And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
March 5, 1999
http://www.pilotonline.com/news/nw0305gra.html
Descendants of Chesapeake tribe want
to mark a burial mound so park visitors
will know it's sacred
BY VANDANA SINHA, The Virginian-Pilot
Copyright 1999, Landmark Communications Inc.
VIRGINIA BEACH -- The mound of earth sits unnoticed,
blanketed by sand, rocks and overgrown weeds.
To the bikers, hikers and joggers who use the trails of First
Landing/Seashore State Park, it's nothing more than a bubble of
land near the visitor center.
But to American Indians, it's an icon of their spirituality, a symbol
of the nation's history and a vestige of an otherwise-disappearing
heritage.
The mound covers the remains of 64 members of the original
Chesapeake tribe that for thousands of years inhabited what is now
the Great Neck region of Virginia Beach. The remains were
retrieved from museum storage two years ago and buried there by
descendants who wished to reunite them with their Mother Earth.
Now, the descendants are raising $5,000 to mark the area and
protect it from passers-by who unwittingly violate the sacred grave
site by trodding on it.
``It's just like other people would want to protect the burial sites of
their family members,'' said Oliver ``Fish Hawk'' Perry, the
76-year-old chief emeritus of the Nansemond Indian tribe, one of
eight state-recognized tribes. ``Once the remains were put in there,
that became a sacred site for the Indian community.''
The local effort comes, symbolically, near the 392nd anniversary
of English settlers' first landing at Cape Henry and the second
anniversary of the reburial ceremony, both on April 26.
It's part of a growing recognition statewide that Virginia's four
official Indian grave sites now need protecting. The Chesapeake
Tribe burial site is the only one in South Hampton Roads.
``These are the only things we have of the indigenous people
here,'' said Thomasina E. Jordan, an Alexandria, Va., resident and
chairwoman of the Richmond-based Virginia Council on Indians.
``Think about it. This is history.
``When you protect the burial sites,'' she said, ``you're protecting
the people who are living as well, because all things are
connected.''
Indian Chief Emeritus Perry, who led the state's tribes in
re-interring the ancestral remains, also is heading the effort to raise
donations from businesses and local governments.<<END EXCERPT
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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