Manataka American Indian Council Volume X Issue 11 NOVEMBER 2006
Manataka - Preserving the past today for tomorrow
American Indian Heritage Month
69 printed pages in this issue
WANNA BE A MEMBER OF MANATAKA?
TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO JOIN!
American Indian Science & Engineering Society National
Conference
November 2-4
Detroit, MI
4th Annual Mary Wade Memorial Gold Tournament
November 3, 2006
Quinton, VI
November 4
November 10 -12
"Circle of Friends" Women's Healing Retreat
1220 Reed Loop, Atkins, Arkansas 479-858-8384
(See details, map and directions)
FWIS Arts, Crafts, and Dance demonstration
November 12
Killeen, TX
National Native American Law
Enforcement Association
November 14-17
Las Vegas, NV
Hot Springs, AR
Toy Drive and Chumash Cultural Day
December 2
Thousand Oaks, CA
Bridging the Americas - Reuniting the Eagle and the Condor
Gathering of The Elders at Lake Titicaca, Peru
March 19 – 23, 2007
See More Non-Powwow Events Here
NativeGatherings.com lists hundreds of Native American events including concerts, seminars, conferences, sporting events, and more.
And that, I guess, is what it all boils down to - do the right thing, everything goes fine; do the wrong thing, everything's a mess." -Robert Spott, Yurok
The Elders say every person is born with free will and every person has a specific purpose to accomplish during their life time. When our life is relatively free from obstacles we are walking the path of God's will. If our life is full of obstacles, we are not doing the will of God. Often, the Great Spirit guides us through a system of coincidences. We need to pay attention to coincidences. If we are aware of these, we often can recognize the path which God is showing us. We need to pray and ask Him to show us the path in terms we can understand.
HOLIDAY SHOPPING
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Jewelry Store Book Store 100's To Choose From Furs, Hides, Robes Gifts - Home Decor Crafts 100's to choose Teepee Store Drums Video Store
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Lower Blood Sugar in 30 days or it's FREE! ~ from Native Remedies.
Whispering Wind Magazine
A Bi-Monthly Magazine
Crafts »« Culture »« Powwows »« History »« And More!
Manataka Recommended!
Ghost Trails to Manataka
Stirring music. Intense, emotional and beautiful. Hear the legends of the Place of Peace. A Moving Experience. Only $19.95 Read More
Manataka Flag
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Only $85
"Plastics" from Corn and Soy
By Lori Leah Zack
Natural, or bio-plastics, are made from corn, soy or other renewable feedstocks and are being used in manufacturing textiles, food containers, and other products that traditionally utilize petroleum-based plastics. And it's biodegradable!!
The company Metabolix of Cambridge, Mass, was recently
selected as a 2005 Presidential Green Chemistry
Challenge Awards winner for developing a fermentation
process to produce "natural plastics" from renewable
feedstocks such as plant sugars or oils. Metabolix is
set to start making its product on a large scale. It
will join Cargill and Dupont--former Green Chemistry
Award winners--as producers of "natural", or
"bio-plastics."
A June 26, 2005 article in The Los Angeles Times,
titled "To Replace Oil, U.S. Experts See Amber Waves of
Plastic" explains what is meant by "bio-plastics". The
following is an excerpt from that article:
In Blair, Nebraska, Cargill Inc. operates a factory
where "corn (is) coming in at one end and plastic (is)
coming out the other...a series of automated assembly
lines turns raw corn kernels first into sugary syrup and
then into white pellets that can be spun into silky
fabric or molded into clear, tough plastic. The end
products--which include T-shirts, forks, and
coffins--look and feel and perform like traditional
polyester and plastic made from a petroleum base. But
the manufacturing process consumes 50% less fossil fuel,
even after accounting for the fuel needed to plant and
harvest the corn.
READ MORE...
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The Old Weaver Woman
Each
day as the sun sends it rays across the hills stretching out into
the prairie lands, Old Weaver Woman starts her day. I have no idea
of her other names only that we have called her Grandmother Weaver
for so long as I remember.
In the early morning when the sky is only a gray light, she carries her water in an old metal bucket from the near by river. Filling her water pot on the stand in the corner she fans the coals of the fire to boil her coffee. From the cracked and faded jar on the shelf she measures out just enough to make her one pot of coffee.
In another small kettle she starts her morning corn pudding. Each day the same, never changing she greets the day with prayer “for those less fortunate”, she says.
