Posts

Showing posts from July, 2017

Rubbing Shoulders with the Yakama Indians- Part one

Image
                         I got to know the American Yakama Indians up close and personal!   You won't believe their strange lives in the modern world. Join me for part one here but don't miss PART TWO : shape shifters, out of body experiences, and some crazy stuff.    Oldest son Brad, left, me center, Austin on rt, back in those days           It was 1996, and my youngest son, Austin, and I lived in the moderate-sized town of Yakima, in the high central desert area of Washington State, in the north western part of the US.             The growing city was surrounded by mountains, many of which were old dormant volcanoes.  There was Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood.            They all formed the sides of a great oblong geographical bowl which held the fertile Yakima valley.   Mt. Hood sat in northern Oregon, across the Columbia River Gorge, but we could see it from Yakima and claimed it as one of our mountains.                      Apple, cherry and plum

Part Two of Rubbing Shoulders with the Yakama Indians

Image
        Here continues the second part of the intriguing tale of the Yakama Indian Nation.  There's a shape shifting Coyote, out of body travel, Medicine women who see the future and a duezy of a joke on an Indian Agent.   If you missed Part One, read it first.  Yakama Indians see life and the Great Spirit in every living thing, such as this tree.                       Even today, once a year there’s a huge Fourth of July POW WOW on the Yakama Nation Reservation, in White Swan, where Indian-only riders compete in racing tournaments.   The public is always invited to watch (and spend their money there.)   There is great food, traditional dancing in authentic Native costumes to the beat of a circle of tribal drums, and lots of fun.                         Funny thing though, the Confederated Tribes of Yakama had NO horses until after they began trading with the Plains Indians.   When the Yakamas saw their first mounted rider and horse, they thought the horse and