Post by blackcrowheart on Jun 4, 2007 20:37:12 GMT -5
Vigil to commemorate massacre by Laura Provolt,
Many
gathered at the 16th annual candelight vigil Feb. 25, 2006, to pray,
sing and recite poetry to remember the Indian Island Massacre of 1860.
Tyson Ritter/The Eureka Reporter On the night of Feb. 25, 1860, an
unknown number of American Indians were slaughtered in Humboldt County.
Massacres took place on Indian Island and at various other locations
around Humboldt Bay and on Eel and Mad rivers, but the exact number of
victims or perpetrators was never determined.
In memory of this period of local history, the Wiyot Tribe has held a
candlelight vigil at Woodley Island each year since 1992. This year, the
vigil will take place on Saturday at 6 p.m. The vigil will be open to
the public and will be held rain or shine.
Wiyot Tribal Chair Cheryl Seidner, the great-granddaughter of Indian
Island Massacre survivor Jerry James, said the purpose of the vigil is
for the community to come together to remember and honor those who died
in the massacre.
“No one will ever know how many people died that night,”
Seidner said. “There was more than one massacre that night. No
one will ever know who they were, or how many there were. People died
that day for no good reason.”
She said the massacre interrupted a ceremony they now call the world
renewal festival, although today the tribe knows little about it because
so much of their tribal culture has been lost.
The Wiyot Tribe currently owns about 60 acres of the 275-acre island,
Seidner said, and it is working to restore the island so it can one day
erect a dance house and complete the world renewal ceremony. She said
Indian Island is not sacred because of the massacre, but because it is
the center of the Wiyot Tribe’s world.
Seidner, a group of tribes and community leaders tried to raise money to
build a museum on the island in the 1970s, but the project came to a
standstill primarily due to a lack of funding.
In 1991, another attempt was made.
“Several people came together; there were professors from
Humboldt State (University), there were church clergy, Wiyot tribal
members and ancestors, there were people from the Humboldt County
Historical Society and the Maritime Museum; they came together to try to
figure out how to commemorate the event, to let the community know what
happened,” Seidner said.
However, lack of funds stalled the project and it fell through. Seidner,
former Historical Society President Marylee Rhode, Wiyot Tribe member
Leona Wilkinson and a few other individuals continued to seek an
appropriate memorial for the massacre.
Rhode said the group discussed the need for prayer in order to heal the
deep wounds that linger in the area. She said she doesn’t think
the community has ever honestly confronted the truth about the
massacres, and said it seems that, in many ways, the community has not
yet recovered.
“I would encourage people to participate, or at least set aside
some time to think about these issues, and how they still creep into our
thinking,” Rhode said. “If prayer is the way to go, pray
that healing can happen. Healing starts with the things in the heart.
Maybe it will mean giving up some land, or giving up some old ideas or
habits of thinking, but healing can happen.”
The first vigil was held in 1992 with about 100 people, she said, and
since then it has been attended by more than 200 people.
“People come together from different tribes to sing, to pray
together, to read poetry and offer blessings,” Seidner said.
“Life happens and we move on, but we don’t need to forget.
I hope people don’t think I’m beating people over the head
about it; I know there is animosity between groups of people. This
should be an opportunity to come together. Let’s become united,
and remember those people who have lost their lives.”
Many
gathered at the 16th annual candelight vigil Feb. 25, 2006, to pray,
sing and recite poetry to remember the Indian Island Massacre of 1860.
Tyson Ritter/The Eureka Reporter On the night of Feb. 25, 1860, an
unknown number of American Indians were slaughtered in Humboldt County.
Massacres took place on Indian Island and at various other locations
around Humboldt Bay and on Eel and Mad rivers, but the exact number of
victims or perpetrators was never determined.
In memory of this period of local history, the Wiyot Tribe has held a
candlelight vigil at Woodley Island each year since 1992. This year, the
vigil will take place on Saturday at 6 p.m. The vigil will be open to
the public and will be held rain or shine.
Wiyot Tribal Chair Cheryl Seidner, the great-granddaughter of Indian
Island Massacre survivor Jerry James, said the purpose of the vigil is
for the community to come together to remember and honor those who died
in the massacre.
“No one will ever know how many people died that night,”
Seidner said. “There was more than one massacre that night. No
one will ever know who they were, or how many there were. People died
that day for no good reason.”
She said the massacre interrupted a ceremony they now call the world
renewal festival, although today the tribe knows little about it because
so much of their tribal culture has been lost.
The Wiyot Tribe currently owns about 60 acres of the 275-acre island,
Seidner said, and it is working to restore the island so it can one day
erect a dance house and complete the world renewal ceremony. She said
Indian Island is not sacred because of the massacre, but because it is
the center of the Wiyot Tribe’s world.
Seidner, a group of tribes and community leaders tried to raise money to
build a museum on the island in the 1970s, but the project came to a
standstill primarily due to a lack of funding.
In 1991, another attempt was made.
“Several people came together; there were professors from
Humboldt State (University), there were church clergy, Wiyot tribal
members and ancestors, there were people from the Humboldt County
Historical Society and the Maritime Museum; they came together to try to
figure out how to commemorate the event, to let the community know what
happened,” Seidner said.
However, lack of funds stalled the project and it fell through. Seidner,
former Historical Society President Marylee Rhode, Wiyot Tribe member
Leona Wilkinson and a few other individuals continued to seek an
appropriate memorial for the massacre.
Rhode said the group discussed the need for prayer in order to heal the
deep wounds that linger in the area. She said she doesn’t think
the community has ever honestly confronted the truth about the
massacres, and said it seems that, in many ways, the community has not
yet recovered.
“I would encourage people to participate, or at least set aside
some time to think about these issues, and how they still creep into our
thinking,” Rhode said. “If prayer is the way to go, pray
that healing can happen. Healing starts with the things in the heart.
Maybe it will mean giving up some land, or giving up some old ideas or
habits of thinking, but healing can happen.”
The first vigil was held in 1992 with about 100 people, she said, and
since then it has been attended by more than 200 people.
“People come together from different tribes to sing, to pray
together, to read poetry and offer blessings,” Seidner said.
“Life happens and we move on, but we don’t need to forget.
I hope people don’t think I’m beating people over the head
about it; I know there is animosity between groups of people. This
should be an opportunity to come together. Let’s become united,
and remember those people who have lost their lives.”