Closed Captions Audio Described

Jr Spencer (Nez Perce), who carries the name White Bull, shares traditional stories including the creation narrative of Coyote and the origin of the Nez Perce people. He discusses the cultural significance of the sɨ́ɨs (traditional flutes), their role in courtship and storytelling, and contemporary efforts to preserve the flute tradition and Nez Perce language among younger generations.

Transcript

0:15 ladies and gentlemen welcome to the tent of many voices we're glad to have you with us this afternoon our next program is NES Pur flutes so here in the tent of many voices we not only have voices we have music and Jr is going to share with us some of that music and some of the reasoning
0:37 Behind the Music as well so at this time let's please make Jr Spencer welcome thank you very much good afternoon everyone my name name is white bull this
1:01 was the name of my great great grandfather this name was given to me by a friend of the family who was a Storyteller and he T taught me many of the stories and the traditions of our people now our people they're very childlike in their ways it shows in our stories and in our music how our people are influenced by their surroundings and how we approach everything in a very childlike manner now traditionally
1:26 stories were never to be told in the summertime the only only time to tell stories is in the winter months or when you're traveling because in the summer months you had to gather foods and prepare them for the long winter months ahead so it was said that only bad little children has to be told stories in the summertime but since everybody here's been traveling I guess we can bend the
1:49 rules a little bit and I can tell you a few of these stories an elder would always begin by singing a song because it was said that a person's heart must be in the right place to receive the information that
2:01 this elder is going to pass on to them I just said that this is a very old old song which was handed down from generation to [Music]
2:25 Generation Y
2:33 [Music]
2:57 huah High Glory [Music] I like oros I like oros I like oros this is where you're supposed to
3:16 [Music] laugh y [Music] [Applause] very old old song bringing a tear to a
3:41 glass eye but now that we're laughing and feeling childlike I can tell some of these stories now our people would tell these stories and this was how the knowledge of the people was handed down from generation to generation we'd have stories that would tell about the surroundings why the landscape is shaped
4:04 the way it is why animals are shaped the way they are and why they behave the way they do we also had stories that they tell just for fun and the children they would hear these stories every winter time from the time that they were in cradle boards all the way until they grew up and they became the ones to tell the stories to the
4:27 children the children would also learn how they were expected to behave in these stories now the first story that the children hear is about coyote and how he created people now coyote lived here in this Valley and every Springtime he would travel up onto the PLO Prairie to visit his cousin the fox one spring while coyote was away a huge monster came up
4:51 out of the ocean onto the land this monster was so large when he'd open his mouth and draw on a breath all of the plants and animals would fly into his stomach this monster name waset now metalark knew that coyote was very smart and had great power coyote would be able to defeat this monster so metalark flew as fast as he could to find coyote 3 days later he came to the
5:15 Fox's Den and he hollered it's a it's a coyote coyote come quick coyote came rushing out of Fox's Den and asked metalark what was going on metalark told coyote about this huge monster that was he was devouring all of the animal people so coyote came up with a plan to defeat this monster he went to the trees
5:40 and he began to gather pitch and when he had enough pitch he made a large ball and he put that in his sack then coyote gathered Five Stone knives he wrapped them in clean buck skin and he put those in his sack then coyote went to a pond nearby and he cut hemp and coyote braided this hemp into a good strong rope he Bund buled that up and he put that in his sack when coyote had
6:03 gathered all of the tools that he would need to defeat this monster he went to the sweat house and he crawled inside and he swept for a long time really hot to clean himself because he didn't want to taste bad to this monster when he was finished he came out and he gathered his things and coyote came back to this Valley and coyote could see the Monster sleeping down in the valley so he took out his rope and
6:27 he tied one end around his waist and he tied the other end around a mountain and coyote holled at this monster El you can't devour me my power is too strong the monster woke up and he looked around but he didn't see anyone all he heard was the voice El you can't devour me my power's too strong the monster opened his mouth and Drew into a breath but coyote just went to the end of his rope
6:51 and stopped coyote starts singing songs teasing this monster trying to get him angry he saying oh the monster got angry and he emptied out his lungs and Drew in a huge breath this time coyote cut his rope and he
