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The last two years our Code Talker Bahe Ketchum from Navajo Mountain attended but this year he was still in NYC attending the festivities there.  I was very disappointed to miss meeting him.

Below I have several (70+ hi res) photos of the event to give you a little taste of what celebrating is like on the Navajo Rez.

As the 20th century comes to a close, there are nearly 190,00 Native American military veterans. It is well recognized that, historically, Native Americans have the highest record of service per capita when compared to other ethnic groups. The reasons behind this disproportionate contribution are complex and deeply rooted in traditional American Indian culture. In many respects, Native Americans are no different from others who volunteer for military service. They do, however, have distinctive cultural values which drive them to serve their country. One such value is their proud warrior tradition.

In part, the warrior tradition is a willingness to engage the enemy in battle. This characteristic has been clearly demonstrated by the courageous deeds of Native Americans in combat. However, the warrior tradition is best exemplified by the following qualities said to be inherent to most if not all Native American societies: strength, honor, pride, devotion, and wisdom. These qualities make a perfect fit with military tradition.

Source

We begin the drive to Inscription House, that snow storm there in the distance is our destination

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The flag is put out as a road marker for the event next to Inscription House Trading Post.

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My mother, an elder, arrives to hold court and see her beloved family.  She is escorted by my little brother Nate who is her caregiver.

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My cousins, nieces and nephews are busy building juniper fires and prepping food

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Making fry bread

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Grilling dry bread

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The dry bread is starting to stack up

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Chopping juniper wood is an everyday task on the rez

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My family gets warm while the fire stokes down so one can cook on it

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On a visit to the rez you must include pics of the kids, these are the offspring of my nieces and nephews, cute or super cute?  Our tribe's future...














My niece and her family, she served in Iraq

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A young Navajo singer and drummer performed

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More elders arrive

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The veterans begin to arrive:





Must photograph this Navajo bun hairstyle (note Navajo cradle board in car in background)

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Organizing for the flag ceremony






Impromptu rehearsal (note the trumpet player on the far right, he is the music teacher at nearby Shonto school where my cousin Judy teaches kindergarten)

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Everyone lines up for chow:




That's me serving chow on the far right

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My 88 yr. old mom is pretty happy to be eating mutton stew (actually we have no idea exactly how old she is...she has no birth certificate.)

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Presenting the flag to a mother of a fallen soldier

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This is the impromptu color guard, job well done!

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My cousin Duane, a cross between Wes Studi and Travis Bickle, he saw the Berlin Wall come down

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We took two trips after this day's main event:

1- a trip to visit my mom's younger sister

My Aunt Mary's home

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Her home, this is one of the nicer homes on the rez

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A stockpile of wood chopped by my cousin Allen for my aunt Mary, his mother

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My mom visiting her younger sister

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2- Bonus photos for you from Monument Valley at twilight and before a snow storm

Look along the top rim and notice the new hotel "The View"

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My haul for this trip and I scored, especially with the pottery my cousin Linda made

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The mutton stew I made with the blue corn I brought back with me.  YUM.

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The rest of this set of photos including personal ones lives here.  I recommend the slide show first and then go to the detailed version for descriptions of each pic.]]> http://www.nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/286/the-141st-anniversary-of-the-washita-massacre-of-nov-27-1868 http://www.nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/286/the-141st-anniversary-of-the-washita-massacre-of-nov-27-1868

The intent to commit genocide at Washita is hidden in plain view, unless key elements are brought together. These are: that the Cheyenne were placed on land where they would starve while promises to avert starvation were broken; that George Bent observed how Civil War soldiers did not harm white women and children by a "code of honor," while Indian women and children were slaughtered; that Sheridan declared "The only good Indians I ever saw were dead;" and that the War Department did not differentiate between peaceful and warring Indians. Hence, the orders "to kill or hang all warriors." As the consequence, the intent was to kill all men
of a specific race.
We'll begin with Custer prior to the Washita Massacre along with the fact that the Cheyenne were forced onto land wherein they would starve.

Part 1: The Intent to Commit Genocide

Custer's tactical errors of rushing ahead of the established military plans and dividing his troops are well known.

Source

On the verge of what seemed to him a certain and glorious victory for both the United States and himself, Custer ordered an immediate attack on the Indian village.

Contemptuous of Indian military prowess, he split his forces into three parts to ensure that fewer Indians would escape. The attack was one the greatest fiascos of the United States Army, as thousands of Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors forced Custer's unit back onto a long, dusty ridge parallel to the Little Bighorn, surrounded them, and killed all 210 of them.

Yet, what enabled him to get back "on the course" after his court martial in 1867 and his being relieved by President Ulysses S. Grant temporarily in 1876?

The answers to that question are deception, wisely having prevented Washita from being labeled a massacre by halting the slaying of women and children at Washita; thus, sidestepping a full investigation as Sand Creek was (my speculation), and more lies.

Forcing and binding those Native Nations onto land where they could not survive by hunting or agriculture, breaking promises to provide those survival means, and propaganda revolving around the Kansas Raids reset Custer "on the course." Moxtaveto (Black Kettle) was innocent.

What about the Dog Soldiers, weren't they somehow to blame? An old Indian joke goes, "When the whites win, it's a victory; when the Indians win, it's a massacre." Let's look at what occurred amongst the Chiefs after the Sand Creek Massacre and prior to the Kansas Raids to find some answers, in between the "victories" and the "massacres."

(Bold mine)

http://books.google.com/books?...

And so, when the Chiefs gathered to decide what the people should do, Black Kettle took his usual place among them. Everyone agreed Sand Creek must be avenged. But there were questions. Why had the soldiers attacked with such viciousness? Why had they killed and mutilated women and children?
It seemed that the conflict with the whites had somehow changed. No longer was it just a war over land and buffalo. Now, the soldiers were destroying everything Cheyenne - the land, the buffalo, and the people themselves.

Why? George thought he knew. He had lived among the whites and had fought in their war. He knew their greed for land and possessions - Their appetite for these things was boundless. But they also obeyed rules of warfare peculiar to them. They waged war on men, and only on recognized fields of battle. In the great life-and-death struggle between North and South even then raging in the East, prisoners were routinely paroled and released or held in guarded camps, where they were fed and cared for. And the whites never warred on women and children who were protected by law and by an unshakable code of honor -

Still Black Kettle counseled peace. A war with the whites, he said, could not be won. The newcomers were too numerous, their weapons too strong. Besides, they had the ability to fight in winter when Cheyenne horses were weak and food was scarce... For Black Kettle, Cheyenne survival depended on peace. War could only bring more Sand Creeks, more deaths, more sorrow - One by one the council Chiefs smoked the red stone war pipe, each recognizing the importance of his decision. When the pipe reached Black Kettle, he passed it on, refusing to smoke. But the others took it up, indicating they would fight.

Hence, the Kansas "Raids" were the only means left available to keep what was promised to them: the ability to survive. The land "given" to them was neither harvestable nor huntable. Those "raids" were the last resort of self defense for survival.

The Last Indian Raid in Kansas

Source

Black Kettle miraculously escaped harm at the Sand Creek Massacre, even when he returned to rescue his seriously injured wife. And perhaps more miraculously, he continued to counsel peace when the Cheyenne attempted to strike back with isolated raids on wagon trains and nearby ranches.
By October 1865, he and other Indian leaders had arranged an uneasy truce on the plains, signing a new treaty that exchanged the Sand Creek reservation for reservations in southwestern Kansas but deprived the Cheyenne of access to most of their coveted Kansas hunting grounds.

Furthermore, General Sheridan never had any intention of peaceful relations with Black Kettle whatsoever.

(Bold mine)

Dee Brown. "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee." P. 169.

In his official report over the "savage butchers" and "savage bands of cruel marauders," General Sheridan rejoiced that he had "wiped out Black Kettle, a worn - out and worthless old cipher."

He then stated that he had promised Black Kettle sanctuary if he would come into a fort before military operations began. "He refused," Sheridan lied, "and was killed in the fight."

In fact, it is owed to General Sheridan himself the "American aphorism," "The only good Indian is a dead Indian." It started as "The only good Indians I ever saw were dead."

Whether or not Black Kettle strove for peace or the Dog Soldiers fought, they were all as "good as dead."  The extermination policy set Custer "on the course" to Washita.

