Oral Tradition
Robin Ridington
The Dunne-za, or Beaver Indians, are Athabaskan-speaking hunting people of
the Peace River area of British Columbia and Alberta. Their stories, like
those of many other First Nations people, circle around and touch one
another in complex patterns of resonance. Before the Dunne-za came into
contact with a literate tradition, they experienced the text of each story
as an event, not a document. A story existed in the vibration of its
voicing. It existed in the shared memory from which the storyteller called
it and to which he or she gave it in return. A story's beginning or end
reflected the situation of its teller and listener as well as canonical
conventions of plot and character. A story took place simultaneously in the real time of its
telling and in the mythical time in which it occurred. For
narrator and listener beginning and end were points of knowingly woven
entry and departure. They were like the entries and departures of a
Dunne-za dancer when he or she moves in or out of the dreamer's dance
circle.
Other Native American gems:
Faith In Our Dreams - Thoreau
Naraya Poetry-Song of the Wind River Shoshone Ghost Dance
Havasupai Farewell Song
The Threefold Miracle
Scroll of Timothy
Worship
I Ching
Webs of Significance
Deeds
Hanukah - an interpretation
Satchel Paige
Experience
Speaking With God
Right Brain