“Each day is only a dream,” she told me, “some day we will all awake from this and find the vision that we have woven”.
Once I had ask her how she came to find the patterns that she put into the weaving. She said, “from all nature there is wisdom they too hold the visions so we can find them when we need them. It is from these keepers of wisdom that I ask for the patterns too weave.”
I sit by her on a low round kitchen stool looking around the small room lined with drying bunches of herbs we have gathered. Old jars and cans hold the treasures of her healing medicine and knowledge. A worn ragged tapestry bag that she carries her healing tools in, hangs on a hook in the corner by the doorway.
Behind the blanketed door is the bulk of the dried herbs and roots stored for the winter. During the winter months she is called on for healing by the people in the small town at the base of the mountain. They barter food, supplies, or work for the healing herbs and delivering of babies that she offers.
Waynonaha Two Worlds. Copyright (c) 2006 by Waynonaha Two Worlds. All publication rights reserved.
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ANIMALS EYES SHINE THESE COLORS
(taken
from online sources and eyewitness testimonies)
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ALLIGATORS: Light Red
BEARS: Deep Red CATS WITH GREEN/YELLOW EYES: GreenCATS WITH BLUE EYES: Light Red
COUGAR: Green
/ Golden COWS: Yellow / Light Red COYOTE: Green / Gold DEER: White / Yellow / Light Red
DOGS:
Green
/ Blue
FOXES: Blue /
Light Red
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HORSES: WhiteHUMANS: None to little OPOSSUMS: Pink
OWLS: Deep Red PRAIRIE DOG: OrangeRABBITS: Orange / Light Red
RACOON:
Green
/ White
RATS: Orange / Light Red SHEEP: Orange
WHITE-TAILED DEER: Silver White
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Eye Shines of Bigfoot & other Animals http://unifiedworlds.com/eyeshine.htm Submitted by Ed G Bak |
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From Grandmother Selma
Submitted by Selma Palmer
THE EAGLES CAME
He
was an old elder of the Onion Lake Reservation, of the Plains Cree First
Nation. He was known as Antoine Littlewolf. As a young warrior he
endured many things at the hands of others. He learned to be patient.
He taught he’s sons hard lessons. He was known to have a sharp tongue
in his younger years. He loved to dance the dances of the Fathers.
Antoine Littlewolf learned the way of the spirits and had many
visions. He was an Elder always giving counsel to who ever wanted it
(and sometimes to those who did not want it).
The story of his retuning to the Fathers will be remembered by all who came to his burial. It starts many months before. Littlewolf felt it was time, to share that which he saw with his adopted son and dear friend. For several years, before his old body could no longer do for itself, he sat with his adopted son, talking about many things; told him of sacred places; taught him the ways of the peace pipe; told him of his visions. Mother Earth whispered many things to Littlewolf. Littlewolf wanted to make sure he had done his restitution, wanted to leave behind the old ways which he only knew too well. He wanted to make sure that these things could be taught to his sons, when his sons were ready to receive them. For his sons walked other roads at this time looking at other Gods and not to the Creator. Many nights now Littlewolf talked to the ancestors that came to give him direction and to the Fathers that told him it was soon time for him to come home. Then came Brother Bear.
Brother Bear came in the brightness of the afternoon sun and peered into the small kitchen window looking to talk to his brother. Littlewolf could not see him for his aging eyes were not able to see much of this physical earth any more, but his beloved wife did. Littlewolf could hear his wife shooing away something at the window. He inquired to his beloved wife what was going on and was told about Brother Bear at the window. He asked her if Brother Bear had brought a message from the Fathers for him. She did not know for she had forgotten to ask. It was then that Littlewolf knew it was time.
Littlewolf, because he knew time was of the essence now, started his sacred chants and prayers. It was time to get ready for the ancestor that was going to come and take his spirit home. He talked increasingly more with the Fathers. He talked increasingly more with the ancestors. He saw many visions night and day. His heart was softened, he could no longer see much and his physical body was failing him. But his spirit, oh the spirit of one who does the will of the Fathers, becomes stronger and mightier as they strive to do the will of the Creator. He continued his prayers. His adopted son and friend continued to visit and learn and they talked much, Littlewolf doing most of the talking. They would fall asleep as they sat together and talked of sacred things.
