Closed Captions Audio Described

Mary Jane Charlo, Native Adventures manager for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, demonstrates Salish language names and sign language for animals encountered on the Lewis and Clark expedition. She shares cultural teachings about animal traits, vision quests, and traditional practices, including a story about a slow young man helped by a mouse. Charlo also describes a planned powwow celebration of Salish diplomacy and hospitality in the Bitterroot Valley.

Transcript

0:02 We've been traveling since January of 2003, started in Monticello. And so we've made it here to Hamilton and it's been a great reception here so far. So, thank you very much, lots to do and see. We have our exhibit tent over here, replicas of the keelboat, the dugout and the pirogues. Um We are joined by our Federal partners, the Bureau of Land Management with their little white tent, uh the US Forest Service over there,
0:27 um The National Guard back behind us with their camouflage tent. Hope you can find that. So anyway, um please walk around and take it all in and enjoy yourselves and enjoy the fair. The Tent of Many Voices. This tent was a place designed to uh bring in different people of professional backgrounds and cultures to share with us their knowledge and wisdom as it relates directly and sometimes
0:50 indirectly with the Lewis and Clark expedition. And so for this hour, I'd like to welcome Mary Jane Charlo. Uh She is the Native Adventures manager and member of the um Salish Kootenai tribe. And so I'm gonna let her tell you more about um the Native Ventures program and she's going to be talking about Lewis and Clark animals.
1:09 So, let's welcome Mary Jane to our stage Good afternoon. Um, I work at the People Center. I don't know if you know what that is. It's the cultural visitor center for the Confederate Salish and Kootenai Tribes on the Flathead Reservation, which is north of Missoula. Uh,
1:32 Native Adventures is a tourism program for the tribes and that's what I do. I schedule tours, tours and set up trips for large groups and small groups and it's pretty much wide open depending on, on the person and what they want to do and how long they want to stay. What I'm going to do today is give the names in Salish
1:56 of these animals. Hi, Mary. Give the names of the animals in Salish and then do the sign language for them. Ok. I've been, I've been learning the sign language for about 3, 4 years since I finished a class with Johnny Arlee, one of our cultural, uh, teachers up on the reservation.
2:17 I took a cultural leadership class with him for two years. It was a two year class and it was teaching the about the culture and the history through language. Ok. Through the Salish language. One of the ways that he taught us the language and different words and how to, how to speak and stuff. I'm not fluent by any means.
2:40 One of the ways was he talked sign language while he spoke the Salish. So you were able to comprehend more of what he was saying without the English kind of like being stuck in the middle there. Um, so that's why I started learning about the animals. My granddaughter who, who was, who was 11 years old, we just finished doing the explore the Big Sky and Great Falls.
3:03 And she worked with me for five days straight, seven hours a day doing this. Ok. She was supposed to come today but her cousin from Minnesota showed up. She hadn't seen her cousin all summer and it was her cousin's birthday today. So she ditched out on me. So I'll do this by myself. Ok. So we'll just start from this end. Well, let's get this one down here.
3:28 I don't have all of the puppets and I don't have all of the sign language for them, but most of them I do when you're speaking sign language, all of this Hi R hey, here's my [inaudible] There's like all the sign language takes part right in between your waist and your neck. This is the hand that
3:50 it's kind of like your base. You use it for measuring and you use it for this hand to do the action on, you know. So right in between here and here, unless it's something specifically where you would use like, today, like that or, this afternoon. So like this hand, you, you'd use this hand on it going like evening and morning like this. Ok.
