S E A A

• 2010-06-15

  

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  Wrap me up in these

• 2010-06-02

  

  Yaqui Deer Dance

  This elegant and profound dance symbolizes the struggle between good and evil, through a confrontation between a sacred deer and aggressive coyotes and hunters, bringing to mind parallels of cultural, philosophical, and spiritual struggles as well.

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  Heritage Lesson:

  There are two worlds of reality for Yaquis: (1) the enchanted world of impersonal power, within which there are neither good nor evil forces, of a timeless future included within a renewable cyclical cosmos wherein the earth dies and is reborn each year; and (2) the human world (European derivation) of good and evil forces, of opposing energy. These two realities co-exist to form the contemporary world of the Yaqui. A third reality, the world of the Mexican or the Anglo are external to the Yaqui cosmos. English is an external language and knowledge provided by the school, external to the Yaqui view of life.

  According to Yaqui folklore, the ancestors of modern Yoemem (what the Yaquis call themselves in their own language) were the Surem. The Surem are little people, somewhat like the leprechauns of Ireland. The Surem lived in complete harmony with their environment. Ecological balance is still a very strong notion in the Yaqui value system. These little people, the Surem, were dwelling in the Rio Yaqui prior to the appearance of agriculture. They continue to dwell there today as they do in the Arizona villages, unseen. Those Surem, who rejected the offer of baptism, never died. They continue to walk the face of the earth. They are in a separate dimension of reality, and are perceived only by the Yaqui.

• 2010-05-24

  

• 2010-05-16

  

• 2010-05-14

  

  ERIE BASIN