Attendees of the first Honor the Animals Pow Wow at the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray, the Morris family of Standish, says it is an opportunity to experience a diverse mixture of Native American dances, songs, crafts, regalia and food.
“(Non-natives) would be fascinated by it,” said Jesse Morris, a Cherokee who was raised in West Virginia.
Jesse’s wife, Sharon, whose father descends from the Passamaquoddy nation and her mother from the Lakota, said the Pow Wow is simply about honoring wildlife.
Her nieces Larissa, 11, and Katrina Masi, 10, will attend the Pow Wow for the first time this year.
But after staying with the Morris family, Katrina has learned some of their values and customs.
“They pray all the time,” she said. “And always speak the truth.”
Following tradition, the Morris family has adopted Sharon’s Lakota tribal customs, although Jesse does practice some aspects of his Cherokee heritage.
The Morris Family, a patchwork of different tribes, are one of few native families in the Lakes Region who struggle to uphold their shared values and traditions in the face of a modernized, white Christian world, or “the dominant society,” as they refer to it.
“We’re not extinct, which is a major misconception,” said Jesse, a psychology professor at the University of New England.
In fact, Jesse’s son, Michael, was shocked when his college professor declined to teach about Native Americans in his class because they were “all extinct.”
Michael stood and produced his Nation Enrollment Card, a document that proves his ethnicity, and begged to differ with his professor. “I have a card that says otherwise,” he said.
“Our son was also looking for a scholarship for school,” Sharon said, “and McDonald’s offers them for minorities, but natives need not apply.” She argued that the fast-food restaurant does not offer them to Native Americans because the population is so often overlooked.
Members of the Morris family speak Lakota, Cherokee and a little Micmac, and their children, all of them soft-spoken and polite, are schooled in the traditions of their ancestors.
They cannot dye their hair, or leave the house for a sleepover, for example, until they are at least five years of age. They pray together in native tradition, eat only game (always expressing thanks for the animal’s sacrifice), and often use a sweat lodge in the woods on their property for purification.
Sharon takes on the domestic tasks in the house, such as laundry, cooking and cleaning, and said she views those chores as her “territory.”
“My job is to make sure that my husband is strong enough to keep this family together,” she said.
Their eldest daughter, Walayla, 12, said other children at school are always asking about her culture, sometimes even mistaking her for an African American.
“They don’t really understand,” she said. “It sometimes makes me feel a little weird.”
Because of their differences with the dominant society, some more obvious than others, this Standish family does experience racism. According to Jesse and Sharon, this is mostly due to ignorance and perpetuates the stereotype of an Indian nation rife with alcoholism and gambling.
“We’re a forgotten minority group,” Jesse said. “There are many people who need to be recognized and treaties that still need to be honored. Most times the government sticks to the U.S Constitution as their only contract, and nothing else matters.”
The Morris family often socializes with other native families in the region who share “similar interests and understandings,” and with whom they can trust with their children, according to Sharon.
“We’re more comfortable with the native community. Basically, if we’re not with native people, we always know where our children are,” she said.
Sharon points out that her family does find a balance between the modern world, in which her family is part of a very small, and often disregarded, minority, and keeping alive the customs and values that have been around long before Europeans left a lasting footprint on this continent.
“It’s a very different world from ours and you just have to live in both,” she said. “But once you know about us, you’re no longer ignorant.”
Jesse and Sharon both view the Pow Wow as an opportunity to share their Lakota and Cherokee customs with other native participants and perhaps adopt other traditions that would apply to their own household.
To learn about the traditions of the Morris and other native families, please attend the second annual Honor the Animals Pow Wow in Gray, which will be held Aug. 12 and 13 at the Maine Wildlife Park, Route 26, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. A portion of the proceeds from the event will be used to pay for red and gray fox exhibits.
Clockwise from bottom left: Katrina Masi, 10, Akaia Morris 9, mother Sharon and father Jesse, Walayla, 12, Dahniha, 8, and cousin Larissa Masi, 11. The Morrises, a Native American family in Standish that strives to preserve their ancestral values and customs in the face of modernity and racism, will be attending the Honor the Animals Pow Wow in Gray Aug. 12 and 13.Send questions/comments to the editors.
