Today wasn’t just the start of the week, it was the start of ‘The Week’. For these seven days I’m marking and/or celebrating whatever daysoftheyear.com tells me to, and today just happens to be Native American Day. Well, in South Dakota.
But the thing is I don’t live in South Dakota, I live in Hull, England, and there’s not really any Native American culture round these parts. Or I don’t think there is anyway; hang on, let me just Google it again… Nope, nothing whatsoever, nothing with effective search engine optimisation at least. So I was on my own as I set out to pay tribute to this special occasion, but that’s good because I could let the day take me where it saw fit.
Being on the ball for once, I’d already bought a dreamcatcher and hung it above my bed. Unfortunately it must have fallen down during the night and I’d rolled over and crushed it, making it look like I’d wrestled a chicken in my sleep. However, I hadn’t had any bad dreams, despite the drawing pin that was lost somewhere within the sheets, so it still counted as a success.
On the way to work I listened to Jamiroquai’s ‘Black Crow’, which I think is a Native American themed song. The band name certainly is, referencing the Iroquai tribe, and to be honest that’s the closest I could get on the Number 15 at 8:30am (knowing my luck there was probably a Sitting Bull lookalike upstairs playing Angry Birds).
Skipping ahead a few hours, I read a bit about the day’s inspiration online. It was just bite-sized facts over a banana and cup of tea: not exactly a relevant food, but relevant food for thought. Did you know, for instance, that Native Americans make up 1.5% of the US population, and that over 87,000 of those 4.5 million members live in New York? That’s pretty nifty info to find out, no matter what day it is.
Popping out of the office around 1:30pm, I headed for Kathmandu, a cool independent shop that sells all kinds of exotic and tribal knickknacks. I was planning on having my photo taken next to the wooden statue of a Native American that stands proudly outside the shop, but instead kept on walking when the two fellas sat smoking outside and large amount of passing traffic gave me stage fright. Just call me ‘Flees from Everything’.
At home I cursed myself for not owning Pocahontas on DVD, so instead I popped Avatar on in the background as I baked some cornbread for the first time ever. Now, I’m not a kitchen person, in fact I can’t remember the last time I prepared a meal that didn’t end with the words ‘on toast’, but my cornbread turned out pretty damn nice! I got the recipe from this blog and added dried cranberries, as they’re a Native American food too. The result was a tasty sponge-like loaf, which included a portion of my five a day. Mmm-mm, wholesome!
Finally, I read a short segment in American Passages: A History of the United States (page 560), which explained how the Native Americans’ resistance came to a sudden end. I already knew this information from a history programme but it was still moving to read. Basically, the white man killed practically all of the buffalo, which were essential to the natives for food, shelter and clothing. However, the bit that was truly distressing was this:
…the cultural impact was even more severe. Buffalo represented the continuity of nature…
Simply put, we destroyed the foundations upon which their entire society, belief system and spiritual wellbeing had been built, all in the name of what we called progress. That put a bit of a downer on my otherwise fun day, but I guess it was an essential component.
And so there we have it, the first instalment of what I hope will continue to be a very fulfilling week. I think tomorrow might prove an even more demanding task and I honestly don’t know how I’m going to achieve it, but I’ll certainly give it a go. That’s the point of this project after all, seizing each day and finding out what it has in store. And like I say, tomorrow’s going to be a humdinger!
Check out #nativeamericanday on Twitter and see how others around the world are marking the occasion. I bet you I’m the only one that mentions listening to Jamiroquai on the bus.
Treat the earth well,
it was not given to you by your parents,
it was loaned to you by your children.
Native American proverb