4:15 So I'll start with the signs here. Ok. This one is the black bear [in Salish] Nɫamqeʔ [in Salish] Nɫamqeʔ
4:27 OK. The sign for that black bear is his little round ears. That's what it is. OK? That and here we have a little black bear, right? OK. The sign for that one is little black bear. OK. This one is
4:52 [in Salish] Mhuyeʔ. Mhuyeʔ. What is it? [offscreen] Racoon. Yeah, some participation here. Ok. The sign for raccoon, I take my, I can see but if I put this over my glasses and this is a sign for [in Salish] Mhuyeʔ his banded eyes. And what do you think it is for
5:16 little [in Salish] Mhuyeʔ? Right. Little [in Salish] Mhuyeʔ. Ok. This one is the Grizzly bear. [in Salish] Smx̣e. We have a sound in our language that comes from your throat. It's written as an X in the international alphabet. (throat vocalization) [in Salish] Smx̣e
5:42 It's just expelling air from your throat. [in Salish] Smx̣e [in Salish] Smx̣e Ok. The sign for the grizzly bear is two signs. It could be this one because they mark the territory, scratching trees or this [in Salish] Smx̣e Ok. This one.
6:03 Ok. This one is the one I have a hard time remembering all of them. Ok. We don't have the adult deer, the bucks and we don't have the adult does and we have the little deer. So that just starts me out on, on the black tail or the mule deer. The, the buck is [in Salish] Puwé for mule deer Ok. Um
6:26 How many of you hunt? Ok. You know the difference between a mule deer and a white tail? Ok. Mule deer's horns spread out, they spread. So this is a sign for the, for the male black tail [in Salish] Puwé The male white tail.
6:50 [in Salish] Sx̣ʷlĺe got that X in there again. The W sound. [in Salish] Sx̣ʷlĺe is the white tail, curved forward. Ok. The black tailed doe is [speaks Salish] Bigs ears. [speaks Salish] The whitetail doe is [in Salish] Ćʔúlixʷ
7:16 because when they turn around they run, they're flagging their tail with danger. OK? The elk, we don't have an elk but the bull elk is [in Salish] Tšeć
7:26 and that's just like a big like this [in Salish] Tšeć and the cow is [in Salish] Sne real easy to remember. OK. Don't have the sign language for this, but everybody knows what this is anyways. OK. This is uh [in Salish] X̣stéyýe
7:47 Everybody knows what this it is. This one has all of our animals and all of um all of our animals all have stories for all of them. And in our creation stories, animals came before people, which is when I was with a lot of kids. And I, and I always like to tell them our creation stories parallel with Anglo Christian Christianity. You know,
8:11 animals came first, right? OK. And people always say, trying to say, well, Lewis and Clark followed old Indian trails. You know, our elders say, well, actually they were animal trails. The animals knew the quickest and easiest routes to get somewhere, you know, they didn't go over the highest mountain and all the way down the deepest valleys, you know, they were smarter than that. So, actually Lewis and Clark followed
8:36 animal trails and this, this little, uh, animal here has human traits. You know, like when somebody is nervous and they start to fidget, you know, their, their foot's going or, or the, they start going like this OK. Same thing. This one does too when it starts fidgeting, I think you've been there too long. When you notice that when his little feet start going up and down,
8:59 that's when you know you should have been gone. OK? Everybody knows a sign for this one [in Salish] Q’weyq’way What's the sign for this? Tatanka. Yeah, he got it back to Tatanka. Remember universal sign with the Indians. Tatanka.
9:23 OK. This one here is what?
9:30 A horse, good. You're so smart. OK. This one is a hard one. [in Salish] Snčɫćaʔsqá
9:42 OK. Sign for that. It's very easy. You got this hand to do the movement on. This is the horse that and I have a story about this one. I don't know what the sign language is for. The name for this one is [in Salish] ḱwékw’tneʔ OK. The story with this little animal is that there was a young man who was
10:07 considered slow, you know, like this story teaches people about every little thing, every person, no matter how seemingly unimportant has a place and a reason to be there. So the story about this little animal starts with the young man who was considered slow. You know, he couldn't keep up with the rest of the young men
10:30 and he couldn't run and play with them, hunt, ride horses or whatever. And so he was always left behind, then he spent a lot of time alone. So one day while he was out alone, and he kind of wandered back and he finally realized everybody in the camp had left, all the camps were gone.
