Eric Lucas

Eric Lucashttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/about/contributors/eric-lucasEric Lucashttps://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/north-america/united-states/a-new-era-for-indigenous-sitesAll across the country, Native American tribes are taking part in the management of their ancestral lands and debunking myths about their history. Here are six sites where visitors can experience and understand indigenous cultures in new ways. 2022-12-23T11:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/north-america/united-states/a-new-era-for-indigenous-siteshttps://www.worldnomads.com“To us, this is sacred ground.” Alice Haldane and I are standing beside a broad gravel beach looking north into one of the world’s most famous fiords. <a href="/explore/north-america/united-states/a-local-park-rangers-guide-to-exploring-southeast-alaska">Glacier Bay</a> is not just sacred, it’s mythical, embodying a global image of Alaska’s snow-crowned peaks whose slopes spill rivers of ice to the sea. Like more than a million travelers who come here every year, I’m an outside visitor. But to Haldane this is her ancestral homeland, the territory of the Huna Tlingit people. It’s also one of the world’s best-known national parks, “discovered” and first described by George Vancouver in 1795, popularized by famed naturalist John Muir in 1879 and as a result added to America’s parkland inventory in 1925. Its awesome scenery and active glaciers first drew travelers aboard cruise ships in the late 19th century, and even though the fiord’s glaciers have retreated 65 miles since 1795, it remains one of the most-sought cruise destinations on Earth. Now, under 21st century federal policy, its 3.2 million acres are the province of both the National Park Service and its original inhabitants, the Huna. That’s why Haldane is stationed today at GBNP’s visitor center complex to greet visitors who wander the beachfront path and discover the new Huna Tribal House, built as a joint NPS/Tlingit project in 2016. Visitors can see beautiful totems and wall panels, enjoy chant and dance performances, and learn the difference between the “scientific” version of the bay’s glacial history, and the Huna version. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/usa/indigenous-renaissance/huna-longhouse-opening-new.jpg" alt="Interior of the Huna Tribal Longhouse in Glacier Bay National Park during the dedication ceremony." /> <figcaption>Tribal leaders experience the interior of the Huna Tribal Longhouse during the dedication ceremony. Image credit: NPS</figcaption></figure> When Vancouver sailed by in 1795, there was no bay: tidewater glaciers had covered it entirely during the previous century as a result of the Little Ice Age (which brought cold-weather famine across much of Earth’s northern latitudes). The Tlingit version of what happened is a bit different. “Well, one day a young girl – Kaasteen – got mad at the glacier and insulted it,” Haldane relates the Huna oral history tale. “Angry, the glacier advanced, and we had to leave.” One must respect mother Nature, is the obvious point of the tale. “But we always knew we would come back,” Haldane adds. They did so on Aug 25, 2016 – the park service centennial – when the new longhouse was dedicated with a ceremony that included the arrival of many Huna leaders in specially carved traditional cedar canoes. <ul> <li><a href="#renaissance">America’s indigenous renaissance</a></li> <li><a href="#stereotypes">Breaking stereotypes and bringing people together</a></li> <li><a href="#cooperation">A new spirit of cooperation at Indigenous sites around the country</a></li> </ul> <h2 id="renaissance">America’s indigenous renaissance</h2> Marvelous as it is to witness the newfound spirit in which America’s indigenous peoples and its national government are collaborating at hundreds of parks and other preserves, one need not trek to famous landscapes to experience the Native American renaissance. Across the country, the old Native theme – “Yes, we’re still here” – has become, in many places: “We’re on a roll.” Cash from hundreds of Indian casinos has been put to use funding scholarships, interpretive centers, art programs, wellness programs, and land conservation. A few years ago, when a development proposal was going to surround Snoqualmie Falls, east of Seattle, with suburbs, the Snoqualmie and Muckleshoot Tribes dipped into their capital reserves and bought the land and famous Salish Falls Lodge overlooking the falls, thus protecting a natural feature that’s been sacred to them for centuries. Many futurists have declared the 21st century the “Indigenous Century,” and the breathtaking array of <a href="/responsible-travel/make-a-difference/people/indigenous-tourism-companies">Native owned, managed, or co-managed attractions</a> across North America is one of the most conspicuous facets of that potential. Some are major commercial businesses, such as the lodge. Some are just one-off enterprises where simple human encounters erase preconceived notions. <h2 id="stereotypes">Breaking stereotypes and bringing people together</h2> The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center’s Indian Pueblo Kitchen in <a href="/explore/north-america/united-states/hiking-hot-air-balloons-history-in-new-mexico">Albuquerque, New Mexico</a> is perhaps the best place in the United States to taste indigenous cuisine – and what cultural facet is more important than food in human society? But while some dishes are totally “authentic,” such as the restaurant’s signature Pueblo feast day stew and blue corn enchiladas, some reflect the colorful nature of modern indigenous