Honoring Youth
Through Native Heritage
By Mark Thiel

Guidelines 8-10: Activities

8. Talks

•     Honor ceremonies provide teaching moments for elders to share an invocation, teachings, moral stories, and legends.

9. Drum song and Dance

•     Native drum songs and dance are essential because they provide a celebratory spirit and are important to Indian identity. Honor songs are sung with accompaniment by a drum using a 1-2 drum beat (1/4 time) and medium tempo with words and/or "vocables" (word sounds, e.g. "hay hay oh hay, yah hay hay oh hay") which are easier to learn and more often appropriate. Broadcasting a recorded song may be appropriate for small-scale situations when a qualified singer(s) is not available.

•     Dancing in rows 2-4 across, honorees process sun-wise (clockwise) to the beat and song using a common intertribal step. 1st beat, light accent: With the body weight on the left foot, step forward on the right foot, bringing the sole down flat. 2nd beat, no accent: Quickly raise and drop the right heal and shift the body weight to the right foot. 3rd beat, light accent: Step forward with the left foot, bringing the sole down flat. 4th beat, no accent: Quickly raise and drop the left heal and shift the body weight to the left foot. Friends and relatives join by first shaking hands with all recipients and then join at the rear and dance with the group.

10. Feast

•     Feasts are an important part of building relationships and if possible, one should follow the ceremony proper, especially when it is the “main event.”