10:52 And he was, he had no idea where they went, you know, and then he could hear some, someone crying like sobbing and someone was crying like they, their heart was broken. He wandered down through the trees and there was this teepee, he went inside the teepee and he peeked in the door and what he seen looked like with the back to him was like an old woman
11:15 and she was crying her heart out. And then he asked her grandmother, why are you crying? You know? And he asked her, is there something I can do for you? And she says, my children, they're gone. She said, I, I kept them in our, in our house in the chief's pillow, you know. And so they're all gone and he says, well,
11:39 we can follow them, you know, it's easy to follow them. We'll follow the trail and the old ladies wanted him just to go get the children. So he took off, he followed the trail and as he walked along, you know, they can pretty easy follow because of travel ways and dragging the pole, horses, footprints all kinds of different ways to follow the trail. And when he found them, it was getting towards night time and it
12:04 was getting dark and he found the chief's teepee and he went into it, you know, because remember like he wasn't like right on the ball with everything. So this is something you don't do if the doors close, you know, you don't just walk into a teepee. If there's a door closed on it, it means that, you know, you, it's, it's private or, you know, you're supposed to let him know you're there. So he will open the door and he walked in
12:27 and he was standing over there looking at the chief and the chief was laying there, he was sleeping the chief, you know, when you when you've, when someone's looking at you, especially if you're sleeping, you're gonna wake up, you know, and he w he woke up and he looked at this young man who was standing there, look over looking over him and he's going, uh, what do you want? And the young man said, uh, can I dig in your pillow?
12:50 And the chief goes, well, sure, go ahead. There's nothing in there. And so the young man dug inside the pillow and he found the babies and they were like a little nest and he started leaving. The chief asked me, did you find what you want? He goes, yes, I did. And he went all the way back and he found the, the grandmother and he told her grandmother, I found your children and she was so happy, you know,
13:14 and she had tears coming down. She was so joyful and he goes here they are. He goes, I don't know if they're all there because I didn't know how many you had. You know, and, and she's so happy and she counts them all. She goes, they're all here. And she said for this, I'll give you a uh a great reward, you know, and what she told him what she gave him, uh, the gift that she gave him gave him a great ability.
13:39 All the young men whenever he went out on raiding party, hunting party or whatever wanted to go with him, they wanted to accompany him. When the reason for that was the little mouse gave him the power to go in places and not be seen and to leave the same way. So that's the one of the story about the mouse.
14:02 Do you like it? OK. Everybody is all just really listening. OK.
14:13 This one is messed up. OK. My what big teeth you have? OK. What is it? OK. It's a wolf. OK. This is easy [in Salish] Nćiʔcn
14:34 when you say the word cats, that's on the end, cat, OK. [in Salish] Nćiʔcn. that's the sound that's in, in this word. [in Salish] Nćiʔcn is the wolf. OK. Let me see. I remember the Oh, yeah. OK. This is the sign for wolf.
