The other day, I took some photos of the Caddo dance ground. I was helping with a memorial dinner and went up the hill after we'd finished cleaning. This is the Community Building. I've heard that it is the first structure to be built here, well before the tribal complex was established. This is the south end of the building. The north end has bathrooms with showers -- which get a lot of use during the summer camp. This is the dance ground, looking northeasterly. This dirt has amazing staining properties. When folks refer to Oklahoma's red dirt, this is what they are talking about. Being here when there is no one else around is sort of lonely. Since we haven't had much rain this summer, you can still see the footprints from the last dance (probably the closing dance at this year's Hasinai camp). Looking east from the parking lot at the Community Building. You can't help but think of all of the folks who have danced here over the years, who set up camp and cooked over a fire, who visited with family and friends in the shade of the trees. When I got back into my car after taking these photos, I had a hitchhiker.
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If you don't have anything to do this weekend, come on out to the Kiowa-Apache Blackfoot ceremonials. The Hasinai Society is co-hosting this year and helps take care of the flag. It'll be hot, but you can always stop by Shirley's camp to cool off! |
Rhonda S. FairI am a cultural anthropologist, currently employed
as the Tribal Liaison for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. This
position gives me the opportunity to apply my ethnographic training, as well as
do archaeological fieldwork. I am also on the faculty of the University of
Oklahoma's College of Liberal Studies. Archives
November 2011
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