When I was a child, every year we would go to the Bear Dance in June — showing up a week or more early to shell, grind, and leach acorns for acorn soup, chop wood, clean up campsites, and scour out the giant cast iron pots left over from gold rush days, big enough to hide a man inside. Maybe we’d need to get some cedar bark to repair the roundhouse roof, or perhaps just feed the geese I was so afraid of so Gladys could focus on other things. But the Bear Dance was an important part of growing up, and a cultural connection for tribes throughout the West.
One thing the Bear Dance was never about was money. Fees were never charged to enter, to camp, to participate, and free food was provided for all — sometimes nearly a thousand people lined up for a meal. Acorn from the forest, salmon and eels from the fish ladder, fresh road kill for venison, donations from farms and gardens — yes, some things had to be bought, but much was free. Everyone contributed something so there was plenty for all.
Sadly, times have changed. Traditional foods are not as available as they once were, so much has to be bought. And Gladys passed away, so the Bear dance no longer has a home on her ranch. Everything must be brought to a Forest Service campground, and taken away again at the end. All this takes money, but charging for the Bear Dance is out of the question. Instead, less can be provided — maybe providing a single meal instead of feeding everyone for three days.
Today the Bear Dance is on “life support”. Once again, a Go Fund Me campaign has been posted to try and raise some funds. Last year $640 of the $5000 needed was raised. I’m hoping this generous community will pitch in and help this ancient California Native tradition continue. The Go Fund Me appeal is reproduced below, or you can contribute HERE. But before you go any further, click on THIS LINK and see what the Bear Dance is all about.
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The annual Bear Dance has been the most important cultural event among northern California Indian tribes since prehistoric times. In some years multiple Bear Dances have been hosted by various tribes and families, some more regularly than others The Lassen Yah-Mon-Nee Maidu Bear Dance is the oldest continuing Native American cultural celebration in Lassen county, California.
Now the Bear Dance needs some more financial support to continue. It costs $3000-$5000 to provide free food and sanitary facilities for the hundreds of attendees. Much of this has come from bake sales and donations from attendees, but it has not been enough. In recent years I have provided more than $1000 annually to keep this important tradition going. My friends who attend also have given what they can afford. Now I am unemployed/retired and can no longer provide this level of support. We need the help of friends.
For information on the Honey Lake Maidu Bear Dance, vist www.HoneyLakeMaidu.org especially the page www.honeylakemaidu.org/...
The annual Lassen Bear Dance was revived in 1953 by Gladys Mankins, a woman of Maidu and Paiute heritage who continued the traditions taught to her by her mother Kitty Joaquin. Gladys ran the Bear Dance regularly on the second weekend in June at her small ranch near Janesville, California with the help of family, friends ,volunteers, and small donations from the attendees. Governor Jerry Brown came to the Bear Dance twice during his first terms as California governor – once, arriving in a helicopter with much fanfare, and the next time more discreetly in a private automobile.
The Bear Dance is a renewal ceremony, and represents the beginning of a new year, a time for all people to come together, to make peace not only with the most dangerous animals in their environment – the bear and the rattlesnake – but also to make peace with one another. All people are welcome. The event includes traditional dances and hand games held throughout the weekend of the event. Dances have included both public and sacred dances by groups with similar traditions, including Maidu, Pit River, Pomo and Wintu tribes. In the early years, before the revival of native dance traditions among the California tribes, ‘fancy dancers’ from the southwestern tribes were invited to share their traditions. Gladys paid the dance groups for their travel expenses from her own small income.
Gladys bore the bulk of the Bear Dance expenses herself by selling off small parcels of her land. By the time she died in 1988 her small ranch had dwindled and had become encroached by development. The Bear Dance continued at this location for two more years, but when her husband died the land passed to his heirs, who wanted to sell the property. Community volunteers from Susanville and as far away as the Bay Area and southern California deemed the site too small to continue holding the growing event at the Janesville location, and a new venue was sought. With much negotiation, an agreement was reached with the U.S. Forest Service to build a new campground at a more remote site west of Susanville near Willard Creek. The campground was made available exclusively for the Yah-Mon-Nee Maidu Bear Dance ceremonies for two weeks every year. Since 1990, the Bear Dance has been held annually at this location on the second weekend in June.
As with most (Indian) people, bickering soon developed over who would run the Bear Dance after Gladys died . Ron Morales, a Maidu elder with a long family tradition in the Honey Lake Valley, soon emerged as the only one strong-willed and tough enough to keep the Bear Dance going. Through his efforts, with the help of his family and volunteers, he has kept the Lassen Yah-Mon-Nee Maidu Bear Dance going for twenty four years.
The Bear Dance culminates in a group circular dance at the end of the weekend, but it is much more than a circle dance, as it serves as a center post for many California Indian traditions. Besides the dances, an often overlooked but key part of (Maidu) Indian religion involves the “Hand Game”, a traditional gambling game where the players sing their ancient songs while practicing their psychic power. Hand Game has been part of Bear Dance “Big Times” since the first prehistoric Bear Dance. If funding can be found for the major Yah-Mon-Nee Maidu Bear Dance expenses, it is hoped additional donations can be found to support a small hand game tournament, especially to attract younger hand game players who have discovered this tradition.
The Bear Dance has continued operating on a shoestring budget with help from volunteers. The major expense is providing free food for all attendees. Ron’s daughter Lorrie Morales provided significant financial help by selling Fry Bread and Indian Tacos at community events in Susanville, but Lorrie passed away two years ago after a year-long hospitalization for a resistant bacterial infection, and the Bear Dance itself is currently on life support. Only generous donations from attendees have kept the ceremony going. Now, many of those who were able to contribute financially are retired and on fixed incomes and are unable to continue the same level of financial support.
'If you can't afford a quarter then you otta give a dime'.
Thanks all for any help you can provide,
