Closed Captions

Harry Beauchamp (Shakes the Spear) and his son Harry Beauchamp III, from Fort Peck Reservation in Oswego, Montana, demonstrate traditional Assiniboine men's dances and explain cultural practices including regalia-making, hide-tanning, eagle-feather protocols, and the significance of powwows. Beauchamp discusses his spiritual journey, family traditions, and the importance of passing Assiniboine culture to younger generations.

Transcript

0:19 Now we've got the trusty mic, the one that we can always depend on. So I'd like to welcome you once again to the Tent of Many Voices for our one o'clock program here. And just let you know, we are a venue that travels all across the US. And it's kind of a revisioning of what the Lewis and Clark Expedition did for us too. And one of the big important things about the Tent of Many Voices is that we hear many different voices. We see many different cultures, we see many
0:44 different things in here and we learn about all the different aspects that contribute to what makes the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail so wonderful today. And it's really the stories of all these different people. And so for this hour, I am very pleased to introduce Mr Harry Beauchamp and his son Harry Beauchamp the third. And we're going to do a little Assiniboine culture and dancing in here today. So please help me welcome Harry and Harry to the Tent of Many Voices.
1:18 [speaking Nakota] What I said was my native name is Shakes the Spear and it's good to see all of you here. I'm Assiniboine from the Fort Peck reservation. We live in a little town called Oswego. I'm a Red Bottom Assiniboine.
1:38 There's 40 clans of us and we belong to the Red Bottom people of the Assiniboine.
1:45 OK.
1:49 [speaking Nakota] That means my Indian name is Mountain Eagle Boy.
2:01 We're gonna do a couple of uh
2:04 they're not word songs. It just says, look at me, come and dance with us. We're gonna do two of them. They're called men's junior boys and men's traditional. And then the third one is a duck and dive. So you'll be uh you'll have fun with these three songs that we're gonna do for you today. And I want to apologize.
2:28 I had a drum group coming down with us
2:33 the last minute they backed out and they're from our reservation and I hate to say this, but they were Sioux
2:43 so leave it up to them. And last night I tried to get a hold of some other gentlemen, but they're on the powwow road. And what that means is they go to celebrations all over and that's kind of probably where they're at, but that's fine. This is I and this young man we practice to these songs at home and this is the first time I've ever done it in public
3:08 on a stage. We're not stage natives. We like to dance on grass over there. And uh Mother Earth, we say [speaking Nakota] in our language which means mother Earth. So with that, we will uh get with it.
7:26 I did not pick those songs. This little gentleman back here did.
7:38 That song is a traditional song. There's no words to it. It's a powwow inner tribal
7:47 where everybody including all of you. If we're at a powwow, when they say in inter tribal, all you folks are from a tribe. So you get to join us.
8:02 You don't have to dance that fast.
8:08 I shouldn't have ever let him pick these.
8:16 Is there anything you wanna say?
8:20 He's good?
8:31 It's hard on the calves.
8:44 Our eagle feathers. We would never kill an eagle. Ok. What we do is in our culture, we would build a little dome out of red willow water willow. Then we would dig a little hole big enough for me to set in there.
9:06 Then we would cover with branches from, uh, cottonwood trees. Then I would put a deer cart or deer ribs up there from my kill of hunting up on top. Then I would sit there
9:24 and a bald eagle normally will come and land because he's a scavenger. And then what I would do that had big welding gloves on
9:34 and I'd grab his talents and I'd pull because they grow back, be like pulling hair. So it don't really hurt them. Plus they get to fly again and their feathers get re emplaced. Uh, these, his bustle came from a place in Denver, Colorado,
9:59 where all eagles that are dead, give them to the government, they give them there. And then as a recognized tribe, if we need feathers, we call them up, send them our address, our tribal enrollment. And then when they get one, they'll send it to us. And that's where his came from. Mine came from the same place.
10:25 So with that, we'll get started again. Thank you again. [speaking Nakota]
10:32 means thank you in my language
14:53 In men's traditional on your downbeats, you would raise your dance stick to that direction.
15:07 Whether it's south, we start, everything comes from the south. So we start in the south. Go to the north
15:17 or west, then north and then east where my spirit will go someday
15:25 might be today.
15:29 But I tell you what, I look good for him.
15:34 [inaudible]
15:41 Our elders always say that we carry ourselves in a good way because I may be the only Assiniboine you folks come in contact with. So if I'm doing things
