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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2015)
16 S MOKE S IGNALS FEBRUARY 1, 2015 Land & Culture Corner Classes Class descriptions and instructional videos are available on our webpage at http://www.grandronde.org/culture. For additional information contact Flicka Lucero, Cultural Education Specialist at 503-879-2268. Grand Ronde Classes Portland Classes Chinuk Wawa First year: Mondays, 4:00 - 5:30 pm, Chachalu Tuesdays, Noon - 1:00 pm, Chachalu Second year: Mondays, 4:00 - 5:30 pm, Chachalu Lifeways February 2 and 9, 3:00 - 7:00 pm, CTGR Portland Office Dancing & Drumming Tuesdays, 4:00 - 5:00 pm, CTGR Youth Ed, Covered Area Beading Thursdays, 4:00 - 7:00 pm, Chachalu Print Block Making Series February 23 and March 2, 9, 16, 23, & 30, 3:00 - 7:00 pm, CTGR Portland Office Beading February 10 and 24, 5:30 - 8:30 pm, CTGR Portland Office CTGR Education, 9615 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, OR 97347 Chachalu, 8720 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, OR 97347 Print Block making provides an opportunity to learn some Native Art design and basic carving skills. Participants will use the print blocks to make prints and cards with natural and contemporary pigments. On-going projects with advanced carving, Native Art design and basketry tracks. CTGR Portland Office, 4445 SW Barbur Boulevard, Portland, OR 97239 Instructional Videos Basket Making, Drum Making, Beading and Clap Stick Making (coming soon) available at http://www.grandronde.org/culture/culture-class-videos Note: Enrolled Grand Ronde Tribal Members: No charge for classes or materials. For all other persons: No charge to attend the classes. Costs for materials, if applicable, will be reimbursed to the Tribe. Eugene Classes Beading February 4 and 18, 3:00 - 7:00 pm, Lamb Cottage Early Traditional Foods February 21, 1:00 - 5:00 pm, West Eugene Wetlands This class will explore the West Eugene Wetlands to discover some of the early traditional foods that may be available. These include the early sprouting camas, tupa (cow parsnip), horsetail, salmonberry sprouts, nettle, etc. The class will focus on identification of the early plants used for both foods and basketry. Lamb Cottage (located in Skinner Butte Park), 101 Cheshire Road, Eugene, OR 97401 West Eugene Wetlands, 451 W. Danebo, Eugene, OR 97402 Open Monday through Friday Gallery Hours: 9:00 am to 4:00 pm (open through lunch hour) To make a donation or for additional information please visit www.grandronde.org/chachalu-museum Camas Staple Food and Symbol of Renewal Every spring in Grand Ronde and throughout the Tribe’s homelands, we can witness the deep blue blossoms of the lily known in Chinuk Wawa as “lakamas,” to scientists as Camassia quamash, and by its English common name camas. Camas flowers are strikingly beautiful, either alone or in large fields where the mass of blue is sometimes mistaken for an azure lake. But what makes camas one of our most culturally important plants is the nutritious bulb, which has provided sustenance and wealth to the Tribe and to its antecedent tribes and bands since time immemorial. Camas thrives in areas of full sunlight such as prairies or savannas, especially after disturbance. Fire purifies the soil, releases nutrients and controls competing (often invasive) vegetation. Because camas comes back strong after a fire, it is a symbol of renewal and regrowth. Much as the Tribal people have renewed themselves after tragic injustices such as the Trail of Tears and Termination, camas returns after traumatic disturbance to the landscape. This is why the camas plant and a traditional camas digging stick are integral parts of the logo for Chachalu: Tribal Museum and Cultural Center which can be seen above. For every single member tribe of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, camas has been an extremely important staple food. The main source of its high nutrient value is a sugar called inulin, which is neither very digestible nor palatable in its natural state. When slow-cooked, however, inulin breaks down into its component sugars, giving cooked camas a flavor some say is reminiscent of a baked pear. Traditionally camas is cooked in large earth ovens. Fire-heated rocks are placed in the oven and then lined with leaves of skunk cabbage, maple or ash. The raw camas bulbs are placed on the leaves, then covered with another layer of leaves and then earth. Upon retrieval from the oven one to three days later, the camas could be eaten immediately, dried for later use, or pressed into cakes. These cakes were historically highly valued as a portable food that could be easily stored for the winter or carried while traveling; they were made and traded extensively by our bands of the Chinook, Kalapuya and Molalla people, and used by all of the more than 27 tribes and bands that make up the Tribe. Camas is still very important to Tribal people today. While the species itself is not considered endangered, many of its native habitats are indeed imperiled, mainly due to development and invasive species. The Tribe’s Land and Culture Department and Natural Resources Department are working to protect camas and to restore it in places like the Tribe’s Tyee Reserve near Tribal Housing in Grand Ronde. Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Land and Culture Department Chachalu: Tribal Museum and Cultural Center 8720 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, Oregon 97347 Phone: 503-879-2226 Fax: 503-879-2126 E-mail: landandculture@grandronde.org Page created by the Land and Culture Department
