Chinook practices of old.

Pregnancy and Birth

When a woman is with child she does not sleep long. She awakes early in the morning and arises at once. She opens the door. She does not stay in the doorway, but goes out at once. When a woman who is with child sits down, nobody must stand back of her and nobody must lie down crosswise [at her feet]. It is the same at night [when she lies down]. When a person lies down near her, his head must point in the same direction as her feet are turned. When she comes to a creek she jumps across twice. She does not lie down outside the house, else the sun would make her sick. It is forbidden. She does not wear a necklace, else the navel-string would be wound around the child's neck. She does not wear bracelets, else the navel-string would be tied around the child's arm. She does not look at a corpse. She does not look at anything that is dead. It is forbidden. She does not look at a raccoon nor at an otter. She does not look at anything that is rotten. She does not blow up a [seal] bladder. She does not eat anything that has been found. It is forbidden. She does not eat trout nor steel-head salmon. It is forbidden. Her husband does not eat anything that has been found. He does not kill raccoons. He does not singe seals. He does not shoot birds. He does not look at a corpse. He does not kill otters, else the child would get sick by sympathy. It is the same with the raccoon. When the child should fall sick and nearly die it would have a hard struggle against death, like the otter. It is the same with a bird or a raccoon. It would obtain sickness by sympathy. When a raccoon's eye is squeezed out [by the husband of the woman who is with child] the child's eye would be squeezed out. When the raccoon cries much on being struck [with a stick] the child will do the same when it is near death. When a woman who is with child eats trout, her child will faint whenever it cries and recover

p. 242

only after a long time. This will happen every day, sometimes it may faint four times a day. When her husband singes a seal, the child's body will be burnt all over. It will have blisters. When she blows up a [seal] bladder, the child will always have winds. When she eats anything that was found and there is a hole in it [eaten by birds or other animals], the child will have a hole at the same place. When she sleeps outside of the house, and it is nearly time for her child to be born, her belly will be filled with blood and she dies. When she stays a long time in the doorway and looks out of the house, the child will do the same when it is being born. It will take long for the child to be born. Sometimes the woman will die; sometimes the child. When a woman who is with child stays in bed long, she will do the same when she gives birth to the child. When anybody stands back of her the child will be born feet first. 

When she gives birth to the child, she always heats five stones. She makes a hole in the ground and throws two stones into it. Then she ties her blanket around herself and takes a steam-bath over these stones. Five days and nights she takes steam-baths all the time. When the stones get cold she takes them out of the hole and puts others into it. She does so day and night. After she has finished her steam-bath she takes the stones inland and places them in the hollow of a tree with her coat, her tongs and her cedar-bark belt. The after-birth receives presents-short dentalia and beads. If this is not done the child dies after a short time. Then the after-birth takes it back. A woman who is with child does not drink water that has been standing [in a vessel] a day. She drinks only water that has just been taken from the river, else she will be sick for a long time. 

When a chieftainess gives birth to a child a woman is called to look after her. Sometimes two are called. They take the child when it is born and wash it in a large dish. They take a good knife and cut its navel-string. Then the two women are paid; sometimes it is only one woman. It is the same with a male and with a female child. When the child is a girl the taboos extend over ten days; if it is a boy, they extend over five days. When it is a boy the father and the mother may eat fresh food after five days. If it is a girl they may eat fresh food after ten days.

One month after the birth of the child the people are invited by the father of the child. Now they dance. Now a man who has a guardian spirit [who helps him to understand] children, is asked to practice his art on the child. Then its ears are perforated. This is the custom of the Katlamat. They finish perforating its cars. Two holes are made in each ear and presents are distributed among the people. They are paid for dancing [for the child]. After a year, when the child begins to stand and to walk, the father becomes again glad and invites all the people, who dance for the child. Its ears are again perforated. Now five holes are made in each ear. This is done with both boys

p. 243

and girls. When the chief's child grows up and [first] catches fish with a hook, the father is gladdened again and invites the people. They dance, and all are paid for dancing. When the child becomes really large and shoots [the first] bird, he again invites the people. He gives a potlatch, and the people dance. Again all are paid for dancing for the child. 

Notes.

Other taboos and beliefs.--When a woman gives birth to a child out of doors, this will be a reproach to her child throughout life. Her husband is allowed to be present during her confinement.

