Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
ÇuhyeßáØkye 2018
Page 2 Skaru:ręØ Monthly, June 2018
Volume 9, Issue 6
June 2018 Haudenosaunee Grand Council Tuscarora Council of Chiefs and Clanmothers
HAUDENOSAUNEE ENVIRONMENTAL
TASK FORCE (HETF)
Oren Lyons, Political Co-Chair Henry Lickers, Scientific Co-Chair
David Arquette, HETF Director TUSCARORA ENVIRONMENT
PROGRAM (TEP)
Rene Rickard, TEP Director [email protected]
Bryan Printup, GIS/Planning [email protected]
Bradley Thomas, Env. Technician
Taylor Hummel, Env. Technician
Following the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the Haudenosaunee held a Grand Council to discuss the environmental degradation of our communities. In accordance with the Great Law of Peace, the Grand Council passed and agreed, based on Haudenosaunee protocols and cultural
beliefs, to establish the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force (HETF).
The SKARU:RE MONTHLY is the official publication of the Tuscarora
Environment Program. You can submit articles, artwork, photographs, editorials
and letters of love and happiness to:
SKARU:RE MONTHLY c/o: Tuscarora Environment
5226E Walmore Road Tuscarora Nation
Lewiston, NY 14092
#716.264.6011
www.tuscaroraenvironment.org
or our Facebook page
“Tuscarora Environment”
June 25-28, 2018 - 2018 Gathering of Good Minds, Wells College, Aurora, NY. FMI: Lisa Latocha, #315.813.3533, [email protected],
FB: @GatheringOfGoodMinds.
July 4-8, 2018 - Indigenous Deaf Gathering, Oneida Community Centre,
Oneida Nation of the Thames, Southwold, ON. A conference where all
indigenous deaf people from across Canada and USA are welcome to share teachings, histories, and learning more about the Oneida people and the
development of their new Oneida Sign Language. FMI:
[email protected], #1.226.400.1303.
July 13-14 12, 2018 - 172nd Tuscarora Nation Picnic and Field Day, Tuscarora Picnic Grove, Tuscarora Nation, Lewiston, NY. FREE admission, FREE parking. Come join us for traditional foods and crafts,
smoke dance competition, horseshoe tournament, live music, princess
contest, 10K race and 2.5 mile fun run, and MORE! FMI:
www.tuscarorapicnic.org.
August 18-19, 2018 - “Taking on the Doctrine of Discovery: What Are Our Next Steps?” Conference, Ska:nonh - Great Law of Peace Center,
Liverpool, NY. Starts at 9am. $100/person. The conference is sponsored by
the Indigenous Values Initiative, and it will touch on the devastating
impacts from the Doctrine of Discovery on the Haudenosaunee, understand its history, and then share strategies for addressing this 500+ year-old
ongoing human rights violation. FMI: www.indigenousvalues.org.
August 11-19, 2018 - The Great Law of Peace Recital, Tuscarora Indian
School, Tuscarora Nation, NY. Kayanrehsti:yu: (Great Law of Peace)
recital will include tobacco burning in Tyendinega, decolonization workshop and Tuscarora history workshop at Tuscarora, followed by seven
days of recital at Tuscarora. Social every night after supper. Camping and
hotels available. FMI: www.facebook.com/glprecital/;
www.greatlawofpeace.com, [email protected].
September 14-16, 2018 - 2018 International Iroquois Beadwork Conference, Kanatakon St. Regis Recreation Centre, Akwesasne Mohawk
Territory. 12pm-6pm. Program includes: talks on beading history, current
work; beading classes; beadwork contests, and silent auctions. Vendors will be available for beads, beading supplies, beadwork and more. The
conference will include boat tours of St. Lawrence River islands. FMI:
www.otsiningo.com, [email protected], #607.729.0016.
Bean plant (courtesy of P. Fischer.)
Planting time - What are you going to
grow this year? Family garden plots
are a necessity for our own sovereign survival. Keep up the good work!
Page 3 Skaru:ręØ Monthly, June 2018
NOW HIRING! High School Summer Intern Position Available
Full-time, non-permanent, summer job for a Tuscarora high school student entering grades 10th – 12th this fall.
Responsibilities Include: Assist with Plum Pox Virus sampling, Forest Pest detection sampling and European Fruit Fly sampling or
Habitat improvement project.
