Spílya Táimu
November 2, 2022
Page 5
In October, the Museum at
Warm Springs welcomed
Oregon Rep. Greg Smith,
Dist. 57.
This year, the museum
received a $336,000
congressional grant,
helping fund an overhaul of
the museum heating,
ventilation and air
conditioning system
(HVAC). Welcoming Rep.
Smith (second from left)
were Robert Brunoe,
Secretary-Treasurer;
Elizabeth Woody, museum
executive director; Michael
Mason, tribal lobbyist; and
Jim Souers, chief
executive officer, Warm
Springs Economic
Development.
Courtesy MAWS
Native American Heritage Month at the museum
by Elizabeth A. Woody,
Executive Director,
Museum at Warm Springs
In 1990, United States
President George H.W. Bush
signed Joint Resolution 577
designating November as the
first National American In-
dian Heritage Month. The
joint resolution read:
“American Indians were
the original inhabitants of
the lands that now constitute
the United States of
America.” It was the first
such official statement, which
has been signed every year
by a sitting president.
At the Museum at Warm
Springs, we celebrate our
unique cultures, traditions,
histories, arts and languages
every month. Indeed, our
staff is dedicated to uphold-
ing the museum’s mission of
“preserving, advancing and
sharing the traditions, cultural
and artistic heritage of the
Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs, and other In-
digenous peoples” every day
of the year.
We do this joyfully, with
purpose, and with the knowl-
edge and, even more impor-
tantly, the satisfaction that we
are gifting our visitors with
information and an experi-
ence they may not receive
anywhere else.
The people of the Warm
Springs Reservation have al-
ways looked to the landscape
around us for our knowl-
edge. Languages and land
have been intertwined for
thousands of years.
With each vision quest, an
individual brought back to
the community a new under-
standing learned from the
environment. Our land be-
stowed knowledge and prac-
tical intimacy through its
processes and qualities. This
cultural practice—a personal
journey deep into myth for
reclamation of ancient ele-
ments and acclamations of
respect for all life to come—
potently binds us to endur-
ing values.
I want all of you who
visit the Museum at Warm
Springs to note the word in-
scribed above the museum’s
entrance. It is ‘Twanat,’
which means ‘to follow.’
We follow these prac-
tices, teachings and actively
follow our ancestors to pre-
pare for tomorrow. “This
land is for you to know and
live upon and pass on to the
children.” It is ‘Ticham,’ a
concept in the War m
Springs culture that con-
nects an individual to the
ancient activity on the land
and is of the land.
The beautiful and con-
tinuing cultures of the Co-
lumbia River Plateau speak
of time immemorial — the
beginning of this world, the
demise of previous epochs,
and what is to come—a vis-
ceral prophecy.
As much as language, the
patterns of the War m
Springs people have docu-
mented, preserved and car-
ried on our culture. Our
leaders and culture bearers
bring the new into the po-
tency of image.
This is ‘Tananawit,’
(‘Peoples’ Way of Life’), re-
ferring to a culture that our
people had in the past, is
practiced today, and some-
thing that can be taught for
the future.
In the past the artists, sto-
rytellers and teachers of our
traditional ways carried our
collective knowledge, rights
and sovereign nationhood
from generation to present,
to the future.
Please plan a visit to the
museum in November. We
will be opening a new exhibit
on Tuesday, November
15—T h e Wa r m S p r i n g s
Twenty-Ninth
Annual
Tribal Member Adult and
Youth Exhibit.
This popular annual ex-
hibit will combine Tribal
member adult and youth art
into one spectacular display.
The exhibit will include many
generations of beautiful art-
istry in paintings, drawings,
mixed-media, beadwork,
weavings, video, photogra-
phy and more, in two catego-
ries of Traditional and Con-
temporary Art. Plan your visit
to coincide with your holiday
plans and spend some time
in the museum’s popular Gift
Shop, where you will find
something for everyone on
your list. We look forward to
seeing you here and celebrat-
ing our arts and cultures with
you during National Native
American Heritage Month!