The father must not go fishing for ten days nor do any work that requires his going out on the water. He must not go hunting, but he may gather wood. If the child is a boy this rule holds for five days only. If a sick person is in a house where a woman is about to be confined, his bed is surrounded with mats so that he cannot see the woman. 

There is a certain guardian spirit which enables its possessor to understand the cries and the cooing of babies. The child may tell him where it came from. It may say: After four days I shall go home; then it will die after four days. This spirit informed us that the land of the children is in sunrise. If a child in a family dies and another one is born later on to the same family, it may be the same child which returned. Sometimes, if it died after its ears had been perforated, the new-born child will have its ears perforated. Old people cannot return as new-born infants. 

---

Chinook Texts, by Franz Boas; U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin no. 20; US Government Printing Office; [1894] and is now in the public domain.

Secret in the Open: WHITE WOMEN NEED RED WOMEN

The Untold Iroquois Influence on Early Radical Feminists: An intrepid historian tracks down the source of their revolutionary vision.

vulnerable Raven le Faye 

IS EOUALITY INDIGENOUS?

by SALLY ROESCH WAGNER

I had been haunted by a question to the past, a mystery of feminist history: How did the radical suffragists come to their vision, a vision not of Band-Aid reform but of a reconstituted world completely transformed? ~ Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner (1995) 


the Story

Woman Suffragist, Lucretia Mott said,
"We have never considered the wrongs of the Indians as our own. We have aided in driving them farther and farther west, until as the poor Indians say 'you will drive us away, until we go beyond the setting sun.' "

woman wading in the waters 

Iroquois Clan Mother Audrey Shehandoah 

Iroquois Clan Mother Alice Papineau Dewasenta once said,
"We are the givers of life. We own the land, the mother. We are honored in a ceremony four times a year with the changing of the seasons. The ceremony lasts six days and there are songs and dances especially dedicated to the mothers. Because a mother is a mother to everybody, we say Ethinoha'. It means 'our mothers,' an honorable word." 

5 Native Women's bios

Lena Fowler, a member of the Navajo Nation, is running for the Coconino County Board of Supervisors, District 5, in Arizona.  She is a life-long resident of Coconino County, and she has spent her life helping her community.  She won her primary at the beginning of this month, but she faces a general election this fall.  She needs our help to win!

Laura McGee, a member of the Blackfeet Nation, is running for State House District 18 in Montana.  She was appointed to the candidacy after the Democratic winner in the district had to drop out, and she faces the Republican incumbent in an uphill battle in November.  She can win, but she needs help from INDNs!

Sharon Peregoy, a member of the Apsaalooke Nation (Crow Tribe), is running for Montana State Senate District 21, which encompasses the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Reservations.  She will fight for quality education, adequate health care, and for more jobs, but she needs our help to win!

Celena Wasson, a member of the Walker River Paiute Tribe, is running for School Board in Washoe County, Nevada.  She has 30 years of teaching experience in the district, and she wants to continue to be a voice for children.  Help her win in November!

Karen Wilde, a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, is running for Colorado State House District 40.  She had no primary, but she faces a Republican opponent in the fall. When she wins, she will continue to advocate for successful education for all of our children and affordable healthcare.  But she needs our help!  

LOOK 7 Generations Down

Meet The Generation Of Incredible Native American Women Fighting To Preserve Their Culture 

by Danielle Seewalker
10:50 | 19 Aug 2014



Native Americans represent just one per cent of the US population and some languages have only one speaker left. Now a new generation is fighting to preserve the culture.

Meet the women leading that fight:

Teach Your Spirit

Image is powerful and important a tool in unlearning. Unlearning is the first step towards understanding and embracing power, and power is fundamental focus of your intention to empower children, and with Power comes Clarity, and Clarity makes it easier to size and measure any situation as a warrior or a warrioress! - Gregory E. Woods 6.4.13

mother & child - Vanessa Williams, actress

I Love Ancestry

Radmilla Cody is of the Tlaaschii (Red Bottom People) born for Nahillii (African American).  Radmilla is a domestic violence advocate and founder of “Strong Spirit…Life is Beautiful not Abusive” campaign which addresses teen dating violence. Her previous recordings for Canyon Records include Seed of Life, Spirit of a Woman and Precious Friends.

