling great about what had happened. Then there was another cry in the woods...sure enough Andek went to investigate Rabbit was crying in its hole Andek asked it .Waboose what troubles you today? I wanna die Andek (sob sob)What is it that has brought you to such ends? Waboose was crying about Wagoosh (fox) and how there is no peace with wagosh around. So Andek listened like he learned from turtle and then told Waboose its purpose for its legs and long ears...Why a permanent solution for a temporary problem. Waboose surely you can out run Wagoosh. Yes Waboose thought to it self...I can and I will feel good about it too...Thank you Andek.. As time went on as it does...The word traveled all across the lands...about this Flyer whom was born without purpose, so it thought.....however the purpose was found when Andek traveled and made friends with all of creation. Andek to many of us is our traveling companion... always reminding us that with work and dedication the purpose you look for is always ahead of you. You will not find your purpose if you sit on your path, however it will meet you ahead, in the meantime create good connections and work with spirit of friendship and before you know it.. You become your purpose as did Andek. Walk your path and I guarantee you that You will meet that purpose. You can walk up , down, left , right , it makes no difference as long as you walk forward always forward.
From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories

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Friday, November 12, 2004

Friday, Nov. 12, 2004

native american arts daily news, presented by
amerindianarts.us

NANISH SHONTIE P.O. BOX 17 BLACHLY, OREGON 97412 U.S.A. (541) 925-3777 fax (541) 925-3776 WEB SITE http://www.nanish.org E-MAIL Nanish@peak.org HELLO TO ALL OUR FRIENDS, SUPPORTERS, AND VOLUNTEERS… We hope that the summer has been good to you. It has been a busy summer for us and we have made many new friends. There was a lot of work that has been done and much more that is still needed. As Nanish Shontie continues to evolve into the vision that we have believed in, we also see the good energy that it is already creating. In June, besides the Land Blessing ceremony, Nanish Shontie also hosted a board of directors meeting from the Native American non-profit organization Poo-Ha-Bah. It was a gift to have these Elders among us. There are other non-profit groups that have expressed interest in having their meetings at Nanish Shontie. In July besides having numerous visitors, Nanish Shontie also tried selling crafts and organic produce in a number of areas locally. Unfortunately this met with only limited success. We are working on other ways to help make Nanish Shontie more self sustaining. A healing clinic that was held in August was a learning experience. We found many restrictions on what was allowed and not allowed, but we also had many practitioners who were willing to donate their time and energy to help others without charging. There was a group of four people from France which three were acupuncturist and herbalist. We hope to have another one next year if we can work out the details. There was also a family from Germany that stayed with us for five weeks starting in August. The husband whose name is Kai, is someone that has extensive knowledge of web site creation and donated his time to get Nanish Shonties web site updated which was greatly needed. They also felt strongly about the way of life at Nanish Shontie and the whole family is hoping to immigrate to the United States to live at Nanish Shontie. They have started the process but should anyone have helpful advice for them, please contact them at kai.arend@mabon.de-or . September was another month that was more focused on the work needing to be done at Nanish Shontie with the generous help of numerous volunteers. We were do a lot of canning of fruit and some vegetables and also gathering fresh ones to eat. Oregon is a land that is very fertile and many different fruits, vegetables and nuts grow there. October was an interesting month as Nanish Shontie was invited to attend two conferences in Oregon, one in Eugene that was called the Oregon Bioneers conference and one in Corvallis that was called Nature and the Sacred. We were able to have a table for Nanish Shontie at the Oregon Bioneers conference and made many good contacts at both. We also were able to get the ground work done to start construction of our greenhouse as the weather permits. We also did some traditional