life, such as the fried Kool-Aid pickles crusted in blue corn with salsa de arbol – about as all-embracing a dish as you are likely to find anywhere. “One of our missions is to help people unlearn the worst Native stereotypes,” says IPCC chief operating officer Monique Fragua, a member of the Jemez Pueblo. “Food brings people together, and believe me, at our Pueblo, it’s not all corn and beans, however important they are.” One could apply this idea to much of the indigenous renaissance. <h2 id="cooperation">A new spirit of cooperation at indigenous sites around the country</h2> • At Grand Canyon National Park, federal officials recently granted a request by the canyon’s Native inhabitants to change the name of a popular resting spot on the Bright Angel Trail, from Indian Garden to Havasupai Gardens. The change is meant to make modest amends for the park service’s forced removal of the indigenous inhabitants from the canyon rim after the park was established in 1928 – and remind us that, long before the landscape became the “property” of the American people, it was the homeland of human beings who had lived, loved and thrived here since time immemorial. • At Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, one of America’s newest preserves is being managed jointly by NPS and the Bears Ears Commission that includes five nearby tribes – the Ute, Zuni, Hopi and Navajo peoples to whom these peaks, plateaus and hidden canyons are sacred territory, holding thousands of ancient dwellings, petroglyphs, and artifacts. Exactly what shape co-management will take is still being determined – but the point is sharing the decisions among the government and the region’s indigenous inhabitants. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/usa/indigenous-renaissance/bears-ears.jpg" alt="Valley of the Gods in Bears Ears National Monument." /> <figcaption>Valley of the Gods in Bears Ears National Monument. Image credit: Getty Images / Don Miller</figcaption></figure> • At Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, NPS officials regularly consult Native Hawaiian community leaders to determine how to manage and interpret the Big Island’s famous eruptions. While to Western geologists the outflows from Mauna Loa and Kilaue’a are lava, to Hawaiians they are the living manifestation of the goddess Pelehonuamea, commonly known as Pele. Mauna Loa’s recent eruption, first in almost four decades, was a sacred occasion for Hawaiian cultural practitioners, many of whom brought offerings of ti leaves, breadfruit, bananas and more for Pele’s new appearance. As with many other issues, the park honors such offerings but restricts activity within the Kilauea caldera itself. “It’s important to remember that many Native Hawaiians of the past, present and future have deep ties and lineal connection to the volcanic landscapes and natural and cultural resources protected by the park, long before Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park was established,” points out park superintendent Rhonda Loh. “Since Pele embodies elements that can be hazardous to humans, you could say she sets her own boundaries and the park enforces them.” <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/usa/indigenous-renaissance/mauna-loa-eruption.jpg" alt="Mauna Loa volcano spews lava into the sky." /> <figcaption>Mauna Loa spews lava into the sky during its recent eruption. Image credit: Getty Images / Douglas Peebles</figcaption></figure> • At Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado, visitors today learn another myth-busting story from the park’s Native Puebloan interpreters. A half-century ago, anthropologists and park officials told visitors that the inhabitants of the park’s awesome cliff dwellings had simply vanished six centuries ago. These mysterious people were called the “Anasazi.” In reality, the descendants of what are now known as Ancestral Puebloans are today’s inhabitants of New Mexico’s 19 thriving Indian Pueblos, from Taos to Santa Clara – the tribes represented at Albuquerque’s IPCC. “Anasazi” is a pejorative epithet from the Navajo language that white ethnologists mistakenly adopted and have now discarded. And “Navajo” is a Puebloan word that somehow replaced “Diné,” the original term that, like most indigenous peoples’ names, simply means “the people.” These distinctions are infinite and infinitely meaningful, and the federal co-stewardship policy endeavors to incorporate them into almost every property under federal management. While some places are just starting, destinations such as Glacier Bay have been pursuing this for years. GBNP, in fact, won a prize for its program in 2018. Most of the visitors who sail into those famous waters benefit from co-stewardship without ever knowing it has a name, title, and proclamations behind it. Most ships that enter the bay now have Native interpreters onboard, a practice begun under the park’s formal pursuit of co-stewardship. As at every park and preserve, the sharing of cultures enhances understanding and enjoyment for all involved. When I tell Alice Haldane that, on my cruise ship the day before, the adventurous among us had plunged into the frigid waters in a colorful ritual, she shivered and declared me crazy. “But, you know, long-ago Tlingit warriors would steel themselves for battle in war canoes by standing in the ocean up to their necks for hours,” she says. “I guess you took a step on the warrior’s path.” Not my goal. But an immersive experience is my goal when I travel, and the indigenous renaissance makes that far more possible today.NPS 0 NPS Huna tribal leaders arrive at the dedication of ther longhouse in traditional cedar canoes.

