Native Faces

 Mike

Occupation: Tribal Land Manager

Age: 63

Enrolled Yakama Tribal Member

My grandparents raised me and they were Shaker and Washat religion. Everything we did was extremely traditional. When the springtime came we would gather roots in the mountains and we would travel to Puyallup to gather raspberries and beans. The food that we collected we would use as our food source through the entire year. My dad and grandfather would fish in the Yakima River for salmon. We believed The Creator gave life to all things and all thing deserved respect.

I went through quite a wild stage for a while and threw all traditions out the window. But I suffered with multiple deaths of love ones around me, which is when I found God and became a Christian. Since then, I have embraced more traditional ways of living.

I have tried to pass on traditions to my kids, but they are busy with different activities at school and with church so there are a lot of things they don’t have yet like their Indian names. Sadly, our Elders are dying, so my boys may never be given their Indian names. Our traditions are fading quickly.

Savannah

Occupation: Student
Age: 21
Enrolled Yakama Tribal Member

I feel like people who don’t know what Indians believe are always shocked when I tell them I don’t live in a TeePee. I don’t know if people just don’t care to learn about us, or what the deal is. It annoys me how everyone is so worried about offending other peoples religions and cultures but they never think about ours. I grew up on the reservation with my mother and grandmother. My grandmother is the assistant minister for the Satus Shaker Church, which is quite a big deal and means I was raised very traditionally. I was taught how to bead when I was young and my mother continues to teach me, I still have a lot to learn.

I don’t feel pressure to conform to anything really. I surround myself with people who believe the same things I believe so I am able to be myself. Most of my friends are native and we see some of our traditions fading away. I have a brother who fully embraces tradition and another brother who wants nothing to do with being Native so it is hard to tell what is to come for our Tribe.

When I start a family I will teach them the ways of my elders no matter what the rest of the world thinks of it.

Raymond
Occupation: Retired
Age: 86

Enrolled Yakama Tribal Member

My mother was taken by the government at age 8 and put into a boarding school at Fort Simco. The school she was put into taught her English and she was not allowed to learn Yakama dialect. These types of school were created to redirect Indian culture away from the traditional teachings. Because my mother was taught by white people and taught not to act Indian I was not raised with traditional native influences.

The government accomplished what they wanted because my mother did not pass on anything traditional to me but her love for stick games. Stick games are a traditional Native American hand game of hiding bones and choosing which hand holds the correct bone. I enjoy watching people play because it reminds me of my mother. But my father raised me to be a cowboy and that is what I am. I don’t see myself as an Indian, although all my life I was raised around them and worked with them so I have picked up the culture.

I see traditions dying off quickly, it is sad to see the good days leaving us.

Roberta
Occupation: Retired
Age: 82

Enrolled Yakama Tribal Member

I was taught not act or look Indian. It was a bad thing back then and you didn’t want

people to think you were Indian because you would be shunned. My mother bought all of us kids long sleeve shirts and big sun hats to wear during the summer. We tanned so easily in the sun, she didn’t want us to get dark and look Indian. We all knew we were Indian but we were never taught to be proud of it.

My grandmother was orphaned at a young age, so she raised in the boarding school at Fort Simco and taught English she was also taught she wasn’t to be proud of her heritage. She was told her father was a white man and a scout. He helped guide the travelers over the mountains to protect them from Indians. An Indian killed him while he was scouting, so I was told not embrace being native.

My grandmother passed down a ceremonial dress, to my mother and then to my oldest sister and that was the only thing she ever gave us that had anything to do with being Native. I attended my first native funeral ceremony two years ago. I am sad to see the traditions slipping away.

Rocky         

Occupation: High School Student

Age: 18
Enrolled Yakama Tribal Member

When I think about myself as being Native American I feel there is a huge amount of pressure on me. I feel like the Elders frown down upon me. I think the Elders feel like I am letting our people down by not acting like a normal Native. Most of my friends who are non-native find my traditions to be pointless, but it doesn’t bother me too much because I know they will respect me no matter what.

Our family traditions have been slimmed down but I cherish them a lot. The main family tradition that has been passed down is the use of a sweat house. A sweat house, is a hut my family builds and inside we have a pit with heated rocks and we pour water on them to cause it to steam up inside the hut. We sit inside of it and pray, we usually do it before hunting or fishing or bad times in our family. We pray that the aches and pains sweat out of us preparing us for the time ahead. Another tradition my family practices is holding feasts, we have large feasts for kills, deaths, first catch and name giving ceremonies.

I will pass these traditions on to my children, because I feel like some many traditions we have lost and I don’t want something so amazing to die.

Devalyn
Age: 15

Occupation: Student

Enrolled Yakama Tribal Member

I feel that since I am Native I have more pressure on me than others do. I try and live my life like any normal teenager, but I have teaching to remember that I must live by everyday. These teaching are from my Elders they don’t come from books or a classroom. I feel like I am living in two worlds sometimes. I don’t want to behave like non-natives because the Elders expect me to carry on these traditions, so I have to keep myself in balance everyday.

My family and I participate in the Toppenish Creek Longhouse. We are in line with the gathers, which means we go and dig roots as well as collect berries. The elders have taught me our language, as well as what types of plants can be used for everyday thing, such as the rosebush for protection.

I plan on passing all my traditions I have been taught down to my children. Passing on our traditions is what makes us strong as a Tribe. Some of the unwritten laws we live by remind me everyday I am a stronger person, and they were taught to me for a reason to be carried on for generations to come.