I've been to Native American reservations in Canada, or the First Nation people as they call them there. Some of those places are so sad, really dilapidated, not like the show reservsations they put on display for the tourists with tipis and everything. In South America things are often worse. Though a lot more of the Native population has survived and mixed into wider society, they still, in many countries, remain one of the poorest and most sidelined social groups. On Lake Titicaca in Peru, where they have floating islands of reedbeds, Native communities will live in little villiages there. You can go onto some of the islands, and they will be done up for tourists, all pristine and made from reeds and fresh wood and selling fine tourist wares, rugs, trinkets and the like. But if you go a little further, you'll find the real villages, rusting metal heaps of corrugated iron. Behind the romantic notions, this is what has really happened to these once great people....
yeah sal hear what your saying man poorest (what ever that means ) but totall respect for mother earth and the great spiirit (if thats classed as poor then am rich) .......notions are just that notions the american natives were very real my friend ...........great people and the spirit still lives .........peace
Indeed, I love the Native American cultures, some of the most interesting on Earth I think. My next novel will be focussing in part on them. The Conquistadors, Manifest Destiny, European colonisation of the Americas, one of the worst tragedies to befall mankind....
I have been to Canada and have seen a few of the reservations. Some are indeed done up for the tourists and others are just tipis with a caravan parked outside.
you guys need to make a point of touring mesa verde in new mexico/colorado. chimney rock does a fantastic summer solstice tour, showing the mathematical genius of the dine. the four corners area is thriving with ute, apache, navajo. but we all have to remember, they were conquerors and warriors, too.
also, if you're interested in modern day native american society, tony hillerman is a genius. the broken circle is also a great book that you should look into. it's all very accurate to the new mexico and arizona reservation societies and how they interact with the american populations surrounding them.
thats good to hear our spirits are very much alive all over this beautifull earth hopefully one day in this physical body i live in many many miles away my spirit will return to sedona ........ sedona vortex
It looks like we have something in common then paul..... I love native peoples, espeacaky the navajo and hopi and other people in that region, and the dakota of the great plains, and the kwakwakw'wkakw ( i think thats how to spell it...)
Sadly i am not of native blood myself which somedtimes makes me feel ashamned but i might have bean one once.....
don't ever be ashamed of just being what you are. your spirit is the more important part of you anyway.
thats true your body is just a vesal for housing the spirit of your true being. Never try to curtail your spirit just to fit in. Be true to your spirit but more so to your true self. this way you can rise above all that comes against you for your spirit is stronger than you give it credit.be at one with it harness its love and you will grow stronger. how much blood and loss of physical life has been for this right to NOT conform to what is classed as THE NORM.......Again i say be strong in the spirit . a native american friend of mine told me many years ago ITS NOT THE PERSON THAT MAKES THE SPIRIT BUT THE SPIRIT THAT MAKES THE PERSON...............
