Native American Inventions....

Native American inventions -

Hi, all! ^_^

Today, let's commemorate a couple of Native American inventions with this here post. These two inventions are of a food variety, and have become what is today, two among many of the most popular foods in the world.

The first, is popcorn. Yep, that's right! Among the woodland, corn cultivating tribes, who would harvest corn, the people would peel back the shucks and leaving them in place, using them to braid the ears of corn into long chains, then to be hung from the roofs of the insides of longhouses to dry out. In this way, corn would be stored like this for the winter storage.

This dried-out corn, today often called "Indian corn", was sometimes popped for eating. However, they didn't do it on a stove in the old days, and actually, it was also kind of like a children's game - at least, that's how many children saw it.

To explain, these ears of corn were roasted over coals - whether placed on sticks and stuck into the ground leaning over the coals, tied up above and hanging over the coals, or what have you.... then when the kernels started to pop and jump everywhere, the children would chase them up, maybe try to catch them, and eat them. Sounds like fun, eh?

From countless generations and centuries ago, to the present day, this wonderful treat the world has come to know and love is all thanks to the Native Americans.

Now, the second invention, is the potato chip - yep, that's right!

This is a rather interesting story about a Native American named George Crum - actually, he was originally named George Speck, born in 1822 to Abraham and Catherine Speck.... but he later used the name Crum, as his father also did while working as a jockey.

In 1853, in Saratoga Springs, New York, at a well known and elegant resort, he was employed as a chef at the Moon Lake Lodge's restaurant. On the menu, were French-fried potatoes, made by George himself.

Side note; While these were not invented in France, the thick cut style of these had their roots of popularization planted there, in the 1700s. When Thomas Jefferson visited as an ambassador to France, he enjoyed these very much. Upon bringing the recipe to America, he served them up to guests in Monticello, where they became a popular and serious dinner fare, and the term French-fried potatoes, or, "French-fries", stuck ever since.

But I digress....

One day, one dinner guest (I believe an Englishman - but I could be wrong on that) found these fries, that George had made, too thick for his liking. He rejected the order, saying that they should be thinner. George prepared more of these, slicing them thinner, and presented them to the finicky guest. However, the dinner guest again rejected the order, saying they should be much thinner.

Now, George was a mite peeved, as anyone might be, and out of spite, he made the final order *exceedingly* thin - paper thin - so that this bothersome dinner guest would find it utterly impossible to stick these with a fork.

Working away at these in the kitchen, shaving the slices nearly thin enough to read a newspaper through them, probably mumbling to himself something along the lines of, "This'll show that #$@&! bastard.... ", he deep-fried them all and served them up.

His plan backfired. When the guest received these paper thin, golden-browned tasties, he was ecstatic. Other guests began odering the same delightful treat, and the item became part of the menu's offerings, under the name, "Saratoga Chips".

There's more to the story, but too much for today's post. However, we all know that it eventually ended up a nationwide - and now worldwide - favourite.

Also interesting to note, is the fact that as a worldwide food, potatoes are among the most eaten, second only to rice. A rather huge part of the worldwide potato consumption, the majority thereof, is potato chips.

Now, as I understand it, neither of these two inventions were ever patented, actually. If we, as Native Americans, can now get these ideas patented somehow, the Native American population could have a nifty bit of revenue in the form of royalties - even if a very tiny percentage, it would amount to a huge bit of change to help support Native Americans.

Sure, it may be said that you can't "back-patent" something - but that isn't 100% true in every case. Now, one very important thing to keep in mind, is that when these inventions were made popular, it was before 1924.... as many of you all out there know, we, as Native Americans, were not recognized as American citizens until then. In fact, we were not recognized as citizens of *anywhere*. Plainly, we just were not recognized.... period. And, somewhat, this is so even to this day, in many respects.

It could be argued that we had no way at all to even be eligible, on paper, to even apply for a patent of any kind, on anything, until 1924. Before then, we were considered illegal aliens - can you believe that crap?? Only in 1924 did the American government actually, FINALLY, consider us to be residents, and indeed, citizens of the United States.