(Bold mine)

Source

Given the War Department's mandate that all Cheyennes were guilty for the sins of the few in regard to the Kansas raids, there is no question that Custer succeeded in this pur?pose by attacking Black Kettle's village. His instructions from his supe?riors had been "to destroy their villages and ponies; to kill or hang all warriors, and bring back all women and children."

Part 2: The Approaching Genocide at Washita

Custer was pursuing the snow tracks of Dog Soldiers that would eventually lead to Black Kettle's village on Thanksgiving Day in a cruel irony. The cruelest irony however, was that Black Kettle and his wife would be slain nearly four years to the day that they both escaped Chivington at the Sand Creek Massacre. Black Kettle's honesty concerning young men in his village he could not control was of no avail. He and his village were going to be "punished" and broken beyond any immediate or distant recovery.

John Corbin, the messenger from Major Elliot, rode up and informed Custer of two large Indian snow tracks. One was recent. Preparations were then made to pursue the "savages" as covertly as possible. Smoking ceased and weapons were bound to prevent visual or aural detection. In addition, the 7th whispered and paused frequently as they rode slowly towards the future tracks that would lead to Black Kettle's village. Simultaneously, Black Kettle received dire warnings that he and the others ignored. A Kiowa war party gave the first warning of having seen soldier's tracks that were heading their direction. It was discounted. Black Kettle's wife, Medicine Woman, gave another warning that night before the 7th's arrival of an intuitive nature during the meeting in the Peace Chief's lodge by firelight. She begged them to move immediately. It too was dismissed. They would move the next day, instead.

Black Kettle had already moved their camp recently, which the returning war party that had helped in the Kansas Raids learned upon their returning. November 25th found this war party dividing into two different directions in order to reach their destinations the quickest. Approximately 139 of them traveled to the big village on the river, while about 11 of them led Custer straight to Black Kettle. A bell around one dog's neck enabled all the dogs to be located easily by the tribe, and after a Cheyenne baby cried, Custer pinpointed their exact location. He coordinated the attack to begin at dawn from four fronts.

Thompson's troops would attack to the North East, Myer's and Custer's troops positioned to attack to the East and South East, while Elliot would attack to the South.

Custer knew their mobility was greatly hampered in winter time; consequently, that was an important element in the "campaign."

Part 3: The Genocide At Washita

The sensory components of the genocide at Washita in now Cheyenne, Oklahoma must be held in mind in order to capture the entire breadth of it. These are sound, smell, and sight. For example, the shrill crying of the noncombatant Cheyenne women and children, and the yelling of the charging 7th Calvary with their knives and guns would have been beyond deafening. And the fog with gunpowder smoke must have been worse than any nightmare, while the red blood - stained snow and the smell of death permeated the ground and air.

The Death & Vision of Moxtaveto ( Black Kettle)

A woman dashed into the village to warn Black Kettle of the coming troopers; he hastily snatched his rifle from his lodge and fired a warning shot for all to awaken and flee. If he had attempted to meet the soldiers and ask for peaceful negotiations, that would have been useless; as a result, he then mounted his horse with his wife, Woman Here After, and tried to escape through the North direction. His horse was shot in the leg before bullets knocked him and his wife off the horse and into the Washita River, where they both died together.

Source

"Both the chief and his wife fell at the river bank riddled with bullets," one witness reported, "the soldiers rode right over Black Kettle and his wife and their horse as they lay dead on the ground, and their bodies were all splashed with mud by the charging soldiers." Custer later reported that an Osage guide took Black Kettle's scalp.

Stan Hiog. "The Peace Chiefs Of The Cheyenne." p. 174

Moving Behind, a Cheyenne Woman, later stated: "There was a sharp curve in the river where an old road - crossing used to be. Indian men used to go there to water their ponies. Here we saw the bodies of Black Kettle and his wife, lying under the water. The horse they had ridden lay dead beside them. We observed that they had tried to escape across the river when they were shot."

Location of  Black Kettle's death

Warriors, eleven who died, rushed out of their lodges with inferior firepower to defend the village. Simultaneously, the overall noncombatants ran for their lives into the freezing Washita River.

(Taken with permission)

The words of Ben Clark, Custer's chief of scouts, brought the truth out after Custer distributed propaganda about one white woman and two white boys as having been hostages in Black Kettle's village. There were no "hostages, a Cheyenne woman committed suicide. Speculating, here is why.

She didn't want her son mutilated by Custer or a 7th Calvary soldier; she didn't want her vagina ripped out and put on a stick, worn, or made into a tobacco pouch. So, she killed her son and herself first.

Jerome A. Greene. Washita. Chap.7. pp. 130-131

There, as the people fell at the hands of the troopers, one woman, in a helpless rage, stood up with her baby, held it out in an outstretched arm, and with the other drew a knife and fatally stabbed the infant - erroneously believed by the soldiers to be a white child. She then plunged the blade into her own chest in suicide.

(Location of the genocide at Washita, a few yards from Black Kettle's death)

The 7th hunted them down and murdered them. Although the orders were to "hang all warriors;" it was much more convenient to shoot them. All wounded Cheyenne were shot where they laid.

Osage scouts mutilated women and children. They did a "roundup" of their own by using tree limbs to herd the defenseless Cheyenne women and children back to the village, where the mutilations could continue. Custer halted the slaying of women and children at one point, but he raped them later in captivity.

One Osage scout beheaded a Cheyenne.

Jerome A. Greene. Washita. Chap.7. pp120

They (Osages) "shot down the women and mutilated their bodies, cutting off their arms, legs and breasts with knives."

The 7th captured the Cheyenne and started bonfires. They burned the 51 lodges to the ground. Winter clothing that was depended upon for winter survival was incinerated in the flames, as was food supplies. Weapons and all lodge contents were burned also, including any sacred items.

Finally, 875 horses were shot, thus stripping away their last means of survival and independence.

Dee Brown. "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee." P.170

Late in December the survivors of Black Kettle's band began arriving at Fort Cobb -
Little Robe was now the nominal leader of the tribe, and was taken to see Sheridan he told the bearlike soldier chief that his people were starving - they had eaten all their dogs.

Sheridan replied that the Cheyennes would be fed if they all came into Fort Cobb and surrendered unconditionally. "You cannot make peace now and commence killing whites again in the spring." Sheridan added, "If you are not willing to make a complete peace, you can go back and we will fight this thing out."

Little Robe knew there was but one answer he could give.
"It is for you to say what we have to do," he said.

American Holocaust

(It is worth noting also that the Fuhrer from time to time expressed admiration for the "efficiency" of the American genocide campaign against the Indians, viewing it as a forerunner for his own plans and programs.)

The Cheyenne women were "transported" by an officer named Romero to the other officers once they were prisoners at Fort Cobb.

Rape.

Custer "enjoyed one" every evening in the privacy of his tent. Presumably, he stopped raping the Cheyenne women when his wife arrived.

Source

Custer's wife, Elizabeth (Bacon), whom he married in 1864, lived to the age of ninety-one. The couple had no children. She was devoted to his memory, wrote three books about him, and when she died in 1933 was buried beside him at West Point. Her Tenting on the Plains (1887) presents a charming picture of their stay in Texas. Custer's headquarters building in Austin, the Blind Asylum, located on the "Little Campus" of the University of Texas, has been restored.

Jerome A. Greene. "Washita." Chap. 8, p.169.

Ben Clack told Walter M. Camp: many of the squaws captured at Washita were used by the officers...Romero was put in charge of them and on the march Romero would send squaws around to the officers' tents every night. [Clark] says Custer picked out a fine looking one and had her in his tent every night."

This statement is more or less confirmed by Frederick Benteen, who in 1896 asserted that Custer selected Monahseetah/Meotzi from among the women prisoners and cohabited with her "during the winter and spring of 1868 and '69" until his wife arrived in the summer of 1869. Although Benteen's assertions regarding Custer are not always to be trusted, his statements nonetheless conform entirely to those of the reliable Ben Clark and thus cannot be ignored."

Further information regarding accurate numbers of deaths, captives and list of names are in Jerome A. Greene's wonderful book, "Washita."

Source

We have been traveling through a cloud. The sky has been dark ever since the war began.

Black Kettle

Native Voices: Black Kettle

I did imagine hearing crying voices when I went to the site of the Washita Massacre and before writing
Moxtaveto's (Black Kettle's) Extermination on November 27, 1868 & a Request. The elders say it's haunted, like they said they could hear children cry at the Sand Creek Massacre.

