Culture class
Native Heritage Week celebrated
Megan Strickland
Gwen Seeley scrapes hair from a deer hide at a station at the People’s Center for Native Heritage Week.
Students play “Scream and Run," a game meant to build endurance.
Megan Strickland
Students eat jerky smoked by volunteers at the People’s Center in a demonstration for Native Heritage Week.
Megan Strickland
Students play double ball at the People’s Center for Native Heritage Week.
Megan Strickland
Children laugh as their sticks tangle in a game of double ball at the People’s Center.
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
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Running a blade across a reeking, days old deer hide to slowly remove it of hair might not seem like the most appealing thing to do after biting off a piece of freshly made jerky, but fifth grade Polson Middle School students were begging to stay at an education station manned by Tribal Health worker Elliott Adams on Thursday.
“You can come back at the end of the day if you want,” Adams told the children, who were invited to the People’s Center in Pablo for Native American Awareness Week. Adams demonstrated how to tan a hide, which was taught to him by his aunts. Nearby children learned about preserving meat, how to make fry bread, the process of creating rawhide pouches, the Salish and Kootenai language and the fun of native games.
“We have the different stations, sharing with the public schools the culture, knowledge and history of the three tribes that live here,” program manager Lucy Vanderburg said. “We see all these kids, especially the tribal members, who will see the meat drying on the rack and they will get all excited because they’ve seen their family do that. It’s rewarding to see the interest that they have about our culture.”
One of the most popular stations for the more than 200 children that experienced the program is the games station.
“If you hear a bunch of kids screaming, don’t worry,” she said. “They are playing run and scream. The little kids like that. They think it’s a game but it’s really building endurance, because when you start running you run as far as you can while you’re screaming, until you stop screaming and that’s where you stop. Everybody tries to go a little bit farther, a little bit farther.”
Each game may seem like fun, but when the tribal ancestors played them in the past, they had a very specific purpose in mind that was only partly focused on fun.
“They did all these things to build up your confidence,” Vanderburg said. “Like the hoop and dart — you have to get the dart through the middle so it improves your dexterity.”
Teacher Shelly Howell said her sixth grade Polson Middle School students benefit from learning by actually participating in activities they might have read about in textbooks.
“It’s an excellent way of teaching kids about the native culture, while getting them actively involved,” Howell said. “The kids have a great time.”
