Manataka
ambassadors and friends travel to many places around the continent and around
the globe and meet with elders and spiritual leaders of many nations. The
gift of tobacco is a sign of reverence and respect and is a long held tradition
of many peoples. Often, prayer ties are strung together and taken to
sacred sites and or places that require healing (such the Gulf of Mexico).
We need thousands of prayer ties. You can
help by making as many prayer ties as you can and send them to us for
distribution to people and places that need your prayers.
Read More>>>
Join
the Manataka Powwow Committee Now!
As chairman of the June 2011 Manataka Powwow at Hot Springs
National Park, Arkansas, Grandfather Hawk Hoffman will share many
years of powwow experience as you provide needed assistance in
organizing, promoting, supervising details and working at the event.
Scheduled for June 10 - 12, 2011, the Manataka Powwow will have a
huge arena at Bald Mountain Park and Campgrounds to host dancers, drummers, special
entertainment, and vendors. Send us your contact information
and what you would like to do to help.
PowwowCommittee@manataka.org
See the Manataka Powwow flyer here
Vendors: Sign up for booth space here...
before they are all gone...
American Indian
Information and Trade Center Needs Your Help
Attention Tribes, Indian Organizations, Media, Museums, Cultural
Centers, Powwows, and Events
Publishers of the
Native American Directory: Alaska, Canada, U.S. and Powwow on the
Road need your help in updating their extensive database. Get a FREE listing in
the best and largest Native American Directory in the country!
Promote your event, powwow, organization! The Native American
Directory is unique with layers of information circulated by 20
individual agencies such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of
the Census, Public Health Service, Indian Health Service and all
Native organizations and associations. "information that is
hard to find!" "directory on Indians for the 21st
century" "Indian red page bible.”
The Manataka American Indian Council does not accept federal or
state government grants, nor do we accept corporate grants.
MAIC does not conduct telephone, door-to-door, email, or
mass-mailing fund raising. Our sole source of revenue comes
from
our
good members and folks who shop our online Trading Post.
Manataka is a 100% all-volunteer organization - no paid staff.
We need your support this time of year to fulfill requests for
assistance and to carry on our work for the coming year.
CALLING ALL MANATAKA
by Grandmother Linda Two Hawk Feathers James
People of
Manataka! You are the ones who answered the call of the Place of Peace. It
is well and good to seek this place, and it is good to be in this place, but
we who have experienced the peaceful feeling that Manataka can give, cannot
just stay in that place of peace. We must take an example from the rainbow
woman who reaches out from the spirit world to us. That is how we begin to
seek. Yet, there are so many people who may not be sensitive to her
invitation because the sounds, sights, and smells of the world block out the
spirit.
In
difficult times, native people have called on history, ancestors, and the
creation/Creator to teach and guide them to the right path. We have
wandered a long, long way from the SPIRIT path. Many of us struggle to
learn and honor the red path traditions that are at risk of being lost.
Some still live on ancestral lands and know their heritage yet others do
not. Some have even chosen to leave that heritage behind. No matter what
your situation, my message as ceremonial elder is to respond to the call to
a ceremony which can spread around the world in one short day.
"They must give
themselves to Wakan' Tanka and live a spiritual life. They will have the
peace that frees them from fear."
--Frank Fools Crow,
Lakota
There are two wills
available for us: self will and God's will. Our choice is: figure it out
ourselves, or have the Creator involved in our lives. If we are honest with
ourselves and look at past experiences, what are our lives like when we try
to figure it out ourselves? Is there fear, confusion, frustration, anger,
attacking others, conflict, fault finding, manipulation, teasing others,
belittling others or devaluation? If these things are present, they indicate
that we are choosing self will. What is it like if we turn our will over to
the Creator? What are the results if we ask the Great Spirit to guide our
life? Examples are: freedom, choices, consequences, love forgiveness,
helping others, happiness, joy, solutions, and peace. Which will I choose
today, self will or God's will?
Creator, I know what my choice
is. I want You to direct my life.
I want You to direct my
thinking.
You are the Grandfather.
You know what I need even before
I do.
Today I ask You to tell me what
I can do for You today.
Tell me in a way I can
understand and I will be happy to do it
Many experts, scientists, artists and philosophers have reached the
conclusion that the human experience is reaching some kind of
ultimate climax. Each person who studies this phenomenon calls this
coming event by a different name, or uses different terms to
describe it, but essentially they are all speaking of the same
event. Jose Arguelles says that it is the Climax of Matter, Jean
Houston calls it Jump Time, and Ray Kurzweil calls it the
approaching singularity.