drumming at Nanish Shontie which a number of local people came to and also drummed. There will be another gathering for drumming at Nanish Shontie on November 20th for anyone who lives close enough that they would like to attend. Please call or e-mail us for information if you are interested. There is no charge for the drumming. We thought that we would share this Native American legend with you as these kind of stories were important to many tribal cultures to help teach the people many things. We hope that you enjoy it and gain something from it. We do apologize that we do not know which Native American tribe that this legend comes from. A long time ago Eagle, and Red Tail were the same size, and very good friends. But Red Tail was very jealous of Eagle, and thought he was better than him. Red Tail would always make up contests for them to do, so he could show up his friend. This really made Eagle very sad, and every night he would pray to creator, that Red Tail would stop. It was not that Eagle was inferior, just that competing with a friend was wrong. They should enjoy being different, and what each other brought to the friendship. Well, one day Red Tail came up with the idea that they would each fly as high as they could, and then soar back down to the ground. Eagle kept saying he did not want to compete with his friend it was wrong. But Red tail would not be put off. He kept taunting Eagle till he finally gave in to him. They both took off, and started flying. Eagle was ahead of Red Tail, and this made him furious. He started playing tricks on Eagle acting like he was hurt. When Eagle came back to help him he took off so fast, he lost some of his feathers. Eagle decided to just let Red Tail win then maybe the contests would stop. So Eagle just soared around waiting for Red Tail to come back. He soared for 3 days waiting. He was beginning to really worry about his friend. Finally he saw Red Tail coming back. But he looked really small to him. As Red Tail got closer Eagle noticed that he was smaller. Eagle asked him where had he been, and what had happened to him. Red Tail told him he went so high he saw creator. Eagle thought he was playing a joke on him. But Red Tail told him so seriously, that he was very sorry for all the contests, and mean tricks he had played on him. Eagle wanted to know after all these years why was he sorry for them. "Well" said Red Tail, "When I saw Creator he told me how you had prayed to him every night that I would stop the contests and the foolish games. It made me feel so small in character, that I began to shrink to the size you see me now. Then Creator said as my punishment I would stay this way, and all my decedents shall be this size as well. And I will never be able to fly as high as the Eagle again. So my friend I truly am sorry for being so cruel to you. You clearly were better than me." Eagle was so touched by Red Tails words all he could do was look at him. Then he said to Red Tail, "No my friend we are equal yet different. Unique in our own ways. You will always be my friend. But now we can celebrate our differences, and our new understanding of each other." So on this they agreed, and cemented the friendship by giving each other a feather. And that is why Red Tail is smaller than Eagle. And why they both wear white as a sign of their continuing respect for each other. NANISH SHONTIE IS A 501(C)3 NONPROFIT AND ANY DONATION OF ANY SIZE IS ALWAYS GREATLY APPRECIATED AND NEEDED. AS A 501(C)3 NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION, NANISH SHONTIE IS RECOGNIZED BY THE UNITED STATES FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AS A CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION. UNFORTUNATELY, DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE ONLY FOR UNITED STATES CITIZENS OR IF YOU LIVE IN BELGIUM, TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS CAN BE MADE THROUGH THE KING BAUDOUIN FOUNDATION, ATTENTION KBF US-NANISH SHONTIE, PLEASE LOOK AT OUR WEB SITE (WWW.NANISH.ORG) OR GIVE US A CALL. WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU IN SOME WAY. WE HOPE THAT ONE DAY YOU WILL JOIN US IN SHARING A PRAYER IN YOUR OWN WAY TO BE CARRIED BY THE SMOKE IN OUR DAILY SACRED FIRE CIRCLE TO THE CREATOR…THAT OUR MOTHER EARTH MAY KNOW THAT WE HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN HER AND TO PRAY FOR HER CONTINUED HEALING AND WELL BEING.
ZON MEA NOH (WALK IN A GOOD WAY)
Mala Spotted Eagle PO Box 17 Blachly, Oregon 97412 USA 541-925-3777


