Last year we remembered Columbus Day with a corresponding art project. This year I decided to focus on Native Americans since my national day calendar lists both Native American Day and Columbus Day on October 11.
We started school by choosing Native American names for ourselves, then coming up with a system to fine anyone who used the wrong name. It is hard to teach old dogs new tricks, my friends. Abooksigun, in my experience, is infinitely harder to remember than Tyler.
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| Bird Song, holding Singing Waters |
John was at work when we chose new names, so the children kindly volunteered to help him out. Last suggestion I heard was Long John.
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| Every time we forgot to call someone by their Indian name, we had to pay the offended person in bead money. |
I love our creative writing tablets because I can incorporate national days into the school day with little effort. This time, they copied Native American symbols into their tablets.
We used the same symbols when painting buffalo hides. To make the buffalo hides, we crumpled brown paper bags, smoothed them out, then painted symbols or pictures, using just a few colors. Detailed instructions are found on this website, where I sourced the idea.
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| Well, some of us painted symbols. One of us just painted. |
Themed menus are a fun way to make any day feel celebratory, so I looked online for Native American recipes. Some of them were impossible to make since I didn't have a good source for bear grease or buffalo meat. Lacking those key ingredients, I knew our food would be inferior to the real deal. Despite its shady authenticity, our dinner menu suited our purposes nicely.
Fry Bread
Fish
Succotash
Sweet Potatoes
Jerky
Nuts & Seeds
Nasaump, a cornmeal and berry porridge
It was a satisfying ending to a great day.
