Aacimotaatiiyankwi

The annual Winter Gathering and Stomp Dance is one of the major events hosted by the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, bringing Myaamiaki ‘Myaamia people’ together in Noošonke Siipionki ‘Miami, Oklahoma’ to celebrate Myaamia culture and receive important updates within the community. 

Since 2001, this trip has also served as a unique opportunity for the Myaamia Center, the Myaamia research center at Miami University, to invite Myaamia Heritage students, colleagues, and respected guests from the university to spend time in Miami, OK to participate in Myaamia cultural activities with the community. 

This year, over 95 Miami University staff, faculty, and students traveled to the Winter Gathering. This year’s attendees included participants in the Indigenizing The Curriculum cohort, partners from the Art Across the Curriculum initiative, various graduate and undergraduate students working with the Myaamia Center, 12 Myaamia Heritage students, and colleagues from the College of Education, Health, and Society (EHS). EHS has generously sponsored the charter buses for the trip since 2015, which allows us to make the trip possible for Myaamia students and guests. 

The two-day event is jam-packed with events for attendees. On Friday, January 26, everyone was invited to the council house for a welcome by Akima Lankford and Tribal leadership, followed by Myaamia games, crafts hosted by the Myaamia Makerspace, and visiting. 

Many staff from the Myaamia Center were using this time to share information about different opportunities available for Myaamiaki through the center. Heritage students spent this time catching up with community members and teaching guests to play Myaamia games. 

Friday afternoon was spent listening to various presenters share the work they have been doing with the Myaamia community. Presentations included the announcement of an upcoming lunar calendar publication by the Cultural Resource Office. Jamie Jacobs, an artist from the Tonawanda Seneca Nation, talked about the history and impact of quillwork and gifted a piece of quillwork to Akima Lankford on behalf of the Tribe. Additionally, Michael Galban (Washow and Mono Lake Paiute) spoke about the history of wampum among the Seneca Nation and its connection to the Myaamia people.  Michael concluded by gifting 300-year-old Seneca wampum to Akima Lankford. Diane Hunter also presented on her experience working as the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the past 9 years. After, she was honored by Tribal leadership for her commitment to the Myaamia community. 

Jared Nally, an Aanchtaakia Graduate Fellow at the Myaamia Center, presented his experience with the preservation and revitalization of Myaamia fiber art. The Aanchtaakia or ‘Change Maker’ Fellowship is designed for tribal scholars motivated to make positive change in their communities and to share their research on Miami University’s campus. Jared exemplified how he does this, by sharing how he has not only researched and learned Myaamia fingerweaving, but also began teaching it to others in the Myaamia community through workshops and one-on-one sessions. 

Friday evening concluded with aalhsoohkaana ‘Winter Story’ telling by community storytellers, including multiple Myaamia Center staff. In recent years, some storytellers have dedicated their time to learning the stories in Myaamiaataweenki ‘the Myaamia language.’ This year we had the opportunity to hear three of these stories told in Myaamiaataweenki.

On Saturday, guests were invited to a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Tribe’s new national archives building. Staff from the Myaamia Heritage Museum and Archive were on standby to chat with guests and answer questions about the pieces on display in the building. 

After the ceremony, we went back to the council house for stomp and social dances. In addition to hosting a workshop last fall, the Myaamia Center made several ‘loaner’ ribbon skirts for Myaamia Heritage students to wear during stomp. Any extras are offered to our guests who would like to wear one for the dance. 

As always, we were thrilled to be joined by our students and guests to share these fun cultural activities. The weekend was a great success and we would like to say mihši neewe ‘a big thank you’ to the Miami Tribe leadership and staff who made this weekend possible. 

For a more detailed report of the weekend’s activities, keep an eye out for the next edition of Aatotankiki Myaamiaki, the Miami Tribe’s newspaper.