What is interesting about this is that numerous prophesies from
ancient traditions around the world have also pointed to this time
period as a time of great upheaval and change, perhaps the most
important in human history. The Mayans of Mexico marked this time
with their famous calendar.
The
alchemists of Europe built the Cross of Hendaye to describe it. The
Q’ero Indians of Peru call it the Pacha Kuti and the ancient
Egyptians referred to it as the Zep Tepi or The First Time. In the
Indo-Tibetan tradition it is equated with the final throes of the
Kali Yuga, the Age of Iron. Each of these traditions tells us that a
great transformative moment is at hand, a moment in which we have
the opportunity to release old patterns and re-link ourselves with
the essential rhythms and harmonies of the universe.
As
we can see from these prophecies, this shift is not just limited to
historical tangibles like globalization, the internet, global
warming and the destruction of the environment but is deeply
embedded in almost all of the great spiritual traditions of
humanity. This approaching singularity is truly the most profound
event in history. Everything that we know, everything that we are,
is about to undergo a substantial and radical alteration.
A flock of birds had stopped on a highway perhaps just
taking a rest or maybe they had spotted a bit of food. A
vehicle passed by and one of the birds was injured and
unable to move from the roadway. Here, his mate injured
and the condition was fatal.
Her mate lingers nearby offering solace and eventually
he brings food to her. On one of his return trips he
finds his mate dead and seems to try to shake her awake
and attended to her with love and compassion.
Aware that she is lost to him he cries out in obvious
anguish. Every time a car passes, the bird flies off for
a moment but then returns to mourn, his heart clearly
broken. Shocked at her death, he tried to move her.... a
rarely-seen effort for swallows! Aware that
his sweetheart is dead and will never come back to him
again, He cries
with adoring love.
Eventually the photographer, concerned for the safety of
the living bird, put down his camera, picked up the bird
and removed it from the road. The grieving bird lingered
in a nearby tree, "crying" out loud with adoring love
and reluctant to move on.
No one knew how long he stood beside her and cried.
Devastated by the loss.
Finally aware she would never return to him, he stood
beside her body
with sadness and sorrow.
Millions of people cried after seeing these photos in
America, Europe, Australia, and India. The photographer
sold these pictures for a nominal fee to a newspaper in
France. All copies of that edition were sold out on the
day these pictures were published.
And many people think animals don't have brains or
feelings? You have just witnessed Love and Sorrow felt
by God's creatures. God knows when a sparrow falls and
how much the Creator loves us.
Do not worry. The Creator knows what you need.
Seek first balance and peace and all these things will
be given to you as well. Do not worry about tomorrow.
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Lawsuit Filed to Protect Gulf's Endangered Whales, Turtles,
Fish Continuing
our work to help Gulf of Mexico species hit by the biggest
oil spill in U.S. history, the Center for Biological
Diversity this Monday sued the feds for failing to consider
oil-spill risks for endangered whales, sea turtles and fish
when approving offshore drilling. Our lawsuit upholds the
Endangered Species Act's requirement that all federal
agencies, including the former Minerals Management Service,
ensure that their actions don't jeopardize federally
protected species like sea turtles, sperm whales and Gulf
sturgeon -- which offshore oil drilling obviously can and
has. Rather than assuming that exploration drilling is
"unlikely" to lead to a spill -- and if so, produce only
"discountable or insignificant effects" -- the government
needs to newly analyze potential oil spills' impacts on
endangered wildlife. We're seeking to halt all offshore
drilling approvals till it does. Read more in
The New York Times.
Renaming the Minerals Management Service Won't Fix Its Fatal
Flaws
Simply
renaming the offshore drilling agency known as the Minerals
Management Service and offering up a few weak reforms won't
do anything to fix its fundamental flaws, says a recent
op-ed by Center for Biological Diversity Executive Director
Kierán Suckling. In fact, the scandalous ways of the former
MMS -- recently rechristened the Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management, Regulation, and Enforcement -- are so deeply
entrenched that it continued to exempt new offshore drilling
projects from environmental review even as millions of
gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf. "Radical reform is
clearly needed," Suckling said in the op-ed, which appeared
in multiple papers across the country. But Salazar's
so-called solutions -- like instituting an ethics code,
splitting the MMS into three parts and giving it a fancy new
name -- have done nothing to improve environmental
protection. That's because the offshore "watchdog" still has
the same essential purpose: to facilitate energy development
with no Congressional mandate to protect the environment.