To end this, I will quote former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell from the dedication of the Sand Creek Massacre, "If there were any savages that day, it was not the Indian people."]]> http://enewschannels.com/2009/11/20/enc9620_162943.php http://enewschannels.com/2009/11/20/enc9620_162943.php http://enewschannels.com/2009/11/20/enc9616_162434.php http://enewschannels.com/2009/11/20/enc9616_162434.php http://enewschannels.com/2009/11/20/enc9610_161726.php http://enewschannels.com/2009/11/20/enc9610_161726.php http://enewschannels.com/2009/11/20/enc9606_155038.php http://enewschannels.com/2009/11/20/enc9606_155038.php http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/ia-radio-news/%7E3/lBCuXjnqDUQ/canada-complicit-in-torture-of-hundreds.html http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/ia-radio-news/%7E3/lBCuXjnqDUQ/canada-complicit-in-torture-of-hundreds.html
[[Continue reading Inteligentaindigena Novajoservo...]]

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"In a little more than one hour, five or six hundred of these barbarians

were dismissed from a world that was burdened with them."

"It may be demanded...Should not Christians have more mercy and

compassion? But...sometimes the Scripture declareth women and children must perish with their parents.... We had sufficient light from the word of God for our proceedings."

-Puritan divine Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana

Frank James, a Wampanoag tribal member, would have given a speech in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1970; however, the ones in charge of the Thanksgiving ceremony at Plymouth Rock denied Frank James from ever uttering it. I learned about this in The Thanksgiving Day Massacre...Or, would you like Turkey with your genocide?

The timeline itself along with basic knowledge of the Pilgrim's religious beliefs exposes the fact that historically speaking, Thanksgiving was literally about gratitude for genocide. Furthermore, the low population counts of the Pequot in more recent years points to how the devastating effects of the English's, or Separatists', or Pilgrims', or Puritans' crime of genocide almost destroyed the Pequot population. The English, who no doubt formed an American Colony in New England, claimed the land as theirs by the Doctrine of Discovery, which is still in effect today as federal law. To be accurate, the word genocide was not created until 1944 by Raphael Lemkin;nonetheless, the word genocide is appropriate when discussing the near extermination of the Pequot. To be clear, the Doctrine of Discovery legally applied to the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England, but not to the Pilgrims in New Plymouth. What was the difference?

No Doctrine of Discovery -

Puritans, Indians, and Manifest Destiny. p. 47.

Thus it became necessary for the Pilgrims to enter into a mutual assistance pact with the Wampanoags. To the pilgrims, this became their "deed of cession," authorizing them to seize unspecified acreage.

- or, Doctrine of Discovery,

Source

The Doctrine of Discovery provided that by law and divine intention European Christian countries gained power and legal rights over indigenous non-Christian peoples immediately upon their "discovery" by Europeans. Various European monarchs and their legal systems developed this principle to benefit their own countries. The Discovery Doctrine was then adopted into American colonial and state law and into the United States Constitution, and was then adopted by the federal legislative and executive branches, and finally by the U.S. Supreme Court in Johnson v. M'Intosh in 1823. Johnson is still federal law today and the Doctrine of Discovery is still being applied to Indian individuals and the American Indian Nations notwithstanding its Eurocentric, religious, and racial underpinnings.

It was all the same in both of their usages. There was no difference.

Patent Granted by King Henry VII to John Cabot and his Sons

...to find, discover and investigate whatsoever islands, countries, regions or provinces of heathens and infidels, in whatsoever part of the world placed, which before this time were unknown to all Christians...
And that the before-mentioned John and his sons or their heirs and deputies may conquer, occupy and possess whatsoever such towns, castles, cities and islands by them thus discovered that they may be able to conquer, occupy and possess, as our vassals and governors lieutenants and deputies therein, acquiring for us the dominion, title and jurisdiction of the same towns, castles, cities, islands and mainlands so discovered;...

However, Roger Williams tried to "make a difference;" in good conscience he stated:

Puritans, Indians, and Manifest Destiny. p. 48.

"We have not our land by patent from the King, but that the natives are the true owners of it, and that we ought to repent of such receiving it by patent..." For his radical ideas Williams was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635."

Now that all that is stated, let us go to the  specifics of the timeline.

First, the Pilgrims landed in Wampanoag controlled land in 1620.

Norton, Katzman, Escott, Chudacoff, Paterson, Tuttle. "A People & A Nation." Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 52-53.



The Pokanokets (also called Wampanoags) controlled the area in which the Pilgrims settled, yet their villages had suffered terrible losses in the epidemic of 1616 - 1618. To protect themselves from the powerful Narragansetts of the southern New England coast (who had been spared the ravages of the disease), the Pokanokets decided to ally themselves with the newcomers. In the spring of 1621, their leader, Massasoit,  signed a treaty with the Pilgrims, and during the colony's first difficult years the Pokanokets supplied the English with essential foodstuffs.

Yet, where were they beforehand and why did they set sail?

Norton, Katzman, Escott, Chudacoff, Paterson, Tuttle. "A People & A Nation." Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 52-53.



Separatists were the first to move to New England. In 1609 a group of Separatists migrated to Holland, where they found the freedom of worship denied them in Stuart England. But they were nevertheless troubled by the Netherlands' too - tolerant atmosphere; the nation that tolerated them also tolerated religions and behaviors they abhorred. Hoping to isolate themselves and their children from the corrupting influence of worldly temptations, these people, who were to become known as Pilgrims, received permission from a branch of the Virginia Company to colonize the northern part of its territory.

Next, there was just one feast in 1621, not a succession of feasts. Why? There was probably only one feast, because "it became necessary for the Pilgrims to enter into a mutual assistance pact with the Wampanoags," and these.

Puritans, Indians, and Manifest Destiny. p. 49.

The fact is that to the Puritan, the Native American was the instrument of Satan. For Cotton Mather the Indians were "doleful creatures who were the veriest ruins of Mankind, who were to be everywhere on the face of the earth"; and even Roger Williams, the great friend of the Indians, said they were devil - worshippers.

Top 10 Myths About Thanksgiving By Rick Shenkman

...the Pilgrims never would have invited the Indians to join them. Besides, the Pilgrims would never have tolerated festivities at a true religious event. Indeed, what we think of as Thanksgiving was really a harvest festival. Actual "Thanksgivings" were religious affairs; everybody spent the day praying. Incidentally, these Pilgrim Thanksgivings occurred at different times of the year, not just in November.

Consequently, the European invasion brought a whole new level of violence to the native tribes,

Puritans, Indians, and Manifest Destiny. p.75 - 76

...But tribal rivalries and wars were relatively infrequent prior to Puritan settlement (compared to the number of wars in Europe)...Neither would have increased if it were not that a colonizing European nation was asserting political jurisdiction, in the name of God, over indigenous New England societies...When thus threatened with the usurpation of their own rights, as native tribes had been threatened years before by them, Puritans came to the defense of a system of government that was similar, in important ways, to the native governments that they had always defined as savage and uncivilized... 

and out of that heightened violence came the massacre for which Thanksgiving is named.

Thanksgiving Day Celebrates A Massacre

William B. Newell, a Penobscot Indian and former chairman of the Anthropology department at the University of Connecticut, says that the first official Thanksgiving Day celebrated the massacre of 700 Indian men, women and children during one of their religious ceremonies. "Thanksgiving Day" was first proclaimed by the Governor of the then Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637 to commemorate the massacre of 700 men, women and children who were celebrating their annual Green Corn Dance...Thanksgiving Day to the, "in their own house", Newell stated.

- small snip -

-----The very next day the governor declared a Thanksgiving Day.....For the next 100 years, every Thanksgiving Day ordained by a Governor was in honor of the bloody victory, thanking God that the battle had been won."

Historically revised events of and after 1621: that the feast was of friendly intent and not a political ploy since "it became necessary for the Pilgrims to enter into a mutual assistance pact with the Wampanoags;" that there were successive feasts which involved the Indians; and that ignore the Pequot Massacre, "For the next 100 years, every Thanksgiving Day ordained by a Governor was in honor of the bloody victory, thanking God that the battle had been won.." all hide the truth. Adding to every one of those assertions is Frank James' suppressed speech that he would have spoken publicly if he had been allowed to do so in 1970.