Radmilla Cody is the 2013 Native American Music Awards (NAMA)

"The Creator has given me the strength to look forward in life, to embrace the beautiful and the positive. Now I truly walk in beauty." --Radmilla Cody

WOMEN'S POWER by Max Dashu

woman carrying bag walking on long road

Women's Power

What does that mean: women who openly display their power, knowledge, and skill, receiving public recognition and honor? But also females who manage to wield power in societies that try to limit it or decree female submission; where their leadership is stigmatized and their creativity disdained, and women who resist and overthrow oppressive traditions and regimes, who break The Rules in defiance of unjust legal and religious "authorities;" who pursue their vision in spite of the personal cost.

Women have determined the course of events and the forms of human culture. We originated, founded, governed, prophesied, created great art, fought for our rights, and for our peoples. These are the women edited out of history, their stories omitted, distorted, and replaced with an endless litany of men (and the occasional queen or meddling concubine). Our ignorance of these women is greatly compounded by the omission of information on societies, which accorded females power in public life, diplomacy, religion, medicine, the arts as well as family structure and inheritance. Both racism and sexism are implicated in these silences and gaps.

So we need a remedial history that reconstructs the female dimensions of human experience and achievement, and recovers the distorted and obliterated past of Africa, the Americas, and all other regions neglected by the standard textbooks and mass media. This will be a provisional history, because all the facts are not in yet, and previous interpretations are being reevaluated for gender, race, and colonial bias. More importantly, the indigenous oral histories have only barely begun to be integrated into mainstream narratives.

Women have often been relegated to the footnotes of history, and even those are highly selective. As Sandra Cisneros wrote of her search for Latina sheroes, "We are the footnotes of the footnotes." Yet the heritages of women of color, especially the indigenous cultures, supply the most dramatic examples in recent history of open embrace of female power. But even Europe looks different when we look at the common women and encompass places like Bulgaria, Estonia, Corsica, or Iberian Galicia.

Maori beauty from
Mereana Taki

Women's history demands a global perspective. There's far more to it than Queen Elizabeth I, or Susan B. Anthony. We need to refocus historical attention from the school of "famous women" (often royal females) to encompass broader groupings of women with power: clan mothers and female elders; priestesses, diviners, medicine women and healers, market women, weavers, and other female arts and professions. These "female spheres of power," as I call them, vary greatly from culture to culture. Some of them, particularly the spiritual callings, retain aspects of women's self-determination even in societies that insist on formal subordination of female to male in private and public space.

There's a striking interplay between women's spiritual and political leadership, especially in many indigenous societies. I'm thinking of the Evenki shaman Olga who was both chieftain and religious leader of her Siberian village about a century ago, and the Machis of Chile, shamans who are deeply involved in the Mapuche sovereignty effort. But this overlap occurs even in imperial contexts, as when the aged Mikogami Pimiko was chosen as ruler to save Japan from a chaotic struggle for power in its early history. Another example would be the important role the Candomblé Maes de Santo have played in the African-Brazilian community since early modern times.

Priestesses or diviners have often led liberation movements: Nehanda Nyakasikana in the Shona revolt against English colonization of Zimbabwe; María Candelaria in the Maya uprising against the Spanish; and Toypurina in the Gabrieleño revolt in southern California. In 1791, the old priestess Cécile Fatiman inaugurated the Haitian revolution against slavery in a Vodun ceremony in the Bois Caiman. Even earlier, the seeress Veleda was the guiding force behind the Batavian insurrection of tribal Europeans against Rome, and Dahia al-Kahina ("the priestess") led Berber resistance to the Arab conquest of North Africa. And Gudit Isat (Judith the Fire) who overthrew the Axumite Empire in 10th century Ethiopia was remembered as a religious leader as well.

Often this female leadership does not rely on institutionalized authority, but on recognized personal power. The Apache seer and warrior woman Lozen is remembered for her acts of bravery and her clairvoyant ability to guide her people away from danger as they fled Anglo settler armies in Arizona and into Mexico. Granuaile Ní Mhaille (Grainne O' Mailley) surmounted the absolute masculine monopoly of military and seafaring enterprise to become, through her pirate fleet, the uncrowned "She-King" of the Connemara coast of Ireland, and the scourge of the British Navy in the 1500s... (to be continued...)

shield of a Warrior Woman

Native American woman
Lynn Boots Toootoosis

2 black lovers naked & embracing by King King

DRUM TRADITION: Respect

Drum Traditions – Wabanaki

As drummers, we are responsible to have an understanding of what the drum represents. The Drum Keeper and the Lead Drummer/Singer of each drum are responsible for ensuring, that all of the drummers in their group have a knowledge of the respect which should be present at and around the drum.

