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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 22, 2007)
News from Indian Country Page 9 Tribes share culture at gathering U N IO N T O W N , Ky. (AP)— Several American In dians came'together tecendy at Uniontown Indian Day in Uniontown to share some o f their beliefs, as well as infor mation about their culture, with anyone who took the time to listen. T he évent was very much an in-depth and hands-on h isto ry le sso n a b o u t the lifestyle and culture Of the American Indians. People could participate in classes" fo r stick weaving, beading, making corn husk d olls, m ed icine bags and dream catchers. There wàs also'a lesson in tepee construction and the art o f smudging. M att Cordés, a member o f the Long Plain First Na tion o f the Dakota Sioux and a resident o f Radcliff, Ky., mesmerized a group o f chil dren and adults with his dem onstration o f tepee construc tion and the ceremony in volved in building a home. “As Indian people, one thing we havfe in common/with other nations is that we respect the land we live on/’ he said. <eWhen we riâove into,4n area, we respect the plant fife.” T h a t’s w hy before çon- stmcting a tepee, a grass dance C airo resid en t K e ith was held to stomp down the . Gatewood, who is descended grass. Cordes said after the In from the Sisseton-Lakota Indi dians moved oh, the grass would ans who lived in the South, Da grow upright again. The grass kota area, explained that the idea was not destroyed to make the behind smudging is to “soak the home, he said. whole body with smoke.” “As we go through our daily ■ The smoke is from burning lives... we’re always in tune with sage, sweet grass and sometimes what the Creator has for ùs in cedar. our lives,” he said. “Every as Participants are asked to wave pect o f our lives is spiritual. the smoke toward their heart and “As a family begins to put up then up over their heads. a home— we invite the spirits to Smudging is performed be come in and be a part o f our fore, every ceremony, he said. f home, to bless'the home so good I f there’s one thing people things go into the home/’ should understand about Ameri Here, Cordes sang a song to can Indians, Gatewood said, it’s bless the home. that “it’s not what you see on “There’s a lot o f heart that TV.” goes into the s o ^ l ^ i t ’s |^yshare N ot everyone wears buck our hearts with the Creator as skins and feathers, and medicine we sing these songs” he said. “In men aren’t sflary, he said. our culture, we’re, a #ery ceremo^ . But, Gatewood said, “Ameri- niai people and there arè sOhgs cali Indians have a spirituality for everything.” that’s ;b,een around for years. C orses disqus^ed different We’re a very earth -frien d ly aspects o f the Ajmericap Indian people. We believe everythingis cultóre while all the time, build connected. I f you change one ing a small itépee, .Ohcfe,iit was i tiling, youfchange everything. finished, a drawing was held for Mother Earth is the support o f the tepee, which went home with all life. American Indians bdfeyti a smalfcboy in attendance. L * that everything, the rocks, the Tepee construction wasn’t the trees, are alive.”;" only attraction. “We don’t take anything from People còuld also experience this earth without giving some smudging o r the cèrempnj? o f thing back,” Cordes said, in an cleansing. interview later. “Anytime we cut trees for a tepee, we leave tobacco as a gift, to' make a trade with the earth/’ he said. “We pay Special atten tion and we don’t waritto disturb the eco system.” Veteran’s Day weekend and Uniontown Indian Day, an event to r^iseifunds for A ncestors’ D iy, coincide, Cordes said. “With .this bgng Veteran’s- Day, we’re respecting our veterans and ancestors for protecting our lives,” he said» • “They’ve prepared this for us.” *' 1 Cordes said American In dians endured a tim e o f W hite washing” when their culture became almost: ^x^! tinct through societal preju dice and Christianity. H e said Ind ians were, forced to lose themselves in the white culture h r face W -: rious consequences. , - “Our ancestors had to go into hiding to preserve our ceremonies,” he said.