So my post about my first pow wow is taking so long, really because I wanted to tell you about the reserve first. So here's a post just about the reserve. Induuulge me. :-)
There are three native reserves near Montreal, all Mohawk or Kanienkehaka--People of the Flint. Though Mohawk was a derogatory term that came from the Algonquin, their enemies, most no longer see it that way and the term is commonly used. (The people in the language booth were kind enough to confirm this for me, as well as laugh at me as I tried to pronounce Kanienkehaka properly.) They're part of the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy and the Keepers of the Eastern Door.
Unless you watch aboriginal films, the main Kahnawake celebrity you might know is Alex Rice, who was in the Tony Hillerman mysteries, and played Sue Clearwater in Eclipse:
You probably also know about them being steel workers (as are the Ahkwesahsne Mohawk.)
Kahnawake was actually a Jesuit village set up for converted Mohawks, so they wouldn't be picked on by those who hadn't been converted.
Pictures of some of the old houses still there, taken by a resident. I don't know if they're from the same street I was on, but as our bus drove towards the stop for the pow wow I suddenly noticed the houses along the street were really old--like I was in Old Montreal.
Nowadays there are still churches, but also people who follow traditional Longhouse beliefs, and I'm sure people who are everything else (atheist, buddhist, etc.)
I'd only been to Kahnawake once before (I don't have a car, and it's not within my bus system) so I was rubbernecking like a tourist. (My current book might have a scene or two there.)
I'd google earth to show you but you can't google earth either Kahnawake or Kahnesetake, I've tried. I'm not sure if Google didn't try, or it's a privacy right the reserves possess.
Little google man can't land!
It looks like the usual Montreal suburb, except it's very green, a bit more spaced out and grassy-tree-ee, as though you were a bit further into the countryside. And you see the kinds of small businesses you except in a small town--Eg. a taxi business in a seeming residential neighborhood. Also the official language is Kanienkaha...
...and there are almost no street names. When my step-mother drove me to their community center years ago the directions were something like turn off the highway, turn right, and Old Joe at the booth will tell you where to go. And sure enough, there was an Old Joe at a booth!
Okay, that's what I wanted to say. I'm off! Have a nice day!
3 comments:
I've been to a powwow before in Albuquerque, NM. Gathering of Nations. The dancing and the drumming were amazing. At the time Northern Exposure was popular and a couple of the Natives from that show were at the powwow. I can picture them but I can't remember names.
I've also been to a peyote meeting in a teepee on Taos pueblo. Talk about an interesting experience.
What goes down at a peyote meeting?!
Who is Testan, and why must he be stopped?!!
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