It could also be argued, that these inventions actually have indeed yet to be patented - and really ought to be, by their rightful inventors.

What do y'all think? ^_~

That's all for today's post, everyone - until next time, have a nice night! ^_^

- Native American inventions –

The Mouth Bow....

- musical instruments -

Hi, all!! ^_^ Today, let's make an interesting, and easy-to-put-together musical instrument, used by many tribes in the North American continent.... the mouth bow.

Take any kind of wood branch - not too green, as you don't want it to be too easily bent, and not too dead, as you don't want it to be too easily broken.... and make it about the length of your arm. If you've got any whittling skills, that helps. Smooth out all the rough spots, until you get a good, straight (within reason) stick. Any deciduous (non-evergreen) hardwood works best - for wood with few knots, try the shoots or branches of willow.

Now, take some string - some like nylon because it makes a nice sound - I like to use natural fibers.... sinew, or artificial sinew (made from natural fibers) is best, in my humble opinion. Some people like to use hemp cord - I like that stuff too. But you also get a great sound from wire - I use copper, brass, or steel.... experiment with different thicknesses! Guitar strings work as well, but use non-wound strings.

Tie one end tightly around one end of your stick, and then, carefully bending the stick, tie the other end of the string around the other end of the stick.... it should look like a bow when you're done.

That is pretty much all there is to this instrument's construction, besides decoration - but how to play it?

Well, you place one end of the stick to your mouth, resting your open mouth to touch the stick - you can bite down, but you won't hear the same sounds as others do, so try to avoid it. See to it that the string is untouched by any part of your mouth (or anything), so that you do not interfere with the string's vibration. Touching your open mouth onto the part of the string that's wrapped around the stick is fine. Hold the other end of the bow with one hand, and with the other hand, pluck the string - you might even use a guitar pick, a smoothed down piece of bone, or a flat chip of rock, or whatever. You can also tap the string with a stick, or anything you invent for this. With the hand that holds the other end of the bow, by increasing or decreasing the bend in the bow, you can change the pitch and tone of this wonderfully versatile little stringed instrument. You can also change the pitch of the string's tone by sliding something along the string, like a guitar finger slide, a glass bottle, or the back of your camping knife.

Now, this here operates along the same lines as a jaw harp - you know, those twangy ol' thangs that we often hear cowboys play with on those old western shows? Changing the shape of your mouth's opening, and using your tongue to change the volume of the space inside your mouth, changes the sound this makes much in the same way as the good-old jaw harp (also known as a "Jew's harp").

To decorate and personalize your mouth bow, wrap with leather string, tie on some colourful feathers, coloured porcupine quillwork and/or claws, bone hairpipe beads, beads of other types, painting, woodburning, or even whittling - but see to it that you do not cut too far into the body of the instrument, or it will snap to pieces.... any whittling should well be done before you bend the bow for tying on the string - you may also decide to keep any whittling to just the bark layer, creating patterns and designs in that way.

A well made mouth bow can be a beauteous piece of artwork indeed - and a functional one to boot.... it makes music. A good one is one you'll keep for a very, very long time. Great at powwows or camping trips, and around a campfire. Have fun with it.

That's it for today's post, everyone - until tomorrow, have a good night! ^_^

- musical instruments –

Native American Clip Art....

- clip art -

Hey - quick post today - are you Native American, and building a website about your culture? Or are you a dealer in Native American jewelry and/or fine Native American hand-made goods, and building a website for them?

I found a couple of wonderful sites for FREE Native American clip art! Wanna see?

These sites both have background images, icons, and clickable buttons to offer.

For the first one, click here.

For the second one, click here.

You can see that I used some for making the background image for this here blog.... kinda cool, eh? ^_^

Enjoy!

That's it for today's post - see you all next time! ^_^

- clip art –

Indian Humour....