There seems to be a misconception about the difference between a traditional drum and a "Pow-wow" drum. Some drummers rationalize that because they are a "Pow-wow" drum they can use drugs and alcohol, disregard the teachings of respect of the drum and what it represents to all Native People, and still be around the drum taking part in the drumming and singing. 

While it is understood that the drum should not be utilized as a tool to separate our people, it is taught by Spiritual Elders throughout our native lands, known as "Turtle Island", that, the drum is very important medicine to our people and should be shown as much respect as any other medicines, including the Sacred Pipe.

Substance abuse and misuse was not a traditional practice amongst our ancestors, although there have been arguments stating there were occasions where members of certain tribes did misuse some of the medicines. However, these occasions were not considered or regarded in any way to be respectful. Although no person can pollute the medicines, which the Creator has given us to utilize as tools for various types of healing, it is the respect that we try to preserve and to teach to our children.

So, in honor of the Creator and all of our ancestors who died trying to preserve our traditions and culture, we will allow only those drums, which are free of substance abuse/misuse to participate in the capacity of a drum group during the Wabanaki Confederacy Conference.

We understand that we cannot know for sure who is drug/alcohol free and who is not. We will leave that responsibility to the Drum Keepers and Lead Drummers/Singers. You know the people who sit on the drum with your group. We are relying on the honor of each drum group. If information regarding substance use/abuse/misuse on the part of any drummer is brought to the attention of the Planning Committee, that drum will not be called on for the duration of the conference unless the individual(s) involved are absent from the drum circle

Drummers at 8th annual Pow Wow at Maryland University by Brother Andy
Dec. 8, 2012

WOMEN ON THE DRUM

Another matter of concern, is that of women on the drum. According to research regarding Wabanaki People, women traditionally drummed and sang as much as the men did. Traditionally, the hand drums and water drums were used as well as hollow logs and shakers. Not too long ago the larger drums were introduced to, and later adopted by, many of our Wabanaki tribes. This did not stop our women from their traditional roles in drumming and singing.

Although women are not allowed to sit and drum on the larger drums (according to many tribes to the west of the Wabanaki People from which we had adopted these drums from), we did not and have no legitimate reason to retract the right of our women to drum on these drums. So, to honor the Creator, our Mother Earth, and the Spirit of our ancestors, it will be an honor to have any of the Women's drum groups attend and participate as such.

If anyone suspects alcohol or drugs being used by anyone on the Drum, they should lay an Eagle Feather or any other Sacred Feather on the Drum. That STOPS the Drum until the situation is resolved.

From Grandfather Cro

DISRESPECT: Sterilization program targeted the Abenaki nation

Campaign 2004: Vermont’s dark secret Sterilization program targeted Abenaki, Governor Dean wouldn’t apologize Posted: January 30, 2004 - 12:50pm EST by: Jim Adams / Associate Editor / Indian Country Today

http://WWW.INDIANCOUNTRY.COM/?1075485169

MONTPELIER, Vt. - Howard Dean’s Vermont is hiding a nasty secret.

For more than 30 years, it was a stronghold of the now discredited eugenics movement and state institutions performed hundreds of sterilizations. Abenaki Indian families say they were disproportionately targeted.

Official records show a cumulative total of 259 sterilizations under Vermont law from 1933 to 1968, when the eugenics statute was in effect. Some scholars believe the real total could be double that, since the records probably only cover operations in state institutions. They say that up to one-third of the victims might have been Abenaki, the indigenous people of northern Vermont and New Hampshire and adjacent areas of Quebec and Maine.

"Every family has stories of people who were sterilized," said Frederick Matthew Wiseman, a professor at Johnson State College in Johnson, Vt., and a historian and advocate of the Abenaki people.

This program might be considered a historical curiosity, an artifact of an appallingly widespread movement of the 1920s and ’30s. Some 31 states adopted eugenics and sterilization statutes before the rise of Nazi ideology and the Jewish Holocaust made evident to even the meanest capacity their inherent evil.

But it re-emerged as a significant issue in Vermont because of the stubborn opposition of state officials, including Gov. Dean, to the Abenaki quest for federal recognition. The St. Francis/Sokoki Band of the Abenaki Nation of Vermont filed recognition petition number 68 with the BIA in April 1980. It is now close to the top of the list for "active consideration."

