Native Lessons

experience
Culture
By Lisa Schmelz
Native American Traditions
Exploring Wisconsin’s heritage
©RJ & Linda Miller
Ask someone who doesn’t live here what they know about Wisconsin, and
you’ll likely get answers involving Packers, cheese and frigid winters. What
you probably won’t hear from this outsider is that Wisconsin is home to 11
federally recognized Native American Tribes – more than any other state east
of the Mississippi River. Even many lifelong residents are ignorant of this
impressive statistical fact.
“We’re just two percent of the overall population, so it’s not very often that
people see us. We are also the most ethnically diverse race in the country,” says
Siovhan Marks, herself of Ojibwe and Irish decent, and the spokeswoman for
the Indian Summer Festival, held annually on Milwaukee’s lakefront since 1985.
While gaming opportunities at tribal casinos are typically well-known and
help support tribes, tucked out of sight on the state’s nearly half million acres
of tribal land are experiences that work to preserve Native American culture
and tradition. Open to us all, is an invitation to explore Native American ways
— past and present — and below are some excellent places to start.
Indian Summer
September 7–9, Henry Maier Festival Park on Milwaukee’s Lakefront
In its 27th year, Indian Summer is one of the state’s premier events
celebrating Native American culture and traditions. This year, some 50,000
people are expected to attend. Here, you’ll find five different full-scale
tribal villages. Huts, wigwams, long-houses and tee-pees are just a part
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| experiencewisconsinmag.com | fall/winter 2012
©visit milwaukee
The park celebrates its birthday and
National Archeology Day on Oct. 20.
Archeologists will provide guided tours
from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Native
American artifacts can also be brought
for identification. dnr.wi.gov/topic/parks/
name/aztalan/
For many Native Americans, games were
a form of entertainment. But they also
served important social, ceremonial and
political purposes. Games taught skills
and values necessary for adult life, such
as patience, sportsmanship, dexterity,
hand-eye coordination, endurance and
critical thinking. Games also strengthened
political and social relationships.
Woodland Indian Art Center,
Lac du Flambeau
Most of the two dozen games displayed
here can be found, with some variation,
among tribes in the U. S. and Canada. All
tribes played games of skill and chance,
racing and relay, throwing and catching,
and games that imitated hunting and war.
The exhibit explores four specific game
types: lacrosse and other stick games;
games of skill; games of chance; and
traditional European games adapted by
Native Americans.
Superior
Traditional and
contemporary artwork,
Ashland
including beaded work, carvings,
birch
Hurley
bark baskets, jewelry, paintings, and
more are displayed — and for sale —
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Lisa M. Schmelz is a freelance
writer based in Delavan.
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Considered Wisconsin’s most important
archaeological site, Aztalan State Park
enjoys status as a National Historic Landmark. The park showcases an ancient
middle-Mississippian village and ceremonial complex that thrived between 10001300 A.D. The people who settled Aztalan
built large, flat-topped pyramidal mounds
and a stockade around their village. Portions of the stockade and two mounds
have been reconstructed in the park.
The center also offers year-round art
classes, in a variety of media, to the general public. Check their website or call
for more information. woodlandindianartcenter.org ew
C HEQUAMEGON
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Aztalan State Park
year-round. Providing technical support
to Native American writers, musicians,
dancers and other artists, the center is a
link to some of the nation’s most respected
Native American artists.
This northern Wisconsin landscape is
a premiere place for those seeking an
exciting cultural and hands-on historical
experience. The Ojibwe culture is alive
and well-respected in this community as
evidenced by the Woodland Indian Art
Center.
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The exhibit will be on display through the
end of the year. mpm.edu
Woodland Indian Art Center
r
Native Games Exhibit at the
Milwaukee Public Museum
Archaeologists theorize that the occupants
may have had cultural traditions in
common with Cahokia, a large MiddleMississippian settlement near East St.
Louis, Ill. The park is mostly open prairie
with 38 of its 172 acres in oak woods.
Northern pike, catfish and walleye are
caught in the Crawfish River, which is
also used for boating and canoeing. Open
year-round, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., the park
also features a museum. The museum is
open Fridays through Sundays from May
19 through September 30.
oo
of the experience. Inside these period
dwellings you can learn how Oneida,
Ojibwe, and northern woodland tribes
of the Menominee and StockbridgeMunsee prepared food and administered
medicine and healing. Native American
storytellers share history of long ago and
explain how the First Americans of this
region adapted to the unique state lands
specific to their tribe. A contest pow wow
runs all weekend. Friday and Saturday’s
fireworks show are more than explosions
of light in the sky. The shows begin with
members of the state’s tribes rowing in
canoes toward shore. The shows are set
to live music and narrated, telling the
Native American story as spectators
look over the waters of Lake Michigan.
indiansummer.org
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Lake Geneva
Native Games
and Indian
Summer
Racine
Kenosha
Beloit
fall/winter 2012 | experiencewisconsinmag.com |
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