.... with no Pilgrimsby Jo Campbell
Do we all really think about who we are at important times? Or do we just think about what's to eat? Who's going to be there? I've just had an opportunity to learn something about this.
The Chief of the White Wolf Band of the
Southeastern Cherokee Confederacy, Inc., encompassing Maryland and
Washington, D.C. invited me, a long-time friend, to share their November
18th feast day in memory of the ancestors. The event was set in Perryville,
MD at St. Mark's Parish Hall.A Lakota from the Sioux Nation, Winona
Stevens-Sweet was elected two years ago by the Chiefs of Council to lead
the White Wolf Band. Long a cultural leader and widely-recognized influence
in American Indian society, Chief Winona is the only living Indian woman
named to the North American Indian Hall of Fame; honored in company with
Quanah Parker, Chief Sitting Bull, Chief Red Cloud, Chief Joseph and many
others.The White Wolf Band under Chief Winona's
leadership, teaches Indian traditional values to the young members. Completely
apolitical, The Band concentrates on the positive elements of their heritage.Winona's Vice Chief, White Wolf, explained
to me that this gathering of more than 100 people marks the happiest time of
their year, serving to honor and remember their valiant forebears as well
as to give thanks for the blessings of today.These are many. Guests arrive from the
Earth Band of Pennsylvania, led by their Chief, Buffy Red Feather and Earth
Band's head drummer/coordinator Bear Fuller.Local non-Indian political leaders are
Winona's friends. A Chief Judge, a State Senator and Cecil County's
Commissioner arrive. Introduced around, they are obviously at ease and well
known to the group. Finally, the crowd reaches a critical mass,
and we are urged to eat. That order doesn't have to be issued twice. The
fragrances from the kitchen have been luring us since Rudy and I parked the
truck and entered through the back door.There are venison, beef, chicken and turkey,
traditional Indian vegetables with corn and beans, possibly recent
developments in dressings, gravies, salads, green beans, and cranberries
plain and in a delicious mix with apples and a tang of orange - or lemon -
or something. Delicious! And two kinds of corn bread. My favorite!Winona's blessing calls upon the Great
Spirit to look upon all of us equally. Visiting Shaman Gaston LaVoie, Algonquin
from Quebec, adds to the invocation ceremony. There is an exchange of gifts
among the chiefs and other leaders.Bear Fuller and the Red Hawk Singers and
Drummers set up their huge drum. Chairs and tables are cleared away to make
room for the dancing. The musicians settle around the 36-inch drumhead,
including in the circle Winona's head drummer/coordinator Jack "Night
Catcher" Rosenkrans.
The drumming starts slowly, as if one
drummer just gets the notion and starts to strike the drumhead slowly - poom,
poom. Then another joins him; and another. Within seconds all five sitting
around the drum are wielding the sheepskin-headed sticks as one. The songs
have a traditional rhythm. The words soon become distinct even to the
non-Indian ear.Winona starts the dancing. The women have
brought shawls which they open out in embroidered, long-fringed beauty and
wind about their shoulders for the dancing. At first, the dancers move in a
circle, changing directions and foot movements at intervals to the beat of
the drum.
Chief Buffy Red Feather moves alone to the
center and others follow her in single file. She weaves through the room in
serpentine pattern, winding to give all the dancers room to follow. The rhythm is a solid one-two beat,
BOOM-boom not the four-four BOOM, boomboomboom of the fake rhythm heard in
the movies. You wonder, where do they get this stuff? Shouldn't we be paying
better attention to one another's culture?Looking over the room, you see the rainbow
effect of skin color and variety of features. The sweep from Anglo/Nordic
through African-American and the classic American Indian makes a marvelous
range of combinations. There are blonde, gray-eyed children whose parents
are - one with fair skin and green eyes under a mop of curly brown locks and
a mate with straight black hair pulled back from an ivory forehead above
piercing brown eyes.I dwell on each set of features, absorbed
in the beauty and variations. Then I meet the eyes across the room of what
appears to be a young Ethiopian prince. I go over to talk to him, and we
laugh at the fallacy of physical stereotypes. He lists his forebears
including Lakota, French Creole and Lenni-Lenape.When Chief Winona receives a call from
someone asking for admission to the Band, she asks for proof of Indian
heritage. Occasionally, a caller will ask if a mixed heritage is a problem.
"I'm partly African-American," is a frequently-cited factor. The Chief asks
the caller; "Which heritage do you wish to declare?" She feels, understandably,
that the dominant culture is American Indian.African-American friends tell me with pride
of their American Indian relatives. How does someone choose between two
such rich and ancient cultures? The white heritage, after all, is taught
in schools. It requires special efforts to learn traditions stemming from
African or from American Indian peoples.What is an Indian, anyway? During the 1950s,
policy decreed that an Indian was someone who declared "I am an Indian."
Chief Winona does not think this is enough. In her opinion, the designation
must be documented, but it still involves philosophy as well as heredity.
Some years ago I covered the Nanticoke Indian Pow Wow celebration in
Delaware for my news agency. I overheard two young men discussing another
Indian across the dance ground.
"He says he's Onandaga," said one young man to the other.
"Hmmph!" said the second young man, "I doubt it. After all, we know what
we look like!"How do they compare to the honor owed
Chief Seattle, and Black Elk.
It is a very subtle matter, as the Chief says, one which more Americans
need to appreciate. Who are we all? If asked, what ancestors do we declare?
Whom do we honor?Think about it. It is important.©Copyright 1995 Jo Campbell / ECOTOPICS INTERNATIONAL
All Rights Reserved
P.O. Box 2309 Ocean City, MD 21842
jocee@shore.intercom.net
Other Writings by Jo Campbell
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