As Governor, Dean, now candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination, rejected appeals for Vermont to issue an official apology for the sterilizations, spurning the example of states like Virginia and North Carolina, which have not only apologized but offered compensation to the victims. According to Nancy Gallagher, the scholar who uncovered the history of the Vermont eugenics program, "Gov. Dean was caught in a power struggle with the Abenakis over recognition."

"He was against it," Gallagher said. "He worked with state Attorney General William Sorrell, who actively tried to repress the petition."

Abenaki leaders, said Gallagher, cite the eugenics program as a reason for gaps in tribal self-identification. "They had to hide their identity because of the fear of sterilization."

Even worse, said Wiseman, Attorney General Sorrell has "mined" the eugenics records for evidence to use against the Abenakis’ recognition petition. In December 2002, Sorrell and his Special Assistant Attorney General Eve Jacobs-Carnahan issued a 250-page response to the St. Francis/Sokoki Band petition. As part of their argument, they cited extensive entries from the Vermont Eugenics Survey, observing, "Not a single one identifies an Indian as an Abenaki."

The Attorney General’s report has been dismissed with varying expressions of contempt by professional scholars and historians. "It’s not history," said Gallagher. "It’s a legal brief. I don’t understand how lawyers think." But the most vehement criticisms center on what scholars consider an extreme breach of ethics in handling the Eugenics Survey records. Eugenics record historians at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York state have adopted guidelines forbidding identification of individuals and even their locales in scholarly works.

Yet Sorrell and Jacobs-Carnahan include personal names and physical descriptions, such as the following quotation from the Survey: "[blank] was part Indian, part French, and part Negro. On his death certificate he is recorded as colored. He was very decidedly Negroid in appearance." Furthermore, the Attorney General’s office has made this report widely available. It went through a second printing in January 2003 and is now posted in its entirety on the Attorney General’s official Web site.

Chief Assistant Attorney General William Griffin, who supervised preparation of the report, defended the use of the names. "We did not release any identifications that were not in the public record," he told Indian Country Today. He also denied a connection between the Eugenics Survey and the recognition issue.

"It had nothing to do with Native Americans," he said of the Survey. "We went back and looked at it," he said. "It seemed to be targeting French-Canadians, if any particular group."

(Gallagher observed that very little research had been done about the fate of Indian peoples in the state eugenics programs. She said, however, that a primary target seemed to be mixed-race families, including tri-racial populations of black, white and Indian descent.)

Griffin also defended the content of the report. "What surprised me was the lack of a substantive response," he said of its critics. "There is some sniping around the edges, like the question you raised."

Although Sorrell is independently elected, he has long been a friend and political ally of Gov. Dean. (His mother, a Democratic Party activist, is often said to be the person who recruited Dean to run for the state legislature.) He figures prominently in a separate but possibly related, controversy, Dean’s refusal to release official papers from his 10 years as governor. The Attorney General’s office vetted the Memorandum of Understanding that withholds Dean’s papers from public view for ten years and is now defending the agreement in Vermont’s Washington County Superior Court against a suit from the Washington, D.C. group Judicial Watch. Dean’s discussions about sealing the 146 boxes and 450,000 pages of correspondence and official business, said Judicial Watch, focused on their impact on his presidential campaign.

Some of the more damaging material, to judge from letters which have already leaked and been turned against Dean, very likely involves his decisions on Indian issues, including the call for an apology on the Eugenics Survey.

Dean’s papers are now in the hands of the State Archivist, who is also in charge of the Eugenics Survey documents. Some critics of the state use of the eugenics papers also express concern that those documents are less accessible and in more disarray than they were 10 years ago.

"The file on sterilization," said Gallagher, "has gone missing."

©2003 Indian Country Today

Susan Lynne Kitsinu's medicine

... beauty poised between powers of thought, Eagle, song, Mothering, and her dance is a relationship with herself. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

BALANCE

Native American women Raven Skye WinterHawk & her niece 2010 New Years

The two of you carry your youth and beauty lightly which is the nature of the birds who fly around the essence of who you are. -Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories

“Kaua e rangiruatia te hā o te hoe; e kore tō tātou waka e ū ki uta.”

”Do not lift the paddle out of unison or our canoe will never reach the shore.”

