Original Peoples Podcast Ongwehonwe

I sit down with Damian Webster Shodzi'dzo:wa' (Tonawanda Seneca, Turtle Clan) he is the Director of Honötaö:nih Hënödeyësdahgwa'geh. We discuss Second Language Acquisition strategies that have helped shape the evolving curriculum at Tonawanda to be more efficient in growing and developing teachers and learners.

Damian also discusses the recent Seneca Language Symposium "Sade:yë:s Sešnye't Ësawënösde:k" hosted at Ganondagan.

Special Nya:wëh and acknowledgment to:

Tonawanda Seneca Council of Chiefs

Seneca Nation of Indians Language Department

Rochester Institute of Technology Department of Modern Language & Culture

Ganondagan State Historic Site and the Friends of Ganondagan

In Celebration of Indigenous Peoples' Day, E-YAH-PAH-HAH: Native American Concert of Music and Dance

Featuring the ECMS Woodwind Quintet led by Kae Wilbert (Cherokee). Musicians, Kae Wilbert (bassoon), Susan Walders (flute), Heather Staring Melnick (French Horn), Scott Horsington (clarinet) and Darren Pulley (oboe) and the Daystar Dance Company with original choreography by Daystar/Rosalie Jones (Pembina Chippewa-Cree) and a company of four dancers. Dancers, Nanako Horikawa Mandrino, Nancy Hughes, Angela Lopez and Laura D’Amico

Highlighted will be the music of contemporary Native American composers Dr. Louis W. Ballard(Cherokee/Quapaw), Ms. Dawn Avery (Mohawk, Turtle Clan) and Dr. Charles Shadle (Choctaw). Daystar Dance Company will round out the program with costumed theatrical dances inspired by the cultural storytelling of the Northwest Coast and of the Great Lakes Region, the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee.

In Celebration of Indigenous Peoples' Day, E-YAH-PAH-HAH: Native American Concert of Music and Dance

Featuring the ECMS Woodwind Quintet led by Kae Wilbert (Cherokee). Musicians, Kae Wilbert (bassoon), Susan Walders (flute), Heather Staring Melnick (French Horn), Scott Horsington (clarinet) and Darren Pulley (oboe) and the Daystar Dance Company with original choreography by Daystar/Rosalie Jones (Pembina Chippewa-Cree) and a company of four dancers. Dancers, Nanako Horikawa Mandrino, Nancy Hughes, Angela Lopez and Laura D’Amico

Highlighted will be the music of contemporary Native American composers Dr. Louis W. Ballard(Cherokee/Quapaw), Ms. Dawn Avery (Mohawk, Turtle Clan) and Dr. Charles Shadle (Choctaw

Wendsler Nosie Sr. was born on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, in Gila County, in San Carlos, Arizona in 1959. He is a former Chairman and Councilman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe and a long time opponent of Southeast Arizona Land Exchange. He is currently living at the Apache sacred site of Oak Flat (Chi’chil Bildagoteel) to defend it from a land transfer to the mining company, Resolution Copper. For more information visit: http://www.apache-stronghold.com/

Wendsler  is a former Peridot District Councilman and Tribal Chairman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, which consists of nearly 17,000 tribal members on the San Carlos Apache Reservation. San Carlos stretches across Gila, Graham and Pinal Counties, totaling 1.8 million acres and is situated in the southeastern portion of the State. 

He was raised in the traditional Apache way of life.

Wendsler is a long distance runner and has participated in numerous marathons and half marathons over the years. He is dedicated to the preservation and protection of Native American culture, artifacts, history religion, and tradition. He is the founder and leader of the Apache Stronghold and Director of Gaan Bike Goz aa where he continues to advocate for indigenous religious and human rights and protecting the future for our next generations to come.

To Learn More about how you can help. Click on the link below.

Join the fight to save Oak Flat

Arizona's Chi'chil Bildagoteel, also known as Oak Flat, is in danger of being destroyed by mining. A last-minute deal by the Trump Administration mandated the transfer of Oak Flat to a foreign-owned mining conglomerate that will turn this land into a massive copper mine. To protect this sacred land, Rep. Raúl Grijalva introduced the Save Oak Flat From Foreign Mining Act to permanently shield this area from mining. Join in the fight to save Oak Flat by adding your name as a citizen co-sponsor of this important legislation today.

