Native American Theme

Since M left for California, we have been having a Native American theme week. I have to admit, I am probably as excited about this one since dinosaurs (which happen to be the very first one we did). It is also a harder one as well. If you screw up dinosaurs, what is the big deal? Nothing, right? Native Americans are different though. If you screw this up, you really mess up. So the pressure is a bit harder.

We have been reading quite a few children's books by Native American authors. Some of the books are wonderful, however some are more difficult to do. Several of them I would love to add to our collection.

The highlight though was on Monday (which I was so excited about). Boston Commons had a "Making history on the Common" Day. One of the things we went for was the Native dancing.

The dancers were from the Wampanoag Nation. They are a little everywhere, if I understand correctly. The two largest locations are on Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard. Not bad locations, but nothing compared to what they had before the Europeans came over.

Before the dancing began, they had a little question and answer time about the dancers regalia and what life is like being a Native American. One of the school kids asked if they hunted for all their food. The girl in the picture answered that they do hunt, just not as much as they use to.


The dancing was fun. They did a combination of dancing on their own and having the kids (all kids, not just ours) dance along with them. N and Z loved this. Our kids were probably the youngest ones that were there and for sure the youngest that were participating. After the dancing was over, we went and talked to the dancers. N and Z kept asking me questions that I did not really have the answers to, like "is her dress soft?" (it was) and "what is that on her butt" (it was a rattle) and "did she make everything herself (she had).

Overall I am very happy with going. Given the fact that our summer is crazy busy, I think that we might keep this theme for the remaining of the summer. In July they have a Pow Wow that i would like to take the girls to. We are going to do some crafts when we get back from Texas and after that we will see. One recommendation though, do not watch Disney's Pocahontas. It was not one of Disney's finer movies (even if it had otters in it and everyone knows if an otter is in a movie, it is suppose to be good)