Native America

Today, my wife, myself, and two of our dear friends went to the 18th Annual Cherokee County Indian Festival and Pow-Wow. Besides having a very long title, this annual event is a display of Native American arts and crafts, along with cultural education and a display of traditional Native American dancing, drumming and storytelling. It was a lot of fun, and a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

But that's not why I'm telling you this.

My wife has issues with dead animals. Not like you think, but rather with the body parts that she leaves behind. As we were wandering the booths we saw plenty of beautiful jewelery, striking clothes, tacky clothes (don't want to deceive and make you think that EVERYTHING was nice...), some cool artwork, some tacky artwork, and even hand-crafted flutes and drums. Our friend Heather was very happy with some of the jewelery, and even suggested to her beau that the $300.00 necklace that was there would look fabulous on her; he agreed and then quickly went to the next booth. My wife, too, saw jewerly that she really liked, but it didn't evoke the same response.

What got her to respond was the coyote skin.

A full coyote pelt that was sitting out in the sun, and still had a couple of bones sticking out of the legs to keep the feet properly shaped. Her eyes got wide and she checked it out all over, just desperate to take the thing home. Unfortunately, like with Heather's would-be necklace, the price made me move on to the next booth.

But that was really just the beginning. The knowledge that there was one coyote pelt at the festival was enough to get looking for more. And, in fact, there was. The next to last booth that we checked out, the one right next to the clog-free gutter booth--what they were doing there, we don't have a clue--had a more affordable piece of coyote. So, we came home this afternoon with a coyote face and some teeth. These items now proudly sit on our mantle, awaiting a more permanant home.

Now, before anyone gets too ruffled about her taking home some dead animal parts, let me explain that she is, in fact, 1/4 Native American herself, and she holds these things in VERY high regard. In fact, while we were looking at the whole pelt the man working the booth started to explain to her the significance of the coyote, which she quickly picked up and started expounding upon greatly. Our friend, Mike, turned to me and said, "he didn't know who he was talking to, did he?"


On another front, but still animal related, there was an exhibit of many birds of prey at the festival. Hawks, kestrels, and falcons took center stage, while a parrot sat over to the side with that "hey, I'm pretty mean to pieces of fruit!" look on his face. And being a fan of not only birds of prey, but also the Atlanta Falcons, I was pretty jonesed to see the falcons there. I've seen plenty of hawks, but the falcons (and the kestrel, too) were new to me at such a close viewing.

They were beautiful animals, but I felt bad for them. It was a hot day, and one of hawks out in the sun seemed to be panting. I wanted to get them something to drink, until I saw that there were large saucers of clean water right next to them, as you can see in the photo. But still...

So, in short, it was an interesting day of both living and dead animals for us. I left with memories and some cool photos, but my wife, she brought home a face. And what more can you ask than having face in today's society?