7:13 went flying into the monster's stomach it was really dark in there coyote couldn't see anything so he took out his ball of pitch and he built a fire and the fat melted from the monster's heart and dripped Into the Fire and kept it going the monster gripped his chest oh that coyote oh oh the heart BR was so bad poor monster and there's no such thing as Pepsi
7:37 Acy now coyote could see many of the animals already devoured nothing but bone some of the animals were sick and others were scared so coyote told these animals you gather up these bones and you put them in front of all of the holes in the monster because when he takes his last breath he'll open up you kick those bones out and follow right behind so that's what the animals did they gathered up the bones and they put
8:00 them in front of all of the holes in the monster now coyote reached down to get his knives and rattlesnake was there rattlesnake snapped at Coyote coyote asked rattlesnake why are you snapping at me I'm here to save you you move aside and let me go to work but rattlesnake wouldn't listen so a coyote got mad and he stepped on his head that's why to this day rattlesnake's head is
8:24 flat coyote took out one of his knives and he went over to the heart of the monster and gz's bear was standing in the way coyote told grizzly bear move aside so I can go to work now grizzly bear didn't like being bossed around by this little coyote so he roared at Coyote and he swung at Coyote with his huge paw coyote asked grizzly bear why are you roaring at me I'm here to save
8:47 you you move aside and be quiet let me go to work but grizzly bear wouldn't listen so coyote got mad and he punched him in the nose that's why to this day grizzly bear's nose is flat coyote took his knife and he began to cut on the heart of the monster and the monster rolled around in agony hollering coyote come out but coyote wouldn't
9:10 listen he just kept cutting away coyote slipped and broke his knife so he picked up another knife and he kept cutting on the monster's heart and the monster began to beg coyote to come out he'd say coyote coyote come out come out my nose coyote said no I'm not going to come out your nose cuz then all the animal people make fun of me they'll say oh there goes
9:32 old man coyote a ball of snot again coyote slipped and broke his knife so he picked up another knife and he kept cutting away and the monster kept begging coyote to come out he'd said coyote coyote come out come out my ear coyote said no I'm not going to come out your ear cuz then all the animal people will say oh there goes old man
9:55 coyote a ball of ear wax again coyote slipped in broke his knife so he picked up another knife and he kept cutting away and all this monster he was getting desperate he said kyot kyote come out come out the bat coyote said no I'm staying right
10:17 here finally coyote was down to his last knife and there was only one piece of Flesh holding the heart in place coyote turned to the animals and said get ready this monster's going to die when he takes his last breath and opens up you kick those bones out and follow right behind go quickly cuz there won't be much time coyote reached up and he started to cut and he slipped and broke his knife so he grabbed the heart and he
10:41 pulled as hard as he could finally the heart broke free and the monster took one last huge breath opened up the animals kicked the bones out and followed right behind now raccoon he wasn't sure which way to go finally he decided to run out towards the back raccoon ran as fast as he could but just as his body cleared the monster began to close up and his tail got stuck he had to pull a few
11:04 times to get his tail free raccoon he was so relieved to be free of the monster he breathed a huge sigh of relief and he wiped the sweat from his brow that's why to this day raccoon has those rings around his tail and that mask and you always see him down by the
11:25 river washing his hands muskrat he wasn't sure which way to go he decided he was going to follow raccoon after all he was much smaller and he thought he was a lot quicker muskrat ran as fast as he could but just as his body cleared the monster closed up tight and muskrat pulled and pulled and pulled but he couldn't get his tail free so he called for coyote it's AA
11:49 it's AA help I'm stuck coyote looked around the body of this huge monster but he didn't see anyone minis where are you I'm under underneath the monster's tail coyote walked around to the back of the monster and sure enough there was muskrat coyot grabbed muskrats Paws and he started to count
12:14 knockit he pulled as hard as he could when he did this it pulled all the fur off muskrats tail and coyote scolded muskrat he said I told you to hurry up I told you you didn't have much time but you just doled along from now on all of your descendants will be reminded of your Pok that's why to this day muskrat has no fur on his tail many of the animals they said oh
12:39 let that Monster's body lie there and rot serves him right for coming up onto the land and causing all this trouble but coyote had a use for this monster coyote cut off the monster's legs and he threw them way up North into a place we call Canada today from that place the long-legged people will be from that's where the tall black feet are from coyote cut off the monster's head and he
13:03 threw it way over to the east into a place we call Montana today from that place the Flathead people are from and coyote did this cutting off parts of this monster and he threw them in all different directions and people sprang up from those parts finally there was nothing left but the heart and a few ribs and the Animals came to Coyote and said what about this place here it's
