What is a Native American Traditionalist?

Question asked today

A Native American traditionalist is a person old enough to remember the teaching first hand by the elders, now ancestors.

Old enough to be wise enough to find ways to help make the old and the new ways work together for the good of everyone!

For instance,

One can have a pipe ceremony using only traditional herbs while being a smoker of modern cigarettes

While knowing to never mix the two at the same time.

One can have a traditional funeral while allowing a religious group to have their ceremony first,

Knowing that two ceremonies are better for the grieving family.

A traditionalist remembers time gone by when,

if one wanted to swim that person could strip down to a bathing suit,

leave everything on a picnic table,

swim for an hour or so

and find everything still on that picnic table.

This is a prayer for a return to the good old days to help improve living today!

  

Tobacco as a gift.

The question being asked the most today is still about tobacco, so we, the Native Americans answering that question are still not answering it well enough?

Tobacco used by my ancestors, Traditional Native Americans from New England was not Cigarettes, it was, it is, and should always be herbs found or grown by the Tribal Clan Grandmother with help from the Tribal Clan Mothers.

These herbs are called Kinnick. Kinnick ( our native word for tobacco).

This tobacco is used for anything sacred like, prayer, ceremonies like naming, funeral's, weddings, powwows, gatherings, pot luck, paw, paus and so on., gifting, cleansing us and the area around us.

I have many blogs and websites about our tobacco however, if my answers leaves you with more questions please Email me at sachemuncas at centurylink.net ( It is written this way to spoil spammers spiders.

http://mysmudgingblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/tobacco-as-traditional-native-american.html

http://home.earthlink.net/~sachemuncas/powwows/id9.html

http://mysmudgingblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/native-american-gifting-tobacco-to_14.html

http://sachemspeaks.wordpress.com/2011/07/02/kinnick-kinnick/

http://mysmudgingblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/native-american-gift-giving.html

http://mysmudgingblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/tobacco-sweet-grass-sage-herbs-and.html

http://mysmudgingblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/adoption-into-tribe.html

http://mysmudgingblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/naming-ceremony-protocol.html

Just to name a few.

My ancestors were simple common sense people.

Their tobacco was grown without chemicals, the ancestors did not need them!

Today our elders know that cigarettes cause cancer, even if they smoke, someone that they know and love has died a horrible death from this cancer.

Please do not insult them by an offering of a cancer causing cigarette.

Will you please use Kinnick~ Kinnick (herbs)?

A Traditional Native American Pot Luck.

A Traditional Native American Pot Luck.

This is a great way to go if you are having your ceremony someplace that has a kitchen, We would always have a member in the Knights of Columbus, Grange hall, Church, Polish, Elks, or Moose club, anything along that line.

Because our tribe carried on a tradition started in the 40's by my grandfather, try to hold a meeting a month as close as possible to different elders, making it easy for each to make a meeting, so we needed to find many good, clean, friendly, cost efficient places.

This is a good time to show one of the many reason for having Tribal Mothers now called (Clan Mothers).

The head tribal mother would assign a task for each of her clan mothers, each clan mother would be responsible for setting up who, what, when and where food would be available at each tribal gathering, this was to insure a variety in the meals and to eliminate food waste.

After each meal, if food was leftover and not taken home, tribal mother appointed people to get it to food banks.

What dish do you serve at Native American Ceremonies?

Today's question of the day.

Dishes for native American naming ceremony.

To make it a shorter blog let me start with, all of the ceremonies by my people, the Eastern Woodland, American Natives usually serve something like coffee and desert at any practice meetings and at the beginning of all our ceremonies.

Most of the time the tribal clan mothers will have a pot luck meal after the ceremony for a social friendship gathering, check with a Clan Mother or the Spiritual leader, because sometime a tribe will just have it catered.

Although this cost some money, it will relieve a lot of pressure on everyone.

557 Native American tribes.

Minneapolis Minnesota, Addressing Native American spirituality in health care.

Did you know the federal government recognizes 557 Native American tribes?

Only in 1978, for example, did Congress restore their right to religious freedom by enacting the American Indian Religious Freedom Act.

http://www.examiner.com/baby-boomer-in-minneapolis/addressing-native-american-spirituality-health-care

Did you also know that there are at least as many Native American tribes not recognized by this federal government because, long before this government knew about those tribes out west, this federal government cheated, stole, abused and tried to assimilate the other tribes in the east.

From the time this government arrived from Europe they have been taking this land and even today by not recognizing these tribes?

Thanks to people like my ancestor Samson Occum,

http://www.sachem-uncas.com/occum.html

while going west to avoid the destruction, was able to warn our brothers & sisters of the coming danger.

I believe that it is time for them to stand up for our people in the east!

Did you also notice that the only tribes in the east that are recognized ( Casino's) by this federal government, would be because a few of the people from those tribes signed away all but the parts of their land not useful to the federal government, then were traded that part of the land and a piece of paper stating that now you can be an Indian because you bowed down once again!

AHO!