–from Mereana Taki’s indigenous wisdom

Raven Skye WinterHawk, Cherokee

http://keeperofstories.blogspot.com/2010/05/mothers-day.html

SACHEEN LITTLE FEATHER

Sacheen Little Feather

Sacheen Littlefeather holding Marlon Brando's words @Oscars

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacheen_Littlefeather  

A FATHER'S INSIGHT

If I am understanding the face, your beauty and the knowing within your eyes that see then I know that you hold knowledge secret, that initiation is important, that mothering is a choice, and a state of being oneself before the mirror of what is, who you will become, and what a child will reflect back towards you!” – Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories

NATIVE AMERICAN WOMAN -Mish Mitchell

“If I am understanding the face, your beauty and the knowing within your eyes that see then I know that you hold knowledge secret, that initiation is important, that mothering is a choice, and a state of being oneself before the mirror of what is, who you will become, and what a child will reflect back towards you!” – Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories

SACREDNESS OF BEAUTY

Native American woman Crayezee Ndn

“Men should know how to see the Sacredness of the women looking at him, and the Sacredness of women who hold them captive by charm, or beauty, or the allure of their mystique. Good looks are not enough. A woman’s interest can fade quickly into a suspicion that allies itself with the possibility of being misunderstood, and women, like men, need to be understood. The greatest defense against male aggression is discernment, the ability to take life, and the indisputable ability to see into the soul.” –Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

Native American woman Mish Mitchell

MOTHER'S DAY

"Osiyo Nigadv, Golanv galvloi gola Tawodi daquadoa. Ale ayv galieliga tsinegv Tsiyv Ani'Yun'wiya."



Hello Everyone, My name is Raven Skye WinterHawk. I am glad to say I am Cherokee Indian 'The Principal People'. -Raven Skye WinterHawk

MOTHER'S DAY

"The sun shone bright onto her face, dancing on her eyelids. Within a few seconds, she opened her eyes to a new day. So full of promise and hope, just like the morning sunshine.

She bounded out of bed and pulled the blinds up. A gay spring day looked at her from the yard. Movement in a nearby tree caught her attention, so she stopped and gazed. Not wanting to startle whatever it was, she didn't move a muscle, only her eyes were lively.

Tiny heads peeped out over the top of a nest as a bird carrying a large worm hopped closer. Greedily, the babies took what was offered, then seemed to cry for more. She couldn't hear them, but their little mouths were wide open.

Smiling, she thought of her own children crying to be fed as infants. So dependent upon her, every need urgent and immediate. She watched as the larger bird flew off to find another morsel for the babies.

Turning around, her gaze came to rest upon the phone. Blinking back tears, she forced her attention elsewhere. Some said it was silly, and yet she yearned for that contact. Goodness knows, she could take care of herself, look at all the people she had taken care of for so many years. She got herself busy and did the things she needed to do. Still, the house was strangely empty. Nothing could match the atmosphere of children in the house. Like the baby bird, they had to fly and find their way in the world. She knew this in her mind, yet her heart still was saddened.

After a leisurely breakfast, she smiled and decided to relax by the window. It was such a beautiful day and it would be a shame to waste it. The plants were beginning to really take hold again after the long winter. The yard was a riot of color.

Sipping a cup of hot chocolate, she curled up by the window. She saw a young family walking by on the sidewalk. The young couple both helping to push the stroller with the baby in it. That sure brought back memories, she thought.

Her own children had already started their families. She wondered if they ever really understood. Laughing and talking, the young couple passed by. It seemed like that these days. Time marched on and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

She wasn't really sure she wanted to stop it, but it would be nice sometimes. The sun climbed higher and higher in the sky. The day was warming up nicely, it wasn't too hot this time of year. She opened the window to feel the nice breeze upon her gentle face.

'Would they love her no matter what?' she thought. It was so much like she was with her own mother. You did the best you could and that is all you could do. It was one of natures' cruel jokes that you had children when you didn't know very much. Then when you knew what you were doing, it was too late. Sure mistakes were made, but still she had tried to love them in adulthood. Shouldn't that count for something? They had been part of her body at one time. You sure couldn't be closer to someone than that. Rocking back and forth, she felt the warm breeze on her face. It just wasn't fair, you did the best you could, what you thought was right, and it didn't matter. Oh you wanted so badly to take all the pain for them, and make sure that no one ever hurt them.

Shaking her head, she knew that must have been bad for them when they did get hurt as a child. They wouldn't have learned how to stand on their own if she hadn't let them go those times. Like the baby birds being pushed out of the nest. They wailed and cheeped, but it was the best thing for them. Taking a sip, she thought, but, she was tough. She had survived many other things, what was a day like this meant for anyway? A bit of recognition? Hmm, she just imagined all the mother birds gathered together, complaining that their offspring never noticed them anymore. That brought a brief smile to her lips.