THE SUPPRESSED SPEECH OF WAMSUTTA (FRANK B.) JAMES, WAMPANOAG To have been delivered at Plymouth, Massachusetts, 1970

...Even before the Pilgrims landed it was common practice for explorers to capture Indians, take them to Europe and sell them as slaves for 220 shillings apiece. The Pilgrims had hardly explored the shores of Cape Cod for four days before they had robbed the graves of my ancestors and stolen their corn and beans.

Mourt's Relation describes a searching party of sixteen men. Mourt goes on to say that this party took as much of the Indians' winter provisions as they were able to carry.

Massasoit, the great Sachem of the Wampanoag, knew these facts, yet he and his People welcomed and befriended the settlers of the Plymouth Plantation. Perhaps he did this because his Tribe had been depleted by an epidemic. Or his knowledge of the harsh oncoming winter was the reason for his peaceful acceptance of these acts. This action by Massasoit was perhaps our biggest mistake. We, the Wampanoag, welcomed you, the white man, with open arms, little knowing that it was the beginning of the end; that before 50 years were to pass, the Wampanoag would no longer be a free people.

What happened in those short 50 years? What has happened in the last 300 years? History gives us facts and there were atrocities; there were broken promises - and most of these centered around land ownership. Among ourselves we understood that there were boundaries, but never before had we had to deal with fences and stone walls. But the white man had a need to prove his worth by the amount of land that he owned. Only ten years later, when the Puritans came, they treated the Wampanoag with even less kindness in converting the souls of the so-called "savages." Although the Puritans were harsh to members of their own society, the Indian was pressed between stone slabs and hanged as quickly as any other "witch..."

Unlearning the Language of Conquest Scholars Expose Anti-Indianism in America. p.  219

As difficult as it may be for non - Indians to realize the corruption of American Institutions, such as universities, or to recognize the hypnotic effect of propaganda and hegemony, it may be far more difficult for them to mitigate the shadow side of their own cultural histories. In this chapter a non - Indian (David Gabbard) scholar stresses how vital it is to do so nonetheless, for until a true realization occurs, the United States of America will likely continue its similar intrusions of colonialism in other parts of the world and on other people. He points out that for this realization to take place, we must recognize First Nations scholarship as a set of practices aimed at helping everyone remember themselves and that efforts to discredit that scholarship and the worldviews that it attempts to recover can keep us in a cycle of genocide that will ultimately consume us.

]]> http://www.nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/284/origins-of-the-native-american-flute http://www.nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/284/origins-of-the-native-american-flute The clear origins of the Native American Flute date back several thousand millennia to flutes made of bone, to petroglyphs, and oral history. Unclear "origins" involve the Spanish Conquest insofar as the Spanish stealing the bamboo flute from Asia, and then introducing it to the Five Civilized Tribes. A Cheyenne Flute Maker relayed this to me. The idea goes, that the bamboo flute was made out of river cane by the Five Civilized Tribes after the Spanish "brought" the bamboo flute to the "New World." Subsequently, river cane flutes then proceeded to be constructed out of cedar wood by the Plains Tribes; hence, its origins within this idea being called Asian - Spanish. However, the Cheyenne Flute Maker said that the tribes already possessed the flute prior to the invasion, and the Spanish may have introduced it to a few. That raises some questions, but the ultimate answer we shall see is one of mystery.
What family of trees were flutes being constructed out of then?  What are some woods that they are being made out of now? After answering those questions along with some general knowledge in that area, we will proceed to the clear and unclear origins of the flute. The only clear thing is that it's a mystery who specifically invented the first flutes world wide as old as approximately 82,000 years ago.

The juniper family of trees, including cedar, was used to make the earliest flutes. To illustrate, flutes were possibly constructed out of the Arizona cypress, the Utah juniper, or the Rocky Mountain juniper, but definitely out of the eastern red cedar. The length of the branch used was crucial in determining the overall pitch desired in the flute being made. To be more specific, the distance between the holes on the flute determined the musical scale that the flute would play, which was a process of trial and error to achieve the desired order of notes. Generally speaking, longer and larger flutes were lower in pitch, while shorter and smaller flutes were higher in pitch.

Currently, other woods that flutes are being made out of today besides cedar are the following: maple, cherry, apple, pear, teak, walnut, purpleheart, ash, and spruce. This includes making them out of tree branches as opposed to buying a block of the relevant wood at a hardware store. There were cultural uses of the flute.

According to the guide at the Cherokee National Museum, the flute was used in courting. Furthermore, when the man was successful with the flute in his courting purposes in the matriarchal society of the Cherokee Nation, the woman whom he had successfully courted broke the flute in half. She did so to prevent him from playing it for anyone else. For the Cheyenne, it is historically for courting and personal expression. While some tribes have used the flute in ceremony, it's crucial to state that some have not - all the tribes are different.

What does all this have to do with the fact that soldiers who became sleepy accused the Cheyenne of performing witchcraft when they heard Cheyenne flute music in the Cheyenne  camps? According to the Cheyenne Flute Maker, when the soldiers were in the camps and heard the flute music being played, the soldiers got sleepy and fell asleep. The Doctrine of Discovery states, "to find, discover and investigate whatsoever islands, countries, regions or provinces of heathens and infidels, in whatsoever part of the world placed, which before this time were unknown to all Christians;" and, Henry VII authorized Cabot to "conquer, occupy and possess" any discovered land whatsoever. Let's think of the question again. What does this have to do with the fact that the soldiers accused the Cheyenne of performing witchcraft? It wouldn't be the first time in history that fundamentalists associated music virtuosity, originality, and excellence with evil. For example, some thought Paganini played the violin so fast and furious that he was possessed by demons, and some believed Robert Johnson sold his soul to the Devil in order to play the blues. It's a very broad answer to answer why the soldiers accused the Cheyenne of witchcraft.

Regardless of the grain of truth that may exist in Spain introducing the Bamboo Flute to very few tribes, Spain wished to conquer the world. Ceremonies, languages, Indigenous musical styles, and ways of life were all affected by the invaders. Ceremonies? Hidden or now lost, yet survived in cases. Languages? Pronunciation or now lost, yet survived in cases. Indigenous musical styles? Musical influence from the "Church" modes. Ways of life? Gone as entire tribal entities when comparing past and present in the United States and in Canada; furthermore, try imagining what the above would now be if the invaders had never come. Indigenous population(s) who have been unmolested worldwide would be an exception, but the former and the latter previously mentioned affected cultural aspects and most likely unaffected cultures would require a dissertation. "Columbus was a disease" I heard it once said, as the speaker related how an entire uncommunicating network of different Indigenous tribes no longer do ceremonies to care for Mother Earth because of the genocide. But I digress even further as I add my thoughts in agreement with this (emphasis mine).

Source

Whether it's pentatonic mode plus a note, or Dorian mode minus a note, or the six note Raga Mahohari mode, such labels are attempts to contemporize the Native American Flute.

The flute was used for courting within relevant tribal customs before and during the time of being actively hunted; it was used for personal expression; it was used for ceremonial purposes. Why is it that today some want to interpret the notes the earliest flutes may have played in terms of a sliver of music theory - the major scale of which at least 80% of Western music is based?

Source

...most Western music is played in a major key: 97 percent of popular American songs, and 73 percent of classical music is in a major key.

Tunnel vision is being applied to universal sound which is owed to the vibrations of the harmonic series and crosses cultural boundaries as a universal language, but little minds always like things much smaller, don't they? The scissor tail sings the Lydian dominant scale, except just prior to mating. Then he sings the blues scale.  Witchcraft indeed.

Source

The brains behind Dreams Kaimin is Dr Takuro Endo, a neurologist who has made a science, and a lucrative CD business, out of selecting the right music to induce sleep. He divides it into three categories: melodies that fire the imagination; those that are calming and relaxing; and music that should, within ten minutes, slow the brain down to the point of unconsciousness.

But a fictitious flute spell is not what needs to be broken. How is it that all these different cultures worldwide developed the flute?

Source

Symbols of the American Indian come down to us in many forms.  Some are beaded on elaborate wampum belts, others are found on strips of buffalo hide and more are seen chiseled on stone.  Probably the most reliable, in terms of graphic interpretation, are those found in the Southwest commonly called 'rock art'. According to some estimates there are over 50,000 "known" stone petroglyphs and pictographs in the Southwest and West alone. Many more probably exist in remote areas or covered by modern civilization.  Certainly, more existed prior to the European invasion.  

