Tent of Many Voices: 06120503

good afternoon ladies and gentlemen welcome to the tent of many voices my name is Aaron I'm one of the Rangers traveling around with this exhibit we've been traveling for 2 years and have two left to go we have quite a ways and we're enjoying every minute of it every time we stop at a new city we introduce and invite other presenters to do presentations here in our tent of many voices to share their voice and their perspective of the lwis and Clark expedition or um some of the native people they saw along the way and also some of the effects of Lewis and Clark and at this hour we have Harry bamp who's here to tell you a little bit about the cine regelia so let's give him a warm welcome in my first uh words I should say diim Naga why cha chwa what I said was it's good to see you my Indian name is shakes the spear my English name is Harry bamp Jr I'm a a caborn Indian from the fort peek reservation I live in a little Community called Osgo I uh I am a traditional dancer there's not much spiritual part of it other than enjoyment if you've ever been to aawa you would see that we have fun we like to tease joke we have a what we call Indian humor so when we gather we all like to rib and tease one another about our moxin or something that's out of place this would be called rockers and this is my backboard unlike other presenters they would put their regalia all on but I want to show you how we would do it so you have a better you'll have to come over here this is my little son his name is Harry III he's also a traditional dancer okay you hold that right there I can't this right's going to okay just hang on AR regalia we call it consist of what all I would wear and it is isn't cheap this vest I'm wearing cost me 500 bucks American money so there's a price we have to pay for enjoyment how many of you know what alcohol does to us in ' 87 in 1987 I uh found myself beat up by this drug called alcohol I was fortunate that I had family members back home praying for me and I found myself in 87 I was 2 years without alcohol then and I found myself ready to have a drink of uh reasons of my own doings which is called humanness and I uh I called a nephew of mine and I told him I says you know I said I've had it with this world I'm not I I can't do this anymore sober walk he said 'well let's go fishing and after we're done fishing if you still want to drink I'll join you I said all right so we went fishing and I was crawling down this little deer trail to get a little closer to this Lake up in the Flathead reservation is where we were living at the time and I uh I'm going to go through the top just pull that right there if you can reach it can you see it coming out there it's not coming out it's not it's okay then let's go through the bottom then so anyway I was crawling down on this deer trail to get closer and I found this started to find Eagle parts of this eagle we first n Nations people we don't look at things as coincidence for whatever reason how this little ball Eagle passed away it was meant for me it was meant for me to to find it because then it and then only then did I get humble with it in my drinking took s took the backstage of it at that time because as I said before it wasn't a coincident it was meant for me to find him and I felt really sad because we believe that a bald eagle mates for life and for however reason this Eagle gave his life for me I chose not to drink so when I put him on and I get with all these other birds of prey on this dance floor a lot of them are golden eagles a lot of them are uh they take prey they won't eat something dead the bald eagle will eat fish he doesn't kill rodents I heard but what we always do is we always smudge up because he becomes sacred when we use him every one of these things feathers all the way to here so we we use our our Sage is called big leaf sage and it grows in northeastern Montana where we're from this would be called a bustle and I would put this wear this on my back in this fashion but I got some gear back here maybe I might be able to get it and I would wear it like this the cool thing about him when I put this guy on and I walk out on that dance floor in there maybe 150 200 other men dancers this little bald eagle wants to fly and me and him get to fly amongst all these other golden eagles I haven't ran in too many men that we we a bald eagle back home where we're from we take life a from a spiritual aspect I'm not a holy man I'm not a medicine man I belong to a couple of societies back home which helps us keep grounded I uh when we smudge it gives us good thoughts it gives us good things to to dance for I'm wearing a shirt it's called a ribbon shirt my ancestors star people they recognize me when I wear this this was a fully beaded old over 110 years old the asabor wore these so if you ever go to a paow or a gathering and you see this on an individual he would be a cabin that's how we were recognized and we had braids of course this is my boy I told you and he would wear it like that we had floral designs you know they don't give me enough time because everything here has a story these would be called a side drops this is all fully Beed my belt I've been only dancing uh this is my sixth year I don't do it for money but this comes up around me and then it fits around my waist and then my side they hang down they're called a side drop these would be tied right above my calves and they match fully Beed arm I would wear these like this when I first started dancing I had this item right