Then at last Antoine Littlewolf was taken to the white man’s hospital. His friend now became the white boy that fed him, for he no longer could make out who was there, for now also his hearing was gone. He continued his prayers. His prayers now changed and now the prayers were only to the Creator to send the mighty eagle for his spirit when it was time. He no longer could hear, and maybe wished not to hear, that which was said around him. His concentration was on his spirit and the Creator. For 3 weeks he prayed and chanted and concentrated on what would happen to his spirit. Many things he said to his sons for he wanted to leave this earth knowing he said all and sorted out all that he could for the past mistakes he had made in his life.
He finally let this life come to an end. We all mourned for our elder, our friend, father and grandfather. He taught us much. Helping us grow with much understanding. As we had our wake for him, he was seen many times dancing to the beat of the drummers. He was heard to say ….”Pick up the pace boys, pick up the pace.” The grave was dug, the casket placed inside. The family in front ready to pick their footsteps around the grave, it was then when it happened. “Look! Look up there!” was the cry with someone pointing to the sky. All came to an immediate stopped in their tracks, how someone dare disturb the solitude, the mourning. But all who heard looked up.
From the east they came. A sight that none in these parts had ever seen before. They were only about 100 feet up in the sky. You could almost reach up and touch the two of them. They were magnificent and grand beyond description. The eagles had come for Littlewolf. Just as he knew they would. There were two of them and they came from the east. They were so close you could hear the swoosh of their wings, so close you could see their piercing eyes, so close you could feel of their spirit. As they came closer circling on the air currents they came to the gravesite and circled around it three times. In awe we all watched as we sensed that they picked up Antoine Littlewolf’s spirit and took it with them to the west. It left us awestruck and a feeling of total rejoicing came over everyone.
As the people were in the spirit and about to leave and tell all this wondrous story, as if to say …”Yes I am with them”, a solitary eagle came again from the east five minutes later and crossed over the cemetery and dipped his wing to one side. What joy and healing this provided to his people and what a new legend they have for their young ones. A new legend that will tell the story that all the old ways are not to be forgotten, they are the true ways. Our children must know that these things we speak about are real and not just stories.
This story, amazing as it sounds, is true for I was there. 2004.
Permission given by SewingStorms
Submitted by Elisi SpiritDove (Carol Henderson)
Creator, whisper to me, in terms I can understand what it is you would have me do, I shall do it ~ ~Heya Ho
The love and hope of spirit spread on by the wings of this dove ~ ~ AniWodi Clan /Red Paint~ ~ Witsatologi nihi!
Cultural Preservation – Why It Matters
By Corina Roberts
For many years Native American elders and wisdom keepers have been saying that we must care for the Earth if we expect the Earth to care for us. Now, the threat of global warming is no longer a threat…it is a reality. Today, more than ever, we need the wisdom of our indigenous elders to guide us in our actions.
Native peoples worldwide have always understood that humans do not somehow exist separately from the rest of creation – regardless of our ethnic or religious upbringing, our fates are intertwined. What we do to the Earth, we do to ourselves. Our actions matter. They have impact not only upon ourselves, but on the generations to come.
We
need to take responsibility for our actions…for our health, for our planet’s
health, for our children and for our children’s children. We need to come into
balance with our finite resources and protect them. We need to act in ways that
create a sustainable future.
Cultures that are aware of this balance have always existed, but they have always faced and often fallen to the pressures of the more “civilized” dominant societies; societies often out of balance with themselves and their relationship to other living things. When we talk about preserving and promoting Native American culture, we are talking about something much larger than powwows, or dancing, or learning ancient songs. We are talking about keeping alive the teachings that guide us in healthy ways to relate to other beings, human and non-human, and instruct us on how to care for our Earth so that the Earth can continue to care for us.
Indigenous cultures are not immune to the effects of the dominant societies they are surrounded by. We struggle with complex issues; what is sacred, what is marketable, and where to draw the line. We carry the additional burden of understanding that, while we must live in a society which dictates success in terms of wealth, our hunger for amassing wealth must be tempered with the teachings we know in our hearts are right and good. We know a different kind of prosperity exists; one which is inseparably connected to the health and well-being of all living things, one which has very little to do with money, property and prestige.
For native peoples worldwide, cultural preservation is about survival; personal, emotional, spiritual and planetary survival. We stand on the brink of environmental catastrophe now. The wisdom of our elders and the right relationship of ourselves to all other beings is perhaps more vital now than ever. Many of us were not raised traditionally. We have had to re-learn that wisdom which keeps us in balance.
