| rev:text
| - The best way I can describe the Steele Indian School Park is:
"This land once was used as a place where Native Culture came to die and is now being used as a place where Native Culture comes to be revived"
I have been to sooo many events at this park.
The Native American Recognition Day Parade ends here and you can usually see members of different dance groups still dressed in traditional attire laughing and dancing or just catching up. With a powwow to follow.
There are several gourd dances held there. Gourd dancing is a very important ceremony where veterans of the military are recognized and thanked for their contribution by their people and are honored justly. It's an amazing experience to go.
Recently, the Arizona Indian Festival was held at the park. There were traditional villages as well as various dance groups and arts and crafts vendors and of course... frybread! The festival was a way to take in the different cultures of the many 22 tribes in Arizona.
On "normal" days, it's a nice place to just be. The land itself has been blessed MANY times and I remember once, a medicine man had asked the Creator to have the park serve the people and asked the the land be able to take anything He has in store for it. Several years later, the two helicopters crashed and landed about 5 yards from where that man once stood.
Since, I know of many groups who came out to rebless the land and I, as a Native American, see it as the park doing just what was asked. It served the people. That accident could have taken more lives then the ones taken. But instead, it landed in the park and the land took it. And is even starting to heal. It served the people that day. As horrible a tragedy as it was, it could have been truely devistating.
Nearly all Natives have a story of the old Indian School in their family. And it's actions have caused many reprocussions. some natives were taught to hate their culture and traditional languages. And to this day, refuse to share their knowledge with their families. Some, had good times and like to sit around and laugh about their experiences climbing the fence to go run around in Phoenix. (my auntie has SEVERAL of those stories!!) In the 1800's and early 1900's, it was a tragic place to exist. But like I said earlier, our culture didn't die.
We still sing. We still dance. we still speak our languages. We still grow and learn and teach our young ones. We, as a people, still live on.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)