- [Voiceover] The following program is a production of Pioneer Public Television.

This program on Pioneer Public Television is funded by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

With money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

Additional support provided by Mark and Margaret Yakel-Juleen in honor of Shalom Hill Farm, a non-profit rural education retreat center in a beautiful prairie setting near Windom in Southwestern Minnesota.

shalomhillfarm.org.

The Arrowwood Resort and Conference Center, your ideal choice for Minnesota resorts.

Offering luxury townhomes, 18 holes of golf, Darling Reflections Spa, Big Splash water park, and much more.

Alexandria, Minnesota, a relaxing vacation or great location for an event.

ExploreAlex.com, easy to get to, hard to leave.

(slow orchestral music) - Welcome to Post Cards, I'm Dana Johnson.

Today we take a look at the intricacies of Native American art and culture.

Join us in Granite Falls to hear the pounding drums and see the bright regalia of the Upper Sioux Wacipi.

And watch Joe Whitehawk teach us about the materials and techniques involved in making his traditional craft.

But first, let's join Rodney Bercier as he shares his passion for making authentic moccasins.

(wooden flute) (male speaking in Native American language) - My dad, he's was born on Turtle Mountain Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota.

And so my mom enrolled my younger brother and I when we were little, and so I'm a roll member of Turtle Mountain.

There's several ways to get an Indian name, and one is through ceremony, and another one would be like for a characteristic.

I used to chair a lot of meetings at, like, the AA and talking circles.

I would ask friends if they had any sage, and they'd give me like one little branch.

And I'd see them in a couple days and ask them, do you have any more of that sage?

And they'd go, well what do you do with it?

I just gave you some, you know.

I'd say, well you only gave me a little twig, man.

And so they started joking around 'cause we had a drum.

And they were like, I wonder what he does with it?

Does he put it in his shoes?

He must sleep on it.

And so anyway, I picked up the name Sage Man.

And how you say that a jib way is (speaking in a Native American language), they call me Sage Man.

So then, I started going to pow-wows.

Bought a little ten-by-ten, easy up, some tables.

There was a friend of mine who was a vendor.

And we started sharing the location.

He made moccasins and crafts.

And through him I started learning.

I said, well could you show me how to do that?

I used to make a lot of leather stuff just freestyle.

I never punched the holes or had patterns.

So, he started me out on lacing.

And then, he had some patterns, so he showed me how to draw out the patterns, and cut them out, and punch the holes and everything.

I found out it's so much easier to have the pattern, and punch the holes and you can really run that lacing through there a lot easier.

So, that's kind of how I got into making moccasins.

I've been doing it about seven, eight years now.

I don't know if I got it perfected yet.

I don't make as many mistakes as I used to, miss a hole and have to go back and redo it and go back and redo it.

I'm pretty proficient at that now.

I started buying hides, my own hides.

And trading for them at pow-wows.

And I made a set of my own patterns.

I had to make patterns they didn't even have.

So I came up with sizes that nobody had.

That are off the record.

Now, I can actually take somebody's footprint and if they put it on an art pad, draw around their foot, and I can make a pattern that'll match their foot.

And I use what they call this artificial sinew, which is really good.

I think Natives are really smart that we, part of our culture is learning to adapt and overcome and utilize whatever resources are available.

So, I have no problem with using artificial sinew versus the real sinew.

See, originally how they used to do it, it's so far back in history it's like what they call public domain.

Nobody can put a claim to I invented this moccasin, or whatever.

It's been passed down for generation to generation thousands of years.

And the story that I was told was they'd wear their moccasins until they were almost worn out.

And then take them apart, set them on a piece of new hide, and then cut around or mark it with a piece of charcoal, like a pencil.

And cut it with a flint knife and use a bone hull to make the holes, which is similar to the same thing I got.

Except I have modern tools.

Pair of scissors, shears, a leather punch.

Nice needles that I buy from the craft store and stuff.

But basically, the basics are still there, it's still the same.

And that goes on from generation to genera...who knows?

Thousand years from now somebody'll be doing the same thing.

Everybody's welcome to share and learn and you know, to enjoy.

And it's just, it's great.

And I don't mind showing people how to do things, you know.

In fact, I wish somebody else would learn how to make moccasins because I can't keep up.

(laughing) Well, besides being rewarding.

I love it when a family'll come up and a mom will buy some moccasins for her kids.

I get a big kick out of watching these kids, they get on new moccasins and they're out there just hopping around, having a good time.

It does my heart good.

And not only that, after I get the patterns cut and the holes punched, it's therapeutic to sit and lace a pair.

I like to get a bunch of patterns cut and go sit in my favorite spot outside or in the house in the easy chair, and lace up a pair of moccasins.

It's therapeutic also.

- For me, sewing is a stress reliever.

If I'm stressed out or anxious, or I'm thinking about a lot of things, when I sit there I forget about everything.

You know, I don't think about anything.

I just sit there with what I'm going to create, and what I'm gonna do, and like I said it's a powerful thing because I don't know how it's gonna turn out.

