FEBRUARY 15, 2004
Smoke Signals 5
Chinuk Language Gaining Equality At The University Level
Grand Ronde Tribal Elder Don Day maybe first ever to graduate with a Native language credit.
ByPetaTinda
Don Day arrived at the Tribal Gov
ernance Center with a sealed envelope
from the University of Oregon in his
coat pocket.
In it was the proof that he had re
cently completed the 180 credits re
quired for a Bachelors' Degree in An
thropology, something Day thought
he'd never have.
Day is Tribal Elder and Vietnam
Combat Veteran.
He is recognized for his knowledge
of ancient technologies, such as flint
knapping and cedar plank splitting,
(See Smoke Signals, 12152002 issue)
as well as his commitment to Native
archeology.
"This is something I never believed
would happen in my lifetime," he said.
Day wants to use his degree to help
Native people learn more about their
ancestors and traditions.
"At one time our people lived
throughout the Willamette Valley,
from where we are sitting to the Cas
cade Range," said Day.
"Our history and heritage is buried
here in the valley and my main goal is
to help the Grand Ronde Tribe or
any Tribe to get it back."
Now that he's completed the
bachelor's degree program, Day is al
ready enrolled in the master's pro
gram, which will require another 45
credits to accomplish. He wants to get
an interdisciplinary degree in Anthro
pology, Archeology, Linguistics and
Geology.
"I started on that trail, hopefully I
won't fall off," he said with grin.
One of the unique things about Day's
degree is that instead of taking French
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Don Day
or German classes to fulfill the lan
guage requirement; Day completed a
Chinuk WaWa class, quite possibly the
first time that any college student any
where has done so.
"He's the first person to get a uni
versity degree using the Chinuk
WaWa as the foreign language require
ment," said Tribal Language Special
ist Tony Johnson, who teaches the three
credit class.
"Hopefully he's the first of many."
Johnson sees Day using
Chinuk for his degree as
another milestone in legiti
mizing the language, which
is sometimes known as
Chinuk Jargon.
"It's a big step for us in
getting the equality of our
language," said Johnson.
Day has close ties with the
Tribal Culture Resources
Department, having first
worked as a part-time site
monitor for the department
before attending the Uni
versity of Oregon. He is
also on the Cultural Re
sources Committee for the
Tribe.
As he began his studies,
he realized that the text
books he was learning from
were not always accurate
when it came to Native his
tory.
"I got tired of reading
someone's hypothesis on what hap
pened. The history has been so badly
misinterpreted, and we don't have all
that many Native textbook writers,"
he said. "There is no written history,
but the history is there in the stones."
Because of his background in prehis
toric tools and ancient technology, Day
often recognizes artifacts that other ar
cheologists at a dig site might overlook.
"I catch stones that are discarded
because I'm a flint knapper. I've found
small stone tools that were used by
children you won't find that in a text
book," he said.
Though the Tribe paid his tuition
and helped him with scholarships, Day
had ups and down, like any student.
The evidence was all contained in the
envelope that recorded his grade point
average for his time at university.
"It hasn't come easy for me" said Day.
"There's nothing more discouraging
than thinking you did real good on a
test and then finding out you failed.
But you change something maybe
you're attitude and you just dig in and
keep going.
"We had to figure out where every
dollar went that's the life of a stu
dent, always broke. But it's all worth
it because of what's at the end. With a
degree I can go work anywhere in the
field of anthropology. And with a
master's degree I can teach."
Day said that he wanted to thank
the Tribal Council and the Tribal Edu
cation Department for helping him
with his endeavor.
In the meantime, Day plans on con
tinuing his research into the past.
"I would like nothing better than to
map different archeological sites in the
Willamette Valley," he said.
"It's our history and it needs to be
documented somehow."
Traditional Naming Ceremony To Be Held In Grand Ronde
Ceremony continued from
front page
is welcome to come and eat with us
and then we'll have a little birth
day party after the
meal for Warm
Springs Chief
Nelson Wallulatum
and Warm Springs
Medicine Man
Larry Dick."
Holmes said the
next step will be to
take some time and
set up the Name
Giving ceremony
and the giveaways
that are such an im
portant part of this
traditional event.
After the cer
emony there will be
another break so the
medicine men and
the medicine singers
can get something
to eat before the
Medicine Dance be
gins. Holmes said he
asked Dick to bring
medicine sticks so
the Grand Ronde
people can use them
to help keep time for the medicine
singers.
"This is something that the mis
sionaries and the priests didn't
bring in," said Holmes of the tradi
tional Name-Giving ceremony. "Our
people have always been medicine
singers and medicine dancers."
Holmes explained that part of the
tradition of medicine singers is healing.
"They will dance first over some
one that might be ill and if they see
that they are doing some good, then
they. will continue," said Holmes.
"They believe in their powers and that
people to work on them and they will.
Holmes said the traditions of this
ceremony are longstanding.
"It has been with our people as long
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Brothers The family of Tribal
Elder Merle Holmes (left, seated)
will host the first traditional Name
Giving ceremony to be held in
generations in Grand Ronde. Warm
Springs Medicine Men Wilbur
Johnson (left) and Larry Dick ( ight)
will perform the ceremony, naming
Holmes' son, James (above right,
with brother David). All are wel
come to attend the Saturday,
February 28 ceremony, which
begins at noon at the Community
Center in Grand Ronde.
they help. They get right in and they
work over these people and it helps
them. It's a good thing."
As a practical man, Holmes said he
has witnessed the power of the medi
cine dance on others and even him
self. Holmes has practiced the tradi
tions for the last 10 to 12 years.
Holmes said that if someone from the
Grand Ronde community feels dis
tressed over a mental or physical ail
ment they can ask the medicine
as we have been here and they prac
ticed it," said Holmes.
Holmes is descendant of Chief Jo
seph Shangretta who was a well
known medicine man in Grand Ronde
before the turn of the century.
Holmes explained that Shangretta
brought comfort to people with his
knowledge of their conditions and that
he worked hard at knowing his craft.
When asked what the reasons for the
ceremony were Holmes said he has
always called his son Jim "Rabbit."
"He (Jim) has been Rabbit since
he could talk and I still call him
Rabbit," said Holmes. "So, I was
talking to Larry (Warm Springs
Medicine Man Larry Dick) about
it and he said 'you ought to give
him that name in Indian.'"
Holmes explained that he re
searched the name and got two pro
nunciations in the Sahaptin Lan
guage and the Wasco Language.
Holmes said Chief Nelson wants to
give Jim both names.
"It will be with him (Jim) all the
time," said Holmes.
Initially the ceremony was not
going to be such a big event, but
Holmes said the medicine people
were excited about the opportunity
to bring a traditional ceremony to
the people of Grand Ronde and
asked to come to be a part of it.
"The medicine people said Sve will
come down there and help you put
it on, because you are one of us,'"
said Holmes.
"I think it is really important be
cause this is the old way of doing
it," said Holmes of the Name-Giving
ceremony. Holmes has been
gathering giveaway items for
months now as preparation for the
sacred event because the giveaway
is integral to the traditional pro
cess. "We went back to the ancient
tongue to get the double pronun
ciation of the word "Rabbit."
"This is the way it has been done
on the reservations for all time.
They (our ancestors) had tradi
tional foods and they gave away a
lot of things that were valuable to
them that was part of the cer
emony. So, we'll do the same here."