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Native American Author Roundtable
4.
AOTW: Can you give us a brief description of the particular Native American custom or ceremony that you found most fascinating to write about?
W. Michael Gear: I would have to say it was writing about the Contrary, Green Spider, who plays such an important role in People of the Lakes. Green Spider is the young man touched by Power who does everything backward. He is a "Sacred Clown," a uniquely Native American character. Other writers, notably Thomas Berger, have written about the Contrary before, but none of them managed to catch the deeply holy aspect of the Contrary.
Joseph Marshall III: As a Lakota who happens to be a writer my connection to Native American customs and ceremonies is beyond fascination. I am not only an observer but a participant in many of them. The healing ceremonies are especially meaningful to me.
Margaret Coel: There is only one word for the powwow dances --- fabulous. The dancers wear traditional regalia, bright and colorful, often with eagle feather headdresses that trail down their backs. I've attended powwows where the dancers fill a large arena, and everyone is dancing, from old men and women to toddlers. The drums are beating, the singers are singing at full voice. It's very exciting.
One Arapaho custom always works its way into my novels, because it really struck me. It is the tremendous respect and reverence Arapahos have for their elders. They believe that old people are sacred because they live in the vestibule to the next world, which means they live very close to the Creator. And Arapahos look to old people for their wisdom. In what other culture do teenagers go to their grandparents for advice? It's wonderful to observe.
Thomas Perry: In five novels, I had time to have Jane participate in a wide variety of customs and ceremonies. One I liked was having her leave gifts of tobacco along the Genesee River as gifts for the Jo-Ge-Oh, the "little people," who in myth, perform the same service Jane does --- take people in danger, make them disappear, and then make them reappear later, when the danger is over. They're minor deities that she feels particularly close to. But probably the most moving ceremony, to me, was the Ohgiwe, the ceremony in which the women of the community sing and dance all of one night in remembrance of the dead. It's the culmination and the central image of my novel Dance for the Dead. It's the image I wanted the reader to see last: to see Jane dancing with the other women is to understand her better.
David Marion Wilkinson: The Cherokee ceremony when boys become warriors --- a blood-in/blood-out ritual that was not for the squeamish. I thought that it was also interesting that Cherokee culture was matriarchal. Women were represented in Council and, on occasion, also lead war parties. This was yet another example of how advanced the Cherokee were culturally.
Kathleen O'Neal Gear: For me, the most fascinating and difficult thing to write about is the vision quest. Seeking a vision is a solitary spiritual struggle to touch the divine, and very few people who have undertaken such a quest can put the experience into words. How does anyone adequately describe the sound of Buffalo Above's hooves thundering against his soul? We do the best we can, but our descriptions are always inadequate.
Penina Keen Spinka: The Iroquois, of which the Mohawk are one (the Six Nations), had festivals for every season. During the Green Corn Ceremony, they put out their fires and re-lit them from the ceremonial All Clan fire. Then, they purified themselves in water and vowed on White Wampum to do their best to correct their faults and do better in the coming year. These customs are very much like my customs surrounding the holiday of Yom Kippur. We have an Eternal Flame. We purify ourselves, wear white and do much as they do. We also celebrate the first harvest on Shavuot, as well as the final harvest --- Thanksgiving / Succot.
Aimee and David Thurlo: One of the most interesting is the traditional fear of the dead among Navajos. The belief is that the evil in a man (called the chindi) remains behind and could be dangerous to the living, particularly if anyone mentions the name of the dead or remains near the body or the place where the person died. This has strong implications when you understand that missionaries come to the Rez to preach about Jesus Christ, who rose from the dead.
David Matheson: I tried to write about the broad aspects of our culture so that people could understand why our people are the way that we are. We really are the children of the mother earth and the great Creator Kolunsuten. My own grandparents have said that the foundation of our culture is being thankful. When you know how to be thankful, truly thankful, it will make you humble. When you have humility you will gain true strength. When you have this true strength you are going to be a blessed and powerful person among mankind. Then you can go out and do in the world what you must. I wanted to capture and contain the depth of this way of life, what this way of life is really all about in a story. I want people to see the humility and what really was the true strength of our people. I enjoyed telling the story and it was easy for me. I only had to write about what I had seen in my parents and grandparents and what I try to practice every day in my life.
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