14:58 OK. You change it slightly to changes to hunter. All right. OK. And this is so wolf's little brother
15:15 Coyote. OK. We call him [in Salish] Snč’l’e
15:22 to us is a real important person in, in our cultural, in our like history, historical stories, our creation stories and everything. Um, in the beginning create, I can't tell coyote stories because we, we're not supposed to tell them in the summer months until after the first snowfall
15:44 and stop talking about them after the first thunder. But, um, in our creation stories a long time before people were even here, um, there were spirits, you know, and people might think of them as the, uh God or, or whatever, you know, but there were spirits out there
16:09 and they created animals and, uh, and God, we call God or [speaks Salish] whatever people call everybody. Every culture has a name for God. All right. But, the spirits, um, decided that they were going to have people. So they created the animals first
16:33 and they told these animals we're creating you and we're putting you on Earth because man is coming and he's going to be born naked and he's not going to know anything. He's not gonna take care of himself and he's not gonna know anything. So you're going to be put on the Earth to help him. OK? How do these animals help us? All right. Everybody always heard stories about people
16:57 going out seeking visions, you know, fasting and praying for four days or however days, you know, and, and they get a vision and some people says it's delirium, you know, and whatever, you know, but, you know, I believe in my tradition, traditional ways and I believe, you know, we had our ways way before, you know, all of a lot of other things came along
17:21 and I, I believe in them. And one of the, one of the ways this al also teach you about something else that we do drumming and singing, OK? Dancing and drumming and singing are very important in our culture. You know, we still carry that on today in Powwows. All right, we, we dance and we sing like how one question I asked to
17:45 ask kids is um how many of you read the Bible? OK. How many of you have read the Bible? OK. Quite a few. OK. I read the Bible. I was uh on fire Born Again Christian door to door evangelism at one time. OK. Um I don't do it anymore. But um and the Old Testament talked about
18:08 David dancing before the Lord, he's dancing before the Lord naked. You know, what was he doing? He was praising God, wasn't he OK, you can draw that similarity with our dancing and our singing. OK. Those songs are given to us by spirits. When somebody gets a song, you know, like you were thinking of and they go seek a vision, they seek counsel and they're given a song,
18:32 song makers and singers are very special that's communicating between this world and that world. OK. People say we got a song. Oh Who's your helper? OK. A number of animals could be the helper. They received a song, their helper could be from the wind or from the, I have a very close friend who her song comes from the sound of melting ice,
18:55 you know, water. So there's a lot of different things, you know. So with this, a little animal at the beginning of creation, he was known as trickster. He's very important. And who is he, you know, when you think about it and the analogies drawn, you know, he's us. He's, he's the foolish person
19:18 who's always done the things that he wished he didn't do. You know, you know, that's, that's who this guy is and other times he's so smart, you know, and he is cunning most of the time. It doesn't end up in a good way because that's who he is, you know, but that's just an explanation of songs and animals trying to draw that
19:41 kind of give you an idea about singing and dancing and connection between animals all animals have different traits. For instance, like this, here animal here, [speaks Salish] turtle. Ok. I have a daughter that just really loves turtles. She's 22 years old on her dance outfit. She has all kinds of different little turtles
20:05 that she's received during the years on her belt, I made her a turtle bag and in the middle of it it has a heart. And I, I told her the reason I made her that bag is because this animal stands for wisdom, longevity and strength. OK. No matter what happens, you know,
20:28 you heard about the race between the hare and the turtle, you know, you just keep trying and you don't give up. OK. And so on that bag on her back was that turtle and there was a heart on there because a turtle has a very strong heart, you can try to kill it and it says it's heart will just keep beating and beating and beating. And also like, because I love her, I've also put a heart on it. So there's a lot of different reasons, you know, people make things for
20:53 like their relatives or someone they care for and you'll see goes, oh, that looks kind of crazy. I wonder what that is for, you know, but there's usually a good reason for it. So this is [speak Salish] and the sign for him is this
21:13 then his little head coming in and out, right? And for some reason, I can't remember the name for a snake. But this is a and simple, a rattlesnake. There's something else too like with sign language. If you want to ask a question,
21:36 simply depending on the circumstances. For instance, if I was sitting in this chair, Mary and I were sitting in this chair and we knew everybody that was in the room, somebody walks in, that's a stranger, you know, and we see that person walk in together and I might go like this to her. That means so what who, who is it? You know? Or if you're buying something, this is like talking for buying,
22:00 OK? If you're buying something and you really like it and you go [speaks Salish] is how much? So this is always the question or you might, you might see somebody, you did as a, you know, I might see you walk in and get happy to see you but you're over there and I go, you know, and go how are you? You go. Good.
22:24 Like that. OK. This one here. [speaks Salish]
22:34 L [speaks Salish]
22:42 What is it? OK. He's got little teeth. OK? We know what that is. OK? Sign language for that. Put your hand out. OK? Why?