Web Sites:
Indigenous Peoples Literature

Essay on the Zuni World View
Excerpt

In a like sense, the rock images of the Zuni lie at the periphery of the village and can stand in opposition to the peaceful center.  Their peaceful integration to the center is dependent upon a proper interpretation of context that requires an extensive knowledge of Zuni religion and myth.  In this it is representative of the dangerous.  While an image can be appreciated visually, its power to evoke proper narrative can bring danger in a deviant utterance.  Proper interpretation is the pragmatic elimination of individual expression and the proper narrative is reflective of a collective cohesion that is manifest as aesthetic appreciation, and while aesthetics and art find religion as their motive, aesthetic expression cannot be a part of religious dialogue.  As Walker noted, expressive language tends to categorize the user [91] and to the Zuni if this act has religious associations it could bring danger to the individual and lack personal accomplishment for it may subsequently bring danger to the collectivity.

[91] Walker notes that referential meaning is about the non-linguistic environment of a speaker, e.g. color-coding.  Walker, Willard. “Taxonomic Structure and the Pursuit of Meaning”.  Southwestern Journal of Anthropology.  21: 265-275, 1966b: 266.

Notices:

Precious Cargo -- Cradle Baskets and Childbirth: California Indian Traditions

In the last couple decades, it has become common to see modern parents carry babies in back packs or slings. It is thought to be good for babies to feel the body warmth and closeness of a parent. Interestingly, this was exactly the approach taken by California Indian groups for many generations. Carrying her infant in a basketry cradleboard allowed the mother to keep the baby close and respond to its needs, while at the same time continuing the cooking and collecting needed to provide the necessities of life for the family. As with many Native American artifacts, the objects of daily use became an art form, reflecting both the Indian aesthetic and the habits and belief systems of the various Indian groups. A new exhibit at the Maidu Interpretive Center in Roseville depicts and explains the many characteristics of Native practices relating to childbirth and childcare. The exhibit shows the varying cradle basket styles, some of which had pointed designs at the bottom, allowing the mother to stand the cradleboard in the ground while she tended to some brief task. Others were designed to be temporarily attached to a tree, letting the baby look around. Some cradleboards kept the infant swaddled tightly, others allowed the baby to be in a sitting position. Some were constructed with hoods to protect and give shade to the baby. Throughout California, mothers and grandmothers made model cradles for their children and grandchildren to play with. It was more than a toy, it was a model for the girl’s future role. The child might also make her own, representing her first attempt at weaving a cradle basket. The cradle design varied from group to group, so an infant was instantly placed in a device that gave it a sense of cultural identity as well as security. While the exhibit displays cradle boards from the Pomo, Chumash, Yurok, Miwok, Washoe, Mojave, and 22 other native groups, it also covers other aspects of birth and childrearing. It explains how the father also changed his lifestyle while awaiting the birth of the child, how he might entrust the child briefly to a fast runner, hoping to transfer that skill to the youngster. Child naming practices are also described in the exhibit, as are the use of ‘touchstones’ and rituals to help women achieve conception. Fertility was believed to be under the control of the supernatural, and spiritual considerations were embedded into childbirth and child raising practices. This unique exhibit, opening November 26, is called Precious Cargo: California Indian Cradle Baskets and Childbirth Traditions. It explores traditional beliefs and practices concerning childbirth and the use of cradle baskets, both historically and today, The traveling exhibit was assembled by the Marin Museum of the American Indian and will be on tour for three years. The Maidu Interpretive Center will have community activities and demonstrations related to the exhibit. The center is at 1960 Johnson Ranch Drive in Roseville. For further information, call the center at 916.774.5934 or 772-4242

"Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children"
Winter & Christmas 2004 - Request for Donations
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html

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.
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
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.)
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!
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.
Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it."
Respectfully,
Manuel Redwoman,
Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support !

Haidu Language Project
Did you know that before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world, the "Indians" in North America spoke over 300 indigenous languages? Today, roughly 20 of these languages have speakers of all ages. Unfortunately, the Haida language of Kasaan, Alaska is not among them.
Currently, only seven Kasaan Haidas speak the Kasaan Haida dialect with varying degrees of fluency--all elders over the age of 75. I know this because my dad grew up in Kasaan, 25 miles from my birthplace of Ketchikan, Alaska. We belong to the Haida tribe. This summer, I urged the Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation (KHHF) to allow me to utilize the foundation's nonprofit status to seek funding and conduct projects that preserve our elders' knowledge.
In September, we created the position of Media Specialist in which I intend to raise money and interview our elders, especially in regards to the Haida language. I will produce, direct, and coordinate a video documentary to raise awareness and archive the language. I plan to make the results available in digital formats on the KHHF website.
If given the chance, I believe people would rally to this cause. We need to get the word out. So, I call on friends like you to get the ball rolling and join "The Grassroots Founders Campaign" Grassroots because the idea is to reach out to many individuals on a personal level; Founders because you will underwrite the beginning of our preservation effort.
Donations received from now until December 31, 2004 will earn the donor a Grassroots Founder designation. I ask for a relatively small gift of 25 to 100 dollars. Donor's names will appear in the KHHF newsletter and donations will be eligible for a tax deduction for this year. Grassroots Founders get special on-screen mention in the documentary.
Please send checks (payable to "KHHF") to:
Kasaan Haida Heritage Foundation
600 University Street, Suite 3010
Seattle, WA 98101-1129
Write in the memo area on your check or include a note designating funds for "Media Specialist/Projects".
Very importantly, SPREAD THE WORD. Please pass this on to 5 to 10 friends, or more. You will multiply your donation exponentially and play a vital role in preserving the Haida language for future generations. We appreciate anything you can do to help us preserve our language and heritage.
Sincerely,
Frederick Olsen, Jr.
For more information, email me or go to
http://kavilco.com/pages/
aboutkhhf.html
KHHF is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 92-0169568).