We are in the process of revitalizing our songs and ceremonies, not for public display, but for something much greater; our survival as nations, as a species and as a living ecosystem, inter-related on all levels, from the smallest microbe to the distant stars. Our elders understood this, and they knew what was coming. It is time now for us to come forward and preserve not only our diverse and vibrant cultures, but the knowledge upon which they have been built.
Corina Roberts, Founder, Redbird
P.O. Box 702, Simi Valley, CA 93062 www.RedbirdsVision.org
This year make a decision. Get up! Get out! Live!
Remind yourself daily, you are in control of your life. You have the right to choose who is to share within your life. The choice is yours! Move slowly and choose wisely. Learn to channel restless energy towards positive outcomes for self.
Never allow restless energy to go un-harnessed. Energy is what provides momentum in your life. Never, allow negative words and actions from others to control your life again.
Learn to choose what you want and what you do not want in your life. Remind yourself daily that your thoughts and actions will become your reality. Beware of what you think. You may create something you do not wish to live with. You and only you are the creator of your direction, your success, your failures and your tomorrows. Take responsibility for the direction of your life now and the all the years yet to come!
~Submitted by Romaine Garcia
RED HAWK IS
FLYING!
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Coyote Learns to Fly
A Shoshoni Tale
Goose said to Coyote, "I'll give you wings. See those two sharp mountains?
One is farther away. If I give you wings, you can fly up to that hill."
Coyote said, "All right." Goose pulled some of his feathers out and stuck them along Coyote's arms and said, "If you fly, sit on that mountain and wait for me. Don't go away. I will watch you." Goose sat down to watch.
Coyote said, "All right," and went, saying "Wa' wa' wa'." He felt good. He
said, "I don't want to sit on that hill. I feel good." He flew a long way
and fell down.
Goose was watching him and found him. He went to Coyote and broke his head.
Coyote's brains ran out and he died.
When he came to life he felt his brains and said. "My nephews gave me some
mush." He ate some. Then he found that his head was broken and that he had
been eating his own brains. He vomited. Goose came and found him and said,
"You are bad, adabu!" He took his wings away from Coyote and left him.
Coyote cried. He did not know what to do.
Big Smoky Valley, Nevada
Some Western Shoshoni Myths by Julian H. Steward - Bureau of American
Ethnology Bulletin 136 [1943]
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR... Heating Hearts
and Homes Average income
on the Oglala Lakota Sioux Pine Ridge Reservation is only approximately
$3500.00 per year while unemployment hovers around 85% on this 2.7 million
acre Reservation housing app. 40,000 people. Winter low temperatures
in South Dakota average 9* F (November through February) Made worse with
bitter wind-chill factors and Record Temperatures reaching -44* below 0*F
(1996). Lakota have died from hypothermia due to inability to pay for
heating
With the
holidays coming up and the season of giving right around the corner. I am
asking you to help in supporting me supply propane, electric and firewood to
the Elders of the following areas. Pine Ridge Reservation, Cheyenne
River Reservation, Crow Creek Reservation, Lower Brule Reservation, Rosebud
Reservation, Sisseton-Wahpeton
The least amount the propane companies will take to each customer is 100.00.
Depending on the size of the family and the weather this will last about a
week. Although any donation is welcome, I wanted you to have a real
time feel of
Please pass this [message] on if you will, please consider the first nations people in your giving this holiday season. What better gift than a warm place to live. To survive and enjoy the Creators gifts. Thank you for your consideration.