23:01 Right. He's when he gets alarmed he slaps the water with his tail dives they all dive down under water to go into the, into the house. OK? This is a frog. I just learned this one I didn't know the name of this. It was a very good sign for this one. This has a sound in it called barred L
23:24 OK? Put your tongue behind your front teeth and blow air out the sides. Kids can do it easy if you tell them go right. They, they, they can do it pretty OK? So this one is [speaks Salish]
23:49 Frog. OK. Sign language for frog. That's easy. It's good. OK? And this one [speaks Salish]
24:12 real easy one, these big eyes. Ok? This is an interesting sign with this one. This is not very easy to say man's best friend.
24:30 Ok. A long time ago, our dog's man's best friend. I don't think we're that loyal because they were wolves. They were kinda like tame, they hung around, you fed them, you know, and the dogs are called [in Salish] Nqwq’wosm’Í Q sound comes out of your throat.
24:55 [in Salish] Nqwq’wosm’Í Ok. That was dog sign for dog.
25:06 The travelway. Used to tie on to the dog before we had horses. So that's the sign for dog. We were really glad to get horses, you know, you put all your pack, your stuff on one of these and he got to smell up his nose and he wanted to investigate. He was gone. Yeah. So we're really glad to get horses.
25:31 This one here? Mountain lion. [in Salish] Skwtismye
25:45 Ok. This one here that's a little one. Ok. Ok. Little [in Salish] Skwtismye. Ok. What's the sign for a mountain lion?
25:56 Like a cat nose, ok, you make the cat nose and then the eye is watching because he's always watching. Ok. And we don't have a bobcat, but the sign for Bobcat is also the same sign for a house cat. Just push your nose up a little bit on the end.
26:18 That's bobcat or house cat. All right. This one,
26:27 [in Salish] Sx̣asĺqs that's a hard one. [in Salish] Sx̣asĺqs it has that S with the X sound and the K and the N
26:47 Ok. We all know what that is, right? It's not a reindeer. Ok. [in Salish] Sx̣asĺqs Moose. Ok. Sign for Moose. Ok. What else? I think I've gone through my stuff. Ok.
27:10 Are there, oh, this doesn't have anything to do with my sign language, but here are posters. Um, Tony and Casola asked me to work with the Lewis and Clark Commission and Clinton Blackwood came to me, uh, about, about a year ago or two years ago and said he was getting a little concerned because there was no participation from the Salish.
27:33 And so I said, well, they probably don't want to celebrate Lewis and Clark because of the what came after. You know, it was not happy. But, um, I told them what they would celebrate though would be if they wanted the Indians come down and have a celebration, it would have to be an Indian celebration, you know, and I knew they wouldn't,
27:56 the elders wouldn't go for celebrating Lewis and Clark. But what this powwow was for is we have banded together with the Lewis and Clark bicentennial commission. A circle of tribal advisors, Sula and Darby Ranger District and a Bitterroot chamber of commerce to put this powwow on. And what this is for
28:20 celebrating the diplomacy, the hospitality and the generosity of the Salish. Ok. In this picture, this picture is done by Jesse Henderson. It was like $45,000. It's hanging in, I forget where it's hanging in Helena, but it shows Chief Three Eagles who is one of my ancestors.
28:42 Um Charlo, the the line goes from Tana before Three Eagles and Three Eagles. Then Victor, then Chief Charlo, then Martin and then my father Tony. But it shows them here, you know, it's called Offering of the Great Clearing. And so we walk there, we took care of them and traded them horses is what they had in the journal. But our elders say no, sane Indian would have traded for those horses.
29:07 You know, we gave them our horses and put them out to pasture in the journal as it says they traded for excellent Salish horses. So what this is going to be is not exactly a reenactment of that meeting, but the whole idea behind it is for visitors to come and be welcomed by the Salish
29:30 again in the Bitterrot Valley 200 years later, for everybody open to the public. And what we're going to be doing there is grant entry will be start Friday night at seven o'clock. It's all free. Camping is free. You know, you don't have to pay anything to get in. And there are going to be arts and craft vendors, food vendors
29:54 and native guided powwow tours. That's what I do at home. And we have native guides, take people through the powwow, explain the dancing and explain whatever is going on there, you know, and, and help them so they can participate and become part of the celebration instead of just like somebody watching, standing back, watching on the outside. OK?
