In April of last year, the French auction house Daouot’s, sold many Native American artifacts that included dozens of sacred Hopi masks and kachina’s that were stolen from the reservation in the late19th and early 20th century. The Hopi Tribe and the U.S. government pleaded to halt the sale, and it went to court.
To the Hopi, the idea that these “objects” are commercial art is an insult. They see them as the living embodiment of their ancestors, that need to be nurtured and fed. In the end they were put up for sale that brought hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Crow Mother mask alone sold for $136,000.
Just 8 weeks ago, Skinner, an auction house in Boston, Massachusetts listed a “Sioux Beaded and Quilled Hide Shirt” that belonged to the Lakota Chief, “Little Thunder”. The shirt was estimated to fetch between $150,000-$300,000 when Skinner put it up for sale on November 9. But minutes before the auction began, Skinner withdrew the item in response to pressure from the Little Thunder family and Sioux tribal officials.
This is not just a shirt for the Little Thunder family or the Lakota people. Little Thunder’s shirt is a symbolic representation of a culture’s history and values. Karen Little Thunder, the great, great granddaughter of the Chief, says that the shirt is special in a way that white people can’t understand (NY Times, 12/28/13). “As a nation, we once stretched from Montana to eastern Wisconsin, and from the Canadian border to Nebraska…this shirt brings the greatness of our tribe within reach of every tribal member”.
Since our earliest ancestors, every culture has developed its own myths, rituals, ceremonies, and created sacred objects to bind its people together. Those sacred objects give stories their power. Chief Little Thunders shirt reminds the Lakota people who they are and their unique place in the world.
As a culture, we need more “holy shirts” and better stories that remind us of our best selves and sustaining values, instead of the daily feed of stories that dramatize our basest selves. Our survival as a species is not transmitted through our DNA, but through our stories.
Wouldn’t you just spiritually know it? Carl posts this blog as I am reminiscing about the losses of the Indian culture that I and my wife just witnessed on a tour of the Mayan ruins.
And, I am reminded of what I feel is my own “holy shirt”, among several that I feel are special. It is one I wear only on my birthday, May 5. It is a shirt that has a kind of Japanese print like one sees on a kimono. The design and the day refer to Children’s Day in Japan, when the happiness and health of children are honored. We all continue to be children in some way and we all are holy.
Steve Moffic
How do these artifacts end up in the hands of people who want to profit from them? Why are they not ensconced in a museum or sacred place where the tribal people (and others) can enjoy, understand, and marvel at the rich heritage they represent.
I like the shirt Stevie :O)… and Carol these sacred items are not ensconced in tribal museums because they are living spirits to be paid attention to, and not put safely away. Read my book “Theft of the Spirit” and you’ll get a fuller sense of what I’m talking about. :O)
Had I not attended your powerful Healing Ceremonies event in Scottsdale recently, and come to respect and appreciate Native American culture in a whole new way, I am not sure I would even have the slightest understanding of the importance of these objects to the tribes.
Thank you for opening my eyes.
It was so wonderful having you at the workshop and sending my love, :O)
Similarly, there is now a “fight” over artifacts of Iraqi Jewry. A treasure of Torahs, torn fragments of kabbalaIstic writings among other objects were discovered by American troops in great disrepair hidden away in Iraq. The US retrieved them, repaired them at great cost and had them on display for over a year, ending in January 2014. Now the Iraqi government is demanding them back to display in a museum (supposedly); this after decades and decades of decimating it’s once thriving Jewish community to maybe 100 people now.
That makes sense Carl, but then how do these objects fall into the wrong hands to be profited from? If they are sacred and living embodiments of the heritage, they need to be honored, not sold. Hmmm… Good topic for when we are again together.