Please send donations to: Link Center Foundation, P.O. Box 2253 ~ Longmont,
CO 80502-2253 or donate online @ line
www.linkcenterfoundation.com
Submitted by Harvey Arden |
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I do not celebrate Columbus Day It has been said by many others but I have been thinking about this for some time. A national holiday has been established to commemorate the “discovery of America”. Unfortunately the wrong individual is celebrated. Anyone with half a brain should be able to realize that when Columbus arrived in this part of the world there were already many thousands of people living from the northern tip to the southern tip of what is called the Americas – North America, Central America and South America. Every time I read about or hear about how the Native People were abused by “civilized” people, it is upsetting. The Native People were usually considered as “primitive” or as “savages”, yet the Europeans who “discovered” the new lands were unwashed, disease ridden, usually poorly educated and greedily looked upon what others had. Evidence is found all the way across the Americas that demonstrates the presence of advanced Native cultures. Complex civilizations existed in the Americas before the Egyptians even began to develop into what many now consider as a very important culture. Over the past 20 or so years it has been my privilege to study some aspects of pre-European Native People and I have to continually marvel at how technologically advanced those people were. Also, I have had the privilege to meet and correspond with Native People, including the editor of Smoke Signal, and am continually impressed with the spirituality of Native People. I do not celebrate Columbus Day. The only significance for me is that it is the day after my son’s birthday. However, I do have a poster that I use when I present programs associated with Native American culture at festivals, parks and other gatherings. This poster commemorates Native American Month. When I speak to school children I always make the point that Native People were/are very special people and deserve our admiration and respect. So this Columbus Day I will celebrate that day as the day when Native People demonstrated to the world that THEY DISCOVERED AMERICA. Columbus only documented that fact. I remember looking at a painting that shows Columbus “discovering America”. He is standing on the beach holding a large flag, however, in other parts of the same painting are Native People watching the activity. Where did they come from? It seems that they were there first. Yet, who receives the credit? It may be slow in coming but the day will occur when Native People are seen for who and what they are – Special People – the true “discoverers”. Matt Maley
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Must all Native cultures continue to be subjugated?
In the history of the Native people of the North, Central and South American continents since Indo-European invaders set foot on these lands, there is much pain, yet pain can be healed.
Should the rape of the earth and the destruction of all Native cultures still be said to be the "regrettable" but "unavoidable" price of what, against all reason, is still called progress?
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The Lënape, believe in an evil spirit being
As I was reading the recent article in "Smoke Signals" about the color red, several things came to mind, and I wanted to voice them.
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Our Native Americans are a proud people. Some dozen or so years ago, at a time when our country was at peace, I was privileged to be a guest at the installation of new members of the Kiowa "Black Legging Society". This was at Anadarko, Oklahoma, America's "home of the red man" The ceremony was a full pow-wow, complete with drummers and dancers, and a speech given in the Kiowa language, translated for whitey's ears. Years ago, when the Indian wars were winding down and most tribes had been moved to their reservations, tribal warrior societies were banned, or at least frowned upon by the US military. The Kiowa Black Leggings evolved into a Veteran's group, and every man at the ceremony who was a member of the Leggins wore a distinctive vest, upon which were displayed his rank, branch of service, and whatever military honors he might have gathered.
The Kiowa were never a numerous tribe, and were linguistically unique.
They lived on the Eastern plains of Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas...wherever the hunting was best at the time. They had the fierce Comanche on one side, the Apache on another and the Utes behind them. Even though small in number, they more than held their own against all comers, and held the respect of their neighbors because of that. The number of vests at that pow-wow, and the decorations they bore, convinced me that these people are Americans...make no mistake about that. ~Bill Sawyer
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The first annual papal bulls (religious sanctioning of genocide) burning took place on October 12, 1997 in front of the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu. Here, 'Ululani Po'ohina burns a papal bull. In the background, from left to right, Kanaka Maoli Hawaiian rights activists Eric Po'ohina, Kekuni Blaisdell, and Soli Niheu look on, while Tony Castanha reads from Las Casas.
At the Parliament of World Religions in 1993, over sixty indigenous delegates drafted a Declaration of Vision, which was originally "endorsed by resolution in a near unanimous vote" of the Parliament (Taliman 1994). It reads, in part:
We call upon the people of conscience in the Roman Catholic hierarchy to persuade Pope John II to formally revoke the Inter Cetera Bull of May 4, 1493, which will restore our fundamental human rights. That Papal document called for our Nations and Peoples to be subjugated so the Christian Empire nd its doctrines would be propagated. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling Johnson v. McIntosh 8 Wheat 543 (in 1823) adopted the same principle of subjugation expressed in the Inter Caetera bull. This Papal Bull has been, and continues to be, devastating to our religions, our cultures, and the survival of our populations.
http://bullsburning.itgo.com/Papbull.htm
Submitted by Scott Treaty
Greasy Grass (Little Big Horn)
The night before the Battle of the Greasy Grass, General Custer and one of his lieutenants awoke looking up at the heavens.
“I think we will have a good chance to wipe out the Sioux tomorrow noon, what do you think, Lieutenant? Tell me what you see when you look up at the stars on the eve of this great battle with the Lakota.”