13:27 very beautiful and you didn't put anyone here so coyote told the crane go down to the river and get some water coyote picked up the heart of the monster and he squeezed the blood from the heart he took the water and he washed the blood from his hands as the blood hit the ground people sprang up and coyote said these people they'll live here in this beautiful place they won't be a very big people because I've deprived them but
13:52 they'll have big hearts and they'll be the fiercest on the battlefield and that's how the nest Pur come to live in this area here and that's how coyote cre people it's because of the story that often times nesp people will refer to themselves as
14:14 it's Children of the coyote now we us s Haan people those of us that live here on what's known as a Columbia Plateau have instruments that we refer to as theas or these are the fluts and the whistles this comes from our word sa which means to
14:37 blow now a young man was in the high mountains hunting and he heard this strange noise it was a really sad song this young man was listening to the the these are the dead snags that have been hollowed out by fire and the wind blows across the top and makes the sound just like blowing across the top of a bottle the steo was singing telling about the fire and how it raced through the forest
15:02 destroying everything in its path as this young man sat there listening he heard another song way off in the distance it was a happy song it was another Tio singing telling about the new grasses and the trees which would grow in the springtime the forest would be reborn this young man wanted to bring these beautiful sounds down into the river valley so the elders guided his
15:27 hand in the making of the first of UMAS they told them use Elderberry because Elderberry likes to grow where the wind blows it's also a very easy material to work with it has a large soft sender and you can push it out with a stick or dig it out with a hot wire nowadays most the people that build these flutes they call their good friend Chief Black and
15:50 Decker but long ago in order to hollow out one of these limbs a man would take his knife and he'd make a hole in one end and then he'd turn over rocks and logs he'd be looking for a grub when he'd find a grub he'd stick him in that hole and put a piece of hide over the end so he can't escape then he'd wave that end over the fire and the little grub will want to get away from the heat so he'll eat his
16:15 way through crafty Indians are we now every once in a while they get stuck along the way so being a crafty Indian you send one in the other way after him now you've got these two grubs stuck in this tube now how do you get them out well you could take a stick and push him but you'll squish
16:40 them I don't want to put my lips to that you see your sister walking by out of the corner of your eye you know if I blow really hard in one end they should come out 15 yards I know I can make 10 get a little bit of bare Grease Grease the board give you extra five yards or
17:04 so check for wind and you take careful aim you wait for stop you wait for it you wait for it and when she finally stops you blow really hard and they come flying out and one hits her in the head
17:28 yes now now she's got grub all over her face and she runs in the house and she tells mom or worse she tells Grandma now Grandma who normally can't walk without her toas comes running out of the house shaking her tuas hollering what a cake cut that out I'm going to give you a weapon you naughty little
17:52 [Applause] boy grandma can't catch me she's got to use the tucas but then you get hungry hungry it's lunchtime you go in the house and you sit down at the table right next to Grandma boy that old lady's got a good memory she'll grab you by the ear can't catch you
18:15 huh I don't remember a thing after that this is the type of sound that you would have heard long ago some young man out there playing for his sweetheart because the village didn't offer a lot of privacy and sometimes when you young couple would get together there might be tension between the two families so the only way for this couple to be together is for the man to go out and play this flute she would be sitting in her tent
18:39 surrounded by her family she might be preparing a meal or she might be working on a pair of moccasins and she'd hear this song off in the distance and she'd begin to smile and her relatives would look at her like what the heck is wrong with you it was said that every woman knew the songs of her man she knew who that was was out there and she knew that that
19:00 song was for
19:23 [Music] her e [Applause] [Music]
19:42 [Applause] [Music]
20:03 [Applause]
20:22 many of the old songs are gone with the people who carried them because as our people moved on to the Reser ation they said it's time to learn to live a new way and so certain Traditions had to be set aside to make way for this new Lifestyle the flute was one of the Traditions that the people sort of put in the closet saying we'll pick it up again later but they almost never did it wasn't until a little old man from mwe
20:46 or Pendleton Oregon gave to a group of Nest Pur a small metal flute and he said take this and learn all you can about it thanks to this little old man we still have the flute tradition among the nest purse now when a man gave me my first flute he said this flute is going to take you wherever it wants you to go and I've been to many places places I never
