Tribal Voices: Umatillas Reassert Tribal History, Culture ; Use of Its Language a Key to Tribal Revival
The Columbian › October 18, 2004
Linked as:
Summary
A half-dozen Umatilla Indians went camping and huckleberry picking in the Mount Adams Wilderness northeast of Vancouver recently and found something far more important.
On ancient tribal berry-picking grounds in the Surprise Lakes area north of Sawtooth Mountain, they rediscovered the language of their grandparents. And they delved into ancient tribal arts such as basketry, porcupine-quill weaving and medicine-wheel making. All the while, they spoke the Umatilla language as much as possible.See the full content of this document
Extract
Tribal Voices: Umatillas Reassert Tribal History, Culture ; Use of Its Language a Key to Tribal Revival
The foray was part of the Umatillas' $1 million campaign to use the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial and the tribe's own sesquicentennial celebration of the Isaac Stevens Treaty as catalysts to reassert tribal history and culture.
As part of the campaign, members of the tribe are offering a series of camps to teach the language, which is lost to all b...See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
