Canku Ota
	(Many Paths)
	An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America
	September 22, 2001 - Issue 45
	Novato Fete Spotlights American Indian Heritage Trade Feast a 'Big Time' Event
	by Chris Cone San Francisco Chronicle-September 7, 2001

The dance begins with the beat of the drums. The singers' voices, rising and falling like the autumn wind, call the dancers forward step by prayerful step. One following the other, young following the old, the dancers create a sacred circle that binds them across generations and time. Known among California American Indians as the "big time," the traditional fall gathering is a place where extended families come together to dance, sing songs, share news, trade supplies, seek mates, and partake of the annual acorn harvest. It is a time to honor the past and look toward the future. This year, the tribes and the public will gather at the 29th annual Trade Feast, a modern-day version of the "big time" reunion tomorrow and Sunday at Miwok Park in Novato. Sponsored by the Marin Museum of the American Indian, the family-oriented event features traditional and contemporary dancers, musicians, artists and craftspeople, and hands-on children's activities. "The Trade Feast is an opportunity to get a glimpse into native culture," said Shirley Schaufel, executive director of the Marin Museum of the American Indian. She noted that the public tends to think of American Indian culture as historical rather than contemporary. "Native people are very vital and working hard to sustain their culture," said Schaufel, whose organization aims to bridge the gap between native peoples and the general public. To further that goal, the Trade Feast will spotlight artists and performers from a number of indigenous tribes of the Americas including the Pomo, Coast Miwok, Creek, Navajo, Hopi, Assiniboin, Lakota, Kumeyaay, Aztec and Yup'ik Eskimo. The event will begin with a special dedication to celebrate the restoration of federally recognized status to the Coast Miwok's Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, which includes the native communities of Bodega, Olemitchka, Olamentko, Marin, Tomales, Marshall, Nicasio, Hookooeko, Lekatewutko, Olompali and the Indians of the Sebastopol area. The January 2001 signing of the status- restoration bill is the culmination of a 10-year campaign, Schaufel said. The master of ceremonies will be actor/singer/activist Floyd Red Crow Westerman, well-known for his performances in films such as "Dances with Wolves," "The Doors," and "Grey Owl" and television shows such as "Walker, Texas Ranger" and "Northern Exposure." A human rights and environmental activist, Westerman will oversee a varied program of performances and demonstrations from a range of cultures. The dance traditions of the Plains Tribes -- including Jiggle Dress, Men's Traditional, Men's Fancy, Ladies' Traditional and Fancy Shawl dances -- will be featured by the Joseph Waukazoo Intertribal Dancers, whose performers, ranging in age from 8 to 25, come from urban and rural communities. "We try to keep education at the forefront with the intertribal dancers," said Waukazoo, whose college-age dancers, many of whom were raised on reservations, serve as cultural mentors for the younger urban students in his Oakland-based Friendship House dance classes. "Traditional native dance has never been as popular as it is now," Waukazoo said. Interest in preserving cultural traditions is growing, he said, as native peoples reclaim self-determination from assaults such as the federal relocation programs of the 1950s and 1960s. Those programs moved American Indians from all over the country to California cities. The idea: to encourage their assimilation into dominant society. "We have come a long way in a short period of time," Waukazoo said. Sharing the dance arena will be the Dry Creek Pomo Traditional Dancers, who have received numerous awards for their work preserving the culture of Northern California tribes. Also appearing will be the internationally renowned Four Winds Plains Hoop Dancers, featuring specialty dances focusing on the re-enactment of the spiritual and symbolic aspects of humanity. They will be joined by the Teokalli Aztec Dancers performing the athletic, colorful dance of Central American people known as Concheros or Aztec Dance. That style incorporates the conch shell, a symbol of the life-giving sea, and patterns of the night sky into a competitive, vigorous performance in which the dancers honor the spirits of the ancestors. Native traditions of the Northwest will be the focus of storyteller/dancer Chuna McIntyre of the Yup'ik Eskimo tribe in Eek Alaska. Dressed in traditional fur-lined attire of the frozen north, McIntyre will share dances and stories featuring finger puppets. Musical performers include award-winning singer/songwriter Sharon Burch, whose work is inspired by the spirit of the prayers and chants she learned as a child from her Navajo grandmother; flutist/singer/dancer Robert "Tree" Cody, who shares his expert knowledge of American Indian culture and music around the world; and award-winning recording artist Keith Secola, composer of the American Indian anthem "NDN KARS" and the soundtrack for the PBS documentary "Homeland." "Native people are diverse and highly artistic," Schaufel said. Craftspeople at the Trade Feast will include: Gladys McKinney and Lois Conner of the Western Mono tribe, who will show how baskets are designed and woven for specific cooking functions; Eva Salaza of the Kumeyaay tribe, who will make contemporary pottery dolls, and Lee Chavez of the Pueblo, who will demonstrate the techniques used by Southwest silversmiths. "The Trade Feast is an educational component of the museum program," said Verna Smith, the Trade Feast's children's activities coordinator. She also teaches in the MMIA's elementary school program, which serves 10,000 children each year. Drawing on the museum's year-round cultural program, the event will include supervised, activity-focused day care. Kids will learn how to make traditional redwood Pomo dolls or an arrowhead necklace, or how to decorate a stick to use while playing the traditional "kicking billets" game. "Food is a very important part of Native American culture," said Schaufel, which is why the feast will offer traditional foods including smoked salmon, crispy fried seaweed, abalone chowder and fry bread. Invented when native peoples were prevented from gathering their traditional foods of buffalo, deer, berries and nuts while being held on reservation land, fry bread was created from the flour, lard and beans that were the captives' only fare. "Fry bread is a survival food," Schaufel said, adding that it is eaten in honor of those who survived confinement. Following tomorrow's events, the museum will host an outdoor screening of the award-winning documentary "In the Light of Reverence," a portrait of the land-use conflicts over American Indian sacred sites on public and private lands in the West. Recommended for audiences ages 15 and older, the film won the American Indian Film Festival's Best Documentary award, the Mountain Films at Telluride Jury Award and a Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian award.

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