15:55 not good to the human race, then you would look at all the Assiniboines that way. So we smudge up every day. We did this morning, we got off on kind of a bad foot I and this little guy here.
16:12 But as part of growth for him, myself, as a father,
16:20 ah, anything you wanna say? Ok.
16:27 Now, remember he's the one who picked these songs. So in the future, I'm going with some little less time. Most of our songs usually go about 2 to 3 minutes. If we were timing that, I think those were 4.5 minute songs. Those would be where I would be in competition with about 30 other dancers in the judging goal
16:52 by my foot to the drum. If you've noticed on that third downbeat, I stopped. That's called bucked of f. I would have to walk off of the dance floor.
17:07 My competition would be over with, but you guys didn't know that. So I just kept on dancing
17:17 one time I was in a competition in Arlee Montana. Does anybody know where Arlee Montana is?
17:24 Ok. They have a huge powwow out there. A lot of good dancers, there was three sets of us traditional dancers. There was 15 to 20 of us in a group. there was like 70-80 of us competing. And our second song is usually a sneak up and the sneak up is very, very real to me.
17:47 I, I'm not a veteran. So what I use is a hunting story in my dance and I'm sneaking up on this big buck, mule deer buck in my dance. And I got bucked off on the second downbeat
18:06 unknown to them. Other than the announcer, when I walked off, he said this man has great respect for this dance. I wish other men would take that approach. When you get bucked off, you're supposed to walk off of the dance floor. So I guess they, uh, that's something new for them in Salish Kootenai country
18:29 with that. We have one more song and it's called the duck and dive
18:35 and it's, it's where our enemy are shooting at us. So we will.
18:43 It's all sweating.
18:46 That's all right. Sweats good for you, by the way,
18:50 because if I didn't sweat, I could probably have a heat stroke.
18:57 But anyway, this duck and dive is like we're taking on our enemy and they're shooting arrows at me. So I duck and then they'll shoot another one, then I'll dive. So this one is kind of a cool one, you'll like this one
19:17 Here we are ready to go Midnight Express. The contest is on
21:48 That first group was called Northern Cree. Those are the singers, they would be allies of us Assiniboines over 200 years ago. That second group there,
22:03 Chippewa Cree They, no, I was
22:10 Midnight Express is that duck and dive song. And actually that's a Crow song. And uh just recently they threw it in our traditional category. So we have to learn to dance it because usually crow men would dance to that and it's usually a little slower with the double beat. So,
22:37 and that ends our dancing. Thank God.
22:48 But if anybody, if anybody has any questions, I believe it's appropriate, appropriate.
22:58 Uh our bead work it. I have about 25 $2800 worth of regalia on
23:10 my moccasins alone are 175 each cuff is about 100 and 200 bucks a piece. Then my armbands my beaded belt along with my beaded side drops
23:30 along with my side drops
23:34 and along with my leggings. So that's where this came from. We have a very good friend back home that we trade. I'm a hide tanner. My hobby is a hide tanner. I believe every man should have a hobby and mine is brain tanning hides with no chemicals. I also make hand drums. Powwow drums.
24:01 I have a little boy that's four. Whenever I'm working to hide, he has to get right in there with me and I think he's gonna carry it on because this little guy here don't like the smell of it.
24:15 You know what he would rather do,
24:20 know what you like to do. I don't know,
24:26 he likes Playstation and his Xbox.
24:32 I believe it's a sin myself
24:36 because it keeps us away from what we're actually supposed to be focusing on. When I was a little boy. I was born in 1954 when I was a little boy. My job was to make sure the kindling box was full. I come from a family of 14 plus grandma and grandpa. And, uh, I was third from the youngest. So I had to, uh,
25:00 grow up with a lot of elder brothers and sisters. One thing I always remembered we had grandma and grandpa back in them days, you know, we never had old folks' homes, you know, and we always took care of grandpa and grandma no matter where we lived and went. My uh grandma lived to be 100 and five.
25:22 She was blind the last 10 years of her life, which we used to like to have fun with her
25:29 and grandpa, she outlived him by 15 years, but he was a spiritual powerful man within our tribe. Passed a lot of things on to me. I carry his name Shakes the Spear, which was bestowed on me 19 years ago when I decided to lay what we call alcohol down for a couple of years, I ran with it when the death of my father.
