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Videos of the Week

Shoshone-Bannock History in Idaho
PART I OF II: 2008's historic Idaho Democratic Convention, held in Boise, ID, June 12-14, invited Idaho Native American Tribal members from the Shoshone-Bannock/Fort Hall, Shoshone-Paiute/Duck Valley, Nez Perce, and Coeur D'Alene tribal communities to take an active part in the convention activities. On June 12th, the Idaho AFL-CIO hosted a Democratic picnic for convention goers. Mr. Ted Howard, Cultural Resource Director, Duck Valley, spoke to picnic participants about the Shoshone-Paiute-Bannock history in the Boise Valley area. 9:49 minutes.

Part II-Grand Entry, Flag Ceremony and Recessional
All convention tribal members participated in the grand entry at the beginning of the June 13th Idaho Democratic Convention gathering followed by a flag ceremony and presentation by Mr. Lee Juan Tyler, Council Member, Shoshone-Bannock/Fort Hall community. Fort Hall and Duck Valley singers and drummers played songs for the grand entry, flag ceremony and recessional.
9:59 minutes

Native American Prophecy
Narrated by the late Floyd RedCrow Westerman 6:36 minutes

7 Generations
Elder Orin Lyons talks about preparing for the next 7 generations. 8:43 minutes

TNB->Iroquois: Kateri Tekakwitha, Mohawk (1656-1680)

Posted on Monday, April 18 @ 01:37:37 CDT

Tegaquitha, "Lily of the Mohawks," as she was popularly known, was the first recorded Native American Roman Catholic nun in North American.

Stumble It!

She was born in 1656 at Gandawague Castle near Fonda, New York, to a Mohawk father and a Christianized Algonquin mother of the Turtle clan. During her childhood, her parents and a younger brother died from smallpox, and she was left badly scarred and pockmarked orphan.

Never a pretty child, she was adopted by her uncle, a Mohawk chief, but left largely to herself. She was always a "loner" who was apparently quite religiously inclined, and at the age of ten became strongly influenced by Jesuit missionaries. Eventually on Easter Sunday, in 1635, she was baptized despite the strong opposition of her uncle and took the name Kateri (Catherine).

After this event, she was shunned by most of her tribe, especially when she refused to work in the fields on Sundays. In 1677 she escaped from her village and traveled the 200 miles by canoe to join a colony of Christian Native American at Sault St. Louis, not far from Montreal. Here, her life was one of deep asceticism and piety. She sought to establish a convent on Heron Island on the St Lawrence River, but her plans were rejected by Church authorities; as a result she abandoned the project and became a nun.

It was a time of perfervid piety at Sault St. Louis, and in her zeal to obtain complete penance, Kateri persuaded a friend to ship her, in the custom of the day-a practice which she followed every Sunday for a year. Although the savage whippings became too much for her body to withstand, she resolutely continued the practice. Refusing any aid, she persevered in this mortification until she died at the age of 24 on April 17, 1680 at the Ville Marie of St. Francis Xavier.

Tegaquitha was buried near La Prairie, Quebec. Her devotions and self-denial were so remarkable that many miraculous visions and cures were claimed in her name, and in 1884 she was proposed as a candidate fro canonization, and in 1932 her name was formally presented to the Vatican for consideration.