Tribal Tradition : Native Americans Gather at Vasquez Rocks Powwow to Honor Ancestry

Before strip malls and wide freeways became symbols of life in and around the Valley, a legion of Native Americans burned incense, collected precious eagle feathers and danced away bad spirits.

As a boy, Charlie Cooke heard his grandmother reminisce about darker times for Native Americans, when they were forced to live in a San Fernando mission by Spaniards who had taken the land for their own.

Cooke, who also goes by the Native American name of TiqSto (Eye of the Eagle), was beaming with pride Saturday when he and approximately 250 other people gathered for the first Traditional Pow Wow at Vasquez Rocks Park.

Powwow means a gathering of the people and it’s a staple of Native American culture.

Members of various tribes, including the Shoshone and Echota Cherokee, flocked to the scenic park for a day of dance and celebration. Although most of those who attended were at least partly of Native American heritage, there was a vast variety of skin tones and facial characteristics in the crowd.

But the group that took particular pride in the ceremony was the Chumash Nation, which once lived in the Vasquez Rocks area.

The dusty trails, breathtaking vistas and jagged rock formations that give the park its name have been seen all over the world--hundreds of western movies and several of the original “Star Trek” shows were filmed in the park.

The powwow’s main organizer, Brad Two Bears, said the day was an effort “to honor the indigenous people of the Valley and bring healing to the land.”

He said the event was also the first chance for the Chumash people to publicly honor their ancestors’ land. For TiqSto, it was like coming home.

“Many of my ancestors’ names were taken away and changed to Spanish names,” he said. “We were one of the most advanced Indian societies, with a well-organized government and monetary system.”

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Dr. Kent Christenson, who has studied the Chumash people extensively, said there were three main reasons for the deaths of tribe members who once lived here. Christenson--who at the powwow was selling Native American artifacts and clothing he had made--said that changes in diet and work habits, plus poor resistance to foreign diseases all but wiped out the tribe after the Spanish came in 1772.

Within 60 years, he said, the more than 90,000 Chumash were reduced to a population of just more than 6,000. Currently, there are only about 500 descendants left, none of whom are full blooded.

Jim Gibbs, who is Cherokee and now works as a registered nurse in Long Beach, said he began researching his Native American heritage about 10 years ago.

“I went back to my roots,” said Gibbs, who was draped in a colorful outfit that he designed himself. “My grandmother didn’t tell us about it. But now I feel more spiritually whole, more like a human being. I feel like I know where I come from.

His headdress, called a feather bustle, included feathers from the Native American’s most respected icon--the eagle. Because eagles can no longer be legally hunted, feathers are obtained from eagles found dead and donated to tribes by government agencies.

The host of the powwow was Michael Burgess, who spoke from under a tarp protecting him from the blazing sun. He joked with the crowd about the long hours they waited for the event to begin.

“You know we are on I.T. time today,” Burgess said. “You all know what that is, right? Indian Time.” Burgess said powwows never started until the sun was straight up, anyway.

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TiqSto blessed the park grounds, the warriors involved in the ceremony and members of the crowd sitting on bales of hay arranged in a circle. TiqSto then waved a bundle of burning sage around the participants to burn away negative spirits.

After the most respected leaders of the tribes present started the grand entry into the circle, a group of men in Native American regalia launched into a “sneak-up dance.” During the dance, the men crouched down low as if they were sneaking up on their prey.

“The sneak-up dance tells the story of a group of warriors who are coming back to enemy territory to find a fallen comrade,” Burgess said. “They had to sneak up on the village.”

Brad Two Bears said the day showed that disagreements or controversies about who can claim Native American heritage is a waste of time.

“If doesn’t matter if you have one-quarter or one drop in your blood,” he said. “It’s not about the way you look, but what’s in your heart about our people.”