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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1999)
OR. COLL. E 78 .06 S66 September A Publication of the Grand Ronde Tribe SEPTEMBER 1, 1999 f ?r IT g Pow-wow brings friends and family together 7 K -,.,0 l: i - Melanie Monson and Joey Holmes ham it up for the camera. By Amanda Siestreem Contributing Writer With Marce Norwest carry ing the eagle staff and leading the procession, the arena filled with veterans, danc ers, royalty and honored tribal mem bers. The drum of Seekaskootch played the honor song and a little boy kept time with a drum stick on a chair. This was the beginning of the last Grand Ronde Pow-wow of the millennium. Meanwhile, the first Grand Ronde All-Indian Rodeo was gearing up at the grounds by the Casino. The dust rising up from the sharp horse hooves reminded everyone of the summer weather hot! At the Pow-wow grounds, the lines for the showers grew shorter as the water grew colder and the breakfast provided for the campers by the Pow-wow Committee drew a full crowd. Denise Haskins, of the Norwest family, was seated by the showers, waiting in the sun for her hair to dry. "It's my first year being back in six years," she said, "I missed being home, it's a lot better now. The Tribe's doing a lot, growing more, becoming self sufficient. I've been out here since Thursday. I'll be out here all weekend dancing. I was asked to dance, for a family that's having a hard time. The young man was in a bad motorcycle accident in Willamina two weeks ago. He's at Emmanuel Hospital in the Intensive Care." Circled around the Pow-wow grounds, the bleachers and Elder seating began to fill up. One Elder, wheeled in by her daughter, got a front row seat. In full regalia, her basket hat on and beaded handbag on her lap, Priscilla Bettles looked out over the arena. Bettles, who had been wheeled in the Grand Entry by a WWII Veteran, said, "I've seen a few changes for the better in my time. I'm a full blood Klamath. I had eight children. I was trying for a baker's dozen. I read something once at Warm Springs about the vanishing Indians. I thought, I'll have to do something about that! But my husband said we'd stop at eight." Laughing, she fingers her hat, "I was about eight or nine when I made my first basket, Modoc style. I used to make fry bread at pow wows all the time, sell it for fifty cents a piece. I like the fancy dancing the best. I don't mind the traditional type beautiful, real beautiful." That night, there was baked salmon for everyone. Dale Langley said he felt pretty good about his dinner and another Veteran, Harold Lyon, said, "I donated for the din ner, but in fact the Casino's paid for it, since the money I put in the jar was some that I won last night." When asked about the Rodeo, Rene Lane smiled and said she loved continued on page 4 Chinook jargon conference held in Grand Ronde Many participants enjoy learning all about their Native language. By Amanda Siestreem The three-day 2nd Annual Chi nook Jargon Conference was a sign of the times for the Grand Ronde Tribe. Drawing a fairly even distri bution of tribal members and out side academics, the language was explored from many perspectives. Of the 30 participants, the tribal perspectives ranged from six year old Kim Contreras to the tribal Chair person, Kathryn Harrison. The his tory of Native languages was re membered by Harrison, "My father spoke Chinook at home, some of those stories I remember are still dear to me. Then I went to boarding school and you know what happens there, they don't allow you to speak Q My father spoke Chinook at home, some of those stories I remember are still dear to me." Kathryn Harrison Indian. Maybe, I tell my grandchil dren, I will study it when I retire." Chinook was the language of trade and of the church. As Harri son says, "learning the Catholic songs in Chinook with the Sisters singing in our language is some thing I'll never forget. For some of our people Chinook was the only lan guage they spoke, so then even God Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon 9615 Grand Ronde Road Grand Ronde, Oregon 97347 Address Service Requested Sarials Dect. - Khioht Library 1299 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON EUGENE OR 97403-1205 PRESORTED FIRST-CLASS MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID SALEM, OR PERMIT NO. 178 University of Oregon Library Received on: 09-07-99 Smoke signals would have to learn it, don't you thinkr Tony Johnson, tribal language specialist and Chinook Indian of Wilupa Bay, began the workshop with a prayer in Cinuk wawa (Chi nook talk). Johnson translated the prayer into English, "to all the spir its that live here, the old people, the ancestors, I ask the wind to carry our words out to all these people. I ask only that we make good Chinook jargon, that no one get sad and what have you." Under the blessings of Johnson's words and the shadow of Spirit Mountain, the classes began. As the history of the Cinuk wawa unfolded, it became clear to everyone that the words had come from a long line of Native mouths. In the early days 23 dialects of different Native lan guages, two french dialects and En glish were all spoken on the reser vation. "The only real option for communication was Cinuk wawa," Johnson concluded. In his opinion this was a pre-con-tact language, of which the North ern People had at least a proficiency and the Southern People a more lim ited knowledge. It was the language of intertribal homes, courtship and ultimately of love. Interspersed with the various exercises, examples of such love songs were played. One such song had the entire class straining on the edge of chairs, try ing to translate. The final transla tion arrived upon was: What makes you afraid of me? You don't under stand anything at all. Always I'm doing well, making my heart good now. Now you become proud. You have no equal. The impact of such work can be heard from each student's reason for studying the language. Some had come to learn to make their own sweatlodge songs, some had come to write books and to further their work in linguistics, and some for self defense so that their family mem bers couldn't talk behind their backs. As Johnson agrees, it is very good for Ipsat wawa, hidden talk. John continued on page 1 1