Andek - Ojibwa

This story is about the Crow. Andek when the great spirit was creating the flyers of creation. All the flyers had great purpose. The Eagle was to be the peoples messenger of prayers and thanks The Hawk too was a messenger of the peoples needs and good medicine. The Loon was the teacher of love and relationships. Andek (the crow) however was without purpose. He had no special color, nor had he the powerful wings of the Eagle, So he flew around looking for purpose , like many people today are doing. So Andek Visited Mkwa (the Bear) and requested the bear to teach him of his ways Mkwa did and Eventually Andek got bored and unsatisfied with Mkwa, For some reason the ways of the bear didn't fit with him So Andek went off and sought a new way and hopefully would find purpose. The beaver, the loon, the wolf , the coyote, the fish, all of creation he learned from. And still no purpose nor satisfaction with life Then came the day where Andek heard idiom (squirrel) crying in a hole of the oak. So he flew to idiom and asked 'Hi idiom , what troubles your heart today?" idiom says to Andek, "I am sad and feeling drained about my life" so Andek advised jitimo to visit Mkwa for some medicine for his health, and then they went to visit turtle here turtle was a great helper in finding ones heart of the problem. Turtle travels slow and is paced in all matters never missing a thing. And sure enough Jitimo felt balanced and returned to its purpose with vigor and refreshed spirit. Andek flew around the bush feeling great about what had happened. Then there was another cry in the woods...sure enough Andek went to investigate Rabbit was crying in its hole Andek asked it .Waboose what troubles you today? I wanna die Andek (sob sob)What is it that has brought you to such ends? Waboose was crying about Wagoosh (fox) and how there is no peace with wagosh around. So Andek listened like he learned from turtle and then told Waboose its purpose for its legs and long ears...Why a permanent solution for a temporary problem. Waboose surely you can out run Wagoosh. Yes Waboose thought to it self...I can and I will feel good about it too...Thank you Andek.. As time went on as it does...The word traveled all across the lands...about this Flyer whom was born without purpose, so it thought.....however the purpose was found when Andek traveled and made friends with all of creation. Andek to many of us is our traveling companion... always reminding us that with work and dedication the purpose you look for is always ahead of you. You will not find your purpose if you sit on your path, however it will meet you ahead, in the meantime create good connections and work with spirit of friendship and before you know it.. You become your purpose as did Andek. Walk your path and I guarantee you that You will meet that purpose. You can walk up , down, left , right , it makes no difference as long as you walk forward always forward.
From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories

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Thursday, November 11, 2004

Thurs., Nov. 11, 2004

native american arts daily news, presented by
amerindianarts.us

"Gathering of Hearts" Art Show Planned for Tulsa
Native Times - USA
This year's "Gathering of Hearts and Native American Arts" is slated for November 19 through 21 at the Tulsa Mariott Southern Hills. ...

Novices shown `how to powwow'
Chicago Tribune (subscription) - Chicago,IL,USA
... Museum of the American Indian in Evanston, described as "the only museum in the Chicago area focusing on the history, culture and arts of Native Americans.". ...

Dawn to Dusk in the arts in Athens County
The Athens News - Athens,OH,USA
... Museum of Art collections include more than 8,000 objects from a broad range of cultures, including an assortment of Southwest Native-American arts and crafts. ...

Mark Carroll is Teacher of the Year
Shore Publishing - Madison,CT,USA
... The story takes place in the late 1700s and follows Native American and colonists children ... He teaches mainly fourth grade Language Arts and Social Studies. ...

Still Going
Richmond Times Dispatch - Richmond,VA,USA
... 31. 353-2668. "Continuum A Look at Native American Life Past and Present," through Jan. 8, at Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen, 2880 Mountain Road. 359-8893. ...

11-11 ENTERTAINMENT LIST PART 2
The Saginaw News - Saginaw,MI,USA
... Altrusa Holiday Mart, featuring the annual juried arts and crafts show, at ... Ash Basket Demo, featuring Renee Dillard, as part of Native American Heritage Week ...

 This once a day Google Alert is brought to you by Google.


Web Sites:
Indigenous Peoples Literature

Essay on the Zuni World View
Excerpt

In a like sense, the rock images of the Zuni lie at the periphery of the village and can stand in opposition to the peaceful center.  Their peaceful integration to the center is dependent upon a proper interpretation of context that requires an extensive knowledge of Zuni religion and myth.  In this it is representative of the dangerous.  While an image can be appreciated visually, its power to evoke proper narrative can bring danger in a deviant utterance.  Proper interpretation is the pragmatic elimination of individual expression and the proper narrative is reflective of a collective cohesion that is manifest as aesthetic appreciation, and while aesthetics and art find religion as their motive, aesthetic expression cannot be a part of religious dialogue.  As Walker noted, expressive language tends to categorize the user [91] and to the Zuni if this act has religious associations it could bring danger to the individual and lack personal accomplishment for it may subsequently bring danger to the collectivity.

[91] Walker notes that referential meaning is about the non-linguistic environment of a speaker, e.g. color-coding.  Walker, Willard. “Taxonomic Structure and the Pursuit of Meaning”.  Southwestern Journal of Anthropology.  21: 265-275, 1966b: 266.

Notices:

Precious Cargo -- Cradle Basket