Their voices still sing the old songs, but, some of these songs were made back way, way back in the early days, and they were usually made for a person, maybe a warrior, maybe a leader.

And these songs were made for that, for that family.

Got their hand still grip the eagle feathers and shake the rattles.

A tradition that has survived near extinction.

It's at these social gatherings and powwows that the old ways are passed on to new generations.

And this is how we carry on our tradition and we teach the younger, so that this dance will go on.

It ages.

Dance in the middle of the grass, dance.

So much has been lost.

Every people has a story of something that was taken from them in.

You don't want to see it all gone.

At her home in Wagoner, Ruth Cole helps bridge the gap between tradition and today.

Well, I hang the gourds up because the mice like to eat the seeds, so you hang them up to dry and they need to hang from 3 to 6 months for your rattle gourds.

She is one of the few artists left who can turn a squash gourd into a sacred symbol of a time, and a people nearly lost to the pages of history.

I'm taking a pencil and just putting the general outline that I'm going to would bone in on it.

A lot of my art nowadays consists of the wood burning on the gourd.

You know, Native Americans were the first ones that started taking your plants from nature and developing them into something that was edible and useful.

I don't know.

Like her ancestors, Ruth Cole grows gourds in her garden and in nearby fields.

For me, this is the best canvas in the world, for you art to do it on.

You've got a smooth surface.

Once all the outer layers scrubbed off.

Once it's dry, it's got a nice feel to it.

Yes, this is my art.

She covers her natural canvas with scenes from nature, reminders of the old ways with her touch, the gourds become bowls and rattles.

Works of art for today, but still connected to a proud past.

I want to preserve history, but I want to preserve it to where they can use it.

Nowadays.

I want it to be able to be incorporated in the everyday life that we live now, but still have the pictures and the scenes on there, some art history.

The gourd was important to the Native American people because it was used in so many of the everyday life, from our dippers to our baskets and containers to our dance rattles.

And therefore it's held a special place in every tribe that I know of.

I try to put designs on my rattles that will be indicative of the tribe, the rattles used for, and you bold designs that you put on them show up from a distance when the dances are dancing.

The gourd rattles are among the most sacred symbols of North American Indian tribes.

Today, authentic gourd rattles are rare.

Ruth Cole is among just a handful of artists still making them.

So many dancers are forced to use more modern containers like salt shakers and turtle shells.

These modern alternatives carry the same sacred meaning as the gourd.

This design is one that could have been used back when they would have been originally doing their gourd dances, but for traditionalists like Ruth Cole, nothing can replace the original.

The natural gourd rattle is at the root of most tribes spiritual beliefs.

I just don't want stuff lost.

Too much of the heritage has been lost.

It's art from the Native Americans.

It is our art.