Kumeyaay

Later this month we'll be giving thanks for the bountiful harvest and we'll reflect on the lives of the first nations and early settlers of this country.

It seems appropriate that over recent weeks, our country's rich tribal history and culture has been filtering into L's awareness in a variety of ways.

On our trip across the Southwest last month, we learned a little about the Navajo and Hopi nations as we crossed reservations and stopped to examine pottery and dolls made by local artists.

L was fascinated by the idea that there are entire groups of people who share similar hair and skin color and they make beautiful art and music together.

Then we learned on Monday that one of these people groups used to inhabit the very ground where we live. At our monthly visit to the local nature center, we learned about the Kumeyaay people and how they lived before European settlers arrived.

We played inside a Kumeyaay hut replica.

 

We used stones to grind acorns.

 

We made our own versions of Kumeyaay dolls using modern the tools of scissors, paper and glue.

We checked out a book from the library to see where the Kumeyaay live today and how they keep their language and rituals alive.

 

 

Someday, long from now, L will have to confront the sorrowful events that these first nations ultimately faced. She'll have to learn about how fair-skinned settlers obliterated once thriving tribes with foreign disease, forced acceptance of Western religion and a violent push from their lands.

In her ancestry, L has ties to both native peoples and European immigrants. I don't know if any of that will matter much to her when she comes to understand how ethnic and cultural heritage can connect us to a complicated yet richly colored past.

L knows she's a girl, who lives in America with a loving family. She's starting to understand that there are interesting people living all around her who are worth learning more about. She doesn't need my help to define who she is right now. Perhaps she never will.