What's needed is a different agency, completely free
of oil-industry ties, to safeguard the environment from
offshore drilling. Read Suckling's op-ed in the
Miami Herald and read an interview with him in
CNNMoney.com.
Get
the Lead Out to Save Eagles
A
recent article in Alberta, Canada's Edmonton Journal
offers an inside look into what it takes to save a bird of
prey from deadly lead poisoning -- and makes all the more
clear the urgency of preventing wildlife lead poisoning in
the first place. "For the Sake of Eagles, It's Time to Get
the Lead Out" details exactly what bald eagles go through
when they ingest toxic lead from scavenging lead-shot
carcasses or ingesting lead-containing trash: Toxins collect
in a bird's fat reserves, and when the animal must expend
energy -- like during migration -- the lead circulates in
the blood and makes the bird very ill. At Edmonton's
Wildlife Rehabilitation Society, it takes several staff
members to treat lead-poisoned birds with chelation therapy,
which involves injecting them with penicillin and a calcium
compound to draw the toxic mineral from their systems.
As the article says, people can help prevent lead poisoning
in wildlife by not hunting with lead bullets -- which in
Alberta are illegal, as they should be. Unfortunately, lead
bullets are still allowed in most of the United States --
shot into the environment to the tune of 83,000 tons each
year, including into the outside-California range of the
severely lead-threatened California condor.
Manataka and the Center for
Biological Diversity is pushing harder than ever to stop all
lead bullet use everywhere for the sake of eagles, condors,
other wildlife and human health as well. Learn more about
our
Get the Lead Out campaign and please
make a donation to the campaign today. Then read more
about poisoned eagles in the
Edmonton Journal.
Last
month we celebrated a major
victory when a federal court stopped oil and gas companies from drilling
in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea -- one of our nation’s two Polar Bear Seas. But
that ruling does NOT apply to Shell’s plans for drilling off the coast
of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the Beaufort -- the second of
the two Polar Bear Seas.
President Obama will not stop Shell’s offshore drilling for this
drilling season. Shell will be back next summer, sinking its
drill bits into the Beaufort Sea -- unless you and I apply overwhelming
public pressure to stop them.
We can’t afford a repeat of the Gulf oil spill disaster in America’s
Arctic.
That’s why, after you watch my video, I need you to join me in
signing our Petition, which urges President Obama to impose a
seven-year timeout on offshore drilling in the Arctic. That reprieve is
urgently needed so that scientists can carefully study the real risks of
drilling in this most sensitive of all environments. You and I
must act now to avert a disaster in the Arctic.
Please tell President Obama to stand up to the oil industry and put
the Arctic off-limits to offshore drilling for seven years.
Thank you Manataka for fighting alongside us to keep the Arctic wild and
free.
Sincerely,
Robert Redford
Trustee, Natural Resources Defense Council
What a wonderful emotion of
love! Everyone wants this feeling of intimacy with all that it encompasses. So
if we want intimacy, why don’t we have it?
The question is, “Why can’t we
find intimacy?” Maybe because so many of us are afraid of it. I have been told
that to give intimacy is be totally vulnerable. I ask, “Why we are so
protective. Why is the subject so frightening to us?” Some authors I have read
say it may be the single most frightening thing we face.
The effect of being totally
intimate is to be totally unprotected- emotionally, physically and psychically.
If you are completely open with your heart, it is only natural that you rely on
the other person to react in kind. Do you really trust the other person? Is the
other person being totally truthful with you? If not, you are defenseless and
vulnerable. This leads to the fear that you will be hurt in ways no other person
could hurt you.
Their are many
reasons the old ones told the stories and legends around a fire.
The fire provided
light and warmth, not only for the body, but for the mind, body, spirit
and soul. It was light to penetrate the physical darkness of the world
and the darkness of the inner-being.
It was light to
lift the heaviness and struggles of daily life long enough to allow the
words to enter the individual at a depth of reason.
