Indians Want To Keep Culture

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32018, 19 June 1969, Page 2

Indians Want To Keep Culture

The American Indian remained proud and unwilling to accept charity; he valued his culture and wanted to preserve it, Mrs J. Marksbury. of New Mexico, said in Christchurch recently. Mrs Marksbury’s 10-year-old son, Lin, has developed an avid interest in the American Indian and each week-end they set out to explore the ruins and villages of the tribe which lives on reservations surrounding their home in Albuquerque. Lin, who has a remarkable knowledge erf his subject and wants to be an archaeologist, collects kachina dolls, the objects by which the Indians convey messages to their gods. His mother buys the beautiful jewellery for which the tribe is renowned. Everywhere they have been received hospitably. Each year they attend Christmas celebrations on the reservations. But they were warned not to take presents. “We were told they would not like this. You are there for their enjoyment, and they would not want to be offered gifts,” said Mrs Marksbury. Main Problem She considers the Indians biggest problem now is education. “When they do speak English it is very broken. In areas where the reservations are scattered children have to leave home to go to school,” she said. At Lin's school in Albuquerque, which has a Mexican, Negro and European (known locally as Anglo) population, many Indian pupils mix readily. Lin has a special friend who left the reservation with her family but returns there to relatives each summer. Mrs Marksbury has found the Indian resentment for the Spaniards still very strong but would not generalise on their feelings about “AngloAmericans." “They were exploited by the white man but if they still resent us it is not noticeable in their behaviour,” she said. But young Lin was more outspoken. His friend had told him of her mother's dislike of white people and he thought this applied to most Indians. “They don’t show their feelings, but they don’t like us,” he said firmly. Not Optimistic Although he gets on so well with his Indian friends Lin is not optimistic about greater harmony between the races in the future. "The old people teach the young ones their ways,” he said. Life off the reservation was very difficult for them. “The old can’t adjust to the world round them, and the young ones don’t want to,” he said. The Indians lived in “very beautiful” riverside settlements. Living conditions were primitive, and most of the fruits of their farming were consumed by the family. “They make the most lovely Jewellery, rugs and basketware which is sold through an Indian trader or at the market in town,” said Mrs Marksbury.

The influence of Roman Catholic missionaries, who had arrived with the Spaniards, was very strong. Church services were a combination of Christian and pagan rites which the Indians continued to follow strongly. While they were in Rotorua, Mrs Marksbury and Lin, who are accompanied by Mrs I Marksbury’s mother, Mrs D. i Fenn, of Knoxville, Teni nessee, were interested to see I some Maori dancing and singi ing, observe their way of life >and buy some souvenirs to i add to Lin’s collection. i "His bedroom at home looks like a little Indian boy’s i room,” said Mrs Fenn. Both I take a quiet pride in Lin’s , intelligence and knowledge ■ (“he’s quite a character”) and : he and his mother converse . amiably, each respecting the I others* point of view. > When asked if they had expected to see Maoris in native i dress Mrs Marksbury Mid: i “Well, I don’t know—did you i expect to Lin?” “Not in a big city," Mid I Lin, "besides it was cold, you couldn’t expect them to be I walking round in grass i skirts.”