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Oak Flat is a beautiful and biodiverse area in the Tonto National Forest. Its high desert lands are home to mountain lions, bobcats, coati, and many other wildlife species. The lands are also sacred for the San Carlos Apache and other Indigenous communities. HECHO is leading our campaign to protect and safeguard Oak Flat. HECHO stands for Hispanics Enjoying Camping, Hunting, and the Outdoors which is part of the National Wildlife Federation family and was created to promote Hispanic leadership in conservation policy. Unfortunately, the wildlife, lands, and Indigenous sites of Oak Flat are threatened by a giant copper mine that would create a crater that is 1,000-feet deep and 1.8 miles wide. The mining would consume more than 250 billion gallons of water in an area that is already suffering from exceptional drought conditions. It would also create 1.4 billion tons of toxic mine tailings that would cover nearly 4,000 acres. Congress can stop this destructive mine from moving forward so that wildlife, watersheds, and significant Indigenous sites are safeguarded for generations to come.

So we've broached a number of topics around Handsome Lake, but I have a few more questions and maybe even need some more clarifications.

Hop in, take the ride. Maybe you had some questions also? Let's just dig a little bit further. I want to see if I can better understand why some people say the things they say about Handsome Lake.

Please like and subscribe. I also want to give a huge shoutout to F. Paul Yorio, my sound guy/ editor/ voice of reason/ fix-it guy! He's awesome and he has been a huge part of how this has all come together. Nya:wëh F. Paul!!

Episode III The Prelude to Handsome Lake and his origins. Who was he? Where did he come from? How did it all happen.

We have been presenting information about Handsome Lake and who he was. Controversial and polarizing in some communities, but maybe just maybe the misinterpretation of him by early scholars has contributed to the confusion about the meaning of his message. Here with me in this episode are two knowledgeable individuals who have done research in a scholarly context and also from an oral tradition. The first two episodes have been widely shared and the feedback has been resoundingly positive. I am pleased to see the interest in this topic and I hope that this episode will provide more context and maybe raise more questions. I of course want people to go and research what it presented. By no means do I want this to be a one sided discussion. Research this on your own, ask questions of folks who may know more to the story. I would love to have more perspectives and also maybe more pieces to the puzzle. Somehow someway we may all benefit from learning and knowing more about who we are as Haudenosaunee People.

Below is a Bibliography for some of the information presented.

Bibliography

Haverford College

Allinson Family Papers

Title

William Allinson diary, volume 2

Authors

Call number

MC 968, Box 11, Folder 4

(Haverford, Special Collections, Haverford College, Allinson family papers)

Publisher

Special Collections, Haverford College

Language

Primary language: English.

Origin

Date 1809

Place New York (State) Allegheny River (Pa. and N.Y.)

Chainbreaker's War: A Seneca Chief Remembers the American Revolution

By Jeanne Winston

October 1, 2002 by Black Dome Press

9781883789336 (ISBN10: 1883789338)

A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison

Written by: James E. Seaver

Edited by: Tiffany Potter; Willow White

Publication Date: November 3, 2022

ISBN: 9781554815777 / 1554815770

Notes of Border History- 

Taken on a Trip to the Western Part of Penna. , & the Adjoining Parts of N. Y. & Ohio

by Jare R. Cardinal

November 18, 2016

ISBN13 9781365694905

Lulu.com

Handsome Lake, the Gaiwiio (The Good Word), he was a controversial figure and his message is challenging for people to accept. Often times criticized for being a "Drunk" an alcoholic, his message and vision is questioned and equated to being "too Christianized". What do we really know about the man and his early beginnings. Could it be that his life, and his message has been misunderstood? I speak with Jamie Jacobs in this Part II episode, and we take a deeper dive into who Handsome Lake was. Jamie Jacobs has been a speaker and has recited Handsome Lakes' message. He's going to provide perspective, and his understanding of Handsome Lake and the Gaiwiio. This episode will hopefully allow some insight for people, hopefully it will raise more questions, hopefully it will create dialogue and debate amongst people. I will leave it up to you to decide for yourself how you view Handsome Lake and his Message the Gaiwiio.

For those of you a bit unfamiliar with Haudenosaunee Culture here's a brief synapsis on Handsome Lake.

According to an online source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gai-wiio

Gai’wiio, (Seneca: “Good Message”) also called Longhouse Religion, new religious movement that emerged among the Seneca Indians of the northeastern United States, one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, in the early 19th century. Its founder was a Seneca chief, healer, and prophet whose epithet was Ganioda’yo (“Handsome Lake”).