Source

Flutes are the earliest known musical instruments. A number of flutes dating to about 40,000 to 35,000 years ago have been found in the Swabian Alb region of Germany. These flutes demonstrate that a developed musical tradition existed from the earliest period of modern human presence in Europe.[1]

Source

Kokopelli, ancient humpbacked flute player, is the Southwest's most popular icon. Presented here are more than 300 flute player images, including a great many that have never been published. Along with new information about the meaning and origin of Kokopelli, some of it challenges our current understanding of this unmistakable character. Explore the range of the flute player and see how it extends south into Mexico, north into Canada, west into Nevada, and east into the plains of Colorado, Texas, and Oklahoma.

Source

Flutes made of bamboo are found in many musical traditions.The Gamelan in Indonesia use them.

Some bamboo flutes include:

Source

The Indian flute, one of the oldest instruments of Indian classical music, appears to have developed independently of the western flute. The Hindu god Krishna is said to be a master of the instrument.

How is it that all those different cultures worldwide developed the flute without communicating? My best and only guess, is they "recognized their tune."

Source

Shortly after this research, Maman met French physicist Joel Sternheimer, who discovered the vibratory frequency of elementary particles. Long before the "string theory", Sternheimer was transposing certain molecular structures into musical patterns, creating "the music of the molecules."

Like Maman's cellular research, Sternheimer found that if there was a problem in an organic structure, the molecules of that structure did not vibrate, but if they heard the string of notes they recognized as their tune, they began to vibrate again.

There are no clear specific origins of the flute of any culture, except for the stories sacred to that culture and the obvious elements of the instrument's construction with its cultural usages. What is clear is that each is a unique stylistic interpretation of a universal language, but let the mystery remain of who created it first individually -

or collectively in its birth across the globe.

Some likely have made false claims, but let each unique song be sung and the spell of differentiation be broken - while maintaining the individual integrity of all.

Source

...The earliest possible evidence of Shamanic activity in the Americas comes from the recently excavated Jones-Miller site in Colorado (Stanford 1979). At this Plano kill site, dating to about 8,000 B.C., bison herds were slaughtered, apparently by driving them between ice-glazed snow banks. A post hole was discerned by the excavator, and near it were found an antler flute, a miniature point, and other objects that might have belonged to a Shaman...

]]> http://tourquoise.livejournal.com/216582.html http://tourquoise.livejournal.com/216582.html http://www.avatarmovie.com/

Original screenplay written by James Cameron with inspiration from the Edgar Rice Burroughs "John Carter, Warlord of Mars series." The inhabitants of planet rich in desireable resources are referred to as "indigenous" and "savages." And a love story to rival John Smith and Pocahontas.






]]> http://www.wikio.com/info?id=143249319 http://www.wikio.com/info?id=143249319 ... Most of his buddies died in Korea. It may be one of the reasons he chose to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. 'He lived, they died in Korea. A lot of it had to do with that. To be with the people he sort of felt he should have died with because they all died around him,' said Schmidt's daughter, Carol. So the family came to Washington— all 22 of them-- including children,...

Source : Chicagoray (subscribe)

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Historical maps and narrative accounts of the San Francisco Bay area hold clues about the landscapes inhabited by California's indigenous peoples before Euro-American colonization. But because these maps and descriptions were created to protect colonial interests—and are not simply objective mirrors of what existed—they reflect the biases and perspectives of those who made them. Mapping practices included replacing California's Indian and Spanish/Mexican place names with new place names, imposing township and range lines over natural features, and using precision surveying techniques that replaced more descriptive maps. In this way, cartographers attempted to overwrite tribal environmental and cultural knowledge and impose a new order on the land.

Source : New York Times (subscribe)

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Source : A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy (subscribe)

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The Noble Red Man

by Mark Twain

First published in The Galaxy 1870

In books he is tall and tawny, muscular, straight and of kingly presence; he has a beaked nose and an eagle eye.

His hair is glossy, and as black as the raven's wing; out of its massed richness springs a sheaf of brilliant feathers; in his ears and nose are silver ornaments; on his arms and wrists and ankles are broad silver bands and bracelets; his buckskin hunting suit is gallantly fringed, and the belt and the moccasins wonderfully flowered with colored beads; and when, rainbowed with his war-paint, he stands at full height, with his crimson blanket wrapped about him, his quiver at his back, his bow and tomahawk projecting upward from his folded arms, and his eagle eye gazing at specks against the far horizon which even the paleface's field-glass could scarcely reach, he is a being to fall down and worship.

His language is intensely figurative. He never speaks of the moon, but always of "the eye of the night;" nor of the wind as the wind, but as "the whisper of the Great Spirit;" and so forth and so on. His power of condensation is marvelous. In some publications he seldom says anything but "Waugh!" and this, with a page of explanation by the author, reveals a whole world of thought and wisdom that before lay concealed in that one little word.

He is noble. He is true and loyal; not even imminent death can shake his peerless faithfulness. His heart is a well-spring of truth, and of generous impulses, and of knightly magnanimity. With him, gratitude is religion; do him a kindness, and at the end of a lifetime he has not forgotten it. Eat of his bread, or offer him yours, and the bond of hospitality is sealed--a bond which is forever inviolable with him.

He loves the dark-eyed daughter of the forest, the dusky maiden of faultless form and rich attire, the pride of the tribe, the all-beautiful. He talks to her in a low voice, at twilight of his deeds on the war-path and in the chase, and of the grand achievements of his ancestors; and she listens with downcast eyes, "while a richer hue mantles her dusky cheek."

Such is the Noble Red Man in print. But out on the plains and in the mountains, not being on dress parade, not being gotten up to see company, he is under no obligation to be other than his natural self, and therefore:

He is little, and scrawny, and black, and dirty; and, judged by even the most charitable of our canons of human excellence, is thoroughly pitiful and contemptible. There is nothing in his eye or his nose that is attractive, and if there is anything in his hair that--however, that is a feature which will not bear too close examination . . . He wears no bracelets on his arms or ankles; his hunting suit is gallantly fringed, but not intentionally; when he does not wear his disgusting rabbit-skin robe, his hunting suit consists wholly of the half of a horse blanket brought over in the Pinta or the Mayflower, and frayed out and fringed by inveterate use. He is not rich enough to possess a belt; he never owned a moccasin or wore a shoe in his life; and truly he is nothing but a poor, filthy, naked scurvy vagabond, whom to exterminate were a charity to the Creator's worthier insects and reptiles which he oppresses. Still, when contact with the white man has given to the Noble Son of the Forest certain cloudy impressions of civilization, and aspirations after a nobler life, he presently appears in public with one boot on and one shoe--shirtless, and wearing ripped and patched and buttonless pants which he holds up with his left hand--his execrable rabbit-skin robe flowing from his shoulder--an old hoop-skirt on, outside of it--a necklace of battered sardine-boxes and oyster-cans reposing on his bare breast--a venerable flint-lock musket in his right hand--a weather-beaten stove-pipe hat on, canted "gallusly" to starboard, and the lid off and hanging by a thread or two; and when he thus appears, and waits patiently around a saloon till he gets a chance to strike a "swell" attitude before a looking-glass, he is a good, fair, desirable subject for extermination if ever there was one.

There is nothing figurative, or moonshiny, or sentimental about his language. It is very simple and unostentatious, and consists of plain, straightforward lies. His "wisdom" conferred upon an idiot would leave that idiot helpless indeed.

He is ignoble--base and treacherous, and hateful in every way. Not even imminent death can startle him into a spasm of virtue. The ruling trait of all savages is a greedy and consuming selfishness, and in our Noble Red Man it is found in its amplest development. His heart is a cesspool of falsehood, of treachery, and of low and devilish instincts. With him, gratitude is an unknown emotion; and when one does him a kindness, it is safest to keep the face toward him, lest the reward be an arrow in the back. To accept of a favor from him is to assume a debt which you can never repay to his satisfaction, though you bankrupt yourself trying. To give him a dinner when he is starving, is to precipitate the whole hungry tribe upon your hospitality, for he will go straight and fetch them, men, women, children, and dogs, and these they will huddle patiently around your door, or flatten their noses against your window, day aft er day, gazing beseechingly upon every mouthful you take, and unconsciously swallowing when you swallow! The scum of the earth!

