Indigenous Peoples Day

Happy Indigenous People's Day! Some people celebrate the second Monday in October as Columbus Day, but some of us prefer to honor instead the people who were here in the Americas for centuries before Columbus "discovered" it. 

Many cities are finally making the name change official, adopting Indigenous People's Day as a day to celebrate the people and their culture, and also to reflect on their ongoing struggles in this land. The celebration includes powwows, drumming, dancing, Native American foods and crafts. 

My art class students learned about native people from all over North and South America. We read books, told stories, cooked foods, and made authentic crafts. We had two goals: To show respect and honor for native people, and to learn something about their traditions.

Agenda:
1. Journal:

Set an intention for the day- 

What do I wish for all people of the world?

2. Make fry bread:
Traditional powwow food!

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. yeast 
• 1/2 tsp. salt 
• 1-1/2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1-1/2 Tbsp. oil
• 4 c. flour
• 1-1/2 c. vegetable oil for frying

Yield: 8-10 pieces-

1- Dissolve the yeast in 1-2/3 c. warm water for 5 minutes, then add salt, sugar, and oil.



2- Add flour to the liquid mixture 1 cup at a time, mixing with a spoon, until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl. 

Knead on a floured board, adding more flour as needed, until smooth. Put dough in a greased bowl, cover with a towel and let it rise for 1 hour.



3- Heat oil in a cast iron skillet to 350ºF.

4- Remove dough from the bowl and divide into 8-10 balls. Roll or pat each to 1/2-inch thick circles or squares (or hearts or whatever!)

5- Drop the dough into hot cooking oil 1 or 2 at a time (don't over crowd). Cook for about 1 minute on the first side and less on the second side. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar-- YUMM.






3. Make a prayer stick:
A prayer stick is a southwest Native American tradition; it’s a stick made as a prayer or wish. Prayer sticks are decorated in many ways- sometimes painted, wrapped with strings, with feathers, beads and other objects attached; sometimes a small bag of sacred cornmeal is tied on.

We each set an intention for our stick- something we wished for all people of the world-- enough food to eat, a home, peace, and love-- and we then we made small charms out of clay, to symbolize our wishes.

I didn't get any good photos of our charms this year after they were painted, but you can see my ear of corn here, on the left.

(Last year's charms are shown here.)

Then we cut sticks from the apple tree and:

-carved them

-wrapped them with string and yarn

-added beads


-and added feathers.




Then we each took our stick home to plant in the ground.