Whether
in the United States or in Canada, Thanksgiving commemorates the first harvest
after a brutal winter and the friendship between the Pilgrims ( Puritans) and
the native tribes along the East Coast.
Usually the holiday is celebrated in
school cafeteria across the continent, with children in pilgrim hats and feather
headdresses sitting eating turkey, potatoes, corn and rolls on plastic trays.
Here at Battle Rock Charter School, in Southwest Colorado, literally across from
the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation and just up the road from the Navajo
Reservation, we celebrate this "Holiday of Friendship" a little
differently......
To start the week off, we had a treat when T's
parents came in and sang some songs of "thanksgiving". Her father is Navajo and
her mother is Ute.
The drum he is using is called a kettle drum,
or water drum. The water inside changes the tone depending on how he tilts it,
it also reminds us that all living things come from water and no matter how you
tilt the drum, the water is always level, a good reminder. By pressing into the
deer skin top he can can also change the tone, until he finds a pleasing sound.
You can see knobs around the rim of the drum, wrapped in the deer skin
are scared peddles from each of the mountains that surround the Navajo's land,
the rope is wrapped around the bundled peddles and lashed down to make the top
of the drum tight. Today the kettle bottom, is made out of many metals, this one
is brass, but they are also made from the steel pipes used in road construction,
which are cut and feet are welded to the bottom. Before modern time,since the
Navajo could not make the kettle pots they would trade for them through trading
post or by going down to Mexico.
A deer hide is thin compared to cow hide
and make a different sound, today to prepare the hide they are tanned, scrapped
of their hair, smoked and have charcoal rubbed into them, washed and stretched
across the drums.
Where Navajos are
known for their woven blankets and silver work, Utes are known for their pottery
and beautiful bead work. Women are expected to be modest while singing and T's
mother wrapped herself with a wonderful blanket, sitting down on her knees.
Song's are usually song in groups of four, with the drum, T's mother also
shook a rattle, made from a dried out gourd, filled with tiny rocks. Enjoy! And
come back, this is just the first posting of a very, very busy week down in
McElmo Canyon