Read More>>>
Members of the Shinnecock
nation outside court in Central Islip, New York, after
filing papers claiming tribal ownership of land in the
Hamptons. Photograph: Ed Betz
During the American Civil War,
Fort Upton was erected near Shinnicock. The fort was used to train
freed African slaves as the "Buffalo Soldiers" who were later paid to
kill Indians out west. Since "Shinnicock" was originally a land grant
from the British Crown, it was always NOT a part of the U.S. When a
buffalo soldier went AWOL, as often happened, he went to Shinnicock and
stayed. As a result, to this day, many Shinnicock are as well of African
heritage.
There were originally 13 tribes of Indigenous in what was termed "Sewanake"
[place of shells] in the Algonquian speech of the 13 tribes. The
principal Indigenous center of all was the Montauket.
I was informed long ago by elders of the "Shinnicock" (of the families
Silva-Gumbs & Crippen) the following story:
As was the tradition of all the tribes of Sewanake, the people of the
villages would seasonally remove to select regions of Long Island to
harvest the fruits of the forest, to fish and go whaling, etc. In the
late 1700's, upon the Montaukets returning to their principal seat (now
the Hamptons), they found it overtaken and occupied by English. They
were repulsed to the fringes and made to accept a seat nearby. That seat
was named after a village of the Montauket - Shinnicock.
There were two roads in and out, only two with iron gates and a fence
around the reserve. One road was called East Gate Road, the other West
Gate Road. The names are the same to this day.
Read
More>>>
Tribal Web Sites
(Federally recognized tribes only; Alphabetical by State)
Tackling the Teen Pregnancy Issue with Cherokee Traditions and Heritage
T
he United
States has the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the industrialized world.
Parenthood is the leading reason why teen girls drop out of school. This
challenge is felt all across America, and it is especially acute in the
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians community in North Carolina. When Cherokee
youth were asked what issue they most cared about, they discussed the topic
of teen pregnancy and how it impacts their peers and tribe. They wanted to
look at this issue from a Cherokee perspective.
Thus, the idea was born from Cherokee
youth to produce a culturally relevant video and educational guide to
address the teen pregnancy problem. The Cherokee Youth Council (CYC)
selected a cohort of ten council members and two adult mentors to conduct
interviews with tribal elders and community representatives that work with
youth in the area. The CYC met with tribal leaders, health educators, and
local school personnel to solicit support for their project. The video is
designed to not only educate Cherokee youth on the challenges with teen
pregnancy, but also to help tribal members learn more about Cherokee values
and beliefs related to families and children. One of the health educators
interviewed by the youth, Linda Chiltoskie, shared the following about the
crisis with teen pregnancy, “We need to take this problem seriously. When I
first started, I could not get 18 girls into the program. Now I don’t have
enough to help all of them.”
The Cherokee Youth Council video
project was funded with a $16,500 grant from First Nations Development
Institute through its Native Youth and Culture Fund. The Native youth
involved with these efforts are composing short introductions to the video,
and CYC members are responsible for conducting in-person presentations. The
initial success of this project has opened doors for the teen pregnancy
video to be included within the curriculum of local schools. First Nations
continues to invest in innovative projects implemented by Native youth,
because they are important to grow the next generation of American Indian
leaders who are dedicated to helping Indian Country.
New Mexico Native Youth Giving Back to the
Community
The
Santa Fe Indian School Leadership Institute’s Summer Policy Academy
(SPA) was recently awarded a $20,000 grant from First Nations’ Native
Youth and Culture Fund to support student community service projects.
The SPA is an academic, cultural and experiential program designed to
develop and promote Native students' capabilities in leadership, policy,
community service and critical thinking in the areas of tribal, local,
state, national, and international Indigenous politics.
The
curriculum of the SPA is rooted in the belief that leadership in tribal
communities includes everyone from craftspeople, cultural practitioners,
tribal leaders, and caretakers of others. The SPA is geared toward
building capacity and awareness of these issues among Native American
high school juniors and seniors, with the belief that they will grow
into tribal community leadership positions. To date, SPA graduated 70
students, representing 22 New Mexico tribes from both urban and
reservation areas.
Led
by Carnell Chosa, co-director of the Summer Policy Academy and a First
Nations LEAD Fellow, the grant support will allow participating students
to design and present their policy papers and community service projects
during a special graduation ceremony this summer. In the past year, one
student served as a volunteer cook at the Jemez Pueblo Elderly Center,
and another student studied water rights at Isleta Pueblo. Once
students complete their policy papers and community service projects,
they will present their work via powerpoint or video to their families,
tribal and community leaders, and SPA volunteers and staff during the
graduation. Carnell shared, “Developing and implementing the Summer
Policy Academy has been an incredible experience. All the hard work
from our staff, faculty, students, communities and partner institutions
like First Nations is critical to the success of the program.”
