Category: Indians

Pete Catches

Pete Catches

by Justin Durand

Pete Catches was my dad’s “blood brother” (hunka).

More Information

  • 10 Sacred Native American Places (Feb 27, 2017), at Youtube.com, visited Aug. 8, 2019. From the Grand Canyon, to the little known eerie Black Hills, these are 10 Sacred Native American Places !
  • Art In Motion presents Lakota Medicine Man Pete Catches: “Walks With Fire” (Sep 28, 2017), at Youtube.com, visited Aug. 8, 2019. I met the late Medicine Man, Pete Catches in Moscow, as part of the American contingent at the 7th Generation Conference, and then interviewed him in Philadelphia, although he lived on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Of all the “Holy people” I’ve ever met, Pete was the only one I ever believed could speak with the Almighty.
  • Pete Catches (Aug 5, 2009), at Youtube.com, visited Aug. 8, 2019. Medicine man Pete Catches sits down with Art In Motion. This 36 second spot is only a glimpse into the culture and life of Pete Catches.
  • Peter Catches sharing vision of Oceti Wakan (Aug 24, 2010), at Youtube.com, visited Aug. 8, 2019. Peter Catches (Jr.) sharing his vision of Oceti Wakan, a healing/educational center on the Pine Ridge Reservation for the Lakota people.
  • Sacred Buffalo People (Feb 26, 2009), at Youtube.com, visited Aug. 8, 2019. Pete Catches, Sr. tells a traditional story: how the bison and the Lakota came to be related.
Be Native

Be Native

by Justin Durand

I don’t know when I’ve seen a video that surprised me more: “Navajo Historian Wally Brown encourages all with Native American DNA to Embrace it and be proud of it.“

Wally Brown: If You’re Native… Be Native

I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone with any kind of credibility say something like this. Basically, no matter how little Indian blood you have, acknowledge it and be proud of it.

Almost exactly 7 years ago, I wrote about blood quantum, with a very different conclusion. Back then I favored the idea that if you’re not embedded in the culture, you can’t have a meaningful Indian identity.

New Indians

New Indians

by Justin Durand

There’s this thing going on. Whites turning into Indians, at least in part. Lots of hand wringing from purists, but it’s not actually clear how this will turn out.

“Ethnicity is a tricky thing because it is commonly understood as something fixed and essential rather than what it more likely is: an unarticulated negotiation between what you call yourself and what other people are willing to call you back. . . .  

“The way the ethnic negotiation works depends on what part of the country you are located in. Native Americans recognize that there exists a kind of spectrum. At one end there are Indians living on a well-established Western reservation in a tribe that is branded as seriously authentic — Hopi, say — where many in the tribe retain the classic Indian physical characteristics. Moving along, you encounter various tribes that have intermarried a lot — like the Ojibwe — yet whose members still feel a powerful sense of authenticity. But once you visit tribes of newcomers, where few members knew their Indian ancestors personally, you begin to sense a clawing anxiety of identity. At the far end are hobbyists, those Indian groupies who hang around powwows, hoping to find a native branch in their family tree. They enjoy wearing the traditional tribal garb and are, as the University of Michigan history professor Philip Deloria titled his book, ‘Playing Indian.’“

What’s the right response when a White person finds an Indian ancestor, then wants to become Indian? It feels fake. Most people would say it is fake, even if the ancestry is real. I’m willing to be persuaded otherwise but my strong first reaction is that Indian-ness is cultural, not biological. Confusing the two seems like such a White thing to do.

More Information

  • Justin Howery Swanström, “Blood Quantum“, SwanKnight <yellacatranch.com>, Oct. 3, 2011. Retrieved July 4, 2020.

Revised July 4, 2020 to update link.

Indigenous Heraldry

Indigenous Heraldry

by Justin Durand

Although coats of arms originated in Europe and customarily follow European forms, there has been some movement toward adapting the emblems of indigenous people to heraldry.

My father, Ridge Durand (1933-2002) was a Lakota pejuta wikasa (”medicine man”) and a member of the Spotted Eagle Medicine Men’s Society. He was a hunkpa (”blood brother”) of Pete Catches (Petaga Yuha Mani) (1912-1993), chief Eagle medicine man of the Lakota. Uncle Pete has been credited with reviving the Sundance ceremony among the Lakota, and in 1964 was named Sundance Chief by the tribal council.

As a medicine man, he used a ceremonial shield. In heraldic terms, that shield might be blazoned as:

On a round shield Argent an American bald eagle close Proper upon on a branch from which depends four feathers Gules, Argent, Vert and Or, and in chief sinister four pairs of feathers each pair one Gules tipped Sable and one Or tipped Sable conjoined in chief at their quills by four hurts.

Acceptance of Indigenous Heraldry 

Despite the fact that indigenous people use personal emblems on a shield, their proto-heraldry has not gained universal acceptance. Many traditionalists feel that the result is not heraldry. David Pittman Johnson of The American College of Heraldry was a proponent of this view. He explained his philosophy in the following way:

“Many traditionalists consider these to be regrettable prostitutions of the ancient heraldic standards and traditions. Official offices of Arms may at times employ design compositions which in no way reflect the thousand year old tradition in armory. Obviously, heraldry grows and modifies over the centuries, but many feel that to introduce designs which have no reference whatever to standard heraldry is not heraldry at all. If one can take a totally unrelated design and place it on a shield, or on some other device, that does not, in the mind of many, make it heraldry. One gentleman made the remark that if one dressed a coal miner in a pilot’s uniform, that does not make him a pilot.” [Dr. David P. Johnson, Private Communication, June 6, 2003]

In contrast, the heraldic authorities in both Canada and South Africa have encouraged the assimilation of indigenous traditions into heraldry.

Sources 

  • Tate Wakpa Wanbli (Ridge Earl Durand), ceremonial shield (circa 1979).