And the Noble Son of the Plains becomes a mighty hunter in the due and proper season. That season is the summer, and the prey that a number of the tribes hunt is crickets and grasshoppers! The warriors, old men, women, and children, spread themselves abroad in the plain and drive the hopping creatures before them into a ring of fire. I could describe the feast that then follows, without missing a detail, if I thought the reader would stand it.

All history and honest observation will show that the Red Man is a skulking coward and a windy braggart, who strikes without warning--usually from an ambush or under cover of night, and nearly always bringing a force of about five or six to one against his enemy; kills helpless women and little children, and massacres th e men in their beds; and then brags about it as long as he lives, and his son and his grandson and great-grandson after him glorify it among the "heroic deeds of their ancestors." A regiment of Fenians will fill the whole world with the noise of it when they are getting ready invade Canada; but when the Red Man declares war, the first intimation his friend the white man whom he supped with at twilight has of it, is when the war-whoop rings in his ears and tomahawk sinks into his brain. . ..

The Noble Red Man seldom goes prating loving foolishness to a splendidly caparisoned blushing maid at twilight. No; he trades a crippled horse, or a damaged musket, or a dog, or a gallon of grasshoppers, and an inefficient old mother for her, and makes her work like an abject slave all the rest of her life to compensate him for the outlay. He never works himself. She builds the habitation, when they use one (it consists in hanging half a dozen rags over the weather side of a sage-brush bush to roost under); gathers and brings home the fuel; takes care of the raw-boned pony when they possess such grandeur; she walks and carries her nursing cubs while he rides. She wears no clothing save the fragrant rabbit-skin robe which her great-grandmother before her wore, and all the "blushing" she does can be removed with soap and a towel, provided it is only four or five weeks old and not caked.

Such is the genuine Noble Aborigine. I did not get him from books, but from personal observation.

Return to Twain's Indians

Source : I Speak of Dreams (subscribe)

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Simons Full PDF presentation, click on image
8 videos of Simon's presentation approved for release at http://www.youtube.com/user/IndigMapNetwork
and a few pictures: http://bit.ly/1R8vDr

Melissa V. Eitzel, PhD Student, UC Berkeley, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Managemen

Twenty-three soldiers from the Seventh Calvary were later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for the slaughter of defenseless Indians at Wounded Knee.

We are asking that these Medals of DIS Honor awarded to the members of the 7th Calvary of the United States Army for the murder of innocent women children and men on that terrible December morning be rescinded.

Credit & permission for image to & by www.myspace.com/removewoundedkneemedals

(Reposted for obvious reasons, and to firmly state the fact that a reconciliation event that ends in "native artifacts and ritual items like carved masks (were) thrown into bonfires" is NOT what is needed)

A feather was lying on the sidewalk when I left work; I picked it up and looked closely at it. Carrying it as I walked, there was a baby bird beside my car, homeless. The baby bird had no wings and just stared at the pavement in the darkness, moving its head up and down. Several thoughts came into my mind as I watched and realized picking the bird up would get my scent on it and cause rejection from its mother. I thought about the suicides on reservations, the lack of justice on reservations, climate change, alcohol and drug addiction in the American Indian population, health concerns of American Indians, and the worries of the American Indian People in general. I then looked at the bird again, relating to it.

It is precisely things like "Twenty-three soldiers from the Seventh Calvary were later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for the slaughter of defenseless Indians at Wounded Knee," counties and national parks being named after Custer, streets and so on being named after Sheridan, and Chivington Colorado being named after Chivington, that can lead me to feel like that bird with no wings staring at the pavement in darkness. Interesting, there isn't a town, street, river, tank, or monument named after Hitler in Israel, nor would any medal of honor be bestowed upon a Holocaust Overseer. But the dominant culture in America, a term applied only to those doing harm, needs a rationalization when there are "national indigenous movements fighting to protect their dwindling territories and the right to manage the natural resources." Why rescind "the Congressional Medal of Honor for the slaughter of defenseless Indians at Wounded Knee" when condoning genocide works so well? Let's take a trip to the past to make a correlation in order to outline the right thing to do.

I had gotten into a discussion with a woman in Cheyenne about Washita, and she told me how a couple men coordinated an event of reconciliation. It involved a reenactment with Sand Creek Massacre descendants and grandsons of Custer's 7th Calvary at the same location Black Kettle was exterminated by Custer. Paramount was the re-burial of a child victim's bones.

The descendants camped where Custer's 7th Calvary had attacked Black Kettle's camp one century earlier; however, they were unaware that the grandsons of Custer's 7th would be coming over the hill firing guns with blanks in them. When the 7th Calvary's grandsons came towards them on horses firing blanks in their weapons, there were many feelings of surprise, fear, anger, and betrayal experienced by the Sand Creek Massacre descendants. Remember, the Sand Creek Massacre descendants and the ones who were slain at Washita were the same individuals.

Unknown to the Cheyenne, a California group called the Grandsons of the Seventh Calvary, Grand Army of the Republic, had been asked to join the Reenactment-

A line was formed after the reenactment with the grandsons of the 7th Calvary, who obviously wanted to help in this healing, at the front of the line. Lawrence Hart, a Mennonite pastor, felt very angry as he watched the bones of the child being passed down it towards the front. A Native woman then put a blanket over the little coffin containing the child's bones, which continued to be passed down the line to Hart. The blanket was then handed to him.

"Among the Cheyenne was Lawrence Hart, a peace chief and a Mennonite pastor. The celebration became tense. The final event of the day was the re-burial of the victim's remains. The small coffin was covered with a beautiful new woolen blanket. According to Cheyenne tradition, the blanket would be given to a guest."

"The older peace chiefs asked Hart to give the blanket to the captain of the Grandsons of the Seventh Calvary! He couldn't believe what they were asking. This man was the enemy! Hart's own great-grandfather, Afraid of Beavers, had barely escaped the attack by hiding in a snowdrift."

"Hart was tense. As the captain came forward, Hart told him to turn around. Hart's trembling hands then draped the beautiful blanket over the captain's shoulders."

"It was a grand moment. The wise Cheyenne peace chiefs had initiated peace.
The Grandsons embraced the chiefs. Some cried. Some apologized. When Hart greeted the captain, the officer took the Garry Owen pin from his own uniform and handed it to Hart."

"Accept this on behalf of all Cheyenne Indian people," the captain said. "Never again will your people hear Garry Owen."

Read that last sentence again said by the captain, and remember that "Garry Owen" was the song Custer had his band play right before the exterminations began at Washita.

"Accept this on behalf of all Cheyenne Indian people," the captain said." Never again will your people hear Garry Owen."

The lady I spoke with said there wasn't a dry eye left.

Now, forty years later, it's time for "Never again will your people see a 'Congressional Medal of Honor for the slaughter of defenseless Indians.'" Please sign the petition if you haven't already.

Petition: Medals of Dis Honor

Twenty-three soldiers from the Seventh Calvary were later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for the slaughter of defenseless Indians at Wounded Knee.

We are asking that these Medals of DIS Honor awarded to the members of the 7th Calvary of the United States Army for the murder of innocent women children and men on that terrible December morning be rescinded.

Mitakuye Oyasin]]> http://www.indigenousmapping.net/the-news/latestnews/178-aagipsglandfoodchoices.html http://www.indigenousmapping.net/the-news/latestnews/178-aagipsglandfoodchoices.html Indigenous people’s traditional foods are critical for maintaining health, preserving cultural identity and promoting sense of self-determination. In many regions of the world however, a complex set of factors are decreasing Indigenous peoples’ access to their traditional lands and territories, the result being that Indigenous peoples are now eating less traditional foods, and consuming more marketed, and/or pre-manufactured products.  This dietary change is having profound effects on the health, social, economic and cultural well-being of Indigenous peoples.  The objective of this IPSG session is to broadly examine the causes and consequences of shifting food choices among Indigenous peoples from around the world.  In this session, we will explore the complexities of food choice among Indigenous peoples, in particular as it relates to environmental dispossession and their health and well-being.  Food choice is not guided exclusively by affordability or individual characteristics. Rather, a range of influences such as geographic location, public education, politics, environmental change, technology, cultural preference and individual biological need, among many others, ultimately shape food choice – and it is this complexity that we seek to explore in this session.
 
