News From Native California - Spring 2015 Volume 28, Issue 3 | Page 19

stories, her sorrows and aches and frustrations, and her
awards. We have to be strong enough and…wise enough to
pass that all onto our children. And hopefully they’ll understand. And we need to be patient enough with them while
they’re going through their difficulties and always be Indians.
Always be Indian. First and foremost, be Indian.
NK: [laughs] Yeah. And talk our languages.
LD: Well, I’m proud of my daughters. They are in their late
forties and fifties. And they are involved in learning how to
make the acorn soup again. That almost is a lost art. And
they’re learning the dances that they did years ago. Learning
how to make their regalia of years ago, using what was there
instead of incorporating the modern materials. I started taking up making willow baskets and someone asked me, how
long did it take you? And I said, I’m just a baby. Because first
you have to identify the material, then you have to prepare it,
and then you learn how to make a basket. And then you’re
lucky if you don’t make mistakes, because you have to tear
it all apart and start all over again. And one of the most difficult parts of making baskets is the materials. They are hard
to find. Our rivers are dry and our trees
are not the most healthy, and our willows
aren’t the healthiest anymore, so sometimes we go hundred of miles just looking
for good willow, good redbud—basic materials that were used years ago. I hadn’t been
making baskets for about four years and I
started one a couple of weeks ago and it
just felt so good. I thought, “Grandma, I’m
back again!”

DANCING AND RITES OF PASSAGE
Rose Enos and Wanda Rose Enos Batchelor (Nisenan
Maidu/Washo), mother and daughter

Wanda Batchelor: I know that you’re the head woman dance
captain for the Maidu Dancers and Traditionalists, that was
started back in the early 1970s. How important is the dancing and the songs and those ceremonies?
Rose Ennis: I think we should keep it up and it’s real important, and the rules that you have to follow. You might hurt
other people’s feelings, but the older people understand
that there’s rules to dancing and you have to respect everything about that. You have to pray. And a lady, if she’s on the
moon, you don’t go around and help putting out food on the
table or touching the dancers. You have to stay away and the
best thing to do is to just stay home, and you don’t mingle
with the rest of the group while they’re dancing. You take
care of your own stuff and you don’t borrow anything from
anybody else unless you ask them. Or if they want to give
you something, well then, that’s good, too.

NK: [laughs]
LD: I’ve got my fingers involved with willow and redbud. It’s easy to get caught up
in everyday life, watching TV, reading a
book. Then I have to take myself outside
and listen to the birds and listen to the trees
singing and get back out there. That willow’s calling us. Our wild tea is calling us.
Our acorns say, “It’s time.” So we have…
NK: …lots of things to do.
LD: And share it. Because my daughters are
making the acorn soup now and I’m proud
of them. I’m proud of our Indian community and the strength we have in our Indian
community.
Rose Enos (right) and Wanda Rose Enos Batchelor
(left).
SPR IN G 2 015 ▼ 17