https://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/north-america/united-states/native-american-journeysWith nearly 600 different tribes in the US, indigenous traditions and cultural practices here are as diverse as on any continent.2019-05-21T10:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/north-america/united-states/native-american-journeyshttps://www.worldnomads.com<ul> <li><a href="#history">Native American history and culture </a></li> <li><a href="#international">International influences</a></li> <li><a href="#where">Where to experience Indigenous culture in the US</a></li> </ul> “Want to give it a try?” Haida carver Harley Holter hands me a small tool and indicates the section of a massive yellow cedar log I can attempt to shape. I’m in the tiny village of Kasaan, on <a href="/explore/north-america/united-states/a-local-park-rangers-guide-to-exploring-southeast-alaska">Southeast Alaska</a>’s beautiful Prince of Wales Island, admiring a totem pole local artisans are creating for the village hall. Chalk marks delineate the figures that will adorn the pole – Raven, the Trickster; Thunderbird, king of the skies; Bear, monarch of the woods. In between the figures, open planes of the log are being detailed with thousands of scallop marks that create a lovely stipple pattern. That’s my task, and I press the adze blade to the wood to encounter one of life’s most persistent lessons: It’s not as easy as it looks. My scallops are rough, misshapen, uneven. Holter raises his eyebrows and hands me some sandpaper. “Maybe you could just smooth this part down here,” he suggests, grinning. A few months later and two thousands miles away, chef Karin Snowflower Martinez has her cooking grill set up in a small courtyard at Taos Pueblo, offering a “pre-colonial” meal of blue cornmeal pies with venison, corn, and red chile filling. It represents <a href="/explore/north-america/united-states/new-mexico-road-trip">the foods New Mexico’s Pueblo peoples enjoyed</a> before the Spanish arrived four centuries ago – and while the concept is intriguing, the pies are just plain delicious. I tell Karin so, and she flashes a wide smile beneath ebony hair and wide cheekbones that reflect her quintessentially Taoseño makeup, Native American and Hispanic. “Totally pre-colonial?” I ask. She laughs. “Well, OK, there might be a bit of grass-fed beef. And I’m not frying them in bear fat!” While the broad outlines of these two episodes seem simple – ethnic food and regional art – the details illustrate the deep complexities and delights of exploring America’s indigenous cultures. There are more than 600 distinct aboriginal groups in North America; the United States government recognizes 573 different tribes, with at least 3 million members (though Native leaders say their numbers are woefully undercounted). Their members, histories, traditions and cultural practices are as diverse as on any continent, and visiting their homelands reveals many fascinating realities: <ul> <li>Native peoples are still here and, in many cases, thriving in the 21st century.</li> <li>They treasure their traditions, but are fully engaged in modern life – Martinez is on Twitter, and Kasaan has its own website. Arctic Alaska peoples in remote village have been using Internet communications for decades to learn and thus preserve their traditional language. </li> <li>Native enclaves are autonomous nations within the United States. They govern themselves, set their own rules, choose their own leaders, and practice politics as complicated as any anywhere.</li> </ul> <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/usa/native-american/tlingit.jpg" /><figcaption>Tlingit Keex Kwaan tribe, Juneau, Alaska. Image credit: Getty Images / Washington Post</figcaption></figure> <h2 id="history">Native American history and culture</h2> Indigenous people welcome visitors, but often have sacred ceremonies and traditions that are reserved for tribal members. Some events are invitation-only. Their traditions often differ from modern standards, and they ask that visitors observe the differences – no photography or videography, for instance, in many locations such as some New Mexico pueblos. Yes, that means no Instagram; if you must digitally document every moment of your travel, I suggest Times Square. No liquor is allowed on the Yakama Nation in Washington State; if you must have a drink with dinner, there are many places to do so outside Yakama boundaries. As well, almost every Native backstory includes colonial oppression or genocide, whether deliberate or less overt, such as the smallpox that nearly wiped out the Haida and the alcohol that continues to decimate Native life. Most Native locales include monuments to this dark past, and while tribal members do not dwell on them, it’s ungracious for visitors to blithely ignore them. Just outside the entrance to Taos Pueblo, for example, is a cemetery on the site of a church that American cavalry troops destroyed in 1847, with about 150 Taoseños inside. Their histories also include victories little known to modern Americans – the Lakota (Sioux) 1876 rout of Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn was only the most conspicuous such event. The Tlingit people of Sitka, Alaska, demolished Russian forces in 1802 