25:54 But I since then picked my uh culture up, which was never lost because it just becomes a way of life for us. You know, it was never lost and I needed to do those things. And I'm grateful that all of you are here today. This is uh supposed to be fun. So we will continuously have fun.
26:16 I have another presentation I'm gonna do at four, I believe. And uh I'm gonna show you uh a documentary that we made of the Assiniboines in their encounter over 200 years ago with a gentleman named Lewis and his partner Clark in their expedition. So if you want that four, we're going to do that, right? OK. We do have time for some questions.
26:40 Does anybody have any questions for Harry or his son, Harry the third? If you do, please raise your hand and we can have everybody hear the question.
26:51 Could you tell us the significance of the items that you hold in your hands?
26:57 This is my fan and everybody knows what you use a fan for
27:05 To fan myself. It's the wind. We have a song that goes with this fan and it says you fly high to the one above and you take our prayers on your feathers to the one above for us. Ok. So that's the significance of the fan. This is called the dance stick,
27:30 which would lead me. These feathers are supposed to lead me to. If I'm hunting, they'll shake. If that animal is in that area or if my enemy is over there or whatever, they would shake and tell me that's where it's at because there are eyes. Ok? And then my little dance bag carries coffee money and supposed to be chewing gum. But
27:57 all right. Any more questions for Harry or his son?
28:06 Do you teach all of your young men like this to dance? Oh, yes, I have a little daughter that's six. She's a jingle dress, dancer. And, uh,
28:19 there's different categories in dancing. There's junior girls, jingle dress, there's all the way up to elder lady traditional. There's tiny tots where three or four year old get to dance and that's where they start. That's where he started, I did not start dancing until, like I said, last night, seven years ago, I went to a powwow and I just,
28:45 I said I gotta get involved because I'm one of these little guys. I gotta get right in there in the thick of it. So I uh spread the word around and pretty soon pieces started coming. A lady made all of my regalia for me, uh the bead work. And uh I told her what I specifically wanted was rose. My mother's middle name, rose
29:08 and I've always liked that flower of the rose. So my bead work is all floral design. Uh
29:17 One other thing I, I would like to say
29:23 is that as we travel, you know, we come encounter with a lot of people
29:31 and whenever we do what we're doing now is from I and him. That doesn't mean it's what all of my relatives believe and do back home, but it's for I and him. So if there's, you know, down the road, if any of my elders say, well, we saw that stuff on Lewis and Clark and you did this,
29:54 you did that but you did not say it was from you. OK. You know, I'm considered an elder back home.
30:06 Most of our elders have long gone to the spirit world. We say [speaking Nakota] And uh I was fortunate that I belong to a couple of societies. I belong to one that's over 6000 years old. Very sacred society. And then all the ceremonies are still performed the same way.
30:27 We don't change anything to make ourselves comfortable or look any better or bigger or whatever. And it's kind of good.
30:37 Ok. More questions over here.
30:43 Do you still use your language in conversation? Yes, we do at home. But we were told
30:52 that it would be rude for me and this little man to stand up here and have a conversation in our language because somebody in the audience might think that we're talking about them.
31:04 So it's not, as Assiniboines we don't do that. I've been to several places where they do do that
31:12 and they'll stand and talk, you know, in their native tongue.
31:16 I don't know what happens.
31:21 Falling on deaf ears. Yoo-hoo
31:26 Anybody else?
31:29 Oh, wow. Is your regalia pretty much characteristic of the other plains tribes or is it specific to the Assiniboine?
31:38 They're all related real similar because traditional men, normally we dance with a vest to a fully beaded vest. But, oh, it's too hot for a fully beaded vest. That's usually the regalia. And I, I would not normally wear leggings, but my niece told me one time, she said, uncle, are you riding a chicken?
32:04 I had a complex and I made myself some leggings.
32:10 Ok. I think we have time for one more question. If somebody else,
32:17 What's your headdress made of? This is made out of porcupine guard hair. The long one, the other is white tailed deer and then the top of it is made out of the headpiece underneath here. The leather would be, uh, bend over. I think yours is better is, uh, your basic were
32:41 yarn yarn. This is, this is the Assiniboine direction right here. I must add red and these are porcupine guard hair. How we would take a porcupine? We don't kill them. We'll take a stick like this and porcupines are very slow and you would put it right over his neck
