Pge 10
Spilyqy Tymoo, Wrm Springs, Oregon
April 17. 2003
"teach your cfuQren
Older generation works hard
to share with younger genera
tion traditional ways of root
digging
Story and photos by
Shannon Keaveny
T
he three-year-old Early Childhood Education student
buried her hands deep in the soft dirt and pulled up a
golfball-sized lukwsh.
Her face lit up.
"Look mommy, I got one," said Anessia Sam enthusiastically.
She, then, brushed off the dirt, ripped off the plant foliage,
and dropped the biscuit root into her wapas, a pouch attached to
her waist.
Sam eagerly began loosening the soil again with a kapn, a metal
root digging stick, in hopes of finding another.
The little girl was a participant in one of the many excursions to
Webster Flat, a traditional root digging haunt for the tribes, with
children of all ages this year.
Webster Flat, a barren, rocky grassland, is home to some of
Warm Springs finest roots. On this day, Sam and her classmates
are digging for biscuit root and bitterroot Tribal members have
been digging at Webster Flat with their families for generations.
Still, some older tribal members worry the new generation won't
have the opportunity to learn from their parents. Some of those
people are taking matters into their own hands.
Two sisters, Roma Cartney and Lucinda Green, who were raised
like "oldtime Indians," are active in providing community oppor
tunities for youth to learn the traditions of the root festival, in
case they aren't learning it at home.
Each year Green hosts a root feast for children where they
learn the tradition from beginning to end.
"Everyone is invited," said Green.
ECE makes sure their young students get an introduction to
rootdigging.
"A lot of parents don't know how anymore or just don't take
the time to teach their children" said Cartney,' . - ' " '
Creating community opportunity
This year Green and Cartney took out 12 kids of all ages to
Webster Flat and Simnasho. Many are foster children who come
from dysfunctional homes where they wouldn't otherwise have
the opportunity to learn these traditions.
Green and Cartney teach them what their parents taught them.
Before the children dig, they say a prayer, then they dig one
root of each plant. Afterwards, the kids gently put back the dirt
and pat it down.
Returning the dirt to its location is thought to help next year's
harvest.
Later, when the roots are peeled at home, the peelings are also
returned to the location they were dug.
While digging they sing songs from Green's father.
"I really want them to know the ceremony, not just the roots,"
said Green, "because it's our life."
" "Children should have no choice when it comes to cultural things.
This comes first," she added, "They are part of it, that's what I
want them to understand."
The children stay up late preparing for the feast, peeling by
hand the bitterroot, biscuit
Children should have no
choice when it comes to cul
tural things. This comes first.
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Roma Cartney gives a rootdigging demonstration to an Early Childhood Education class at a recent Webster Flat outing.
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Kiani Picard, 3, digs up a luksh at
Webster Flat.
Lucinda Green
root, and other roots.
"You are really thankful
for the food after you have
been digging and peeling. It
makes them realize how
much work it is to put on a
root festival," said Lucy
Suppah, a participant at the
children's root feast.
The next day the feast is
prepared. The young children learn to spear the skin of the salmon
and angle it over the fire. They help prepare the roots. They serve
the food.
Before the feast they are asked if they have anything to say so
they can learn to show appreciation for the food. A shy little girl
quietly says a few words.
"Luanda's dad said if you have a mouth and learn how to talk,
then you can share something about being thankful" said Suppah.
Most roots are lightly boiled, says Cartney, with salmon or some
other type of seasoning added.
Ground roots can be laid out in the sun on a sheet to dry. The
flour can be used to make "Indian cookies," which are also cooked
in the sun. Indian cookies were a popular traveling treat in the old
days. Camas, harvested later in the summer, is barbequed under
the ground.
Roots can be frozen in zip lock bags or dried in the sun and
stored in a tin can. Camas can be cooked and canned.
Roots arc a valuable source of vitamin C, iron, calcium, and
protein. Cartney feels this is one reason younger generations should
not fully succumb to the modern convenience of prepackaged
rcady-to-cat food.
"When our people ate traditionally, we didn't have' the health
problems we have now," said Cartney.
Cartney and Green feel they need to provide these opportuni
ties or the heritage of their people
could be lost.
"Our biggest concern is that the
newer generation continues to
grow with the traditions and passes
them on," said Cartney.
When Cartney and Green were
young, the old people were present
and the kids constantly accumu
lated the elders teachings. These
days many kids are missing out on
these very important teachings,
that are such a vital part of who
they are.
"I don't remember our tradi
tions as work when I was a kid,
but just as a way of life," she said.
Cartney insists the kids always
enjoy it. She enjoys seeing the
laughter and joy in their faces when
they pull up a root.
Meanwhile, she says, kids learn
many valuable lessons from tradi
tion like the ethic of work and how
to exercise. There is more to life
than television and video games,
she adds.
That's why, on days like the
ECE outing to Webster Flat,
Cartney patiently instructs a group
of kids' surrounding her on how
to use their kapn.
The little kids spear the ground
near the biscuit root, pull the tool
down, like a lever, and loosen the
soil.
All the children have wapas' at
tached to their waist that Cartney
sewed herself.
"The hard part," she said, " is
keeping them interested, not just
in the roots but in the song and
dance too."
" I just pray for the parents and
grandparents that they just love
their kids by teaching them. There's
so much knowledge in the old
people that can be passed on to
them," Cartney added.
A young girl enjoys the Annual
Root Festival for children at
Lucinda Green's house.
Anessia Sam, 3, gleams with joy
after pulling up a luksch at Webster
Flat.
Origin of the Root Feast
According to Ella Clark's book, "Indian Legends of the Pacific Northwest."
Excerpt taken from George Aquilar's book, "When the River Ran Wild."
Chief Jobe Charley, a Kiksht Chinookan from the Yakama Indian Res
ervation told this account of the root festival:
"Long ago, our people went up to the sky every feasting time. There
they sang and danced and gave thanks to the Great Spirit for the roots
and berries on the earth.
One time Speelyi, the red fox, and Tooptoop, his brother, went up
to the sky with the people.
All sang and danced and prayed for several days. Speelyi became so
tired that he dropped down and fell asleep.
Finding him and recognizing him, the people threw him down to the
earth, where he belonged.
His brother Toophoop kept on with the thanksgiving ceremony. After
a while he thought of Speelyi down on the earth and went to him with
some bitterroot, camas, huckleberries, and salmon. Speelyi had big
feast.
When he had eaten all he can eat, Speelyi raised his hand to the east
and made a new law.
"My people, no more will you go up to the sky to feast and give
thanks. Many new people are coming to our land, and so we cannot do
all that we are used to doing. We must share with our new friends. We
must learn to bear our hardships and our sorrows as best we can.
I am going to put bitterroot and camas and other roots in different
parts of the country. You will have feasts here every year. When you
begin to dig the roots in the spring, you will sing and dance and give
thanks to the Great Spirit. You need not travel up to the sky for that.
And as you dig the roots, you will sing songs of thanksgiving. Your
children will learn the songs from you."
"I am Speelyi. I have spoken."
And so that is why my people had a root festival every spring, when
they begin to dig the roots we used for food.
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