Assist with Tuscarora Nation Picnic & other tasks with the TEP office.
Day-to-day activities might include: Sampling Field work
Internet researching
Writing and other typical office duties.
The position will be for 8 weeks, 40 hours a week. Working papers might be required for students under 16
years of age. A car is not required for this position, but the student is responsible for getting to work everyday.
Employment Dates: July 2, 2018 – August 24, 2018
Pay Scale: U.S. minimum wage: $10.40/hr.
Requirements: Travel is required during work hours.
Weekends could be required, and notice will be given ahead of time.
Note: A personal car is not required during work hours. Transportation will be provided during work only.
How to Apply: Write a letter stating why you are a good candidate for summer employment with the Tuscarora Environment
Program. Please include your name, address and phone number (cell and/or home), and what grade you will be in the fall 2018.
Email your letter (in Word .doc file format) to [email protected]; or drop it off to the TEP office by Friday,
June 15, 2018 by 4pm: Tuscarora Environment Program
5226 Walmore Road
Tuscarora Nation via: Lewiston, NY 14092
ALL APPLICATIONS BY EMAIL OR DROP-OFF RECEIVED AFTER THE DEADLINE WILL
NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR THE POSITION. PLEASE APPLY EARLY!
Page 4 Skaru:ręØ Monthly, June 2018
In the U.S. the EPA does not regulate private
drinking wells. Water quality is left to the owners
responsibility. NYS DOH recommends that private
drinking wells be tested every year for e.coli and
every two years for water quality. Many contaminants cannot be identified by taste, or odor,
making it difficult for homeowners to know if the
water quality of their well has changed.
*www.health.ny.gov
Hydrogen sulfide, the gas in water that gives it a
“rotten egg” smell, is part of naturally occurring
minerals contained within soil and rock formations.
As water percolates down through the soil, these
minerals can dissolve releasing sulfates into groundwater. Treatment options for sulfates include
reverse osmosis, distillation, and ion exchange.
*www.ag.umass.edu.
Did You Know . . .
Turbidity is a measure of water clarity. Turbid water
can look cloudy or opaque and can also affect the
color of the water. Material that causes well water
to become turbid includes: clay, silt, finely
dissolved organic and inorganic material, and microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses.
*www.wellguy.com
Episode 4 of the Tusky Talks podcast with Yerihętyá:tih
Betsy Bissell is now available! Check out our website and
give it a listen:
www.tuskytalkspodcast.wordpress.com
*** On this episode, We were fortunate enough to speak with
Yerihętyá:tih about her experience as a Tuscarora language
teacher. After teaching at the Tuscarora Indian School here on the territory for over 20 years, she continues her work with
Tuscarora speaker Rayęthus Howard Hill along with other
volunteers of the language program, NeyękwawętaØßkwahshek
(We will carry on the language.) In addition to developing a
Tuscarora language immersion program curriculum,
Yerihętyá:tih teaches language courses (Tuscarora 101 and 102)
at Niagara University and offers evening classes during the
school year at our Tuscarora school for adults in the community.
Most of the work she does is voluntary and out of her love for continuing the language. We greatly appreciate the work of
Yerihętyá:tih and all of NeyękwawętaØßkwahshek for their
efforts in reawakening Skarurękyé:haØ within our community!
I hope you enjoy one of our most enlightening episodes yet! Nyà:wę for listening!
Page 5 Skaru:ręØ Monthly, June 2018
Once you have paid and signed up for
the service, your household will be
added to their route that services the
nation territory. Modern will give
you specific instructions on what can
be put out on Mondays for curbside
pick-up and what time it should be
out. Unfortunately, New York State
requires Modern Disposal to follow
NYS Solid Waste Codes and there
will be some items that will not be
accepted, like electronics, paints, and
oils, just to name a few. But don’t
worry, that is why TEP has a
household hazardous waste collection
day. With curbside pick-up, you will
get all the unlimited and FREE
recycling. Modern will also provide
you with a list of what can be put out
for recycling. Modern’s recycling
pick-up method is single-stream,
which means whatever is on their
provided list, then you just put it in
the FREE bin. Note: if your bin is
stolen or damaged unusable, there
will be an additional cost to replace
it. Lastly, if you are unsure or have
questions then you can call them
directly, check their website or give
us a call.
like to thank all the households that do take responsibility to manage their
garbage by sending it to a landfill.