here I had my breastplate I had a different pair of moxin I didn't have any of this bead work and I dance like a board if you ever go to a PA you see a guy dance like a board that was this covers up my sacred parts and then I have one tied in the back I call him a loin cloth covers up my private parts but I also have another thing that covers me up now I invested in on how to make leggings so I followed the white man's shaps so all I do is I just pull them on and fits cold and it keeps my little chicken legs warm that's our pants these are my cuffs which I would wear which they match also I would wear like that so that's part of our regalia had I known it was going to cost me this much money I would have probably never got into it I would have probably took that little eagle and sent him to a medicine man and had him do something with it and these are our Bells this would go on first and then your bell sit on top of that for so it don't it don't rub on you if you're going to be over in Great Falls at the end of this month I'm going to be over there with uh I have uh my Society uh painted lodges I'm going to be over there for 4 days and then there's a pawo there I'm told and when I get done there I'm going to go over in Paw so if you want come over and watch me dance take my picture and his this is what we call a dance shirt this would go under my breastplate my tie my collar I'm fortunate I have three mothers two from a place called carry the kettle Canada and one from a town called glasow Montana the lady told the lady from Canada she told me she said Harry is your mother alive and I said no my mother passed away to the spirit world we say moia spirit world she said a Cy man should never be without a mother I'm going to adopt you as my son I like how you carry yourself she adopted me at the big ceremony so whenever they come back down to our Gatherings from Carrie the kettle she always bring brings me a ribbon shirt I have many of them she's my other two uh moms always make me things too this would be my tobacco pouch we call it a dance bag I like to put my little tobacco in there in my smudge and then I'll I'd carry this with me there's a story behind this this indan man's name was afraid of his flying he was our medicine man of the first nation's people from Fort peek he knew everything about plants he knew the proper way of using them so we could be healed I had told him that I was going to start dancing Pawa he said you you have something to Fan yourself he said it's hot out there in northeastern Montana gets 110 120 when we have all of this on it's really really powerfully hot I told him on what day I was going to come to the dance floor he showed up at my camp and he gave me this he's now had met went to the spirit world this man so this is very very sacred to me it works really well this is called a spreader and it is also fully beaded yeah on here is a Thunderbird if any of you are going to be in Great Falls I have an 18t Tepe fully painted r r style not just something throw it on it this bird right here is on the back of the full length of the lodge he comes to us in June out there and we say wagia itona Thunderbird he scares our little ones he scares our animals our little Colts our little calves let me see this is called a wesa it's made out of porcupine hair and deer hair and I'll show you how this goes there's a story behind this also I like to look at myself as a very fortunate individual because all of these things came to me in a good way you our elders tell us when we leave home I am this little man right here in family that whatever we do out there we do it from here because we' want to bring shame back home to the Asin people so whenever we smudge we have these in our possessions we have to tell speak the truth because my elders I have five mentors which are men are all in their 80s they've walked a very humble path and whenever I do something I tell them I'm going somewhere they say you have a good trip in our language and then they say make us proud because we will know if you're spoofing everybody how many of you know what spoofing is talking when I should be listening and listening when I should be talking and this is how this goes on this thing here's is called a scalp lock you just get a started I can put it on through there okay it's right there in the middle but you can move it down more okay if you want I'll tell you right there right in the middle okay where's my rope and then I would tie it like so when I would dance when I dance PA these these Black and Whites they should be rocking to the to the drama I was told not to leave out the other winged Birds these are Magpie tail feathers I am this little man right here my other older daughter she's uh five I and her were out on our way to dig turnips how many of you ever dug wild turnips we were out digging wild turnips and the Creator again left me these tail feathers if you see there's some beautiful little bird feathers there and beautiful purple on there I was told never to leave out or other little winged animals this was made by a man that was walk the same path I do he had a rough time with alcoholism he made this for me it's very dear to me I was going to have this guy bring his regalia and then be in in costume cuz he has basically the same as me and that's how that works this is called a dance stick in our dance we have stories each song is a story so if you understand the language in these songs you would know what we're what the drummers are singing to I'm not a warrior I