Native News Network

The deaths of three people after a sweat-lodge ceremony near Sedona are bringing new attention to complaints that sacred Native American ceremonies are being commercialized and demeaned by the spiritual-growth movement.  Full story at: http://tinyurl.com/yjx5hex

An exhibition opening this fall at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian explores the identity of people whose ancestry is both African American and Native American. Full story at: http://www.americanindiannews.org/2009/10/americans-with-native-and-black-anc...

A Karuk Story

Ikxaréeyav were the spirit people who in the very beginning created the world. First they made the fishes in the ocean; then they made the animals on land; and last of all they made man. They had, however, given all the animals the same amount of power and rank.

So they went to the man they had created and said: "Make as many bows and arrows as there are animals. I am going to call all the animals together, and you are to give the longest bow and arrow to the one that should have the most power, and the shortest to the one that should have the least.

So the man set to working making bows and arrows, and at the end of nine days he had turned out enough for all the animals created by Ikxaréeyav. Then Ikxaréeyav called them all together and told them that the man would come to them the next day with the bows, and the one to whom they gave the longest bow would have the most power.

Each animal wanted to be the one with the longest bow. Coyote schemed to outwit the others by staying awake all night. He thought that if he was the first to meet the man in the morning, he could get the longest bow for himself. So when the animals went to sleep, Coyote lay down and only pretended to sleep. About midnight, however, he began to feel genuinely sleepy. He got up and walked around, scratching his eyes to keep them open. As time passed, he grew sleepier. He resorted to skipping and jumping to keep himself awake, but the noise waked some of the other animals, so he had to stop.

About the time the morning star came up, Coyote was so sleepy that he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. So he took two little sticks and sharpened them at the ends, and with these he propped his eyelids open. Then he felt it was safe to sleep, since his eyes could watch the morning star rising. He planned to get up before the star was completely up, for by then all the other animals would be stirring. In a few minutes, however, Coyote was fast asleep. The sharp sticks pierced right through his eyelids, and instead of keeping them open, they pinned them shut. When the rest of the animals got up. Coyote lay in a deep sleep.

The animals went to meet the man and receive their bows. Cougar was given the longest, Bear the next-longest, and so on until the next-to-last bow was given to Frog.

The shortest bow was still left, however.

"What animal have I missed? the man cried.

The animals began to look about, and soon spied Coyote lying fast asleep. They all laughed heartily and danced around him. Then they led him to the man, for Coyote's eyes were pinned together by the sticks and he could not see. The man pulled the sticks out of Coyote's eyes and gave him the shortest bow. The animals laughed so hard that the man began to pity Coyote, who would be the weakest of them all. So he prayed to Ikxaréeyav about Coyote, and Ikxaréeyav responded by giving Coyote more cunning than any other animal. And that's how Coyote got his cunning.

Never bet against Katímeen boys! Milo Tripp, David Arwood II (Two Sticks) and I take the pot.

Indigenous Peoples Week event: Gambling Demonstration at Humboldt State University Noon-1 (somewhere near the quad due to rain, just listen for the drumming)