33:06 and have a big pair of boots on. Ok. Then you would step on his tail and you pull, you pull the guard hair. Usually in spring, late winter, you would pull that guard here because again, it grows back. So we're not taking the life of a porcupine. But nowadays, guess what we do,
33:31 we look for roadkill.
33:37 I, I'm sorry, I guess we do have time for some more questions.
33:45 Have you always lived in Oswego or any place else up in the Assiniboine? I grew up in, I was born in Poplar, Montana, which is our agency. Then we moved to Wolf Point and lived in a one story log house and we used blankets for walls to keep the girls from the boys.
34:09 Then we moved from there to Oswego. And then in the late sixties, the government did what they call a relocation. They relocated my whole family plus grandma and grandpa to Long Beach, California.
34:28 Guess how long we lasted. When grandma said it was time to go home.
34:34 We came home,
34:37 the, uh, we're a matriarchal society. We ha we listen to our elder women
34:44 because without them, I would not be here. So when grandma got tired of Long Beach California, she said it's time to go home. And my father put in, I guess this is a story. He put in his two weeks notice with Douglas aircraft. We got in an old 60 some Chevy car and an old pickup and did like the Beverly Hillbillies and we came back to Montana
35:09 since then. I've been all over this globe. I am this little man, but we don't go outside of uh mother turtle island. We call it. I go to Canada for powwows. I go to Canada for ceremonies. We go to, we go to all nations. We are down in Florida in
35:27 February. We're with the Seminole Indians in Florida for a week gathering. And uh so we're, we've been to the Haida Gwaii Nation. It's an island off of the Vancouver coast and we've been, I've been down to Arizona with the Hopi all over. So
35:50 we do a lot of things other than just celebration. You know, we, we have a spiritual walk that we share with other natives anymore?
36:03 he's got one. Well, we do have a question. Um Do you know when the powwows are gonna be in Poplar? Um Do you know the dates by chance. There's a big one called Poplar
36:14 Indian Days, which is Labor Day weekend. There is four, four powwow committees. They combined all of them and they get together and they put on one big powwow. I and him do not go to that one. We go to a, how many of you heard of Metis?
36:35 OK. We go down to Metis country in Lewistown, Montana on Labor Day and we uh celebrate with them. Uh
36:46 We dance so much at our reservation. We like to just get away from there and we go down there and they're very good people. These Metis, how many of you know, what a Metis is they have their own language. They were, what we would call a half breed, meaning they're half white, they're half natives. They have their own language, their own songs, their own culture.
37:11 They're very cool people. So we always go down there to Lewistown in uh eat bullets with them. They call bullets as these great big old pieces of meat. They make a very good soup. They treat us good. I'll tell you one more thing. If you ever want Assiniboine to do anything for you, you would take that man some tobacco
37:34 and then when you're done, you got to feed him.
37:37 There's no money in exchange other than that tobacco. And if I accept it, then I got to go through with it.
37:46 But you better darn feed me
37:50 I think on that note it's a, it's a good time to wrap, but Harry is going to be presenting again at four o'clock today. So please do, come back for that. I'm sure we all enjoy Harry Beauchamp and oh, we got one more. Sorry. Hold on, we forgot him. Let's do it.
38:05 I wanna know. I, I wish I like to do a dance like you do. But
38:11 I want, I wanna be a part of it.
38:16 You would want to be part of the dance. Where are you from? Matano Sydney? When I'm done, you give me your address and how I could reach you.
38:29 Have you ever heard of a goose? I heard of it. OK. I could make you a bustle out of goose and you, it would never look the difference. You would, everybody would believe that it would be a bald eagle because unless you're an enrolled member, you wouldn't be able to carry an eagle feather by the government. You would get arrested. I agree with you. Ok? So I would make you everything traditional other than
38:53 you would have to use a goose bustle, which is good too because my little baby boy dances with one because he's not of age to take care of an eagle. Good dancer too. I believe you. Cool. I like that one way to get involved. But of course, please uh round of applause for Harry Beauchamp and Harry Beauchamp the third
39:18 in my language. I would say [speaking Nakota] and then you would say [speaking Nakota]
39:25 which means you're welcome. Thank you.

Tent of Many Voices

Harry Beauchamp on Assiniboine Dance and Culture

Harry Beauchamp

Assiniboine

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Harry Beauchamp on Assiniboine Dance and Culture

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