Exploring American Indian Culture
There are 574 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages in the United States, each with its own culture, language, and history. Every tribe has unique traditions and distinct styles of housing, dress, and food. Federally recognized tribes vary in population and land base, but all are considered sovereign nations and hold a specific nation-to-nation relationship with the United States.
Prior to European arrival in North America, tribes had effectively governed themselves for hundreds of years and had developed thriving systems of nurturing and teaching their youth and governing their communities. The U.S. government itself finds its roots in the principles of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Confederacy. However, European conquest shattered many Native communities through forced relocation, warfare, broken treaties, and foreign-brought diseases. Most Native communities were completely wiped out.
During the 18th and 19th centuries’ “Indian Wars,” relentless aggression by the U.S. Government caused Native peoples to lose their homelands. Broken treaties and forced relocations displaced American Indians from the land of their ancestors, where they had been living for generations, to reservations. These reservation lands offered a fraction of the size and natural resources of what was taken. Tribes were split, combined with traditional enemies and/or forced to reservations far from home and sacred spaces. Laws like the Dawes Act of 1887 reinforced the dependency of the reservation system with land reallocation that set forth to destroy the tribe as a social unit.
Source: https://indianyouth.org/native-american-history-culture/
Facts About Indigenous People
There are more than 476 million Indigenous people in the world, making up more than 6.2% of the global population.
Language: They speak more than 4,000 languages
The term indigenous peoples is a common denominator for distinct peoples who, through historical processes, have been marginalized and denied their right to control their own development. For Indigenous peoples, self-identification is the basic principle in claiming and asserting indigenous identity. Indigenous peoples present a vast spectrum of differentiated organizational representations depending on their history, relationship with the State, level of recognition, and other contextual factors.
What can you do to celebrate this month?
Cottonwood Field Trips
Join us by signing up on Vanco for Sierra Native Alliance
Storytime at the Lending Library on November 18th at 2 pm.
Recipes
Literature to check out at the Lending Library
Fry Bread Ceremony / Leslie Marmon Silko; introduction by Larry McMurtry; with a new preface by the author.
The Earth is Weeping: the epic story of the Indian wars for the American West / Peter Cozzens.
Squanto / by Sonia W. Black; illustrated by Bob Doucet.
Sacramento Area Events
See Everybody Belongs Community Events
Art Projects
YouTube Videos
Contributions of Native Americans
Native Peoples of the Northwest
Isabella Ianni
Native American Ambassador
Please meet our new Native American Ambassador for November, Isabella Ianni.
Hello, “Nabonia” is pronounced “nah-boh-nee-yah” in Yaqui and is a formal greeting.
My name is Isabella Ianni, and I am proud to be a grandchild of indigenous Native Peoples.
The Yaqui people speak the Yaqui language of the northern Mexican states of Sonora and Sinaloa, as well as in the southwestern United States of Arizona to California.
Some facts are that in 1533, the Yaqui tribe occupied territory near the Yaqui River. They fished and lived in agricultural neighborhoods, growing beans, squash, and maize (corn) on land flooded by the river. Others lived in mountains and deserts and relied on gathering and hunting. The Yaqui are a close people who celebrate together throughout the year. Most are Catholic and have incorporated this into their Native beliefs. The Jesuits, in 1610, introduced Christianity, along with wheat, cattle, and horses.
Culture is critical within the Yaqui community. The Yaqui people are a split community. From northern Mexico to the southwestern United States, many family members travel back and forth for celebrations. The Mazo Kova Pahko (Deer Head) ceremony commemorates the loss of 400 individuals at the (tall bamboo) mountains in Rio Hiaki, Sonora, Mexico. This is a very important ceremony for the Yaqui tribe.
Some of my family moved from Sonora, Mexico, as tiny children to the United States; others were born here. There were once no imaginary lines in the land, and my ancestors could move from river to mountainside as needed throughout the year.
My family loves getting together and celebrating with drums or birthday candles. Every get-together reminds me of who I am, who I get to be, and all I have to be genuinely thankful for. Family is love, and I love my family.