NIC Round Dance

Native American Heritage Week

NIC brings together Coeur d’Alene tribe and neighboring tribes for round dance

Rebecca Pratt Magazine Editor

NIC celebrated Native American Heritage Week from April 2-7. Th e celebration off ered guest speakers many opportunities to speak on topics ranging from the function of sovereignty to environmental concerns. On April 7, Heritage Week was capped off with a round dance held in Christianson Gymnasium. Th e event saw guests from both the tribal community and the Coeur d’Alene community gathering to participate in the traditional dance, as well as native craft s, food, and resource tables. All proceeds from food sales went to support the Che’n shish Scholarship for Native American Students. "Th ere's really no spiritual or sacred connection to it. It’s really an opportunity for people from lots of diff erent tribes to see each other, reunite, friendship, that type of thing," said Victor Begay, Director of Native American Studies at North Idaho College. Begay emphasized the special importance of the round dance and festivities at NIC, as the campus was built on the “ancestral homelands of the Coeur d’Alene tribe.” He said the event was a celebratory event meant to encourage relationships between students and tribe members, tribe members with one another and to help build a strong foundation for cultural support with the local tribe. Caj Matheson, Coeur d’Alene tribe member and storyteller, said the event was less a solemn ceremony and more a way to get together and have fun. NIC’s American Indian Student adviser Evanlene Melting Tallow agreed that the event was an opportunity to grow a sense of community around campus for Native American students and faculty. Melting Tallow said that she organized the event with friendship in mind as a theme and goal. “It's telling the stories of past ancestors who have coyote stories and so on [that helps us build those relationships],” Melting Tallow said. All craft s and dances represented a portion of the tribe’s culture. Native American-style tacos were served, and dreamcatcher craft s were provided for children and families. Singers and musicians from Rose Creek and Otter Creek were featured in the middle of the gymnasium, sharing drum circles and oral tradition. Melting Tallow said

the inclusion of tribe members from all over was intentional, to allow more perspectives on tribal traditions and history. Matheson shared stories from the Coeur d’Alene tribe. Michael George from the Rose Creek Singers and Roger Moses from Otter Creek also performed. Th e diversity in the tribal attendance and in student participation was an outcome the organizers hoped for, to stir things up this Heritage Week. “It’s important for NIC to support these kinds of events because it shows the native communities that NIC does support, care about, and recognize their unique relationships,” Begay said. “As a tribe we'd probably be doing these things no matter what, but this is an opportunity to share our culture with other people,” Matheson said. “A lot of times people look at Native American people and culture as something that happened in the past, and really it's still happening.”

Left: Dave Melting Tallow leads a group of hand drum singers at NIC’s inaugural round dance as part of American Indian Heritage week. Right: A tribal member in traditional dress dances with his partner around the drum circle during the round dance.

Photos and additional reporting by Paul Celeri