- jokes -

Here's a pretty good example of Native American humour - I hope you like it ^_^

A wandering Jesuit missionary was strolling through the wilderness, when he came upon the shore of a murky pond, and three Ojibwa-Cree guys setting about to canoe out onto the pond to do some fishing. So, he figured he'd befriend these people, seeing it a good opportunity to strike up a conversation to spread the "good word", and educate these 'heathens', right proper (yeah, right.... whatever).

These tribesmen were patient and polite enough with this pale intruder, speaking with him while they chose what gear to bring into the canoe with them, and what gear to leave ashore, despite the distraction.

Finally, they told him that they really should get on fishing, and that if he wanted to continue this conversation, quietly, then he could go along with them in the canoe while they fished.

He agreed, and went along.

They all cast off, and paddled out to a certain murky spot not too far off from shore.

The Jesuit started talking about all the miracles performed by Jesus Christ.... turning water into wine, multiplying fishes and loaves, walking on water....

Along about then, hearing this last bit mentioned, one of the fishermen had suddenly realized that he had left his favourite fishing basket ashore.... so, much to the amazement of the priest, he got up, stepped out of the canoe, and walked across the muddy water over to the shore to get it. Upon finding what he had forgotten, he walked back, stepped into the canoe, and sat down.

Just then, another of them had realized that he had left his smoking pipe ashore, and stepped out of the canoe, walked ashore, and came back with it. The Jesuit was slack-jawed with awe.

Finally, the last of the three tribesmen had remembered that he had left his pouch of jerky and berries ashore, walked across the water to get it, got it, and came back across the water and into the canoe.

The missionary had just about all he could stand. Here he was, trying to 'educate' these people about the miracles of the son of God - and there they were, walking on water right in front of him. He figured if these 'Godless heathens' could do it, then he himself certainly could. After all, in the bible, Peter did it too.... with faith.

So he quickly rose right up in the canoe, loudly announced that he was off to take a leak, stepped right out of the canoe, and sunk straight down like a big, heavy rock into the muddy water.

The three guys in the canoe, surprised by this, just looked at eachother confusedly, laughing hard, not knowing why this person suddenly did such a silly, stupid thing.

When the priest came up for air, he was infuriated - he shouted out, "If you heathen fools can walk on water, why in God's name can't I, a man of God?!?!"

One of the others in the canoe looked at him, smiled a big, toothy grin, and said, "There are some large rocks over here that are just under the surface of the water.... you did not step on any of them".

Hehe.... see y'all next time ^_^

- jokes -

Good Eatin'....

- recipes -

She:kon!
(Mohawk language; greeting)

Today, let's make something good to eat! Now this here is an excellent food to bring along when camping, pow-wowing, or hiking, etc. - and it's mighty tasty too! ^_^

Now, if you have a food dehydrator, that's cool - if not, you can use a regular oven set real low like, 125 or so, and leave the oven door open just a mite.... like about an inch or two.

Take some raw beef, and cut it very thin.... about 1/4" thin, or less. Lay it out on the stove racks (or food dehydrator), and leave it for a good long while until it is all dried out and crispy.

See that you remember this - you don't want it chewy.... you want it to be BONE DRY, in order to be able to break it all up to nearly a powdery consistency. Once you've got it all pulverized to somewhere between a granulated and a powdered consistency, take a bowl of small berries, like blueberries for example, and mash them all up real good.

Mix the two together until it's all kind of pasty, and then roll little balls out of this, setting them aside to settle. Two things will happen at the same time - the dry meat will soak up the berry juices and become more chewy as a result, and the soggy berry mash will congeal a bit, and become chewy as well (instead of soupy).

This is what some call 'pemmican', or 'wasna'. It is usually made with meat mixed with berries, fat, or both.

These are very rich in protein, and eating a small handful of these is like eating a 12 oz. steak, not to mention all the vitamins from the berries - quite an excellent bit of feed to bring along on the trail - compact, and full of nutrients, and it'll keep for a good long time.

That's it for today's post.... have a nice night! ^_^

Nia:wen!
(Mohawk language; thank you)

- recipes -

The Story of the Native American Love Flute....

