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10 ways to learn about Native American culture

Want to know about the longstanding history of North America? Discover the culture of the country's original citizens by finding out more about the many Native American destinations, events and landmarks. 

United Tribes Pow Wow, North Dakota

Hundreds of Native Americans from more than 70 tribes from all over the USA meet for the United Tribes International Powwow in the Lone Star Arena at United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, North Dakota. For nearly 50 years, the monumental three-day event has brought thousands of visitors to the Great Plains to experience unique cultures of indigenous communities. 

 

Abbe Museum Indian Market, Maine

Learn all about the Wabanaki people at the Abbe Museum Indian Market (AMIM), as well as the Native American Festival at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine. More than 75 Native American artists and performers from 35 Nations across the U.S. and Canada will attend the 3rd annual Abbe Museum Indian Market (AMIM) which runs from May 2020. The Wabanaki people and their ancestors have lived in Pesamkuk, the place now called Mount Desert Island and Frenchman Bay, for thousands of generations. The AMIM has its roots in the period between 1840 to 1920, when Wabanaki artists and craftsmen would travel to tourist areas such as Bar Harbor to sell baskets and other crafts.

 

Mission San Xavier del Bac, Tucson, Arizona

Southern Arizona's Tohono O'odham Nation (Sonoran Desert People) play hosts to Native American tribes from all over the USA gather for the annual Wa:k Pow Wow at Mission San Xavier del Bac in Tuscson. Expect dances, hoop dance, drum contest, owl dance, inter-tribal dances, an artisan's marketplace and more. The building itself is a National Historic Landmark, founded by Catholics serving the Tohono O'odham community since the late 1600s.   

400 years of the Mayflower, Plymouth, Massachusetts 

2020 marks the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower crossing and the founding of the Plymouth Colony in 1620 - and it will be the first time ever all four nations are involved in the commemorations. Wampanoag Nation  have worked in collaboration with US, UK and the Netherlands to mark the event with fun but educational events including the cultural and arts focussed Embarkation Festival, the inspirational series of Thanksgiving events, the Wampanoag Ancestors Walk and more. https://plymouth400inc.org/signature-events

 

Plimoth Plantation museum, Massachussetts 

Learn the story of the Wampanoag people at Plimoth Plantation, Massachusetts. This living history museum recreates typical scenes for the villages of both Native American locals and the settlers who arrived in 1620 on the Mayflower. 

 

Navajo-guided tour of Monument Valley, Utah

Get a new angle on the spectacular red-sand landscape of the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park in Utah with a guide who grew up there. Stay at Goulding’s Lodge, where you can have a peek into a traditional Navajo Hogan home, then set off on a tour of the valley’s famous canyons, buttes and mesas at sunrise, sunset or under the light of a full moon. 

 

Crazy Horse monument, South Dakota 

Located in the heart of the Black Hills of western South Dakota, Crazy Horse Memorial is the world's largest mountain carving in progress. When completed, the depiction of the great Lakota warrior will be 641 feet long and 563 feet high. Crazy Horse Memorial is a non-profit organization, with funding being provided by admission to the memorial and private donations. The purpose of the project is to protect and preserve the culture and living heritage of all North American Indians.

 

Battle of Little Big Horn, Montana

Head to Montana and you can get the Native American perspective on the famous Battle of Little Big Horn at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. on a tour with Rose Williamson. Rose is a descendant of the Native Indians who battled Lt. Col. Custer in his Last Stand and gives visitors a more spiritual understanding of the battle from the perspective of a Crow Indian woman and how the event shaped the lives and history of her tribe. 

 

Cherokee celebrations, Jackson County

Head to Cherokee, in Jackson County at the main North Carolina entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for a warm welcome from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. You can learn about their culture at the Museum of the Cherokee, find out what life was like at the recreated 1760s Cherokee village at Oconaluftee Indian Village or attend the independence day Pow Wow.  The Cherokee’s story has been told since 1950 in the Unto These Hills Outdoor Drama, a show performed at a 2,100-seat open-air theatre set with a forest setting.  

 

On-A-Slant Indian Village, North Dakota

Take a look round five recreated earth lodges - the traditional housing of the Mandan tribe which once lived here - built into the hill at On-A-Slant Indian Village in Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park, North Dakota. The living museum here shows how the Mandan Tribe lived, farming, developing, cultivating and surviving off their land.  

 


Posted on: 20/10/2019

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