Our Altar
With the approaching international "celebration" of the Quincenntenial, or Columbus's so-called discovery of America, Native Americans at Dartmouth (NAD) began changing. We started planning activities to commemorate the Native peoples that inhabited the "new" world before the colonizers arrived. NAD became a group witha distinct purpose. We set aside all differences between our nations and worked together as a group.
One of NAD's greatest coups came during the spring quarter later on that year. NAD petitioned Dartmouth and its students to drop the so-cailed "clay pipe tradition" from Class Day ceremonies: In this 100-year-old tradition, all the members of the graduating class broke imitations of sacred pipes against the College's famous "lone pine tree" stump supposedly to symbolize their "breaking" with the College and moving on to another phase oflife.
It was hard trying to make the mainstream community at Dartmouth understand what we were saying. Being Native Americans, we certainly understood the value of traditions and the importance others place on keeping cultural traditions alive. But this particular tradition was rooted in a myth, a story about three pipe-smashing Indian graduates of Dartmouth who apparently never existed; instead of honoring us, it mocked us. During the campus-wide discussion session I said that in my family, we regard'the pipe as a portable altar. The smoke from this type of altar serves to carry Our prayers to the Creator. I am not sure if what I said made an impact or not. But we must have said something right, because the Dartmouth community shortly thereafter chose to eliminate the clay pipe tradition from Class Day exercises. Not to he outdone, however, The Dartmouth Review advertised and sold clay pipes to individual students who wanted to continue the tradition.
MARIANNE CHAMBERLAIN, a member ofthe Ft. PeckAssinoboin and Sioux tribes,lives in Stamford, Connecticut. She hopes to pursue a career in secondary educationand coachirig.: Her Indian name means "Woman who walks the sacred path."