- Native American stories -

Hello, all! I have a story to tell.... I am a maker of Native American flutes, and have been since I was about 13 years old. So, I thought the story of how these flutes came to us would be a good subject matter for today.

This is a story about the Native American flutes that I make, and where they originally came from.

Many tribes and nations of us tell this story, each a mite differently, but all with generally the same main pieces.... about Woodpecker, the Elk-Medicine men, the warrior who was poor, the chief's daughter, etc. - this is my own telling of it, the way I've told it to my son.

Y'see, a whole mess of winters ago, many-many before the whites came, perhaps a thousand or more ago, there was this one warrior who was deeply in love with the chief's daughter.

Everyone tried to court her, giving her fine presents, and everyone tried to out-do one another with the presents they would give to her. A great many things were heaped up in her possession, and she could not decide who she should marry.

This one warrior, however, though he was a great hunter and could more than provide for a hungry family with his hunting skills, was otherwise very poor, and had little or nothing to give to her for presents to try to woo her heart his way. She liked him enough, but she would always say, "You are a good hunter, and a good Human Being, but you are poor, and I am a chief's daughter after all.... what can you give me to show me what I am worth to you?"

Though he was a good hunter and provider, he grew up being fatherless, and had no-one to teach him how to make tools other than those to hunt with, nor how to make other things for daily life, nor to teach him good trading sense so that he could acquire good-quality things that are needed in life. Being a good provider of food alone is not enough to get a good wife.

He was heartbroken, and so he took a sweat-bath in the sweat-lodge, and wandered off into the wilderness, and took no food for days, hoping to receive a vision from the spirit world as to what to do about his situation.

After three or four days, he crossed a great distance of the prairie, and came to the edge of where the Great Forests began. It was some time after Morning Star (Venus) came and went, early morning, just after dawn. He went into the woods, and after a long time's walk within, he came to a small clear place with big rocks that were left behind when the Big Ice had moved across the land in the Ancient Days. He sat there, and cried out to the Great Spirit for an answer to his dilemma.

Soon, he heard what he thought sounded like some elk. He looked towards the sound, and in the distance through the trees, he saw elk antlers. Two pairs of them. But their song seemed more like spirit people language. He looked closer and noticed that they were men.... Elk-Medicine men.

He knew since he was a child that if he saw medicine men - or anyone - involved in sacred doings that he was not a part of, that he should stay away.... that he should not even look in their direction, for fear of interfering with their power or defiling whatever was being done, polluting it with his observing mind's presence in it all. But they were looking at him, and sounding their Elk-Medicine music in a way that seemed like they were calling to him to come closer and to follow them, and so that is what he did.

He would call to them and say, "Wait for me! I am trying to keep up with you!", but they would keep the same distance, though making sure he kept on following them, without their losing him.

Soon, they came to a grove of cedar trees. The Elk-Medicine men stopped under one of them, and stood still, looking up the tree. The warrior saw them there, and noticed that they had stopped making their music, and now another music was sounding. It sounded similar to the Elk-Medicine music, but was different somehow. The Elk-Medicine men began to smoke their sacred pipes, and a great amount of smoke came from them, obscuring them from view. When Wind blew his breath and made the smoke disappear, the Elk-Medicine men were gone.

Still, he heard the music.... it would sound, and then stop.... then he would hear a knocking sound.... then the music again.... then the knocking.... then the music.... and so on like this for a little while, and he looked and saw Woodpecker sitting strangely on a hollow branch while Wind was blowing his breath through the deadwood stick. Then after a while, he heard Woodpecker up in the tree call to him, "Brother, come on over here.... I have something for you!"

The warrior looked up into the tree and said, "Woodpecker.... what are you doing??", as he saw that the winged one was working away at a dead branch, rather deeply, but pulling up no bugs for his breakfast.

Woodpecker said, "The Great Spirit told me to show this to you and to gift it to you on his behalf, and to teach you about this wonderful thing.... this is to help you win the heart of the maiden who is your other half-self - the one who is daughter to your chief. The Great Spirit has been watching you, and knows that you are a good Human Being, and that you work hard and are a good provider, and wants you to be the husband of the chief's daughter. He knows that you have grown up poor, and that because of this you have grown to be a compassionate person, and non-materialistic. It is you that he wants, to help lead your tribe as one of it's elders someday."

