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Carol's Place

Native American Page

In the 60's, when I was a teenager, my family and I vacationed in the South. During that vacation we stopped in Cherokee, NC. While there, we saw a play called "Unto These Hills" in an outdoor theater.
It left a deep impression on me and showed me that Indians were NOT the bad guys as always portrayed in the old movies I grew up watching.

You can read all about that story here.
The Trail of Tears
Native Americans are a proud people with a wonderful culture. We could all learn from them.
Did you ever listen to any of their legends? Did you ever think about their beliefs about their God?

Have you ever marvelled at the wonderful things they make? Or listened to the beautiful flute music?
To my knowledge, the Native American peoples throughout this country and possibly the world were the only ones who lived in harmony with nature. How did the white man live? For that matter, how does the white man live today? Just watch your local news. How often is there talk about how something became polluted? How many times do you hear about an endangered species? If a Native American killed a buffalo back in the past, he used everything possible from the animal. What did white man do? He shot the buffalo from train windows for absolutely no reason but to shoot them. What a waste. I am still learning about their culture and find it very interesting. If I remember right, some tribes would even thank the spirit of an animal they killed for food.

Come with me. Try to keep an open mind. Check out some or all of the following links to Native American sites. Read some of the legends below too. When you look at the photos and graphics, try to see the heart of the people there.
White man took great advantage of the Native American. Yet, without the Native Americans white man might not have survived here. For that, we should be thankful. I know I am.
I hope you all enjoy this page I have created in honor of all the tribes throughout the world.

As I searched the web for sites and information, I enjoyed some of the legends so much that I wanted to include some of them here. Following each legend is a link to the page where I found it.

~A Native American Legend~
Once upon a time, the colors of the world started to quarrel: all claimed that they were the best, the most important,the most useful, the favorite.

GREEN said: "Clearly I am the most important. I am the sign of life and of hope. I was chosen for grass, trees,leaves - without me, all animals would die. Look over the countryside and you will see that I am in the majority."
BLUE interrupted: "You only think about the earth, but consider the sky and the sea. It is the water that is the basis of life and drawn up by the clouds from the deep sea.The sky gives space and peace and serenity. Without my peace, you would all be nothing."
YELLOW chuckled: "You are all so serious. I bring laughter, gaiety and warmth into the world. The sun is yellow, the moon is yellow, the stars are yellow. Every time you look at a sunflower, the whole world starts to smile. Without me, there would be no fun."
ORANGE started next to blow her trumpet: "I am the color of health and strength. I may be scarce, but I am precious for I serve the needs of human life.I carry the most vitamins. Think of carrots, pumpkins, oranges, mangoes,and paw paws. I don't hang around all the time, but when I fill the sky at sunrise or sunset, my beauty is so striking that no one gives another thought to any of you."
RED could stand it no longer. He shouted out: "I am the ruler of all of you.I am blood - life's blood! I am the color of danger and of bravery. I am willing to fight for a cause. I bring fire into the blood. Without me, the earth would be as empty as the moon. I am the color of passion and of love, the red rose, the poinsettia and the poppy."
PURPLE rose up to his full height. He was very tall and spoke with great pomp: "I am the color of royalty and power. Kings, chiefs and bishops have always chosen me for I am the sign of authority and wisdom. People do not question me - they listen and obey."
Finally, INDIGO spoke, much more quietly than all the others, but with just as much determination: "Think of me. I am the color of silence. You hardly notice me, but without me you all become superficial. I represent thought and reflection, twilight and deep water. You need me for balance and contrast, for prayer and inner peace."
And so the colors went on boasting, each convinced of his or her own superiority.Their quarreling became louder and louder. Suddenly there was a startling flash of bright lightening, thunder rolled and boomed. Rain started to pour down relentlessly. The colors crouched down in fear, drawing close to one another for comfort.
In the midst of the clamor, Rain began to speak: "You foolish colors, fighting amongst yourselves, each trying to dominate the rest. Don't you know that you were each made for a special purpose, unique and different? Join hands with one another and come to me."
Doing as they were told, the colors united and joined hands. The Rain continued: "From now on, when it rains, each of you will stretch across the sky in a great bow of color as a reminder that you can all live in peace. The rainbow is a sign of hope for tomorrow."
And so, whenever a good rain washes the world, and a rainbow appears in the sky,let us remember to...appreciate one another.

Native American III

The Great White Buffalo
In the Autumn time, the harvest was coming to the end and the meat strips were drying in the sun. Our lodges were ready for winter and soon we would have our great feast. Times were good, buffalo were as plenty as the stars in the sky. The old medicine man came down from his latest vision quest in the Black Hills. It was traditional for him to tell stories as everyone sat by the fire. This time instead of mischievous spirits and wisdon of the bear, he told of the future. He told of a future with no buffalo. How could this be? I've stood in the Black Hills myself, where I could not see the green grass, the entir valley was black with buffalo to the horizon. This is what the buffalo are, herds of plenty. The great spirit does not mind out taking a few, we give our thanks, we only take what we need and use all we take-it is nature's way. The old man is crazy.
He went on with his crazy talk. He said the four colors of man, white, black, yellow and red would come together. Now, everyone thought him mad. What other men? We are the men, us the Lakota, sure there are others, Iroquois, Creek, Burnt-leg People-bud (Sious). Cut-finger People(Cherokee).But we are all the same color, the color of Grandmother Earth in the banks of her rivers,the color of the rising sun. He said, when the end time was near a white buffalo would be born amongst the few remaining.Again, this was crazy talk. The Great White Buffalo is of legends,and only appears every hundred winters. To think it could be born to just a few.What kind of vision is this? It doesn't make sense -who will listen to this crazy man again?
On August 20, 1994 a white buffalo she-calf was born near Janisville, Wisconsin, again. Native Americans from all over the country have been making pilgrimages to the site leaving presents, gifts and totems, for "miracle".

