Portland Observer Thursday. Septem ber 13. 1979 Page 6
Indian legends saved for new generations
I t ’ s a cliche, but you can call
members o f Oregon’ s coastal
C oquille Indian Tribe “ vanishing
Americans.”
The language o f these 400 to 500
non-status Native Americans who
reside in the Coos Bay area has long-
since disappeared.
And the tribe’s myth, legends and
history— passed from generation to
generation through the art o f story
telling—also face the same fate.
Dr. Lee P B ro w n , C o m m is
sioner of Public Safety of Atlanta.
G eorgia, w ill speak at the 10th
A n n iv e rs a ry
B lack
S tu d ie s
B a n q u e t a t P o rtla n d
S ta te
University. The banquet w ill be
held at W estm inster Presbyterian
Church on S eptem ber 28th For
inform ation and reservations call
229 4003
To help stop this slide from
vanishing to vanished, from present
to past tense, an Oregon State
U niversity anthropologist is com
piling a high-quality audio tape that
will contribute to the preservation o f
the Coquille's spoken heritage.
Professor Roberta Hall, with funds
provided by the Oregon Arts Com
mission, has recorded Coquille Tribe
elders telling stories they heard back
in the pre-reservation era.
“ There are a number o f Coquille
stories, real and mythical, that few
tribal members know anymore. They
haven’ t been recorded and these
stories— if they aren't put down on
tape—could disappear w ith the
passing o f the trib a l elders,” ex
plained Hall.
"B u t just writing down the stories
isn’ t good enough. They lose
something in w ritten fo rm . The
tribal elders learned the stories from
their elders in the traditional man
ner, the spoken w ord."
Hall, graduate student Alison Otis
and aide JoAnn King, spent the first
week in August among tribal mem
bers in Coos Bay compiling the tape.
"W e have Coquille tribal members
talking about well-known elders they
knew early in this century. We also
have stories about legendary events,
as well as mythical characters such as
the Coyote," said Hall.
"Coyote is multi-faceted. To some
people in some tales he is the
mythical creator o f the human land
scape, the one responsible for the
world the Conquille knew and the
one responsible for the humans and
their role in the world.
"Coyote is also a trickster, a wily
individual with some attributes o f
the anim al," Hall continued. "H e is
a clever being who tricks and is
tricked himself. Sometimes he even
outsmarts himself.
The stories themselves are both
fanciful and down to earth. They're
stories composed o f short episodes
about an in d ivid u a l who is both
more clever than most o f those
whom he encounters, and at times,
more fallible.”
Hall cautioned that “ it may not be
wise to try to read specific meanings
into every story we’ ve recorded.
These may have changed from
story-telling situation to situation,
and may tell more about the inter-
preter than about the intent o f the
story.
“ Still I can’t resist venturing one
general hypothesis: That to the an
cient Coquille, the environment and
the physical world was a world im
bued with meaning; the events and
forces that shaped the natural world
were considered significant and the
activities o f humans w ithin that
sphere also were significant. How
one lived—this mattered, not just to
oneself and one's immediate kin, but
it could affect even the core o f the
physical w orld.”
The audio tape, when finished will
be more than two hours in length.
Copies will go to the Coquille Tribe,
the Folklore Archives at the Univer
sity o f Oregon, Southwest Com
munity College in Coos Bay which
furnished facilities for the project
and OSU’ s anthropology depart
ment.
Last year at the request o f the
C oquilles,
H all
produced
a
genealogy o f the tribe It was made
available to the 50 some families who
participated in the 1978 C oquille
Oral Traditions project, sponsored
by Earthwatch, a private founda
tion that provides funds and volun
teers for field studies.
A t the conclusion o f the report on
that field p roject, H all suggested
three other projects. One was the
compilation o f the audio tape. The
other two projects, still in the future,
are in the areas o f living archeology
and ethnobotany.
“ For the livin g archeology
project, we’d like to try to recon
struct Coquille artifacts and see if
they work. Part o f this project would
center around possible construction
o f an interpretive center fo r the
trib e ."
The ethnobotany project would be
concerned with herbs and medicines
used by the ancient Coquilles.
Program aids
Indian students
The Indian Support Program
(ISP), a coordinated project o f the
United Indian Students o f Higher
Education (UISH E) w ill be avail
able to Indian students at Portland
State University again this fall.
ISP is a higher education program
to help Indians who want to go to
college or who already attended
college in the Portland area. Services
include academic advising, guidance
and financial aid counseling, and
they are free to admitted students.
Persons interested in know ing
more about the program may call
coordinator Marilyn James at 229-
4505, or stop by her office in 439
Smith Center (1825 S.W. Broad
way).
AM ELECTRIC ENERGY IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME.
Children's
Week
planned
September 29th through October
7th has been declared Children’ s Re
source Week in Portland. There are
two major activities being planned
for the week to coincide with Inter
national Year o f the Child.
On Saturday, September 29th, at
the Masonic Temple the IYC Fair
will kick o ff the week with the theme—
“ Portland, What’s In It For C hild
ren.” The IYC Fair w ill provide in
formation about community involve
ment and service organizations, what
is available and how to use it. It will
be fun and entertaining fo r the
children, as well as educational for
all
Ending the week will be “ Family
Fair: Choices in Birth and Parent
in g ." This year’s fair is an expansion
o f enthustically attended fairs held in
1977 and 1978 to bring pertinent in
formation on birth and parenting to
»ie childbearing and childrearing
public. For 1979, the sponsors o f
Family Fair have developed broader
objectives and expanded the amount
o f inform ation available to partici
pants. It is located at the Memorial
Coliseum complex. Any questions,
call Marsha at 227-3905.
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