American Indian living legend to moderate the Harvest Gathering
By Victoria L. Kidd

    Fry Bread to the Native American is as unleavened bread is to the Jewish People they both come with a story of great pain and suffering. It is a bread of remembrance.
    As with the struggles that the Hebrew went through in Egypt, unleavened bread commemorates the Passover and the last plague before leaving Egypt to the promise land.
    Fry Bread to Native Americans commemorates food, village and land lost (imprisonment). And remembering how community struggled to stay together and still be a people with what they were given.  To many, Indian Fry Bread is a sacred tradition that comes with a story of great pain and suffering to be consumed by the people until the land is once again purified.

Clarke County, Virginia (May 8, 2015) – The Harvest Gathering council of elders announced today that American icon and living legend Dennis Banks, co-founder of the American Indian Movement (AIM) will be the Master of Ceremonies for “The Gathering” this harvest season in Virginia.
     “The Gathering” is an educational celebration of “agri-culture” scheduled for Friday Oct. 30 – Sunday Nov. 1 at the Clarke County Fairgrounds in Berryville, Va.
     "I believe in the power of shared experiences and cultures,” said Tracey Pitcock recreation program coordinator Clarke County Parks and Recreation and elder council supporter for “The Gathering.”
     “On so many levels this connects the agri-“culture” community through strong history, conservancy of our environment, preservation of history and the understanding of Native ways," she added.
     The Gathering is a traditional indigenous outdoor Harvest Dance, partnered with the Virginia Gourd Festival and combined with living history exhibitors (authors, vendors and artisans etc.)
     “We are excited to actively combine Native American culture with gourds, particularly since Dennis Banks will be Master of Ceremonies," said Janice Kiehl VLGS president. "As one of the founders of the American Indian Movement, he anchors the connection between Native American culture and gourds as a strong and continuing force in Virginia."

    This is the 14th year the Virginia Lovers' Gourd Society has presented the Virginia Gourd Festival at the beginning of Native American Heritage month to educate the public about the connection of gourds to their native roots and contemporary uses.
     “We’re calling all dancers in native regalia and drums from across the continent as well as local volunteers, teachers and partners who would like to help plant this all exciting seed of possibilities of Thanksgiving and humanity in Northern Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley,” said René White (Feather) event executive director and Native American resident of Clarke County. “We’re also offering internship applications on our web site.”

     Dennis Banks is a founder, leader, father, author, activist, professor and military veteran who stood up and continues to stand up for what he believes in. He is also a counselor, teacher and consultant on American Indian rights and is offering to make appearances at regional Universities during his visit here in October.     “Dennis has done as much as anyone alive for the advancement of American Indian rights,” said Curt Hansen council of elders member for “The Gathering” who invited Banks. “Dennis has done for indigenous people like Martin Luther King Jr. has done for people of African American descent.”
     Dennis Banks is among many of the young children of the 20th Century whom the U.S. government tore from their homes and forced to attend government boarding schools to assimilate into the white culture.
     Banks went on to co-found AIM in 1968 in Minnesota to address racism and police brutality; protect the traditional ways of Indian people; and to engage in legal cases protecting treaty rights of Native Americans.
     Dennis Banks is best known for leading the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee by traditional Indians, where, 83 years before, U.S. troops had slain a band of Lakota men, women and children. Banks is the only living leader of the last American Indian vs. U.S. Government armed conflict.
     Today, Banks leads the “Longest Walks” across the nation to raise awareness and reverse Diabetes that culminates in Washington D.C. After reversing his own diabetes through diet and walking, Dennis has become the driving force in leading walks around the country and around the world reversing diabetes and bringing messages of peace, hope and unity along the way.
     His work also includes the “Let Mother Earth Speak” CD performed with Kitaro and the documentary “It’s a Good Day to Die” (2010), available on Netflix.
     Local universities interested in booking Dennis Banks should contact René White at [email protected]. For more information, the official web site for “The Gathering” is www.HarvestGathering.org.

     INTERNSHIPS in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and other leadership skills are available for people 12 – 120 years old who want to be involved with bringing Dennis Banks and “The Gathering” to Clarke County Virginia. The internship application is in the Harvest Basket, an online magazine.
     The Harvest Basket” holds “possibilities” that take place during “The Gathering.” As possibilities reveal themselves, we throw them in “The Basket” for everyone - a kind of checklist of things for you to do, see and experience before and during “The Gathering.”
http://harvestgathering.org/the-basket.html.

     VENDOR and DANCER applications are offered on "The Gathering," web site.

By Jamie K. Oxendine, Lumbee/Creek
Editor, PowWows.com
Director, Black Swamp InterTribal Foundation

     Long before White Contact to the “New World” the Native Americans had many kinds of celebrations for the four seasons.  One of the most celebrated for the Eastern Woodland Culture was that of Harvest Time.  This festival was mainly indigenous to the Eastern Woodlands because of their strong agricultural base. Of course these celebrations took place in Autumn but their actual time varied from place to place and was mainly dependent on the window of harvest time before the last hard killing frost.
      In the North East and Great Lakes the Harvest Time began in what is now late August and lasted up to October and November. In the South East the Harvest Time began in August and could last into December.
     This was a glorious time of harvesting and gathering such things as:

     And yes many of the “food stuffs” in this list are actually indigenous to the New World and only grew in the New World. Many were taken back to Europe, Asia and Africa by the White Man after contact and over time became staples for those Continents.
     As much food as possible was sun dried and smoked dried and hung in lodges as well as buried in food stores for the coming long winter.
     These times also included work on villages and homes getting them prepared for the coming winter.  This was the perfect time to do any repair work on wigwams and longhouses. The last bit of warm weather was a good time to collect any samplings still full of tree sap that could be very pliable for repairing sections of lodges and for bending to shape for future use.  Pond grass, cattails and bark was heavily harvested and stored in lodges to be worked on during the cold winter months. Cattails, plant down, feather down and moss were collected for insulation in both lodges and clothing. 
     During the height of harvesting and gathering there would be great celebrations of thanks with music, song, dance, gifting and feasting. The general celebrations varied but often lasted anywhere from 4 to 7 days and maybe even longer. The rest of the time was used working hard and long to prepare for the coming winter.
     Afterwards, the people of the North East and Great Lakes drew in for a long hard and often bitter winter.  Only the Tribes in the South East had more celebrations that coincided with the warmer climate.  They could count on certain food stuffs and other needed natural materials to still be collectable throughout the winter months with their milder winter.

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“The Harvest Basket” holds “possibilities” that take place during “The Gathering.” As possibilities reveal themselves, we throw them in “The Basket” for you - a kind of checklist of things for you to do, see and experience.

Save the date. As we grow closer to Friday Oct. 30, Saturday Oct. 31 and Sunday Nov. 1, you’ll want to be part of this all exciting “seed of possibilities” in Thanksgiving and humanity.