Winter Moon Celebration

Nisqually Tribe2010 Winter Moon Celebration

This year’s Winter Moon Ceremony was held at the SxWda?deb Culture Center, beginning in the afternoon ofDecember 21, when Mother Earth shifted back toward the sun at around 3:38 PM. About 40 people were inattendance coming at different times. Joyce McCloud and her family kind of led the ceremonial gathering withassistance from the traditional people and Cultural Committee members. Spiritual songs were sung and a largefire lit for light and warmth as the day light turned into night. Words were shared about how the cycle of lifebegins its renewal process, about how wonderful it is and how blessed we are to have the gifts from the Creator,including the things we take for granted like the rain that washes, cleanses, and refreshes Mother earth andsustains the plants and animals, especially us humans. Words were expressed about how important it is for ushumans to give thanks for such blessings and to understand and acknowledge them.

By the time darkness arrived, food was brought out and the youth and small kids especially enjoyed cooking hotdogs and marsh mellows on the open fire. Sometime the sticks would burn through and the food would go intothe fire. Fire is the first sacred gift gifted humans, when the transformation of the spiritual into the physical andhuman and natural worlds occurred. There are sacred stories that knowledgeable teachers including BruceMiller, would often tell about the gifting of fire and other critical elements of life, including the drum, whichwas the second of sacred gifts. At this night, it was enjoyable for people to sit near the huge fire and appreciatejust being there and with one another to celebrate. Allen Frazier told one story about a canoe journey in 1997when the canoe he was on was lost and tired in the northern part of Vancouver Island and all the crew had washuge bon fires under old growth fur trees to comfort them.

5 of the 7 members of the Tribal Council showed up and listened and helped. Dark Feather from Tulalip andher mom came as they have been doing for many years to support our local tribal ceremonies and functions.They both travel around the native world in Canada and the United States and brought stories and songs andteachings that were shared that night and the next day from sun rise until noon of the next days.

The next day, people begin to show up at day light. Dulcie and Allen brought the coals still red and smolderingback to full life and when about 50 people arrived the morning ceremony was started. This morning begin withmany rituals including prayers and speakers and acknowledgements. Recognition was given to two MOTHERS,who with new life inside of them, symbolic of mother earth’s renewal with germinating and dormant seedswhich will soon be bursting from the earth, were recognized and provided specials gifts and in turn bushedeveryone with cedar boroughs and with help for attendees gave each and everyone present pieces of smokedsalmon and the precious gift of water, and gifts of cedar to hang up in their homes with miniature gods eyes toprotect and bless and protect people.

Another part of the ceremony was the group reading of a special prayer put into the native language andtranslated into English by Jake Swamp, a spiritual leader from the East about 100 years ago. Each page had ashort prayer ending with the phrase at the end stating that now we are of one mind. About 20 people includingyouth took turn reading from this special ceremonial prayer. Another ritual process was the prayers withtobacco offering which allowed individuals to stand up and perform their versions of prayer words. Then afterthe individuals who wanted to express themselves in this way, the prayer tobacco was held out for everyonepresent to take a pinch and walk around the sacred fire and ask for a blessing and everyone present did this. Asthe ceremony neared its end the youth and children were recognized and thanked and provided stacks of godseyes to take to the trees on the 75 acre property and to tie them into the trees branches so to bless the culturalcenter. Children have special spiritual blessings to share with the world around them because they have justrecently arrived from the spiritual realm.

At the very end of the ceremony was a glorious blessed meal prepared with master chef Jeff Choke incoordination with Brain McCloud and the Nisqually Jail Trustee inmates, who in recent years have assisted withcommunity functions and ceremonies, which take tremendous amount of work and effort to put on successfully

at the scale we want. A special thanks to the Jail Management and staff and prisoners (‘trustees’) and BrianMcCloud for this wonderful feast. Finally, there was a giveaway to recognize some of the elders present, thestaff and helpers including the gardening program staff, the general public for their presence and witnessing andparticipation, and most of all the children and youth. For the little kids, special stuff was put out for them andthey got to go out and select something they would especially want or like.

A special feature of this 2010 Winter Moon Celebration was the youth and children, somewhere in theneighborhood of 15 teens and pre-teens, and an estimated 20 kids under 10 years of age. They will carry on theprayers and ceremonies long after most of us are gone on to the spiritual world. And, just like the native peoplewho have lived here for many thousand years.

