Monday, July 22, 2019

Tradition Markers

We've stopped at a couple of "Historical Markers" on our trip so far. One was about the naming of Madeline Island (named after the new name of Chief White Crane's daughter).

Very few such markers (in this part of the country, anyway) involve Indian history. We consider history as tied to dates and places. Non-literate societies don't usually record times precisely, so if something happened before the white man started writing things down, it isn't quite as "solid" a history. But all sorts of things happened; why not memorialize them?

I wonder how many tribes would jump at the opportunity to have "Tradition Markers" put up, that record what happened nearby at some non-entirely firm date, and what it meant. There's plenty of precedent--the date of Jesus' birth isn't known precisely, nor its exact location, but there are plenty of markers of tradition.

I'm not quite sure where the line would be drawn--I suspect that there might be some objection to describing the Devils Tower as bear scratchings desecrated by builders and climbers.

And different tribes might have radically different interpretations of the same event--who gets to write the text?

I'd be interested in "Tradition Markers," and stop to have a look. Would you?

1 comment:

Assistant Village Idiot said...

I would. The book on the NH Historical Markers just came out, and we are kicking ourselves that we didn't write it. We stopped at all of them and then regaled (tormented) our children with further discussion as we drove on. It would be difficult to draw lines and make everyone happy, but it's still worth the effort.

I do worry about mischief with the truth, however. Chief Seattle is still mentioned in the classes of one teacher over at the high school. Last I heard, anyway.