Our new goal is 4,444 honoring gifts!   

Can we achieve this goal?  

If you want to participate, send us a brief message to PeaceGifts@manataka.org saying what you plan to make and how many of each item.  

MANATAKA.ORG WEBSITE MARCH UPDATES

# 1	1998-2000 Nammy Awards	#10	Legends of the Choctaw I
# 2	American Indian Spirituality Brochure (not linked)	#11	Legends of the Choctaw II
# 3	Apache Stores I	#12	Legends of the Choctaw III
# 4	Apache Stories II	#13	Tekahionwake: A Voice from Two Worlds
# 5	Apache Stories III	#14	The Beauty Path
# 6	Apache Stories IV	#15	The Fall of the Cat of God
# 7	Apache Stories V	#16	Warrior's  Last Journey (Slide Show)
# 8	Buffalo Skulls	#17	Wyanadotte Stories I
# 9	Indians of the Americas	#18	Wyanadotte Stories II

 

Ghost Trails to Manataka CD Stirring music. Intense, emotional and beautiful. Hear the legends of the Place of Peace. A Moving Experience. Only $19.95  Read More	Manataka Flag Now Available! Only $85 See

 

Editorial:

by Lee Standing Bear Moore

Last week, we heard a rumor that needs to be nipped in the bud. 

There appears to be a few misinformed folks among the Lakota oyate on the Cheyenne River and maybe at Pine Ridge Rez who repeated a rumor that Manataka is conducting "...Lakota ceremonies without authority..." and may be charging for those ceremonies.

Forget the fact that the person who made up the rumor and those who spread it have actually never been to Manataka and witnessed the so-called event.  While listening to various versions of the rumor, we were told in that it was so and so who heard from this one, who talked to that one who had a strong opinion.  Nobody has any facts, just rumor.

Manataka does not pretend to be somebody we are not.  Manataka does not conduct ceremony in the name of any tribe, nation or religion.  Period.  If a recognized and accepted elder of a particular tribe comes to Manataka, as they often do, to pray and conduct his or her own ceremonies, then we welcome their gesture with honor and respect.  Over the years there have been thousands of indigenous people and those of many colors and religions who have come to Manataka in a good way to pray and perform their own ceremonies.   Sometimes, there are more than a dozen elders and more, all from different nations, who enter the sacred circle to participate in each other's prayer ceremonies. 

We see this as a beautiful and deeply moving event.  During times when this happens at Manataka we rejoice and give thanks to the Creator of All Things.  Our hearts are filled with hope that man truly does have the ability and desire for peace and love between them.  It is the ultimate demonstration of a great spiritual bonding.   When will Man be able to do this same thing in every corner of the earth, in every community and in every home?  

It this not the true meaning of "Mitakuye Oyasin"?   In a Sacred Hoop, where there is no ending and no beginning, where all people are equal as brothers and sisters?  All praying to the same Creator in their own way -- is this not an powerful expression of true spiritual equality and freedom?  All Things are Related to the Creator.

We rejoice in the diversity of our spiritual selves.  We do not attempt to segregate people into boxes of color, race or religion. 

We love to see hundreds coming and praying in their own way. We see Manataka as a wonderful opportunity to work for peace in a sacred place where the great joining of hands with all people of all races and religions is not only possible -- it is happening here!  We are the people of the five-fingered race.

It is not our job to say how people may pray.  Our job here at Manataka is not to regulate ceremony or say who may or may not enter the Sacred Circle -- only the Creator has this right.   We, the Keepers of Manataka, do not see ourselves as the vendor of any particular faith or tradition.  We believe that each tribe and nation has its own honorable and good traditions that make up the great mosaic of human spiritual experience and Manataka is a place where that diversity is respected and loved. 

It is simply our job welcome those who come and make them feel appreciated.  Our job is to be the gardener and keep the garden open and free to all who come in a good way. 

We do not condone charging for any spiritual ceremony -- regardless of what tribe or nation it may originate.  It has never happened here and never will.   Even admission to our gatherings and encampments are free. 

So, there you have it -- the truth.   We just you would like to know.

Lee Standing Bear Moore, Editor

Eco-Notes:

Antibacterial Products May Be Harmful

Submitted by Liora Leah Zack

Antibacterial household products have proliferated in the past seven years. Scientists are concerned they may be harmful to human and environmental health.

Manataka Video Store   New!

FEATURE STORY...

Naomi Is My Cousin

A decade ago, Stew Young was flying down the slopes of the Swiss Alps, hoping his personal best would be good enough to take him to the Olympics.

But the Oregon ironworker was paying for his own training, and he was in his late 30s -- an old man by world-class athlete standards. He stopped short of his dream.