Making this one choice to not burn
their garbage or let it accumulate outside their homes, is a step in the
right direction. If you are fully
recycling, that is even better and kudos to you! If you are a little
confused about the whole garbage
and recycling thing, don’t worry you can get there to by following the
simple instructions in the next
paragraph.
One of the first steps is to call
Modern Disposal at 716.754.8226, this is the business that you will have
to contact, there are no other curbside
garbage services offered by different companies for Tuscarora. It is a
weekly service that you will have to
pay for every 6 months and they will
send you a bill every December and June. The good news, they do accept
a tax-exempt form from us, so make
sure to bring yours when you sign up.
D id you know that the average U.S. citizen creates over 4
pounds of trash every day? Could you
imagine, if you were not able to send
your trash to a certified landfill like Modern Disposal? What if we lived
more than 35 miles away from any
landfill? What would that be like? Would you burn your trash and
expose your family and neighbors to
the dangerous toxic pollutants or would you just let it pile up to invite
virus-carrying rodents? For some
households at Tuscarora and other
Native communities, this is still a complex issue they deal with today.
Since, we live within 2 miles of a
certified landfill, we have the tools at
our finger tips to manage our garbage correctly. So, my question is “why
do we still see households with
garbage piles on their property?”
My vision as TEP director is big, I
want to see a clean community. I
want to see all households fully recycling; reducing their
consumption; cleaning up their
properties; and removing all the junk
cars that cause major chemical run-off. My goals are to get 100% of the
community sending their waste to a
certified landfill, get everyone recycling and to get all the backyard
garbage piles cleaned-up. That
would be an amazing legacy that we can leave for our future generations.
Think about it, our future
generations, could be saying, “Wow!
Thank goodness our ancestors thought of us and left us a clean
homeland!”
But, before I go any further, I would
By Rene Rickard
Page 6 Skaru:ręØ Monthly, June 2018
H opefully by now, you’ve had the chance to start your
beautiful garden and are working on
keeping it that way. Keep your kids
busy this summer and use some of
these word while you’re toiling away
in the soil:
Uhehneh - A garden
Rehraʔneti:yehs - He tills
Yeheruhskwahs - She weeds
Uhtikariʔneh - Hoe
Rehe:wahs - He hoes
Yeheraruhcreh - She rakes
Uhsuʔkweh - Rake
Uhne hsneh - Seeds
Ranehsnahrihc - He sows the seeds
Waʔkciʔcihstuhskeʔ - I picked flowers
Kwehs ahruheruhskwek - He has not
cut the lawn
Yeheryaʔkthaʔ - Lawnmower
Yehe:ryaʔks - She’s mowing
Uhcuhcreh - Gloves
Ruhcuhcreʔ - He wears gloves
Yakehraʔθkwahthaʔ - Wheelbarrow
Awe hreh - Dirt
Rehraʔthaʔ - He waters it
Wahraʔehnuhaʔ - He put his hand in water
Uʔnihsneh - Stem
Rare :kwahs - He prunes it
Yeθahne hsthaʔ - Bucket
Yuʔne hraʔr - It is dirty
Rehrihstke ʔthaʔ - He enriches the land
Kahneʔre :tih - It takes root
Yenehahre - She plants corn
Uhtwe heh - A plant
Yuʔnhahnu:tʔah - Shoot (of a plant)
Tkakutrahrehwa:tyeh - They put
fence around it
BTW: Here is the pronunciation key to help you with the letters. A good suggestion is to say letters and words out loud to help your ear become accustomed to the Tuscarora sounds. Tuscarora Pronunciation Key:*
/a/ law; /e/ hat; /i/ pizza; /u/ tune; /ę/ hint; /c/juice; /
ch/cheese; /h/ hoe; /m/ mother; /s/ same; /t/ do; /th/
too; /k/ gale; /kh/ kale; /n/ inhale; /r/ hiss (before a
consonant or word final), run (trilled elsewhere); /
w/ cuff (before a consonant other than y or word-
final), way (elsewhere); /y/ you ; /sy/ fish; /θ/
thing; /Ø/ uh-oh; /:/ long vowel, /ˊ/high pitch; /`/low
pitch.*Adapted from Blair A. Rudes, Tuscarora-
English.