It was natures' way, she thought resignedly. Her tender love had nurtured them through the early years. She could at least know that they were ok because of her. Well, because of themselves also, of course. Society tried to teach her children what they wanted them to know. But, still they needed to know that... She shook her head, these thoughts were getting her nowhere. Wiping a tear away, she took another sip. It was so hard being a mother.

She didn't want to seem whiny or clinging. That is the reason she didn't call them today, not because she didn't care. Let her children express their love to her as they saw fit. It was so hard to wait, though. The sun began to slip further towards the west. It had been hours and she hadn't even noticed. The chocolate was very cold, and not very comforting. She felt no appetite and didn't want to move. Some things no one else could do for her but her children. Not a husband, a lover, a friend, or anyone else. This day was a bond between her and her children.

Sweet tears rolled from her eyes as she wrapped her arms around her knees. Had she really failed? Intellectually, she knew she had done the best she could do. Could anyone ask more? Yet, it didn't seem to be enough. She sighed deeply as she watched the phone awaiting its ring.

Her children were the ultimate judge on this day. Had she been a good mother, or like one of the horror stories one reads about in the tabloids. This, however, was one area where only her children could soothe her.

The sun finally dipped below the horizon, and still she had not moved. No calls and no visit today. It was like any other day. Do your duty and we will shuffle you off somewhere where we don't have to look at you. Why should I expect anything more?

Standing up and wiping her face, she resolved not to feel sorry for herself anymore. She had run the whole range of emotions today, and it hadn't changed a thing. Sometimes she wished this day would be abolished.

Her children were alive and well. That is more than could be said for some of the other women she knew. She did not have the anguish of burying all her children. That was a blessing. So what if they forgot again? It was just another day.

She bustled around and fixed herself a quiet supper, then curled up with a book in bed. The phone sat there like a sentinel, yet it didn't ring. She turned, so as not to see it, and continued to read.

Gaining some inner resolve, she held her emotions tightly reined. No matter what , she loved them. With a tender smile, a tear rolled on her pillow as she drifted to sleep.

Let her know you love her while you still can...." -Raven Skye WinterHawk, May 6, 2010

Raven Skye WinterHawk

THE PRINCIPLE PEOPLE

Cherokee women

Cherokee women had a lot of power. They were allowed to choose the man they wanted to marry. They would choose the man they liked. After the wedding the husband either built a new home or went to live with the wife's mother. The house and any children belonged to the wife. Although the women have a Lot of power, they still did quite a bit of work.

The women cooked the meals and cared for their homes. Also they would gather mushrooms, berries, nuts, and roots. The women gathered them in the woods around their village. She also raised vegetables for her family. Corn was an important crop for their tribe. Daughters and their mothers Planted and harvested in their giving community gardens.

Cherokee women did many other jobs too. They tanned animal hides to make clothing. They also made deerskin breechcloths for the men in the summer. Women also made buckskin cloths for winter. They would make deerskin skirts for themselves for summer and buffalo garments for colder months. They would also make long woven squares of material that they draped over their Shoulders in winter, which both men and women wore.

5/08/07

Art ©Sharon Evans

Translation: Happy Mother's Day

No Tutorial Used

"Add to this is the Clan Grandmothers: They told the warriors when

to go to war; the hunters to go and hunt when the meat supplies

were running low. They would take a young girl from her family to

train to be a medicine woman or clan mother when she grew up. It

was not until the white man came and told the men that They

should run the tribes business that things went wrong, when the

white man wanted to buy land, it was the white men that told them

the men should own the land not the women. And the women advised

against selling their land. How can one sell what the Creator

made? But the men sold the land and blew the money on the drink

and ended up living on a reservation.

I was raised to be strong. That I had an equal right with the

man I choose to marry...my grandmother use to say: If we only

have one glass, I will drink from it half the time and if we only

have one plate, I will eat from it half the time. She dearly

loved my grandfather, but she was the matriarch of our family.

She taught her daughters to be strong and taught me to walk tall

and hold my hand up and to walk beside my man, not behind him or in front of him.

Not all tribes treated their women with the respect that the

Cherokee did. We must remember each tribe was/is different. Also,

today, the children are taught to respect the Grandmothers, and

to treat the females with respect." ~ Bobbi