never went off to war but I am a hunter in northeastern Montana we have huge huge me deer out there and I also have many hats so one day I bought myself some hunting license because on the reservation we don't have to pay to hunt but there was some bigger bucks off the reservation and in order for me to go get them I had to buy a a hunting license so I bought hunting license and I teamed up with a couple of buddies and I said I need me a song to go with my sneak up and the sneak up dance is is a Warriors it's where they're tracking their enemy in dance then every once in a while they get down and they pop up and they look around in regalia and then they track some more then they look around I said I got to get me a story so we went up north of Glasco Montana and and I had come across a big print of a huge Buck I trailed him for better part of the day and over there there's no trees up there just Sage Brush and lot of wash outs and he was laying in this wash out so I use that in my sneak up now before I before I would follow another dancer and use him as my enemy and I thought no this guy's way too quick so I use this Buck story so there's there's stories that go with our with our dance I've gotten pretty good at it I haven't made any money at it yet I want oh I take that back I won a special one time but then it was only three of us so this little guy right here can really good he's placed in many powow and I was tell him what's it feel like to stand up there with all the winners all these Champions someday dad you'll be there but the thing about it is it comes from here and it's God given to us God gives intelligence when I smudge I do this I smudge my hands because there are the foulest things that human can have I smudge my heart and I smudge my intelligence and I smudge my mouth now all of them are connected so it comes from here my intelligence tells me it's the safe thing to say my mouth because one of the hardest thing that comes from our mouths can very very very hurt us for a long time more so than fist fighting that was another one of my stories I used like to fist fight but that came from alcoholism I've been sober I'll be uh 18 years sober June 20th I've hadn't had a fist fight I haven't had my hands put behind my back and cuffs over 200 years ago when these individuals came up through here not so long after that they brought a thing called fire water and it destroyed a bunch of us I broke a cir a cycle in my life my little boy hasn't seen me touch drop my little boy hasn't seen me come home late he hasn't heard me lie but all of this right here is good for us because it gives me enjoyment to it makes me feel good when I can get out there with all them great big raptures that the golden eagles the spotted eagle the black Eagles and all these men are real arrogant oh arrogant me and my little ball we come right out there makes me feel good to do that and I make them dance because they they they competition huh for big money there's a PA they have 34,000 competition in Great Falls I have a very good friend of mine that lives in shanuk Montana I came on my way up I stopped visiting he called me a couple of days before that he told me oh my brother he says I'm IGA which means pitiful he says my moxin they have holes in them not coincidence that morning I went to I went with an older brother he bought a recliner so I he didn't have a pickup so we used my truck we went to Wolf Point and at this place we were picking up this recliner a lady came up and she said Harry are you looking for a pair of moxin I said I was thinking about getting me a second pair she says well come over here look she had a beautiful pair of moxin not these but a beautiful pair of moxin fully beaded like this all of this was beaded you know you figure 200 bucks that's say I was she said 70 bucks I said $70 yeah I follow me to the bank she followed me over there I got her 80 so anyway this this this this brother of mine he he took me as a brother he's a grovont from there he says uh yeah he says boy I'm really pitiful my mox's got holes in them I told this little guy see these moxin are going to go to my adopted brother Bill so on our way up here yesterday I stopped I told him I said I have a gift for you but I want to see the holds in your moxin that you were saying you had and he had him laying out he picked him up off of his living room floor and he stuck his finger through see I told you I was USA so we gave him them peroxins they said whenever we give we get back so evident what this bill my friend does came back to it back home there's so many non-indians they look at us as just drunks there's some of us that are very real there's some of us that still walk that path without alcohol in our homes we have prosperity in our lives because we're educ ated now I work for an archaeology digging firm out of Billings Montana called ethnoscience I make good money at it I get to do things that I've always enjoyed and that's working with Ana makoche we say mother earth I go to Sacred sites burials if there's a burial I'm asked to do a ceremony before we dig in it because I'm I'm I I I know what's going on I'm in tune to the spirit world but it comes from one thingal de save my life save my life had I not found him I'm sure I would have went and got drunk that day but everything is a gift from that so when I put him on no disrespect to these folks that are running this I was supposed to put all of this on but it's easier for me to explain it to you my grandmother's name was oima which means son