******
 
If you are interested in submitting an abstract for the above session, please, send your abstract to me by 4:00 pm OCTOBER 28th, 2009 (EST.). You are able to directly register at the AAG website and forward me your PIN (see below).
 
AAG abstract submission instructions:
 
In order to submit an abstract, go the AAG website (http://www.aag.org/), click on '2010 Annual Meeting'. You will then need to 'Register to Attend' for the conference and 'Submit an Abstract'. Once you do, you will receive a PIN number. Send that to me (chantelle.richmond@uwo.ca) and I will include your paper in this session. The deadline for submission of abstracts is October 28, 2008.
 
Organizer:
 
Chantelle Richmond, PhD
Department of Geography & First Nation Studies
The University of Western Ontario
1151 Richmond Street
London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 5C2
E-mail: chantelle.richmond@uwo.ca
]]> http://wampum.wabanaki.net/vault/2009/10/005444.html http://wampum.wabanaki.net/vault/2009/10/005444.html http://www.indigenousmapping.net/funding/79-scholarships/177-usdaapp.html http://www.indigenousmapping.net/funding/79-scholarships/177-usdaapp.html A full-ride scholarship offered by the USDA to Native students in any field of study pursuing a Bachelors degree. They will help transfer to a master's program as well, any school, any field of study.

The 1994 USDA Tribal Scholars Application (here) and Hand Book (here). If interested in applying, please mail Velma Real Bird, Velma.RealBird AT ascr.usda.gov , the first eight (8) pages of the application, an official transcript, and two letters of recommendation. The application will be due in February 2010. The Hand Book is for your reference regarding the 1994 Tribal Scholars Program.
Forward From: VELMA REAL BIRD, USDA Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 1994 Program, Tribal College Liaison, Office: 406-638-3194

]]> http://nativeamericanvillage.blogspot.com/2009/10/can-we-turn-this-daunting-news-linking.html http://nativeamericanvillage.blogspot.com/2009/10/can-we-turn-this-daunting-news-linking.html Indian Country Today once again comes up with cutting edge news about the Native American community that can't be ignored, relating the obesity and diabetes that have already been undermining Native Americans' health and advancement with increasing rates of Alzheimer's disease. To date, the association of Alzheimer's with obesity and diabetes in Native Americans has been empirical, but the Banner Alzheimer's Foundation in Pheonix and other organizations have pledged to further studies investigating the link and what can be done to stem the growing tide.

The music of the Native American Indians consists mostly of songs and dances. They have songs for games, children, love, work and social dancing. But most of their music is associated with some kind of religious activity.

RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES
Before 1900 the Plains Indians performed the ghost dance. It was supposed to drive away the hated white men and help the Native Americans get back their land and buffalo. It consisted mainly of singing and dancing. Although the Native Americans do not do the ghost dance anymore, they still sing the songs.

Ghost dance songs are different from other songs of the Plains Indians. They do not go very high or very low, and they repeat each phrase of melody before going on to the next. The older songs of the Plains Indians start very high and work their way down to a low, long, drawn-out tone. These songs are accompanied by a drum played loudly and slowly.

Another religious dance of the Plains Indians is the Sun dance. The Plains dance around a pole in the summer heat, singing and praying for good hunting. The Arapaho and Dakota Indians sing some of their most impressive songs during this dance.

Music is also used in ceremonies to heal the sick. One example is the famous Yeibichai, or night chant, of the Navajo Indians – ceremony lasting 9 nights. In addition to prayers it includes dances and songs sung by men with falsetto, or artificially high, voices.

Another example of healing by music comes from Yuma Indians of the southwestern United States. People who are feeling disturbed go to a hut away from their settlement for a few weeks. Here they make up songs. They think that the songs come to them in dreams or from the god that created the world. When they return, they feel cured.

Characteristic of Native American Indian Songs
Although they have no harmony and few melody-making instruments, the Native Americans do use intricate melodies. In the eastern United States the Shawnee and the Creek tribes have songs in which a short bit of melody is sung alternately by a leader and a group. This kind of singing is called responsorial.

In many tribes, especially those of the Plains Indians, the singers put a great deal of tension of their vocal chords. The result is a kind of frenzied, intense tone. In some of the Pueblo tribes, singing in a low, growling voice is preferred. Elsewhere, singing in a high voice is heard.

Many songs of the Plains Indians are made up of two parts. In the first part the singer starts high and gradually works his way down the scale, singing only meaningless syllables, such as "hey-hey" or "ho-ho". Then he starts high again, singing the real words of the song. He ends on low tones, again with meaningless syllables.

A typical song of the Arapaho Indians has words like these: "Man, look up here, I am the bird," and "Young man it is good that you are going on a war party; when you become a chief, you will be famous."

TRIBAL MUSICIAN
Most members of a tribe participate in the musical life of the tribe. But there are usually no professional musicians. Often the people important in the religious ceremonies – the priests, shamans or witch doctors – are the leaders of the musical life. As in the vision quest of the Plains Indians, many young men make up songs.

Most members of a tribe can sing and know many songs, but not so many can play instruments. A good singer in one tribe may not be considered good in another tribe. Some tribes think the quality of the voice is most important. Others think it is the loudness.

Music as valuable treasures
Many Native American Indians tribes think of their songs as treasured possessions. They believe that a song belongs to a person. The owner of a song can give it away, sell it or pass it on his children. The Native Americans of the northwest coast buy and sell songs for large sums. They believe that music is something of the spirit and that a song has something to do with a person’s soul. So to give a song away, or even to let someone hear it, is to give away part of one’s soul.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/native-american-indian-music-820947.html

Avicenna : more about Mesoamerica as well as Mesoamerican and Native american Indian artifact, art and Jewelry.

Native Americans are eager to share their ancestry with their families and friends. One of the ways they do this is through their music, particularly through the music of the Native American flute. They want to ensure that their children have a strong link with their ancient culture, and music is an excellent way to teach non-Native Americans about this culture as well.



Mothers of small children often find that Native American flute music is very soothing for their babies. It seems to have a tranquil and calming effect on children. Songs played on the Native American flute can be introduced during naptime and before bedtime to calm children down. The music often puts children to sleep within just a few minutes. Experts have also recommended Native American flute music to families with small babies that have a hard time getting to sleep.



This music also represents an excellent tool for calming down a baby in situations where there may be difficult transitions for such young children, such as when many visitors come to the home. It is often difficult for small babies to adjust to the confusion and noise created by a large number of people at special occasions, and playing Native American flute music can help to calm a baby down in these circumstances.



The music of the Native American flute is very soft, and it creates a wonderful, soothing background for many situations. It is just the sound for keeping babies calm when there are a lot of people in the environment. Babies seem to focus on the flute sounds instead of on the loud noises generated by crowds. Having flute music playing in a room makes it easier for them to adjust to visitors.



Of course, adults will also enjoy the music of the Native American flute. It is easy to find interesting and unique Native American flute music on the Internet, since many online stores offer selections of alternative music. It is also possible to purchase Native American flutes and sheet music. Several vendors offer musical compositions for the flute, and they sell Native American flutes as well.



Native American flute music is an excellent way to learn about and enjoy the special features of Native American culture. And since songs are often linked to memories, this music offers a good way to preserve the memory of special times.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/soothing-music-the-native-american-flute-43237.html

To discover more about music, musicians and playing music go to http://music-advice.com

We all know that and to beautify the use of jewelry has been around since prehistoric times. And pearl necklaces of pearls called heishe, which were calculated from Santo Domingo for word hull, have been used for ages. Shells as thorny oysters shell, mother of pearl, abalone, clams and conch have been used in the preparation and logs were considered significant trade of south-west over a thousand years.

The use of silver in jewelry of the USA (Native American Jewelry) is not an old concept. It has been used since the early 1850, when Mexico has goldsmiths to exchange their silver jewelry for livestock of the Navajo. The Navajo blacksmiths in turn exchanged their skills to make money with the Zuni Indians for livestock. The Hopi tribe then takes the art of making money the Zuni in the 1890's. It is important to note that the Americans were in no way related to the mining of silver.

The styles of jewelry used by Indians USA:

Each Native American Indian tribe has its own style. Do not be confused by the jewelry which is claimed to be American Indian, but does not have the Navajo, Zuni, Hopi or styles of Santo Domingo. The Indian Zuni jewelry includes styles and techniques such as mosaic inlay chain, group, needlepoint and petit point. These techniques include using a variety of stones and seashells.