It's like doing a painting.

You don't know how it's gonna turn out until you finish it.

And so that's, it's really relaxing for me.

- Well, I don't know if I have a favorite craft.

A lot of my scraps that I get from making moccasins I make medicine bags.

And I make hair ties and headbands.

I've made some really nice pouches, pipe bags.

And then, I also make chokers.

And a lot of Native American jewelry.

My wife makes earrings and necklaces and chokers also.

- For years I was trying to learn how to do the dream catchers and I got a book and a video and different things.

And I still couldn't quite get it.

- [Rodney] An elder taught Lupe how to do it.

One day she was sitting there messing around trying to do one.

And this elder says, oh, I can show you how to do that.

And so it was passed on in a good way.

- And I had a person that came up to the stand several years ago in Pine Point.

And said, here, and he gave me a couple of dream catchers.

And he said, I'll come back in half an hour, you'll have them done.

And I thought, well no.

He did come back, and I did have them done.

And that was the first art that I did in the dream catchers.

And so now I add feathers and I add little stones to them.

And they keep getting better.

One of the things he told me was every time you make one you learn something new, for something, a spiritual experience (speaking in a low voice).

- [Rodney] And we did it the right way, too.

It's supposed to be passed down from an elder.

And you should use the natural materials for a dream catcher.

We have willow trees out here at the farm.

And what I'll do is I'll reach up and I'll cut a branch way off one of these long willow boughs.

Take the leaves off and I'll make a circle out of it.

Kind of roll it around each other.

And I'll make circles.

And I let them dry out.

I put them on the dash of the car or on the table.

And turn them over for about a week or so.

And they dry and they're really nice circles for making dream catchers with.

I know I lot of people would rather have stuff made out of the natural material than like the metal rings and different stuff that really isn't authentic, or our culture.

I feel like I'm guided sometimes, like when I'm making moccasins.

I'll go to cut out a couple soles, and I'll end up cutting two left feet.

So then I'll have to make two pairs in that same size.

And it's like, okay well it was meant to be that way.

The Great Spirit, there's gonna be two people at the next pow-wow that need that size.

So I needed an extra one.

Thanking Great Spirit for providing us with materials to do our crafts with.

To help make life better and happier for all the people.

I pray for the happiness and well-being of all the people.

- Now, Joe Whitehawk gives us the inside story on making regalia and crafts for pow-wows around the country.

He'll also tell us about the stories and traditions behind his skillful craft.

(drums beating, man singing in Native language) - You know, when I was real little, I guess grandmas are like that.

You know, she always used to tell me, you know when she was doing something whether it'd be crafts, cooking, whatever, sewing.

She'd say get over here, watch me do this, you know.

Said maybe you should do part of this.

So she said, one day, she said you might have to do this.

Eventually, I did start learning some stuff from her.

And that's some of the things, like with the quill work and other things.

And even the sewing and things, and a lot of stuff came true.

Most stuff I use is generally a lot of I guess whatever we can get.

You know, wood from the area.

We use a lot of hides.

Furs of different four-legged animals.

We use feathers from different birds.

Sometimes if we can't get something we use something else, an alternative.

You know, not everything is available anymore.

And even sometimes we use some of the plants and whatever for dyes or other things, you know.

Sometimes we mix some of the old ways with the new ways.

We try to, make it as nice as possible.

Or, however we have it in our mind.

Or however somebody wants it made, you know.

Sometimes we get a design or certain colors from somebody and the way they want it.

And try to create it that way.

Then we use, of course, the beads.

You know, like a long time ago we used to use shells and other different things.

Even bone parts and whatever we could get access to.

This is kind of an old-style way that we use for old-style bells.

Usually a traditional dancer wore it on the knees, like so.

Kind of a newer style, but it still old-style because it has the old-style harness bells on here.

(bells jingling) And that's to be worn down here as we dance.

Like the roaches, we make a quick one here in deer hair.

Like the deer toles and buffalo toles, buffalo horns, just many different articles.

This piece is called a bandolier.

You'll notice it's dew claws.

And this is an old piece also.

It also has like old brass thimbles, a bear tooth, a bear claw.

You know, various things, and an old harness bell.

Sometimes, it comes with a combination of having learned something from the old way.

And then sometimes it's just a creation out of mind.

Or sometimes it's just working with your hands, it just creates itself almost.

It's like, as you make it, it just comes to form.

And then sometimes the creations come out of I guess, you know, you think about how the eagle flies or like the deer jumps, or the way the beauty of the buffalo, or other things.

Or sometimes, if you're making something for a female, for instance, you're beading something, or painting something.

Then you kind of think of her and her personality.

Or the way her beauty is.

One of the things when you're making something, usually there's a prayer or good thoughts.

or something in the, or sometimes you're thinking about that person, how would they like it?

So you try to make it, Like try to think how they would think, I guess.

And then, as I create things or make things, or whatever, or help people make things, I get a satisfaction of their smile or their looks when they see it, or the first time they made it, or whatever, you know.

- Now we travel to the Upper Sioux pow-wow to experience their annual gathering known as a Wacipi.

