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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 2012)
14 SEPTEMBER 1,2012 Smoke Signals (SiradliiflatiDdDirD Day Lane CC offering fall Chinuk Wawa classes EUGENE Lane Community College is offering Chinuk Wawa language classes this fall at both the 100 and 200 levels. Both courses earn four credits and will fulfill the Oregon Uni versity System's language requirement for graduation. Instructors are Dr. Janne Underriner, director of the North west Indian Language Institute at the University of Oregon, Dr. Henry Zenk, a consultant and instructor in the Chinuk Wawa Language Program at the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Beth Sheppard and others. The classes will be taught in Eugene at Lane Community Col lege and in Grand Ronde and Portland using traditional face-to-face and video-conferencing teaching methods. For more information on taking either AIL 101 or 202, call the college's Language, Literature and Communication Division at 541-463-5419. The class at Lane Community College will be taught in Build ing 31 (The Longhouse) in Room 101 from 5 to 6:50 p.m. Monday and Wednesday. B i3 LV N i Photo by Michelle Alalmo Mikayla Mercier, 5, wavas to har parents from har saat during tha 2012 Graduation Powwow at Uyxat Powwow Grounds in Grand Ronde on Thursday, Aug. 16. Twenty-four children graduated from the Tribal Preschool. Keolbaclhi DueUdl ma rag c ire rawing RIO I BACH continued from from page evening. While signing autographs after the concert, a 7-year-old boy named Liam O Gallachoir approached Reibach and said that he was a Grand Ronde Tribal member. Then the boy's mother, Maya Frost, introduced herself as a Tribal member as well. "There was an immediate connec tion and they told me how much they miss the Tribe and that Liam has a yearning to grow closer to his Native culture," Reibach, who works for the Tribe as Lands De partment manager, recalls about the meeting. Reibach presented Liam with a small cedar flute and taught him how to play. "Liam learned so fast that within 10 minutes he was playing the basic scale of the flute," he says. Impressed with the quick-learning musical student, Reibach also gifted Liam a drum. "He was very excited," he says. "It was a touching moment with people shedding some tears, including his mother. She said, 'Thank you so much. This means more to us then you'll ever know.' " But the trans-Atlantic Native American cultural exchange of members of the same Tribe was not over. Liam told Reibach that he wanted an Indian name. After Reibach talk ed with Frost, they went backstage and held a small naming ceremony, which Reibach has performed for some members of the Tribe. "We talked about the traditions and ceremony of receiving a name and crouching down on one knee, I said, 'Part of it is an exchange. Usually one must give something, a kind of offering like tobacco, sage or cedar.' "Liam looked down and said, 'I have this,' and gave me a gummy worm." Submitted photo Tribal Lands Manager Jan Michael Looking Wolf Reibach met two other Grand Ronde Tribal members Mary Frost and her 7-year-old son Liam O Gallachoir during his late July tour of Northern Ireland. Reibach, who has won several Native American Music Awards for Native flute, gave the boy a flute and drum, and also performed an impromptu Native naming ceremony for him, christening Liam as "Little Wolf." Reibach told Liam the sticky gift would work fine and that he would bring it back to Grand Ronde, where he would bury it. Then after a prayer together, Reibach christened Liam with the Native name "Little Wolf." After the ceremony, Liam told Reibach how beautiful his boots were. The boots, hand-beaded with wolves and medicine wheels by a close friend and Native Elder, have been worn at events across the United States by Reibach when he performs. "Meeting you here is proof that your Tribe is always with you," Reibach said to Liam as everyone was departing. He then gave the young boy his boots. "Keep playing that flute. You have some big shoes to fill Little Wolf." Frost, the daughter of Philomena Hoehnke, moved to Ireland in 1999 to study Irish traditional music. "I had not planned to stay originally," she said via an e-mail. "Liam was born in Ireland and my mother helps keep us up on what is happening with the Tribe." She told Reibach that learning and celebrating their Native American culture in Northern Ire land is understandably difficult. "It was an honor to meet Jan Michael Looking Wolf and his family on the night he performed in Derry," she said via e-mail. "When Liam mentioned his plans to go through the naming ceremony when he is of age, Jan Michael made a beautiful gesture by helping Liam find his ani mal spirit and his Indian name. We thank him so much for his many gifts and have no doubt that Liam Little Wolf will one day fill the beaded boots!" In addition to his Derry concert, Reibach also performed at ra dio stations, cultural centers and churches in Northern Ireland, as well as a special performance for .Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. "We performed a 30-minute concert and interview on BBC radio that was broadcast across Northern Ireland and the .United Kingdom," Reibach says. "We also played on Drive 105.5 FM. Also, several newspapers did articles on our tour there." McGuinness presented Reibach with an autographed poem that he wrote. "I am privileged to welcome Jan Michael, a winner of four pres tigious Native American Music Awards, to Derry, and how fitting it is that he should bring us a flavour of his unique and endearing culture at a time when we look forward to embracing all cultures during our 2013 celebrations," McGuinness said in a press release. Reibach presented McGuinness with a Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Pendleton blanket. Martina Anderson, Northern Ireland's representative to the European Parliament, presented Reibach with a Coat of Arms and welcome as well. McGuinness and Anderson in vited Reibach to return in 2013 and perform at a large festival in August that will celebrate "The City of Culture" event. Before the July 27 concert at the Waterside, Derry Deputy Mayor Mary Hamilton also presented Reibach with a Coat of Arms to the city. "This is considered one of the highest honors of recognition and welcome," he said. Promoter Keith Wright said Reibach's visit had a huge effect on Northern Ireland. "After several appearances on national radio, live performances and meetings with government leaders, his music has become very popular in Northern Ireland," he said. "This was an amazing experience for my family and me," Reibach says. "Of course, we were blown away by the reception of the mu sic and honors received, and how beautiful the country is. But what touched my heart the most was meeting fellow Tribal members at our concert. We immediately con nected like family and it reminded me that being Grand Ronde is sim ply the greatest honor of all." B
