Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (July 18, 1996)
r r r r Spilyay Tvjsioo Warm Springs, Oregon July 18, 1996 7 Wasco lessons also instroduces family members- Culture Camp Language Activities Kiksht (Wasco) Monday Itshuxdiksh Family '""fA m Ail 1" f iff Lgujrulal abjutqix asablal. Making Campfire Bread. Thursday Qawigiqnan kwadau uadmutxmx Culture Camp Language Actlvitit Qawigiqndnbama itgwfwmxat Camp of learning. Daushda winamsh kwadau wanaqsh This is my father and mother. Daushda Ichgak'ush kwadiu akshkfx This is my mother's father and mother. r.7 I 0 4fr r iiici'LiiMiini Lgugulal ibrfubaumat Making Drums Qawigiqnan kiksht awawat Teaching Wasco Language Daushda ichq'ashush kwadau akk'ish. This is my father's mother and father. Tuesday Qidau awawat Conversation Daushda ichuxix kwadau waglxt. This is my younger brother and older sister. JL T $ AT Kw'aia nkiax, Happy Qiklaucnaika I'm Fine. I I 1 Ifukdikadux Good Morning. Wednesday Qawigiqnan kwadau ux.dmutxmx Culture Camp Language Activities PAIUTE Face Parts 1. 3. 7. in 2. 4. 6. 8. 10. 12. Friday I 1. Tsopuhu 2. Aapuhu 3. Mobe 4. Tama 5. Naka 6. Kamoo Friday H 7. Pue 8. Shoba 9. Tupa 10. Kwo 11. Ego 12. Punutzibu A W M 0 Dmlmuit I'm tired. Ichgmm I'm sick. Lduxuchqinan alaxit kwadau itgamachx. Making bow and arrows. Lgiuxlal ilishal Making shawls Wewa new Culture and Heritage Director since November 0 (V Wewa is now Director of Culture and Heritage Department. New Culture and Heritage Direc tor, Wilson Wewa, Jr., hopes to "make a difference" for the Warm Springs tribes by "keeping cultural traditions alive." He accepted this new job at the end of November 1995, after 16 years at the Senior Citizen Program and will stay for as long as he can "make a difference for the tribe." He feels fortunate for the opportunity to help the Warm Springs tribes maintain their traditions and cultures and to voice concerns in In dian country for retention of Warm Springs cultures that continue grow ing and preserve them. As the Culture and Heritage Di rector, Wewa oversees the Culture and Heritage Department, does some archiving, recording of legends, stores personal and tribal histories for all three tribes, administrative duties and budgeting. His major focus is the vitalization of the Indian languages. "Learning the language you have a better understanding of the ceremo nies, songs and dances," he says. Wewa hopes that when people learn the language they will be more ap preciative of their cultures. The eight months that he has been Director have been "interesting." Wewa says. "I thought is was going to be easy, but I found out it was a lot of work. I'm doing a lot of read ing, starting to work with numbers and charts." He is reading about bud gets because it is a whole new expe rience for him. Wewa adds, "I'm re ally happy to be here, it's something I like doing." He works with a team of twelve language instructors, a curriculum developer, computer programmer, secretary, support staff and resource people. They work together to attain accuracy in their language lessons. The three languages have different dialect and ceremonial uses. During the sixteen years that Wewa was at the Senior Program, he saw that program grow. He had a commitment to help seniors live a better way or to find a means in which they can enjoy life longer. "I helped a lot doing that," Wewa com ments. Wewa's decision to take this new job was based on the changes hap pening in the Senior Citizen Depart ment "Due to shortages of money, we were not putting our people first Money was first Not being able to do anything about it was hard." Wewa also found it hard mentally and emotionally because he was close to the Seniors and so many of them are passing on Wewa has always worked with Seniors. They taught him Sahaptin and a little Wasco, songs, legends, shared their personal history and many other things with him. In a way he sees that he was being prepared for something better. His new job is that something better. In his personal life he does many cultural things involving the Longhouse. He is also called to do ceremonies at other reservations, col leges, universities and special inter est groups. Most of his learning is attributed to his grandma. "She had a lot to do with teaching me the traditions of my people. It was through her that I was able to meet other elders and learn from them," Wewa says. He enjoyed sitting and talking with the elders w hen they told their stories. Wewa says that Warm Springs has a living culture, the singing, dancing, language, bead work, drum making and things like that continue here. Wewa hopes to maintain the tradi tions that are important to this tribe. It is Wewa's personal belief that the "Creator put us here and instilled within us the longing to have an iden tity. The people of this culture iden tify themselves as being part of the Creator himself. Because the Creator created water, land, sky and every thing on them, we identify being a part of those things. Our people no longer have those teachings that give them an identity of belonging to the earth, so children look for other ways to find identity-gangs, sports teams, full-time student. "What is missing is that longing to have their own identity of being Native American. If they accept that and if it is taught in such a fashion they can identify with it, they feel pride in w ho they are. The negatives can turn to positives." Wewa spoke of how Native Americans were supposed to be stew ards of the land but, "you see graf fiti, broken glass and litter every where. People from off-reservation see that and wonder why Warm Springs can talk about water rights and land rights, when the reservation looks like this. It hurts us." concluded Wewa.