"How will this piece of tree help me do this?", said the warrior.

"Did you not hear the music? Here.... break this off right here - carefully", the winged one said. "You see, the six-leggeds have hollowed this dead branch out in two places, and The Great Spirit instructed me to put holes through to the hollows, and where to put them." He then sat over the sounding holes and held on tight and said, "You will have to make a piece of wood to go here, near these two special holes, but I will cover them in a certain way myself for now.... now, cover these holes here with your fingers, and blow into
this end of the stick, here."

He did so, and a sharp, but soft piece of music came out of the stick. He was wildly delighted and amazed at it all. "Now open this first hole." He did, and when he blew into it, another piece of music came out, sounding a little different from the first. He smiled almost more than a person can smile.

This went on like this until he learned all about the holes and the sounds each one had made. Then Woodpecker showed him how to make other flutes.... he would have to split a piece of deadwood cedar, hollow out the two places, put it back together with sap, tying the pieces together with leather thongs, and to bore or burn in the fingerholes, and all the other aspects of it's construction.

"Now, you need to know that just making the sounds isn't enough.... you need to know what combinations will turn your woman's heart to you.... you need to learn the Elk-Medicine, and become an Elk-Medicine man.... a Holy Man.... and then you will know how to make the different songs of power. You know how powerful Elk's music is, yes? How all he has to do is call and his women flock to him? It is the same power." Woodpecker knew much about his forest brothers.

Woodpecker used his own voice and whistled a quick combination of notes, and smoke began to appear in one place. When it cleared away, the Elk-Medicine men were there where the smoke had cleared from. They showed him how to leave a smoke offering to the tree he took the branch from, and what songs to sing during the song-stick's construction, and all the knowledge of how the music's different voices (the notes) sit next to eachother in a certain order, and how to find where they live along the song-stick, and all the other things he needed to know about the songs of power, and how to make the right ones for each person who would ask him, based on the person's personality, and the personality of the woman he wished to woo with the music - how to discover the proper song attuned to her personality, to then be used to call to her.

Then Woodpecker then instructed, "Please, remember the way which I covered part of the two special holes that make the sound's power.... right there where on the branch is my roost, place the birch bark nest, and make the wooden bird like me in the way that I sat there, and that will help you to remember, and also to remember this spirit time and how this came to be, after you begin to take food again. Now take the song-stick, and go from here in the direction of sun-goes-down for a time until you arrive again at your village, and eat, and rest, brother.... and remember."

The warrior thanked Woodpecker and the Elk-Medicine men very much, and they gave him an antler headdress to wear, because he was now an Elk-Medicine man himself.

When he arrived at the village, he saw that people began to form a search party for him, thinking that he had been in trouble somehow, or injured, and they saw him coming into the village with elk antlers on his head. He looked starved and tired, yet somehow strong and very wide awake at some high level. They knew he was coming back from a vision quest and had seen the spirit world.

His closest friends were the first to approach him. They asked him what the spirits had told him, and he lifted the song-stick to his lips and blew a short, haunting tune.... all were wide-eyed in amazement - he briefly played another tune, a little longer this time.... some laughed a couple/few syllables of laughter, followed by gasps of wonderment, and others laughed and cried at the same time. This was a sound that no Human Being had ever heard before in this Continent-On-The-Great-Turtle's-Back.

The women throughout the whole village were the most affected.... they came running when they heard the music - they wanted to hear more.... but the chief's daughter came right up to him and wrapped her arms around one of his arms and wouldn't let go.

She shook off the feeling, and tried to walk away, but when he played the song-stick again, she went back to him. She was sticking to him like honey on a bear's nose.

All the men noticed this, and wanted him to make song-sticks for them all. He said he would talk about it the next morning. Then the warrior took a sweat-bath in the sweat-lodge, and ate some wasna (dried meat mixed with berries), and drank a lot of water, and went to sleep.

