HERITAGE WEEK: The bellowing beat of buffalo...

HERITAGE WEEK: The bellowing beat of buffalo skin drums is sending a warm pulse throughout the Cal State L.A. campus on the Eastside, marking the celebration of Native American Heritage Week.

“The sound represents the heartbeat of the earth, because she gave birth to the materials that we use,” said Benjamin Hale, a Navajo drummer who performed at the campus event this week. “We hope to bring our culture alive here in Los Angeles, which has the largest concentration of Native Americans. We also want to bring the natural beauty of our culture to those who don’t know that much about us.”

The three-day celebration, which ends today, is sponsored by the American Indian Student Council. It includes performances by Hopi Pueblo Dancers, a Navajo corn grinding demonstration and cultural exhibits. Events take place from noon to 2 p.m. at the campus Free Speech Area.

“This is the biggest of the [Native American] events we’ve had. Before they had just smaller-scale celebrations lasting only one or two days,” said Bob Baker, Native American Student Council faculty advisor and Education Opportunity Program counselor.

Performers--young and old, clad in eagle feathers, beaded buckskin and sheep bells--stomp across the concrete stage in soft moccasins. The dancers move like stalking coyotes and turn their heads and eyes like hawks, movements expressing reverence for nature, according to Hale.

Native Americans invite people to tables and booths surrounding the performance area. Women weave baskets with colorful reeds and grasses. Native Americans cook fluffy fry bread, honey-glazed and sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar. Artisans sell turquoise and silver rings and necklaces strung with hematite beads.