President Obama Hosts 2nd Tribal Leaders Conference in DC

December 16 was a day of great recognition from President Obama to all the Tribes across the UnitedStates. There were 556 tribal leaders in attendance representing our tribes that day. Those of us from the NWarea were very proud that the Quinault President, Fawn Sharp, introduced President Obama. Navajo Codetalkers opened our meeting with prayer and the raising of the flags. Tribal leaders sat together in the Department of Interior for this meeting. We shared time with thepresident and his staff. After several preparatory meetings both locally and in DC we were prepared with issuesthat are so important to the continued development and growth of each of our tribes. We focused on health care, education, public safety, land into trust, SB8a certification and far moreactivities that help move our Tribes forward. The President is always respectful and listens carefully to each leader. Many of us had the opportunity tospeak and share the needs most important to our Tribe. Nisqually was heard in several meetings that day. Many of the items we had discussed last year were worked on by the Presidents staff and had made greatprogress. One of which was moving land into trust status. This is now completed at the local level and doesnot have to go through additional steps in DC. Slowly progress is being made in Indian Country due to Obamas leadership abilities to bring the Tribestogether for true Nation to Nation communication. It is a great honor to be a part of this meeting. The meetings are tough but the outcome is worth it.

Visioning Project UpdateThe Nisqually Tribal Council appointed the following Vision Committee members: Daydishka McCloud,Leslie Ferrer, Lorna Kalama, Jack McCloud, Joe Kalama, Dovey Slape, and John Simmons.Vision Committee members will serve in an advisory capacity for Tribal Council to help update the 1995Community Vision Plan. They represent the diversity of the Nisqually tribal and community members –different families and ages living in on- and off-reservation neighborhoods. Special thanks to Jack and Doveywho served on the 1993-1995 Vision Committee. They will lend continuity to the planning effort. CommitteeCoordinator Rose Henry and Vision Plan Consultant Lynn Scroggins will provide staff and contract support forthe two-year planning project.The first Vision Committee meeting was held on December 20. The group began to organize and discuss howto update the Vision Plan. Everyone but Dovey and John attended the first meeting. Vision Committeemeetings will be held on the second Mondays, 2:30 pm, in the Legal Office conference room. The next meetingis on January 10. Everyone is welcome!The updated Community Vision Plan is a Tribal Council initiative. It will reflect the current values, dreams,needs, and desires of Nisqually tribal and community members, reflecting changes experienced by the Tribesince the original plan was adopted fifteen years ago. It will be a strategic action guide for communitydevelopment in the next twenty years.We welcome your questions and suggestions. For more information, contact Lynn Scroggins at the TribalCenter, 360-456-5221 x1183 or scroggins.lynn@nisqually-nsn.gov.

Lynn ScrogginsVision Plan Consultant

FIRST BOOK GIVE-AWAY VERY SUCCESSFUL

On December 16th, as a part of the Tribe’s annual Christmas dinner, the Nisqually Tribal Library held a read-

aloud and book give-away program. On hand to assist with this were Faith Hagenhofer, the Tribe’s librarian, and

Library Assistant Mitch Kover. “It was really wonderful to engage each child in conversation on what they were

reading and enjoying reading,” said Hagenhofer at the end of the night. A key aspect of this program is allowing

children to choose which books they wanted themselves. The Tribal Library acquired the books for the purpose of

putting them into the homes of children, through a successful grant application to Seattle based non-profit, “Page

Ahead”. Approximately 120 books were given to the Tribe’s 4 -12 year old children that evening. The previous evening

about 25 books were handed out at the Head Start family dinner, and another 15 were given to the babies and toddlers

at the Daycare center on Dec 21st, when librarian Faith Hagenhofer made her weekly visit to read aloud. The library has

books enough for two additional programs, and intends to give away the next round of books at the end of February,

when they will co-sponsor a program celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Nisqually Earthquake.

Happy 1st Birthday Son!

Love that sw

eet face…

Jan. 20th

Jason Jackson, son of HenryWells, was born on Jan. 14th,1983, his great-gramaJosephine’s 76th birthday.Happy Birthday Jason!