Canku Ota - A Newsletter Celebrating Native America |
"Klahowya " |
Chinook Jargon |
the common salutation |
TSENEAGA " |
DOG DAYS |
YUCHI |
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"The Giver of Life.... the Creator....did not intend that people
abuse one another." |
We salute- Winnie Jourdain If you didn't know better, you might have thought Winnie Jourdain wasn't enjoying all the fuss her friends and family were making over her 100th birthday. Dressed in black slacks -- she hasn't worn a dress since she was in her 70s -- and a colorful sweater with bright pink flowers, Jourdain sat patiently as well-wishers hovered to take photos. But as soon as the cameras had clicked, Jourdain would stick out her tongue and scrunch up her face defiantly at them. Other times she'd put up a stiff arm and announce, "Oh, that's enough!" But for the roughly 75 people who gathered Saturday at Shooting Star Casino on the White Earth Indian Reservation to honor her centennial, the 5-foot-1 Ojibwe woman known to many as "Ma" could do no wrong. |
St. Croix Ojibwe Youth Accustomed to the more stationary or straight-line dancing of Canadian and Alaskan
tribes, the crowds attending the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics in Fairbanks, Alaska, warmed up quickly to the spirited,
swift moving Wisconsin Ojibwe youths from the St. Croix Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. |
Artist: If he could, Sam English would give away all his material things to help Indian people. Sam is just that way. He is a man of immense compassion and sensitivity for those in need. A distinguished contemporary Indian artist, Sam is truly an individual who cares for people, especially "his" Indian people. A self-described "community activist," English's mission in art is to inspire pride, tradition and wellness for Native peoples. |
Nez Perce Ride Into Past A chocolate brown horse with white speckles on his rump prances inside a small arena near the Nez Perce Indian Reservation town of Lapwai, population 932. The animal resembles an appaloosa, a horse historically associated with the Nez Perce, except it's taller and a little leaner.. |
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White Buffalo Has Meaning Beyond Color I make a traveling salesman look like a stay-at-homer during the summer. I like cruising
the highways on weekends. The traffic usually is light, and the roads are fair. Those rolling plains and the sweet
scent of fresh air are enticing. I take special interest in this anomaly in the animal world for several reasons. |
Now Is a Time of Renewal and Honoring This is the time of earth renewal and the people are giving honor and respect to the Great Holy Being, Ii-tsi-pah-tah-pii-op (the Source of Life). It all started in April and May for those of us who are called Plains Indians. When it first began to thunder and lightning we were called upon to open our sacred bundles of holy objects. We were instructed by ancient teachings that it was time to honor all life and call it awake after a long winter's sleep. With the hide and bones of birds and animals, plants and other things representing life in the world, there is among those to be honored the female spirit. |
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Pala Tribal Elder Tells Tales to Preserve Past It's hard to miss Nadeane Nelson in this rolling backcountry enclave. She's the 81-year-old
great-grandmother in the red sports car. |
Wyandots Return For Statue Unveiling The drummers pounded a beat that stirred the hearts of many in the crowd by the river. |
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Native Voices, It all started in Auckland, New Zealand. At least, the inspiration for the kind of aboriginal radio system Gary Farmer hopes to some day realize started there, and by virtue of that, the impetus for the first annual Rock and Roll Celebration Tour 2000. The tour features a lineup of some of the hottest aboriginal acts today, including Derek Miller, the 1999 Canadian Aboriginal Music Award winner for Male Artist of the Year; Keith Secola, the acclaimed singer/guitarist, and Lucie Idlout, up and coming rock/blues artist. |
Native American Organization Closes One Door, Opens Another This is a story you won't read every day. It's about an Indian organization, after
more than a half century of service, saying it's time to close its doors and give away its assets to a deserving
group. |
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American Indian Perspectives Religions Deserve Respect A monument in Wyoming is sacred to about 20 plains Indian tribes, and during June,
spiritual ceremonies are held by this great rock of basalt that shoots up hundreds of feet in the sky. |
New View of the Stories in the Stars Planetarium Tells Pawnee Sky Tales When some look up at the night sky, they see only a chaos of glowing stars and darkness. For the ancestors of the Skidi Pawnee, the stars, viewed through the smoke holes of their earth lodges, defined their existence. On the Great Plains, the Skidi Band of the Pawnee nation used the stars to help them grow crops, raise families and hunt buffalo. |
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UW Weaves Wide Web of History You may be surprised to learn that your local middle school has 2,300 photographs of
Pacific Northwest Native Americans. |
Tradition Underpins Contempory Native Art The Anchorage Museum of History and Art is showing "Contemporary Alaska Native Art From the Museum Collection," exhibiting works by artists of the many cultures indigenous to Alaska. Each of the pieces relates directly to the Native heritage of the artist yet is unique to each creator. What emerges is a combination of lively traditions and the artistic freedom to incorporate those ideas into contemporary works. |
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Chinook Jargon Workshop The Third Annual Chinuk Wawa Lu'lu (Chinook Jargon Workshop) will be held at Grand Ronde, Oregon from August 25 to 27. Chinook Jargon, or Chinuk Wawa as it speakers refer to it, was commonly spoken in the Pacific Northwest from northern California to southern Alaska. As a Native American lingua franca, it was used among the various ethnic groups during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Workshop consists of language classes, discussion groups and presentations in hopes of reviving Chinook Jargon usage in the Pacific Northwest. The goal of the group is to increase people's knowledge of Chinook Jargon. |
Group Wants Tribal Languages Taught in Schools French, Spanish or Salish? |
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Dance of the People The hot summer sun beats down on your tent. You can feel the heat creeping inside.
Just when you can't take it anymore, you quickly unzip the tent flap and roll your body halfway out, too tired
to get to your feet. |
Ishi Goes Home After 83 years, the Smithsonian Institution is returning the brain of Ishi, one of
California's most famous Native Americans, to his closest relatives. |
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About This Issue's Greeting - "Klahowya" |
Chinook Jargon, or Chinuk Wawa as it speakers refer to it, was commonly spoken in the Pacific Northwest from northern California to southern Alaska. As a Native American lingua franca, it was used among the various ethnic groups during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. |
This Date In History |
Recipe: Campfire Cooking |
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Story: Cricket Beats Cougar |
What is this: Mosquito Bytes |
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Project: Ojo de Oro |
This Issue's Web sites |
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Canku Ota is a free Newsletter celebrating Native America, its traditions and accomplishments . We do not provide subscriber or visitor names to anyone. Some articles presented in Canku Ota may contain copyright material. We have received appropriate permissions for republishing any articles. Material appearing here is distributed without profit or monetary gain to those who have expressed an interest. This is in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107. Canku Ota is a copyright of Vicki Lockard and Paul Barry.
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