Honoring Youth
Through Native Heritage
By Mark Thiel

Guidelines 1-4: Setting

1. Heritage and Harmony

•     Native honoring ceremonies are appropriate for recognizing achievement and graduation. They are adaptable to modern settings and provide "hands-on" learning about America's ancient heritage. Several persons, teams, or classes may be honored in one ceremony as needed.

•     To insure accuracy, consult with local experts. Use First Nations students, parents, tribal officials, and museum curators as contacts.

2. Time and Relationships

•      If faced with a time crunch, be aware that from a Native perspective, quality performances are more important than on-time ones. Conducting meaningful celebrations with friends and relatives is most important and when necessary, Native Americans will delay the start of events.

3. Place

•     Performance spaces are often simple but well-defined circular or square areas of sufficient size to accommodate the gathering. Most have seating around the edges and limited adornment. Typical sites include gymnasiums, meeting rooms, and athletic fields.

4. Lighting

•     Use electrical lighting if possible. Campfires lead to Hollywood stereotypes and hazardous situations and are neither required nor desired by most Native Americans.