21:09 would have gone if it hadn't been for the flute in those travels I've learned that the flute was made to be very similar to the human voice so if you can sing you can play the flute I've also learned that if you can't sing there's still hope
21:28 [Applause]
21:58 hi High High ho ho
22:13 [Music] [Applause]
22:39 traveling around and talking to different groups of people I get a lot of questions and one of the most frequently asked questions is about the name NES purse now NES purse is a misnomer it's a name that was given to a group of people that lived near here they were close cousins of ours and they spoke a dialect of our language when the French Trappers came to this country country they saw these people and they had pierced noses so they called the N
23:02 per pierced nose later on the name became anglz it turned into nees purse now we didn't Pierce our noses but somehow the name stuck with us must to be a French thing so then people ask well what do you call yourselves we call ourselves
23:24 Neu oh what does that mean that means really good looking Indians it actually means the people but I like my translation better I remember speaking to this one group of people and I spotted this lady sitting way in the back and you could tell just by looking at her she had this question she was just dying to ask she
23:48 just had that look but she was being real bashful and so when everything was over with I went up to her and I asked her if there's anything she wanted to ask me and she said well yeah I do have one question but it's kind of a stupid question I told the only stupid questions are the ones that are left unasked so she finally got up the courage and she said do you people still
24:12 shoot your food with bow and arrow boy I walked into that one I told her well yeah we tried to but dog gunet they keep kicking us out a Safeway boy let me tell you those tin cans are really hard in obsidian Arrow points you sit there all day long making
24:35 arroe heads little nephew walks up what you doing uncle getting ready to go to the store it's really crazy I had one lady ask is this what you rare what what do you normally wear this
24:59 I have a a uncle who's from sipan and he had some family come over here for a visit and they're cruising along the highway going through the reservation one of the old ladies leaned over and said where do the Indians live so well they live in these houses along here no where do the Wild Ones
25:21 live in these houses around here traveling around I like to travel with my flutes that's like my Native American Express card and don't leave home without it I recently got called to go to St
25:45 Louis to uh do a program down there during uh the 4th of July weekend during Fair St leis and uh a friend of mine went along with me and the npers don't have a very good track record of going to St Louis and having everybody come
26:10 back half the people that went to St Louis last time didn't come back and there's only two of us going so I'm looking at my friend which one of us will be staying in St Louis the first trip was to find the Bible the book of Heaven and the second trip we're going for fun
26:35 and to educate so we go to the park and we have to find the superintendent of the park so we go up to this range and we ask him where's the superintendent so oh I don't know you might check in the church over there I said no we already have the book of heaven we don't need to go to the church we just need to speak to the superintendent coming
26:57 back as especially after 9111 it's getting harder to travel by air with a flute the two words that everybody especially musicians and M and magicians I have a friend who's a magician he hates to hear when going into security manager
27:22 check oh no well you think about it you know you go through x-ray and you see these long tubes so I take him out what is this it's a flute it's an instrument and he's looking at my flute and he said I don't know if we should let you on board with this why not well you might budgeon somebody with
27:46 it like yeah right my bread and butter and I'm going to ruin it by cracking it over somebody's head you know you got to watch out you know we're going to take over this airplane I'm taking over the airplane I'll put you to sleep if I have to you can you imagine Indian going and breaking down the cockpit cockpit door
28:11 you know and putting the pilots to
28:20 sleep you asleep yet
28:42 now what would be the whole point in that it's getting more difficult to travel with I know the last time I traveled by air I thought I would be really really really smart and wear my moccasins so I wouldn't have to take my shoes
29:04 off so I get to the security counter would you please remove your shoes I'm like yeah I can really hide a lot of explosive in these I'm sorry we have to have you remove your shoes Okay so much for trying to be a smart Indian but it's fun traveling with
29:29 flutes imagine what it would have been like in the 1800s riding on Horseback you have your flute in your bag strapped across your back riding along and any time the moment hits you you find a beautiful spot and you just want to remember that spot very few of the songs that I play