30:17 And so that's what we'll be doing on the first night. And also there'll be viewing of uh Johnny Arlee's video, the Lewis and Clark expedition, meet the Salish and Pend d'Oreille Indians that was funded by Lewis and Clark Grant on Saturday. We'll start with the grand entry with the Snake Dance. OK? A lot of our names will
30:40 given to a lot of our different things in English have nothing to do with. They about what they really are. OK? Like the Snake Dance is given that name has nothing to do with snakes. You know what the Snake Dance it's called that probably because in English, when they danced in, they came in this way in line, Danced in OK, what the Snake Dance represents is like a victory dance.
31:03 You know, it's a warrior dance a long time ago. Way before horses, the warriors would come back if they returned, it was successful. You know, they would come in, they would be tired, starving. You know, they would be wiped pretty much wiped out. They'd be staggered into camp, you know, and the camp would be welcoming, but they would be coming in like this. And so what you see on this
31:25 is the only time we do it is Fourth of July celebrations. The biggest celebration up on the reservation. You have hundreds of dancers coming in for a Snake Dance on that. And it's very exciting. OK. We have, I got permission from the elders to do it down here in uh Sula. You know, so that's gonna be something extra special to see.
31:48 And we'll have the, I think the, I'm not sure if that happened yet. Do you know if they're going to have that veterans ceremony? Ok. We'll have a veterans honoring ceremony right after that grand entry and then there'll be dancing, contest dancing and drumming and singing. And then the welcoming ceremony is open to
32:10 all visitors to participate in what we do. We have what we call a giveaway dance. And it's a round dance where whoever's having the giveaway is in the center and they give to whoever is dancing because remember the dancing is like a really good thing to be doing when you go to powwow, you'll hear the announcer will say everybody get up and dance, you know,
32:32 get up and dance for those that can't dance, for those that have passed away. And for those who are coming, you know, so dancing is very important to us. So whoever comes down and dances with us, you know, will be honored. And also at that same time, we'll have the Lewis and Clark reenactors come out and be part of that And then about five o'clock, we'll have a buffalo feed.
32:53 None of this is, is, you know, you're not getting charged for any of this. And then later on that night, we'll have start again at seven and then we will, uh, continue with the dancing and the drumming and, and have, uh, I think we're having Clint Clint's gonna stand up and say some words too. Clint Blackwood. The
33:15 is he called the director or the chair chairman of the Montana... Anyway, he's the head Lewis and Clark guy for Montana. But, uh, so that's going on September 9th and 10th. If you wish, you can come and get one of these posters to remind you if you wanted to go. Are there any questions? [offscreen] Anyone have any questions for Mary Jane?
33:39 One over here. Hang on, let me bring this over so everyone can hear. When will that event? It's the 9th and 10th, but it's here in the Bitterroot. But where? Sula grab a poster? I don't know, am I hooked on to something here any other questions?
34:01 Oh, eagle, did we get the eagle? Sorry. Ok. You were watching [speaking Salish] Yeah. Ok. Easy sign. Just that's, we have two kinds of eagles, the bald eagle and the golden eagle. Ok.
34:23 What Johnny told me in the class was the golden eagle is mainly the ones the one that has to do with the Indians more so than the bald eagle because the bald eagle is the one you always see, like sitting up by himself, you know, all solitary, the golden eagle. You know, if you're watching, you will see him in there with the animals, you know, and
34:45 there's different stories and pictures, coyote stories of, of a golden eagle sitting there surrounded by animals and they're holding a council, you know, they're making decisions and stuff. But any other ones, [offscreen] Any other question?
35:00 All right. Well, let's thank Mary Jane for coming and sharing with us.