My Name Is Akando

Dear Journal,
         My name is Akando. It means ambush. I am ten years old. I live with my mom Olathe which means lovely or beautiful, my dad Ohanzee which means shadow, my brother Odakota which means friend , two sisters Olisa (god) and Orenda (magic power) , Grandfather Pallaton (fighter), Grandmother Papina   ( Ivy), my uncle named Kijika which means the one who walks quietly, And my other uncle named Knoto which means the wind, and many other relatives which I can not name. Even though it's a big house it's still cramped.  I have to go fishing with my dad and uncle every day. I also have to hunt for bears. Hunting for bears is kind of scary. You never know what's going to happen. And then you remember you're serving the clan. I have only been to a few potlatches but going to them was a very cool experience. I'll go to a lot more when I get older. Part of our culture is to hunt seals. As for Olisa she has to learn to make fake houses and dolls. In the night it gets really cold. We have to get really warm under the bear blankets. During the night you can always hear the pitter patter of the rain on the roof. Whenever I go hunting or do anything outside I always get a little wet from the rain. I have to go now. I'm going to a potlatch!!



                                                                                                                                             From,
                                                                                                                                              Owen

How Burnt Lake Came To Be

Once upon a time there lived two men of different tribes in Oregon. The two men met o a cold rainy day in the fields and one started to yell at the other one about him being in his territory. They started to fight. It became a war. They fought and they fought. Finally an angel sent to spy on them got mad. "Please stop!" It said. One of the men turned to it and said "Why should we? The man intruded our territory. We have a right to fight". " No!! We must carry on with our culture like hunting seals" The angel said. Nobody stopped. The angel got mad and tried to tell the people to stop but they all said the same thing. Either " He attacked him for nothing!" Or "He was in our territory!" Finally the angel got really mad. One night when the men were sleeping in their large houses the angel took the men into a dream together. It showed them a land were the people went into each others territory without fighting. They kept fighting. The next night It took them into a world without war. They kept fighting.  The last night he took them to a world were they fought every day. The men did not look at this as they were supposed to. They thought the angel meant if you don't fight with intruders it would not work out. They kept fighting. Finally the angel got overwhelmed. It had done everything it could have done. It rose above the town and burnt the town down until there was a big hole. Then the angel made it rain for years and years. Finally after many years the rain stopped. The hole was completely filled. It had turned into a lake.


This lake is know called burnt lake.   





















 Thanks to flickriver.com I was able to get this picture of burnt lake.

Religions and Some Interesting Facts About The Alsea People

I do not know much about the religion. Since I couldn't find anything about the Alsea religion I found out about Pacific Northwest Native Americans in general. In the Pacific Northwest when people get married they are not aloud to live with the bride or the grooms relatives. One interesting fact is that they live in large    houses. There are fireplaces in the middle to warm the house. Large houses can fit from 50-60 people!! Also they make clothes out of cedar and spruce trees. They make cotton out of the bark. Thats all!




I got this information from Wikipedia and The Encyclopedia of Native Americans.A large house from depts.washington.edu.

The Entertainment and climate of the Alsea People

The entertainment of the Alsea People is first the men would get together and they would gamble for money. On these nights they would also tell stories. As you can see I do not know much about the entertainment. For the climate I know that it is always rainy. It rains almost every day. It's always humid. This is because it is on the coast. It never gets really warm. It's always kind of chilly. If you went back in time you would need a sweatshirt everyday even in the Summer.







I got the information about entertainment from Wikipedia.com and people.ucis.uchicago.edu.
I got the information about the climate because I've gone to Oregon.

The Culture

This is about the culture of the pacific northwest. Up in Alsea territory they did a lot of things. They hunted seals and sea lions. They also fished for salmon. Like a lot of tribes in that area they also flattened the heads of infants. We do not know why they did this. It may have bee to make them look more like the gods, or to make them look distinctive, or just by accident! They made totem poles to tell the stories of the history of the clan or family that lived in the houses. They also- like many tribes- had pot latches. A pot latch is like a meeting where everyone brings some food. You might be thinking " This is like a pot luck!" This is true, but we have different ways and so do they. That's all for learning about culture.



 I got this information from wikipedia and people.ucis.chicago.edu 

The Food of The Alsea People

In the Alsea territory they ate a lot of things. Out near the coast the main food source is salmon. They ate it dried, cooked smoked or even raw! They didn't just eat salmon they ate seal, salmon, sea lion, shellfish, clams, and scallops. They ate all of this because they lived right next to the ocean. Out in the mountains they ate a lot of different things than the coast. They collected berries, eggs, and plants. They hunted elk, bear, mountain goat, deer, wolf, and beaver. As you can see they ate a wide variety of foods. They didn't eat what we eat now!




I got this information from wikipedia and The Encyclopedia of Native Americans.
                                                                          This is a salmon. From fish.dnr.cornell.edu.