Post by Moon Seeker on Jul 20, 2009 11:06:06 GMT -5
By Linda Borg
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — Robert “Wounded Eagle” Bonin always knew he came from Native American blood but he never realized how deep those roots went until he began researching his lineage on the Internet.
What he has unearthed over the past 20 years has been nothing short of a revelation. He is a descendent of Sacajawea. On his maternal side, Bonin traced his family tree to the Garden River Band, which settled along a river of the same name in early 17th-century Canada.
“My grandmother had a family album with pictures of a reservation in Quebec,” he said during Sunday’s 30th annual Rhode Island Indian Council Pow Wow. “But that generation didn’t talk about their Native American side.”
Bonin, who is also French Canadian and was raised Catholic, says he is related to three tribes: Iroquois, Abenaki and Shoshone. For him, the true religion of the United States is Native American, a belief system that has been around for 10,000 years.
As part of his journey, Bonin said he has discovered that he is a medicine man, someone who can see into the future, who can get a feeling about a person’s character. He is 61 years old and a former photographer.
“I’ve always been a visionary,” he said. “I can pick up people’s vibrations. Sometimes I know what someone is going to say or do a few days before it happens.”
In his capacity as a medicine man, Bonin, who has fair skin, green eyes and wears glasses, offers advice to people who have marital problems or run-of-the-mill life quandaries.
Everything Bonin wears has meaning: The turkey feathers on his headdress or bonnet represent nature. White beads represent clouds; blue represents the sky and green beads stand for the earth. A .50-caliber shell shows that Bonin was a warrior — a veteran of the Vietnam War.
The pow wow is a profoundly spiritual event, one that represents the gathering of disparate tribes in harmony and friendship. This weekend, more than 300 people from tribes as far-flung as the Dakotas gathered in Roger Williams Park for two days of song, dance and storytelling.
“It’s a celebration of fellowship,” said Darrell Waldron, the council’s executive director and the master of ceremonies. “It’s an opportunity for people to meet the new babies, to announce weddings, to trade and show off their crafts. We’ve been doing this for centuries.”
If there is one misconception that Waldron would like to expose, it’s that Native Americans are some sort of exotic species who operate apart from mainstream America.
“We could be the check-out person in the supermarket or the local bank teller,” he said. “There are 6,000 of us in Rhode Island. We’re part of the everyday fabric of life.”
Beneath a canopy of trees, a drum circle chanted while a dozen Native American men of all ages danced a two-step around a smoky ceremonial fire. The dancers wore leather breeches, beaded shirts and headdresses made of turkey feathers. They carried carved walking sticks and waved exotic ceremonial feathers. Some of the men swooped low, as if engaged in a hunt. Others spun and rotated their entire bodies in tune to their own inner rhythm.
“You’re dancing to the beat of the earth,” said Marie “White Feathers” White. “I get goose bumps when I dance.”
While it took Bonin two decades to discover his heritage, White said she knew that she was Mohawk from the moment she was born. Her mother was born on a reservation in Canada; her father is French Canadian.
“There are nine kids in my family,” said White, who is 65 and lives in Blackstone, Mass., “and I’m the only blond.”
White said her Native American name harkens back to a magical moment that she experienced 10 years ago, when she was living on the water in Warwick. On her last day in that house, she saw seven swans moving across Narragansett Bay. The last two had their wings spread, and, as they glided by, they turned their heads toward her in salute.
“I started to cry,” she said. “I
lborg@projo.com
www.projo.com/news/content/indian_council_powwow_07-20-09_SAF3PMS_v18.36f65d1.html
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — Robert “Wounded Eagle” Bonin always knew he came from Native American blood but he never realized how deep those roots went until he began researching his lineage on the Internet.
What he has unearthed over the past 20 years has been nothing short of a revelation. He is a descendent of Sacajawea. On his maternal side, Bonin traced his family tree to the Garden River Band, which settled along a river of the same name in early 17th-century Canada.
“My grandmother had a family album with pictures of a reservation in Quebec,” he said during Sunday’s 30th annual Rhode Island Indian Council Pow Wow. “But that generation didn’t talk about their Native American side.”
Bonin, who is also French Canadian and was raised Catholic, says he is related to three tribes: Iroquois, Abenaki and Shoshone. For him, the true religion of the United States is Native American, a belief system that has been around for 10,000 years.
As part of his journey, Bonin said he has discovered that he is a medicine man, someone who can see into the future, who can get a feeling about a person’s character. He is 61 years old and a former photographer.
“I’ve always been a visionary,” he said. “I can pick up people’s vibrations. Sometimes I know what someone is going to say or do a few days before it happens.”
In his capacity as a medicine man, Bonin, who has fair skin, green eyes and wears glasses, offers advice to people who have marital problems or run-of-the-mill life quandaries.
Everything Bonin wears has meaning: The turkey feathers on his headdress or bonnet represent nature. White beads represent clouds; blue represents the sky and green beads stand for the earth. A .50-caliber shell shows that Bonin was a warrior — a veteran of the Vietnam War.
The pow wow is a profoundly spiritual event, one that represents the gathering of disparate tribes in harmony and friendship. This weekend, more than 300 people from tribes as far-flung as the Dakotas gathered in Roger Williams Park for two days of song, dance and storytelling.
“It’s a celebration of fellowship,” said Darrell Waldron, the council’s executive director and the master of ceremonies. “It’s an opportunity for people to meet the new babies, to announce weddings, to trade and show off their crafts. We’ve been doing this for centuries.”
If there is one misconception that Waldron would like to expose, it’s that Native Americans are some sort of exotic species who operate apart from mainstream America.
“We could be the check-out person in the supermarket or the local bank teller,” he said. “There are 6,000 of us in Rhode Island. We’re part of the everyday fabric of life.”
Beneath a canopy of trees, a drum circle chanted while a dozen Native American men of all ages danced a two-step around a smoky ceremonial fire. The dancers wore leather breeches, beaded shirts and headdresses made of turkey feathers. They carried carved walking sticks and waved exotic ceremonial feathers. Some of the men swooped low, as if engaged in a hunt. Others spun and rotated their entire bodies in tune to their own inner rhythm.
“You’re dancing to the beat of the earth,” said Marie “White Feathers” White. “I get goose bumps when I dance.”
While it took Bonin two decades to discover his heritage, White said she knew that she was Mohawk from the moment she was born. Her mother was born on a reservation in Canada; her father is French Canadian.
“There are nine kids in my family,” said White, who is 65 and lives in Blackstone, Mass., “and I’m the only blond.”
White said her Native American name harkens back to a magical moment that she experienced 10 years ago, when she was living on the water in Warwick. On her last day in that house, she saw seven swans moving across Narragansett Bay. The last two had their wings spread, and, as they glided by, they turned their heads toward her in salute.
“I started to cry,” she said. “I
lborg@projo.com
www.projo.com/news/content/indian_council_powwow_07-20-09_SAF3PMS_v18.36f65d1.html