Now Young, a Tulalip Tribes member, is at the forefront of a movement to get more Native Americans into the Olympics. He and others are trying to help indigenous peoples overcome what they consider obstacles to competition -- from bias in sporting circles to poverty that prevents youths from receiving the early, elite training that creates the top echelon of athletes.

A handful of Native American organizations in the United States and Canada are seeking International Olympic Committee recognition as sovereign nations, which would allow them to establish what Young calls the North American Indigenous Olympic team. To that end, Young traveled last week with 1968 Olympic skier Suzy Chaffee -- founder of the nonprofit Native Voices Foundation, which is organizing the Olympic bid -- to the Olympics in Turin, Italy, to make their case.

The creation of such a team composed of athletes from tribes across the continent faces daunting challenges, including established ideas of what constitutes a nation. But Native American groups have talked about creating their own team since a Mohawk lacrosse team competed for Canada in the 1904 Summer Olympics, Young said.

"This Olympic team is going to happen sometime," he said. "We are taking the first steps."

A spokesman for the United States Olympic Committee said Native Americans shouldn't expect anything more than the same chance other amateur athletes have to make their national teams.

"The U.S. Olympic Committee is recognized by the IOC as the steward for the Olympic movement in the United States," said Jeff Howard, director of corporate communications for the USOC. "And only one entity within a nation can have that distinction."

The International Olympic Committee doesn't recognize ethnic groups, said David Wallechinsky, vice president of the International Society of Olympic Historians.

It does, however, recognize people who have been colonized by geographic area, he said, which is why Guam and Puerto Rico, both U.S. territories, have their own teams. Hong Kong, now part of China, and Palestine, whose people and Palestinian Authority government are in the West Bank, also have Olympic teams. In Palestine's case, Wallechinsky said, the team was an acknowledgment that, "You're right, there is nowhere you are going to qualify" for the national team in your country.

Chaffee sees parallels to North America.

"If territories 20 miles wide can have Olympic teams," Chaffee said, "why can't sovereign Native American nations, who invented the roots of 10 Olympic sports?"

For the past decade, Chaffee -- a three-time world freestyle skiing champion, the first woman on the U.S. Olympic Committee and the "Suzy Chap Stick" star of a famed 1978 television commercial -- has developed opportunities for tribal youths to learn to ski and snowboard. Realizing Native American athletes' desire for a team of their own, she used her knowledge of Olympic governance to draft a proposal dated Jan. 29 to Jacques Rogge, IOC president.

The committee, involved last week with the Olympics in Turin, did not return calls or e-mails seeking comment.

In Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Dene Chief Bill Erasmus is training an elite indigenous hockey team in the hope of building a claim for what he calls "Team Indigenous." His Olympic vision is sanctioned by the Assembly of First Nations, of which he is the regional leader.

"I know a lot of people are good athletes, but they don't excel because they don't get encouragement or they come from families that don't support them," Erasmus said. "They really don't want to be part of the Canadian team. If we had an indigenous team, I think we would have more people willing and able to compete at the highest levels."

That path to the Olympics is the same one the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, recently traveled. Erasmus is working to get his team admitted into national and international federations that govern amateur hockey because, as Wallechinsky said, a nation that has been recognized by several international sports federations has better a chance with the International Olympic Committee.

At the 2002 Salt Lake Games, hundreds of dancers from several tribes took part in the opening ceremony -- an experience that Karuk Tribe member Naomi Lang, five-time national ice dancing champion who was competing in the games, called amazing.

But with the approach of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, ceremonial participation isn't enough for Native American groups. They want to compete.

The Colorado-based nonprofit Native American Sports Council funds training for several Olympic- and Paralympic-bound athletes.

Chaffee's foundation is supporting Yupik-Inupiaq Eskimo Callan Chythlook-Sifsof, a 16-year-old Alaskan snowboarder ranked sixth in the world in her class.

The Squamish Nation in British Columbia is training the 22-member elite First Nations Snowboard Team for international competition. Financed with a $200,000 grant from the Vancouver 2010 organizing committee, the team aims "to put an athlete on the podium," spokesman Aaron Marchant said. The team also has a recreation program that coaches 44 young snowboarders, from whom it hopes to cull the next generation of potential Olympians.

Marchant wants the team to spread across Canada. By increasing the numbers of First Nations youths it trains, he expects to increase the chances of identifying the one world-class competitor typically found in a pool of 10,000 athletes.

Support for the team is one of the ways the 2010 Winter Olympics organizing committee promises unprecedented involvement with native communities, said Maureen Douglas, community relations director for the committee. Other commitments include economic development, efforts to identify athletic talent in native youths and involvement in 2010 medal ceremonies.

Every step toward the Olympic dream helps Native American communities by inspiring physical fitness and indigenous pride, said Young, the 51-year-old skier from Corvallis, Ore.