“ They did it in remote places so ho one would catch them. ) “I consider those ances tors our (the American In dians) veterans,” -Cordes said. “Ancestors and veterans protect’ our ways o f life.” Officials search for possible Cherokee artifacts [ ' CANTON, Ga. (AP)— A com pany hired by the state Depart ment o f Transportation has been searching for artifacts at the site b f a highway bridge project, an area believed to once have been occupied by Cherokee Indians, j EdwardsfPitman is digging through an ¿rea o ff Highway 372 just outside Ball Ground, die site o f a future project to replace a bridge over the Etowah River and straighterf'out a curve. L The research is expected to gontiftuq for four months, said Terri Lotti, an archaeologist with the state transportation Depart ment. The site is believed to be part o f the Cherokee Indians’ Long Swamp Village. There are about six spots at the site where structures likely bttcestbod, said Garr«tt Silliman, a fijeld director with Enwards-Pit- man. The location o f the struc tures can be identified through stalling in the soil caused by the wood used to build the structures. Pieces o f pottery and frag ments o f stone Ipols have been fpurid there, he said. .-Items found at the site will be taken -to a-lab for analysis, cata logued arid taken to the Uniyér1 sity Of West Georgia. “We are going to get as much information from tiie site as we can/’ Lotti said. “Hopefully, We will get some good information that will define their culture and prehistory.” - The Long Swamp Village is one -of theiffeiggesp-American Indian-villages:’in the county along with H ickory. Log and Sixesj said Stefanié, Joyner, ex ecutive director o f the Chero kee County Historical Society. : It 4?o is in the area where the B attle o f Taliwa, w hich was fought between the Cherokee and Creek Indians, is believed to have happened. T he Cherokee de feated dick rivals and that led to the expulsion o f the Creek from much o f fiord} G eofta. ; “Anything .they discover yvill help us learn abptit tiie lifestyle, and their community,” Jpynçr said. “It is one thing to sày that Indians lived in Cherokee. If is, another .to pull up beads that were worn or instruments that were used by them. It makes them more real.’/ Spilyay Tyrooo November- 22, 2 0 0 7 Texas company to buy Vicksburg's Horizon casino V ICK SBU RG , Miss, p » A Houston, Texas, gaming op erator has signed an agreement to buy the Horizon Casino and Hotel in Vicksburg. Nevada Gold & Casinos Inc. signed the pact this week with Colum bia Sussex Corp. fo r about $35 million, pending ap proval and licensing from the Mississippi Gaming. Commis sion. T h e com pany has invest ments in three Colorado gam ing facilities and is also working with several Nativ§. American tribes to develop casinos ip Pauma Valley arid lone, Calif. Robert Sturges, chief execu- tive’ officer o f Nevada Gold, sajd papers will be filed with the Mississippi Gaming Commission within 30 days. Also this week, Nevada Gold said it will sell its 43 percept membership interest in the Isle o f C ap ri-B lack Hawk L L C , which owns the Isle o f Capri and Colorado Central Station, two casino facilities in Black Hawk, Colo. , “We want to oyvn and oper ate qur gaming properties. We do not want .to be in the posi tio n where- we are investors only,” Sturges said. Sturges .sa id H ie 3 6 ,0 0 0 - square-foot Horizon casino and 117-room hotel have captured less o f Vicksburg gaming’s mar ket share and received little at tention from Columbia Sussex, w hich recen tly acquired Tropicana Casinos and Resorts. V Colupibia Sussex, a private company based in Fort Mitchell, K y, owns hotels or casinos in 31 states, including Lighthouse Point Casino an<J Jubilee Casino in Greenville. Columbia Sussex paid $28.6 million for the Vicksburg casino and hotel in 2003 and changed the flame to Horizon. T h e casin o o pened as Harrah’s in 1993 as the state’s- first casino-hotel combination and as Vicksburg’s second ca sino. As Vicksburg’s only down town casino, Horizon holds po tential, Spurges said. “We háVé .been very im pressed with the city officials and their willingness to work together with local businesses... to give people more reason to come to downtown Vicksburg,” Sturges said. Three other casinos operate in Vicksburg— the Ameristar, the R ainbow and D iam ond Jacks. Indians mark centennial with protest march , OKLAH OM A C ITY (AP)—- Chanting “no justice, no peace,’* American Indianjs and their sup porters marched on the state Capitol Friday and denounced the ■1 even ts th at led / td Oklahoma’s statehood 100 years earlier. ; C arrying signs th a t rea'd “Teach the Truth” and “This is the Land o f the Red People,’* about 500 members o f various O klaho nia-based tribes o b served Oklahoma’s centennial by recalling how their aricestors were forced from their tradi tional lands primarily in 'the Southeastern U.S. and marched to*, what became Oklahoma in the 19 th century m il’s Repair & W i iate /Sales Free towingw/engine trans replacement front Warm Springs & Madras area Approved Auto R epair wtwwuov 475-6618 TECHNICIANS 330 S.W. Culver Hwy. Madras, OR 97741 Mut ata« you ; ttM rc a K M R tM » : Free Battery Check & Installation with purchase
