Ghost of the White Deer

A lore of the Chickasaw People of Oklahoma.

A brave, young warrior for the Chickasaw Nation fell in love with the daughter of a chief. The chief did not like the young man, who was called Blue Jay. So the chief invented a price for the bride that he was sure that Blue Jay could not pay.

" Bring me the hide of the White Deer, : said the chief. The Chickasaws believed that animals that were all white were magical. "The price for my daughter is one white deer." Then the chief laughed. The chief knew that an all white deer, an albino, was very rare and would be very hard to find. White deerskin was the best material to use in a wedding dress, and the best white deer skin came from the albino deer.

Blue Jay went to his beloved, whose name was Bright Moon. "I will return with your bride price in one moon, and we will be married. This I promise you." Taking his best bow and his sharpest arrows Blue Jay began to hunt.

Three weeks went by, and Blue Jay was often hungry, lonely, and scratched by briars. Then, one night during a full moon, Blue Jay saw a white deer that seemed to drift through the moonlight. When the deer was very close to where Blue Jay hid, he shot his sharpest arrow. The arrow sank deep into the deers heart. But instead of sinking to his knees to die, the deer began to run. And instead of running away, the deer began to run toward Blue Jay, his red eyes glowing, his horns sharp and menacing.

A month passed and Blue Jay did not return as he had promised Bright Moon. As the months dragged by, the tribe decided that he would never return.

But Bright Moon never took any other young man as a husband, for she had a secret. When the moon was shinning as brightly as her name, Bright Moon would often see the white deer in the smoke of the campfire, running, with an arrow in his heart. She lived hoping the deer would finally fall, and Blue Jay would return.

To this day the white deer is sacred to the Chickasaw People, and the white deerskin is still the favorite material for the wedding dress.

Do you know...

Leslie Marmon Silko, an accomplished Native American contemporary writer, was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1948. She has a mix of Laguna Pueblo, Mexican, and White ancestry. Silko grew up at the Pueblo of Laguna, located in west central New Mexico. She attended a Catholic school in Albuquerque, commuting from Laguna. In 1969 she received a bachelor's degree in English from the University of New Mexico. She later taught creative writing and a course in oral tradition for the English department at the University.

Silko reveals that living in Laguna society as a mixed blood from a prominent family caused her a lot of pain. It meant being different from, and not fully accepted by either the full blooded Native Americans or white people. Silko, despite her pain, was able to overcome the lack of acceptance and identify with the Laguna culture Despite her keen awareness of the equivocal position of mixed-bloods in Laguna society, she considers herself Laguna. As she puts it : "'I am of mixed-breed ancestry, but what I know is Laguna'"(Velie 106).

As a child Silko became familiar with the cultural folklore of the Laguna and Keres people through the stories passed down to her by her grandmother Lilly and her Aunt Susie. These women both had a tremendous effect on Silko, "passing down an entire culture by word of mouth" (Velie 106). While still in college Silko wrote and published a short story "The Man to Send Rain Clouds." For this story she was awarded with the National Endowment for the Humanities Discovery Grant. In 1974 she published Laguna Woman, a book of poetry. In 1977 she wrote her novel Ceremony. The novel received high praise from critics and its readers. She has in fact been called the most accomplished Native American writer of her generation, as well as an "American Indian Literary Master"(Velie npg).

Silko's additional literary works include Storyteller, Almanac of the Dead, and Yellow Woman + the Beauty of Spirit . She has also published several articles dealing with literature as well as other pertinent social issues. Examples of these articles include "In the Combat Zone" and "Race + Racism- Faces Against Freedom."

She is also listed in 100 Native Americans Who Shaped American History.

Want to know more about her? Click here: http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A75

Featured artist - Tha Tribe

The origin of Tha Tribe is unique in itself. It all started in January 1997 when a bunch of young college students, from different parts of Indian Country, enrolled at Haskell Indian Nations Universtiy. These individuals just sort of clicked together with one basic common interest............Pow-Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Soon after, they decided just to get together for a jam session to pass the time. After that first song was cracked out, each and every person's face just lit up with excitement for they knew that something extravagant was in the making. It was only a few weeks until these individuals started traveling together, as a group, to pow-wows. During the midst of this beginning, two of the founding members started composing songs left and right for this group.

Another distinctive feature about Tha Tribe is the tribal diversity within the group. Native American Indian Nations are represented within this group from all of the four sacred directions of Indian Country. This allows them to possess capabilities of composing and singing songs in many various Native languages. This key factor is probably what makes this group of young singers so popular. The nations represented by members of Tha Tribe include: Menominee, Oneida, Pueblo, Navajo, Blackfeet, Ojibway, Sioux, Ho-Chunk, Cherokee, Sac&Fox, Cheyenne, Apache, Crow, Potowatomie, and Kickapoo.

Tha Tribe has made many great accomplishments and strive to continue on this path for many years to come. They have completed three professional recordings with Canyon Records and and contributed on three compilations recordings as well with Soar Records entitled Gathering of Nations 1998, 1999, and 2000. The three recordings with Canyon Records are titled T2K, Live from Tornado Alley, and their latest one set for release in Summer 200l called In Action. Just recently, they were awared with a Grammy for the Best Native American Album along with several other groups for their contribution to the compilation recording previously listed entitled Gathering of Nations.

Check out their website: http://www.geocities.com/thatribe2001/

Featured Tribe - Avoyel of Louisiana

Avoyel, Avoyelles (Fr. dim. of avoie, 'small vipers'). A tribe spoken of in the 18th century as one of the nations of the Red River, having their villages near the mouth of that stream, within what is now Avoyelles Parish, La. They probably belonged to the Caddoan family, the tribe representing a group that had remained near the ancient habitat of its kindred.

The country occupied by the Avoyelles was fertile and intersected by lakes and bayous, one of the latter being still called by their name. The tribe lived in villages, cultivated maize and vegetables, and practiced the arts common to the tribes of the Gulf region. Nothing definite is known of their beliefs and ceremonies. Like their neighbors, they had come into possession of horses, which they bred, and later they obtained cattle, for Du Pratz mentions that they sold horses, cows, and oxen to the French settlers of Louisiana.

During the general displacement of the tribes throughout the Gulf states, which began in the 18th century, the Avoyelles country proved to be attractive. The Biloxi settled there and other tribes entered and took possession. Under the influences incident to the advent of the white race the Avoyelles mingled with the newcomers, but through the ravages of wars and new diseases the tribe was soon reduced in numbers. Before the close of the century their villages and their tribal organization melted away, their language became extinct, and the few survivors were lost in the floating Indian population. In 1805, according to Sibley, the tribe had become reduced to two or three women.