The view from Gaviota Peak Trail (Photo by Antandrus, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
The Gathering
“The old man had been tending the Sacred Fire since before dawn, each branch and limb of oak an added prayer. The rising sun etched the hills of Gaviota in gold, and oak trees cast long shadows from the secret groves where families camped. The fragrance of camp coffee and bacon mingled with the murmurs and coughs of people starting their day. When the sun rose above the hills and sparkled light on the ocean below, a young man, bare to the waist and wearing a deerskin skirt and seagull headdress, raised a conch shell to his lips. His breath blown into the conch released a deep cry that echoed through the hills and acorn groves. When the people came running up the hill, laughing and talking, another conch sounded from the hills and the people entered into silence around the fire, waiting for the song that would give form to the gratitude at the center of their prayer.”
— © Georgiana Valoyce-Sanchez, from A Light to Do Shellwork By (2022, Scarlet Tanager Books)
Monday’s Gathering
Our long-anticipated visit with Elder Georgiana Valoyce-Sanchez (Chumash/O’odham) is set for 6 p.m. Monday, May 15, 2023, at Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, 127 N. San Gorgonio Ave., Banning, CA.
Georgiana Valoyce-Sanchez, 82, a poet, storyteller, culture bearer, longtime university teacher, activist, advocate, and leader of the Wishtoyo Foundation Chumash Women’s Elders Council, will share poems from her new book, stories, and childhood memories of Morongo Reservation and Banning.
“The gourd rattles hold a faithful rhythm,” she writes in one poem about Wanakik Cahuilla men singing traditional bird songs at a Morongo gathering she remembers from years ago.
Her daughter, Deborah Sanchez, who studies and teaches the Šmuwič language (Chumash), will join us to share some contemporary Šmuwič songs she has composed.
Read more about Georgiana Sanchez HERE.
The program is sponsored by Idyllwild Arts Native Center for the Arts.
Your $10 will support the programs of the 501(c)3 nonprofit Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, now in its 20th year of saving and sharing Native American cultures with you.
Dragonfly Gala: Gathering with You
Which brings us to news about our big annual gathering with you: the 2023 Dragonfly Gala.
Save the date for Aug. 12, 2023, Morongo Community Center, Morongo Reservation, and celebrate Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s 20th anniversary.
There’s always much excitement about the winner of our Dragonfly Award for soaring achievements in saving and sharing Native American cultures. Here’s your plot twist: the Center’s Board of Directors has decided that this year’s Dragonfly Award will honor our co-founders, Ernest and June Siva!
Ernest and June Siva (Pat Murkland Photo)
The gala will therefore be a great time for Hats and Dragonflies! Enjoy cultural displays, delicious food, our famed silent auction, traditional singing and dancing, and much more.
We invite the community to celebrate the joy of the Learning Center’s 20th anniversary as we honor our beloved leaders. Elder Ernest Siva (Cahuilla-Serrano), our president, has worked tirelessly throughout 20 years with his wife, June, our vice president, at his side, to save Native American cultures, languages, history, and music and other traditional arts. And what a journey it’s been!
We’ll have limited seating, so please make your reservation early,
TABLES: $1,000, $2,000, $3,000; SPONSORSHIPS ALSO AVAILABLE.
Individual tickets, $60. PLEASE RSVP HERE.
Thank you!
And thanks from Center leaders Ernest and June Siva and Editor Pat Murkland for reading, liking, sharing, and subscribing to News from Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, your FREE weekly online newsletter.