The Navajo Indian jewelers are well known for their popular squash necklaces of flowers. These jewelry artists are known for using pieces of turquoise, coral and other semi-precious stones and then these are surrounded by rolls, pearls and sheets of drawings based in sterling silver. Did you know that most of the Native American Jewelry product is made by the Navajos? Native American jewelry is the most popular because of the use of sterling silver and stones such as coral and turquoise.

The technique of layering is the style of the Hopi Indian Silversmiths. This is the technique that is used involving the creation of jewellery stones do. A sheet of silver engraved design, then it is welded or superimposed on the second sheet. The background is given a more somber by oxidizing and the top layer is polished.

Jewelry pearls is popular among Indians Santo Domingo and have been subjected to this type of jewelry for centuries. They use shells, turquoise, coral and jet stones in their jewelry. As mentioned previously, jewelry is made with sterling silver, which is normally a mixture of 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper. And the reason copper is added to the mix is because money is very mild and copper gives him more strength to develop different forms and textures.

South America West is an ideal place to find great Native American Indian jewelry. The Navajo tribe in Arizona and New Mexico and can easily be called the greatest of USA Indian reserve. The Hopi tribe is also in Arizona, while Santo Domingo and Zuni Pueblo, NM.

The skills and art of American Indian jewelry is transmitted generations and is highly coveted. Now there are schools who teach these skills who want to learn. Native American Indian Jewelry is a great way to make a bold statement.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/jewelry-articles/native-american-jewelry-history-623800.html

Native American jewelry including Native American silver jewelry at Double Dee Deals. We Offers you Native American Jewelry, Southwestern Turquoise Jewelry, Native American Necklaces, Native American Bracelets.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/the-western-delaware-native-american-tribe-527806.html

Jacob Lumbroso is a world traveler and an enthusiast for foreign languages, history, and foreign cultures. He writes articles on history and languages for and has used Pimsleur learning audio courses to learn various languages.

Wearing the Native American Bracelet will make you feel closer to the traditional spirit of the American culture. The Native Jewelry attracts mostly those people who are the admirers of the classic and traditional accessories. The unfading and the magnificent look of these accessories make them unique and attractive.

The Native American accessories are basically made up of silver which is not a very expensive material as compared to the gold or platinum. The accessories available are the necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings, Concho belts, sets and bolo ties. But if you talk about the bracelets, there is a wide variety available with different designs and stones of all the shades, and colors. While making the bracelet, a variety of stones are used. The designs available are the stone, cut- out and flower and leaf design. There is also a possibility of customization of the Native American Bracelet as it is hand made. This gives the opportunity to make a design of your choice.

Another advantage of choosing the accessories which are made up of the silver material rather than the gold or platinum is that the silver has the quality of not getting rusted easily. It has the quality of rust and corrosion resistance which quality makes this Native Jewelry more durable and which will provide the long term benefits.

The Native American Bracelets can be sized easily by just squeezing only the ends together or separating them gently according to the size of your wrist. There may be some bracelets which are not flexible at all; they should not be bent at all. You have the choice from choosing the different styles of the Native American bracelets. The styles available are cuff, beaded and the cluster bracelets. Though most recently cuff bracelets are the most popular style among the people, it is totally up to your personal liking.

In terms of the price of the Native American Bracelets, each of the bracelets is based on the three most important things. Firstly, the price of the bracelet depends upon the cost of the sterling silver and that too at the time of the sale of the bracelet. Secondly, the price depends upon the cost of the stone that is embedded in the bracelet. Lastly, the price depends upon the total man hours which are needed for the construction of the beautiful bracelet.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/jewelry-articles/authentic-native-american-bracelet-a-style-statement-886343.html

Searching for the authentic store dealing in Native American jewelry, visit us. We offer a wide range of Native American bracelets in varied styles and designs. Our website is a hub to unique and stylish collection of Native American accessories.

indigenousdelegation.wordpress.com

balatacamp1948.wordpress.com (this is the youth from Balata Refugee Camp)

Thanks to all that have supported us on our journey

Jodi

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I would like to take this time to thank my teacher Ms. Cooke.

She has taught me a whole new style of writing.

She does not compromise her writing standards with the students.

She expects the style she teaches (AP) to be implemented in her students work.

She is patient and kind, yet uses criticism when needed.

I've learned a great deal in and out of class.

The work was hard in the beginning and became easier as I learn the new style.

It's been a joy and my plesure to be your student thank you again.  

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Two weekends ago I went home for my brother's college graduation, and AJ came with me! It was a wonderful time, being able to see my siblings, grandparents, and parents. It was also great fun to be playing outside like I was 8 years old again! This time, with AJ pretending to throw me off his shoulders! The entire weekend was splendid and it made me anxious for more care-free summer days ahead!

This is a group of random volunteers along with past and present Red Cloud Students- we are all posing at the Senior Pow-wow (Inipi), even though none of us are seniors.

I spent last weekend with this darling girl, Daisa, whom I've spoken of often on this blog. She and I presented together at the Board of Director's meeting regarding the relational impact volunteers and students can have on one another. She is a gem, let me tell you, and she spoke with such openness and eloquence, I was so proud that she considers me a big sister. Last week she actually presented me with a huge collage she had been working on as a 'going away' gift of sorts, and she also wrote me a moving letter about the impact I have had on her life. Needless to say, this girl has brought me to tears more than once, and she continues to be one of the biggest delights I have encountered during my time here at Red Cloud.


Me, again, posing with a group of freshman-junior guys at the senior pow wow. Three of the students (to the right of me) are running for the top positions in student council next year. Let's just say that I hope they transform this (self-proclaimed) popularity contest into productive work next year!

Awe, my beautiful senior sister Saige and I at the powwow! I goofed up a bit on this one- Saige Pourier has been a really close student of mine, and she was one of the first students to really work at developing a relationship with me, which I appreciated immensely. Anyway- she had an honoring at the powwow- during which she intended to present me with a start quilt...only I was late, and missed it! Whoops! I felt horrible, and when I walked in late, she just shook her head at me in a sassy, 'I'm pretending to be mad at you" way. It was embarrassing for me, yet good to accept her forgiving nature as well. She truly is a beautiful beautiful young woman!

Ah, yes- the Student Council posters which were added one at a time to my office windows. I was really pleased with the campaigning for next year's slots- All the students running have really stepped up their efforts of advertizing, and it is so much fun... I thought I'd take a picture of my windows! And in case you're interested, we will be voting tomorrow in English classes for the new student council. Don't hold your breath, whatever shall be, shall be. :)

Back-track to my brother's graduation- here he is, along with the rest of us siblings (and Meggie and AJ- new additions to the family). My sister from Texas was even able to come for the visit- hurray for surprises which end up to not be surprises (I guess none of us are good at keeping secrets from one another). :)

AJ and my random "angry" faces. Who looks more upset? Probably me, but I do have to say AJ has a bit of ferocious in his face! I love being goofy with this guy... he's such a good sport with my family- oh, and did I mention we played football against Meggie and Clint- and totally cleaned house (with the help of our dear quarterback Alison)! :)

*Random story without a photo- I have another story which falls under the category of 'unfortunate events' in the life of Emily...or as my student Chandler said, "only a minor setback in life, Emily." whatever title it is given, here's the scoop. Two days ago, as Emily was lifting weights, the heat was intense, and Emily was lazy. Thus, she wore open-toe sandals instead of her usual tennis shoe apparel. Well, little did she realize that the very last lift of the day would reveal the mistake that was, 'wearing sandals'- okay, let me be forward. I dropped a weight on my big toe!!! And it hurt. Throbbed, mostly, and bled for about 24 hours. I was slightly concerned about the well-being of my toe nerves; however, these past two days- along with the miraculous work of a loving God- have produced amazing results! I no longer have pain, and although it looks a little funky- my toe is basically intact. Yey!!!

That's my life in a nutshell. I've also been busy with the student council cookout, house meetings, after-school program, getting blasted with water by some hyper seniors (in my office, nonetheless), and trying to balance my emotions of sadness at leaving these kids and the sheer joy of summer ahead.

Until you hear from my busy little heart and mind again, peace to you and your families. I am off to read to the 3rd grade right now. What a blast! :)

Love and teethy smiles,

Em