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Videos of the Week

Shoshone-Bannock History in Idaho
PART I OF II: 2008's historic Idaho Democratic Convention, held in Boise, ID, June 12-14, invited Idaho Native American Tribal members from the Shoshone-Bannock/Fort Hall, Shoshone-Paiute/Duck Valley, Nez Perce, and Coeur D'Alene tribal communities to take an active part in the convention activities. On June 12th, the Idaho AFL-CIO hosted a Democratic picnic for convention goers. Mr. Ted Howard, Cultural Resource Director, Duck Valley, spoke to picnic participants about the Shoshone-Paiute-Bannock history in the Boise Valley area. 9:49 minutes.

Part II-Grand Entry, Flag Ceremony and Recessional
All convention tribal members participated in the grand entry at the beginning of the June 13th Idaho Democratic Convention gathering followed by a flag ceremony and presentation by Mr. Lee Juan Tyler, Council Member, Shoshone-Bannock/Fort Hall community. Fort Hall and Duck Valley singers and drummers played songs for the grand entry, flag ceremony and recessional.
9:59 minutes

Native American Prophecy
Narrated by the late Floyd RedCrow Westerman 6:36 minutes

7 Generations
Elder Orin Lyons talks about preparing for the next 7 generations. 8:43 minutes

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Lit->Words of Wisdom: What are the differences between a myth, legend, tale, and oral histories?

Posted on Saturday, July 28 @ 20:31:15 CDT

Folklorists have commonly attempted to distinguish between native american myths, legends, tales, and oral histories. Sometimes a fine line separarates the distinction. Here are the basic differences.

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Native American Myths

Native american myths are sacred accounts that are believed by narrators and listeners to be true. They are set in a period at or before the origins of the world as it is presently known, and they usually contain strong supernatural elements.

Native American Legends

Native American legends are also believed to be true, and they may also contain fantastic elements. However, they are set later in times, after the world had assumed the form in which it was known to traditional cultures.

Native American Tales

Native american tales are entertaining stories that narrators and listeners are not required to believe as true. They usually contain a strong moral message or life lesson. The heroes of the tales are often animals that do great things or get into trouble because of their actions and life choices.

Native american oral histories

Native american oral histories are stories that are narratives of actually witnessed events that have been transmitted, with greater or less embellishment, to subsequent generations orally. Many tribes appoint an official historian who begins learning these oral histories, that go back to the origins of the tribe, at a very young age, and continues to study them throughout life.

It is strongly impressed upon the tribal historians the importance of not embellishing the histories or leaving anything out. Elders and storytellers from previous generations, who also know the stories, often confer with the historian over the years, and compare their versions of the history to try to keep it as accurate as possible.

These oral histories are often backed up with physical evidence, such as winter counts painted on skins over the generations of the tribe. Winter counts are a pictorial history of the most important events that occur within a tribe each year. These events are recorded in pictographs painted on animal skins. These are carefully preserved and kept for future councils and future generations, and help validate the corectness of the oral histories passed down from generation to generation.