Importance of past reflected in Native American presentation

Samhain -- or Halloween -- is when the veil between the worlds of the past and present is thinnest. It is the time when we remember ancestors and others who lived before us. But for Marjorie Waheneka, every day is a remembrance of those who went before and the way they lived.

Waheneka is a woman of the Long House, where she practices the traditional Natitayt way and teaches others who wish to learn it. She is the Naami Nishaycht Living History Coordinator at the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute in Pendleton, Ore., and she will be speaking at Aurora University on Wednesday about the challenges of adhering to traditional beliefs in a contemporary world.

I asked Waheneka what inspired her to preserve her heritage in this way. She told me how she was raised in the traditional manner, including a baby board until she learned how to walk, and was "entrusted with the traditional knowledge from the family elders."

She was then uprooted to a Seattle suburb for a time, but went back to sit at the feet of her grandmother and other elder women as they worked at tanning hides, making buckskin, doing beadwork, canning fruits, drying meats and salmon, digging and cleaning roots, etc. It is now her goal to help the young people of the tribe understand the importance of their heritage.

But this is not easy task. When I asked about her greatest challenge, she answered that it was "modern technology -- computers, Ipods, laptops, game stations, cell phones and television." It is hard to compete for the attention of young people.

I asked her to tell me the greatest lesson people can learn from the old ways and she responded, "Respect -- for self and family, the community and Mother Nature." She also noted that through hardships and suffering, her people adapted and survived. They met the many challenges of westward expansion that faced them head-on. I thought it was generous of her to talk about the genocide that our European ancestors attempted in terms of "challenge." She said, "As Indian people we have survived and still maintain today our language, foods, religion, and practice our Treaty rights. We have discovered places where we can identify items dating back 10,000 years ... many of the Indian people can identify their culture and heritage to 10,000 years ago."

Their cultures are older than we can imagine -- and I say cultures because there are so many different tribes who once inhabited this continent. They were/are part of this land in a way we cannot even comprehend. Our ancestors could take most of the land from the indigenous people and decimate their populations, but could not stop them from being who they were. Thankfully, remnants of some tribes still survive to pass their language and heritage on to future generations.

Marjorie Waheneka's presentation at 7 p.m. on Wednesday is part of Aurora University's Arts and Ideas Series. If you go to www.aurora.edu and click on "visitors and the community," you can get a full listing of events in this series, as well as special events at the Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures on AU's campus. The center has a commitment to bringing American Indian speakers to the Fox Valley.

As you think this week about the past and your own ancestors, think also of the people who inhabited this land in the millennia before. Wish them strength and blessings as their ways continue to endure.