|
Vinita to celebrate Indian Territory Day
 |
| Girls make grape dumplings at the 2007 Vinita Indian Territory Day. (Photo by Jami Custer) |
By Jami Custer
Staff Writer
VINITA, Okla. – As part of Native American Heritge Month, the city of Vinita will host the second annual Vinita Indian Territory Day Nov. 8 at the Craig County Fairgrounds.
The festivities are set to begin at 9 a.m. and will include everything from Native American arts and crafts booths demonstrating corn husk dolls, blow guns, moccsins, pottery, basket weaving, finger weaving, mini stickball sticks and beadwork to traditional games demonstrations and hands-on play of a corstalk shoot, stickball, Cherokee marbles, blow gun, a horseshoe tournament and the ancient game of chunkey or gatayusti.
“Come out for a cultural experience and enjoy good food, fellowship, see some old friends and meet some new ones,” said Vinita Indian Territory Coalition Chairwoman Lisa Trice-Turtle. “The event is open to the public and anyone can come if they have an interest.”
Also scheduled is a contest and benefit powwow starting at 2 p.m. with a supper break at 5 p.m. The powwow’s memorial song will be dedicated to Bob McSpadden following the grand entry at 7 p.m. McSpadden, who was from the Vinita area, was a former Cherokee Nation Tribal Councilor and VITC advisory board member.
Concessions will be available and admission and parking are free. Those interested in a vendor booth should contact the Vinita Chamber of Commerce for more information at (918) 256-7133.
Nearly 1,000 people attended the 2007 Vinita Indian Territory Day as organizers deemed the event enough of a success to continue it this year. The event is celebrated as part of Native American Heritage Month in November.
At the turn of the 20th century, only one day was being set aside for the contributions of the Native American. But with that effort, the celebration grew into a full month of celebrating Native American heritage.
According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, one of the early proponents of an American Indian Day was Dr. Arthur C. Parker, a Seneca Indian who was the director of the Museum of Arts and Science in Rochester, N.Y. He persuaded the Boy Scouts of America to set aside a day for the “first Americans,” and for three years the scouts adopted such a day.
In 1915, in Lawrence, Kan., at the annual Congress of the American Indian Association meeting, a plan to celebrate American Indian Day was formally approved. The president of the association, Rev. Sherman Coolidge, an Arapahoe, was directed to call upon the country to set aside a day of recognition. He then issued a proclamation on Sept. 28, 1915, which stated the second Saturday of May would be American Indian Day. It was the first formal appeal for recognition of American Indians as citizens. But in 1990, President George H.W. Bush approved a joint resolution designating November as National American Indian Heritage Month.
|