In this excerpt from the documentary "Voices of North Carolina*" Cherokee people in North Carolina talk about efforts to preserve their language and culture.
Robin Wall Kimmerer, in her book, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants has a chapter, “Allegiance to Gratitude.” She writes that the various Native American tribes have one thing in common: “we are rooted in cultures of gratitude.” She tells of the Onondaga school which begins and ends each week with the Thanksgiving Address, “a river of words as old as the people themselves, known more accurately in the Onondaga language as the Words That Come Before All Else.”
She writes on p. 111:
Imagine raising children in a culture in which gratitude is the first priority. Freida Jacques works at the Onondaga Nation School. She is a clan mother, the school-community liaison, and a generous teacher. She explains to me that the Thanksgiving Address embodies the Onondaga relationship with the world. Each part of creation is thanked in turn for fulfilling its Creator-given duty to the others. “It reminds you every day that you have enough. Everything you need to sustain life is already here. When we do this, every day, it leads us to an outlook of contentment and respect for all of Creation.”
You can’t listen to the Thanksgiving
Address without feeling wealthy. And, while expressing gratitude seems innocent
enough, it is a revolutionary idea. In a consumer society, contentment is a
radical proposition. Recognizing abundance rather than scarcity undermines an
economy that thrives by creating unmet desires. Gratitude cultivates an ethic
of fullness, but the economy needs emptiness. The Thanksgiving Address reminds
you that you already have everything you need. Gratitude doesn’t send you out
shopping to find satisfaction; it comes as a gift rather than a commodity,
subverting the foundation of the whole economy. That’s good medicine for people
and land alike.
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I was able to find a recording of a Native American thanks Prayer on YouTube which sounds like what Kimmerer describes in her book. In the video below, you will hear the Native American language followed by an English translation.
In honor of Native American Heritage Month, we listen to some Wampanoag voices on why they have, since 1970, observed a National Day of Mourning on Thanksgiving Day. Many today do not realize that the Wampanoag people still reside on their native lands in Massachusetts.
In honor of Native American Heritage Month
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Photo: Cotton Blossom by Charles Kinnaird
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In honor of Native American Heritage Month, here is a short film from New Mexico PBS: COLORES | In Between The Lines: Native American Poetry.
"Featured are a remarkable group of Native American teen poets from Pueblos and the Navajo Reservation. For many Native teens, their tie to tradition and culture is blurring, these poets are standing at a crossroads in a rapidly evolving world. In Between the Lines catches that spark that ignites these young writers. We go in-between-the-lines and film them on their home ground in a cinema verite style. Through their poetry we learn of connections: family, the land around them and their native language. We also learn of obstacles: poverty, the drug and alcohol abuse and the dramatic incursion of a modern Western world. How do they keep the tradition and culture alive? Do they even want to hold on to their heritage? How do they see the Western world? Where do they fit in? In Between the Lines intimately looks at the questions these young Native Americans poets face."
In honor of Native American Heritage Month, here is Cherokee Morning Song with accompanying English translation.
November is Native American Heritage Month. A number of online events are noted at https://nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov. One of the events was recorded and available on YouTube which I am sharing today:
"To kick off Native American Heritage Month, Joy Harjo, the first Native American U.S. Poet Laureate, joins Deb Haaland, the first Native American cabinet secretary, in a conversation with Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden."
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| (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images*) |
A friend introduced me to this version of the song last week. Great harmony, and a tune that will stay delightfully in your head the rest of the day!
Bring Me Little Water, Silvy by Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly) Arranged for voices with body percussion by Moira Smiley
Midnight Mass, the supernatural horror mini-series on Netflix, lives up to the hype you may have heard (see the official trailer here). Among its strong points are good character development and meaningful dialogue that skillfully addresses some profound questions of life. The excellent writing along with superb acting provides us with a number of monologues such as the three I have picked out here. You will hear three quite different responses to the question, What happens when we die?
Spoiler Alert: You will see something of how the series ends in the third video.
Apologies for the poor sound quality of the second video -- it's the only one I've been able to find.
Here's a word from Satchmo on All Saints Day