"Native American involvement in the Olympics is going to enrich the world," Young said. "And a North American indigenous team is going to represent the true inclusive spirit of the Olympics."

INDIGENOUS ATHLETES
Indigenous athletes long have captured attention at the Olympic Games. Some of the more well-known include:

Jim Thorpe, Sac & Fox Nation: In Stockholm in 1912, he won the five-event pentathlon and broke the world record in the 10-event
decathlon. The International Olympic Committee, amid charges of racism, later forced him to return the medals because he had played semi-professional baseball. The committee restored the medals posthumously in the 1980s. The U.S. House of Representatives in 1999 named him the U.S. athlete of the century.

Billy Mills, Oglala Lakota: In Tokyo in 1964, the runner became the first U.S. athlete to win the 10,000 meters at the Games, setting an Olympic record and upsetting the world champion.

Alwyn Morris, Mohawk: In Los Angeles in 1984, the Canadian canoeist won two gold medals and a bronze, electrifying viewers when he carried an eagle feather to the podium to receive one of his medals.

Cathy Freeman: In Sydney in 2000, the aboriginal runner -- who had shocked Australia at the 1994 Commonwealth Games by wrapping herself in an aboriginal flag for her victory lap -- tied the Australian and aboriginal flags together for her lap after winning gold for Australia.
 

Kara Briggs is a staff writer for The Oregonian of Portland, Ore., karabriggs@news.oregonian.com

Submitted by Andre Cramblit, Indigenous News Network

Read related story 10 Notable American Indians

OPINION PAGE...

Submitted by Mark and Carla Maslin

Inflation

Our grandfather on mothers side was Comanche. His name was Frank Crow. He was born on the western rim of Palo Duro Canyon in West Texas. When I was turned twelve years old, for my birthday he gave me 12 pennies. They were wheat pennies all dated the year of my birth. In those days you could buy a candy bar for a nickel, a coke for a nickel and a two cent deposit on the bottle.  He told me to carry the pennies in my left pocket every day. During the day, any time I told a lie or spoke an untruth I should take one penny and put it in my right pocket. He said that when the left pocket was empty to come to him and he would give me a dime. This is how he taught me that lies are a dime a dozen. I still have those pennies. Recently while in a bookstore I was flipping through a coin collectors book and found that each penny was now worth a dime. I guess that’s inflation. I could hear PaPa whisper in my ear that, lies are still a dime a dozen.

Laughing Crow Selvidge

HISTORY.... 

Tekahionwake: A Voice from Two Worlds

          By Linda VanBibber

The time is 1891.  The woman on stage is an anomaly for the times.  She calls herself Tekahionwake, Two Lives, after her grandfather.  And she has two lives – the life of a Mohawk woman and the life of an English lady.  Everything about her reflects her position of one between the worlds.  She reads her poetry the way she lives it and the way she writes it – with passion.  She is costumed in native dress for the first half of her recital; then returns to stage in an English gown for the last half.

Emily Pauline Johnson was born in 1860, the daughter of a Mohawk Native-Canadian chief and English mother.  Much of Canadian society was shocked that a ‘white’ woman would marry a Native man.

Read this story here...

Legends of Old:

A Cheyenne Legend

 

Veeho is like some tourists who come into an Indian village not knowing how to behave or what to do, trying to impress everybody. One day Veeho met a medicine man with great powers. This man thought to amuse Veeho -- and himself -- with a little trick.

"Eyeballs," he shouted, "I command you to fly out of my head and hang on that tree over there."

At once his eyeballs shot out of his head and in a flash were hanging from a tree branch. Veeho watched open-mouthed.

"Ho! Eyeballs!" cried the medicine man, "now come back where you belong!" And quick as lightning, the eyeballs were back where they ought to be.

"Uncle," said Veeho, "please give me a little of your power so that I too can do this wonderful trick." To himself Veeho was thinking, "Then I can set up as a medicine man; then people will look up to me, especially good-looking girls; then people will give me many gifts!"

"Why not?" said the medicine man. "Why not give you a little power to please you? But, listen, Veeho, don't do this trick more than four times a day, or your eyeballs won't come back."

Veeho could hardly wait to get away and try out this stunning trick. As soon as he was alone, he ordered: "Eyeballs, hop on that ledge over there. Jump to it!" And the eyeballs did. Veeho couldn't see a thing. "Quickly, eyeballs, back into your sockets!" The eyeballs obeyed. "Boy, oh boy," Veeho said to himself, "what a big man I am. Powerful, really powerful." Soon he saw another tree. "Eyeballs, up into that tree, quick!" For a second time the eyeballs did as they were told. "Back into the skull!" Veeho shouted, snapping his fingers. And once more the eyeballs jumped back. Veeho was enjoying himself, getting used to this marvelous trick. He couldn't stop. Twice more he performed it. "Well, that's it for today," he said.

