Making Our People Proud

It takes a lot of skill and practice to become a good dancer. That’s especially true for the kind of dancing that Mateo does. Mateo is a hoop dancer. He uses his hands and feet to spin as many as six hoops at a time, weaving them together to form shapes like a butterfly, a basket, and his favorite, an eagle. 

“When you do that formation, you make it look like you’re flying,” Mateo says.

For centuries, Native peoples have performed hoop dances as a form of storytelling and prayer. Sometimes, a hoop dance is performed by people who use traditional healing practices.

Modern hoop dancing is believed to have originated in the Native villages of New Mexico, not far from where Mateo lives. He is from the Pueblo of Pojoaque (poh-WAH-kay). Earlier this year, Mateo earned first place in a national competition. But for him, hoop dancing is about much more than winning contests.

“It’s important to keep passing on this tradition,” he says. “If it’s not passed on, it’s forgotten, and you lose part of your culture.”

It takes a lot of skill and practice to become a good dancer. That’s especially true for the kind of dancing that Mateo does. Mateo is a hoop dancer. He uses his hands and feet to spin as many as six hoops at a time. He uses them to make shapes like a butterfly, a basket, and his favorite, an eagle. 

“When you do that formation, you make it look like you’re flying,” Mateo says.

For centuries, Native peoples have performed hoop dances as a way to pray and to tell stories. Sometimes, people who use traditional healing practices also perform a hoop dance. 

Modern hoop dancing is believed to have begun in the Native villages of New Mexico, not far from where Mateo lives. He is from the Pueblo of Pojoaque (poh-WAH-kay). 

Mateo won first place in a national competition earlier this year. But for him, hoop dancing is about more than winning contests. 

“It’s important to keep passing on this tradition,” he says. “If it’s not passed on, it’s forgotten, and you lose part of your culture.”

For Azalea, lacrosse is more than a sport. It’s an important part of her heritage. Azalea is a member of the Mohawk Nation. It’s one of the six Native nations in the Haudenosaunee (hoh-dee-noh-SHOH-nee) Confederacy. The modern version of lacrosse is based on stick-and-ball games the Haudenosaunee played more than 900 years ago. They call lacrosse the Creator’s Game. They play it to honor their Creator. 

“When I play, I have a connection with people who played before me, like my ancestors,” Azalea explains. 

But for hundreds of years, women couldn't play the game. It wasn’t until recently that the community began to see the sport as a way to empower young girls too. 

“When my mom was young, she wasn’t allowed to play,” Azalea says. “It’s cool that I was born at the right time and am able to play lacrosse because I really love it.”

If you wanted to learn a new language, you might download an app or read a book. But it’s not that easy for Leeann. A member of both the Yuchi (YOO-chee) and Creek nations, Leeann is learning to speak Yuchi. No books are printed in Yuchi, and even her parents cannot speak it. In fact, only a handful of people know the language.

“Because there aren’t a lot of people who speak Yuchi, it’s important that we learn so we can pass it down,” Leeann says.

There was a time when all Yuchi people spoke the language. But in the late 1800s, the U.S. government forced kids from Indigenous nations to speak only English. As years passed, many Native languages disappeared. Leeann doesn’t want that to happen to Yuchi.

Learning the language is challenging for English speakers because it has its own alphabet. But Leeann is getting a lot of help from Yuchi elders and a group called the Yuchi Language Project.

“We’re all family,” she says.

If you wanted to learn a new language, you might download an app or read a book. But it’s not that easy for Leeann. Leeann is a member of both the Yuchi (YOO-chee) and Creek nations. She is learning to speak Yuchi. No books are printed in Yuchi. Even her parents cannot speak it. Only a number of people know the language. 

“Because there aren’t a lot of people who speak Yuchi, it’s important that we learn so we can pass it down,” Leeann says.

There was a time when all Yuchi people spoke the language. But in the late 1800s, the U.S. government forced kids from Indigenous nations to speak only English. Many Native languages disappeared over the years. Leeann doesn’t want that to happen to Yuchi.

Learning the language can be challenging. It has its own alphabet. But Leeann is getting a lot of help from Yuchi elders. She's also part of a group called the Yuchi Language Project.

“We’re all family,” she says.