After this, you might be tempted to join in on the festivities.

(Native music) - [Kevin] I guess traditionally the Wacipi as we call it, today is the pow-wow, is more of a social gathering I suppose at times, historical times.

That was a way that different bands of our people to get together to socialize and to have a good time.

- You know, it's a time to be with friends and family.

And to make new friends and family.

You know, pow-wow means gathering.

It's a time to come together and visit.

- It's for to honor the people who've past on.

To dance.

For our kids, and our mothers, our fathers, our grandfathers and our grandmothers.

And to, like, bring together you know, people to celebrate, you know, our way of life through dance and expression.

(bells jingling, Native chanting and singing) - A pow-wow, to me, to meet new people, different culture together.

Getting (speaking Spanish) and we can meet each other and have fun.

- [Kevin] In the morning we have flag raising is what we call it.

Where we will raise the flags of those veterans that have served our country, defended our relatives.

And have achieved those military honors.

And we raise their flags on our flagpoles.

We, the drum will sing appropriate songs to acknowledge their commitment and their sacrifice to our people.

- [Voiceover] It's a dance where people come together.

And they honor the flags for our country.

They honor the staffs for our country.

For all our veterans that allow us to do the things we do today in our every day lives.

- Well, there's several different types or styles of dance.

You have your traditional dance, men and women traditional dance.

You got more contemporary styles like the fancy dance.

And then the fancy shawl dance.

And then you have other contemporary forms of dance.

The more traditional dances are like the men's traditional with the bustle, eagle bustle and the feathers.

Then the women of course, would be the jingle, which has been around for a hundred or so years now.

These different styles of dance, you know, our people use to express their um, I guess their spirituality.

- I've danced traditional for five, six years now.

And then I dance grass twenty years before that.

But, traditional, I really, it's, it's more my style, I guess.

But there's three types of traditional dancers.

There's vision seeker, the hunter, and the warrior.

And this is a warrior's outfit.

- Every type of dance is reflected in the regalia that, specific regalia people wear.

But the grass dance historically, came from the fact that when we moved from place to place they would go out and they would, if you will, knock down the grass.

Smooth it out.

And this is how the grass dance came to be, is what I had heard.

(bells jingling) - It's regalia, and some people call it an outfit or a costume, which is incorrect.

It is regalia.

And the feathers and stuff, they carry eagle feathers because the eagle is the highest, flies the highest and that's how we communicate with the creator or God, or the higher being.

Each different style of dance has their own specific, doesn't have to be set one way.

They have different attributes that they use for the regalia.

Like a lot of dancers will use a fan, partly to keep themselves, to make wind to keep themselves cool.

Or arrows describe hunting, like he was a hunter.

Like the girls, they'll have the jingle which is used for healing for that style of dance.

And of course, we have the moccasins which is really soft.

And they're made out of leather or whatever, cow skins.

Then you have the more of the contemporary, the contemporary look with the different styles of the beads and stuff.

More for adornment and for look.

(drum beating, bells jingling) - These outfits that these people create are very personal.

And have a lot of meaning because they are dancing for their creator.

- Well, my regalia is men's traditional.

I've made, I made everything on this outfit myself.

It takes a lot, a lot of time and patience.

- The regalia is just basic, it's craft, beadwork, it's artwork.

It's people's self-expression on display.

And it's adornment in a way that it's, you know it looks really fancy.

And in a way, that's how it was intended to be.

- In a pow-wow they say all it takes to have a pow-wow is one drum and one singer.

(drumming and singing) And I suppose, historically, it probably was that there was a single drum, and all the men sing around the drum.

And the women stood behind that drum.

Everybody knowing their place.

Everything in our history is reflected in a circle.

The only thing that's perfect in our world is the circle.

There's no beginning, there's no end.

We knew that the earth was round long before somebody discovered that it was.

So, if you look at our pow-wow arbors, reflective of that circle of life.

The most beautiful shape that's ever created.

In that circle, nobody's excluded.

Those fires of Dakota people, we place those drums today around the edge of that circle.

Sometimes there's many drums, sometimes there's few.

But those drums and those singers the songs have many, many meanings.

Many, many songs from many specific times and events.

Some of those songs go back hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

There again, protecting our oral traditions, and our oral history.

- For more information about the crafts and events go to our website.

Thanks for watching.

See you again next time on Post Cards.

- [Voiceover] This program on Pioneer Public Television is funded by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

With money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

Additional support provided by Mark and Margaret Jakel-Juleen in honor of Shalom Hill Farm, a non-profit rural education retreat center in a beautiful prairie setting near Windom in Southwestern Minnesota.

shalomhillfarm.org.

The Arrowwood Resort and Conference Center, your ideal choice for Minnesota resorts.

Offering luxury townhomes, 18 holes of golf, Darling Reflections Spa, Big Splash waterpark, and much more.

Alexandria, Minnesota, a relaxing vacation or great location for an event.

ExploreAlex.com, easy to get to, hard to leave.

(slow orchestral music)