Later he came to a big village and wanted to impress the people with his powers. "Would you believe it, cousins," he told them, "I can make my eyeballs jump out of my head, fly over to that tree, hang themselves from a branch, and come back when I tell them."

The people, of course, didn't believe him; they laughed. Veeho grew angry. "It's true, it's true!" he cried. "You stupid people, I can do it."

"Show us," said the people.

"How often have I done this trick?" Veeho tried to remember. "Four times? No, no. The first time was only for practice; it doesn't count. I can still show these dummies something." And he commanded: "Eyeballs, hang yourselves on a branch of that tree!" The eyeballs did, and a great cry of wonder and astonishment went up. "There, you louts, didn't I tell you?" said Veeho, strutting around, puffing himself up.

After a while he said: "All right, eyeballs, comeback!" But the eyeballs stayed up in the tree. "Come back, come back, you no-good eyeballs!" Veeho cried again and again, but the eyeballs stayed put.

Finally a big fat crow lighted on that tree and gobbled them up. "Mm, good," said the crow, "very tasty." The people laughed at Veeho, shook their heads, and went away. Veeho was blind now. He didn't know what to do. He groped through the forest. He stumbled. He ran into trees. He sat down by a stone and cried.

He heard a squeaking sound. It was a mouse calling other mice. "Mouse, little mouse," cried Veeho, "I am blind. Please lend me one of your eyes so that I can see again."

"My eyes are tiny," said the mouse, "much too tiny. What good would one of them do you? It wouldn't fit." But Veeho begged so pitifully that the mouse finally gave him an eye, saying: "I guess I can get along with the other
one."

So Veeho had one eye, but it was very small indeed. What he saw was just a tiny speck of light. Still, it was better than nothing. Veeho staggered on and met a buffalo. "Buffalo brother," he begged, "I have to get along with
just this one tiny mouse eye. How can a big man like me make do with that? Have pity on me, brother, and lend me one of your big, beautiful eyes."

"What good would one of my eyes do you?" asked the buffalo. "It's much too big for your eye-hole."

But Veeho begged and wept and wheedled until the buffalo said: "Well, all right, I'll let you have one. I can't stand listening to you carrying on like that. I guess I can get by with one eye."

And so Veeho had his second eye. The buffalo bull's eye was much too big. It stuck out of its socket like a shinny ball boys like to play with. It made everything look twice as big as his own eyes had. And since the mouse eye
saw everything ten times smaller, Veeho got a bad headache. But what could he do? It was better than being blind.

"It's a bad mess, though," said Veeho. Veeho went back to his wife and lodge. His wife looked at him. "I believe your eyes are a little mismatched," she told him. And he described all that had happened to him.

"You know," she said, "I think you should stop fooling around, trying to impress people with your tricks."

"I guess so, " said Veeho.

Told by Rachel Strange Owl in Birney, Montana, 1971
Our Thanks to Blue Panther Keeper of Stories.
 

Funny Bones...

DR. COYOTE'S STORY TIME: A Nutritional Myth*:

Creator populated the earth with broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, green and yellow vegetable of all kinds, so the People would live long and healthy lives.

And Coyote created fast food which brought forth the ¢.99 cheeseburger.
Coyote said to Man, "want fries with that?"
And Man said, "Super size them, and gained pounds.
So Creator created yogurt for people to keep their figures.
And Coyote brought forth chocolate and we gained pounds.
So Creator said, "Try my crispy fresh salad."
And Coyote brought forth ice cream and we gained pounds.
So Creator said, "I have sent you healthy vegetables and olive oil to cook them."
And Coyote brought forth chicken-fried steak so big it needed its own platter.
And Man gained pounds and his bad cholesterol went through the roof.
So Creator brought forth running shoes and Man resolved to lose those extra pounds.
And Coyote brought forth cable TV with remote control so Man would not have to toil to change channels between ESPN and ESPN2.
And Man gained pounds and Creator said, "You're running up the score, Coyote."
So Creator brought forth the potato, naturally low in fat and brimming with nutrition.
And Coyote peeled off the healthful skin and sliced the starchy center into chips and deep fat fried them. And he created ranch dip also.
And Man clutched his remote control and ate the potato chips swaddled in cholesterol.
And Coyote saw and said, "It is good."
And Man went into cardiac arrest.
Creator sighed and created quadruple bypass surgery.
So Coyote created Insurance, HMO's, and Indian Health Services.

*In many cultures, Coyote is the trickster and his advice should be taken with a grain of sodium reduced kosher sea salt (his section is intended as humor or parody). If you have any questions to ask of Dr.  Coyote about, diet, health, nutrition or exercise please email: coyote@ncidc.org