29:53 are recorded and all the songs that were handed down were all handed down down by the person who created them nowadays we have a system of writing down the music taure it looks similar to regular sheet music but before it' just be up to that musician to make up that song and then remember it and then pass it pass it down to the Next Generation that's why
30:18 all the songs are very simple and they just repeat themselves but in all of these songs whether it's a flute song or whether you're singing at a drum these songs they describe the landscape they describe a moment in time we have a song that we use in our power still today called the duck and
30:41 dive that describes the Battle of big hole when the Cannons went off and they would duck down we still have that that's what that song describes as that battle that moment in time so all of these songs that I play they just describe Landscapes that I've seen
31:03 throughout the Northwest times when I felt really really sad and I'd go down and sit on the Confluence of the snake and clear water river here and I just play to the West whatever came that's what I
31:26 played coming back from St l Louis I can understand why they called that southern area the yisa the hot place I couldn't believe how hot and sticky it was down there all the time and then we flew into Spokan and my friend and I we actually made it all the way back and we're driving home from Spokan I rolled down the window and it was a
31:48 nice dry Cool Wind so this is cool wind [Music]
32:09 [Applause] [Music] oh e
32:31 [Applause]
33:32 are there any questions no questions oh one tell us a little bit about your dress about my dress a little bit yeah some people some native people say no it's regelia it's not a
33:54 costume well the way I see it you say to me I say tomato uh I'm wearing what's referred to as a ribbon shirt and this is what is considered traditional attire throughout Indian country today uh the npers traditionally wore
34:15 hide shirts hide leggings and in 1877 when they were sent to Oklahoma it was too hot for hide clothing so they adopted the the Cotton shirts of the southern people and so now when somebody wants to dress in traditional attire they usually wear a ribbon shirt and it's largely accepted throughout Indian
34:38 country as traditional dress the leggings are like trade cloth leggings um the symbols that I wear in my earrings on my leggings in the back of my hat I often get questions about that I uh I do presentations on cruise boats on the snake and Columbia River River and there was a World War II veteran on
35:01 board and he said tell me about that because that only means one thing to me these are whirlwinds my family we have the power we we take our power from the wind when I sit on the banks of the river and I feel the wind blow through the Canyons it said that when the wind blows really hard through the canions it means the elders are happy and to me it
35:25 feels like I'm being embraced by a loving grandparent and I can just sit there all day long and take that in just feel that when I wore braids I could feel the wind tugging on my braids and it felt so good I come from the walawa people the land of the Winding Waters so these are the Whirlwind symbols and I wear five of them anytime I dress in
35:47 traditional attire I wear five whirlwinds That's The Power of my people yes I think you have a question about your hat the Hat it's a a fur turban made of beaver the abalone shell
36:07 and um man Tails uh the trail also I have an man on the back with the same Whirlwind and the medicine wheel on the bottom um you saw a lot of uh children wear wearing this style of a
36:29 turban you see too many adults wear them that's why I'm going to be forever young I wear a turban but they're very warm they're very very warm and it shows you what our people knew they knew how to stay warm in the winter time they'd wear turban even though it's open on top it still holds in a lot of heat nowadays in the the winter the fall and
36:54 winter months you see people running down the road and what do they have they have one of those neoprene turbin on see what the Indians did see we give you we give you all these ideas question right here just a minor
37:15 one is on the campus here is this display spk and and I think Saia and she's wearing like a conical type of cap tight cap we wondered about that was that a traditional sort of Indian G back in the days of like
37:40 almost I've never seen that before I'm not too familiar with that style because that's a totally different tribe but M yes right here okay five of the worldwinds is there significant reason why
38:04 five five is a very powerful number you look in the artwork and the belief the belief system of the people threes fives and sevens always come up and they're multiples today the nesper tribe on their executive committee has nine members that's three sets of three you have the three leaders
38:28 you have the chief the the two chiefs and you have the chaplain the spiritual leader guiding six Warriors gives us the three sets of three nine members someone asked once well why why do we have nine members why how' they come up with the number nine for our our executive committee and we
38:53 had tribal members that went into this great big long mathematical reason why nine it's simple tradition three sets of three I just wondered if the young people are learning the language so it's maintained through the
39:17 generations the young people are starting to learn the language uh they're exposed to the nesp language in the Head Start program they have programs all the way through uh from kindergarten all the way through uh senior and high school nesp tribe also has adult language programs that the people can uh older people can learn the language and those who know some of the
