Smoke Signals 7
JUNE 15, 2002
Songbirds Fly To America, Visit Grand Ronde
"The Sparrows" from the Czech Republic entertain local crowd, participate in a cultural exchange.
By Peta Tinda
Native American heritage,
history and culture were
shared with visitors from
the far off land of the Czech Re
public, when the Grand Ronde
Tribal Royalty, Veterans Color
Guard and the Tribal Council
hosted the choir group, the Spar
rows, at the Tribal Community Cen
ter on Sunday, June 2.
The Sparrows - from the town of
Jablonec in the northwest Czech
Republic - were here as part of an
exchange program with the Port
land Symphonic Choir. Ranging in
age from 9 to 17, the Sparrows sing
in the classic choral style and often
sing traditional Czech songs.
"This was such a wonderful ex
perience for them," said one of the
group's chaperones Teresa Kerres,
a member of the Portland Sym
phonic Choir.
"People from other countries have
heard about Native Americans, but
they've never seen them," said
Kerres. "Or if they have it's just
the movie image of Natives. They
don't know the history of what hap
pened to Native Americans. This
was a really great chance for them
to see your beautiful culture and
they had a really fun time."
The Sparrows and their chaper
ones arrived at the Community
Center in Grand Ronde at 7 p.m.
They were welcomed by Tribal
Chair Cheryl Kennedy and intro
duced to the Tribal Council, Roy
alty and Veterans.
Then they were treated to a meal
of Indian tacos.
"It's nice to be able to share our
culture with others, especially
people from other countries," said
Julie Little of the Royalty Commit
tee. "And it was also good for our
girls to learn about the culture of
others."
After the meal, Tribal Elder and
former Tribal Chair Kathryn
Harrison spoke about the history of
the Confederated Tribes and the
years of hardship and struggle it
took to get the Tribe where it is today.
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Voices A choir group from the Czech Republic called "The Sparrows" visited Grand Ronde on Sunday, June 2. The group
of young people entertained with their singing talents and then watched as Tribal members and Tribal Royalty danced for them
in return.
The Grand Ronde Veterans' Color
Guard led the grand entry, followed
by the Tribal Royalty court, as well
as many community members who
came out and danced for the event.
Tribal member Deitrich Peters,
dressed in his finest regalia, was
the announcer for the evening. He
explained about his traditional
dance outfit to the students and the
significance of each piece of rega
lia. He also told about other dancer's
regalia, like how traditionally grass
dancers had the important job of
stamping down the grass before cel
ebrations, and why jingle dress
dancers have jingles.
An inter-Tribal dance was held,
giving the Sparrows a chance to get
up and dance with the community
members. Soon after a friendship
dance was put on, and everyone
danced and shook hands with each
other.
"It was a total success," said
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Fancy Tribal member Deitrich Peters entertained the visitors with his dancing
and his explanation of the reasons for the different dances like the grass dance.
Visitors These teenage girls were among the 57 young people who made
the trip to America from the Czech Republic. Counting the chaperones, the group
totaled about 80 people. The visitors were treated to a dinner of Indian Tacos and
a dessert of ice cream at the Tribe's Community Center.
Kerres. "They had a really fun time
dancing.
The person that was the biggest
help was Julie Little, of the Roy
alty Committee. She put together
and amazing program and the kids
really appreciated it."
When the dancing was over, the
Sparrows performed a concert for
the gathered community members.
"They're actually exceptional
musicians," said Kerres of the Spar
rows. "They practice every day. It's
said that American kids are raised
to play sports well, Czech kids are
raised to be musicians. So the kids
are really advanced for their age.
Also a lot of Czechs are quite poor
and most of the kids have never
been out of the country, or even
their hometown. So this was a
fabulous opportunity."
Kerres said she would like to
thank the Tribal Council for donat
ing a night's stay at the Spirit
Mountain Lodge to the kids.
"That was very nice," said Kerres.
"The whole thing was wonderful
and we are so very gracious." B
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