The
Summer Policy Academy was recently recognized by Harvard’s Honoring
Nations Program as one of the top ten programs of 2010 in Indian
Country. Administered by the Harvard Project on American Indian
Economic Development at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, the
national awards program identifies, celebrates, and shares outstanding
examples of tribal governance. To view a video on SPA produced by the
Woodrow Wilson School, please
Click Here.
Eat breakfast like a
king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
Eat more foods that
grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured.
Live with the 3 E’s –
Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
Make time to pray.
Play more games.
Read more books than
you did in 2009.
Sit in silence for at
least 10 minutes each day.
Sleep for 7 hours.
Take a 10-30 minute
walk daily. And while you walk, smile.
Personality
Don’t compare your
life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
Don’t have negative
thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy
in the positive present moment.
Don’t over do. Keep
you limits.
Don’t take yourself
so seriously. No one else does.
Don’t waste your
precious energy on gossip.
Dream more while you
are awake.
Envy is a waste of
time. You already have all you need.
Forget issues of the
past. Don’t remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past.
That will ruin your present happiness.
Life is too short to
waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
Make peace with your
past so it won’t spoil the present.
No one is in charge
of your happiness except you.
Realize that life is
a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the
curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the
lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
Smile and laugh more.
You don’t have to win
every argument. Agree to disagree…
Society
Call your family
often.
Each day give
something good to others.
Forgive everyone for
everything.
Spend time w/ people
over the age of 70 and under the age of 6.
Try to make a t least
three people smile each day.
What other people
think of you is none of your business.
Your job won’t take
care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
Life
Dot the right thing!
Get rid of anything
that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
Creator loves you.
However good or bad a
situation is, it will change.
No matter how you
feel, get up, dress up and show up.
When you awake alive
in the morning, thank Creator for it.
The best way to be
happy is to be grateful and content.
Eternity
The world tells us
that we all end up at the same place...find the truth.
Material appearing here is distributed without profit or
monetary
gain to those who have expressed an interest in viewing thematerial for research and educational purposes.
This is in accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. section 107.
Reprinted under the Fair Use doctrine of international copyright
law.
Manataka
ambassadors and friends travel to many places around the continent and around
the globe and meet with elders and spiritual leaders of many nations. The
gift of tobacco is a sign of reverence and respect and is a long held tradition
of many peoples. Often, prayer ties are strung together and taken to
sacred sites and or places that require healing (such the Gulf of Mexico).
Join
the Manataka Powwow Committee Now!
People of
Manataka! You are the ones who answered the call of the Place of Peace. It
is well and good to seek this place, and it is good to be in this place, but
we who have experienced the peaceful feeling that Manataka can give, cannot
just stay in that place of peace. We must take an example from the rainbow
woman who reaches out from the spirit world to us. That is how we begin to
seek. Yet, there are so many people who may not be sensitive to her
invitation because the sounds, sights, and smells of the world block out the
spirit.
CRAZY
COYOTE'S HIDES
Continuing
our work to help Gulf of Mexico species hit by the biggest
oil spill in U.S. history, the Center for Biological
Diversity this Monday sued the feds for failing to consider
oil-spill risks for endangered whales, sea turtles and fish
when approving offshore drilling. Our lawsuit upholds the
Endangered Species Act's requirement that all federal
agencies, including the former Minerals Management Service,
ensure that their actions don't jeopardize federally
protected species like sea turtles, sperm whales and Gulf
sturgeon -- which offshore oil drilling obviously can and
has. Rather than assuming that exploration drilling is
"unlikely" to lead to a spill -- and if so, produce only
"discountable or insignificant effects" -- the government
needs to newly analyze potential oil spills' impacts on
endangered wildlife. We're seeking to halt all offshore
drilling approvals till it does. Read more in
Last
month we celebrated a major
victory when a federal court stopped oil and gas companies from drilling
in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea -- one of our nation’s two Polar Bear Seas. But
that ruling does NOT apply to Shell’s plans for drilling off the coast
of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the Beaufort -- the second of
the two Polar Bear Seas. 
HANDCRAFTS
