The Give Away
Makh-pfya Luta Oyate’
(Red Cloud People)
Coat Giveaway
Pine Ridge, South Dakota 01022010By Mary Burrows
The blacktop lead east in a rippling ribbon through the rolling grassland. Ahead, cloud-cover retreated after the previous week’s blizzard and revealed a brilliant winter-blue sky. Father Sun dazzled and sparkled on the snow-smothered landscape.
Three vehicles journeyed together through the cold. Among the entourage were Virgil Red Cloud Goode, quillwork artist and Native American drummer and singer; Michael Bucher, Native American singer-songwriter and musician; WindSpirit Drum and Flute: Windwalker, Spirit
Buffalo, and Anagqus; and Karla LaRive of PK Productions, LLC, and Studio West
Management.
Awaiting their arrival at the Red Cloud family compound was Virgil’s mother Charlotte, sister of Chief Alfred Red Cloud. A feast-sized batch of fry-bread dough was working at the kitchen table.
The culmination of months and weeks of planning was imminent: a coat giveaway, sponsored in part by the Blue Sky charities group and in honor of Chief Red Cloud.
On New Year’s Day 2010, Edoal (Spirit Buffalo) and Virgil delivered boxes of items for the giveaway to the community center. Included in the gifts were hand-knit blankets and hats created by the Blue Sky Knitting Angels, a group in Great Britain. The Angels had personally delivered them to Windwalker in September 2009.
Saturday, January 2, 2010, while children made snow angels and tunneled into wind drifts, women prepared food for the afternoon’s giveaway, members of the entourage opened boxes and
displayed the potlatch, and Native American Music Award winners WindSpirit Drum and Michael Bucher set up, dressed up, and did a little woodshedding to warm up their instruments, all the while engulfed in aromas of brewing coffee and bubbling stew from the kitchen.Edoal teaches children to respect the drum and allows them to play it, recognizing that the children are our future.
WindSpirit’s daughter, Anagqus, performs traditional Cherokee shawl
dances during many of the group’s
performances.Michael Bucher is of Cherokee ancestry.
Spirit Buffalo and Windwalker are both of Lenape’ and Mig-Maug ancestry, and Windwalker’s father was Cherokee. Links: www.windspiritdrum.com http://www.windspiritdrum.com/Virgil_RCGoode_0BTE.html www.michaelbucher.com http://www.myspace.com/pk_productions
Both Windwalker and Edoal are Lenape’ chiefs. WindSpirit reaches out to all tribes and all nations. Windwalker loves teaching through music, stories, and language.
Soup’s on!! Stew and bread…
Waste’ !!!
Windwalker is honored by Mother Charlotte Red Cloud with a dancing shawl while Edoal observes.
L to R: Virgil Red Cloud Goode, Virgil Goode, Myron Red Cloud Goode, and photo below Aloysius Weasel Bear, singing the haunting and harmonious Chief’s Song and bringing a tear to many eyes…
All Photos Mary Burrows / All Rights Reserved 2009
Banner Graphic: www.firstpeople.us