The next morning, now that he had started to take food again and was well rested, he felt more grounded - more tied to his body - but he still remembered full well all of the past few days' events, and he felt like a renewed person.

All the village's men wanted a song-stick to woo their women - the single ones for their girlfriends, and the married ones for their wives. The warrior would say, "What will you give me in trade?" and the men nearly buried him with great goods - tools, skins, furs, flints, clothing, quillwork items, pieces of micah for mirrors, spears, spearheads, bows with arrows, and even horses, buffalo hide robes and tepees!!

Soon, the warrior was a very rich man, but he had already wooed the chief's daughter's heart his way. And, as is the way of a True Human Being, a man isn't judged rich by what he has, but by what he gives away, so he held a big giveaway party where all ate very well, and great things were given to the poorest people of the village. The next morning, the warrior and the chief's daughter got married, and had another party afterward. The party soon ended, because the men went out to get their song-sticks, and called the women away to them for a night of serenading. This was just fine for the newly married couple.

As time went by, and he and she had children, eventually he taught his oldest son all of the Elk-Medicine he knew and of the making of the song-sticks, and transferred all the knowledge of the songs of power and everything to him. Soon afterwards, he himself became one of the village chiefs, while his son was a very good Elk-Medicine man.

And this is how the Courtship Flute came to the Human Beings - the indigenous peoples of 'Turtle Island' (this continent, North America).

To this day, with a flute of this type, and a modicum of skill, if you blow from softly to sharply (eventually 'overblowing'), with all holes closed, you can mimic an elk's call and even call one out of hiding. With skill, you can also mimic other beings, like Wolf.... or even Woodpecker and others, with smaller flutes of this type.

I hope you all enjoyed this story - I enjoyed telling it. Until tomorrow, have a nice night! ^_^

- Native American stories -

Welcome to all!!

- welcome -

Kwe!
(Mohawk language; initial greeting)

Welcome, and I hope you all enjoy this site. Here, I will do my best to provide cultural information, stories, craft how-tos, powwow information, and more. Today's post is only introductional, as I am building this site as I type this, so I'll just type a list now of what I'd like to provide on this here new blog of mine;

Let's see.... I'll be posting about many things, the subjects growing and expanding as time goes by, such as; pottery - basket weaving - creation stories - cultural stories - hunting and fishing - tribal thinking and ways of thought - archery, bow and arrow making and arrowhead flint-knapping - leatherwork - beadwork - the construction of longhouses, wigwams, lodges, wikiups, hogans and tepees - "bushcraft" - food and recipes - herbal medicine - Native American resources; radio, newspapers, craft supply sources and support sources, and much more that I can't think to type right now (my 3 year old daughter Minipoka is climbing me like a mountain while I'm typing here).

In the first couple of months or so of this blog, it'll mostly be humour, recipes, information, and such.... as time goes by, I'll be adding videos that I will create, for adding content on how to do some crafts, nature info, and maybe story telling, and so on. Please let's be patient together, as I strive to better fill this site with good things.

A little about myself;

I descended from the Blackfoot and Mohawk-Cree tribes, but from another branch of the family tree, there is also Mi'Kmaq and Winnebego.... I'm pretty much a mutt, any way you look at it. Now, I am not a fullblood, or even half - barely more then a quarter or so, really - I also have Canadian-French blood, a smattering of Chinese, some Sicilian, and more - I'm just a Human Being. Sure, I "look" native enough, but I'm paler 'n a fish belly.

What's my point?

I want you all to know that I am no fullblood, nor a pretender-to-be, and certainly no authority to speak for any nations - I'm not out to climb up on some high thing and make an icon of myself.... no, I'm just a humble Human Being, who would like to share with those who are willing. Please, enjoy your stay here, and let's become good friends.

Okay then, I should get everything together in my head and set out to make the best of this site.... got a lot of work to do here - see you all soon! ^_^

Nia:wen!
(Mohawk language; thank you)

- welcome -