Visio n of a New Dawn-Frankie's Domain

How Chipmunk Got Her Stripes

There was an old woman who had a granddaughter. Her name was Chipmunk. One day she told her grandma, "I'm hungry. Give me something to eat. " Her grandma gave her camas, but she didn't want that. She didn't want dried meat or roots.
She saw a service berry bush, so she ran to that and climbed up. She had a little bag to put the berries in. The berries were really ripe, so she picked and ate and picked and ate. She put some in the bag.
All of a sudden she heard someone down by the bush. It was Dirty Face, an animal. Dirty Face asked her if her family had prayed for the berries to be so ripe. Chipmunk said she didn't have any family. Dirty Face said, "Come here and I will be your family."
Chipmunk made Dirty Face close his eyes first and then she jumped down. Just as she was getting on the ground Dirty Face was going to catch her, but he just scratched her back. He ate her skin under his fingernails. It was so good he was going to kill her and eat her.
Chipmunk ran to her grandma. "Hide me, hide me. Run run!" she cried. Grandma bid her in the back of the teepee where the people squat.
Meadowlark told Dirty Face where Chipmunk was.
He went in the teepee and killed her. He put Chipmunk on the fire and grandma started to cry.
He let grandma have the hind legs, the forelegs, the backbone and the head. He put the heart in his mouth and ate it. Grandma put the backbone, the legs, and the head together, but there was no heart. She went out and she looked around and there she saw the kinni-ki-nic berry. She put it in for a heart. Chipmunk came alive.
The stripes are where the monkey scratched her back, and her heart really is red and round like a kinni-ki-nic berry.(Inland Northwest - Spokane) As told by Margaret Adams. Margaret Adams was an Upper Spokane, who moved with her family to the Coeur d'Alene Reservation according to the Agreement of 1887.
from Children of the Sun - A History of the Spokane Indians by David C. Wynecoop,Wellpinit, Washington © 1969

Native American Medicine Bags

The Legend of the Dream Catcher
Long ago when the world was young, an old Lokota Spiritual Leader was on a high mountian and had a vision.In his vision, Iktomi, the great trickster and teacher of wisdom, appeared in the form of a spider. Ikotomi spoke to him in a sacred language. As he spoke, Iktomi the spider picked up the elder's willow hoop which had feathers, horsehair, beads and offerings on it, and began to spin a web.
He spoke to the elder about the cycles of life, how we began our lives as infants, move through childhood and on to adulthood. Finally we come to old age where we must be taken care of as infants, completing the cycle."But" I ktomi said as he continued to spin his webm" in each time of life there are many forces, some good and some bad. If you listen to the good forces, they will steer you in the right direction. But, if you listen to the bad forces, they'll steer you in the wrong direction and may hurt you. So these forces can help.or can interfere with the harmoney of Nature. While the spider spoke, he continued to weave his web.
When Iktomi finished speaking, he gave the elder the web and said, "The web is a perfect circle with a hole in the center. Use the web to help your people reach their goals, making good use of their ideas, dreams and visions. If you believe in the Great Spirit, the web will catch your good ideas and the bad ones will go through the hole."
The elder passed on his vision to the people and now many Indian people hang a dream catcher above their bed to sift their dreams and visions. The good is captured in the web of life and carried with the people, but the evil in their derams drops through the hole to the center of the web and are no longer a part of their lives, It's said that the dream catcher holds the destiny of the future.
Dream Catcher Legend
from
Welcome to My World

Below are links to some wonderful Native American Pages. If you have some time, please don't hesitate to take a look at them. They are full of wonderful pictures, legends and crafts. I hope to add more in the future.
Teach Us
This page has wonderful pictures and legends. The whole site it wonderful.
ThunderRolls
Great Flood
These links are two pages from the same site. The first link is to the first page of the site. It takes you through to many wonderful pages. The second page is one of the legends that really amazed me. I've heard this story from other cultures besides my Christian one. Make me wonder about things.

Swifteagle
This page has lots and lots of links to Native American pages.

Aadizookaang-Traditional Stories, Legends & Myths
This page has many stories from various Native American tribal areas. And it leads to many other pages with lots of things to tell.

Hummingbird & Cougar Spirit Homepage
This page has some Native American legends.

First American Forefathers-Famous Chieftains
This site has an entire page about the many Chiefs we all heard about in history.

Native American Recipes
This site has lots of Native American Recipes. My favorite Native American foods so far are Fry Bread and Buffalo.

Webrings
This links to a page full of many Native American Webrings. You can really investigate Native American culture, legends, arts, crafts and history with all of the site available through any one of these Webrings.

Windwalker-Elan Michaels
Here you will find some MIDIs of Native American music. I got the MIDI you are currently listening to from here.

I took many of my graphics from Silverhawks Native American Graphics. Please check on my graphics links page for all of the others graphics sites from which I took graphics.

I am proud to display these awards that I received for this page.

Here are the links to my other pages.
Carol's Place Homepage Carol's Place of Inspiration
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Carol's Place Recipes page 2 Carol's Place Art Carol's Place Serenity Prayer Carol's Place The 12 Steps Graphics Links Page

Here are the links to my Holiday pages. Carol's Place Christmas Page Carol's Place Easter Page Carol's Place Halloween Page Carol's Place Thanksgiving Page Carol's Place New Year Page

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