she was very fond of the floral design so most of my uh my bead work is all floral except these I ran across these 3 years ago a little Sue lady came to this office where I was at gave me a little sob story which was a truth I don't have to tell you that she said but I have a pair of moxin I said all right let me go look at him I looked at him she says how much I asked her she said 70 bucks again I said $70 for these I said this is commercially tanned it must have took you forever to put the beads through because if you've ever sewed on on commercially tanned it it's a nightmare so I gave her a little extra and I pick them so everything we have has a significant story behind it so when I put these on I look to the west where our Sue ancestors are from and I tell her hey I'm going to wear your moxin give me the strength h story about the oh the vest was made by a gentleman name he's from uh pipot Canada he's a cre Indian uh they 200 years ago a cinor didn't have very many friends we didn't like the black feet we didn't like the groon we didn't like the uh Hada we didn't like the Rick we didn't like anybody we had one Ally and that was our cre the cre nation was our Ally because our language was very close we understood one another this gentleman said hey I told him I need a vest he says you buy everything all right but it wasn't him that was going to do the work it was his wife and he didn't tell me that so every time I'd go over there she was sitting her beating on this I said hey hey hey hey this brother of mine is supposed to be here cre Indians are like us they're proud they said no no no that's women's work I sold both she did this side he did this side you can see the difference in it how tight it is compared to his side I told him I said well maybe on second thought maybe we could go back the old but I'll I I'll tell you a little story how the monkey came to the asabin one day this little this little the circus was in town in Wolf Point Montana when it was first first getting built and this little monkey escaped and he was down along the river there was me and another individual we seen this little monkey said what is that says let's catch it we'll take it to the hunga the hunga means Chief we'll take it to our hunga he'll know so we caught this little monkey and we took him to the our chief the chief picked him up says huh huh he's touching his little head and his tail H he says I don't know he said in a ciny doish he said take it to the medicine man he'll know so we took this little monkey to the medicine man medicine man held him up to the four directions this little monkey cuz medicine men they always prayed the four directions petted this little monkey on the head played with his D he said huh got a face like a boy got a tail like a cow I know Cowboy back home we have a lot I have a lot of friends that are Cowboys we do a lot of uh horse racing while horse racing and that's where we uh run these wild horses on Saddle into shoots there's three of us we have a Mugger we have a rider and we have one guy that Saddles him we open the shoots we have to rope this horse then we got to put a saddle on him then we have throw this little Rider on him and then he's got a ride across the arena talk about wrecks Cowboy Indians flying everywhere usually our mugger is about 65 been about 400 lb man so he just squats and hangs on to the Rope then little skinny guys like me do the rest but we have fun in doing all these things you know if I've offended anybody in my talk I make my amends I'm honored to come here and be here over 200 years ago this gentleman Louis and Clark was coming through a cineo country we were camped at a place called Rocky Point because if you're down there we we only stayed in the river bottoms because of the wood and the safety of the wind at that time of the year we were up at Rocky Point which had been 12 miles north of where they supposedly seen us those four of our Scouts down there we reported back to our tribe we said these big boats are coming up we don't understand the language of these people we got within your shot our our war chief was there our chief at that time his name was Rosebud he asked this chief he says what do you think and our chief asked these four Scouts he says who's all in this party so each of us Scouts told him said there's a woman and a baby with them our war chief he says do you go to war with a woman and a baby let him go through keeping on them for 4 days then report back to us so we never did encounter these gentlemen the asabor were very protective of that area at the time I could tell you some stories that were passed down to us it's not written in books you don't find too many books on our religion or our spiritual walk or our life because we don't sell our stuff we don't sell it because we keep it in here and we pass it to our little ones they don't read it in the book it they have to participate in these things our Gatherings our ceremonies when these things are shared with you know to have a woman and a baby with these two IND visuals the asins took great respect for that to come across our country but they had a woman and a baby we show great respect for them we says you guys go on in our own way and time is up I guess so I want to thank you all for coming and let me speak to you all hopefully I'll see some of you in Great Falls Paya thank you both for coming and thank all of you for coming as well I do want to invite you to come back for the next program one of our own Rangers is going to be doing a pre e