and drove the Europeans from Southeast Alaska for two years. And in New Mexico, the Pueblo peoples revolted against Spanish rule in 1680, driving the conquistadores from the Rio Grande for more than a decade. To this day, Puebloan peoples call this “the first American revolution.” <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/usa/native-american/powwow.jpg" /><figcaption>Dancers compete at an annual powwow to honor veterans from the Sioux Lakota tribe. Photo credit: Getty Images / Andrew Lichtenstein, Corbis</figcaption></figure> <h2 id="international">International influences</h2> “Tradition” is a complex concept that, in many cases, includes ideas and activities indigenous peoples have adopted from Europeans. Aleut dancers performing traditional drum chants sometimes break into Cossack dances, reflecting the Russian heritage in Alaska that dates back three centuries. After they were driven from North Carolina to Oklahoma along the bitterly cruel Trail of Tears in 1838, the Cherokee established a new homeland and became active livestock growers – helping establish the modern American cattle industry. Not coincidentally, <a href="/explore/north-america/united-states/keeping-indigenous-traditions-alive-at-crow-fair">Indian rodeo</a> is a tougher, rawer, and less fancified version of the Anglo ranch sport; the White Swan Yakama Nation rodeo each June is a quintessential example in which I marveled at the “Squaw Race” in which female riders roared around the track at full gallop – bareback. Athabaskan villagers in Interior Alaska spend the long winters fiddling – literally, putting their own stamp on the music brought by Scottish traders and trappers in the 19th century. And the various iterations of bannock, aka Indian fry bread, Navajo tacos, and so on, use a grain imported from Europe five centuries ago, wheat. When you pull off the highway in the shadow of Shiprock, NM, one of the Navajo’s sacred landmarks, to buy a Navajo taco made with fry bread, barbecued lamb, and hot sauce, it's almost totally post-colonial – only the chiles are pre-contact – but it is wildly savory, unique, and, in this case, photo-worthy. <h2 id="where">Where to experience Indigenous culture in the US</h2> There are hundreds, if not thousands, of venues to experience Native culture in the United States – almost all of them west of the Mississippi. Here are just a few: <h3>Taos Pueblo, New Mexico</h3> This famous village of high-rise adobe “condos” is a World Heritage Site, and vies with Hopi villages as the oldest continuously inhabited structures in North America. The pueblo is sometimes closed for tribal ceremonies; check before you go. New Mexico’s 18 other pueblos are all intriguing, and all different. Learn more <a href="https://www.indianpueblo.org/">here</a>. <h3>Tahlequah, Oklahoma</h3> The capital of the 350,000-strong Cherokee Nation is in Eastern Oklahoma; its nearby Cherokee Heritage Center offers visitors insight into traditional lifestyles, and the chance to learn how to make cornhusk dolls, or hunt for arrowheads. <h3>Pine Ridge, South Dakota</h3> One of the largest Native enclaves in the United States embraces thousands of square miles of the High Plains that famed Oglala leader Crazy Horse loved and tried to defend. The area’s Chamber of Commerce near Kyle serves as a visitor center; the Wounded Knee Monument and its heartbreaking cemetery mark the last major Indian massacre in 1890. The Red Cloud Indian School, north of Pine Ridge, has a sensational art gallery where you can admire – and buy – Lakota art. In the heart of the Black Hills, the Crazy Horse Memorial is still decades away from completion, and poses innumerable philosophical questions: Would Crazy Horse himself have wanted a mountain carved into a statue? If he’s such a worthy Native figure, why is the monument not on Indian land – and being made by a Caucasian American family? Lakota people themselves differ widely on the memorial; best to go see for yourself. <h3>Canyon de Chelly, Arizona</h3> This national monument in northeast Arizona protects the hidden enclave in which a Navajo band attempted to escape their people’s own Trail of Tears, the 1864 Long Walk. Today, Navajo Nation property, it's home to about 40 Navajo families and can be visited only by taking tours operated by Navajo guides. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/usa/native-american/spider-rock.jpg" /><figcaption>Spider Rock formation, Canyon de Chelly. Photo credit: Getty Images / Mladen Antonov</figcaption></figure> <h3>Southeast Alaska</h3> The Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian peoples who have lived here for thousands of years today populate dozens of remote villages reachable only by boat or floatplane. <a href="/explore/north-america/united-states/behind-the-wheel-of-an-alaskan-whale-watching-boat">Juneau</a>’s Sealaska Heritage Institute is a dynamic nonprofit organization representing the region’s three indigenous peoples, helping their cultures thrive and grow – and offering visitors the chance to learn about them. The Soboleff Center in downtown Juneau features hand-carved posts, beams and longhouse panels that have more than a half-million adze marks, all of them better than I managed to achieve in Kasaan.Getty Images / CharlotteMB 0