Tuscarora Word List:
GARDENING
A man who had gone hunting far from where he lived chanced
upon a fawn which apparently had
just been born, for it was still wet
with birth fluid. There next to the fawn, lay a rattlesnake. As he
watched, the snake struck out at the
little fawn’s head and killed it. And with some effort he managed to bite
off the fawn’s head which with a bit
of difficulty he managed to swallow.
The snake, however was not fast
enough to escape the fawn’s mother
who had returned in the interim. The hunter, having seen all this, built a
high pile of wood where the
rattlesnake had been killed, and on top of this he laid the bodies of the
fawn and the snake. The hunter then
went and did not return to the spot until the following fall. When he
returned he saw a special kind of white corn growing there - a kind of corn
which grew with double ears of corn
inside a single husk - and a special kind
of squash consisting of fruit but not vine.
The hunter picked the pair of ears of
white corn and
removed the kernals from them, and took
two of the squash.
With these he
returned to his home where he assembled
the clan mothers, for
they were knowledgeable about
many things; and
they watched as he set out what he had
brought back and they knew that this was the first time and such plants had
be encountered where he found them.
The clan mothers then began to test the white corn. As they did this, the
white corn transformed itself into a
witch which appears as a fluttering
light, so much utke (útkęØ - power)
did it possess.
They then broke the white corn into
small pieces. It was then used to treat
broken bones and hemorrhages. A small amount of the
powered white corn
must be put in a little
bit of water and is given to the patient. This
medicine will heal
broken bones or internal hemorrhages. White
corn is good for healing
these ailments because the light fluttering witch
that it becomes can go
inside the patient.
From the texts of J.N.B. Hewitt, recorded
by him in 1888, and published in 1967.
Page 7 Skaru:ręØ Monthly, June 2018
By Bryan Printup
ABOVE: 1939. Cecile Reed.
Page 8 Skaru:ręØ Monthly, June 2018
The Niagara Falls Gazette Wednesday, March 16, 1938
HYGIENE CLINIC TO BE HELD MARCH
24 AT MT. HOPE ROAD
Tuscarora Mothers Take Advantage of Child and
Prenatal Consultations
Tuscarora Reservation - The child hygiene and prenatal consultation clinic, originally scheduled for tomorrow afternoon,
has been postponed until Thursday, March 24, at the Mt. Hope
Health Center, Walmore and Mt. Hope roads, form 1:30 until
3:30 p.m. The change, announced by Miss Agnes T. Tyrell,
R.N., comes from a conflict in the schedule of Dr. Cora Allen,
Buffalo, physician presiding at the monthly clinic.
Due to heavy demand and inadequate facilities, a procedural
change in consultation methods will be made in the clinics
hereafter, Miss Tyrrell indicates. A the last session, 26 mothers
attended the afternoon clinic, the doctor and nurse in charge
being unable to attend to all adequately. A rotation will be in order, ten different mothers appearing at each future monthly
clinic.
The health department staff announces completion of a dental
clinic for 70 Indian pupils at the school.
At the Presbyterian church, Walmore road, the men’s and boys’
club will meet for its initial session at 7 o’clock tonight. Prayer
services will be held at 8 p.m.
From final New York state tabulations the Tuscarora 4-H boys and girls, led by Noah and Louise Henry, are to plant more trees
in the Forestry I project than any other group, white or Indian, in
the entire state. The two adult groups sponsoring the movement,
cite the junior extension work as Tuscarora pioneering in
Niagara county.
At the Mt. Hope school, the first 4-H club work exhibit was held
in the fall of 1931, under the direction of Stanley W. Johnson,
first leader of the Tuscarora club. No other club was in existence
in Niagara county at the time, Eli Henry, then Tuscarora
agricultural society president, recalled.
When a Genesee county 4-H extension office was set up in
Batavia, under the direction of Melvin Merton, the Tuscarora
unit affiliated with it. J. Allen Jack, Upper Mountain road,
succeeded Mr. Johnson as leader. In succeeding years, Arnold
Hewitt, Mt. Hope road, and Hetsel Garlow, Upper Mountain
road, acted as leaders. ABOVE: Noah Henry and Albert Gansworth.