Ganioda’yo was the half brother of Cornplanter, another Seneca chief. For much of his life he was an alcoholic and was notorious for his dissolute lifestyle. In 1799 Ganioda’yo fell severely ill and seemed near death. At that time, he later claimed, he received a revelation from three spirits who disclosed to him the will of the divine Creator and the existence of heaven and hell. They also revealed that he would recover from his illness and enjoined him to preach the Gai’wiio, or “Good Message.”

Having regained his health, Ganioda’yo renounced alcohol and witchcraft, encouraged his people to practice plow agriculture and animal husbandry, and taught, among other things, that all people should be treated with compassion. Ganioda’yo claimed to have received subsequent visions, and he devoted the remaining 15 years of his life to promulgating the Gai’wiio among the Six Nations. His teachings later acquired a fixed form as the Code of Handsome Lake.

(Part 1)

Indigenous people have a complicated relationship with Anthropologists, Archaeologists and Museums in general, with, the Native American Graves Protection & Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) a process has been but in place for federal agencies and museums that receive federal funds to repatriate or transfer from their collections certain Native American cultural items -- human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony -- to Indigenous communities.

Jamie Jacobs discusses his relationship to NAGPRA and how some of William Fenton's early work with recordings on the Tonawanda Reservation back in the 1930's have helped him connect to traditional teachings he learned growing up while including an anthropologic perspective. Jamie Jacobs is speaker, culture bearer and an Assistant Curator for the Rock Foundation Collections at the Rochester Museum and Science Center.

Most Indigenous people would agree that early anthropologists may not have been the best allies or even the best people to be deemed "Experts" on the culture, but it may be undeniable, that some of the work they did, could be useful to Indigenous scholars and culture bearers today.

According to Wikipedia, William N. Fenton was an American scholar and writer known for his extensive studies of Iroquois history and culture. He started his studies of the Iroquois in the 1930s and published a number of significant works over the following decades. His final work was published in 2002.

I sit down with Marjorie Skidders (Akwesasne Mohawk, Bear Clan) Marjorie is a photographer an educator and currently serves as the editor of the Akwesasne print publication Indian Time. Marjorie shares a bit about her role in education, her time away from her artistic expressions and her work with print media. She is a fascinating and inspiring woman, I feel fortunate to have been able to sit down and speak with her. To learn more about the print publication Indian Time please visit www.indiantime.net

Ganondagan State Historic Site hosted its sixth annual juried Hodinöhsö:ni’ Art Show exhibit at the Seneca Art & Culture Center. This exhibit was shown in conjunction with the Indigenous Winter Arts Market on Saturday, December 3rd, 2022 followed by an online exhibit. Guided tours of the show were offered during the Indigenous Winter Arts Market.

Selected Haudenosaunee artists pieces were judged in six divisions: Beadwork, Basketry, Traditional Arts, Fine Art 2D, Fine Art 3D, and Photography will have their artwork on exhibit and available for sale. (First Place - $1,250; Second Place - $750; Third Place - $500*; Best in Show - $2,500) 

This show is made possible by the generous support of the Thaw Charitable Trust.

Hodinöhsö:ni’ Art Show Epsiode: Ask the Artist Part 1

In this Episode I am able to sit down and speak with Ciele Kanonhsatiron (Akwesasne Mohawk, Bear Clan) Ciele works in leather Moccasins where she incorporates traditional Haudenosaunee designs, but she applies them with her own special technique and inspirations. To see more of Ciele Kanonhsatiron’s work follow her on Instagram at ciele83

Ganondagan State Historic Site hosted its sixth annual juried Hodinöhsö:ni’ Art Show exhibit at the Seneca Art & Culture Center. This exhibit was shown in conjunction with the Indigenous Winter Arts Market on Saturday, December 3rd, 2022 followed by an online exhibit. Guided tours of the show were offered during the Indigenous Winter Arts Market.

Selected Haudenosaunee artists pieces were judged in six divisions: Beadwork, Basketry, Traditional Arts, Fine Art 2D, Fine Art 3D, and Photography will have their artwork on exhibit and available for sale. (First Place - $1,250; Second Place - $750; Third Place - $500*; Best in Show - $2,500) This show is made possible by the generous support of the Thaw Charitable Trust.