National Museum of the American Indian

The Winter Solstice Begins a Season of Storytelling and Ceremony

In the Northern Hemisphere, the December solstice is the year’s day of least sunlight, when the sun takes its lowest, shortest path across the sky. North of the Arctic Circle, it is the midpoint of the period of darkness, when even twilight doesn’t reach the horizon. We asked a few of our Native friends to share traditions they’ve heard about the winter solstice. Their answers highlight winter as a time for storytelling.

Captain Jefferson Keel (U.S. Army retired), Lieutenant Governor of the Chickasaw Nation, visiting the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. (Courtesy of Jefferson Keel)

A tradition of service: Captain Jefferson Keel

Captain Jefferson Keel (U.S. Army retired), Lieutenant Governor of the Chickasaw Nation and co-chairman of the National Native American Veterans Memorial Advisory Committee, talks about his experiences in the U.S. military. The design competition for the memorial begins November 11, 2017. Entries will be accepted through January 9, 2018. Information about the competition is available at https://nmai.us.fluidreview.com/.

Specialist Allen Kale‘iolani Hoe (U.S. Army retired), the son and grandson of veterans and a Gold Star father, serves on the advisory committee of the National Native American Veterans Memorial. (Courtesy of Allen Hoe)

A tradition of service: Specialist Allen Kale‘iolani Hoe

Specialist Allen Kale‘iolani Hoe (U.S. Army retired), a member of the National Native American Veterans Memorial Advisory Committee, talks about his experiences as a Native Hawaiian in the U.S. military and his belief in the importance of national service. The design competition for the memorial begins November 11, 2017. Entries will be accepted through January 9, 2018.

Members of the staff of the National Museum of the American Indian in New York hold a welcoming ceremony for a kayak frame built in the traditional Yup'ik way at the Qayanek Qayak Preservation Center in Kwigillingok, Alaska. A testament to the ingenuity and innovation of the Native cultures of the Arctic, the kayak frame will become a teaching exhibit when the New York museum's imagiNATIONS Activity Center opens this May. (National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian)

Long journey: A traditional kayak frame comes to New York

In May 2018, when the museum in New York opens its new imagiNATIONS Activity Center (iAC), one highlight will be a traditional Yup’ik kayak frame—15 feet of historically correct white spruce driftwood—made at the Qayanek Qayak Preservation Center in Kwigillingok, Alaska. The New York iAC will offer young museum-goers hands-on experiences that make vivid the origins and outcomes of Native innovation, including the genius of kayak-building.

Michele Felice Corné (1752–1845),

Everyone's history matters: The Wampanoag Indian Thanksgiving story deserves to be known

The Thanksgiving story deeply rooted in America’s school curriculum frames the Pilgrims as the main characters and reduces the Wampanoag Indians to supporting roles. It also erases a monumentally sad history. The true history of Thanksgiving begins with the Indians.

On mid-tour leave from Operation Iraqi Freedom, Sergeant First Class Chuck Boers carries in the eagle staff at the Shenandoah Powwow, 2004. (Courtesy of Chuck Boers)

A tradition of service: Master Sergeant and Lipan Apache War Chief Chuck Boers

Master Sergeant and Lipan Apache War Chief Chuck Boers (U.S. Army retired), a member of the National Native American Veterans Memorial Advisory Committee, talks about his experiences as a Native American in the U.S. military and the traditions that inspired his service. The design competition for the memorial begins November 11, 2017. Entries will be accepted through January 9, 2018. All information about the competition is available at https://nmai.si.edu/nnavm/memorial/.

John Richard Edwards (Onondaga) takes part in the installation of the mile-marker post from the Dakota Access Pipeline in the exhibition

Mile-marker from the Dakota Access Pipeline protests makes the point that U.S. treaty history is still being written

Signs nailed to a mile-marker at the DAPL protest show how far people came and from how many places to stand up for treaty rights and the right of Native Nations to be consulted as governments. Now the final section of the exhibition "Nation to Nation" at the National Museum of the American Indian, the mile-marker stands as a powerful symbol of the fact that American Indian treaties remain U.S. law, and that their stories are not finished. It also serves as a symbol of modern resistance.

Members of a delegation from the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians read names of the signers of the Treaty of Fort Wayne of 1809 as the museum prepares to place the treaty on exhibit. From left: Tribal Council Member Wayne (Alex) Wesaw, Council Chairman John P. Warren, Council Elders Representative Judy Winchester, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer; Jason S. Wesaw, and Council Vice Chairman Robert (Bob) Moody, Jr. National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C., September 2017. (Kevin Wolf/AP Images for National Museum of the American Indian)

The Treaty of Fort Wayne, 1809—a treaty that led to war—goes on exhibit

In 1809, nearly 1,400 Potawatomi, Delaware, Miami, and Eel River Indians and their allies witnessed the Treaty of Fort Wayne, ceding 2.5 million acres of tribal lands in present-day Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio in exchange for a peace that did not last. This September, representatives of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi saw the treaty go on view at the National Museum of the American Indian. “It is an honor to come full circle to an article that our ancestors signed,” Tribal Chairman John P. Warren said. “I hope we are fulfilling their hopes and dreams by being here.”

Ningiukulu Teevee, (Canadian [Cape Dorset], b. 1963),

Smithsonian in New York and the Embassy of Canada in Washington celebrate Arctic art

As summer turns to fall, wonderful exhibitions in New York City and Washington, D.C., feature works by Inuit women from the acclaimed artists' community of Kinngait, or Cape Dorset, on Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. The Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian’s George Gustav Heye Center in New York currently hosts "Akunnittinni: A Kinngait Family Portrait," featuring works by Pitseolak Ashoona and her daughter and granddaughter. The Embassy of Canada in the United States is presenting the one-artist show "Ningiukulu Teevee: Kinngait Stories."

Categories
Archive

Page 1 of 2