39:42 language they can brush up on their npers we're lucky that we have Elders today who are still very fluent in the nesp language so they can teach add to that that the LCSC has a course in N teacher Spanish and Nur Spanish and
40:06 NP what a combination I remember uh well I remember sitting at one of our general Council meetings and we were electing people to the to the the tribal council and one of the Elder men got up and he said you know in all my years of going to General councel and electing people to the to that council with this is the very first year that we had to choose
40:30 between a Lopez and a Garcia I was just going to add um I'm the academic Dean at LC and we in fact teach three years of nesp language and give a minor in nesp in collaboration with the nesp tribe and uh the elders are also involved in helping us deliver
40:50 that so we really appreciate that collaboration are there any other questions questions for Jr well in kind of uh closing uh you know we're here celebrating the lwis and Clark Bicentennial uh for mainstream America
41:12 it's a great celebration of people who ventured out to discover the the land that's here and for the native people it's kind of the beginning of the end for us uh what happened was inevitable the way it happened that was the
41:37 tragedy and I think of all the problems that we have in the world today many of those problems can be attributed to misunderstanding now in the small town I'm from there was a place known as Fenderson Hall and the old men would gather there and they would discuss matters concerning the people and they would smoke their pipes and they'd come up with answers to all these questions one day a young man came to this group
42:01 of Elders and he asked them a question and the old men sat there for a long time smoking their pipes but nobody could come up with an answer finally one of these old men said I know who know the answer to this question I'll go ask the pope so he went home and he gathered his things and he prepared for a long journey he start traveling to the East and it took him a long time and when he came to the big water he put all his
42:25 belongings on the big canoe and it took him across the big water when he got there he put up his teepee and he went inside and he put on all of his best Buck skins he wrapped his braids in the finest otter fur he put on his Bonnet and he walked up to the door of St Peter's Basilica and he started to knock finally someone opened the door and asked this Indian what he wanted and he said I want to speak to the Pope I have
42:47 an important question to ask him this man told the Indian the Pope's not here he'll be back in 3 days the Indian said okay I'll wait so he went back was teing and he sat down 3 days later this Indian saw 10 men dressed all in black and in the middle of them was one man dressed all in white and this Indian thought oh that must be
43:11 the pope so he stood up and he waited there he watched as his men were walking towards him and the pope looked at the Indian and all the beautiful bead work and the long fringes and white her Tails hanging from his shirt sleeves oh it's all so beautiful and this poor Indians really starting to get get nervous because this old man is staring at him Indians don't like it when you
43:35 stare but he waited there patiently and the pope looked up at the man's Tepee and all the poles and the prayer ribbons hanging from each pole and he looked back at the Indian just taking everything in this poor Indian's really getting nervous cuz he doesn't know what to expect and this little old man is staring a hole through him but he stood there and waited patiently finally the pope greeted the man in his
43:59 usual way and then Indian oh sign language he doesn't speak English and the Indian went back to his teee he took off his buck skins took down his teee and he came home when he got home the old man greeted him said oh it's so good to see you it's been a long long time do you have a good journey oh yeah it was really good well did you see
44:23 the pope yes yes yes I saw the pope well what did he say he said take down your tent and get the heck out of [Music] [Applause] here so you want to be careful about jumping to conclusions take the time to learn about the people you'll be dealing
44:44 with you'll thank yourself in the long run ha I want to thank everybody for being here to share these stories and this music I hope that you enjoy your journey through nesp country wherever your Journeys take you you have a safe journey and as you return to your homes you find them in a good way just as you left them I want to sing a song that our people use when we have friends or
45:08 family who are traveling to keep them safe at any time during your travels things just don't seem to be going quite right you look up into the sky and you think about this song and all your troubles will be left behind somewhere oh wrong
45:30 page wrong book
45:33 [Music]
45:58 hey is it a bird no is it a plane no oh my gosh it's Mighty Mouse High
46:20 here hey hey [Applause] K thank you very much thank you very much Jr it's always
46:45 a pleasure to have you in our tent and thank you so much for sharing your stories with us ladies and gentlemen thank you for joining us today this
46:56 does
47:26 e
1:02:25 for